TV Tuesday: Adaptations

[yourlibrarian]

These days quite a lot of TV comes from books, but not always as a TV movie. Would you rather have your favorite book adapted as a long-running TV series or a mini series? How come?

Comments

[jo]

I would opt for a series. Main reason being that I'm not a movie person -- it just feels like more effort to have to sit through two hours of something -- I have a harder time staying focused and often, awake. Plus most of my fave books often have fairly complex plots, and I just think you'd have to cut them down too much to make them work as films.

[yourlibrarian]

I think it's mostly only short stories that could work as films without losing a lot. What's more, I think that when a book is made as, at least, a mini-series there can not only be more characterization but also more time to add mood to it. I'm currently reading Christie's The ABC Murders, and I remembered seeing a recent adaptation for it. It wasn't completely faithful to the book but it felt a lot more ominous, which I thought was a good addition.

For a TV series I think it also has to be a series of books (I'm thinking of The Expanse but also obviously Game of Thrones). Given today's short seasons one could definitely create two of them from a single novel, maybe even more if it was a long book to start with. But not everything in a book translates well to the screen so it's also not necessary to use every part.

[jo]

For a TV series I think it also has to be a series of books (I'm thinking of The Expanse but also obviously Game of Thrones). Given today's short seasons one could definitely create two of them from a single novel,

Not always. The adaptation of Jane Casey's standalone novel, The Killing Kind, is a 6-part miniseries and works really well. Trying to drag it out into 2 seasons (or even more episodes) would have been a big mistake.

Meanwhile, there's a new adaptation of Ian Rankin's Rebus series coming at some point, starring Richard Rankin as Rebus, and it sounds like they're re-imagining it significantly rather than doing a straightforward adaptation of actual novels. Will be very interesting to see as I love the Rebus books (and Richard Rankin), assuming I can find it anywhere. It's being made for a Swedish streaming service called Viaplay as it launches in the UK.

[olivermoss]

A long running series would straggle and stray from the book a lot. I'd want mini series or limited series, one season per book.

[yourlibrarian]

Are there ever books you might want to see a continuation for on screen?

[olivermoss]

Dunno, never seen anything like that happening before. Movies, like Highlander, continued as TV shows. Never seen that for books

[shadowkat]

Depends on the book? Some work as long-running television series, some really don't. Also there are books that just work as a two or three hour movie.

I wish they'd done Killer's of the Flower Moon as a television series. It lends itself to that. But nooo. It's a huge non-fiction book that delves in a period of history that stretches from the 1800s to 1960s, and is about the conspiracy between the US Federal Government and various "white" settlers and confidence men, to take land away from the Osage Indian Tribe. And they did it by murdering these people. Also it is about the beginning of the FBI - because Edgar Hoover used the case to launch the FBI. The Osage paid the US Federal Government to investigate the murders. It really needs to be told over the course of several episodes to do the story justice, not in a three and a half hour movie about two of the bad guys (there were several).

I also would love to have Maria Doria Russel's The Sparrow (a sci fi novel) along with Children of God done as a television series. That could have been several seasons. They keep threatening but never do it.

And the Madeline L'Engle novels would have worked well as a television series.

Jim Butcher's Dresden Files - was done as one, but poorly. I wish it had been better done, and took off.

I always wished someone would do the Vicky Bliss mysteries by Elizabeth Peters.

Meanwhile Minnette Walters Mysteries - work better as mini-series, not series. Same with all of the Austen books. If the book is limited in the number of characters or "focused" - mini-series.
Turn of the Screw? Mini-series or film. Pride and Prejudice? Same. Emma? Same.
Dickens? Mini-series.

Then there are books that just can't be adapted. Kafka on the Shore can't be.

[yourlibrarian]

Wow, given that stretch of time it sounds like you could have at least 2 seasons worth of episodes.

Your comment about various mystery series reminded me that I found the TV series of Inspector Lynley to be better than the books. I think it's because the books meander a lot, whereas for each episode they trim things down to be more focused on the mystery. Plus, when the characters are embodied by actors and we can actually see the settings, there's a lot less exposition that's needed.

[veritas_poet]

That's really interesting. I hadn't really thought about it. But maybe with a miniseries, it would be easier to stick to the source material? (Assuming the writers would want to do that.) It seems like a long running TV show would make it easier to get further and further away from the source material. But, again, it would all depend on the intentions of the writers.

[yourlibrarian]

Might also depend on who the writers were -- for example Justified had the participation of Elmore Leonard and his son.

[veritas_poet]

Yes, good point.

[jo]

the books meander a lot, whereas for each episode they trim things down to be more focused

Outlander works better as a series than books, IMO. Some of the books -- 5 and 9 in particular, are massive (I think book 5 is over 1000 pages), and honestly, there's hardly any actual action/plot in then. Lots of character introspection and such, but if you cut that out, you'd have a much shorter book. And many of the early books (esp. #3) were just overloaded with really stupid side plots which never made it to the screen, thankfully.

[yourlibrarian]

Yeah, book bloat seems to happen often when there's a successful series. I suspect it comes from the author having more power over editors, which isn't always a good thing.

[onlysmallwings]

That very much depends on what series we're talking about.

Heralds of Valdemar? Long-running series with each trilogy as a season and "Christmas" specials of the standalone novels with tv-movie length. Gimme those magic white psychic horses.

The Old Kingdom series? Miniseries. Keep it tight, keep the tension high.

[yourlibrarian]

Wow, a whole trilogy in a season!

[onlysmallwings]

Well, they're heavy on the drama but I think an 10-12 episode season should allow the introduction of all of the many side-characters and their shenanigans as well as either introducing or fleshing out Valdemar and it surrounds. They're basically YA fantasy.

[svgurl]

It depends on the book. If there is a long series (at least 5 books), then a long show works but if it is just a book or two, then a mini series makes more sense. Like the various Jane Austen novels really worked as a mini series, because it had time to capture the important moments, but I wouldn't want a two season Pride & Prejudice show. I feel like if the canon material runs out and they keep going, it rarely seems to end well.

[yourlibrarian]

What was your opinion of Sanditon, if you've seen it? I was thinking that there are a few shows out there adapting unfinished works. Kind of treads a middle ground in that sense.