Thanks to the astounding ratings success of Tin Man, the SciFi Channel has greenlit Alice, a six hour mini-series that will give the Alice books a similar treatment, probably due out December of 2008.
I predict that in 2009 we'll see Bear, about a bionic ursine of very little brain (but massive blood-thirst) in a post-apocalyptic landscape.
Posted by TheGrimace (Member # 9178) on :
I'm curious to see this, but at the same time Alice's source material is already much more sci-fi/dark and therefore probably harder to "revolutionize" though I guess the Wizard of Oz source material is also much darker than the movie which is more commonly referenced...
Posted by JonHecht (Member # 9712) on :
" though I guess the Wizard of Oz source material is also much darker than the movie which is more commonly referenced..."
No, not really.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Depends...the MGM movie cuts out a lot of the killing and weirder stuff, but makes the witch a LOT scarier.
Posted by TheGrimace (Member # 9178) on :
I vaguely remember the book involving fields of poppies that would lull you into a deadly sleep and giant spiders attacking at some point? although maybe I'm hallucinating and remembering some other book...
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
I personally liked Penny Arcade's Strawberry Shortcake parody. Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are two of my favorite books. I'm kind of experiencing deja vu though. Didn't they do a TV mini-series not that long ago? As in 1999 not that long ago.
I guess that's nine years though. And this one, apparently, will be a slightly different take as compared to the other mini-series which attempts to be similar to the book most of the time.
But I'm hesitant. If they screw it up, I'm slapping the executives at Sci-Fi. However, I would be interested to see the results if done properly.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by TheGrimace: fields of poppies that would lull you into a deadly sleep
Yes.
quote:Originally posted by TheGrimace: and giant spiders attacking
O_o I don't think so!
Posted by Jim-Me (Member # 6426) on :
They should just do a movie based on American McGee's Alice with Christina Ricci as the lead... edit: or Eliza Dushku
Posted by TheGrimace (Member # 9178) on :
in my defense, there was something about Lion beating a spider in the forest (at least according to the wiki) without actually digging up a copy of the book it looks like there were more dangers thrown at them, but at the same time it might not have been all that more dark than the movie.
Posted by porcelain girl (Member # 1080) on :
I like his Queen of Hearts. Posted by SteveRogers (Member # 7130) on :
That guy's artwork is pretty cool. I thought his vision of the Tweedle Dee/Tweedle Dum character was pretty cool.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was a lot weirder than the MGM movie (and had some killing), but the Wicked Witch of the West was made much scarier in the film and played a much larger role. The first seven Oz books by Baum contained some very freaky, weird, and fairy tale-scary elements that he later downplayed in all books after The Emerald City of Oz.
It should be noted Baum joined all these potentially frightening elements with ample humor and whimsy.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by TheGrimace: (at least according to the wiki)
Wiki info should always be taken with a huge grain of salt. Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jim-Me: They should just do a movie based on American McGee's Alice with Christina Ricci as the lead... edit: or Eliza Dushku
Sarah Michelle Gellar (of all people) currently holds the option to make a film based on that. Posted by TheGrimace (Member # 9178) on :
quote:Originally posted by Puffy Treat: Wiki info should always be taken with a huge grain of salt.
Understood, but since it was jiving with my vague memory from bygone years I chose to believe it. Is there really no occurrence of some kind of spider-related danger in the books?
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Nothing comes to mind, though I've mainly read the first 14 Oz books.
Posted by andi330 (Member # 8572) on :
I while the witch was scarier in the movie than the books, it's the wizard who was different. I believe that in the film version, he tells the group to bring him back the broomstick of the wicked witch. In the book he tells them to kill the wicked witch, the broomstick being the proof that the witch was dead, not the ultimate goal.
I have briefly scanned my copy of the book, and I don't find a mention of spiders. On the road to the witch's house they were attacked by wolves, bees and crows however.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
In later books, the Wizard repents and reforms...and even gets taught real magic by Glinda and Queen Ozma. But yeah, in the first book he has a bit of the ruthless streak.
Posted by andi330 (Member # 8572) on :
I haven't read any but the first book and The Road to OZ. I need to go online and download the ebooks from Project Gutenberg. They're on my list of things to read.
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
Was it the Wizard of Oz that had the city that was filled with porcelain people? That reached Dorothy's knees? And there was a clown who kept trying to do cartwheels, but kept falling over and breaking and needed to get himself repaired?
I think I read this in the 6th grade, and it might very well have been a watered-down condensed children's version.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
The China Country was in the first book, yes.
Posted by Pegasus (Member # 10464) on :
quote:Originally posted by TheGrimace: [QB] Is there really no occurrence of some kind of spider-related danger in the books?
Possible mix-up with The Hobbit?
Posted by CaySedai (Member # 6459) on :
quote:We are all threatened," answered the tiger, "by a fierce enemy which has lately come into this forest. It is a most tremendous monster, like a great spider, with a body as big as an elephant and legs as long as a tree trunk. It has eight of these long legs, and as the monster crawls through the forest he seizes an animal with a leg and drags it to his mouth, where he eats it as a spider does a fly. Not one of us is safe while this fierce creature is alive, and we had called a meeting to decide how to take care of ourselves when you came among us."
After the china country, on the way to Glinda's castle.
(edited to add: this is in the first book)
Posted by TheGrimace (Member # 9178) on :
hooray for CaySedai showing that I may not be as crazy as I thought
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
Yup. Looking at the online version of the text, it happens in chapter 21.
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