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Storm Front
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Dresden Files has been optioned for TV again (Maybe?)
I saw a few episodes of that show, only because my wife was watching it. Was not impressed.I guess I'm paradoxical about turning books into other media. Even if I don't like the product, I'd still want it to be done. Some people will like it, and I always want the writer to get paid.
Mod
It won't be hard for them to do a better job this time around. Assuming of course it actually goes anywhere.
I won't be upset if they don't make the show, but I'll be there to watch it day 1 if they do.
I though the first iteration tv show was decent. Paul Blackthorne and Valerie Cruz were both good casting choices. I agree with Rob's sentiments about Bob and the hockey stick. I was disappointed that the show only lasted one season.So, which voice actor should they cast as Bob?
I'd also like to see Mister and Mouse.
Mod
So here's a question, do they start with Storm Front, or should they start with one of the later books and either cut out or cut down on the cases from the early books?
I typically tell people the series really gets going with Death Masks.
I almost think they'd be better off starting there and filling in the details of the first 4 books via flashbacks or other means (have them come up more organically as needed to each week's episode).
Plus that would get Mouse into the series during the first season.
Really book 1 mostly sets up the rules of magic and the wizards. Book 2 adds in werewolves. Book 3 is vampires and book 4 is the Fae.
Most of the details from the first 4 books could be worked in along the way without following the books exactly and they could focus more on the laying the groundwork for the larger plot that's been carrying the latter books.
Plus I think Nicodemus is the strongest villain of the series.
I'm getting old. All the voices I can hear coming out of Bob's mouth are from actors who are deceased! Not sure which actors among the living have the right mix of haughty and raunchy in their voice.
I have read up to book 7 (& I have book 8 on hold, and I watched some of the series as well. I hope that they have a big budget if they make a new show. I want it to be as epic as the novels.What if James Marsters (narrates the books, Spike from Buffy & Angel, Smallville, Torchwood, Runaways) is cast as Dresden?
Mod
Off the top of my head I'd say Ian Sinclair (Space Dandy, Whis, among others).
I met him at a con a few years back and he was hilarious.
They'll probably pick an on-screen actor though, even most of the best voice actors have formal training as actors/doing improv.
They tend to do that for Disney movies or big Japanese imports (like Princess Monoke or Spirited Away) rather than hiring people who do it all the time.
Mod
I love him for the audio books, but I think he's too old to play Dresden on the TV show now. 10 years ago, I'd be on board. He's almost 50 now.
Dresden is mid/late 20s at the start of the series (I think?). I know hollywood loves to cast older men as younger leads all the time, but I'd prefer they cast someone in their 30s maybe.
I read the first 3 books, watched the entire TV series, then read the next 3 books. For me it doesn't seem there is enough content in any of the books for more than a single episode.
Ian wrote: "What if James Marsters (narrates the books, Spike from Buffy & Angel, Smallville, Torchwood, Runaways) is cast as Dresden?"Marsters is a good actor, but not physically imposing. Dresden is over 2 meters tall in the books.
Edit: A little googling tells me that Harry is 6-9 and Murphy is 5-0. Not a good height differential for tv or film.
Mod
I'd say the first few books could easily be fit into the first season, but 6 books in a single episode? That's way over-exaggerating.
There is a ton of setup in those books for stuff you haven't gotten to yet that are important. I think some of them could be introduced as needed though rather than having episodes and episodes of just world building.
Mod
That's another good point. I'm not sure who I'd cast as Harry this time, but I'd like him to be tall enough to look the part.
Rob wrote: "I'd say the first few books could easily be fit into the first season, but 6 books in a single episode? That's way over-exaggerating."I meant one episode per book, not 6 books in one episode :) That would be a bit much for sure.
Mod
I meant one episode per book, not 6 books in one ..."
Oh. lol. Then yeah, that'd probably be fine.
There are probably certain details I think they should spend a bit more time on that I won't get into here because it would be spoiler territory for later books.
Mark wrote: "Ian wrote: "What if James Marsters (narrates the books, Spike from Buffy & Angel, Smallville, Torchwood, Runaways) is cast as Dresden?"Marsters is a good actor, but not physically imposing. Dresden is over 2 meters tall in the books.."
So they will get Tom Cruise to do it....
(After all he can play Jack Reacher :-(
There's a reason they changed the Beetle to a Jeep in the TV show--you gotta fit the cameras in there with a tall actor in the first place (and seriously no 6'9" man is driving a damned VW Beetle).
Also AFAIK they tried to do Bob the Skull as described in the books, but decided there is no way for talking skull with glowing eyes not to be cheesy and switched to Bob the Ghost.
One ep per book is... not going to work. You vastly overestimate how much you can fit in one episode of TV. I don't know if this will work - even assuming that they don't follow the books precisely, there's a lot of stuff that needs to happen for the show to follow the overall arc. For example, book 4 is where Harry first really runs into Mab and the rest of the fae and his entanglement with them is a major thread through the middle and later book. IF they want to keep the tension of him having run afoul of the Council, they need to establish why that first happened and give viewers at least a little of that background.
I don't think they need to overly worry about Harry being very tall - it rarely plays into the events of the books and while it's a characteristic he has, it's not that vital to who he is.
Funny enough I recently watched the series for the first time, it was free on the Roku channel (if you have one) for a while, don't know if it is still there or not. I did enjoy it to a degree, but it had the feel of something 10 years old with out a huge budget. It was also very much a procedural "monster of the week" show, with a little bit of an over arching story moving it along. And to do this they did actually take a couple of the plots from the early books and basically turn them into a single episode. And then they had some that were completely new plots. They did avoid the fae, I'm guessing mostly due to budget.
As has been said the cast was actually pretty good for the budget and time period. It was fun to see Joanne Kelly in a few episodes prior to "Warehouse 13". And I did really like Blackthorne as Harry, and his voice over. I'm always a sucker for a good in the head of the lead POV character voice over, liked in "Blade Runner" (even though the director and actor didn't), I liked in "McGuyver", and I liked it here as well. Mister was in a few episodes, but I don't think the whole run.
Like anytime they change mediums for a story, there are changes that work, and some that don't. For the most part as long as they are internally consistent to that format, I don't mind too much. Just like many of the comic book to live action changes. Tell me a good story and keep me entertained and I'll forgive a lot of changes.
John (Nevets) wrote: "Funny enough I recently watched the series for the first time, it was free on the Roku channel (if you have one) for a while, don't know if it is still there or not. "I watched the series when it was first broadcast. This discussion prompted me to watch it again. It's still streaming free on the Roku Channel, which I hadn't checked out yet. The first episode has two commercials, but they're short.
Mark wrote “I watched the series when it was first broadcast. This discussion prompted me to watch it again. It's still streaming free on the Roku Channel, which I hadn't checked out yet. The first episode has two commercials, but they're short."Yah, they all do, and they tend to be the same few commercials, I guess I should have said ad supported instead of free. They also have a few rotating older movies on there, I’ve watched one or two, but the commercials break them up more oddly so be aware. But in both cases it is way fewer breaks then normal network/ cable television.
Budget will definitely be an issue. I think the series needs a pretty decent one because as readers find out, the series pretty quickly leaves the 'Wizard for hire' thing behind and Harry is dragged into a much larger world. Depicting that world will take $$, there's really no way around it. If they choose not to explore those stories, it's basically the "cop with a quirky civilian buddy" trope ala Castle and other series which is massively uninteresting.
Like many, the show brought me to the books, and I thought the show was OK and Blackthorne was great. I didn't mind ghost Bob, and I wouldn't be surprised if they stick with that, because having a person on screen always wins out over a talking object (except in a Disney film, I guess). It's why superheroes are always taking their masks off (that and physical exertion in a mask makes for a stinky mask).I can't think of who I'd like to see in the Harry role, which is good. I'd rather it be someone I don't recognize/know of. Ditto Murph. I wouldn't mind seeing Jodelle Ferland get some work as Molly, and I assume there's a role for Anna Hopkins since she shows up in basically every scifi/superhero Tv franchise. Would be nice for someone to give her a more stable role than the 1-2 offs she usually gets. She'd make a good recurring vampire foil.
So basically, my stock of casting options is just "people from canceled Syfy shows."
I would like to offer my services to Jim Butcher, who seems to be experiencing a bit of George RR Martining finishing the next book. No, I can't help you finish the novel, Jim, but I can offer my services as a clothing advisor, because your version of cool clothes is just...well, it's very unbuttoned silk shirts and long leather jackets-heavy.
I don't want there to be a TV series because I fear it will further distract him from the books. Like Keith said, he's becoming George RR Martin like. Peace Talks has been "coming soon" since at least 2015 and there hasn't been any news on it in a long time beyond saying he might get back to work on it soon with soon being undefined.
Yeah...fwiw I really enjoyed the first 12 books, the next few meandered, and I think he's out of ideas. It was a great run.
Well, he's set up an end of the world scenario with the Outsider threat but a) that's a hard thing to manage without making it all worthless and b) given that the series not only incorporates various pagan myths (the fae, etc) but also the literal Christian God, I don't know how you do that without doing some interesting retconning of the latter's nature.His problem, I think, is that Harry is a Player now. He's quite powerful in his own right and his job as the Winter Knight enhances that. it's one thing to be reasonably powerful wizard in Chicago, fighting various occult dangers and to play along the fringes of other, more powerful creatures but it's quite another to take it to where Dresden is now.
Rick wrote: "Budget will definitely be an issue. I think the series needs a pretty decent one because as readers find out, the series pretty quickly leaves the 'Wizard for hire' thing behind and Harry is dragge..."Special effects have come a long way in the last decade. Shows like The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow manage a ton of effects on their relatively small budgets, and some of them are quite good. The fact they could pull off characters like King Shark and Gorilla Grodd and the CGI didn’t immediately pull you out of the story is pretty impressive.
So in that regard they certainly have a fighting chance if they use the effects budget wisely.
Mod
Also, for what it's worth, when I went to a signing for Brief Cases this summer he mentioned he expected/needed to have the draft of Peace Talks into his publisher before his wedding.
Not sure if it actually happened, but we should know pretty soon.
He's also been working on another series. It's hard to say if that's from writer's block on Dresden, or just the need for a change of pace.
We'll see how it goes after Peace Talks though.
Finished a Dresden Files rewatch on the Roku channel. I hadn't watched since it was first broadcast. I still like Paul Blackthorne and Valerie Cruz as Dresden and Murphy, particularly in the last couple of episodes. I'd forgotten that the pilot, which was based on Storm Front, was recut and reworked into episode 8, which has no Bob, cameos from Mister, Susan and Bianca, and a brief discussion about magic between Dresden and Murphy. It's clear that they broadcast episodes out of order and it's a little confusing to follow. Nevertheless, I still get a kick out of live-action Harry. I hope the new option turns into more Dresden to watch.
Best guest star in the tv show was Claudia Black as the other dick, and easily a match for Harry.
Okay. If we want someone young & tall for Harry, how about Bill Skarsgard (It, Castle Rock, Hemlock Grove)?
Ian wrote: "Okay. If we want someone young & tall for Harry, how about Bill Skarsgard (It, Castle Rock, Hemlock Grove)?"You know who’d be perfect? Zachary Levi. Chuck, Shazam, Fandral from the Thor movies.
He can do comedy and drama and he’s 6’4”. He’s also handsome and can sing (see Tangled). I’d hate him if he weren’t so charming.
Oh, Nicholas Braun is good, too. Kid is 6’6” and 30 but he looks 20.Actually, I like him over Levi because he’s less well known but still has 20 years experience.
Trike wrote: "You know who’d be perfect? Zachary Levi. Chuck, Shazam, Fandral from the Thor movies.He can do comedy and drama and he’s 6’4”. He’s also handsome and can sing (see Tangled). I’d hate him if he weren’t so charming."
I would watch this show so hard if Zach Levi was in it. He's delightful.
Its funny how you guys talk about his height. I read or listened to the entire series a few years ago and while I realized he was tall I always assumed that meant over six feet or so. Being only 5'9" anything six feet and over is tall to me. Then in Brief Cases they actually mentioned his height, 6'9" if I recall, and I found it weird to think of him being that freakishly tall. Makes me wonder how things between he and Karin would work since she's only 5 foot nothing or so.
I can’t imagine being that tall and not being able to fit into any car or normal chair. I don’t know how you could even cohabitate with someone who is nearly two feet shorter. I’m 6’1” and I have two friends who are 6’7” and just that slight difference makes them seem like they’re towering over me.
My 6'11" cousin married a 5' woman and with 2 grown kids they seem to have cohabited just fine, if you know what I mean. Me, I'm a modest 6'6". (wanders off, whistling the tune of Randy Newman's "Short People" ...)
Mod
Shortist. :-0 That song is offensive to my people ;-)
At 5'4" I am one of the taller members of my family.
Tassie Dave wrote: "Rick wrote: "(wanders off, whistling the tune of Randy Newman's "Short People" ...)"Shortist. :-0 That song is offensive to my people ;-)
At 5'4" I am one of the taller members of my family."
Very tall for a hobbitses!
I used to tease my younger brother with “Short People” because I had already shot up in size to over 5’8” while he was still child-sized. He was super offended for a while until I pointed out that the song is about prejudice, since hating short people just because they’re short is silly.
He was like, “Ohhh...!” I said, “So I don’t hate you because you’re short. I hate you because you have red hair.” Ha! Teachable moment undone by sibling rivalry, but it was too good a set-up to pass by.
Rick wrote: "My 6'11" cousin married a 5' woman and with 2 grown kids they seem to have cohabited just fine, if you know what I mean. Me, I'm a modest 6'6". "Is there any vehicle where you can sit comfortably?
When I had my bathrooms and kitchen remodeled I increased the counter height from 32” to 36”. At 32” my back hurt constantly, but now women complain everything is too tall. I’m like, “Well, you aren’t using it everyday.” But at your height everything must be annoyingly short.
Rik wrote: "Its funny how you guys talk about his height. I read or listened to the entire series a few years ago and while I realized he was tall I always assumed that meant over six feet or so. Being only 5'..."I have an ex who is 6'7" and while I'm tall for a woman (so I've been told) at 5'8", I would get crinks in my neck if we kissed too long. (This seems to be an oversharing thread so you're welcome.)
So 6'9" is really really tall. That changes which actors could play him if they stick to that.
Tassie Dave wrote: "Rick wrote: "(wanders off, whistling the tune of Randy Newman's "Short People" ...)"Shortist. :-0 That song is offensive to my people ;-)
At 5'4" I am one of the taller members of my family."
At 5'8" I'm taller than all of mine, except my uncle the viking who is a magical 6'4" or so.
I used to whistle Short People at my Dad. He really appreciated it. (Not really.)
Trike wrote: "Rick wrote: "My 6'11" cousin married a 5' woman and with 2 grown kids they seem to have cohabited just fine, if you know what I mean. Me, I'm a modest 6'6". "Is there any vehicle where you can si..."
I'm just wondering, have you had your toilets replaced with taller toilets? We did and it was magnificent! I'd love to have taller kitchen counters because when I'm on a baking/cooking tear I get back pain. Next I want to replace my IKEA couch which is pretty low, but not as low as their beds.
My sister went to school with the Little People Big World guys and they lowered their kitchen to little person height, even with three average sized kids. I suppose that tells you the role of the patriarchy in that family. ;)
Dresden is wondering where this thread has gone.
Trike wrote: "Is there any vehicle where you can sit comfortably?When I had my bathrooms and kitchen remodeled I increased the counter height from 32” to 36”. At 32” my back hurt constantly, but now women complain everything is too tall. I’m like, “Well, you aren’t using it everyday.” But at your height everything must be annoyingly short...."
My Saab works well actually. I'm close to the roof but not pressing against it. Some cars are out of bounds of course. I don't ever feel the spaciousness of regular cars like normal sized folks must but it doesn't really bother me - I've been 6'4" or larger since I was 13.
Kitchens - I'm thinking of redoing it and raising the counter but I use 2" thick cutting boards which compensates when chopping. Bit annoying though, yes.
The thing is that my height or close to it still lets me deal with most stuff designed for average height folks. I can buy Levis off the rack, etc. My cousin at 6'11" can't. He has to deal with big and tall stuff and has a much narrower choice of cars etc.
I'm just wondering, have you had your toilets replaced with taller toilets? We did and it was magnificent! I'd love to have taller kitchen counters because when I'm on a baking/cooking tear I get back pain. Next I want to replace my IKEA couch which is pretty low, but not as low as their beds.
on the list... the... shortlist.
@tassiedave - I haven't been 5'4" since I was... um... 9. (I grew 5" per year from 11-13. So, yes, I was 5'6" at 11 and was 6'4" at 13. It was... interesting.)
Jenny (Reading Envy) wrote: "I'm just wondering, have you had your toilets replaced with taller toilets?"Oh hell yeah. It’s called “comfort height” or something. I call it “no longer for lawn gnomes.” Whenever I go back to visit my parents I feel like I need one of those hand-crank traction set-ups to stand up out of the hollow pit in the floor they call a 1960s terlet.
Tamahome wrote: "Dresden is wondering where this thread has gone."
Make the show, Harry, and we’ll stop talking commodes. Unless the ratings go in the shitter because the show is crap. Then it’s loo loo loo all the live-long day.
A little back on topic, actors shift around heights and visuals of characters all the time. I can't remember an instance in the Dresden Files where his height was ever a plot point. beyond it looking funny how he would Tower over Murphy while she was the badass fighter type it has as much impact as his hair color.I'm with Rik - while it comes up that he's tall, I would actually have trouble imagining him as this walking beanstalk.
I think the books covers are a nice example in themselves - since Book 1 he's depicted with a Cowboy that he basically never wears (I vaguely remember a short jokey instance?).
The Sword and Laser
Books mentioned in this topic
Storm Front (other topics)Brief Cases (other topics)
Storm Front (other topics)
Death Masks (other topics)
So while optioned doesn't mean it will be an actual show, I do want to discuss it in more detail and don't want to clutter up the quick burns.
I thought the first version (SyFy: 2007/08) was alright, but not great. It was good enough to get me interested in books, which I absolutely love.
The casting was the best part, but the character development wasn't.
I really liked Paul Blackthorne as Harry, but I hated that his wizard staff was a hockey stick.
I liked Valerie Cruz as Murphy. People were upset she didn't match the book description, but I was never bothered by it.
The one that did really bother me was Terrance Mann as Bob. I don't have an issue with Terrance, but he should have been a talking skull. They basically made him a ghost.
This is probably due to the level of technology, but it may also be due to the need for actors to appear on screen. Hopefully they do it right this time. The actor should read his lines off screen and Bob should be entirely digital in my opinion.
I remember little else now 10 years on, I'd have to revisit the show again to find other changes I'd like to see them make.
Anyone else got a wishlist of things they should do this time around?
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