Tangential to a Bad Story - Ep. 40 of Intentionally Blank

[@danwells9305]

Because people are asking about my reaction to the Kickstarter: 1) We recorded this whole month of episodes in advance, so that Brandon could spend that time doing Kickstarter videos instead. So you’re not going to hear us comment on it until we record new episodes in April :( 2) I knew about the books last year, so while the insane success of the Kickstarter is a surprise (our predictions were MUCH lower), the existence of the four extra books was not.

[@radosawpapierski8610]

Dan, even though I love Hades, I don't hate you. Just thought you should know! (I love your books)

[@danwells9305]

@@radosawpapierski8610 Aww shucks. Thank you!

[@mooommo14]

I thought we were close? I can't belive you hid that from us. /s

[@danwells9305]

@@mooommo14 It was all part of my plan to steal 2 million dollars worth of toast points.

[@thystephen1]

Thanks for the explanation Dan, what all book series do you have? I have an opening

[@TheHiggybaby]

Brandon's "sequel" to Groundhog Day would be a literal hell. Living day-to-day over and over and over until you perfect it. It's almost a Sisyphus, but with the smallest glimmer of hope that you can progress to the next boulder to push.

[@beardybeardface]

most of the cosmere is one kind of hell or another

[@Sangreezy]

Weird, Frank Sinatras “That’s life “ just started playing in my head.

[@groofay]

There's a rogue-like video game this reminds me of, and I can't think of the title, but even after you get through it all after dying dozens of times, and the main character lives out the rest of their life and dies peacefully of old age, they wake up back at the beginning of the game and it's just devastating.

[@mplovecraft]

@@groofay I like that. Wicked :)

[@saymyname2417]

No human could ever be perfect every day. That idea alone is absurd.

[@whorhaydelfuego7190]

The answer to what is best, is typically "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women."

[@Sal3600]

kill me im here kill meee!!!

[@janelf5]

Brandon could watch Groundhog Day over and over again? I find that thematically on-point.

[@gowzahr]

Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado was what kindled my enjoyment of Shakespeare.

[@mhreinhardt]

Carrie was the one King threw in the bin. His wife Tabby pulled the few rumpled pages out and helped him flesh out the women characters and the shower scene. Thank all that's unholy for that wonderful woman!

[@DadBodSwagGod]

A fascinating topic in adaptation is Fullmetal Alchemist. Once upon a time, there was a monthly manga called Fullmetal Alchemist. This manga wasn't even halfway done when they started an anime. And the anime caught up to the manga. Aaand so the 2nd half of the anime plot was all made up by the publisher. This was fine. It was okay. And the anime was high-quality. So no one complained. It became a cult classic. Riiight up until Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood got made and fully adapted the entire manga, blowing the entire original series out of the water. I could go on about this literally for hours, so I'll just stop there because you already get it in the unlikely event that you read this whole diatribe

[@callumsimmons6160]

FMA:B is in my top 5 fantasy stories period. It battles out with The Last Airbender for my favorite animated series. It is an absolute masterpiece.

[@jiasheng]

i watched all of FMA, even the weird ass movie, and i only got halfway through FMAB... i need to finish it soon

[@philippenachtergal6077]

28:00 It's always fun and a bit weird when movies are filmed pretty much in your backyard. I had that vibe with "The Brand New Testament" filmed mostly in Brussels.

[@yllibsivad31]

A Scanner Darkly is so good! Wow! Glad you mentioned it.

[@hallaloth3112]

Howl's Moving Castle - The movie is completely different from the book, but it holds the whimsical nature and still feels like the magic that Diana Wynn Jones wrote for her books. It's one of the few books to movies that I will always smile and be happy for. Straight Adaptation. . .I wasn't unhappy with Ender's Game. I don't think film adaptation could ever convery the feeling of ending of the book the first time you read it. I think for what it could do, it did okay and I'll accept it. Terrible Adaptations: Eragon, always and forever. Even as a standalone movie it felt rushed and unfocused and it's inaccuracies towards the book are criminal. The Sword of Truth (Terry Goodkind) was completely butchered in my opinion. None of the characters felt like themselves, and for the scope it was trying to portray it shrunk everything down and made up things that didn't make sense in the world lore.

[@kasengraff1481]

I remember, I was probably around 12 or 13 and had just finished Inheritance for the first time, and I found out there was a movie and we owned the DVD. I got up and walking out of the room when Saphira said "my name's Saphira." Vague to avoid spoilers in case anyone happens to read the comments 4 weeks after it was posted, but I'll just say that the effort to learn her name is important to the books and having her introduce herself by name causes problems with the story later. I don't know how they fixed the problems, I don't know if they even did fix them, and I don't ever plan to find out. It remains the only movie I have walked away from mid-watch.

[@hallaloth3112]

@@kasengraff1481 eh, I feel that is excusable. Bookwise Eragon went and pestered Brom for the names of dragons that already existed and went through all of them before landing on Saphire because it was the only female name we given in the text. Movie wise it makes sense, the exposition is fluff. However the general Dynamic between them was basically 'This is Saphire. She is a Dragon and therefore the answer to everything' The movie never really portrayed her as a character. . .

[@keepperspective]

Edge of Tomorrow and Russian Doll are two of the things that passed the “mom” test, as so ridiculously good that I made my family watch them during quarantine.

[@myrojyn]

I'm low-key addicted to Dan's sass

[@Evanator404]

The first time I watched Groundhog Day was passively while working front desk at a hotel. The TV channel I had on was playing a Groundhog Day marathon. Since I was stepping away and working It became very confusing because I could not keep track of which instance of the movie I was watching. I saw the scene where Bill Murray kills himself and the Groundhog like 4 times and didn't know if that was something that actually happened in the movie multiple times.

[@TheDiabeticGameMaster]

That is truly incredible.

[@igamergirl14]

The sequel to Groundhog Day idea is actually sort of what me and a friend came up with as an AU for a show called "Haven't You Heard, I'm Sakamoto?" In the show, the main character, Sakamoto, is so stupidly perfect with every interaction and movement that what began as a joke that he must have everything memorized grew into an entire sad backstory where he had to go back and time and get every single day of his high school life perfect to atone for his behavior the previous times (and even included other versions of him living in the same timeline to compete with!) Idk if anyones made something quite that intense of a repeating plot before but it'd be interesting as a short!

[@ThirdChildFilms]

My favorite book to movie adaptation is Prince of Egypt ;)

[@NakedGoose]

There is an extreme take on the groundhog day mechanic in the Re:ZERO anime.

[@TheDiabeticGameMaster]

Huh. You're right. It literally is what he described. I'm shocked.

[@marcelofernicola6388]

"The map of tiny perfect things" based on a Lev Grossman's short story is also a retelling of Groundhog day. I thought it worked really well.

[@danjamin905]

This episode just reminded me of how good the new Firestarter trailer looks

[@andrewbacon3583]

My favorite spin on the Groundhog Day-style story (other than the film itself, which is perfection) is the video game The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask. Because it takes places over a smallish area, with a limited cast of characters, and has a cycle of THREE days, there are a lot of varying paths and plots that are absolutely wonderful.

[@TheAndroidNextDoor]

This got me thinking about an idea for a new groundhog day type story. The entire world gets stuck in the groundhog day scenario where everyone is reliving the same day over and over. Each loop over time eventually devolves into a kind of cosmic horror type situation where nothing anyone does has any long term consequences, either good or bad, beyond the psychological. Every day it resets back and over the course of the 24 hours everything goes murderously wrong. The premise could be something like a group of astronauts return to Earth and get caught in this loop like everyone else, and realize this has been happening for subjectively thousands of times and they have to find out how to stop it before the entire world descends into full insanity.

[@SoyElDiabloRojo]

What a fun idea. Exploring how long would it take for literally everyone to realize they're reliving the same day would be interesting on its own, starting with astronomers, physical laborers (seeing their day's work reset) but people with very static surroundings would take more convincing until people and pets etc. come back to life each day.

[@Eval999]

Sounds sorta like the game Deathloop

[@hudibrad]

Or when a person lives through the day perfectly, they still jump under the car to get the day again, but this time they die for real, and the police, (who don't get repeating days) have to explain a sudden spike in weird suicides.

[@jeanlouise4707]

I feel like Russian Doll is so underrated and I love that Dan loves it!

[@neiliusflavius]

Have you seen the TV adaptation of His Dark Materials? I think it worked really well.

[@marcelofernicola6388]

Yes! I think this is the second time that Dan and Brandon mention the flawed adaptation of The Golden Compass to movie, without mentioning the great "His Dark Materials". There are some areas(like character develpement) where I feel it's even better than the book For example Mrs. Coulter

[@jonathankoan]

Very happy to see John Jackson Miller shouted out by Dan, as he is my favorite media tie-in author. His Star Wars and Star Trek books are great!!!

[@tekevil1260]

Edge of Tomorrow is an adaptation of a novel called "All you need is Kill" and it changes a pretty fair number of things for the big screen. All you Need is Kill is a pretty interesting read and I highly suggest it

[@oneclipleft]

Branaugh's Much Ado About Nothing is one of my all-time favorite movies. He is the master of adapting Shakespeare from what I've seen of his work.

[@mre677]

Milk on cake for breakfast.

[@hunterkillerai]

You mean milk on microwaved cake for breakfast, I believe.

[@passerby2562]

Topped with ice cream

[@Eval999]

I prefer microwaved milk on fridge cold cake.

[@Thenoobestgirl]

Interesting concept

[@sntxrrr]

When you were talking about Groundhog Day and Netflix was mentioned I immediately thought of Dark. Although not really a groundhog day-like story, that one story told over three seasons is about the best time related sci-fi I have seen on screen.

[@SomeTomfoolery]

It makes me smile to hear Brandon has read both Percy Jackson and Artemis Fowl, the books I practically grew up on.

[@alexspeedwagon3701]

I found this episode at the perfect time, I guess. I just finished reading (listening to on my drive to and from work, really) Jurassic Park. I loved the book, I thought it was very interesting how seriously the chaos theory, pandora's box stuff was taken. I thought the book was philosophical in a way that resonated with me very well. The "they were so preoccupied with whether or not they could do something that they never stopped to consider if they should" was a one-off line in the movie, but it was the most interesting part of the movie to me. After reading the book, I was very pleasantly surprised to see just how much more that idea was hammered in in the book. Without going into specific spoilers, the additional deaths hammered home the Chaos Theory idea throughout it- everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. That happened very consistently throughout every story beat. I found myself constantly thinking "Will they ever catch a break?" which was fantastic for such a suspenseful idea to begin with. Hopefully this makes sense to someone

[@beardybeardface]

Stargate SG-1 did a groundhog day in space episode

[@andurilcuivie]

Iconic episode

[@SoyElDiabloRojo]

It's all fun n games until O'Neill goes wacko with the mustard and ketchup.

[@markalexander6655]

Golf, and the Kiss!

[@SvanMagic]

Best episode of my favorite show.

[@firstNamelastName-ho6lv]

More like groundhog day in VR

[@saymyname2417]

This is so entertaining! At the same time it takes you down memory road and makes you reevaluate your views and check on your opinions.

[@ericpetersen5926]

One of the best book-to-movie adaptations ever: LA Confidential. Some of it was simply reordering things to happen to concurrently, which tightened up the narrative and ramped up the intensity/interest over Elmore Leonard's original. Best book-to-tv adaptation: Game of Thrones (until the last season). They were able to correct a ton of problems with the original books, particularly around what promises the narrative makes that it breaks or should not have made in the first place.

[@Ashmazingthe1st]

This just makes me realize that I would totally be friends with Brandon Sanderson IRL

[@Flandelacasa]

The Sword in the Stone. Almost completely different, sort of the same humor, and both are great.

[@danieltilley]

Oh my goodness Groundhog Day in space means Edge of Tomorrow hahahaha of course

[@lorena-pereira]

It was magical hearing Brandon talk about Agatha Christie! She was the first author I read multiple books of. And Philip Pullman's Dark Materials too... wish they had brought up the new series

[@tc3p]

What Brandon Sanderson was describing as a Groundhog Day sequel where he has to relive each day until getting it perfect, reminded me of the movie About Time, which is so good.

[@Richardiii2]

Bladerunner is another example of the director responding to a conclusion of his source material. Dick's answer to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is a resounding "No", Bladerunner's is "?"

[@mplovecraft]

I love both Groundhog Day and Edge of Tomorrow. Superhero ability or nightmare? It's a fun thing to ponder what you would do and how.

[@bellyjellybean248]

Still waiting on Dan's reaction to the kickstarter!

[@juanmiguelluisdoniz5004]

I thought i was the only one that adores that seires, i love all the character and plot twists

[@DadBodSwagGod]

There's actually an emerging subgenre of LitRPGs where the core premise is 'what if Groundhog Day?' It's my favorite kind of LitRPG story. Without any prior term for those, I've started calling them 'Roguelikelikes'

[@BirdMorphingOne]

Yeah, it was started as a result of Mother of Learning’s success

[@totoperazzo1038]

I think that 'His Dark Materials' (the HBO Tv adaptation) is actually pretty good. You should watch it.

[@JustJerry342]

Just finished Russian Doll. Absolutely loved it!

[@danwells9305]

It's so good.

[@thystephen1]

Ford would have to go out in style with and have an inheritor who he’s trained etc, there’s so much legends out there, it needs to be unbelievable

[@dannychan0510]

Hmmm, my counter point to "people don't want to see Indiana Jones legacy" would be Rocky in Creed. Another really iconic character, but I really loved his mentor / mentee relationship with Creed in those films.

[@thegodofalldragons]

Rocky's a very different kind of character, though, and him becoming a mentor was a logical step for him. Not so much for a straight action hero like Indiana Jones. What is he going to teach?

[@noahssircharge]

These two are rather quickly becoming my favourite podcast on the internet.

[@VandarAlden]

It seems like Groundhogs day episodes are in a lot of sci-fi/fantasy shows but my favorite is Stargate sg1 "Window of Opportunity"

[@godminnette2]

"I could watch Groundhog Day over and over again" Ironic

[@Flandelacasa]

I just had a dream of a Groundhog/Terminator-ost-apocalyptic day. We were inside of a huge room and there were two terminators with a gun that threw a thick orange laser that melted walls, and I had one too, but I had one cartridge left, that meant I had to kill at least one terminator with it and the other somehow kill or escape. I died several times, didin't get to kill both or escape, I woke up very tired.

[@Kabissz]

The (somewhat) new BBC mini series adaptation of "And Then There Were None" really enhanced the horror aspect of the original story, I loved it.

[@crylorenzo]

I rreally loved the young indiana jones chronicles, perhaps because I watched them with my dad, but I thought they caught the spirit of the films really well.

[@rhuanv]

Mother of Learning is quite the famous web novel original that deals with a twist of groundhog day. People talk very highly about it, but I have not read it yet.

[@justareader____]

No, you don’t have a bad story, Brandon. Thank you for being a writer who gives a crap

[@Xarfax321]

The Romeo and Juliet-ending reminds me of a writing project I had planned for a student theatre group: "William Shakespeares Romeo & Juliet, but the Director hasn't read it." :D Like imagine a director gets the assigned to do Romeo and Juliet, but he hasn't read it so he writes his own script based on what he thinks Romeo and Juliet is all about. So there are things like: Juliet: "Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" Romeo: *Climbs up to the balcony* "Here I am!" And this version would have a swordfight between Romeo and Tybalt who is under the influence of the evil Richard III, who has put a spell on Juliet. And Tybalt plans to kill her at the tomb, but Romeo saves her. And that makes everyone get along, wohoo! The end! I had also the idea of the director to be casted as the King, but he would flub his lines all the time, he would use really corny similes. "Romeo ran like a madman!" and monologues full of difficult words he can barely pronounce.

[@7gromojar]

Hey, I like that!

[@Ray_D_Tutto]

Interesting that Brandon shuts down The Golden Compass discussion when it steers into religion. He is very diplomatic and avoids topics which might cause controversy but i think the book's secular themes are one of the most fascinating aspects of it and made for a great talking point among readers/reviewers. It's enlightening listening to these two talk but would love if it was more open/deep as Dan has a lot to say and comes up with great conversation points but often gets shut down.

[@darrenpinnegar9853]

You addressed what I have always called "the Michael Crichton problem" (spoilers for Jurassic Park and Andromeda Strain to follow) I was a big MC fan as a kid but after maybe four of his books I felt after like he tended to get 300 pages in and ditch everything he had set up in search of the quickest possible resolution. Andromeda Strain they realize the virus is less of a threat than the nuke in their base and Jurassic Park they are on a dino hunt and they see their ship and go get on it. The idea that he had a movie treatment in mind makes his resolutions right at page 300 make more sense.

[@thummumcrysanth]

I think I read the novel sequel to Jurassic Park when it first came out. It read like a movie, but I think the film adaptation threw it all out except for one scene. It felt like a waste.

[@seansuprem]

I don't know if the adaptations discussion was a joke based off of starting with groundhog day but I swear you guys had the exact same discussion a couple of months back

[@kryptonianguest1903]

I'm just so amused by the image of someone going, "No! Bad Steven! No cocaine for you today!"

[@vPeteWalker]

Have either of you watched The Nevers? I loved it, and can't wait to get more!

[@jackhadfield1332]

Brandon says whimsical at 21:39.

[@almogdov]

Surprised no mention of Harry Potter, one of the most successful adaptation. As a big HP fan I have some issues with some of the movies but all and all it's a pretty great adaptation of a beloved series.

[@battlestarkoala]

Day Break with Taye Diggs is also very Groundhog Day-esque and very good

[@giggleanthropisticon7061]

Carrie was King's first published sale. Also I think 3 movies qualifies it as most adapted

[@LucysLocket]

Why on earth does this episode have an explicit tag on Spotify?!?

[@charlesallen]

You forgot Misery! Also, King's first book was Carrie and the gathering it out of the trash was that book.

[@scottgillis7369]

A book to movie, also with a an altered ending to be happier is "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie, they changed the ending to be less bleak as it was filmed in the 30s.

[@scottgillis7369]

Oh I commented this before they got onto Christie

[@ChristopherRoss.]

A book-sequel-to-a-film-property that I would love to read is _Donnie Darko_ . It would have to be a spiritual sequel rather than a direct one (for obvious reasons if you've seen the film), and rather than following characters we already know, we would follow the world(s) of tangent universes in the surreal voice of the film. Perhaps we have recurring oracle characters, like a younger Roberta Sparrow. I find the idea fascinating. Edit: I forgot about some film that someone made that may have been related to Donnie Darko. But we don't talk about that. It doesn't exist.

[@ZacChilds]

Groundhog Day in Space for me is Outer Wilds, probably my favorite game I've ever played.

[@mitchellz8]

The martian is a fantastic example of book and movie being equally amazing

[@thystephen1]

Eragon 😢😢😢😢 the reboot is coming. “It's better to ask forgiveness than permission”

[@sarahgoodson9406]

I think the main issue with the PJO (Lightning Thief) adaptation was that they missed the humor that kept the books feeling optimistic even in really dark circumstances. Plus, some of the character motivations were unusual and didn't land right. But for me, the movie felt like a completely different story because it was missing Percy's trademark humor and bonhomie. And that was so essential to keep the crazy events of the book from feeling depressing.

[@mrmccranky]

2007s The Mist was a great adaptation. So much that Stephen King prefers that ending to his own

[@bethpotterveld1172]

The movie of “Before I Fall” was definitely a Groundhog Day. (The book repeated much fewer times.)

[@reganheath]

I would love that "Nightrider treatment" for MacGuyver, personally. Or, a MacGuyver book series..

[@Flipsidegamereviews]

You should read Replay by Ken Grimwood if you haven't! Amazing Groundhog Day-esque plot.

[@bronwynecg]

I wonder if Brando Sando randomly puts little notes on the pages he's signing... 🤔 would be an interesting find for whoever gets that book 🙂

[@leahhamilton5285]

A book to film adaptation I unexpectedly loved was Netflix's Enola Holmes. I devoured all 6 of those books and I felt the movie was fantastic. Granted, it's been like a decade since I last read them. It wasn't a faithful adaptation, I could tell that there was some borrowed from later books and that some of the plot had been altered, but it didn't detract for me. Millie Bobby Brown was a fantastic Enola and I'm hoping Netflix makes a sequel based on some of the later novels.

[@jordanneal576]

First Blood is a good one to talk about. It's one where I really like the film, and I really like the book, but I would also like to see a film that's more like the book. I think the idea of a super heroic Rambo made for a good film, and I still love it, but it kind of subverts the point of the book, which was supposed to be analogous to the Vietnam war, with the point being that there was no hero. Harder film to sell to audiences in the 80's but I think people would be open to it today and it would be interesting to see.

[@maximeteppe7627]

It's interesting because in the movie, Rambo cries about anti war activists rejecting him as a murderer, when in factmany veterans were involved directly in the anti war movement - so even if the first rambo movie is perceived as more serious in its treatment of PTSD, it is still pretty jingoistic. I havent' read the book, but now I'm curious how far it goes in it's critique.

[@Jonamission]

"Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" book to BBC mini series. Both are amazing and the changes from book to screen are pretty minimal and very good in both.

[@monkpato]

Definitely!

[@Euphoniumstar]

Something I've noticed is that our standards for any screen adaptation seem to vary wildly depending on what medium the source material was. For instance comic book films and shows will often adapt storylines from the comics, but they almost always change them in massive ways in the process, according to whatever the director and writers interpretation is. Avengers Infinity War, Captain America Civil War, or The Boys are examples of that. But it feels like most comic book fans tend to accept changes pretty readily. Same goes for play-to-film adaptations. Most film versions of Hamlet cut out like half of the play because if they didn't it would be around 4 hours long, but no one complains about Shakespeare's vision not being respected or anything like that. idk it's interesting to think about.

[@maximeteppe7627]

I think that in both cases, having different visions of the story and characters is baked into the medium - or in the case of comic books, baked into the way the market works in the US. I also think that comics benefit from their relative obscurity: even the big milestone stories aren't as widely read as bestselling novels are.

[@Euphoniumstar]

@@maximeteppe7627 That's a good point, that's kind of how comic books work anyway so maybe comic book fans are just more used to it. But some novels have been adapted many times. Like there are so many different Christmas Carol adaptations it's hard to even keep track. But no one criticizes Disney's Christmas Carol movie for not following Dickens' vision, they seem to just accept the new interpretation. So I guess it just depends.

[@thystephen1]

Wish they would continue the Constantine stories in movies or tv

[@jaredhuch1537]

Brandon's story idea is literally "About Time".

[@johnbobbryan]

If you haven’t read it, The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a fantastic Groundhog Day murder mystery

[@austinkoble]

I’m totally with Dan on LotR. The movies are better than the books and the books have a ton of unnecessary filler. The Hobbit book > the Hobbit movies. LotR books < LotR movies

[@rafaelb.m.4756]

I have to agree. I prefer The Silmarillion and The Hobbit to the LOTR books as well, as each delivers their specialty better. Maybe it's because I read a translation of LOTR before my english was good enough, but the books left me with a sour taste vs the movies (which I had already watched at that point).

[@TheRealGravyTrain]

Hard to believe a solid adaption of Kings Dark Tower series hasn't materialized. Had hopes for Elba as Roland.

[@ChristopherRoss.]

If you ask me, the film was cast backwards. Elba would have made an _amazing_ Walter, while McConaughey would have been a perfect Roland. But the film was a trainwreck to begin with, so why would the casting be any different. Netflix was in preproduction for a series based on Wizard and Glass, but dropped it with pandemic cut backs. If you ask me, ANY worthwhile adaptation of the Dark Tower needs the full GoT treatment: 10 high budget 1hr episodes per book. Break up Wizard and Glass into flashbacks scattered about the series (not unlike how Roland remembers his childhood in Gunslinger), and have Gunslinger itself as a two hour standalone pilot.

[@tanyam928]

Russian Doll is awesome, the second season is coming in April so I am excited for it. His Dark Materials tv show on HBO Max is a great adaptation so far, hopefully the 3rd season finishes it off well. Ready Player One is another example of a movie adaptation that is better than the book (no surprise Steven Spielberg directed it)

[@metumortis6323]

Milk on cake reminds me of a Scandinavian dessert called semlor I think. Is is a sweat bread served in boiled milk or cream

[@andurilcuivie]

Or the Mexican desert Dulce-de-Leche

[@keepperspective]

The Princess Bride and the original BBC Pride and Prejudice are my two favorite arguments for the book is not always better because the movie got the soul right. LOTR is weird in that the book is such a different experience in the movies I almost can’t compare but they both share the same soul.

[@TheHonestLee]

You guys didn't talk about the Kickstarter at all?

[@robertpatenaude]

My favourite book to film, would be a TV mini series! Shogun! Followed the book perfectly! Don't always agree with adaptations, especially with your opinions on the WOT adaptation. Reminds me of the remake of Ben-Hur, which I am not sure why was ever made. The ending has them become friends and ride off into the sunset. Moronic! Agree with the Spielberg kudos! Who could match him?

[@robbybevard8034]

Shogun was a fantastic adaptaion! They even left in raw Japanese so the audience was just as lost as the lead before he learned it, which is something they'd probably not do nowadays.

[@saymyname2417]

Shogun was awesome indeed! As for WoT, I have neither read the books or seen the series but according to the book fans, the latter must be a complete shit show.

[@robbybevard8034]

@@saymyname2417 The show is fine, the most vocal fans are just extra vocal because it IS pretty far from what they wanted, but its fine as an adaptation of an insanely long work that has no realistic way of covering the entire story as presented in the books..

[@saymyname2417]

@@robbybevard8034 - From what I read it is not the plot alone. It's also the casting and how the emphasis was put on some female character away from the real protagonist, then the usual race swap and one or two things more I don't remember. Adaptation of a book or screenplay does not mean you can take the named and basic things and then do whatever you like - but that's just how Hollyweird defines adaptation. And treats franchises accordingly. And by now it is normal to rather destroy a work and call the complaining fans toxic. If the changes in WoT were really only minor the book fans weren't so absolutely pissed off. And if the adaptation is so far away from the books - it isn't an adaptation. Because that should be the material transported from book to tv screen. So, I'm afraid the fans are right. A shit show... 😔

[@robbybevard8034]

​@@saymyname2417 "'s also the casting and how the emphasis was put on some female character away from the real protagonist," People whitewash the books in their heads. Characters are described as dark skinned and multi-ethnic in the books, the folks complaining about the entire cast not being white missed that. There is NOTHING wrong with the casting. And the books are heavily female protagonist leads. It's only the very first book that is super heavily focused on one main male lead, (with a strong female mentor!) then the other 14 books split the focus, among a dozen different characters, half of them female, and the show started with that split in mind so it wouldn't be weird in the later seasons. They weren't taking focus away from a singular male lead, they were starting with the entire cast being equal... as the books became very quickly. There are absolutely genuine issues with the show, plenty of legit things to complain about in terms of pacing or tone, but any complaints about it being woke or whatever are very misplaced.

[@wylanvallotton4462]

I still say the all time best adaptation of a book to film, to date, is HOLES with Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf! 😃

[@groofay]

I went to the comments specifically to see if someone else thought this. I would put Holes up there with LoTR and The Martian as the best book-to-film adaptations of all time, without question.

[@wylanvallotton4462]

@@groofay I am so glad you said this! So many people I say this to have either never heard of it or think I'm stupid.... Or they have seen the movie but not read the book, therefore have no opinion.

[@groofay]

@@wylanvallotton4462 I was a nerdy pre-teen when the film came out, so I guess I was exactly the target demographic and had already read the book. I watched it again recently and it still holds up so well.

[@wylanvallotton4462]

@@groofay I read the book in school right before the movie came out. I like the movie slightly more because I feel the comedy came through a little more while still holding up to the serious aspects of the story too.

[@amandajeanscott]

Was looking for this - and I totally agree! I read the book a few years before the film came out, and I've read and watched it multiple times since. I think what makes the film such a great adaptation is that the source material is a children's book. A very well-written children's book, but a children's book nonetheless. I can read the whole thing in a few hours. And because the source material isn't 800 pages long, they're able to get pretty much everything from the page onto the screen, so it just feels complete.

[@sethdishman4101]

Dan or Brandon: Any thoughts on the Shannara adaptation?

[@orionh5535]

My favorite adaptation is the Movie Adapation, since it was a complete failure and success at adapting its source material.

[@quinnbuffet3825]

I read LotR; loved it. I watched the movies first. Adore them. I think they're both great in different ways, the way they build their narratives highlight key points the counterpart lacks. The books were lacking in spectacle but had loads of thoughtfulness, the movies the other way around. They offer different angles upon the same story without breaking them down and it makes them each the best at what they do individually - there's nothing controversial about that. Soooo....when are we getting a Stormlight series directed by Michael Dante DiMartino

[@mackdmara]

Here is a pacing issue I have noticed recently. The Star Wars prequels needed the Clone Wars animated series to explore the characters more. The movies just couldn’t give you why your main characters were awesome. There wasn’t the time. As movies I like them, but they just weren’t satisfying due to the lack of depth of character. I don’t know if he could have done it without a few more movies in the mix. On a completely different note, remakes. Oceans 11 worked as a remake because you had enough time from the original. The new crew didn’t feel like replacement Rat Packers, but rather the original crew. There was enough time between them to let the old guard die and be cherished, before making it again. There was enough time to have closure for the old folks and a new audience had come along who could see it for the first time. My two cents.

[@zenthepoet.]

Adoooonalsiiiiium

[@markstenquist2315]

Before they go through their opinions, here's my top 3: 1. Princess Bride 2. Jurassic Park 3. LotR

[@cbpd89]

I would be hard pressed to come up with a better top 3 than that. The new Dune might work it's way into there for me, but I'd hate to edge out the others!

[@markstenquist2315]

@@cbpd89 yeah, we'll see if they stick the landing with Dune. The first was amazing

[@E9vam7]

Groundhog day is more like the opposite of a roguelike. It's about being in the same circumstances over and over again. Roguelikes are about everything not being the same. Groundhog day has a lot more in common with Mario Bros than Spelunky.

[@bryanellis459]

"Boss Level" on Amazon is another groundhog day movie, basically the main character (Frank Grillo) wakes up every morning to a bunch of assassins trying to kill him. Mel Gibson and Naomi Watts are in it too

[@voidsabre_]

That's Hulu, not Amazon

[@bryanellis459]

@@voidsabre_ Amazon in Uk/Ireland, but point taken