Double Disappointing Day

Bad enough the Saints got waxed in Chicago, but the new Dresden Files series on Sci-Fi just sucks. They totally got him wrong, they got Karin Murphy wrong, they got Bob wrong…. it’s just a similarly themed show with none of the charm of the original Dresden novels. The thing about Harry is that hes a tough guy. He really isn’t as tough as he acts; it’s a shell he’s put up because he’s been scarred so much in his life. The real Harry underneath the cynical wiseass is the one that keeps him sane in a crazy world, but the Harry he shows to everyone else is drawn straight from Sam Malone Spade.

The actor playing Harry in this series just can’t pull it off. He’s coming across as an actor trying to play a tough guy who isn’t; in other words, he’s not selling me on himself as the character. He hasn’t got the chops to play Dresden like he should. (Not like there are many Bogarts waiting in line to work for the SF Channel anyway, eh?) Sad thing is, the same is true of the actress playing Karin Murphy. Never mind that she’s not a blonde anymore; she’s too pretty… and soft. Karin always comes across hard as nails and tightly wound — ready to go off at any moment. She has always sort of scared me just a bit. This one makes me want to cuddle. And what’s with Harry inviting the mother and kid over to his place and fixing dinner? OMG, they’ve turned Harry into a metrosexual! No. No. No. A thousand times no, and then some.

They’ve obviously mucked about with the backstory, and have no intention of following any of the novels. I didn’t expect they would, but it’s still disappointing. As I said, it’s going to be a similarly-themed show, not the Dresden Files. Also, we’re going to be told that backstory through being subjected to constant flashbacks. It should be done in bits and pieces, as things become relevant to whatever plot is underway. That’s how the author did it, and it worked, though it did make the first novel a bit hard to take. In the show, the flashbacks after every commercial break really interrrupted the narrative, because they had nothing to do with whatever was going on before the commercials.

Don’t even get me started on Bob having an illusionary body. When he threatened the Skinwalker, I just had to throw my hands up in despair. The hallmark of their relationship is that Bob is hundreds of years old, and to him, Harry’s just another user. Well, he is sorta fond of him, but not to that extent. Bob has absolutely no moral code whatsoever; he answers to whomever posesses his skull. He’s a lech, a bigger smart-ass than Harry, and a discorporate library of magical knowledge–but one thing he is not, is Harry’s guardian angel.

Well, that’s yet another TV show I won’t make time for. Is it any wonder I don’t watch American TV? If it were done as a Japanese animé, they’d have no problem with the idea of doing a completely faithful rendition of the novels. That’s not to say it would be done that way, but there would be a very good chance of it. In Hollywood, there is ZERO chance that a novel will survive translation to the big or small screen. Once the egos of the director and/or producers get hold of it, they have to put their stamp on it; tell their version of the story. Or in this case, a different story entirely.

Edit: And now it may be triple disappointment. Just watched Simoun 23. Less answers, more questions. I think I’ve been strung along. I thought there was a grand narrative underneath it all, a “what’s really going on” type of thing. Although the preview hints at revelations, I am concerned that it’s all just a head fake and the story is about nothing but the girls, with the Simoun and all the weirdness going on just serving as a backdrop.