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DF TV Series / Re: POLL: End Game Opinion of the Series
« on: May 01, 2010, 01:26:21 PM »
I'm not offended, and I doubt anyone would be, I just disagree with you.
Bob, as snarky as he is in the books should have been left as is and he does have a back story spread out in the books.
When Harry released one of Bob's past personalities Bob nearly killed him (I don't have the books on hand to check but I think that's in "Dead Beat". ).
We have, in fact been getting bits and pieces through out the series and, if they bothered to check back with Jim, Bob could have been expanded as a character in the series.
He wasn't a ghost?
I doubt many would have noticed or cared about the distinction.
Now about what works and what doesn't.
This wasn't about what a TV audience can make sense of, they can make sense of everything from "The X-files" to "Fringe" and track the twist and turns of Walter ( Who is "grey" morally if ever a sympathetic character was.) and the seasons end of "Burn Notice" has just put Michael Weston in immediate moral peril that's been building for 3 seasons now.
Terence Mann as Bob struck me as a necessary change, that was correct even if turning him to the remaining half of a pair of star-crossed lovers wasn't.
Making changes with the Blue beetle was necessary, finance wise, these are things you do when you switch from the printed page to the screen.
Make visual what you can, drop long expository passages (Unless you can get Kate Blanchett to read them of course.), and in general map out the visual realm and your story arc so you know where you're going and why.
What we got was no story arc, looting a few of the books for points of interest (werewolves!), the awful treatment of the characters Jim created.
What we saw was a waste of money, time and talent, spent in an attempt to make something as formulaic as possible.
Like just about everyone here I watched the series come together with obsessive interest and growing alarm as I started seeing those little mis-steps on the road to the premier.
I don't think the writers lacked smarts, indeed there were enough touches that cropped up "Polka Lives!" that showed they knew the world but the blond-brunette switch followed by the dearth of information about what the episodes would include rang alarm bells.
SyFy blew this one and it had nothing to do with what a tv audience will and won't watch, they watch good tv if it catches their interest.
What they did was turn Jim's books into bad formulaic TV and if I were ever asked to give a course on what not to do with an interesting new book series you just bought for television I would use the Dresden File show as an object lesson.
With the best will in the world (They don't get money for flops and that's certainly motivating.) they gutted Jim's books and produced bad tv and it had nothing to do with what works on screen and what doesn't.
Bob, as snarky as he is in the books should have been left as is and he does have a back story spread out in the books.
When Harry released one of Bob's past personalities Bob nearly killed him (I don't have the books on hand to check but I think that's in "Dead Beat". ).
We have, in fact been getting bits and pieces through out the series and, if they bothered to check back with Jim, Bob could have been expanded as a character in the series.
He wasn't a ghost?
I doubt many would have noticed or cared about the distinction.
Quote
They didn't think little of Jim Butcher's book series or they wouldn't have wanted to use it at all. There were changes, most of which were very necessary. You have to be realistic with what can or can't make sense on TV and what a TV audience will respond well toward. Certain things seem great in a novel that just won't work on TV.
Now about what works and what doesn't.
This wasn't about what a TV audience can make sense of, they can make sense of everything from "The X-files" to "Fringe" and track the twist and turns of Walter ( Who is "grey" morally if ever a sympathetic character was.) and the seasons end of "Burn Notice" has just put Michael Weston in immediate moral peril that's been building for 3 seasons now.
Terence Mann as Bob struck me as a necessary change, that was correct even if turning him to the remaining half of a pair of star-crossed lovers wasn't.
Making changes with the Blue beetle was necessary, finance wise, these are things you do when you switch from the printed page to the screen.
Make visual what you can, drop long expository passages (Unless you can get Kate Blanchett to read them of course.), and in general map out the visual realm and your story arc so you know where you're going and why.
What we got was no story arc, looting a few of the books for points of interest (werewolves!), the awful treatment of the characters Jim created.
What we saw was a waste of money, time and talent, spent in an attempt to make something as formulaic as possible.
Like just about everyone here I watched the series come together with obsessive interest and growing alarm as I started seeing those little mis-steps on the road to the premier.
I don't think the writers lacked smarts, indeed there were enough touches that cropped up "Polka Lives!" that showed they knew the world but the blond-brunette switch followed by the dearth of information about what the episodes would include rang alarm bells.
SyFy blew this one and it had nothing to do with what a tv audience will and won't watch, they watch good tv if it catches their interest.
What they did was turn Jim's books into bad formulaic TV and if I were ever asked to give a course on what not to do with an interesting new book series you just bought for television I would use the Dresden File show as an object lesson.
With the best will in the world (They don't get money for flops and that's certainly motivating.) they gutted Jim's books and produced bad tv and it had nothing to do with what works on screen and what doesn't.