timepiececlock (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timepiececlock) wrote2008-08-01 12:39 pm
timepiececlock) wrote2008-08-01 12:39 pm
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Wizard's First Rule... as a tv show?
I feel kind of guilty about being excited for this promo for a new show.
I had some real dissatisfaction issues with the book Wizards First Rule, and I never ended up reading the sequels despite their enormous popularity as a fantasy series. Mostly my problems revolved around the fact that the protagonist, Richard, was about as exciting as a block of wood. He was so boring and lacking of any kind of personality, that...well, you know how a lot of fans like to read books where they can imagine themselves in the hero's place? We all do, right? But it should always be a flight of fancy, because the character ought to have a distinctive personality and presence of their own. Would I like to imagine myself kicking as as The Slayer? SURE! But I don't want to be Buffy herself. Because Buffy has a distinct "self" that I know is not like mine at all. Richard's character doesn't meet that requirement, at least not in the first book. He's about as developed as a paper doll. He walks, he talks, he supposedly falls in love, but he's like a Bot so none of it leaves a lasting impression. Luke Skywalker, fanboy manifest, had more personality than this farmboy does. Not to mention one of the major elements of the climax revolves specifically around this lack of personality...like it becomes a plot point that he's empty. But not in a cool or clever way, in a kind of "Uh...really?" way.
But aside from the lame protagonist, I did enjoy certain parts of the book. I thought the Confessor thing was very interesting because I had never seen a "power" like that before, though I had mixed and leery feelings about what it seemed to me to be saying about gender, sexuality, attraction, and power dynamics. I can easily see that being made better or being made more offensive by a tv-show...really depends on how you write it.
But back to the tv show's trailer! It looks cool. I'm geeking out a bit. I think a tv-show could take a flawed book and make it more interesting. Even though the quest story behind it is pretty generic (farmboy is given magic sword and goes out to find destiny and fight the dark lordSauronwhoever), I did read a lot of generic fantasy in middle and high school so I can't exactly say that's a problem for me.
There are fantasy book series that I think would make more interesting tv shows, however... Wi'tchfire would be one. Or the story used in the movie Jumper, with the teleporters. And I would just about keel over from happiness if someone made Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norrel into a miniseries. And, of course...Discworld. What I wouldn't give for a tv-show version of Terry Pratchett books. Especially since series like Lost and Heroes have laid the groundwork for ensemble shows with multiple storylines from different characters and paths.
I had some real dissatisfaction issues with the book Wizards First Rule, and I never ended up reading the sequels despite their enormous popularity as a fantasy series. Mostly my problems revolved around the fact that the protagonist, Richard, was about as exciting as a block of wood. He was so boring and lacking of any kind of personality, that...well, you know how a lot of fans like to read books where they can imagine themselves in the hero's place? We all do, right? But it should always be a flight of fancy, because the character ought to have a distinctive personality and presence of their own. Would I like to imagine myself kicking as as The Slayer? SURE! But I don't want to be Buffy herself. Because Buffy has a distinct "self" that I know is not like mine at all. Richard's character doesn't meet that requirement, at least not in the first book. He's about as developed as a paper doll. He walks, he talks, he supposedly falls in love, but he's like a Bot so none of it leaves a lasting impression. Luke Skywalker, fanboy manifest, had more personality than this farmboy does. Not to mention one of the major elements of the climax revolves specifically around this lack of personality...like it becomes a plot point that he's empty. But not in a cool or clever way, in a kind of "Uh...really?" way.
But aside from the lame protagonist, I did enjoy certain parts of the book. I thought the Confessor thing was very interesting because I had never seen a "power" like that before, though I had mixed and leery feelings about what it seemed to me to be saying about gender, sexuality, attraction, and power dynamics. I can easily see that being made better or being made more offensive by a tv-show...really depends on how you write it.
But back to the tv show's trailer! It looks cool. I'm geeking out a bit. I think a tv-show could take a flawed book and make it more interesting. Even though the quest story behind it is pretty generic (farmboy is given magic sword and goes out to find destiny and fight the dark lord
There are fantasy book series that I think would make more interesting tv shows, however... Wi'tchfire would be one. Or the story used in the movie Jumper, with the teleporters. And I would just about keel over from happiness if someone made Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norrel into a miniseries. And, of course...Discworld. What I wouldn't give for a tv-show version of Terry Pratchett books. Especially since series like Lost and Heroes have laid the groundwork for ensemble shows with multiple storylines from different characters and paths.