Hatrack River Forum: If you thought the Dark was evil...

This is topic If you thought the Dark was evil... in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :

...wait until you check out -this- tripe.

[Grumble]

Butchers.

Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :

It was 3-4 months ago that I read that, but I don't remember most of that stuff happening in the book. They have a kid and a guy on a horse, that part is pretty close.

Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :

Will didn't have any of those powers, that I remember. Granted, I've only read the last two books in the series...

Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :

Most of the content on the site is blocked by my work's firewall, unfortunately. What kind of powers is Will exhibiting? In what other ways are they butchering the source material?

Posted by Liz B (Member # 8238) on :

"I can't save the world! I can't even talk to a girl!"

I predict a classic.

No, really.

Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :

quote:
What kind of powers is Will exhibiting?

Control over fire, super strength, telekinesis.

Also, the ability to whine, the power to have idiotic older brothers (solely), and to have pre-teen angst.

Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :

>_<

I wonder what Susan Cooper thinks of all of this.

Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :

The Old Ones do have power over the elements, time, space, and psionic type stuff in the books...its just that normally they do even more mysterious, hard to categorize, "cosmic" type magic. They're far more powerful than X-Men type mutants, far more subtle than Harry Potter type wizards.

Posted by Raventhief (Member # 9002) on :

Yeah, it's going to be bad. But it has Christopher Eccleston. He's just a little bit awesome.

Posted by Bella Bee (Member # 7027) on :

Yuck. I hate all kid's movie trailers which have the main character shrieking 'Awesome!' at some point.

This really looks like it's going to be more of an 'Eragon' than a 'Narnia'.

I mean, I'd figured out when they decided to make the family American that they weren't going to stick to the story. Because when they do that 'Yeah, let's just have one or two token English characters in a story that actually takes place in England' it never turns out well. Look at 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy' movie.

It's not actually that the nationality of the characters has anything to do with it - just that if you've changed something that basic, to make the film more 'relatable' to your audience, then its a sign that you don't think much of the audience's intelligence, and that anything else in the original story is up for alteration too.
Which apparently is the case here.

And the worst thing is that this film could have been wonderful. I think I'm going to cry now. Poor Susan Cooper. I hope they paid her enough.

Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Bella Bee:
Yuck. I hate all kid's movie trailers which have the main character shrieking 'Awesome!' at some point.

I know. It starts out like a made-for-the-Disney-channel thing. [Razz]

Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :

I think Christopher Eccleston is going to be the only redeeming part of that movie. I just read the book the other night (in the theatre, waiting for Harry Potter to start), and remembered how much I love it. This movie looks like a perversion of the book, but I'm pretty sure I'll wind up seeing it at least once - just to make sure.

Then I'll come home and cry.

Posted by GaalDornick (Member # 8880) on :

Are the books any good? This just looks like the most cliched fantasy story ever to me. Are the books like that too?

Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :

quote:
Look at 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy' movie.

Wasn't everybody British that was supposed to be? Even a couple of people that weren't supposed to be? Also, the story doesn't take place in England, it just starts there.

Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :

Douglas Adams specifically said that Arthur Dent was the only character that absolutely had to be English. And anyway, I don't think the problems with Hitchhiker's Guide stemmed from the fact that most of the actors were American.

GaalDornick: I haven't read the books in several years, but I think I read them three or four times when I was in elementary school and junior high. I absolutely loved them.

Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :

The Dark is Rising Sequence is a dark fantasy YA series that features very revisionist versions of Arthurian, Celtic, and other UK legends.

It also feature "good" and "evil" magic users who don't really follow the traditional, human definition of good and evil.

It's ultimately a very melancholy, poignant series.