Adaptions suck, right?
On many occasions I've found this to be true. I bet you can count at least a half a dozen sucktastic adaptions if you think about it.
Like many book lovers, it irritates the hell out of me when they really go way off the plot. I could probably rant at length about all of them, but with so much negativity in the world, I've decided to only mention 2 that irked me the most before mentioning those that did a good job following the original plot.
The Secret Circle by LJ Smith
As a teenager, I absolutely loved LJ Smith and the Secret Circle was one of the top series of hers that I loved. it was through LJ Smith that I acquired one of my best friends that I am still friends with after all these year. The secret circle was a great supernatural, coming of age underdog story. By the time it came to the CW, I was skeptical because the Vampire Diaries had already shown me that the CW liked to change the story for more teen drama. And sure enough, I saw the trailer for the Secret circle and read about it--and they changed everything. It seemed that the only thing that was true to the story was the character Faith. Otherwise, everything was a mess. It got cancelled after only 1 season, so, I don't think I'm the only one that was pissed off.
The Queen of the Damned
When I was 14yrs old I watch Interview with a Vampire. And shortly there after, I read the rest of the series. My favorite of the novels being The Queen of the Damned. I've figure out over the years of reading that I enjoy multiple POVs in my story if the Author writes them well enough that they all feel unique and different, which Anne Rice did with all the characters of QOTD. It is such a rich world with so many interesting facetes. It tells of the beginning of vampires in this world and the end. And none of these things transferred to the movie well at all. They changed characters, got rid of key characters and changed the plot. The entire time I watched the movie I couldn't help bursting out with curses and angry tirades of how this or that didn't happen, until my friend (who doesn't read) yelled at me to let her enjoy this good movie with the hot guy. Is that why they had Stuart Townsend half naked and brooding (far too often to be Lestat btw) is to try to make people blind to the terrible plot? We may never know.
There are many others. Quite a few Stephen King stories change by the time they get to screen, but that could be because of their size. And there are many others that can't make it.
Now onto the good
I'll start with a mention of a few off the top of my head that were close enough to be enjoyable tv or films. Then I will mention my favorite adaption.
The Help
If you haven't read this novel or seen the movie, I highly recommend both. I won't spoil the plot for you, but I will say that the film did great at following the book and their choice of actors was spot on. This is a movie that I rewatch, and that's saying a lot.
Interview with a Vampire
Although it's sequel movie sucked and still fills me with rage, this story was pretty close to the novel. Yes, they changed the family he grieved for from a crazy brother to a wife and son. And yes, Antonio Banderas was not a 19yr beautiful Parisian (probably to keep things from feeling squicky) and No, Lestat didn't turn Daniel (the interviewer) into a vampire (that was Armond). But the rest of it flowed along the original plot line. And the actors did a fantastic job.
Harry Potter series
Overall, they did pretty good with the adaption. Movie 4 took out a lot of the personal story and focused on the action. But overall, the series followed the books well and I can enjoy an occasional HP binge watch.
And to my favorite adaption...
Outlander
At first I thought I enjoyed the show primarily because the novels are my favorite read by far. Maybe it does lend to my bias. Or maybe I love the actors they chose, but I don't think that is the whole of my enjoyment.
One reason I think this show works, is that it is a cable tv series that is about 1 hour long per episode. So they have a lot of time to cover the chunky stories in each large novel. Trying to cram these into a trilogy wouldn't work. Neither would having it on prime time tv in 30 min. slot. Of course the adult content also wouldn't work for that either. The Novels are simply too big for those and I think putting it into a long series on cable was the best choice.
Each season is one novel. We just finished season 5 and currently Diana Gabalden is nearly finished with book 9. So, as long as people keep loving the show, we should get quite a few more seasons, for which I am ecstatic.
Now before you ask, No, it isn't exactly perfectly the same as the novels, but some of the changes I liked. If it weren't for the small changes, Murtaugh would have died at Culloden, instead of refound in America. Murtaugh was a favorite character of mine in the books and I was sad when he died in the books. There are a few other small changes, but nothing that changes the story overtly. So, I can deal.
The last thing I will mention about outlander that is superb is the music by Bear Mccreary. Beautiful. Lovely music. Very nice scores for the intro and throughout the episodes.
There are more but I will leave off here.
What are some adaptions you loved? What are some you hated? What are some that changed but it was for the better? Let me know. :D
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