The gang discusses the film Big Hero 6, wondering why it wasn’t set in Japan, wanting their own Baymax, and loving the range of characters and emotional depth in the storyline. Dorin evens comes up with a storyline for the sequel.
See what the Adaptation staff have been reading and watching in the month of October!
I recently started watching a 2004 BBC show called Hustle, which is about a group of con artists in London, and each episode features a new and intricate sting. It’s fascinating, and you definitely have to pay close attention to what’s happening if you don’t want to miss anything. If you like the Ocean’s movies, you’ll love this show, too. It pits the characters in that awesome gray area where they’re criminals, but you root for them anyway. This is helped along by the fact that they usually target the rich, mighty and corrupt, so it’s satisfying to see the mark fall.
-Jess
Gotham is a great twist on the classic Batman story. Following Detective James Gordan as he begins his career in the Gotham PD, he is put on the case of the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne where he first meets Bruce and they form a friendship that acts as an origin story of sorts for Batman. Along the way, Gordon also comes up against the crime rings currently plaguing the city as well as future Batman villians like Selina Kyle and Oswald Cobblepot. We are so used to the super villains that are slightly outlandish characters (though we love those characters) and now we get to see a real Gotham with real corruption issues. I am thoroughly enjoying it!
-Dorin
I’ve been reading through the Fables comics published by Vertigo. This comic series features a slew of characters from fairy tales and fables who were forced to flee their homeland after being attacked by the mysterious villain, the Adversary. They take cover in New York City and form a clandestine community called Fabletown, where they live side-by-side with us normal, mundane people. The story arcs in this series are imaginative and diverse, including anything from murder mysteries to animal rebellions to prophecies–all involving fairy-tale characters who are perhaps not as familiar as we would expect.
-Jenn
I watched From Dusk Til Dawn: The Series on Netflix, which is an extension of the film and comic franchise. It follows the Gecko brothers as they elude Texas Ranger Freddie Gonzalez and the FBI, commandeer an RV owned by the Fuller family and end up at a strip club full of vampires, where they have to fight for their lives- say it with me now- till dawn. That satisfied both my horror and hot guy quotas for the month (Wilmer Valderama = baby daddy, HOLLA).
-Sarah
The only piece of non-Adaptation-related media that I’ve consumed this month was Horns by Joe Hill, which I reviewed for River Ram Press. So I’m going to be a little lame this month and just link you to that review here. But be sure to stick around the Adaptation blog because next week I’ll be reviewing the film counter-part to the novel starring Daniel Radcliffe.
-Kendyl
That’s it for us this month, but be sure to leave your own recommendations in the comments!
Here at Adaptation, we are soon to be recording our 100th podcast and we just passed the one-year anniversary of our YouTube channel. *Pops the champagne*
So let’s take a moment to discuss the foundation of what we do…
It’s a funny thing to discuss because I often wonder if it is a matter of opinion or biased by what a reader feels or knows about the story and characters.
Let’s look at a few examples of different adaptations:
This is an example of a “perfect” adaptation. I put the quotes around perfect because I mean it in no way as a definitive “this is a perfect adaptation” and more of a description of how it translated book to movie. This type of adaptation is one that is more literal.
I had read the book a few years before the film opened and I was amazed at how the film was really just a visual version of the book. I thought to myself, “Now this is a great adaptation”, until I told my parents, whom I had been watching the film with, why I felt that way. I asked them “Do you want to read the book? I have it.” However, because I said that the film was exactly like the book they said no. Why would they bother?
That saddened me because I absolutely loved the book, and it is something that we have mentioned in podcasts: We like it when the movie makes you want to read the book (again) and vice versa.
The thing is, even when I gripe and nit-pick at some of the films on podcasts here, when we talk about an adaptation, I do feel that there should be signs of someone’s interpretation. But how much should be strictly accurate and what exactly should be up for the creator’s interpretation?
I saw this film without having read the novel and I really liked the film. Of course, those of my friends, on and off the podcast team, who had read the book, were infuriated! The ending was completely different from the book; in fact you could say they made it totally opposite.
Now, we always try to say here at Adaptation that books and films are two different animals and we have to keep them separated. I agree, and I try- oh how I try- but is there a breaking point? Was it right or wrong of the filmmakers to change the ending? Did they feel that the ending they used was a little more believable or true to life? Does that matter?
The film itself had good pacing, character development, and acting. It flowed together well and was never slow or boring or abrupt. So, would we consider it a good adaptation? Or just a good film?
This is one of those adaptations that came out nearly 10 years after I had read the book. Yet, this book is one that was so unique and such a great read that it stuck with me all that time. When the film was about to be released, after working on it with the filmmakers, Neil blogged a warning to readers and lovers of the book: “The movie will be different”.
I was so glad for that because when I saw the film I expected changes. I even wish I could have known about them in more detail, because it had been so long since I’d read the book. While watching the film, I wasn’t always sure if something had been in the book or not. But5 maybe that is not such a bad thing.
However, there were many things that I knew for sure where not in the book, and some of them were things that I felt changed the feeling of the story. The book was much darker and grittier than the film, which was produced by Disney. They really did Disney it up with a happily-ever-after and things of the like. It was a family friendly movie that many kids and parents alike enjoyed.
So, can I really knock it? Was it so bad for me that I can call it a bad adaptation? Most of the story was intact and the ending wasn’t so different, unlike my previous example. It spread the word about the novel and more people now know who Neil Gaiman is… but still the feel was different.
*Technically the 2012 version is an adaptation of the original film and neither the short story nor P. K. Dick is credited.
Here are examples of taking either a very short story or a vague idea and running with them.
Total Recall’s original material is much shorter than you would expect and not nearly the number of characters in the film (1990). Basically, the idea of the character having memories in his head that have been implanted, who later finds out that there is something more going on. But in both screenplays, the story is much more out there than in the original work. They required so much expansion.
Blade Runner’s original novel is similar. Again, the ideas were in the film where Androids are trying to pass themselves off as human, and a bounty hunter is out to retire them, but there are so many things that were cut and others that were added.
I can’t say for sure that the reception for Total Recall in 1990 was a good one, but I know that Blade Runner by Ridely Scott is still considered a great film and the director’s cut version was even reviewed very recently by The Telegraph, saying that it “is a masterpiece of dystopian science fiction on film”. I myself love both of these films and was honestly surprised to read the original material. I love both written and screen work for different reasons- and dislike them for different reasons.
Is this a case of interpretation being the right thing?
Even after thinking about these examples of adaptations (and there are countless more, just check out our podcasts), it is hard to really pinpoint what makes a good adaptation. I would not want to leave this post without some conclusion, but maybe there just isn’t a definitive one. All I have is my opinion, and I can’t say that it hasn’t changed depending on what adaptation we are discussing.
From these examples, in my humble opinion, this is what makes a good adaptation:
In the end, I do think that it is a matter of opinion on whether an adaptation is done well or not. It is sometimes easier to say when it was not done well at all (*coughs* Al. Vamp. Hunt. Dig.).
Dorin and Kendyl sit down to talk about the film that has dominated this summer! It’s been a while since Marvel has introduced new misfits into it’s film universe and Guardians of the Galaxy has certainly held up to the hype. The only question is where are we going from here?
For a similar discussions, check out our episodes on Game of Thrones season 4, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier.
As a fan of Sailor Moon for the past 20 years, I was more than excited to hear that they were creating a new “season” of Sailor Moon called Sailor Moon Crystal. From what I have read, Naoko Takeuchi has not created further manga beyond the previous Codename: Sailor V and Sailor Moon manga printed back in the 1990s, so I worried about exactly how this was going to turn out.
At first, it seemed that all the news was saying that the new series would not be directly from the manga or the 1990s anime, but based on the characters and canon of Sailor Moon. If this had been the case, it would have been interesting to see where they would go after all we had been through with the 200 episode series from the 1990s (broken down into seasons of Sailor Moon, Sailor Moon R, S, SuperS, and Stars). It would have been a whole new journey for fans to see their favorite characters in a new light, hopefully a good one. The creators would have had a lot of breathing space and could have created a really neat piece of anime that goes beyond what we already have established.
I was pretty disappointed as screenshots and more concrete news came out. The anime looks wonderful, the characters are drawn in a way that better emulates the manga, but it also showed that they are starting from the beginning again. It is in fact, a REBOOT, news of which was posted by our own Jenn back in 2012.
I really had to take some time to mull this information over because of how I feel about reboots. As far as some of the super hero movies have gone, the reboot of Spider-Man is far superior to the previous set, and although I still enjoy the originals of Superman and Batman, the reboots gave them a grittier more real look, which I very much enjoyed. However, when you look at things like Avatar: The Last Airbender– not that the film was really a reboot, but it told the same story- the original was miles above the film. Of course, I do take into account that some things are just better when animated and in the case of this new Sailor Moon, that at least is not an issue. Still, I’m of the philosophy “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
So, do we really need it again?
The short answer is… YES!
This new version is going to be a closer adaptation to the fabulous manga.
Although the 1990s anime (the original, unedited Japanese) is fun, exciting, addictive, and has all the feels you would want from a good TV show, there are things that I would like to see them do differently. I would not say that the original anime is bad by any means. I love it and have re-watched it more times than I can count. And though the manga is not drastically different, there are key differences that no adaptation has covered so far.
What the adaptations have done, is taken a lovely story and woven more intricacies into it so we get the same general idea or story line, but characters are more fleshed out. Some characters are taken in different directions, many times showing that even if they are on the bad side of the story, they have good parts to them. In the manga, characters were added and defeated (or otherwise dismissed) so quickly that one couldn’t grasp the characters. It was a case of we root for the good guys, and the bad guys get destroyed, no gray area, end of story.
One character, however, that had much more to him in the Manga than any of the adaptations thus far is Darien/Mamoru. In every TV related story, he never has any real powers- except for the power of bad puns, appearing and disappearing from strange places (i.e. Street Lamps), and enough aim to distract the enemy with a rose so Sailor Moon can vanquish them. But there is so much more to his character than that. Yes, the general things are there: he is the prince of the earth, he was in love with Princess Serenity in the past, was killed protecting her and they are destined for each other, but there are some things that have always been omitted.
He had powers in the manga, real ones. Darien/Mamoru had the power of psychometry, which allowed him to do many things, as Lita/Makoto/Jupiter explained in the original translated manga: he had the power to heal himself or others quickly, but he could use this same power as an attack. Later in the manga he touches the Earth to feel that the planet as a whole had only been scratched, and he could find just about anyone on it. Beyond that, he is the true holder of the golden crystal, to match Sailor Moon’s silver crystal, which is just one of the many things I disliked about the SuperS series in the 1990s Anime. It is the one that went the most wrong in my opinion.
Even Sailor Moon herself as a character is better in the manga. She grows very quickly and doesn’t need to be told to use her abilities- a friend and I watched through the whole series to see how many episodes someone didn’t say “Now, sailor moon!” and trust me, there were not a lot- and she is the true protector. She also uses cute goggles to see through ruses and was convinced that Sailor V was the true princess to the moon kingdom. Not that anyone was really fooled, but I liked her much better in the manga.
Also, let us not forget the near absence of the overpowering evil presence named Queen Metalia, who is the one who poisons Queen Beryl’s mind and starts the whole war. In the 1990s anime, there is some dark blob that Queen Beryl talks to, but she is not really given a name. They did better with it in the 2003 live action, but instead of Beryl absorbing her powers, Mamoru does, which was just one of the many crazy things that happened in the live action film.
I also miss the fact that the four soldiers under Queen Beryl were once loyal to Prince Endymion (Mamoru/Darien’s past life). They were soldiers under his rule and occasionally felt something towards him even when they were under Beryl’s spell. In death, they turn into the stones of their names: Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, and Kunzite and are freed, allowing them to help Prince Endymion later on. This was never touched upon in the 1990s anime, but it was brought up in the Sailor Moon RPG video game as well as the 2003 live action.
Another thing, that anime viewers may not know is that the it got a bit ahead of the manga. By the time the series R was being made that story had not yet been published via the manga. This is why the “Doom Tree” series seems so out of place and why all the senshi/scouts lose their memories at the end of the first series. The creators weren’t sure there would be more so they wrapped up the season in a nicely wrapped package. This of course, is not how it all goes down in the manga. The enemy of that story is defeated and everyone is happy when Chibiusa/Rini comes crashing down, but there was no in-between, confusion, or needing to begin again.
This is why I feel like another adaptation is not only warranted, but necessary. I would like to see all of my favorite things in anime form. I mean, I could just read the Manga again, and now that it is more readily available to people, so could everyone else. But, for those who don’t get into the manga, I think the anime will be a great door opener.
Of course, there are things that people might miss in the new adaptation: there are no rainbow crystals in the manga, Naru doesn’t have a love affair with Nephrite, etc. And if Sailor Moon Crystal does well enough and they continue onto R with the Black Moon series, Sapphire might not have a cute backstory with Prizma, and he may turn out much less likable as he was in the manga. Things will be different, but the new anime isn’t going to erase the old one. We can always watch the original again (and again and again…)
Sailor Moon Crystal is set to premiere on 5th July across the globe. You can watch it one Hulu+, Crunchyroll [available to Crunchyroll’s audience in the following territories: U.S.A, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America (Central and South America including Mexico)] and Viz Media’s Neon Alley.
They are planning on premiering subbed and re-dubbed versions at the same time. Hopefully, since the Japanese and Americans are working simultaneously, the dubbing will be much better quality. I could rant about a comparison between original Subbed and Dubbed of the 1990s anime, but that is for another day.
Now, I’m off to re-read the manga for the billionth time. If you haven’t read it, I suggest you do, and if you have, why not once more with feeling?
I am SUPER EXCITED! Here’s a trailer to get you pumped!
What bits do you hope they keep in this version, or what bits do you hope they cut? Let us know in the comments!
… but then they didn’t. In the new installment in the X-Men series, Sentinels created by Trask Industries have decimated mankind. In order to prevent this future, Wolverine travels back to the 70s to stop the event that set these events in motion. Our hosts come together to try to figure out the intricacies of this new time-line, what it means for the future and how thankful they are for the fixed mistakes.
In their latest episode, the Adaptation team sits down to talk about The Amazing Spider-Man 2 which meets up with Peter as he battles Electro, the Green Goblin and Rhino. The hosts give this film a passing grade on handling so many villains in one film and focus on discussing the journeys that each character took, particularly in how they obtain and lose power (no pun intended) throughout the course of the film.
Starting off our summer of Marvel films, we gather together to talk about Captain America: The Winter Soldier in which Steve bros around with Sam and Natasha before confronting former bro, Bucky. While some hosts consider these the lame superheroes, others appreciate that this was a more down-to-earth hero film. They throw in a little Agents of SHIELD discussion and talk about what might become of our beloved agency in their continuing battle with Hydra.
This week the gang discusses the comic I, Frankenstein: Genesis by Kevin Grevioux as well as the motion comic and the film adaptation starring Aaron Eckhart. While they applaud the trans-media attempt, they aren’t sure that the film stands up well on it’s own.
What do you think? Have a listen and then tell us your own thoughts on the comic and film in the comments!
In this episode on Thor: The Dark World, the hosts discuss the brotherly relationship development, the lack of development in the film’s villain and what is in store for the next Marvel installment. But we are still left wondering exactly why Loki let Thor keep his hammer…
In which we give you the scenes that were epically accurate in translation to the screen.
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Related podcast episodes:
#42: All About the EL-BEE-DEE! (on the Lizzie Bennet Diaries)
#7: Seneca Crane’s Beard Invalidates Your Opinion (on The Hunger Games film)
#29: Toners for Dwarves (on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey film)
In which our Adaptation hosts present our list of bad character adaptations. It’s a little skimpy for some reason, but we’re sure you can help us add to it!
Also, check out our list of Five Best Character Adaptations!
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Related Podcast Episodes:
#18: Living in a Powder Keg (The Silver Linings Playbook novel)
#27: Where’s the Silver Lining? (Silver Linings Playbook the film)
#51: Percy Jackson and the Bermuda Triangle of Monsters (Sea of Monsters the novel)
#54: TMI and Incestuous Canoodling (City of Bones the novel)
#56: Fashionably Early Kronos (Sea of Monsters the film)
#58: City of Inconsequence (City of Bones the film)
Dorin has her work cut out for her defending her honey, Jeff Bridges, in Robert Schwentke’s film R.I.P.D., based on the Dark Horse comic, as the other three hosts just didn’t get it.
Adaptation Podcast 