TV show reboot

[sunnyskywalker]

They haven't even finished with the Fantastic Beasts franchise, and already the books are getting a reboot, this time as a TV series. It will supposedly be "authentic to the original books." Whatever that means. JKR will be an executive producer, so maybe "authentic to what she intended to write or imagines she wrote."

I can't help but be morbidly curious. Will the Dursleys be blond? Will the reboot stick all the adults in robes instead of vaguely bohemian but mostly normal clothes? Will the Marauders generation look their ages instead of 20-30 years older? Will we get Dudley hiding in fear behind Vernon instead of eating cake, the full story of the prank, SPEW, the full set of Pensieve memories, Marietta's scarring, and Harry gleefully hexing Filch twice while his schoolmates look on and laugh? Will we get full-on flashbacks for some of the historical scenes? Will authenticity mean putting in the bits JKR totally meant to write but didn't, like the Slytherins triumphantly returning to fight? Will we get bonus material from the "ghost plots" that didn't make it into the books, like the backstory about Dean's father?

And, of course, will Harry have his mother's eyes for real this time? Since apparently that was important enough to yap about for seven whole books/eight movies...

Comments

[vermouth1991.livejournal.com]

Hi! I’ve been away from this livejournal/dreamwidth site for a long time and I’m glad to find a place where I may say a few things about the series in general.

I’ve been listening to a certain Harry Potter podcast that covers both movie scenes and book chapters. I’m within the climax part of PoA and the way the hosts and many of the listeners who write in to the show utterly undersell how important the entirety of the Maurauders Backstory is to PoA and to the rest of the series, will never cease to astound me. Those folks never stop B&Ming about DUMBLEDORE ASKED CALMLY and would talk about many omitted scenes in films 4-6 but would suddenly fail to realize how much of an utter *castration job* that was Kloves’ and Cuaron's treatment of PoA.

I know the writers and many commenters here have done a whole lot in analyzing HP beneath the surface levels. But the real sad thing I have come to realize in those last few years is, If the movie series after Chamber Of Secrets actually did a good adaptation of the books, then I would have watched them and GLADLY swallowed the biased bs like “Snape was a creep, all Sirius did was spook him a little bit, it was totally just a prank bro, and Lupin was a good prefect and conscience!”, if the movie PoA actually bothered to SHOWCASE the intricacies of the PoA plot and characters. Because it would actually be as enjoyable as reading the book, even with the GRYFFINDOR F YEAH biases.

Instead, we get:

— NO MENTION of “Sirius Black killed twelve muggles and one wizard with a single spell”, thus setting him up as super dangerous but Harry would grow to want to kill him, instead we get “HE’S A MURDERER” and that was IT, make way for HILARIOUS SHIT TALKING SHRUNKEN HEADS, YO.

— NO QUIDDITCH beyond the bare minimum to let Harry lose his broom and fear dementors even more and lead to Patronus lessons. Some of the people on the podcast debate whether or not Quidditch was Essential for Year 3, and I ask:

“It’s ‘Oliver Wood really wants to win the Quidditch School Cup’, “Harry producing a FULL PATRONUS (which many people apparently can never do even without real dementors nearby) at the Second Game with Ravenclaw, thus settling up the final hurdle as But Can He Do The Same Under Pressure instead of Can He At All and raising the stakes’, and perhaps most importantly, ‘Draco Malfoy already doomed Buckbeak, we cannot let him win this too’ all rolled into one. - - BUT SURE, LET’S DO WHOMPING WILLOW SEASON SHOTS INSTEAD!!! 😡

— And speaking of the Whomping Willow: NO MENTION OF HOW TO FREEZE IT (Oh wow I guess that Prongs Padfoot and Wormtail actually have to ninja-gymnastics their way into the tree tunnel every time! I’m actually admiring their dedication and resolve for them now!) and also NOTHING about Lupin having to use the tree to safely transform away from humans. What the eff is the usage for all those ESTABLISHING SHOTS of the tree then, Alfonso? Just for a freakish slapstick tree branch action scene?

— No Marauders backstory, we don’t even get confirmation that the Foursome traversed the castle and the grounds culminating in the creation of the Map. And like I said, no subplot of them Helping Lupin by roaming with him. - NO FECKING WONDER BARELY ANYONE ON THE PODCAST MENTIONS HERMIONE BEING FREAKED OUT ABOUT THE DANGER. How could more people know about it when it’s not in the movie??

— And speaking of no Maurauders backstory, perhaps the cherry on the icing of the cake: ALFONSO AND STEVE COMPLETELY OMITTED THE FIDELIUS CHARM! I only really noticed that three or four viewings in back in the day, and I almost barfed blood like an anime character from the fanboy rage. No Fidelius Charm at all, and therefore no “Sirius Black was magically made into the O N L Y man who can spill the beans… and he told Voldemort!” into “Sirius Black was OnE oF teH fEw whO kNew… and he told Your Know Who!”

Like I said, total CASTRATION of a book that is already not perfect, but I would have gladly eaten up the flawed surface-level narrative, if they had bloody bothered to do right by the book, but they didn’t!

* headdesks like Princess Mereda *

So yeah, I’ll watch the new show out of morbid curiosity if nothing else. The bar is VERY low for an adaptation.

[sunnyskywalker]

The bar is practically below the ground, staring up at the possibilities like that one shot in Citizen Kane. It's such a shame that they had so many incredible actors basically doing souped-up cameos. I think Maggie Smith even joked about how her part in CoS was essentially standing around going, "But Albus, what does it mean?" If they get actors even half as good and TV series length, it will at least give them more time to shine.

The lack of Marauders backstory really does gut the series. I am fine with movies simplifying and omitting some details when adapting books in general, because it is impossible not to, and because movies work differently and the simplification can make the same emotional points in a compact punch. But there's simplifying and then there's cutting almost everything that explains what's motivating half your characters. I really wonder whether the movies would make sense if everyone watching hadn't either read the books or had a friend sitting next to them whispering about all the details the movies cut.

There are so many scenes it would be interesting to see filmed as they were written, and see what the reaction is!

[sunnyskywalker]

Also, thank you for commenting! It's been quiet here lately so it's nice to get another voice in the conversation.

I, too, am usually fine with adaptations taking a different interpretation as long as they do it well. The movies had some dramatic scenes and cool vibes at moments, but I don't think they worked very well as a coherent story, which makes all the changes seem like cheap tricks to make their characters more "relatable" or whatever. Grapple with the books and try to adapt that story coherently, fine. Make the heroes more heroic and the baddies badder and tell a coherent story, fine. Do neither? Blah.