Adaptation Do's and Don'ts

[forumghost]

Personally I'm not entirely sure that I want there to be an adaptation at all in the current social climate, but if it happens the most important rules would be:

Do- Respect the source material and fan base.

Don't- Use the name to publish your own story that would otherwise never get greenlit because you're a talentless hack and you know it, and then attack fans of the series on social media because they don't like it.

[Mr. Mouse]

Don't- Use the name to publish your own story that would otherwise never get greenlit because you're a talentless hack and you know it, and then attack fans of the series on social media because they don't like it.

Oh come on, everyone knows Tolkien would be nothing without Peter Jackson and crew rewriting him.

[vincentric]

Oh come on, everyone knows Tolkien would be nothing without Peter Jackson and crew rewriting him.

Peter Jackson's LOTR(not the Hobbitt) movies are the model of respecting the source material that every book reproduction should strive for. Yeah, changes were made, but if you watched them without knowing the movie titles, you could identify the source material.

[forumghost]

Yeah. Like, there were a lot of changes I didn't like (especially in the Two Towers, you did my boi Faramir dirty PJ).

But it was at least respectful to the original and didn't, say, kill off the MC and have his corpse jacked (Halo). It didn't 'subvert our expectations' by revealing that all the heroes of the past are worthless losers and failures with nothing to offer their OC Donut Steel (Star Wars Sequels). It didn't retcon important lore and story elements for dumb reasons (Wheel of Time, the upcoming Rings of Power).

Quite frankly I dread a Dresden Files TV Series released today.

[morriswalters]

Exercise your right to not consume what you don't like. Butcher got full of himself by writing checks he's having a hard time cashing. The series is too long and spans too great a period of time for TV. It isn't finished and he keeps moving the goal posts.  Whoever does it would do better to maintain the style and ditch the main story line. As far in as we are there are still unsolved mysteries in the early books and a back story that is important to the series.

[Avernite]

Yeah. Like, there were a lot of changes I didn't like (especially in the Two Towers, you did my boi Faramir dirty PJ).

Eh. I think you identified what the point is.

Twisting secondary characters into pretzels (Faramir, Denethor)? Can be done even if sad. You still kinda lose a key point of the story (that even good men fall for supernatural evil, if they have no supernatural backing from the good guys) but the same story echoed in the MCs saves it.
Twisting main characters/anatagonists? Not good, because secondaries still echoing the theme get overshadowed.

But what IS the theme of the Dresden Files, really? What's that essential core you cannot compromise? Normal human overcoming odds doesn't really apply, so what is it?

[Conspiracy Theorist]

The main theme is Harry trying to stay human and connected with humanity, from Storm Front where he openly advertises what he is through all the pop culture references, his desperate attempts to reconnect with Susan, his infection by Lash, his refusal to become the Winter Knight, his suicide attempt, it’s a constant battle for Harry not to become a monster, not become a peril for humanity, to stay human despite all the pain and loss and the offers of power and temptation.

You can’t compromise this about Harry, nor can you compromise the secondary characters important to this, Murphy, Michael, Will and Georgia, Butters, Molly, even Thomas whose battle against his inner monster mirrors Harry’s own, Uriel and Odin in all of his forms, Father Forthill. Everyone Harry looks to for moral advice and to stay grounded.

[EBRIEN]

I think it's been stated in various forms already, but mostly, I think you have to have a team or writers and directors who love the Dresden Files and are willing to set their egos aside in order to honor the source material that we all love. As much as I'd love to see a live action Dresden, it's just not worth it if it's going to be adapted to unrecognizability (sp?). No one wants a shit adaptation. I know--It's too early or late in the day for obvious statements. lol

Cheers and best to you---Brien

[Avernite]

The main theme is Harry trying to stay human and connected with humanity, from Storm Front where he openly advertises what he is through all the pop culture references, his desperate attempts to reconnect with Susan, his infection by Lash, his refusal to become the Winter Knight, his suicide attempt, it’s a constant battle for Harry not to become a monster, not become a peril for humanity, to stay human despite all the pain and loss and the offers of power and temptation.

You can’t compromise this about Harry, nor can you compromise the secondary characters important to this, Murphy, Michael, Will and Georgia, Butters, Molly, even Thomas whose battle against his inner monster mirrors Harry’s own, Uriel and Odin in all of his forms, Father Forthill. Everyone Harry looks to for moral advice and to stay grounded.

I think you have a fair point, but you forgot the other half - Harry's counterpoints. Sells, who goes mad with power. Marcone, who is kinda evil, kinda trying to do alright, and likely up for a fall. Nicodemus, who is a grade-A evil guy but loves it (and thinks his is the better path than Harry's). And maybe Cowl, if he ever comes back. Now you could probably mix away Cowl into the other two, but you can't have Harry's story without Marcone's and Nic's.

[morriswalters]

Some things that fly in the books won't fly on any screen.
 
A tete a tete with a 14 year old in a tree house where she talks about fun time handcuffs while she takes off her bra won't make it even on Amazon.

Bondage sex with a proto vampire whose throat he later cuts after tricking her wouldn't seem to translate well.

Thomas banging his way through half the females in Chicago, which by any definition you care to lay down, is Thomas committing rape over and over again. And he's a good guy.

Lara have some type of weird relationship where she turns her father into a thrall by sexing him out of his mind. Seems pretty incestuous on its face.

Clearly he has some narrative hurdles.  Maybe I'm a prude.   The closest in tone from my old man's perspective is something on the order of Magnum PI.  A very dark murderous Magnum.

[vincentric]

Some things that fly in the books won't fly on any screen.
 
A tete a tete with a 14 year old in a tree house where she talks about fun time handcuffs while she takes off her bra won't make it even on Amazon.

Bondage sex with a proto vampire whose throat he later cuts after tricking her wouldn't seem to translate well.

Thomas banging his way through half the females in Chicago, which by any definition you care to lay down, is Thomas committing rape over and over again. And he's a good guy.

Lara have some type of weird relationship where she turns her father into a thrall by sexing him out of his mind. Seems pretty incestuous on its face.

Clearly he has some narrative hurdles.  Maybe I'm a prude.   The closest in tone from my old man's perspective is something on the order of Magnum PI.  A very dark murderous Magnum.

It won't play if done suggestively, but it has the potential for comedy gold if done respectfully

Those two acts are separated by 9 books and  9 years in the characters lives. The sex scene was fine in the moment(unwise but understandable imo) and Harry has put himself through hell over the throat cut.

Maybe I've missed some stories, but Thomas put himself through hell by not sleeping around in the ones I read. And he's usually made a point of seeking out willing partners such as the swartalves.

Lara and her father's "conflict" is straight up incestuous. But it's that way because of White Court tradition laid down mostly by Papa Raith himself.  Play up the Lara as a reformer angle and don't be graphic and it'll be fine.

Narrative hurles are all about presentation.

[Ed0517]

I think we also have to ask - free-TV or cable adaptation? TV is going to want conisstent length episodes to fit in their grid. Chase was very happy with the Sopranos flexibility, he could hand one over to HBO that was 55 minutes, or 62, or 57, whatever. Film, cut, then time it so you could tell how long it was. 

Until they actually put a number to it, and that was later in the series, I didn't picture Harry as THAT tall. Six four, five? Maybe. The one, two, five percenters. But six NINE gets noticed and mentioned. That's the how many in a thousand.  The Wolfe mention shows the issue with numbers. I think the original is "a seventh of a ton" which is not usually good, but hardly disabling in most cases. Heck, Michael and Sanya are likely in the ballpark, and Hendricks more, though they are taller. I picture them in the 6'5", 6'6" area, though I think we are told Hendricks was 300 or more. Heck, my image of Michael was close to Merlin Olsen, and he played at 300 at times.

I think there is going to be an issue with religious ties. They are heavily linked with one brand of Christianity, which will turn some off some other Christians. Non Christians may be turned off.  Athiests. The 30 piece of silver Denarians. The noose.

And so many characters... plenty will get dropped. Who's The Dresden Tom Bombadil?

As far as the sex.. Thomas is not raping his way thru Chicago. it's willing partners. Thomas is gorgeous. We keep hearing that. Think a Margot Robbie can't get some any evening she wants in the clubs?

Incest in the White Court? Um, Game of Thrones? Cercei and Jamie? Two of the main characters are brother and sister in bed in the first episode? With three kids? And some would read the whole powderkeg was sparked when a married prince ran away with the fiancee of another noble. consentual or not.


and what happens if Jim has not finished the series when the adaptation catches up? Holy G R R Martin, Batman! I want Jim writing the BAT, not some dude at HBO or Netflix. Heck, Martin never even told us for sure who Jon Snow's parents are....

[Conspiracy Theorist]

The Lara/Lord Raith thing has to be clearly portrayed as a Lara as a victim, she was trying desperately to avoid Imari being abused in a similar fashion to her and her sisters.

The elephant in the room is the lack of significant recurring characters of colour. You have Rawlings, Lamar,  Sanya and Martha Liberty and thats about it. Chicago has a significant African American population which is virtually unrepresented. Who would you race (and or gender flip?) Will perhaps? Would a black Mcanally fly? Paranoid Gary?

[Mira]

The Lara/Lord Raith thing has to be clearly portrayed as a Lara as a victim, she was trying desperately to avoid Imari being abused in a similar fashion to her and her sisters.

The elephant in the room is the lack of significant recurring characters of colour. You have Rawlings, Lamar,  Sanya and Martha Liberty and thats about it. Chicago has a significant African American population which is virtually unrepresented. Who would you race (and or gender flip?) Will perhaps? Would a black Mcanally fly? Paranoid Gary?

Well, the original television show did make Morgan black and featured Ancient Mai a lot more than she is in the books.  So changing the gender and race of the characters isn't too big of a deal.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Morgan is supposed to be of Welsh descent about 200 years old, (the surname is a giveaway)so not really appropriate, he isn’t from Chicago, and it’s a failure to address that issue which is the problem. Besides setting up an recurring antagonist as black I found problematic, same if they tried it with Rudy.

Ancient Mai as a dragon was just wrong. I have set out Harry as monster above, making one of his fellow wizards one goes against that.

How about Larry Fowler? Or The new Luccio I think both of those would work.