Page vs Screen: Game of Thrones

Last year around this time I wrote a "Book Report" post on the first four books in the series Song of Ice and Fire by George Martin (I just noticed I never wrote the book report for book 5 Dance With Dragnos last summer, darn!), with some video clips from the soon to be aired HBO TV show embedded. It was pretty obvious I was excited about the new TV series... and it definitely lived up to any expectations I had for it! So much so that I ordered the first season on BluRay as soon as it was available, and then had a nice little Game of Thrones marathon two weeks ago! Since then I've been rushing to finish re-reading the first book so I could write this post before season 2 premi�res! (I read it in 2 days the first time around, but now am busier plus I no longer have the drive to keep reading into night to find out "what happens next") :p

To be more precise this post should be titled "A Game of Thrones vs Game of Thrones s1", but, same difference! I took a lot of notes while re-watching the first season, plus added elements as I continued through the book, and it hasn't been easy bringing a semblance of order to the chaos of my thoughts, so I hope things are understandable! Here goes nothing... (Warning! Spoilers for s1 of Game of Thrones)

keep reading!

Page vs Screen: True Blood S4 vs Dead To The World

Well, the fourth season of True Blood has just finished, giving me the perfect occasion to inaugurate my Page vs Screen series! (am trying to forget I had planned to inaugurate it with Game of Thrones, and then Harry Potter and then... oops!)

True Blood is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris. I'm not going to go into details concerning the previous seasons/novels, but in general each season is more or less loosely based on one novel (there are 11 books so far, will the series go 11 seasons?). The first season is the one that was closest to its respective novel - Dead Until Dark -, whereas the second season started to veer away from the novel (Living Dead In Dallas) and develop its own storyline parallel to the main action (i.e. Maryanne in Bon Temps) and then the third season just... woah! Major changes (deaths!!! some that should have taken place in later novels) and surprises to the principal plot from the novel (Club Dead)!!! Warning: some spoilers (for books and series) to be expected.

In general, all the main characters are pretty much the same as in the novels (Sookie, Bill, Eric, Jason, Sam, Pam, Alcide...). Where things really changed in the TV series (other than the variations on the plots) was in the development of the secondary characters (Tara, Lafayette, Terry, Arlene, Hoyt, Holly, Tommy...) and introduction of new ones (Jessica!!! Jesus). I think this is in great part due to the nature of the beast: screen vs page. The books are all narrated by Sookie, so all in the 1st person and the story is seen almost exclusively from her point of view. So the secondary characters don't get much development unless they interact with her directly. That wouldn't work as well on TV. Quite frankly it's one of the aspects I disliked the most from the books and the single major change that I think makes the TV series so much better than the books: the rich world of Bon Temps brought to life by all the secondary (and some major) characters (inhabited by some fabulous actors)! I can't imagine that place without Lafayette or Tara, and the first gets killed at the start of the second novel and the second just zips in and out of the action in several of the books.

On to Season Four of True Blood!

keep reading!

TV Addiction: R.I.P. - LOST

Part of me can't believe I got up at 6 in the morning to watch a TV show (and cancelled my rehab session this morning)... but then part of me feels like a 10 year-old again sneaking down to the TV room at 6h30 on a Saturday morning to watch cartoons. That sense of anticipation... in this case a feeling of sharing in something epic (it's been shown simultaneously in 59 countries!)... and LOST did not disappoint! :o)

Ok, so if you haven't seen the final episodes of LOST, you'd better stop reading NOW, because I'm going to ramble on about it for a while. I'm home alone and none of my friends here are into it so I don't have anyone to talk to about it (my sister will watch the re-broadcasting later tonight in the UK, my Aunt set her dvr and will see it at some time this morning), so I've just got to let it all out here! Read on if your a Lost fan and share your thoughts, pass on if you're not.

keep reading!

TV Addiction: remembering Firefly

I just came across a great post on the realtvaddict.com about Firefly and it made me feel all nostlagic! Now I want to pull out my dvd set and watch it... except it's in Spain and I'm in Belgium! :o(

So I had to settle for forwarding the post to my Dad saying "read this and then go look for my dvd set and WATCH IT!"

keep reading!

TV Addiction: combining two favourites!

I haven't seen last night's Halloween episode of Castle yet... but seeing this clip online makes me really impatient!



Rick Castle disguised as Captain Mal Reynolds?! Oh yeah!!! :o)
(and the dialogue with his daughter is priceless!)

Now if Joss Whedon could only give Nathan Filion a proper excuse to wear the space cowboy togs... preferably onboard the Serenity! ;o)

TV Addiction: a new season begins

Any other series-addicts TV fans reading this?

So, the new (US) TV season is back in full swing! I've been so psyched about this since summer started drawing to a close and I realised how close I was to witnessing certain cliffhangers be resolved (where did Lois go? what happened to Olivia? to Zhiva? will Booth regain his memory? will he tell Bones how he feels? who died, George or Izzie? is House truly crazy?...), the rebirth of hope for certain series (Dollhouse got renewed? yessss!!! please oh please make Heroes improve its storylines!), and the delight of new discoveries (what would happen if the whole world blacked out for 2'14s? can we really take in another vampire series?).

keep reading!

Darwin anyone?

For those of you lucky enough to live in the US with access to that wonderful channel that is PBS... you might be interested in watching this tonight:

I wish I could! And then check out their website, there appears to be plenty more information there!

One of these weeks I'll finish getting things organised enough to to a "Darwin Week", big double anniversary this year: 200th birthday (if he were still alive that is, lol!) and 150th anniversary of the publication of his revolutionary "On the Origin of Species".

TV Addiction: a "Horrible" duo!

Aren't these two wonderful?!



Thank you Joss Whedon for this kookie invention of a Sing-Along-Blog! (and for giving me an extra excuse to admire Nathan Filion! lol)

TV Addiction: too much internet? :p

Hmmm... do you think it's a sign I maybe spend a bit too much time browsing TV news related websites if I just got an e-mail inviting me as a "frequent commenter" to preview a new series online? :p

Or should I just feel honoured?

Or maybe EW was just sending out the invite to anyone who's commented on their website? Dunno... but anyhow I got sent a link and a code to preview the pilot episode for ABC's new comedy Modern Family:



Hmmm... kind of funny but in a contrived way (to me at least) so not very convincing! I was kind of annoyed by the repeated "interruptions" in the form of interviews of the three main couples as if they were in therapy or something... Although it's an interesting idea for the pilot (to introduce the characters to us), I think it could tiresome very quickly so I hope they don't keep it up throughout the series!

So the basic premise for this series is a tale of what it's like to be part of a "modern family" with three cases studies: An older man and his new much younger wife with her 12 year-old son from a previous marriage; a nuclear family of five with a dad who's not as cool as he thinks and a mom who wants to make sure her eldest daughter doesn't do the same crazy mistakes she did; and a gay couple who've just adopted a baby girl in Vietnam. Why these three families in particular? Well it all comes clear at the end of the pilot and it's a fun reveal so I won't spoil it for you. ;o)


I'm not very experienced in the "review field", so I think I'll send you on to a couple of people who do that quite well:

• Jace over at Televisionary was quite taken with this new show, particularly with the casting.

• Michael Ausiello over at The Ausiello Files on EW.com calls it "Easily the best comedy pilot of the new fall season."... um, oh dear! I mean, I giggled a bit, but no outright laughs...

• The TV Addict also really liked this pilot and called it "the Fall's funniest new show" (here).

Hmm... it's beginning to sound like I just don't get it or something! :p I'm not that big on flatout comedies -with a few exceptions- so that might have something to do with it (although I love some shows with comic elements / witty banter � la House, Bones etc.).

Anyhow, if you're interested the show premieres (for those Sateside) on Wednesday Sept 23rd at 9PM ET/PT on ABC. Let me know what you thought of it! ;o)

Buffy vs Edward

Hmm... I don't know if you've already seen this one, came out in June I think:



Kudos to the person who put this together (interviewed by LATimes here)! as a big Buffy fan I was contrasting Twilight to Joss Whedon's creation a lot in my mind when I saw it. The intermix of the two oeuvres kind of shows up some of the kitschy dialogue lines... (disclaimer: I did enjoy Twilight when I saw it and later read it, and am looking forward to New Moon)

But the question that really comes to mind when I watch this (or other video montages from movies/series/music) is: WHERE ON EARTH DO PEOPLE FIND THE TIME TO DO THESE THINGS?!?!?!
I mean, I can't even sit down to put together a couple of video segments I have stored on the computer from a friend's camera... it takes hours to pick the fragments you want, edit them together, add photos or music! But to do something like this where the person has gone through and interlaced clips not only from a movie but from TV episodes covering several seasons? (I counted episodes from seasons 1, 2, 4 and 5 of Buffy there) Yikes!

Oh well, I guess I'd better just thank them for it because it can be very entertaining! :o)

TV Addiction: Snakes in a House!

Woah!

Ausiello over at EW has a first look of the new promotional image for House premi�ring in a few weeks. Can I just say... FREAKY!


I can't wait for the TV season to start up again, settle all those season-finale cliffhangers! ;o)

TV Addiction: Merlin!

Hmmm, I keep reading (on a couple of TV/sci-fi websites I hang out at, namely Airlock AlphaTelevisionary) and about the big premier of the BBC series Merlin coming up this weekend in the US on NBC, and I just had to join in the chatter! ;o)


For those who haven't heard about it (and who can't guess based on the name), this series retells the tale of King Arthur and Merlin the Magician. Just not like in any story you've ever read! For starters... well Merlin's YOUNG! Ditto Prince Arthur (who's got a ways to go before being worthy of being the legendary King). You could say this tale is to the Arthurian legends what Smallville is to Superman, except much better and a lot more fun! (also in the Arthurian legends Merlin is much older than Arthur, nowhere near the same age) Another difference is the fact that Arthur lives with his father, reigning King Uther (Anthony Stewart Head, a.k.a. Giles!) whereas in the legends he was raised elsewhere and never met his father. Morgana is the King's ward, so she grows up at court, and Gwen is her maidservant. Oh, another thing (just to add some tension), magic is forbidden in Uther's kingdom so Merlin has to keep his abilities a secret. He gets teaching and advice from Gaius the court doctor... and a dragon (who speaks in riddles) chained beneath the castle!

The tale is lots of fun, the characters are endearing, the actors do a good job, and the production values (costumes, effects etc) are astonishing. And oh my that castle! In many interviews you'll hear the actors, director etc insist on how lucky they were to find that French castle (apparently rebuilt by Bonaparte over the ruins of a midevil one) and how it's truly another character in the series. I wish I could explore its halls... It's a good fun (family-friendly) show with lots of adventures and enough tension to make you nervous for the heroes now and again.

So it's definitely not kosher in the sense that the only semblance to King Arthur as we know him are the names and the relationships between most of the characters. But at this point there have been so many retellings and adaptations of the legend that, who cares?! Not me! I'm such a King Arthur nut that I think I've read every version (often told from the viewpoint of different characters) I've been able to lay my hands on (there are some wonderful retellings by Mary Stewart, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Stephen Lawhead...), so I jumped at the chance to watch this the moment it was available. And was not disappointed!

I caught the series as it aired in the UK last fall, and I can't wait for season 2 to start up the magic again! Am also looking forward to catching it again on dvd as soon as the full series becomes available at a reasonable price. So for those of you across the pond, if you enjoy tales of knights in shining armor, wizards and dragons... remember to turn on your TV (or TiVo-thingy) Sunday night! And enjoy!!! :o)

Need more reasons to watch it?

• A fan has put together 10 Merlin-based reasons for your enjoyment:

• and here's a interview on the two stars on a British programme a few months ago talking about the show, each other, their colleagues... and getting ready to start filming season 2!
  

TV Addiction: cancellation rant addendum... and homage

Well, after my rant the other day, it appears we have another series to mourn... with FOX officially announcing their 2009-2010 schedule, it's official that Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has ended its run with the 2nd season finale. *sigh* Although this has been expected / dreaded for some time now, it still hurts.
On the plus side, at least Dollhouse has been renewed so we get to glimpse into the workings of crazy Joss Whedon's mind for another 13 episodes at least! ;o)

So, in memory of my favourite shows cancelled before their time, here goes a fan video someone put together in honour of one of them (Firefly) to a really great tune. And yeah, all too often the best shows really do need a Hero to pull them off the bubble and into renewal-land!

Addendum (May 20): Summer Glau thanks the fans:
http://www.summer-glau.net/wp/?p=945

TV Addiction: Cancellation rant....

So, I recently finished watching Veronica Mars... and wondering why on earth I never saw it when it aired on TV?! My guess is it never crossed the Atlantic, sigh! Why do we only get the more commercial stuff (and frequent crap) over here?

The bigger mystery is why the *@*@ do such great TV series get cancelled before their time?! And most of the time without enough advance notice for the show-runners and writers to give the fans a semi-satisfying ending?! grrrrrrrrrrr.... damn suits and their ratings-addiction!!! I'm not going to go into the unsolvable mystery as to why so many intelligent and original shows are ratings-challenged... if only to avoid saying something nasty about the TV-watching public in general (my grandma taught me "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all").

Nope, not going into all that. I'm just here to vent!!! Vent my frustration at witnessing the end of yet another series on a (semi-) cliffhanger. At realising it probably disappeared in favour of some lame, no-brain-required replacement. And again remembering this isn't the first time it's happened and won't be the last. snif, snif, snif! :o(

Other frustratingly cancelled series (that I can think of off the top of my head):

Angel: cancelled towards the end of the 5th season, they left us with L.A. having gone to Hell in a handbasket, thanks for Whedon and co. for at least wrapping up the story-line in comics!

Eli Stone: quirky legal drama with great music?! interesting characters?! what's not to like?!?!? well, at least the final episode was semi-satisfying and we can imagine it ending there. But we wanted MORE!

Firefly: no mystery as to why the ratings went south on this one, Fox aired episodes out of order and kept switching nights on it, cabrones! Makes you wonder at Whedon's leap of faith in trying a new project with them again this year... But at least we got another chapter on the big screen with Serenity! Although, gulp! I cried, and cried, and cried. Damn Whedon's penchant for tearing our hearts out by suddenly killing off beloved characters!

Jericho: well, at least thanks to all those NUTS we got a (way-too-short) second season that didn't leave us hanging and at least gave the writers the chance to wrap up this part of the story, but what about that looming Civil War?! Please suits, give us that movie we keep hearing rumors about!!!

Star Trek Enterprise: Ok so the first two seasons weren't all that great, but after the whole Xindi arc and getting into the conception of the Federation you don't continue?! And let's not even talk about that final episode... grrr

Veronica Mars: I heard the 4th season was going to have Veronica in the FBI. Now that's something I would have luuuuuuuvd to see! Plus, now we'll never know who won the elections for Sheriff!!! Another one with regular movie rumors... please make it so!

I'll sign off with a video by Thomas Dekker a.k.a. John Connor from Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, another excellent show that appears to be "on the bubble" (i.e. low probability of renewal). Is a nice gesture to fans of the show who've worked to get it renewed, and I have my fingers (and toes!) crossed hoping that they've succeded.



Any of your favourites you'd like join me in a rant about? ;o)