The Stand is my favorite of all Stephen King's books. I read it and reread it, and knew that a mini-series would be the only way to do the book justice - the book is too long, and there's far too many characters to do otherwise. So when I heard that it was coming to TV and it was going to be a mini-series, I was elated.
Then I watched it.
Nope. Not how I had envisioned it, not at ALL. Now granted, just because something doesn't turn out the way I had envisioned it in my mind doesn't mean that it's wrong, per se - it's just not the way I had thought it would be. Having said that, the way it was cast (with a couple of exceptions) and filmed was in no way with what I would consider quality.
The exterior shots of the soldiers and looting were filmed in such a way to make it look like much more than it was. In reality, there were a couple of streets with a few smashed up cars and fake corpses on them. It reminded me of the dance scenes shot in Staying Alive, where the dancers barely jump, yet the camera angle (shot from the ground looking up) is made to make it seem like their little jumps are in fact giant leaps. The trouble with that is it was obvious that's what was being done, that it didn't work, and that by not working, it made the movie look all the more comical. It's the same thing with this. The outdoor shots look small and staged and artificial (kind of like the fake corn in Hemingford Home).
Then the casting. The roles that seemed to be cast the best were those of Nick Andros, Tom Cullen and Stu Redman. But Molly Ringwald as Fran Goldsmith was a joke (it seemed as though it was an excuse for her to get paid to wear yet another cute vintage ensemble from her closet), as was Matt Frewer as Trashcan Man. What happened to pimply, fat Harold Lauder? Instead we get a thin, comical, over-the-top self-righteous prig that did nothing to inspire any sense of impending danger or doom. Plus I got real, real tired of Ruby Dee's Mother Abigail having to intone (no less than four times) "Help us to STAND" (like, okay, author's message, I GET IT).
Yeah, I was so disappointed - there could have been so much more to this. There's some wonderful mini-series' out there that more than do the book justice (Lonesome Dove, is a prime example). The Stand ended up looking rushed and glamorized in ways it shouldn't have been. I do have my own version cast in my head, however, so in the future I'll return to that.
Then I watched it.
Nope. Not how I had envisioned it, not at ALL. Now granted, just because something doesn't turn out the way I had envisioned it in my mind doesn't mean that it's wrong, per se - it's just not the way I had thought it would be. Having said that, the way it was cast (with a couple of exceptions) and filmed was in no way with what I would consider quality.
The exterior shots of the soldiers and looting were filmed in such a way to make it look like much more than it was. In reality, there were a couple of streets with a few smashed up cars and fake corpses on them. It reminded me of the dance scenes shot in Staying Alive, where the dancers barely jump, yet the camera angle (shot from the ground looking up) is made to make it seem like their little jumps are in fact giant leaps. The trouble with that is it was obvious that's what was being done, that it didn't work, and that by not working, it made the movie look all the more comical. It's the same thing with this. The outdoor shots look small and staged and artificial (kind of like the fake corn in Hemingford Home).
Then the casting. The roles that seemed to be cast the best were those of Nick Andros, Tom Cullen and Stu Redman. But Molly Ringwald as Fran Goldsmith was a joke (it seemed as though it was an excuse for her to get paid to wear yet another cute vintage ensemble from her closet), as was Matt Frewer as Trashcan Man. What happened to pimply, fat Harold Lauder? Instead we get a thin, comical, over-the-top self-righteous prig that did nothing to inspire any sense of impending danger or doom. Plus I got real, real tired of Ruby Dee's Mother Abigail having to intone (no less than four times) "Help us to STAND" (like, okay, author's message, I GET IT).
Yeah, I was so disappointed - there could have been so much more to this. There's some wonderful mini-series' out there that more than do the book justice (Lonesome Dove, is a prime example). The Stand ended up looking rushed and glamorized in ways it shouldn't have been. I do have my own version cast in my head, however, so in the future I'll return to that.