Storm Front question

I liked the TV series and it introduced me to the books. Now that I have read all the books, I can't watch the TV reruns anymore. They do not do the books justice!

I was into the books before the show so a lot of things upset me. But rather than harp on that I will say the only good thing to come out of the TV series was the Jeep. I hope it makes it into the books at some point. It really fits his character.

The TV series was an alternate reality and did not match the books...on its own it was not a bad series...although the plotlines were just getting interesting when the series was cancelled.

Either way the books are FAR better...

I'm one of those that enjoyed the series till I read the books. The series did get me to seek out the books as I hadn't heard of them before. I like who they cast for Harry and Murphy. As most have said the acress played her like the books (even though she wasn't blonde).
Now, while I like Joanna Kelly as an actress I thought she was horribly miscast as Bianca. I see someone more like a young Francesca Anis, only dark haired or Monica Belluchi. Someone more regal and elegant. While Joanna Kelly is beautiful, she does not match Bianca at all.

I too was diappointed in the fact that there was hardly any magic. And, yes, Bob was not nearly snarky or perverted enough.

I just started in on the (audio)books recently, having found the TV series good but not great. The books I'm finding quite good and sometimes great. The two are very different. If I were to name one TV show that captures the tone and attitude of the Dresden books, it wouldn't be The Dresden Files, but Supernatural.

Yeah the TV series made me physically angry. Such a wonderful world, that Butcher has created, and I feel that the TV show basically destroyed it.

I watched the TV series whilst reading Storm Front. I almost (note ALMOST) enjoyed it as a stand alone and when I didn't compare it to the books. I still think the series could have had a second run, though. :/ But I still think books will almost triumph over movies/tv shows etc because every has a different image of characters in their head.

The books were great. The TV show was awful. Almost as bad as the terrible sword of truth show. I couldn't take much of it.

It wasn't any good at all.

The series brought so many people to the books. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, but I'm thankful for the long life it guaranteed the books.

I liked the series. Once I got past the "OMG why isn't it like the books?!", I was able to enjoy it as a separate entity.
That's not to say that I didnt' have issues with it. Even my favorite episodes (What about Bob and Things that go Bump) have moments that are unintentionally funny. (I saved you...with black magic. I killed him...with black magic)
I wish it hadn't been cancelled. I think if it'd had a full season to figure itself out, the series would have gone six seasons and a movie. (Not really, probably 4 seasons, but I couldn't miss a "Community" opportunity.)

Heidi wrote: "The TV series pissed me off. Bob is a ghost? The whole romance thing with Bianca? I watched Grim and though, this is what the Dresden files SHOULD of been more like."

i wouldn't have wanted it to be like Grimm either, but yes, a lot of the changes weren't necessary.

I didn't mind Bob being a Ghost. I liked the actor they got to do it and I thought he fit Bob perfectly (and Marsters does a decent impression of him in the audio books- at least I'm assuming that's what he's doing as Bob got a bit more of a British inflection in the later books post-tv series, though that could just be Marsters). My biggest problem with Bob was the changes that they made to him besides that, personality-wise. Having an actor rather than a talking skull made sense, live action adaptation-wise, but basically making him Harry's Alfred was just unnecessary. He would have played a lot better if his personality was like the books. That said, all the actors they got were decent fits for the main players. I liked Dresden and Murphy especially, even if Murphy didn't have blonde hair. She fit the attitude I always pictured.

It was the other needless changes that bothered me. I understand the reasoning for the hockey stick and drumstick, though it annoyed me (there should have at least been runes that lit when he used them even if you couldn't see them when dormant. I think they did it once with the hockey stick when he was "charging" it). I even understood not using the beetle because it was too hard to film given how small the interior was. But for someone who was supposed to be a Wizard he didn't use much magic. At all. What spells does Harry use most often in the books? Fuego for fire, ventas servitas for wind, forzare for force, and the tracking spell. Of the four the fire spell is the only one that would really need any real special effects, and he hardly did any of them. If you don't have the budget for, lets face it, what would amount to basic special effects, don't do the freaking series. He'd do one actual spell, maybe, an episode. It was lame. While the series definitely started picking up towards the end, there was really no reason to do it the way they did. There's plenty of material in the books, short stories, comics, etc. Butcher himself was on board for the series. They could have gotten him to spitball a few case ideas to fill out the season, then a 3 episode or better adaptation of one of the novels to end each season on.
I'm really hoping someone like HBO might pick up the rights once they're available. Movies would be great but I think a series done by someone who has the money and freedom to do it right would work better. Just use the novels as templates and you're good to go.

I liked the TV series. What I liked most was how they changed his Staff and blasting rod to be something more practical. A hockey stick and a drum stick. Something easily explained away and something most people wouldn't look twice at especially in a city like Chicago.

What I didn't like was how the portrayed the council. It seemed fragmented and localized rather then a ruling body with global range.

I had read a few of the books before I saw the TV series. I did enjoy the TV series, yes it did not follow the books but it was entering and introduced people to the world of Harry Dresden. Hopefully some who had never read the books took the time to find them and read them having seen the TV series. I was terribly disappointed when the series was cancelled because it had promise.
Love the books and have read them all, even took the time to read the Alera series, well worth a read. Hope Jim Butcher continues to write more.

I got introduced to the Dresden world through the TV series. After watching every single episode (and really enjoying them), and wanting more, I found the books and devoured them. Needless to say, I thoroughly loved the books and I'm psyched that there is another book coming out this month! Thanks Jim!!

As to the TV series upsetting me, it's like that for every book series - movies/TV shows almost never are as good as the books. So, not a huge surprise there huh? The books, of course, were WAY better than the TV series, but ah well.

I started reading the books and then watched the tv show. I only watched a few episodes and that was it, didn't watch anymore. I thought they were terribly cheesy with terrible actors.

I watched the series first and read the books second.
Straight from the first book, I could see that I would have to consider both universes as what they are: two different, separate things joined together solely by the character names and some general definition of events.

While everything is much richer, dynamic and detailed in the Bookverse, I still enjoy watching the Televerse version, especially their take on Bob. Besides, by not binding strictly to the Bookverse events, they got to explore storylines and events that have not taken place there or provide with a different take on some of the overall main themes of the Bookverse (necromancy, werewolves, Red court-Black Court thing).

I think that, as long as you keep both of the verses separate, one will be able to tolerate their simultaneous existence.

Summarizing, given an exclusion choice, I would take the Bookverse every day. However, I can't really say I was disappointed with the Televerse.

I enjoyed the books. I enjoyed the series. It was disappointing that is was so short lived.

I found the television series really quite mediocre compared to the books.

Why is it that a television show will never give me the story I want from the book? I read the first two Dresden books and thought I'd watch the show. All of a sudden, I've got nothing but questions: Who is this girl in bed with Dresden? Isn't he supposed to be chivalrous and not a chick magnet? Jeep? What happened to the VW Bug? Bob's out of his skull? Why does he look like a white-haired Tim Curry? Where's the classic Harry wit? I dunno, I guess once tv execs get their hands on it, the source material goes out the window.

I am like many of the others that posted here. I saw the tv series first. The Dresden in the tv was as good a character as could be. Murphy was close but not quite right. I enjoyed the tv series. I wish now that some one would do the movies and be close to the books. This would make a great series of movies.. Better than the potter series. Obviously the tv was just starting to emulate the books in the last couple of shows. TV producers can never just get it right quite disappointing.

Originally it was planned to do it as a movie starring Nicholas Cage but was changed to a TV series because of Constantine being made.

I watched the TV series first,I was very intrigued by a crime fighting wizard in Chicago.I bought the DVD set and really enjoyed it
I then realised that they were adapted from a series of books and I have since read most of Jim Butcher's excellent books, just half way through Cold Days now.I still picture Paul Blackthorne as Harry although in my head I see Karrin as a short blonde

I tried to watch the series. It was just done wrong, period. I can handle adaptations but this series felt forced.

Just couldn't get interested in Grimm.

Love the Dresden files TV series and when it was cancelled it made me go look for the books. They were (and are) a real treat and since the TV show didn't really follow the book series I treat them as two entirely different things and really enjoy them both.
--
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/show...
Alan

I watched the first five minutes of the TV series premiere, then turned it off in disgust. Bob the ghost was the killing point for me, but I just didn't like how the whole thing was presented. The old Sci-Fi channel was known for it's amazingly craptastical productions (not that the new channel is any better), so I can't say I was really surprised by the fail in that series. Still, as a huge fan of the books I'd hoped for more. Interestingly enough, Jim Butcher wasn't happy with it either, for the exact same reasons.

I thought Bob and Harry were very well cast...and thats about where the similarities end. Susan & Ancient Mai were the end for me.

I have to mentaly seperate the the the two from eachother to enjoy them both. If I think of the tv series as just another show and not based on the books I find I enjoy them more. This works for most book to television or movie conversions I enjoy.

I thought of the TV show as an alternate reality to the books. Things were similar, but not the same.

And I did like the TV show as much as the books.

I'd never heard of the books when I picked up the TV series on DVD. I really enjoyed the series, then sought out the books which I'm also enjoying.

However, even after reading the first 10 novels (and half of Side Jobs) I still visualize Paul Blackthorne, Valerie Cruz and Conrad Coates as Harry, Karrin & Morgan. Which is pretty weird considering how little Cruz (and Coates) match Butcher's descriptions...

Don't even get me started with this. I'm not sure I can handle it. They completely blew it. Where was Harry's sarcasm, Bob's snarkiness. It was so far from close it was sad.

To sum it up, if one had never read the Dresden novels and watched the series, it would have been fine I suppose. But having read the flawlessness of the novel before, one couldn't help being disappointed by it.

They did EXACTLY the same thing with the Blood Ties series... So sad because I think the cast could have really done something with the proper plots from Butcher's series and Tanya Huff's brilliant "henry" Series!!!

I kind of liked the TV series, although the books are generally far superior.

Some highlights for me from the series were:
- I liked their take on Ancient Mai
- I (ducks :) actually liked their take on Bob vs. the books. I thought the whole wizard cursed to spend his existence trapped in a skull was pretty neat compared to the porno-loving minor character he is in the book.

I saw the series as it was running on tv. As soon as season 1 ended, I sought out the books because I just hadn't had enough. I've picked up all the books & loved them all. It would have been really cool if the series could have included everything in the books, but I understand why it just wouldn't happen. I still miss the series & wish it had been picked up for more seasons. I would have enjoyed following the series as it was forced to diverge more & more from the stories in the books into the ongoing mundane supernatural investigations of Harry Dresden.

After reading the books, I like to think of Katee Sackhoff as Lt Murphy & a pair of skulls from the animated film "Wizards" as Bob.

Just like with Queen of the Damned... I love the 3rd book in Anne's series so I reread it right before going to see the movie a few years ago. And was very disappointed. BUT as a big fan of books, tv, and movies I realized I have to separate them. I can watch the show or see the movie and read the books and still totally enjoy them.

I thought of the TV series as a completely different story line. like beth said similar but not the same i enjoyed both of them.

I saw the series before I ever read the books, am still very fond of the tv show and am sorry it only lasted one season.

Like many movies and TV shows based on books, the show did what it could with the money it had available. If you watch the show without expectations, I think you will be impressed, I was entertained. If you read the books, you will enjoy it as much as your imagination can render.

In my opinion, there are few renderings of books that really do their book counterpart justice.

I was disappointed in the series as well, although I still pull it out to watch an episode every once in a while. I thought the two main problems were really to do with characterisation and the magic. They whipped through the storylines so fast that we never really got a good sense of Harry and his take on the world, which is a huge part of the pull of the books. And, magic is hard to make look not-hokey, unless you are willing to spend a bunch of money on it, and I'm not sure they did.

I think Bob would have played better if they had kept his character like it was in the book. I loved the sorority house comment from the first book!

Of course the TV series was a mess. It was made by a bunch of people who could never have seen the action unreel inside my head. I love the books. Often have wondered if Butcher had a similar experience to Ursula Le Guin, who was not shy about telling the world how badly she and her work were treated in the making of the execrable Earthsea TV movie.

I did like Blackthorne's portrayal of Harry, though. The TV Bob was funny; he just wasn't Bob. I have the DVD, though. And I did watch every episode when it was broadcast. We have to support our authors whenever we can. I like the alternate reality idea. Who says alternate realities are inevitably good?

I was so upset that they did not continue with the show. Having said that..there was so much I had an issue with (if I let it) that I just had to seperate the tv show from the books. I had to do the same thing with Tru Blood/Sookie Stackhouse books. I agree there was just not enough time to get into Harry's character, and his extreme sarcasm was sorely missed. I LOVED that part of him! The one thing I have an issue with, and a hard time overlooking, is when they horribly miscast. Harry and Bianca looked pretty good, but everyone else's look was off.

If you want a real treat, listen to the audio versions narrated by James "Spike" Marsters. He does a great job with all the characters. He is the voice of Harry and his Bob is fantastically snarky.
Best series I've ever listened to.

I think I'm the only person that's reversed on this issue, really liked the show, couldn't get into the books at all.

Watched the TV Series on Netflix. Loved it! Hated that it was cancelled. Found the Books. Read them REALLY, REALLY Loved Them!! Wow!!