Book 1: The Magicians

[ElectricBoogaloo]

There is already a general thread to discuss the books vs. the show, but people can discuss all three books there. This thread is intended for discussing ONLY the first book in the series (no discussion of the second or third books here!). I figure I can't be the only one who likes to stay unspoiled for the show but then reads the corresponding book after the season ends! You can safely discuss the first book in this thread without worrying about spoilers from the second or third book.

[Hanahope]

I thought it was interesting that the show moved everything into the school years, though the school years were 'upgraded' to a grad school setting so everyone was older.  The show also put different things in the school years, which were very, 'yeah we're here for a bit, now we're done' thing in the books.  OTOH, welters was less, which was interesting.  But gotta admit, it was nice to avoid the post-grade years where they just partied all the time.

And the show made Martin out to be more of a constant threat, rather than the what two times he showed up in the book.  Its interesting that the show let him live rather than kill him at the end.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I liked that the show moved Brakebills from the high school/college transition years to the college/grad school years. I think it made a lot more sense as to why no one's parents/friends wondered where the students had gone (especially since in the book, the seasons at Brakebills were off by a few months so Quentin was showing up for Christmas break two months late - and that was after he just disappeared in the middle of his senior year of high school).

Another good change was reducing welters to just the one episode (to be honest, I was not that enamored of all the quidditch scenes in the Harry Potter books either).

I was a little puzzled by why they reduced Josh from the show until the very end of the first season and then added Cady and Marina (although I guess they existed on the show so that Julia wasn't off by herself all season). 

I liked that Martin was made much more of a threat on the show and the reason why they went to Fillory (as opposed to just "Hey, let's go to Fillory!" in the book). I also liked that Jane showed up more on the show to guide Quentin. But one of the changes I really appreciated is that they made it really clear Martin was molested by Plover and that Quentin, Alice, Penny, and Eliot all knew about it. I really hated that in the books, it was almost a throwaway line from Jane near the end.

Since the show ends while Quentin & co are still in Fillory, it will be interesting to see what they do in S2. They've already made a significant change in keeping Martin alive, but I wonder if they will keep Alice dead and keep Penny off the radar.

I like a lot of the changes that were made, but that is one of the positive things about seeing the show first and then reading the books. Everything is just a pleasant surprise. Usually when I read the book first, I get grumpy about the changes that are made in the adaptation.

One really good change from the books is that on the show, we didn't get Quentin's innermost thoughts. When I was reading what he was thinking, often I thought dude, STFU! I find that hilarious because I said that several times while watching the show but book Quentin is such a whiner. Mr. EB refers to it as "being Quentin-y."

Edited May 28, 2016 by ElectricBoogaloo

[diebartdie]

I just finished the first book also and I can hardly believe how different it is. Penny is almost a completely different character, Julia is hardly in it at all, neither is The Beast / Martin. Maybe in the next book it will get into more detail about Julia? Otherwise all of that was just made up for the tv show. Actually, kind of a lot of it was just made up for the tv show. Ah well, take them as sort of twins separated at birth I guess.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

This is definitely one of those cases where the adaptation veered off from the original book significantly. The most egregious example that I measure all others by is The Firm. I read the book first so partway through the movie, I was like WTF? In the case of The Magicians, I feel like they mostly used the names of the main characters and the premise (young adults learning magic) and then decided to swerve off course from the book. I'm really curious to see what will happen in the second season since they have already made some major changes from the book. I guess they wanted to keep Martin as the Big Bad, but that is a huge departure from the book (even for S1).

[diebartdie]

So one thing I am really worrying about now is Alice. In the book she KICKS ASS, specifically the beast's ass and pays for it dearly. In the tv show, she goes out like a sucker but then again, so do Eliot and Janet while Penny and Quinton suffer similar fates as the book. Alice best get her chance to shine, she's my second favorite character! (Book 1 Eliot is my favorite; Im almost finished with the second book and Julia is my favorite. Funny how Quinton is no where near my favorite!)