Book vs Show Comparisons: Did the Show Writers Even OPEN the Book?

[Guest]

Book Talk!

[Bort]

Hoo boy, there's a lot of changes from the books so far. Off the top of my head:

• Myfanwy was attacked on the Millenium Bridge instead of a park
• Linda didn't dreamscape with Myfanwy the first night
• Myfanwy's office is a boring regular one with glass walls instead of the creepy one she inherited from Conrad
• Ingrid is in a wheelchair
• Myfanwy had slept with a Gestalt
• The hierarchy of the Checquy as pictured on the wall is different. In the book, the bosses are titled Lord and Lady (to differentiate from the monarchy). Here, they're using the chess piece names of King and Queen, which are Linda and Conrad, respectively and one female Bishop. The book it was some old guy (can't remember his name) and Linda as Lord and Lady. Book Conrad was a Bishop and there was another Bishop that was a vampire. Ingrid was listed as a Pawn on the wall, but that's a title that's supposed to be only for people with powers and Book Ingrid was a powerless Retainer.
• Monica Reed. In the book, the character with that name was an assassin that was only in two brief parts. The American agent in the book was a black woman named Shantay who could turn into metal. Show Monica's powers seem to be more similar to the book character of Chevalier Eckhart, who could make metal malleable. Also, Shantay had shown up midway through the book and not the beginning.

[ALenore]

Thanks for the list of differences, it's been a few years since I read the book so I didn't remember all of them.  I do remember that she was reading binders or notebooks detailing the organization and past events, and it looks like this has been changed to videos, which makes sense for a movie.

[mjc570]

I like it so far, although I've found it helpful to completely forget about the book.  There was so much internally going on with Myfanwy that the show really can't compete.  I think the casting is spot on, and the acting is quite good.  I read (and loved) the first book a while ago, and have had no trouble keeping up. 
I remember I didn't like the second book quite as much, although I don't remember why.  I don't understand why they felt the need to have the American agent there,  unless to help with audience exposition.  Or to make it more accessible to Americans. 

[Broderbits]

I just finished the first book, watched the first episode, and read about the next two. Although Emma Greenwell is pretty much how I pictured Myfanwy, there's too much distortion of the book and the show is pretty boring. Why oh why do showrunners option a book only to throw out most of the good parts; just write your own damn story if you're so talented. Very disappointed, and going on to read the second book now.

[NeenerNeener]

I'm getting into the first book now, and some of the letters from OG Myfanwy explaining the Checquy are hilarious. It's a shame that I don't find the tv version as entertaining as the book. 

On 7/15/2019 at 5:31 PM, Broderbits said:

Why oh why do showrunners option a book only to throw out most of the good parts; just write your own damn story if you're so talented.

The only time I've seen a tv show transcend the source book(s) is The Magicians. This is more like mediocre fan fiction.

Edited July 22, 2019 by NeenerNeener

[Noneofyourbusiness]

On 7/21/2019 at 1:07 PM, NeenerNeener said:

The only time I've seen a tv show transcend the source book(s) is The Magicians.

I've only seen the TV version of The Magicians so far, but from what I know about the novels I've also gotten that impression. They're on my to-read list. The Magicians is the only show I always watch the night I recorded it even if I have to watch it past midnight.

I also haven't read The Rook yet (other than Google Books pages), but from what I've gleaned it does seem wittier than the show. I'm finding it an entertaining show, though, if not as fast as some others I watch. Gestalt is the most interesting character in the show. They need to be explicit what Linda, Monica and Claudia's powers are like they have for Myfanwy, Gestalt and Conrad.

They changed the identity of Myfanwy's betrayer, which is a move that makes sense so that book readers wouldn't immediately know who it was.

Edited July 23, 2019 by Noneofyourbusiness

[Jodithgrace]

I reread the two books before this show came on, and boy was that a mistake! Maybe if my memory of the books had been a little more hazy I wouldn't be hating this show so much now. At this point I am only watching because there is so little else on tv that doesn't require a special subscription. It just pops up on my DVR every week and I basically hate watch it. LOL

Why did they throw out everything that was entertaining about the books and turn it into The Bourne Identity? The only characters that resemble their book counterparts are Myfawny herself and Gestalt.

Where's the vampire? And most of all, where are the Belgians? In the books, practically every time the Belgians are mentioned along with that hilariously long name they give their organization, (which I can't begin to remember) I would laugh, because real life Belgians in general seem rather mild mannered and non controversial. Just a great choice of country for super villains. 

I understand that the special effects would be difficult, but IMO, if the book that you want to adapt for tv is impossible to adapt..DON'T DO IT!