The Stand - General Discussion

[Keywestclubkid]

Episode 4 ... ugh I guess they are keeping Nadine just one dimensional .... I fucking hate that  

[Chicago Redshirt]

In addition to the "let's tell things in non-linear time for no good reason," one of the things I dislike about this version of The Stand was the real lack of imagination and daring. There's so very little that I see to bring the story up from its 70s origins to today. Like apart from a reference to the Internet, swearing and a little more colorblind casting, there's not much that would have been out of place if they had decided to keep things set in the 1970s.

Yes, it was a Rock blu-ray rather than a betamax or whatever, but it seems to me people today would react to Captain Tripps a lot differently than they might have in the 70s and 80s. 

[Trillian]

Viewer warning:  any resemblance to Stephen King‘s masterpiece “The Stand” is purely coincidental. 

[Luckylyn]

So they decided to just make Nadine THE EVIL without any nuance or character development.  I have never found Nadine likeable but her journey to the dark side took time.  She struggled and this miniseries just skipped over her journey.

The committee went from a group of 7 (which is a symbolic number) to a group of five.  Also Fran is the only woman included when in the book the committee had two women.  I know Susan Stern is a minor character, but I don't know why the committee couldn't be 7 and have more than one woman included.  The character Ray was a man in the book.  They changed him into a woman, diminished the character, and now she's not on the committee like in the book. His/Her friendships with the characters is just glossed over.  Why?

I'm not a purist who insists everything must be the same as the novel.  I don't mind changes if the overall story is true to the spirit of the book and/or it stands up as a good story.   Novels and series are different mediums and there should be differences when you transition from text to visual.  What they are doing with Harold is working and Fran is being handled better here than in the 1994 miniseries.  Most of the cast is solid and I really like some of the casting choices.  

I just don't understand some of the changes.  Why screw with the momentum and go non linear in such a clunky way?  Why make Nadine so boring?  Why rush through Nick's story? I feel like we didn't get the chance to see the friendship with Tom and Nick develop and really feel their bond.   Also is Frannie the only woman they want to write any depth for?  Nadine's one dimensional.  I feel like Mother Abigail has been diminished.  Susan Stern and Lucy have been thrown away when they could have given them more to do.  They changed Ray into a woman and then seemed to discard her.  I hope they do something interesting with Dana at least.   Changes should be purposeful for the story.  Do they want to be different just for the sake of being different?  What is the point of some of these decisions? 

Non-linear is not inherently bad but it's a structure that doesn't work for all stories.   Also how it's done matters.  I feel the transitions are jarring and could be smoother.  The movies and the tv show Highlander included flash backs all the time, and there were some really nice transitions between present and past scenes.  Shifting around in time can be done better.

[Keywestclubkid]

23 minutes ago, Luckylyn said:

So they decided to just make Nadine THE EVIL without any nuance or character development.  I have never found Nadine likeable but her journey to the dark side took time.  She struggled and this miniseries just skipped over her journey.

 

Nadine is seriously my favorite character in any of Stephen king’s books.. when you read it first yea you can miss a lot about her, she is really a well rounded and complex study in humanity. She wants to be good and try’s but she thinks she is predestined for something and when she finds out what that something is it’s “apparently” to late till she discovers that it really wasn’t and does what she does at the end.. it really encompasses the human experience that we think we are trapped in something but that might not be the case... this adaptation strips her of all of this and it pisses me off so much this is the 2nd time they have missed the point of her character and treated her like she was just one dimensional 

[Jodithgrace]

So Hemingford Home is now an Assisted Living Place and Mother Abigail is just sitting there surrounded by dead people?  Are you kidding me? I hate this! These changes are just so pointless and diminish the characters so much. 

I can't believe that Stephen King authorised this travesty. But I assume he did, since he had a photo cameo in the Hemingford Home poster. 

Am I going to watch the rest of this? I don't know. I love the book so much I kind of want to see how it plays out, but I dunno if I can get through it without throwing something at the screen. 

[Luckylyn]

7 minutes ago, Jodithgrace said:

So Hemingford Home is now an Assisted Living Place and Mother Abigail is just sitting there surrounded by dead people?  Are you kidding me? I hate this! These changes are just so pointless and diminish the characters so much. 

Exactly, Mother Abigail being self sufficient was an important aspect of the book.  She grew her food, slaughtered her own animals, carried water from a well if needed etc....  Details like that establish how strong and independent a type of person she was.   It showed how she was able to survive the destabilization of civilization.  I don’t understand what they are doing with Mother Abigail in this version at all.  I feel like the writers don’t know who she is at her core at all and Whoopi’s performance is so lifeless that she can’t elevate already weak writing for her character.  

Changes can be a good thing and add more to the material.  But some of these changes seem pointless.  I don’t understand some of these decisions.

I was so excited to see a modernization of this story that wouldn’t be censored like the 1994 series had to be.  Yet the poorly edited time shifts, diminishing of characters, rushing through character development, changes that distract rather than enhance the story, etc... take away from something that could have been amazing.  Most of the cast choices were so great but their potential is being squandered.  I want to like this but feel frustrated.

[Arynm]

1 hour ago, Luckylyn said:

I was so excited to see a modernization of this story that wouldn’t be censored like the 1994 series had to be.  Yet the poorly edited time shifts, diminishing of characters, rushing through character development, changes that distract rather than enhance the story, etc... take away from something that could have been amazing.  Most of the cast choices were so great but their potential is being squandered.  I want to like this but feel frustrated.

I totally agree. I feel like I don't know any of these people, we are 3? episodes in and if I hadn't read the books, I wouldn't know what was going on. Having Mother Abigail in an assisted living home was a travesty. They have taken away her agency. Everything that made her special is gone, she doesn't even speak for herself. Nadine is awful. Nick is boring, even Harold is a shell of who he was in the book. The new ending that King wrote had better be top notch, because that was the only failing of the book.

Oh yes, I was excited to see the men who had all the women that they were drugging and keeping as sex slaves, that was one of my favorite parts of the book, because of the way the ladies took back their freedom. It was ok, but it was smaller than the book. There were more men, and women and it was such a powerful moment. It was done passibly well. As was the girl that Nick and Tom run into.

[Scout Finch]

1 hour ago, Arynm said:

As was the girl that Nick and Tom run into.

In the first miniseries, there was something about Shawnee Smith's performance of Julie Lawrey that really stood out, and I've followed her career a bit ever since--with the exception of the Saw movies!

 

Edited January 10, 2021 by Scout Finch

[IndyMischa]

Unpopular opinion time: I like this version of Nadine (so far) more than the Nadine of the book or the original miniseries. There's a very good looking, powerful, superhumanly charming, MAGICAL man who has appeared to her periodically throughout her life, both in dreams and while she's awake. He's promised to make her his queen once they are together. I don't find it "one dimensional" or unrealistic at all, that she'd be totally ensorcelled. 

I do agree with hating the inexplicable relocation of Mother Abigail though. Just one in a series of both bad and completely unnecessary changes they've made to this version. 

I do feel a tiny bit sorry for Harold (of all people!) for the changes they made to the trucker scene. In the book, Harold and Frannie were already traveling with Stu and Glen, when they ran into the "zoo keepers." That whole "sit here while I rape your friend or I'll beat you more" thing was pretty on-brand for Harold, but still. He wasn't a big enough schmuck in the book, they had to add stuff? Oy. 

(Nothing in spoiler box - I started to box book info, and then realized we aren't doing that in this thread. Couldn't figure out how to delete it!) 

Spoiler

 

 

[TvGeek]

Ugh Amber Heard is not a good actress. Such an uninspiring performance.

[Keywestclubkid]

11 hours ago, TvGeek said:

Ugh Amber Heard is not a good actress. Such an uninspiring performance.

It’s more they took out any urgency or confusion and pull from her character and just made her one dimensionally flat 

[TvGeek]

4 hours ago, Keywestclubkid said:

It’s more they took out any urgency or confusion and pull from her character and just made her one dimensionally flat 

That is true as well but she's also just a bad actress.

[ShellsandCheese]

On 1/7/2021 at 12:23 PM, Keywestclubkid said:

Episode 4 ... ugh I guess they are keeping Nadine just one dimensional .... I fucking hate that  

Part of the problem is that while Amber Heard is a lovely woman she's really not that good of an actress. 

[Cotypubby]

I’ve now caught up with episodes 3 & 4 and man this non-linear flashback storytelling is SHIT. They have completely killed anything dramatic or suspenseful about the characters and their storylines. Half the time they are talking to people and I keep getting confused thinking “Did I forget where we met them?” only to find out they didn’t introduce them yet. 

The characterizations and new actors are almost all (ahem Mother Abigail wtf?) just as good, or in the case of Harold, a huge improvement over the original, but then they just destroy the actual story. 

I remember when I first saw it, Nick was my favorite and and I was so emotionally invested in his storyline but this time? Ehh. Not really caring that much about Nick. Because we have not gotten the chance to be with these characters for a while and know them as individuals before they all get together. Telling their stories in flashbacks robs them of any kind of urgency. So far the only person they have told correctly is Lloyd. Imagine how shit it would be if we first met Lloyd in Vegas and then they flashed back to his time starving in prison? That’s what they are doing to every other character!

This show is really such a disappointment. 

[Schweedie]

4 hours ago, Cotypubby said:

I’ve now caught up with episodes 3 & 4 and man this non-linear flashback storytelling is SHIT. They have completely killed anything dramatic or suspenseful about the characters and their storylines. Half the time they are talking to people and I keep getting confused thinking “Did I forget where we met them?” only to find out they didn’t introduce them yet. 

The characterizations and new actors are almost all (ahem Mother Abigail wtf?) just as good, or in the case of Harold, a huge improvement over the original, but then they just destroy the actual story. 

I remember when I first saw it, Nick was my favorite and and I was so emotionally invested in his storyline but this time? Ehh. Not really caring that much about Nick. Because we have not gotten the chance to be with these characters for a while and know them as individuals before they all get together. Telling their stories in flashbacks robs them of any kind of urgency. So far the only person they have told correctly is Lloyd. Imagine how shit it would be if we first met Lloyd in Vegas and then they flashed back to his time starving in prison? That’s what they are doing to every other character!

This show is really such a disappointment. 

I read this and thought "Huh, I don't remember posting this" at first, heh. This is exactly how I'm feeling about all of it. I'm disappointed and so frustrated, because there's *so* much potential there. Nine episodes, all of about (I'm guessing) an hour each, which equals three more hours total than the original series - so how come after four episodes I still don't feel like I actually have a feel for anyone other than Stu and Harold, and maybe Larry? Like, sending Tom Cullen out on his spy mission was a big deal both in the book and the original series and here it's just like, "Well, here's your story to tell them over there, bye-bye and good luck", and they've done very little to make me care about this Tom. Or anyone, really.

So frustrated with this show.

[captain1]

I agree about Tom - the scene where they hypnotized him in the book and in the 1994 miniseries was SO powerful!  I understand it may be not politically correct anymore to have him say he was kicked out of Boulder so he wouldn’t fill up a woman’s belly with idiot children, but c’mon - they could have done so much better with this!

[captain1]

It gives me chills every time I watch the original and he says “I am God’s Tom”.  I feel like what’s missing the most, besides Mother Abigail, because she’s a non-entity here, is all of the explicit Christian imagery.  Stephen King even called it “a tale of dark Christianity” FFS.

[Luckylyn]

I hated this episode. Harold basically had a neon sign on his head saying “I’m up to something bad.”   There should be things about him that make him appear suspicious but it shouldn’t be so blatant.  It makes the people who aren’t suspicious of him seem like idiots. I don’t understand why Nadine/Harold is a secret when in the book they were openly a couple.  There’s no logical reason why they can’t just be dating.  That would make their evil plotting easier because they can be seen openly together. 

I felt nothing for Nadine and Larry’s scene.  The show hasn’t built up their feelings for each other adequately.  Just like Tom leaving Boulder in episode 4 lacked impact because the show runners didn’t bother building up the relationships between characters and also took short cuts with character development.  So as a result we don’t get to know characters or get as invested in their journey. Imagine if in the movie Shawshank Redemption they just skipped to the end.  

Spoiler

Why would the reunion between between Andy and Red mean anything if you had not be able to witness what they went through?  

The journey is as vital as the destination in storytelling.  The show has taken so many shortcuts.  The momentum has been lost and the characters have not be developed to their full potential.  

One thing I liked was Flagg playing dead.  That was well done.  They have a fantastic (mostly) cast and have wasted them.

I was so excited for this miniseries.  I’m really disappointed.

[Mr. Sparkle]

32 minutes ago, Luckylyn said:

Harold basically had a neon sign on his head saying “I’m up to something bad.”

Totally agree. Before this episode, I thought Harold and the actor who plays him were one of the better parts of the series. In this episode, he practically rubbed his hands together like an evil fly. 

The parts in Vegas were at least visually interesting, but otherwise this episode was a dud. 

Edited January 15, 2021 by Superclam

[IndyMischa]

Things I liked:

* Flagg playing dead

* Eye candy of the Vegas party scenes

... 

That's all I've got. Sigh. 

[ShellsandCheese]

I'm so disappointed in the show. So disappointed. They are absolutely wasting Whoopi Goldberg as Mother Abigail. Whoopi has the chops! Have they not watched The Color Purple? Skarsgard is being wasted. Marsden is being wasted. Ah. So many talented actors, being given so little to do.  The original miniseries was four two-hour episodes - you figure about 90 minutes without commercials - so about six hours of air time and they told a full story. Here we are five hours in without commercial breaks and I feel like nothing has really happened and the story is moving way slower than it should be and I don't get it because it's not like we are getting lots of character development. We should have MORE by now. And how ridiculous that after what 10-15 minutes of the investigate Harold's home, right away he'd notice one chess piece facing the wrong direction. 

[Luckylyn]

2 hours ago, Superclam said:

Totally agree. Before this episode, I thought Harold and the actor who plays him were one of the better parts of the series. In this episode, he practically rubbed his hands together like an evil fly. 

The parts in Vegas were at least visually interesting, but otherwise this episode was a dud. 

I agree.  Harold was something they were getting right until this episode.

 

3 minutes ago, ShellsandCheese said:

I'm so disappointed in the show. So disappointed. They are absolutely wasting Whoopi Goldberg as Mother Abigail. Whoopi has the chops! Have they not watched The Color Purple? Skarsgard is being wasted. Marsden is being wasted. Ah. So many talented actors, being given so little to do.  The original miniseries was four two-hour episodes - you figure about 90 minutes without commercials - so about six hours of air time and they told a full story. Here we are five hours in without commercial breaks and I feel like nothing has really happened and the story is moving way slower than it should be and I don't get it because it's not like we are getting lots of character development. We should have MORE by now. And how ridiculous that after what 10-15 minutes of the investigate Harold's home, right away he'd notice one chess piece facing the wrong direction. 

Exactly,  despite the restrictions of broadcast tv and less time the 1994 series did so much better with character development and overall telling a coherent story.

[Chicago Redshirt]

I'm going to echo people and say: what a waste. Maybe I'm burdened with nostalgia for the 1994 miniseries or something, but I am not sure if there is any aspect of the current series that is better, with the possible exception of Flagg. 

Did they know that the miniseries was going to be airing off broadcast? Because  on the one hand, I appreciate they showed some of the glitz and the horror of New Vegas, but I think they could have done better given the freedom of a streaming service.

To take a for instance,, it totally underplayed and glossed over what Dayna did at every step of the way. It made her inquiries about Flagg seem super-obvious and clumsy. Gosh, could that new person in town who's been basically demanding to see the boss be a spy? They underplayed that she was put in a position to have to fuck Lloyd and/or his girlfriend trying to get info, to fit in, hell, to survive. Although Flagg playing dead was creepy, there wasn't the buildup there should have been to the notion that her only way out was to break a bottle and cut her own throat.

The scene where Nadine was trying to seduce Larry also didn't work for a variety of reasons. First, up till now, Nadine has been portrayed as a totally willing accomplice with Flagg. So unlike the book and the movie, the notion that she has any hesitancy about being his queen comes out of the blue. And along similar lines, there really hasn't been much established to suggest Nadine and Larry had at all a romantic relationship till now. In the book and the miniseries, IIRC Nadine had wishful thinking that she and Larry could be a couple with a HEA. Here, it seemed more like she just wanted someone to pop her cherry. In which case, why not just fuck Harold or basically any hetero guy with a pulse?

[Keywestclubkid]

3 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

The scene where Nadine was trying to seduce Larry also didn't work for a variety of reasons. First, up till now, Nadine has been portrayed as a totally willing accomplice with Flagg. So unlike the book and the movie, the notion that she has any hesitancy about being his queen comes out of the blue. And along similar lines, there really hasn't been much established to suggest Nadine and Larry had at all a romantic relationship till now. In the book and the miniseries, IIRC Nadine had wishful thinking that she and Larry could be a couple with a HEA. Here, it seemed more like she just wanted someone to pop her cherry. In which case, why not just fuck Harold or basically any hetero guy with a pulse?

All of this... 

[Luckylyn]

4 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

I'm going to echo people and say: what a waste. Maybe I'm burdened with nostalgia for the 1994 miniseries or something, but I am not sure if there is any aspect of the current series that is better, with the possible exception of Flagg. 

Did they know that the miniseries was going to be airing off broadcast? Because  on the one hand, I appreciate they showed some of the glitz and the horror of New Vegas, but I think they could have done better given the freedom of a streaming service.

To take a for instance,, it totally underplayed and glossed over what Dayna did at every step of the way. It made her inquiries about Flagg seem super-obvious and clumsy. Gosh, could that new person in town who's been basically demanding to see the boss be a spy? They underplayed that she was put in a position to have to fuck Lloyd and/or his girlfriend trying to get info, to fit in, hell, to survive. Although Flagg playing dead was creepy, there wasn't the buildup there should have been to the notion that her only way out was to break a bottle and cut her own throat.

The scene where Nadine was trying to seduce Larry also didn't work for a variety of reasons. First, up till now, Nadine has been portrayed as a totally willing accomplice with Flagg. So unlike the book and the movie, the notion that she has any hesitancy about being his queen comes out of the blue. And along similar lines, there really hasn't been much established to suggest Nadine and Larry had at all a romantic relationship till now. In the book and the miniseries, IIRC Nadine had wishful thinking that she and Larry could be a couple with a HEA. Here, it seemed more like she just wanted someone to pop her cherry. In which case, why not just fuck Harold or basically any hetero guy with a pulse?

They could have done so much with Dayna in Vegas.   It was such an opportunity to let us know how things work there while also showing how cunning Dayna is getting in close to key people.  In the book it was clear she gathered a ton of information and that Lloyd and the others were clueless she was a spy until Flagg demanded she be brought to him.  She only got caught because Flagg was magic. Also I loved the detail in the book that she was always armed with a stiletto hidden in her sleeve but instead she grabs random scissors in the bathroom and had no self defense plan at all.

 I’m very worried about how they will handle Trashcan Man.  It’s weird that we haven’t seen any of that storyline yet.

[4Sibes Redux]

For me there is one good thing about Hemingford Home being an assisted living facility... It ended my fixation on the fact that it was supposed to be in Nebraska rather than Colorado. 

Edited January 15, 2021 by 4Sibes Redux

[patty1h]

When they first presented Lloyd in the prison scene, I was intrigued by the actor and his performance but I lost all of that after seeing him in episode 5.  He went from interesting to clown act.

[TattleTeeny]

The Shining carpet sighting in yesterday's episode.

Also, I feel like the "previously on" segments are showing things that I never saw.

Edited January 15, 2021 by TattleTeeny

[Keywestclubkid]

1 hour ago, patty1h said:

When they first presented Lloyd in the prison scene, I was intrigued by the actor and his performance but I lost all of that after seeing him in episode 5.  He went from interesting to clown act.

if it was his choice to play it the way they are I have no fucking clue what he was thinking 

[calliope1975]

I'm trying not to compare this to the original miniseries, and of the tons of King I've read, I'm somehow skipped his big ones (ie. IT, The Stand) but this is just failing all the way around. I like to love most of these actors, but I'm feeling nothing for the characters. TPTB def should have spent more time in Vegas with Dayna before she took herself out, as others have said, showing how she integrated herself, seeing the other spies, and not having her ask when she's going to meet Flagg every other sentence. Subtlety girlfriend! It's been a long time, but I remember Lloyd and Miguel Ferrer being much more subdued and thought he was portrayed as having conflicted feelings though ultimately siding with Flagg. This guy is not coming off as someone anyone with a brain would tap to be their right hand man. That I may be misremembering, but overall I'm still disappointed. 

[Etta Place]

8 hours ago, calliope1975 said:

It's been a long time, but I remember Lloyd and Miguel Ferrer being much more subdued and thought he was portrayed as having conflicted feelings though ultimately siding with Flagg. This guy is not coming off as someone anyone with a brain would tap to be their right hand man.

I remember loving Miguel Ferrer's Lloyd. I agree that this one is a completely different take, and maybe like many of the characters in this version, less a shade of gray. I may also be misremembering but I felt like that Lloyd hung in out of loyalty combined with creature comforts rather than just being 100% into the whole Vegas thing. And yeah, he seemed like an odd choice for a right-hand man but rose to the occasion. I'm not sure this Lloyd has shown that he can do anything at all. Ferrer was a very competent casino boss type.

[Chaos Theory]

My favorite character was always Tom Cullens.  As someone e who is not spiritual at all I really loved the spiritual aspect of the original movie (did not read the book). I loved his Tom Cullens would Say things like M-O-O-N  spells Nick  and then when he was sent to Vegas as a spy and told to return at the full moon he said M-O-O-N spells Moon.  It’s Flagg on the other side playing with Nadine and the others it made it look like their were forces on both sides at work.  This show is resisting it especially In the Colorado side but still playing up Flagg as the devil.   
 

Even though he hadn’t had much to do yet I do however like this version of Lloyd better.   He seems the he really likes Vegas with no rules and no laws.  In the 1984 version he felt more like a bodyguard to Flagg who could t decide if he liked where he was or not. I also like version of Harold who is acting more and  more like a sociopath who might have ended up on an episode of. Criminal Minds if The Tripps virus hadn’t happen. 

Edited January 16, 2021 by Chaos Theory

[DearEvette]

On 12/17/2020 at 8:40 PM, Trillian said:

And it’s really hard to wrap my mind around The Stand without Don’t Fear the Reaper. How do you remake perfection?  

I am only one episode in and I had to come and vent about the non-linear storytelling.  I thought my tv skipped to the middle of the next episode when it went from Fran and Harold leaving Ogunquit to a very pregnant Franny already with Stu. What?  I read the book (multiple times), I knew Frannie and Stu would get together but I could see someone new being very confused.

And yes, I loved the Don't Fear The Reaper credits in the original mini-series.  Sigh.

On 12/17/2020 at 9:08 PM, captain1 said:

And I really missed “Don’t Dream It’s Over”.

Also this....  LOL.  Amazing how that original mini-series has stayed with me.

On 12/27/2020 at 9:44 AM, TattleTeeny said:

 For some reason, I always pictured Oliver Platt as Harold. Young Oliver Platt, that is; I first read The Stand in the '80s.

In the original mini,  I though Cory Nemec as Harold was kinda bad and thought  Molly Rigwald was miscast. I like this Harold a lot better but yeah book Harold was chunky.  Someone more like a Jonah Hill type.  I am still not sold on this Franny, she disappears into the woodwork for me. 

Did I mention I dislike the non-linear storyline?  I think it completely squanders one of the best aspects of the story ... the way the virus spreads and the immediate horror of it.  Oh well.

[Chicago Redshirt]

The credits for five had Don't Fear the Reaper, and it made me want to go all Lloyd Bentsen on it. "I was a viewer of the original miniseries. I was a fan of the original miniseries. CBS All-Access 'The Stand,' you're no original mini-series."

[ShellsandCheese]

49 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

I am only one episode in and I had to come and vent about the non-linear storytelling.  I thought my tv skipped to the middle of the next episode when it went from Fran and Harold leaving Ogunquit to a very pregnant Franny already with Stu. What?  I read the book (multiple times), I knew Frannie and Stu would get together but I could see someone new being very confused.

And yes, I loved the Don't Fear The Reaper credits in the original mini-series.  Sigh.

Also this....  LOL.  Amazing how that original mini-series has stayed with me.

In the original mini,  I though Cory Nemec as Harold was kinda bad and thought  Molly Rigwald was miscast. I like this Harold a lot better but yeah book Harold was chunky.  Someone more like a Jonah Hill type.  I am still not sold on this Franny, she disappears into the woodwork for me. 

Did I mention I dislike the non-linear storyline?  I think it completely squanders one of the best aspects of the story ... the way the virus spreads and the immediate horror of it.  Oh well.

Agreed. They just cannot get Frannie right. Molly Ringwald was absolutely miscast and I so was Odessa Young. In both versions they made Frannie just so boring and uninteresting too. 

[Chicago Redshirt]

54 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

I am only one episode in and I had to come and vent about the non-linear storytelling.  I thought my tv skipped to the middle of the next episode when it went from Fran and Harold leaving Ogunquit to a very pregnant Franny already with Stu. What?  I read the book (multiple times), I knew Frannie and Stu would get together but I could see someone new being very confused.

In this version

Franny is pregnant with the baby of a boyfriend who died off and (at least so far) has never been mentioned or seen. Why they made that change, I don't know. To make Stu even more innocent when it comes setting Harold down his murderous path?

[Luckylyn]

13 minutes ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

In this version

 

  Hide contents

Franny is pregnant with the baby of a boyfriend who died off and (at least so far) has never been mentioned or seen. Why they made that change, I don't know. To make Stu even more innocent when it comes setting Harold down his murderous path?

 

Spoiler

In the book and in the original miniseries the father of Frannie’s baby was always boyfriend Jessie who died if tripps.   The fact that only one of the parents is immune was a source of worry for Frannie because she feared the baby could die like the biological father did.

That’s accurate to the story .

Edited January 17, 2021 by Luckylyn

[TvGeek]

I really wanted to like this series but I don't, I'm disappointed. They have more airtime to tell the story than the original mini yet end of episode 5 and I feel no connection with anyone. Whoopi takes me out of the role, as I know her, they should've casted a fairly unknown older actress. I just don't buy it. Harold was good but by the end of this episode he's like morphing into the joker or something. Lloyd is an idiot, I felt bad for him in the original, can't stand him here. Fran is bad in this and in the original, can't seem to get her right. They wasted Tom and Dayna stories, made her look way to obvious. Nick who was one of my faves in the original has no presence. I'm all for different interpretations of a story but this lacks any heart. There's no urgency or struggle. They've added stuff that doesn't matter yet left out stuff that does. I just, I don't know what they've been filling these episodes with. I re-watched the original (blu-ray graphic enhanced) the other night and it flows so well, It's still better than this after all this time. I cried a few times. I laughed, I was still creeped out. The CGI hasn't held up but other than that it still works. Why with such a amazing book and a decent mini series as a reference (that just needed updating) and the ability to show what network tv couldn't could they go SO wrong. Actually kinda sad lol.

[IndyMischa]

10 hours ago, TvGeek said:

Why with such a amazing book and a decent mini series as a reference (that just needed updating) and the ability to show what network tv couldn't could they go SO wrong. Actually kinda sad lol.

Because it had to be "updated." Because they're "artists." Because making shit complicated for no reason - even if it destroys the story you're trying to tell - makes you a "visionary." 

Such a waste of a (mostly) great cast. 

[PamelaMaeSnap]

I have way too much jumbling around in my mind about all of this, after JUST having watched most recent ep this afternoon (having to time it so Mr. Snappy and I can watch "our shows" together) ... 

I don't think I watched the 1994 miniseries which would be, on the surface, really odd since "The Stand" is one of my all-time Top 5 favorite books ... but it was also a period where my job/career had me traveling SO much and we didn't have the same kind of ability to tape/whatever to watch later ... 

So all I can relate to is what I remember from my multiple rereads (including ONLY one of the unexpurgated version), and my memory is extremely corrupted by medical issues that, sadly, seemed to only affect my one "superpower," which was once a remarkable somewhat photographic and seriously detailed memory. Now it's as if someone took all the carefully details index cards in the immense file cabinet of my memory and threw them all over the floor (kind of like the guy in "Memento" ... somewhat the same condition, just less extreme than his). 

But I digress ... So, we're through Episode 5. I'm trying to approach it as a huge Stephen King fan and an even huger fan of the book "The Stand" but at the same time taking it on its own merits, and assuming that whatever changes "they" made (whoever "they" are) were for reasons unknown to us. 

With that in mind, just a few random thoughts (please bear with me, or don't LOL!!!!)

Having read the book multiple times and this being the first time I've seen it reimagined on screen, I'm only now realizing how "clearly" I had certain characters "visualized" ... and I can't argue with the choices made in actors but it's interesting to see who I was sort of closer on ... 

Without wanting to sound cold, I imagined Frannie much more attractive. Not va-va-voom, but in a more "crunchy-granola" way but ... I think she's really NOT attractive which suspends some of my belief that these guys would be falling in love with her so quickly. Other than her possibly being the last woman of child-bearing age that they know. Creepy Harold is every bit as creepy though he could not be further from the way I remember picturing him in the book (kind of fat and blobby and dark versus skinny and greasy). 

I imagined Larry as a white guy who was a "blue-eyed soul" musician and frankly that always rang a little wrong with me, so I feel like this version is what it probably should have been all along ... And YES, the worst is why-oh-why is Nadine blonde???? The black-hair-turned-white is one of the great things in the book, so this makes ZERO sense unless they're going to unleash on us some equivalent morphing ... 

I don't mind/actually kinda like the gender shifts for a few "lesser" characters if for no other reason than I realize, especially reading some reviews of the show/book, how very very very white-male driven the book was to start with. 

I think Alexander Skaarsgard was a great choice for Flagg. He has the right combo of compelling magneticism with an "everyman" aura. 

I'm good with Nick ... I always imagined Tom Cullen as a big Iowa cornfed football-player type boy but really love the actor in this role. 

I think James Marsden absolutely has the Stu subtle sexiness. LOVE LOVE LOVE Greg Kinnear in his role -- I had not realized what a sexy guy he was LOL. 

I'm undecided on Whoopi. I really like her a lot as an actress/person but also think this is not an easy role to nail ... so it's not 100% for me but that may be because I don't really know what 100% would be! 

So this whole post may have been a big waste of time for anyone who's actually gotten through it but it made me feel good to get it out of my system while I await the next/last nine episodes. And yeah, I'm DEFINITELY going to reread the book AGAIN once this is over. 

ETA: PS ... I could write a whole other personal post re: "Don't Fear The Reaper" despite my not having seen the 1994 version of the series, based solely on my/our own personal experience with music supervision but don't want to bore people to death ... so if there's anyone who's found themselves really enjoying or at least noticing how the music choices have gone so far, let me know and I'll elaborate!!!!

Edited January 17, 2021 by PamelaMaeSnap

[txhorns79]

Am I the only one who thinks they just re-used the concept for the alternate Hill Valley from Back to the Future 2 for New Vegas?  I half expect to see Biff's Pleasure Palace somewhere in the background.  Aside from the murdering people for sport, it's basically just a bunch of over-sexed fetishists who like doing drugs.  They aren't particularly scary or shocking.  They just seem to be damaged, lost people, which makes sense, since they've been through a world ending pandemic. 

[Schweedie]

Man, I hate this so much. I feel like they got Vegas so wrong (and Lloyd), on top of everything else! Making everyone and everything in Vegas so over the top - gladiator fights? It's just lazy. The whole thing about Vegas was the whole "I bet their trains are running on time" thing. People worked hard there, drugs weren't allowed, etc. Dayna was surprised at how much she actually *liked* some of them. I can't really find the words for what I mean, but the contrast between good and bad wasn't about what they're showing here. It was more about... people following an authority out of worship and fear? And then they have Flagg at the end with Dayna talking about how they need to re-establish order, after him addressing a crowd earlier and encouraging them to enjoy violence. Ugh.

And Lloyd... Man. They handled him so well before. What a mess that turned into. 

[kieyra]

A longtime friend of mine, with whom I almost never agree on the relative quality of a given TV show, is trying to convince me to watch this.

The thread so far  kinda gives me the impression we're going to disagree on this one too. 🙂

[Britneys Scrunchie]

Delurking to say I’ve enjoyed reading all the posts, and agree with most on the unusual choice of a non-linear timeline. There was a rumor the series was retooled to avoid focusing on Captain Tripps out of sensitivity to the COVID pandemic, and I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. This article says otherwise (I hope I inserted the link correctly). Apparently the show runners thought the decision to remove 1/3 of the book was the right one. I know Stephen King’s son was involved in this, but I’m still very surprised. The first third of the book wasn’t just about the elimination of most of the world’s population, it was about the breakdown of society and the associated fear and isolation. That was a huge factor in the importance of the Flagg/Mother Abigail dreams - they were the source of hope for the terrified survivors.

[IndyMischa]

On 11/19/2020 at 8:43 PM, IndyMischa said:

It could go either way, but I'm leaning towards inspired. He's great at playing (/being?) batshit crazy, which is pretty on brand for TCM. 

Quoting myself to say that I was wrong. So so very wrong. That was fucking embarrassingly bad.

[Mr. Sparkle]

9 hours ago, IndyMischa said:

Quoting myself to say that I was wrong. So so very wrong. That was fucking embarrassingly bad.

It was even worse than I expected. 

[calliope1975]

There were some acting choices being made in this episode. Choices were made.

[WearyTraveler]

On the positive side, Tom Cullen's plot this episode was great. And the actor made really good choices 😉

Edited January 22, 2021 by WearyTraveler

[Chicago Redshirt]

This miniseries is so bad that it is making me question whether my fond memories of the book and the original miniseries were unwarranted. 

Like maybe I sandpapered oveer the rough bits of plot holes/twists because I was younger/more naive or whatever.