I have been reading Stephen King novels for almost thirty years, way before his name became bigger than the title on the cover. During those years King has reached many peaks, along with a few troughs. In my opinion, his finest work was The Dead Zone. When the feature film was released in 1983 I was so disappointed that David Cronenburg had missed the point of the novel. The meaning of the Dead Zone was completely misunderstood, while such an important character as Greg Stillson was introduced at such a late stage, he might as well have been the postman.
I'd heard good things about the TV series, so when it started a repeat run tonight I looked forward to it enormously. After seeing one episode I feel so let down. Here was the chance to tell it like the book! What did they do? They killed off Johnny's parents, such important characters in the novel. Where was the wailing of his mother, or the good common sense of his father? There was no agonising by Sarah, instead. she marries the sheriff and they bring up a baby, presumably Johnny's, when in the novel Johnny and Sarah had never shared a bed!
When the original story is so good, why do movie makers and TV producers feel the need to change things? To my mind it's laziness in the extreme. It's small wonder that Stephen King is often frustrated by the way his books have been turned to film. I've only seen the first episode, but based on this I can only award it 2 out of 10.
I'd heard good things about the TV series, so when it started a repeat run tonight I looked forward to it enormously. After seeing one episode I feel so let down. Here was the chance to tell it like the book! What did they do? They killed off Johnny's parents, such important characters in the novel. Where was the wailing of his mother, or the good common sense of his father? There was no agonising by Sarah, instead. she marries the sheriff and they bring up a baby, presumably Johnny's, when in the novel Johnny and Sarah had never shared a bed!
When the original story is so good, why do movie makers and TV producers feel the need to change things? To my mind it's laziness in the extreme. It's small wonder that Stephen King is often frustrated by the way his books have been turned to film. I've only seen the first episode, but based on this I can only award it 2 out of 10.
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