Librum versus Movieum

--LEGEND OF THE SEEKER--

Finally, the much-celebrated novels of Terry Goodkind are coming to the television screen, and you know what? I'm about ready to bash my skull straight through this dirt-encrusted monitor. We all remember Lord of the Rings? That awesome trilogy which made obscene amounts of money, catapulted Orlando Bloom to stardom, and generally kicked arse? I thought as much. It was dramatic, it was romantic, it was thrilling... and if you actually bother to read the books, its completely different in nearly everything except the overarching plotline.

Let's try another example. Okay, Harry Potter. Children's book series, JK Rowling, multi-million dollar franchise, paved the way for today's children to actually pick up a book and stop wasting their lives following professional wrestling, or whatever nonsense they're throwing their brain cells away on nowadays. Movies? Not so good, it's true, but not because they didn't follow the books to a tee. The first two were rather infantile, the middle two didn't make a whole lot of sense, and the latest was actually pretty decent, likely due to the increasingly mature content.

My point? The new Legend of the Seeker show is being bashed by every Dick and Sally out there because they feel that the first 30 minutes (released a few days ago to spark interest in the Nov. 1 premiere) are nothing like the books. That's fair enough - I've seen the first 10 minutes (we'll get to why that's infuriating in a second) and there's some nonsense about the Book of Counted Shadows being in Kahlan's possession, her sister being momentarily alive, Richard randomly building bridges for no apparent reason. The list continues.

What really grinds my gears is that people assume from this that the show is going to suck. If you didn't like the cinematography or acting in the clip, fine, you get your own opinion and I will begrudgingly accept it. If you didn't like the books, well, you need serious mental therapy, but I guess that's a fair reason not to watch the show. What you don't get to say is that the show will be awful because it deviates from the book. Guess what? The book had about four characters for most of the first quarter of the novel, and that translates rather poorly to a television show.

That isn't to say that I like the changes they're making. I don't mind adding characters, or interesting side adventures, but changing the fundamental plot of the story seems a bit... pretentious of them. But what you have to remember is that Terry Goodkind gave them the go-ahead on this project. He's the author, and if he accepts it, I think that should be good enough for the rest of us. He created the world, remember?

But back to my point. Any book to screen adaptation is going to be different, and that's just a fact. Moaning in forums about how different it looks is just a waste of your time and mine. Then you get those idiots who go on and post embarassingly ignorant statements like "this looks like garbage" or "i'm not watching this, it'll just massacre the book". And no, those weren't actual examples, as I doubt any of these literary geniuses would know what 'massacre' means, let alone have actually read Goodkind's series. Look, guys, if you aren't a fan of fantasy or Goodkind, then bugger off and go watch sports. If you are, then give it a chance before you denounce something that you haven't even seen. I'd almost compare you to that ridiculous American woman who tried to ban the Harry Potter books for allegedly containing demon worship and anti-Christian values, but even I'm not that cruel.

Also! The American economy is destroyed, their president is an idiot, they are quite possibly going to elect another idiot to take his place (and if Obama doesn't win, seriously, the Americans deserve every terrible thing that happens to them), and yet everything still seems to be centered around the mighty US of A. I'm not actually trying to bash America here, but seriously, why is everything based around this fundamentally flawed society? The actual thing I wanted to say was that I'm ticked off at how non-Americans can't access certain features on American sites, and how they can't download anything from the USA itunes store, but now that I think about it, we need to get over our obsession with America.

That pretty much wraps up my rant. For everyone who skipped to the end, here's the summary: don't assume something is crap merely because it is different, don't assume something is crap merely because you don't understand it, and all Americans should pick up a non-American-published history textbook and learn about the men and principles their society is actually based around.

Noggin Scratcher of the Day: voracious -- original definition = to eat. Therefore "a voracious eater" = an eating eater.