SciFi Channel airs Dresden Files

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rugcat

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The SciFi channel airs the first episode of the Dresden Files, their new Jim Butcher series, this coming Sunday. I don’t have high hopes considering their track record with other adaptations, but of course, I’ll watch.
 

Michael Dracon

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rugcat said:
The SciFi channel airs the first episode of the Dresden Files, their new Jim Butcher series, this coming Sunday. I don’t have high hopes considering their track record with other adaptations, but of course, I’ll watch.

I don't know about other series, but Battlestar Galactica is pretty damn good.

Also, The Dresden Files TV series has good writers on the team. That and Jim himself supervised the whole thing.

Personally I have high hopes for this.
 

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I very much enjoy Galactica, and if the author was involved in the series development, I'll allow myself to hope...

...but SciFi is directly responsible for Earthsea, and they have a lot to answer for.

Grrrr.
 

TheIT

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I've only recently read and thoroughly enjoyed The Dresden Files books, so I'm looking forward to the series. Be warned, though, that the series is definitely going to have some changes from the books. The casting is very different for some of the major characters.

Sci-Fi Channel has the official series website up at: www.thedresdenfiles.com

I'm very glad to hear that Jim Butcher is involved in the show.
 

TheIT

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It's not so much that I'm going in expecting the show to be lousy, it's that I'm trying not to expect the series to be a clone of the books. Given Jim Butcher's writing style, I'm hard pressed to visualize how they could capture the same essence, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Anything else would be setting myself up for disappointment.

One good thing which has already come out of the television series for me: seeing the commercials piqued my interest enough so that I bought book one before Christmas. Then I bought book two, book three, etc. I've finished all seven of the paperbacks in the last few weeks and have already started to reread them. It's been a very long time since I've found a series of books which I've liked so much, so no matter what, I'm grateful.
 

rugcat

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So. Just watched the first episode. My take - if you’re expecting a faithful adaptation of the books, or even the characters, you’re in for a disappointment. The Harry Dresden of this series has little in common with the Dresden of the books.

But if you take it on its own merits without referencing, it’s not bad at all. It has a very nice noir feel, and the acting, especially Paul Blackthorne (Harry) and Terrence Mann (Bob) is excellent. It may take a few episodes for this series to find its legs, but it’s definitely worth watching.
 

My-Immortal

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rugcat said:
So. Just watched the first episode. (1)My take - if you’re expecting a faithful adaptation of the books, or even the characters, you’re in for a disappointment. The Harry Dresden of this series has little in common with the Dresden of the books.

(2)But if you take it on its own merits without referencing, it’s not bad at all. It has a very nice noir feel, and the acting, especially Paul Blackthorne (Harry) and Terrence Mann (Bob) is excellent. (3)It may take a few episodes for this series to find its legs, but it’s definitely worth watching.

I added the (numbers)...

1) That is true on so many books though. LOTR...Harry Potter series...The Bourne Identity...etc.etc.etc. If you expect a faithful adaptation of most books or characters, you will likely be disappointed (a lot)...which leads me to
2) I try to judge both books and movies on their own merits. They are different mediums - I expect differences. I may not always like or agree with the changes, but I do try to be open-minded about it all. I thought the acting was fairly good - but I think if the show is allowed to continue the actors will only improve within their specific roles.
3) Agreed. A solid beginning...hopefully, it will continue to improve with age.

Take care all -
 

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Agreed 100%; so long as you're not expecting the books it's not bad, and it might yet turn into a pretty good series.
 

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TheIT said:
It's not so much that I'm going in expecting the show to be lousy, it's that I'm trying not to expect the series to be a clone of the books. Given Jim Butcher's writing style, I'm hard pressed to visualize how they could capture the same essence, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Anything else would be setting myself up for disappointment.
Not sure what you mean by "given Jim Butcher's writing style" it's hard to visual the show. I didn't see anything unusual or "out there" about his style that it would have been all that hard to translate. He writes in a pseudo-hard boiled PI style. Those have been translated to television for decades.

Anyway, after seeing the show I'm sort of confused. I've only read Butcher's first book, so maybe I don't know the character's history, but I don't remember him being a "monster chaser" in "Storm Front."

This show strikes me as a combination of "Supernatural" and the failed "Night Stalker" series. More Supernatural as the brothers are chasing down the demon that killed their mom. That seems to be the premise Sci-Fi is setting up for this show.

As far as what I thought of it, I didn't hate it. And it's better than a lot of other crap on television.
 

ChunkyC

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Not having been aware of the books, I watched with no preconceived notions. I liked it. I think there's a lot of potential for good character development. As long as they keep telling people stories, I can suspend my disbelief with regards to the fantastic elements of the show.

My wife is Wiccan and is always looking for shows that handle magic and supernatural elements with style, and she thought it was a good start too.

Looking forward to next week. :)
 

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ChunkyC said:
Not having been aware of the books, I watched with no preconceived notions. I liked it. I think there's a lot of potential for good character development. As long as they keep telling people stories, I can suspend my disbelief with regards to the fantastic elements of the show.

My wife is Wiccan and is always looking for shows that handle magic and supernatural elements with style, and she thought it was a good start too.

Looking forward to next week. :)

Because of the Colts game, I taped the show and watched it this morning. I liked it very much. Liek you say, a good start. Certainly good enough to make me keep watching.
 

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Shadow_Ferret said:
... the failed "Night Stalker" series....
Don't get me started.

Oh, you did anyway! I was so mad at that show from the very first episode. The original show had two good things going for it: It was funny, and it was scary (at least to me, at the time.) The remake was neither. It shouldn't have shared the name with the previous show.

It was more of a remake of X-Files than anything else.

How come scary + funny never makes it onto TV? Well, perhaps Dresden will do it well.
 

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I loved the original Kolchak and so wanted to like this one, but they turned it into something way different from the original, adding too many elements such as his wife is killed by some monster, the FBI is following him thinking he killed his wife, blah blah blah, and they just never, as you said, captured any of the humor of the original. He was nowhere near as likable as Davin McCloud.

So yes,they should have named it something else so I wouldn't have had the preconceived notions about it that I did. However, I still thought it was better than most of the other garbage on TV. I guess I'm just a geek for anything fantasy/horror.
 

TheIT

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I enjoyed the pilot for Dresden, and definitely agree with the above comments about needing to treat the books and the show as separate entities. They've changed some very fundamental aspects of the books in the show.

That said, I thought the bit with the banana split was great, and that Harry better get some more substantial door wards than a couple of flags real quick. I just hope this doesn't turn into a monster of the week type show.

Shadow_Ferret, what I meant about Jim Butcher's writing style was the humor. Half the fun of the books for me is the abrupt turns of phrase which have me laughing out loud that usually come from Harry considering/explaining what's going on. So far, so good.
 

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My-Immortal said:
I added the (numbers)...

1) That is true on so many books though. LOTR...Harry Potter series...The Bourne Identity...etc.etc.etc. If you expect a faithful adaptation of most books or characters, you will likely be disappointed (a lot)...which leads me to
2) I try to judge both books and movies on their own merits. They are different mediums - I expect differences. I may not always like or agree with the changes, but I do try to be open-minded about it all. I thought the acting was fairly good - but I think if the show is allowed to continue the actors will only improve within their specific roles.
3) Agreed. A solid beginning...hopefully, it will continue to improve with age.

Take care all -
I agree...I re-read LOTR right before I saw the movie, and was practically shouting at the screen. I was intrigued by the Dresden Files, but intentionally didn't read Butcher's books so I could enjoy the series first. It was a good show, I like a mix of light and dark. Perhaps sometime in the future, I'll start reading the books, but first, I'll finish that Pratchett paperback I've stashed away for a rainy day.
 

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My husband has been raving about the Dresden books for the past years, trying to get me to read them (only reason I haven't is I have a huge TBR list!). He was real excited to see that Sci-Fi was making a series.

We enjoyed the pilot episode last night, but hubby was a little disappointed in the changes in some of the characters. But, we're looking forward to seeing how this series progresses.
 

ChunkyC

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TheIT said:
I thought the bit with the banana split was great
Oh yeah, fabulous scene. Right up to that point I had no idea if the ravens were evil or good. Then when one of them offers up the can of whipped cream.... :roll:
 

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So what's different? I've read most of the books (and liked them, though I always wind up getting sick of series, and haven't been motivated to run out and get the latest two) but I didn't get a chance to see the show.

- Victoria
 

TheIT

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If you haven't read it yet, "Dead Beat" has a great ending.

Differences from the books to the show:

- Bob the Skull (air spirit of intellect) is now Bob the Medieval Ghost who exists in a skull and manifests as a man who apparently can't touch anything.

- Harry lives in what looks like a flat rather than a basement and drives a Jeep rather than the Blue Beetle. I think he works out of his home rather than having an office.

- "White Council" is now "High Council"

- Some of Harry's backstory is different. "Justin DuMorne" his evil mentor is now also his uncle "Justin Morningway?" (I don't think they were related in the books) and might not be as dead as everyone thinks.

- "Lt. Karrin Murphy", a 5 foot nothing blue eyed blonde, is now "Lt. Connie Murphy" with dark hair and eyes.
 

TheIT

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ChunkyC said:
Oh yeah, fabulous scene. Right up to that point I had no idea if the ravens were evil or good. Then when one of them offers up the can of whipped cream.... :roll:

Of course, they could just have been fattening him up. Hansel and Gretel, anyone? :D
 
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