Author Stephen King says he likes what producer Bryan K. Vaughn is doing with the TV version of Under the Dome.
On his web site, the best-selling author wrote that some changes and tweaks to the story were necessary to translate the novel into a television series that will run thirteen episodes and could run more if ratings warrant.
“That such a re-imagining had to take place was my only serious concern when the series was still in the planning stages, and that concern was purely practical,” King wrote. “If the solution to the mystery were the same on TV as in the book, everyone would know it in short order, which would spoil a lot of the fun (besides, plenty of readers didn’t like my solution, anyway).”
King went on to say that the only thing that had to be the same was the starting point of the Dome trapping the small town.
“It’s best to think of that novel and what you’re seeing week-to-week on CBS as a case of fraternal twins. Both started in the same creative womb, but you will be able to tell them apart. Or, if you’re of a sci-fi bent, think of them as alternate versions of the same reality,” King adds.
Under the Dome airs tonight on CBS.
Sometimes when a book is translated to film or tv, changes are needed, it’s how much you change it that matters though. An example is World War Z, clearly if there was going to be a film, there would need to be changes, but they changed it too much. There was no indication of any of the element of the book being carried over into the film. The most notable of these was the change from slow to fast zombies, but another is the change of the plot from how the world desended into chaos and then returned, into the movie plot which is a zombie kill-fest.
I mean I understand that they couldn’t do it from an interview standpoint, or from a bunch of different stories like the book. But they could have at least followed someone’s life through all of the events that the book described. I mean, wouldn’t you want to know about someone who heard about the battle at yonkers on TV, how everyone started to panic, how he was taken to one of those camps, how he then started to help and kill zombies. That would’ve made a pretty interesting story. At the end, you could’ve had him being commissioned to make a book from interviews, thus implying he’s the one who made the book to begin with. Now that would have made a good film.
As for this, as long as they don’t make the same mistake, I’ll be happy.