this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2023
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Movies and TV Shows
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I'm really struggling to take this show as it is. I've read the books multiple times and can accept that things need to change for the screen, but some of the decisions the writers are making here are making are baffling.
Fundamental changes to the core systems of the world. Major character motivations and events.
I find myself asking, "What?" More then being sucked into the world. People are having things happen to them at such a breakneck place it's a little hard to comprehend.
We'll see if they can pull it together.
You've read 14 book series multiple times? That's enormous investment that's probably setting unrealistic expectations.
I've only started the first one to die out of boredom quickly so I can't imagine repeatedly getting through a slog first few books supposedly are. My girlfriend read everything after the first season and once she was finished she did a re-watch which she enjoyed, in part because it's different. Second season has higher production value but seems to be confusing with the amount of changes so far. I'm following along because the themes are interesting and there's nothing so bad that would discourage me.
Even without reading everything it's fair to assume that this couldn't be a faithful adaptation. They'll likely have to merge more story lines, characters, then remove some things entirely and it'll still be a challenge to fit this into amount of seasons that's reasonable to produce. The Expanse did plenty of that but it still had roughly a season per book, and that was with a book series that Bezos personally enjoys.
It's not a huge investment for someone who reads frequently. It took me 8 months to read them all and I wasn't going super fast.
I'm not judging someone who read the entire series or those who did it multiple times. People are free to enjoy what they want. Regardless of that, doing 8 months multiplied by even 2-3 times is a considerable chunk of a human lifespan. It explains takes like "I don't like the adaptation because it made too many changes" and it needs to be put into perspective. I've elaborated more on this in my other comment.
Yes?
I hardly see how my enjoying the entire arch sets unrealistic expectations. As I said, I can accept changes for the medium's and natural limitations sake. This show has gone beyond that, both in the first and this far in this season.
It's a different story with the same names. That's more my beef, than that things needed to be cut or merged.
Even the explanation of the One Power in the S2E1, drawing things out of what is already there is a pretty major shift from the books themselves.
"This series is 1:1 replica of a book" and "this series is only taking a passing inspiration from original books" are merely facts and a starting point to set expectations before moving on to describe and judge an adaptation. It's okay to judge by comparing original to adaptation but "this is not a faithful adaptation, therefore it is bad" does not help in evaluating quality of derived work.
In as much as Lord of the Rings we're to be adapted about a Hobbit (who looks like a minotaur and hates grass) wearing a magical necklace (which grants him extra speed) on the way to a mythical hot springs guarded by unicorns would be a faithful adaptation.
You're assuming that readers of the books are expecting to see their internal movie played out before them. I think most are expecting an adaptation. What they're getting is an "Inspired by a true story" level of faithfulness to the original work.
I can only speak for myself, which is to say I'm fine with the changes in timeline, consolidation of enemies, etc. Yet there are fundamental changes to characters, motivations, etc. That drastically change who these people are. That's where my disappointment lies.
I see why Brandon Sanderson wants creative control over his adaptations if/when they ever go to screen.
Agreed. One of my biggest complaints about the first season was how much time they wasted on subplots that didn't exist in the books, trying to explain stuff that would have gotten covered later anyway with better, more established characters.