Adaptation Do's and Don'ts

[Fcrate]

Representation is overrated. Authenticity is much better. If you flip over a character to a different color you just look desperate.
It annoyed me to the extreme that Roland of Eld was black in the movie. I pictured him in my head as a more sunburnt Clint Eastwood for most of my life.
Do: Decrease the amount of wisecracks and trash talk. Looks good on paper (mostly) but on the screen it'll sound like a horrible action movie.
Don't: Start untill JB finishes the series. lol

[Mira]

Representation is overrated. Authenticity is much better. If you flip over a character to a different color you just look desperate.
It annoyed me to the extreme that Roland of Eld was black in the movie. I pictured him in my head as a more sunburnt Clint Eastwood for most of my life.
Do: Decrease the amount of wisecracks and trash talk. Looks good on paper (mostly) but on the screen it'll sound like a horrible action movie.
Don't: Start untill JB finishes the series. lol

The show writers, directors, and producers do need to be faithful to the series as much as possible.  However having said that viewers/fans have to realize what not everything on page translates on to film very well and have to be changed.  I think if Jim takes the time to work closely with the script writers it will be okay..

I don't disagree about what you saying about changing the color of an actor, but that doesn't bother me half as much as changing the sex of a character.. Because the character remains the same, just a different actor of color plays him or her.  Opera has done it for years, Tosca remains Tosca no matter the race of the singer playing her.  Dr Who is the latest, suddenly both the Doctor and the Master are women?  Why?  There are strong Time Ladies out there, Ramoda was one of them, so why change the sex of the Doctor? They did it with Captain Marvel as well.. Okay, now I wonder when Wonder Woman will become Wonder Man or Black Widow becomes Black Widower?

[Fcrate]

Black widower... ROFL
And it's just easy cash. Fresh out of ideas? Reboot a popular show/movie with a sex change, or a more representative cast and you're not a copycat, but politically correct.
I get that not everything translates well to the screen, which is why I prefer watching the movie first, then reading the books. The other way around is just a recipe for disappointment.

[morriswalters]

If you see the actor instead of the role someone isn't doing their job well.

Since Dr Who isn't human, what difference does it make what gender he/she is? I mean, come on, one of the big villains was a vacuum cleaner carrying a toilet plunger. You bought into that didn't you?

Also leave out comic book characters.  Wonder Women was a bondage queen who spent as much time tied up  with her golden lasso as any villain.  She was also female since she was an Amazon. But face facts, Rue Paul could play her if he needn't go the full Monty. And the same for Black Widow.  And how would you know? Do you have crotch vision or bust detectors?  You see what you expect to see.

Kabuki Theater plays off this and it has been done on film.  Victor Victoria is hysterical. Color doesn't matter much either since in Morgan's case there are Black Welsh. I'd settle for good, no matter who plays the roles.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

I think you mean Black Irish who are the descendants of the Spanish Armada survivors who washed up in Ireland. Black Welsh is a type of sheep. Morgan was not the Black Sheep of the White Council, Harry was.

Historically Wales was Celtic and the very isolated Valleys tended to keep out even the English. Welsh is a living language, especially in the more rural North Wales as a consequence of this isolation. Cardiff was a major port and as such would have visitors from across the world, and of course there was slavery (but Bristol across the Channel was the major port for that trade) but major immigration from the West Indies only occurred post WW2, far too late for Morgan. The 2011 census recorded only 0.6% 0f the population of Wales of being of African descent

A Morgan born in the 1950’s could plausibly be of black heritage, still extremely unusual but not one in the 1800’s. Conrad Coates the actor playing Morgan was actually born in London. I am surprised they cast an English Actor for a Welsh role. That type of thing makes the Welsh cultural establishment quite unhappy.

You would expect characters from Chicago to reflect the ethnic heritage of that city as at the time of their birth. Either that or you change their backstory and alienate the fans. A black Morgan is feasible if he was West Indian origin. Very arbitrary changes are annoying but hey look at what they did with Murphy and Susan, basically swapped the actresses.

[morriswalters]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Welsh_people

[Snark Knight]

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.

Morgan's national background wasn't particularly fundamental to his character though, despite the name's Welsh roots. And in fairness to the original show, whether related to the casting or not, they did tone down his antagonism - he was still strict and suspicious, but without the seeming personal hatred of Harry. 

Granted I saw the series before finding the books, but "rational hardass" vs. "rabid" seems like a good adaptation change to me. A show would struggle with keeping a significant supporting character just an irrational persecutor for as long as it took the books to explain that behaviour.

[Mira]

If you see the actor instead of the role someone isn't doing their job well.

Since Dr Who isn't human, what difference does it make what gender he/she is? I mean, come on, one of the big villains was a vacuum cleaner carrying a toilet plunger. You bought into that didn't you?

Also leave out comic book characters.  Wonder Women was a bondage queen who spent as much time tied up  with her golden lasso as any villain.  She was also female since she was an Amazon. But face facts, Rue Paul could play her if he needn't go the full Monty. And the same for Black Widow.  And how would you know? Do you have crotch vision or bust detectors?  You see what you expect to see.

Kabuki Theater plays off this and it has been done on film.  Victor Victoria is hysterical. Color doesn't matter much either since in Morgan's case there are Black Welsh. I'd settle for good, no matter who plays the roles.

So since all of the above characters are fictional, what does it matter what sex or color?  I think it would make no difference if Murphy was played by a man... The tough cop thing works for both sexes, so does the love thing..  Comic book or novel?  Wonder Woman can change to Greek Warrior.. Or better yet, Amazons still need men to make little Amazons, some are born boys, and what if his mother decided she wanted her son treated equally to the girls? My point stands that there is no need to change the color or sex of an existing character no matter the medium because there is no reason to create more.  Oh and my impression of Sanya, is though he seems to be Russian, he is also black, I seem to remember him described that way, but I could be wrong there.

[BrainFireBob]

So since all of the above characters are fictional, what does it matter what sex or color?  I think it would make no difference if Murphy was played by a man... The tough cop thing works for both sexes, so does the love thing..  Comic book or novel?  Wonder Woman can change to Greek Warrior.. Or better yet, Amazons still need men to make little Amazons, some are born boys, and what if his mother decided she wanted her son treated equally to the girls? My point stands that there is no need to change the color or sex of an existing character no matter the medium because there is no reason to create more.  Oh and my impression of Sanya, is though he seems to be Russian, he is also black, I seem to remember him described that way, but I could be wrong there.

Respectfully, Murphy's a trope inversion- Jim loves these. A Murphy that isn't a petite, short, doll-like woman doesn't have the same struggles. She's an interior cigar-chomping hard-ass tough-as-nails wise guy, but she looks like a cheerleader- she was Jim doing a Buffy. She's actually a miniature Viking, and her coloring furthers the joke. (Recall, Butcher's Vikings- his Einherjar- are men who gleefully go after Jotnar. Relatively speaking, compared to Murphy, you're no Jotnar.)

Just like Harry's a clever, insightful, relatively wise (for his years) man who works with his mind- and is a hulking representative of humanity. It's a joke. When they confront you, Murphy's going to loom and Harry's going to go nice cop. Harry's the one who's going to try to entrap you in lying and Murphy's the one who's going to rough you up.

To do it really well, and capture an important aspect of the books, you'll need a director/showrunner who pushes close-ups for most scenes, so you can occasionally pan out to just how tall/looming Harry is. Harry forgets the effect this has on people sometimes- particularly other tall people who aren't as tall. It can elicit instant hostility from those who are used to looming themselves. I've always thought a well-done scene with Morgan would have such a cutaway, where Harry doesn't realize he's not "in Morgan's face" but "looming down into Morgan's face", which is inherently a bit more threatening.

[BrainFireBob]

Morgan's national background wasn't particularly fundamental to his character though, despite the name's Welsh roots. And in fairness to the original show, whether related to the casting or not, they did tone down his antagonism - he was still strict and suspicious, but without the seeming personal hatred of Harry. 

Granted I saw the series before finding the books, but "rational hardass" vs. "rabid" seems like a good adaptation change to me. A show would struggle with keeping a significant supporting character just an irrational persecutor for as long as it took the books to explain that behaviour.

Cast a retired cop.

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Cast a retired cop.

Or an actor known for playing a cop like Christopher Meloni. That gives the audience a shorthand for what a Warden is, without going into a load of exposition.

[Mira]

To do it really well, and capture an important aspect of the books, you'll need a director/showrunner who pushes close-ups for most scenes, so you can occasionally pan out to just how tall/looming Harry is. Harry forgets the effect this has on people sometimes- particularly other tall people who aren't as tall. It can elicit instant hostility from those who are used to looming themselves. I've always thought a well-done scene with Morgan would have such a cutaway, where Harry doesn't realize he's not "in Morgan's face" but "looming down into Morgan's face", which is inherently a bit more threatening.

Yeah, it is funny how size can intimidate, even when the "big tall person" hasn't an aggressive bone in his body, in fact the total opposite.  My poor brother who was almost as tall as Harry suffered that all of his life.

[BrainFireBob]

Or an actor known for playing a cop like Christopher Meloni. That gives the audience a shorthand for what a Warden is, without going into a load of exposition.

Ooooh. I'd not considered that, but that's a good cast.

[Fcrate]

If you see the actor instead of the role someone isn't doing their job well.

Since Dr Who isn't human, what difference does it make what gender he/she is? I mean, come on, one of the big villains was a vacuum cleaner carrying a toilet plunger. You bought into that didn't you?

Also leave out comic book characters.  Wonder Women was a bondage queen who spent as much time tied up  with her golden lasso as any villain.  She was also female since she was an Amazon. But face facts, Rue Paul could play her if he needn't go the full Monty. And the same for Black Widow.  And how would you know? Do you have crotch vision or bust detectors?  You see what you expect to see.

Kabuki Theater plays off this and it has been done on film.  Victor Victoria is hysterical. Color doesn't matter much either since in Morgan's case there are Black Welsh. I'd settle for good, no matter who plays the roles.

And what I expect to see is sticking to the books wherever possible. If you run out of muscular burnette women who could play Wonder Woman, start looking for a man.
My point is: Don't mess up something good just for the sake of representation. If you try to make everybody happy, you'll end up with a crappy production.

[Mira]

My point is: Don't mess up something good just for the sake of representation. If you try to make everybody happy, you'll end up with a crappy production.

Exactly, that is my point too, if they want more diverse representation, invent more strong characters of different races and sexes..  What I don't understand is Jim invented Elaine, a beautiful, smart, and powerful wizard, perfect foil for Harry in many ways, dumped her... But decided to take Murphy, don't get me wrong as a smart and brave cop with good hand to hand skills she matched well, but then had her fighting so far above her weight class that in the end she became a cartoon character..