After reading though Mark Helprin’s hefty novel, Kendyl and Jenn discuss the many intricacies of Winter’s Tale. Dorin joins in for a discussion of Akiva Goldsman’s film, where it streamlined the novel and where it went too far.
What did you think of Winter’s Tale? Have a listen and then tell us your own thoughts on the novel and/or film in the comments!
In this overdue episode, the Adaptation Team tackles the BBC’s third series of Sherlock, discussing the perfection that is Mary Morstan, the nods to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original works and to the fandom and the mildly-disappointing lack of a cliff hanger, all while reeling from the fact that WE STILL DON’T KNOW HOW HE SURVIVED!
What do you think? Have a listen and then tell us your own thoughts on this series and how it stacks up to the first two the comments!
In which we tell you our picks for the six worst scripts written for film adaptations.
iTunes – Twitter – Facebook – Tumblr – YouTube
Related Podcasts:
#22: Because… High School (The Perks of Being a Wallflower)
#30: Do Bananas Float? (Life of Pi)
#34: The Merry Old Land of Manipulation (The Wizard of Oz)
First there was The Secret Garden, and then there was Black Beauty. I was such a horse-girl when I was child. There was an anthology about unicorns in my elementary school library that I checked out once a month to reread the stories. This lead me to selecting books because there was a horse on the cover, and I even fooled myself into thinking I liked cowboy books for more then their trusty steeds. Eventually, the librarian placed Black Beauty in my hands, a story I already knew well.
When it was time to relax with a movie, my parents sat us down to classics, The Secret Garden which I mentioned in my last article, and Black Beauty being two of that exceptional collection (more to come). Back then, I almost couldn’t tell these two films apart and I’d convinced myself that Dicken’s little white pony was Merrylegs, Black’s best little friend from his happier days on the estate with Ginger. (Especially because Andrew Knott played roles in both movies – ah, young love).
For the horse-girl inside me this storyline could not be more enchanting. Anna Sewell caught the voice of a horse in the time when these gorgeous animals were as useful as they were objects to their owners. Only a lucky horse would end up being cared for the way a little girl would want to read. Sewell’s horse star, Black, met all sorts of masters who loved him and abused him, and finally came to rescue him. You can only imagine this story being an eye-opener for some horse owners to see a personified horse carrying out the standard work of pulling carts and wagons of hay with masters that seem unaware that there is life in the creature they whip. It had a great effect on me as a little girl and only added to the empathy I felt for life.
What amazes me is how this classic was brought to the screen and in a successful way. A horse narrates the story in the book and in the film. There is very little dialogue that moves the scenes and human involvement is coincidental for the most part. As a child, these story telling maneuvers might be overlooked, but as an adult there is always a sense of humor when an animal’s voice tells the story, (two horrifying examples come to mind; one with a blue dragon and another with some wolves in a vampire romance). However, as an adult you can sit down to this movie and enjoy the voice of Black Beauty. It is another great tale to read over and over again, or view over and over again, as your life redevelops the story lines and the movie allows you to do this, humor free.
Adventure, smiles, heartbreak and the constant journey for a home and acceptance fill the pages of this book. As a child, I knew this story was great, even if I didn’t understand the term ‘classic.’ It is yet another story from our childhood that shows what film adaptation can be, and should be, about. In short: a simple, honest expression of the words that have captivated readers of all ages.
And on that note, I have a movie to watch.
In which we set a record for list length and tell you about the nine screen adaptations that had awesome scripts.
iTunes – Twitter – Facebook – Tumblr – YouTube
Related Podcasts:
#22: Because… High School (The Perks of Being a Wallflower)
#30: Do Bananas Float? (Life of Pi)
#34: The Merry Old Land of Manipulation (The Wizard of Oz)
Our hosts are a bit overwhelmed this episode as we discuss GP Taylor’s The Midas Box and the film adaptation The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box. While enjoying the magical realism of the book, there was a lot to take in, and while the movie had them laughing (probably unintentionally), it was a little watery.
Let us know what you thought of the book, the film and our discussion in the comments!
FINALLY, all the hosts were able to see Brian Percival’s The Book Thief! They discuss the bits that were perfect, the bits that were upsetting and the bits that other people just didn’t seem to understand in this beautiful and sad story.
Also, we have an episode on the novel by Markus Zusak.
In which we list plot changes in film adaptations that actually worked with the story.
iTunes – Twitter – Facebook – Tumblr – YouTube
Related podcast episodes:
#26: Luckily For Hobbits, Size Doesn’t Matter (The Hobbit novel)
#29: Toners For Dwarves (An Unexpected Journey)
#72: Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon (The Desolation of Smaug)
When I got to the end of episode 24 of Emma Approved and saw that I had to wait until February for a new video, I didn’t think I’d make it, especially when it ended with an uncharacteristically defeated Emma being comforted by a sweet rather than snarky Knightley. Like a lot of other fans, I filled the void by rewatching the series, multiple times, to pick up on the things that I may have missed the first time around. And now, on this our last Emma-less Thursday, I wanted to get out some thoughts about the series so far.
I have to admit first off, that it took me some time to get into the series and that made me very nervous. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries had me hooked from the first video, but with Emma Approved I was letting the videos stack up for a week or two before I caught up. Happily, I have moved past that phase and am now firmly in the refreshing-my-feed-every-Monday-and-Thursday-for-the-new-video phase. It’s a grand yet torturous place to be.
But the hiatus has given me time to think about why there was such a difference between the two. Emma needs set up. The story itself and the character take time to get into. In The Lizzie Bennet Diaries the set up is just about introducing characters, most of which live under one roof and whose situation in life is familiar to most of us. But Emma’s world is different. The story hinges on the audience really understanding her world, her place in it and her flaws. Emma Approved even took it upon themselves to add additional setup that wasn’t in the original novel in the form of Annie’s hesitations about her marriage to Ryan. It gave us time to see how Emma works, how she schemes and how much she trusts that her own point of view is the only point of view. And it gives us time to fall in love with her despite her intensity so that when she falls, we’re rooting for her to get back up.
Before Emma Approved started, we did a podcast on Jane Austen’s novel where we tried to predict what the big mystery was going to be in the series. For The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, we spent most of our time speculating how Lydia’s story would be modernized, but we couldn’t quite put our finger on what the Emma equivalent was. At 24 episodes in, I’m still not convinced that there is that One Big Thing, but I think I’m having just as much fun with the little story tweaks. The note and concert tickets taking the place of Elton’s riddle. The song taking the place of the painting of Harriet (which I find exceedingly more believable than Clueless’s “I have the picture you took in my locker” moment). It’s all the little misunderstandings leading to the big reveals that create the tone for Emma, and Emma Approved is hitting that note perfectly with those cringe-worthy, look through your fingers, second-hand embarrassing moments. I will admit that I had to watch the Emma versus Senator Elton showdown in small intervals while taking deep breaths.
While I do love where we’re at so far with the series, there are a few things that have been bothering me about how Emma’s world fits together and how that world fits into ours.
In Austen’s novel, Emma and her father hold the highest status position in their town of Highbury, second only to Mr. Knightley. Mr. Elton, however, is a bit lower on the totem pole, to the point where Emma is a bit insulted that he thinks he has a chance with her. In Emma Approved, we are given the impression that Emma runs with a pretty elite crowd, but the status equivalencies of the other characters are a little messy after that, especially in the case of Senator Elton. While his status does make him almost laughably uninterested in Harriet, it also makes him much higher than Emma and Knightley, which is a bit disappointing. I suppose it’s a lesser plot change, but it does change the dynamics between the characters a bit. Even Knightly being more equal with Emma rathat than higher than her is a slight change to their relationship that could have some consequences down the road.
While we’re talking about everyone’s place, the other thing I find a bit confusing is the videos themselves. When the series started, a lot of people were asking how the videos fit into the world of Emma Approved and the creators made this post to explain it. To sum it up, Emma is recording the footage for her future documentary, but the edited videos that we see do not exist in-world. So the characters know that they are being recorded, but the videos are not publicly available as far as they are concerned. This cleared up my original confusion, but also saddened me because I thought that meant that we wouldn’t get any Q&A videos, which were some of my favorite videos in The LBD.
But apparently we can have Q&A videos, as we’ve now seen two of them. But I don’t understand how people are sending in questions for Emma and Knightley to answer in videos that they are not supposed to have seen. Earlier this week, there was an advice blog post written by Knightley and that seemed to make a bit more sense. Of course Emma would run a blog for her company. But the videos also get posted on the blog, which further messes up the fact that these videos don’t technically exist or at least haven’t been edited by lovely documentary makers yet.
I can understand the disparity from a creator’s viewpoint. They want the blog to be a place where viewers can go to get all the new Emma Approved content. And since The Lizzie Bennet Diaries was heralded for it’s interactivity with the fans, they wouldn’t want to give that up either. But I still can’t deny that it makes my head spin to think about the logistics.
With all that said, I’m really just ready for this hiatus to be over so I can get some more lovely and occasionally cringe-worthy content. And I’m also ready for my standing ovation for getting through this whole post without dubbing anything as “so Emma approved.”
When I was younger there was a certain collection of classic stories that were turned into movies. It seems like everyone around my age was sat in front of them, only to find themselves so engaged they had to watch the films over and over again. Essentially, they may have been the first adaptations we saw, without even realizing.
As a child, when I first saw The Secret Garden I could not read. It was a story that captured me and the relationship I felt I had with my own backyard. I remember being a little girl, thinking the robins that bobbed around could understand me and that we were exploring together in the woods of my backyard, complete with wild flowers and wild rose bushes. It was years later when I discovered the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The pages engulfed me once again, but as age does to a reader, I found a new story in the pages that kept me entranced. It was less about the garden and much more about the secrets.
The movie was made for children. Just enough dark to keep you frightened and hiding behind the couch, but enough light-hearted adventure to pull you closer to the screen. The white pony, the castle in the hills, magic around a large fire, the stone walls around a secret place to play and that old wooden swing remain images in my mind as I recall the film. Even the hint of a romance with the dashing Dicken, (the first love of my life), and Mary.
Of course, as a child you can’t quite put a finger on that layer of love, but are intrigued by it all the same.
The book was still made for children, but as literature does in comparison to film, the plot and story lines are considerably slowed down. When I first read it, I was a very slow reader, and the pacing seemed to change the tone of book. I began to see the darkness in the family in contrast to the lighter story of getting a boy in a wheelchair into the garden.
The loss of a mother and a sick little boy abandoned by his father, who refrains from looking at his son from the hurt of memories. The same hurt that caused him to lock up and neglect his wife’s garden for years until Mary’s appearance. The type of loss and the impact it was able to have over an entire household was something new to me and it forever changed the way I watched the adaptation of the film.
The older I became, the more I could see these lines in the film. It seemed the more disturbing depth I could see, the more hooked I became as I began to see the brilliance of a film created for all generations. A good time to a three year old, but with the abilty to bring tear to a woman in her 50s. It even can bring a second thought to a title so familiar that we hardly notice the depth in the words chosen by publishers long ago to describe the entire story…
The Secret Garden
In which our Adaptation hosts start off our year on a dystopian kick, alongside twistedly ever afters and experimental childhoods.
iTunes – Twitter – Facebook – Tumblr – YouTube
Related Vlogs:
Divergent description in What Are We Reading? December 2013
Heroes of Olympus description in What Are We Reading? October 2013
Related podcast episodes:
#6: Hunger Games, Y U So Brilliant?
#7: Seneca Crane’s Beard Invalidates Your Opinion
If you were waiting for an early or even late 2014 release of Seventh Son, I have bad news for you… even worse if you’ve been waiting since the original February 2013 release date.
For the Nth time, the release date for this film has been pushed. Its release date is now set for Feb 6, 2015. Hopefully, when that date rolls around we won’t hear of another push.
As some of you know, from the podcasts, I am a huge fan of Jeff Bridges. I was anticipating RIPD for 2+ years and similarly with this one, I am frustrated with the delays. So I decided to do some digging.
Seventh Son is:
An 18th century adventure story centered on young Thomas, who is apprenticed to the local Spook to learn to fight evil spirits. His first great challenge comes when the powerful Mother Malkin escapes her confinement while the Spook is away. – IMDB
It is an adaptation of a young ddult novel The Spook’s Apprentice (The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch in the USA) by Joseph Delaney. The first story in the series The Wardstone Chronicles.
The cast is full of goodies: Ben Barnes as the Apprentice, Jeff Bridges as the Master, Julianne Moore as Mother Malkin, and a supporting cast of Kit Harington (Jon Snow from Game of Thrones), Antje Taue (Faora-Ul in Man of Steel, and Nadia in Pandorun), and Olivia Williams (DeWitt from Dollhouse, and Countess Vronsky in Anna Karenina).
So why does it keep getting pushed?
What better way to start out 2014 than by listing the adapted films that we are most looking forward to seeing on the big screen? And believe you me, there were a lot to choose from!
Honorable Mentions:
The Legend of Hercules
X-Men: Days of Future Past
The LEGO Movie
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Jersey Boys
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
The Hobbit Part 3
Into the Woods
iTunes – Twitter – Facebook – Tumblr – YouTube
Related podcast episodes:
In this episode on The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, our hosts talk about the added/extended storylines, the awesome CGI, the unnecessary CGI and what it all means for the third film. And also how they would watch an entire film of elves fighting because oh. my. god.
Also, we have an episode on the novel by JRR Tolkien and films 1 and 3.
Adaptation Podcast 