eddysnake's Thread of Stephen King

[AuthorTony]

I could see them dropping a lot of the race stuff in general, regardless of who is cast.

[eddy]

I think it will be just fine if she just hates Eddie

[PFiDC]

I could see them dropping a lot of the race stuff in general, regardless of who is cast.

Well that would suck. It's a rather important part of her story.

[PFiDC]

Is there ever any mention of racism in Roland's world? Is he aware that it is a thing in ours? Up through the halfway point of Waste Lands and I haven't seen anything. Can't remember from my first read through.

[dodint]

King also approved the changes to Under The Dome so I'd take his opinion with a grain of salt on decisions for adaptations. In fact, it's an indicator they're dropping the ball from the get go.

[AuthorTony]

King also approved the changes to Under The Dome so I'd take his opinion with a grain of salt on decisions for adaptations. In fact, it's an indicator they're dropping the ball from the get go.

Keep in mind this is all rumors at this point. It's not even 100% greenlit and the odds of it all falling through are greater than it going into production.

[dodint]

I don’t have a dog in the fight. Haven't read a word of the DT canon.

The fact that UTD turned out the way it did displeased me. He said they intentionally made it drastically different because those that read the book already knew the ending. Well, no ****. They liked the book enough to watch the screen adaptation. And it ended on a cliff hanger because they betrayed the fans.

My confidence in King is shot to hell. He probably won't earn it back before he dies.

[AuthorTony]

I don't buy that (what King said) for a second. He's always very diplomatic about adaptations of his work, with the exception of The Shining. They could have changed the ending of UTD if that was the case. Instead it was clear the producers wanted to capitalize on the teen/tween audience with it being a summer show, and CBS wasn't going to touch the very thinly veiled Bush/Cheney angle with a ten foot pole. I don't buy for a second that King thought the UTD series was anything other than the steaming pile of crap that it was, he's just too nice to say so.

[dodint]

It's fine for you to think that, but when his fans hated it he wrote an open letter to them saying if they like the book so much "read it again." He said in the nicest way possible to kindly go **** yourself.

http://stephenking.com/promo/utd_on_tv/letter.html

A Letter From Stephen:
For those of you out there in Constant Reader Land who are feeling miffed because the TV version of Under the Dome varies considerably from the book version, here’s a little story.

Near the end of his life, and long after his greatest novels were written, James M. Cain agreed to be interviewed by a student reporter who covered culture and the arts for his college newspaper. This young man began his time with Cain by bemoaning how Hollywood had changed books such as The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity. Before he could properly get into his rant, the old man interrupted him by pointing to a shelf of books behind his desk. “The movies didn’t change them a bit, son,” he said. “They’re all right up there. Every word is the same as when I wrote them.”

I feel the same way about Under the Dome. If you loved the book when you first read it, it’s still there for your perusal. But that doesn’t mean the TV series is bad, because it’s not. In fact, it’s very good. And, if you look closely, you’ll see that most of my characters are still there, although some have been combined and others have changed jobs. That’s also true of the big stuff, like the supermarket riot, the reason for all that propane storage, and the book’s thematic concerns with diminishing resources.

Many of the changes wrought by Brian K. Vaughan and his team of writers have been of necessity, and I approved of them wholeheartedly. Some have been occasioned by their plan to keep the Dome in place over Chester’s Mill for months instead of little more than a week, as is the case in the book. Other story modifications are slotting into place because the writers have completely re-imagined the source of the Dome.

That such a re-imagining had to take place was my only serious concern when the series was still in the planning stages, and that concern was purely practical. If the solution to the mystery were the same on TV as in the book, everyone would know it in short order, which would spoil a lot of the fun (besides, plenty of readers didn’t like my solution, anyway). By the same token, it would spoil things if you guys knew the arcs of the characters in advance. Some who die in the book—Angie, for instance—live in the TV version of Chester’s Mill…at least for a while. And some who live in the book may not be as lucky during the run of the show. Just sayin’.

Listen, I’ve always been a situational writer. My idea of what to do with a plot is to shoot it before it can breed. It’s true that when I start a story, I usually have a general idea of where it’s going to finish up, but in many cases I end up in a different place entirely (for instance, I fully expected Ben Mears to die at the end of ’Salem’s Lot, and Susannah Dean was supposed to pop off at the end of Song of Susannah). “The book is the boss,” Alfred Bester used to say, and what that means to me is the situation is the boss. If you play fair with the characters—and let them play their parts according to their strengths and weaknesses—you can never go wrong. It’s impossible.

There’s only one element of my novel that absolutely had to be the same in the novel and the show, and that’s the Dome itself. It’s best to think of that novel and what you’re seeing week-to-week on CBS as a case of fraternal twins. Both started in the same creative womb, but you will be able to tell them apart. Or, if you’re of a sci-fi bent, think of them as alternate versions of the same reality.

As for me, I’m enjoying the chance to watch that alternate reality play out; I still think there’s no place like Dome.

As for you, Constant Reader, feel free to take the original down from your bookshelf anytime you want. Nothing between the covers has changed a bit.

Stephen King
June 27th, 2013

Are you saying the letter is fiction and CBS twisted his arm on it?

Regarding the point of emphasis about the dome staying the same, yeah, that was discarded too. In the book you could never just come and go from the Dome. That was the point. So even the thing that he thought was absolutely unchangeable, was changed. No integrity.

[AuthorTony]

I was just saying that King didn't have creative control over the show and he's too diplomatic to say it sucked. That letter was written during the first season which (although I definitely disliked the changed) definitely had come close to the trainwreck that followed. Maybe he really did think the show was good. I don't know how that's possible, but I supposed there's a slight chance. I just know that King's never said anything bad about any of the adaptations of his work except The Shining and I've seen every King adaptation and most of them are pretty bad. He didn't call them out on sucking either.

[dodint]

All you authors stick together.

I challenge you to a duel, sir.

[PFiDC]

Do you demand satisfaction?

[dodint]

Near constantly.

[AuthorTony]

All you authors stick together.

I challenge you to a duel, sir.

You're practically a sniper. I wouldn't stand a chance.

[eddy]

It's been a while since I've read these, but I do remember Odetta being my least liked character of the books. Would it be so bad if we removed her character all together, would the story be OK? Honestly, that's the one thing thats been really keeping me from rereading these and I don't even really remember her storyline except that I didn't care for it.

[PFiDC]

It's been a while since I've read these, but I do remember Odetta being my least liked character of the books. Would it be so bad if we removed her character all together, would the story be OK? Honestly, that's the one thing thats been really keeping me from rereading these and I don't even really remember her storyline except that I didn't care for it.

Do you mean Detta or the Odetta/Detta combo?

No...they are all important. Susannah is a combo of 3 people. Sometimes Detta comes out. Sometimes it's Odetta. Sometimes it's Susannah. Frankly, after the merge, I prefer when Detta is out. That means ish is about to go down (see: Oracle in Waste Lands). Before the merge Detta is my least favorite character in the entire series.

[eddy]

maybe that is what I'm remembering, I didn't care for her before the merge. I guess I really need to go back and read them again. He crammed in another book recently between some of the other ones, correct? did he do this only once?

[PFiDC]

Wind Through The Keyhole. It's basically a continuation of the events in Wizard and Glass. During this read through I will read it after Wizard and before Wolves.

Yeah, the Odetta/Detta part was my least favorite during my first read. This current read though, I liked it much more.

[eddy]

Abbey Lee, who is coming off Mad Max: Fury Road and who stars in Gods of Egypt, is negotiating to star in the female lead role of Tirana.

UPDATE: Readers are questioning the name of the character that Lee plays. That’s what I heard they were calling this major character, and for die hard fans, I can tell you a few character qualities: she’s sexy and dangerous, she has fake human skin and cold snake-like eyes. She doesn’t come in until the seventh volume, apparently, but she’s going to be starring in the first film.

http://deadline.com/2016/02/abbey-lee-t ... 201705142/

I really can't make sense out of any of this...

[dodint]

Source of the post I really can't make sense out of any of this...

It's going the way of Under the Dome.

[AuthorTony]

Source of the post I really can't make sense out of any of this...

It's going the way of Under the Dome.

I'm starting to think that's true. "She's sexy". Who gives af? Unless this comes off as total bunk, I've lost any faith I had that this project could be good.

[PFiDC]

Well she's a minor character from book 7 but technically you could expand the role. She's the wife of a low man and knocks the turtle statue out of Callahan's hand in the Dixie Pig. Still...very odd to make her that important.

[shafnutz05]

The longer this goes on, the less I care if it ever gets produced. I was excited x number of years ago...now? Who cares.

[dodint]

Decided to read the books. I have some extra time this summer so I'll work through them. I figure if I can stomach Insomnia I can read anything. I bought the Kindle version of the first book, so I have the edited copy.

[PFiDC]

The revised version or the original release? I recommend the revised version. It gives some nice foreshadowing to book IV (and the end of book VII if you pay very close attention...). Reading Insomnia already will make book VII that much better. However, King does basically give a ~25 page Cliff's Notes of Insomnia in book VII. I can't even make a guess if you will like it or not. Dark Tower is not for everyone, even avid King fans. Report back after the obvious WTF moment in book VI. I want to see your reaction...