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Tackling The Hunger Games Film – A Review With Illustrations

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Elena-

I have to start this discussion by donning my hipster glasses and saying, “I liked The Hunger Games back when it was called Battle Royale.”  Because seriously, after watching this movie I am embarrassed for Collins at how similar her first book is to the Japanese original.  I mean, I thought the story sounded similar before I saw the movie (no, I have not read the books), but I figured the execution would make it obvious the similar premises were coincidental…holy crap, no.  So many details were the same, just shifted to a different world.  It really was like she just re-told the story in a different context.  If the similarity between the stories was truly convergent creativity, someone at her publisher needs to be fired for not knowing the market of dystopian gladiatorial games better and asking her to make it less similar in edits.

More specifically than the idea of the government forcing teenagers to fight to the death as a display of state power and a punishment for rebellious violence, we have:

-The opening scenario with weapons and supplies in the middle to either be fought over or abandoned to the player’s disadvantage

-The protagonists’ strategy of run to the fringes and let the bulk of the competitors kill each other off

-The manipulation of the game environment by the gamemaster in order to herd the players who run to the fringes back to the others

-The clear announcement of who has died so the competitors know who is left to kill

-The gang mentality where some of the players group together to kill everyone else off first

-The super crazy psycho killers who are masterful players—in BR they were past winners, here they are the District 1 and 2 kids who train for the games their whole lives

-The two protagonists who manage to remain morally superior, only killing those who attack them, shielding the weaker as they can, and relying on their trust in one another to make it through the game

-The ending where the two lovers won’t kill each other and defy the gamemaster and survive…and the gamemaster does not.

There is just no way this is anything except an American re-envisioning of the original.  The parallels are too pervasive and consistent.  We live in an age of remakes, so I wouldn’t even care that it’s a remake—hell, as remakes go this is an impressive and exceptionally creative one, and if they were all like this I wouldn’t mind them so much—except for the disavowal of a connection.  I think it’s publisher-driven, because they didn’t want to get sued or have to pay rights.  Fine.  Keep your plausible deniability…but the rest of us know better.

Removes decorative spectacles.

So, now that my bit of truth-telling is out of my system, what did I think about the movie?

I liked it more than I expected to.  While it was worse than I expected in terms of seeming like a rip-off of another book/movie (BR was also both), it was better than I expected in terms of immersion and character engagement.  I could see what makes the story and the setting so intriguing and why so many people are obsessed with the series.  It had that crack-like quality of plausible WTF that is so fun and enticing and contagious.

Rachel-

What I liked:

Jennifer Lawrence. I like her for lots of reasons. That she has a normal body, an expressive face and a killer sense of humor is a given. All pros. She also IS Katniss. She’s got that whole stoic, tortured survivor-girl thing DOWN. I loved her. I’m not convinced her acting was the product of Director Gary Ross’ actual direction or if this girl just has incredible instincts. She was wonderful in Winter’s Bone. I’m tending to give her all of the credit. She even made all those stupid costumes look great.

Elena-

Absolutely agree that credit goes to Lawrence and not Ross here.

Rachel-

The rest of the cast was pretty solid. I wasn’t convinced of Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch but he sold it. Josh Hutcherson’s Peeta was perfect (if a little TOO enthusiastic about conjuring paint and brushes, plus his “confused” face pretty much made me laugh EVERY SINGLE TIME), but every time he did his shit eater grin during the interviews I thought, “damn you, Peeta!” It’s hard to judge Liam Hemsworth’s Gale, since he only had about five lines, but he seemed capable of killing many squirrels.

Elena-

Gale was a total Spiller! Ergo…husband material?

Rachel-

Exactly! TOTAL Spiller! Even if the actorkid is dating Miley Cyrus. We can forgive him youthful indiscretions. Anyways, where was I?

I thought Elizabeth Banks’ Effie was perfect. Stanley Tucci’s Caesar Flickerman was delightfully manic while Lenny Kravitz’ Cinna was…well he was really bad. The only stinky acting in the entire flick. Whenever he was on screen I could hear the rest of the crew wandering around the set in my head because it was always so jarring.

Elena-

Banks was one of the stand-outs for me, too.  I forgot she was in it, and it took most of the train ride for me to figure out that she was Effie.  I didn’t find Cinna that bad, but perhaps not as charismatic as he should have been to gain Katniss’s immediate and absolute trust in his vision as a designer?

Rachel-

Whatever. He came off as a creepy weirdo.

I also liked that they chose to do so much of the filming on location. Mostly because the stuff they didn’t do on location looked like crap.

Elena-

I was so underwhelmed by the capital city and the buildings in it (did the night shot of the city look like New York to anyone else?).  I mean, maybe Katniss and Peeta don’t know any better, but we do.  That shit was not impressive.  And the sets around President Sutherland looked so…fake!  The capital is made out of plastic.  How has the revolution not happened already?

The fashionistas of the capital were right up my alley, though—my lavender Marie Antoinette Mardi Gras wig would work perfectly at a sponsors party, for example—and I thought the costume and make-up design were off the charts for the city folk, even if the in-games costumes were l-a-m-e.

Rachel-

The in game costumes were whatever. The Chariot costumes? YOU GUYS… is that what you envisioned when you read the description of the flaming cape/unitard thing? IS IT? Complete with terrible TERRIBLE CGI? And she’s got her hands above her head the whole time, even when the chariots park themselves in front of President Snow (TEAM SNOW!) she’s still got her hands above her head and Snow is starting to talk and she’s STILL GOT HER HANDS ABOVE HER HEAD… .
What else did I like?

The adaptation: Look, we all know it’s fucking hard to adapt a book into a film. It’s a lot of story to fit into two hours. Characters and side stories will be cut. Scenes will be streamlined. These things are a given. The Hunger Games manages to feel like it’s a page by page recreation even when it is not, and that is awesome.

I also liked that extra scenes were added that covered the things happening during the arena time. Adding in the riot in District 11 was really smart. Totally sets us up for the next books.

Things I didn’t like so much:

The Pacing. If there is one fundamental flaw in the entire film, it is that there wasn’t enough time spent in creating relationships between Katniss and the other characters. It’s REALLY important that Katniss have emotional connections to people. But even though Gary Ross sent us through all of the preparations before The Hunger Games begin, there just wasn’t any connection between Katniss and the other characters. It was a problem that kept coming up whenever a scene occurred in which the audience was supposed to be emotionally moved. I had a really hard time with this. When people died, I didn’t care. I was more interested in seeing Katniss survive whatever the next crisis would be. I regarded other characters as nuisances. This was especially true with Peeta and Rue.

I KNOW!

Stop screaming at me and let me explain.

Peeta is awesome. He’s a natural actor, a charismatic boy with a sympathetic heart. Strong on the inside and fluffy on the outside. The exact opposite of Katniss. I get it. But in the film he barely has any skills at all. He’s basically dead weight. Sure he can smile and interview well but once he gets in the games it was all “I’m just going to wander around and then lay in this mud and be useless”. When it comes time for Katniss and Peeta to join back up, that pivotal scene in which Katniss screams out Peeta’s name never happened. Peeta’s injuries were also not as terrible in the film as they were in the novel. We end up with this weirdly awkward scene in which Katniss takes care of a fellow District 12 tribute with weird stalker tendencies and an inability to respect Katniss’s boundaries. Then they kiss, and it’s like…huh? She likes him? WHY?

And I’ve read (and love) the novels. What the hell must this film be like for someone who hasn’t read the books? Is there any emotional connection at all?

Elena-

Ha, ha, ha, let me jump in and give you my take on these issues.

In terms of connections to characters other than Peeta—Rue was the only other character it seemed like Katniss was meant to have a connection with.  And I felt like her reaction to Rue’s death was a projection.  I didn’t think there was much of a connection between them except that she saw Rue as an analog for Prim, and what might have happened to Prim if Katniss hadn’t taken her place, so when Rue died Katniss had this weird translation of having failed to protect her sister, because Rue was like her sister.  It wasn’t about Rue; it was about Katniss.

Now, when it comes to her and Peeta…I literally did not know (and still do not, not having read the books) if Katniss was in the cave nursing Peeta and going to get medicine for him because she actually gave a shit about him or if it was because she’s the protector type and could not have lived with herself for not saving him, the same way she could not have lived with herself for not saving her sister.  Did she mean the kiss, or had she finally grasped that maybe they should play to the cameras?  So as to there being a connection between them…on his part, absolutely.  On hers…I still don’t know.

Also, Team Peeta! I liked him so much better than Gale! JV Hemsworth might be more objectively hot, but I find Hutcherson cute as hell, so that’s a wash…but I liked Peeta’s character better.

True, Gale didn’t get to do much but be the strong silent sulking type, and Peeta was not exactly heroic—at least, not at first.  But he exhibited a level of self-awareness and insight that I gravitated to almost immediately.  Peeta recognizes that he doesn’t have the skills to survive a death-match, and he can admit that he never went out of his way to be kind even to the girl he had a crush on.  The best he could manage was a careless act of charity that rated Katniss only minutely higher than the family’s pig.  In the games he certainly doesn’t kick ass and take names (and that is even with the fact that his part apparently got butched up somewhat from his role in the book…or at least that’s the impression some of my book-reading friends have given me).

But Peeta is one of the supporting players who set up Katniss for the big win, which she could not have done completely on her own.

See, here’s the thing—and book people may disagree with this, and that’s fine, but this is how this played out in the movie, and so we will just have to agree to disagree—Katniss is surrounded by people who play the part of the game that she refuses to play, for her, and she survives because they did.

Her producers (whatever the hell Effie and Haymitch and Cinna were called…they seemed like producers to me so that is what I’m calling them) were obviously the most creative in the group.  The other producers should all have been operating on Cinna’s philosophy of “I want to make them NOTICE you,” instead of paying homage to what had been done before.

Haymitch gives Katniss and Peeta the advice of “make them like you,” which Katniss basically disregards and which Peeta grabs like a lifeline.  He is hamming it up to the crowds from the beginning, while she sits there all better than that and disgusted; he grabs her hand as they roll around on fire so everyone can see that they consider themselves a team, and then he jokes with the interviewer and admits that his special girl is in fact one of his competitors.  (Hell, he’s smart enough to manipulate her into holding his hand on the chariot in the first place, which I don’t think was a move calculated to the crowd, just a desire for comfort and contact until she rejected it, at which point he was like, “how can I convince her to touch me?”)  His admission of his crush was true, but his decision to admit it was a conscious spin on his character as a competitor, and it paid off.  It made Katniss part of a larger story that made her seem human and relatable, when on her own she was perhaps too strong and intimidating.  Everyone wants to root for an underdog, and the doomed love angle made Katniss and Peeta as a pair underdogs; when on her own she was a favorite.  Would she have gotten the sponsor who saved her leg without the producers who made everyone notice her and Peeta’s actions to make them feel sorry for her?

My take-away was that Katniss is basically Harry Potter.  Sure, no one but her could have won the games if they were dealt the hand she was…but she couldn’t have, either, without the help of the people around her.  Peeta is basically Hermione, is what I’m saying.  And I do love me some brains over brawn…

…Which is why, TEAM PEETA!

Ahem.  The uncertainty of Katniss’s motives also made the ending more poignant, because he’s still standing their declaring his love, and I still don’t know what she thinks about the kid.

So maybe that’s a fail.  There were others.

Rachel-

One other thing I hated: THE CAMERA WORK. WHAT. THE. FUCK. It was like watching Cloverfield. The shaky cam with the extreme close ups. I became intimately connected with all the hairs on Jennifer’s Lawrence’s face. That’s how close the camera was all the damn time. And whenever there was a fight it was all, “KIDS ARE KILLING KIDS BUT WE CAN’T SHOW YOU BECAUSE WE’LL LOSE OUR RATING SO PLEASE ENJOY GRUNTING AND BLURRY SHOTS OF TREES. AND BLONDE KIDS, ANY OF WHOM COULD BE PEETA BUT ARE NOT.”

Ya know what doesn’t work when you have super HD close up shots framing the entire movie? Shitty effects. Especially any time at all when there was fire (srsly, the fire outfits for the chariot parade? WTH? It looked like a homemade music video from 1998).  And the muttations. CGI disasters. Totally a product of the film being written, cast, filmed, edited and marketing in a six-month period. Good shit needs TIME. Unfortunately, the film is hobbled by having to rush things.

Elena-

Oh, yeah.  The cinematic filming itself was competent but not special, if excessively soap-operatic, but the effects were obviously a rush job.  And the fires? I thought it was a joke when she said, “oh, yeah, it’s real,” because to me they looked so fake.  Like anyone was fooled!

What bothered me most, though, was the dearth of good violence.  The fact that it was PG-13 really limited the brutality of the games, and that works in opposition to what Rachel has expressed as one of the key themes of the book—our culture’s use of violence as entertainment.  By virtue of maintaining an all-ages rating, this movie could not be so brutally violent that we the audience could question the film as entertainment; we became the people of the capital, watching the games and the deaths for fun.

Aside from the fact that the action sequences are hardly comprehensible because the cameras and edits move so quickly, the violence was disappointing in its utter lack of creativity.  Not a single death in all of the dozen we saw onscreen was memorable?  That’s kind of sad.  If you’re going to riff off of something else, at least take all the good shit (since BR has a few choice deaths).  Or go watch Shoot ʼEm Up and Sukiyaki Western Django a few times to get some good demises to steal from them.

Rachel-

In the end, and I have seen this film twice now, I would look around the theater thinking that I had not drunk the kool-aid that made many of the people around me deliriously happy with the film. While I think the movie is good and happily saw it again, I found it to be anemic. Without the guts that make a film actually emotionally connect with the audience. I feel that if you do not step into the theater with the knowledge that reading the books give you, that you’ve got no chance of really feeling anything while watching the movie.

Elena-

I think the experience of the film for those who haven’t read the books is much more about what you project onto the characters than about what the film directly makes you feel.  There are moments where the emotions swamp you, but in general it’s you consciously projecting yourself into that situation and that environment.  The movie entertains, but it’s not a masterpiece.  I’d watch it again, but it didn’t make me want to run out and read the book.  Perhaps that is the most scathing indictment I could offer.

Rachel-

All that being said…I’m really excited that a science fiction film with a young girl as the protagonist has done so amazingly well at the box office. It makes me excited for the future of this franchise and the future of other unmade films.

34 Differences Between the Hunger Games Book and Movie

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::::Note: there may be spoilers ahead if you haven’t watched the film or read the novel::::

For those fans of the series who have already seen the film, you may have noticed more than a couple things that were changed when it was adapted for the big screen. Some of them made sense, and some of them didn’t. Some of the changes I realize were necessary when adapting the novel, but others seemed like they were changed out of laziness or disregard.

Either way, below are the 31 changes between the novel and movie. I also attempted to put them in order they would have appeared in the novel.

1: Gale and Katniss first thing

Book version: Katniss meets Gale early in the morning before The Reaping. He presents her with a loaf of bread with an arrow in it that makes her laugh.

Movie version: They meet and he shares a small loaf of bread with her. There isn’t anything there.

Significance lost: We don’t see how close the two are. We get they are friends but the arrow in the bread shows how much he knows her. That he would try to make her laugh on such an awful day in a way that is uniquely special to her is important in characterizing their friendship.

2: Haymitch at the Reaping

Book version: During the Reaping, Katniss sees Haymitch fall of the stage drunk.

Movie version: Non-existent. We do not get to see the level of drunkenness of Haymitch to the point it is in the novel.

Significance lost: Haymitch doesn’t get established as a drunk as early on. Katniss remarks that he is worst mentor because of how drunk he always is, but in the film we don’t meet him till later.

3: The Mockingjay Pin

Book version: Katniss receives the pin after The Reaping from a pseudo-friend Madge, who is the daughter of the governor of District 12. From here we learn the symbolism behind the pin and the bird it represents. As well as foreshadows the fact that Katniss and the mockingjay are viewed similarly by the Capitol, as in something that was a product of the Capitol but never meant to exist.

Movie version: Katniss buys/procures the pin on the day of the Reaping at the Hob and gives it to her sister, who later gives it back. There is little to no explanation behind the actual Mockingjay and its relationship with the Capitol.

 Significance lost: Very little. It is understandable when it comes to time management to write out a character who forwards the story only a little. The only thing lost is Katniss’ realization that she kind of, sort of had a friend in someone other than Gale.

4: Peeta’s father bringing cookies

Book version: While waiting in the room after The Reaping, Katniss is surprised to see Peeta’s father enter. He gives her a pack of cookies that he made, a luxury in the District, before saying goodbye.

Movie version: The only characters who get to visit Katniss before leaving is Prim, Gale, and her mother. Peeta’s father is never even mentioned.

Significance lost: It is one of the first times Katniss is realizes there is more to people than she thought. Also a hint that Peeta’s folks already felt like she would be the winner. Because he never gives her the cookies, we don’t get to see her throw them out when she realizes that she might have to kill Peeta and that bothers her.

5: Gale saying goodbye:

Book Version: Gale gives her a tearful goodbye, and before he can say much is pulled out of the room. It is strongly implied he was going to say he loved her or cared for her.

Movie Version: Gale never gets forced out of the room, and his goodbye is emotional but doesn’t have the underlying feeling that he wants to say he loves her.

Significance lost: It is the first set up for the back and forth that Katniss experiences regarding Gale and Peeta. She acknowledges that he would have probably said he loved her. Her feelings remain ambiguous towards both characters in the film, but in the novel we see more of her back and forth.

6: Haymitch’s words of advice

Book version: When Katniss and Peeta get to talk to their mentor, Haymitch, for the first time, they ask him for advice which he just laughs as says, “Here’s some advice, stay alive.”

Movie version: His piece of advice for the tributes is simply, “Embrace the prospect of your imminent death.”

Significance lost: We lose a bit of the comedic relief, however the line in the film is much more dramatic.

7: Haymitch and Food

Book version: When Haymitch is finally seen eating and not drinking, it is a sign to Katniss that he is starting to take training them seriously.

Movie version: We see Haymitch eat almost immediately after we first see him, although he is drunk at the time.

Significance lost: Katniss sees the change going through Haymitch when he agrees to finally stop drinking and become a real mentor. In the film we see none of the change.

8: Peeta and Katniss Holding Hands Through Ceremonies

Book version: Cinna suggests to Katniss that she and Peeta hold hands to look like a team.

Movie version: In the movie, Peeta suggests it while riding in to the ceremonies

Significance lost: Not much. Both show that Katniss is unsure about Peeta and the games.

9: Advice on Training Together

Book version: Haymitch advices Peeta and Katniss to stay close together and not to show off during the training sessions.

Movie version: It appears they are just thrown in to training where they are only occasionally together, although Peeta does mention that Haymitch told them not to show off.

Significance lost: Eh not a big deal. Film version is more condensed for time purposes.

10: Peeta Talks about his mother

Book version: Peeta’s mom tells him that District 12 might have its first winner, but then clarifies that she was referring to Katniss when she says, “She’s a survivor”.

Movie version: Peeta just says his mom was talking about her, not how he figures it out.

Significance lost: Not much except reaffirming that Katniss didn’t know everyone as much as she thought. Both make her feel uncomfortable as well as pity for Peeta so the change in minimal.

11: The scene between Seneca and Snow

Book version: Doesn’t exist.

Movie version: President Snow tells The Gamemaker not to give the people too much hope.

Significance lost: Takes away from the book sequels where the idea of giving people hope is explored. Good though for those who haven’t read the series.

12: Peeta’s interview with Caesar

Book version: After Peeta admits his love for her; she realizes that everyone is staring at her while he processes the admission. Caesar then says he wishes he could bring Katniss back up to respond to Peeta but that her time was up and it was too bad.

Movie version: Peeta admits his love and Caesar apologizes saying that it was a shame, but Katniss is actually back with her stylists and Effie and Haymitch where no one can see her reaction.

Significance lost: The scenes are pretty accurate, but in the novel, since everyone saw her reaction, s0 she looked even more vulnerable, which added to her rage towards Peeta.

13: Katniss attacks Peeta after his admission

Book version: Peeta admits his feelings for her in front of everyone in Panem. Katniss is furious as she thinks it was just a ploy and pushes him, which causes him to hit an urn that crashes and slices open his hand.

Movie version: Katniss pushes him, but he doesn’t get hurt or even cut himself.

Significance lost: The only thing lost is Katniss apologizing later to him. Not too much lost.

14:  Avoxes aren’t explained and no flashback for Katniss

Book version: Katniss recognizes a red-headed Avox who is serving her and has a memory of watching her and another young man try to escape the Capitol before being captured.

Movie version: Doesn’t exist.

Significance lost: This is a huge deal to most fans. Without Katniss recognizing the Avox, she doesn’t get a glimpse into how terrible things in the Capitol actually are. This is her first peak behind the curtain to something she hadn’t realized before.

15: Mockingjay pin taken inside the Arena

Book version: She is allowed to wear the Mockingjay pin after it “barely cleared the review board”. It also mentions each tribute can bring something from the District in with them, and another girl tried to wear a ring that had a hidden knife in it but it got rejected.

Movie version: Cinna hides the pin in her jacket that she is allowed to wear into the Arena.

Significance lost: The movie definitely makes this scene more dramatic. Letting her take it in made the Capitol look a little less strict, but in the film they seem more menacing by insinuating that she wouldn’t have been able to bring it in.

16: Katniss on the platform before the buzzer

Book version: Right before the games, the tributes are on platforms they can’t move off of till the buzzer. Immediately Katniss sees a bow and arrow in the Cornucopia. She wants it, but sees Peeta who shakes his head at her, possibly motioning for her to not to try to get it. She then gets disoriented by the sun and loses track of the bow and Peeta.

Movie version: Peeta clearly shakes his head, telling her not to get the bow. But she doesn’t get disoriented and doesn’t lose track and doesn’t blame Peeta for not getting to the bow.

Significance lost: This biggest thing lost is the perceived weakness and vulnerability of Katniss getting disoriented on the platform.

17: Katniss gets dehydrated 

Book version: Katniss struggles for a FULL day when she can’t find water nearby. She asks, out loud, for Haymitch to send her water via a sponsor. He doesn’t, which she realizes means she must be close to a stream and she continues on.

Movie version: She finds a pond almost immediately upon running away from the Cornucopia.

Significance lost: This really showed how smart and resourceful Katniss is in the novel. She is able to survive despite being severely dehydrated and lacking substance. The movie takes this scene away, and I feel like we lose a layer of Katniss’ personality.

18: Gamemaker scenes

Book version: Doesn’t exist, though Katniss is able to surmise what they are doing and thinking because of years of watching the games.

Movie version: We see several scenes of the gamemakers at work.

Significance: I think we actually gained something see this. While Katniss is able to describe these things to us, it was nice to actually have it presented visually.

19:  Notes with the parachutes from sponsors

Book version: Gifts from sponsors come without notes, and Katniss is left to interpret what each one means.

Movie version: A note comes with each gift (though there are less gifts shown), making it easier to keep Haymitch’s thoughts in the narrative.

Significance: I think this also takes away from Katniss’ resourcefulness. In the novel she is able to anticipate what Haymitch wants in order to get what she needs. Although since the film is told in a different narrative, the notes do convey what Katniss figures out herself in the novel.

20: Rue pointing out the tracker jacker nest

Book version: Katniss is hiding in the tree above the careers, when she is startled to see Rue in a tree next to her. Rue points out the Tracker Jackers, but it serves more as a warning to Katniss who is in the tree with them. Katniss then figures out to drop the nest on the careers and warns Rue to run.

Movie version: Rue gestures to Katniss to drop the nest on them.

Significance: Once again the resourcefulness of Katniss. But the film does use the change as a quicker way to develop Rue as a friend to Katniss.

21: Katniss tripping on the Tracker Jacker venom and Rue 

Book version: She gets stung several times before having a very hallucinogenic experience and passing out. She awakes to find Rue has put special leaves on her stings that is pulling the poison out and saved her life.

Movie version: She does get stung and she does trip out but it is much milder than the book described. She wakes up with the leaves on her but no explanation is given about what they do and she doesn’t keep any in case she needs them in the future.

Significance: Not much just not as elaborate as the book describes.

22: Rue’s death

Book version: Rue is speared by a boy from District 1 while still in the net before Katniss can cut her loose.

Movie version: Katniss frees Rue from the trap, but then is killed by the spear after a sense of false hope.

Significance: Makes her death all the more saddening. Much more dramatic and uses the opportunity to give Katniss a less-hard side to her personality.

23: District 11 and the Revolt

Book version: Doesn’t exist.

Movie version: After District 11 sees Rue die, they revolt against the peacekeepers.

Significance: We do see a revolt in that district during book 2. Adding it to book makes the scene much more dramatic and emotional, but takes away from the scene that is in the sequel, which is witnessed by Katniss and Peeta.

24: Katniss doesn’t receive any bread from Rue’s district

Book version: After Rue’s death, Katniss receives bread from Rue’s district, which she Katniss figures was a symbol of appreciate for her acts toward Rue. She also surmises it took all their money to pay a sponsor to send her the bread. An incredible act for the poorer districts.

Movie version: Doesn’t exist.

Significance: We really miss out on seeing the transition that Districts are starting to look toward and Katniss and root for her to win.

25: The Rule Change Announcement

Book version: Katniss still upset about Rue, but moving on hears the rule change and before she can help it, she yells out Peeta’s name and then immediately realized that was a mistake because it could giveaway her location so she clasps her hand over her mouth and then sets out to find him.

Movie version: She doesn’t yell his name out in excitement, but merely decides to go find him.

Significance: I loved this scene in the novel. It is one of the first times Katniss is not thinking of surviving. It is also the first time she shows she cares for Peeta albeit without realizing it.

26: Katniss Taking Care of Peeta

Book version: She finds him camouflaged and uncovers him enough to see his leg is severely injured. She is able to drag him to the water nearby and submerge his leg. Afterward, when she sees it is not getting any better, she uses the leaves that Rue gave her to pull some of the infection out which works a bit but he is still injured enough to need the medicine from the Capitol.

Movie version: She does find him camouflaged but she helps him limp to the water. There she cleans the wound and then takes him to the cave where he remains ill till she goes to the Feast.

Significance: Just a minor change, but shows that Katniss can think on her feet, and also has some of the minor healing abilities that she shares with her sister and mother.

27: The romance is all for the cameras

Book version: In the book it is clear that Katniss believes the “romance” angle is an act to lure sponsor but mentions that sometimes she is left confused by her feelings growing for Peeta and her lingering feelings for Gale.

Movie version: It is unclear how Katniss feels in the movie, whether she thinks it is an act or genuinely feels for him. It is obvious for Peeta that he isn’t playing.

Significance: We lose a lot of the back and forth emotions Katniss feels during this scene. In the novel she acknowledges that she does care for Peeta but also acknowledges that she still thinks about Gale. We lose a lot of the ambiguity when it was translated on screen.

28: The conversation in the cave

Book version: Peeta explains to Katniss how and when he first met her and knew he was in love with her. She regales him with the story of Prim’s goat as well as thanks him for the day he saved her life with the bread.

Movie version: They never have the back and forth. Peeta brings up the day he gave her the bread but tells the story a little differently. She never tells him about the goat.

Significance: We lose the revelation that Katniss’ mother and sister are healers as well as the growing closeness between the two characters.

29: Katniss Doesn’t Trick Peeta to Sleep

Book version: Katniss receives a sleeping potion from Haymitch after playing up the romance for the cameras. She drugs Peeta so she can go to the Cornucopia and get the medicine he needs before he wakes up the next day.

Movie version: Katniss doesn’t drug him, but she does wait until he’s asleep to head to The Cornucopia.

Significance: I hate that this scene was changed. I think we lose the fact that Katniss was willing to do anything to get him the medicine he needed.

30: Thresh’s Decision to let Katniss live

Book version: Thresh lets Katniss live after she talks of helping Rue and not being the one who killed her.

Movie version: Thresh lets Katniss live because he already knew she had been kind to Rue.

Significance: Not much of a difference, just a quicker scene.

31: The tribute-hounds

Book version: The dog/wolf hound muttations are released and Katniss describes each of them having the eyes of the already dead tributes as well as some substantial different coloring, which she finds ghastly and upsets her.

Movie version: They are just wolf/hounds that do not reflect the tributes at all.

Significance: We have a less freaked out Katniss and she also doesn’t get to see that the Capitol has extreme capabilities she wasn’t aware of before, but would have been incredibly difficult to portray well in the film.

32: Katniss still almost kills Peeta

Book version: When the gamemakers announce that they have reversed the rule change,  Katniss assumes that Peeta will try to kill her. So she draws an arrow and aims it at him.

Movie version: Doesn’t happen. They just look at each other in shock.

Significance: When she does this in the novel, it signals the fact that there is still some major distrust on her side toward Peeta despite what they have been through.

33: Peeta’s leg

Book version: When fighting the mutts off at the end, Peeta’s leg is once again injured, but more severely when it is attacked. This leads to his leg being amputated and replaced by the Capitol when they are taken out of the Arena.

Movie version: His leg gets bitten, but he is fine.

Significance: The loss of Peeta’s leg is mentioned through the rest of the series. Also shows that despite how far the Capitol has come, there are still some things they can’t control.

34: Peeta’s Realization of Katniss

Book version: Peeta’s finds out that Katniss may or may not have been playing up the romance angle while in the Arena and is completely heartbroken.

Movie version: Unfortunately in the film, Peeta merely says “he doesn’t want to forget” and while upset, doesn’t seem to be completely dispirited and it is never mentioned whether he knows of her ambiguous feelings or not.

Significance: One of the most important parts of the series when it comes to their relationship. It sets the foundation of disbelief and distrust that rears its head several times through the series among the two.

I might have left a few out, but these are ones that I caught. Some are big, some aren’t so big. While I did enjoy the film overall, I do feel like some of these things could have been left alone and not been changed.

WAR IS COMING – The Ladies of Ice and Fire Anticipate The Upcoming Season of Game of Thrones

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Game of Thrones will begin its second season on April 1st. Rachel and Elena are super-excited to be back in their respective courts of fire and ice. Below they discuss their anticipations about the upcoming season. This particular post is relatively spoiler-free (character names are used, but nothing else). Be warned – episode-by-episode discussions will not be spoiler free through the currently aired episode, and Rachel’s reactions will not be spoiler-free through A Dance with Dragons.

Elena will be watching with the fresh eyes of a summer child, while you may regard Rachel’s viewpoint as that of the grizzled veteran with missing limbs.

Elena-

So I guess Game of Thrones is about to start back up on HBO, huh?  I…think I’m ready for that.  I gotta be honest, last year I suffered from ATF (Acute Throne Fatigue) what with having spent over a year reading the damn first book, writing up a chapter by chapter reaction, and having my opinions of it vivisected…and then podcasting about every episode…and then jumping into the fandom mash-ups.  Fun as all of that was, it was exhausting, and I really just hit a wall—The Wall, if you will—with the series.

About the time comments on the first trailer for the new season hit my Facebook wall, though, and I was reminded that April wasn’t all that far off, I thought…hey, maybe I should go finish the first book.  (For the record:  I have not acted on this thought.  I am not sure where my copy is.  Buried under mastiff direwolf hair on the back floorboard of my car, perhaps? But I thought it, and as we all know it is the thought that counts, right?  RIGHT?!?)

And I also thought…I’m kind of excited about new episodes of this series.  I’ve actually re-watched a few episodes of Season 1 since then, if I happened to turn on the TV and one of my favorite episodes—or just scenes, in some cases—was on.

I have not watched any trailers for the new season.  I don’t know if I want to.  I have managed pretty well to avoid spoilers so far, and while I’m sure HBO is careful not to spoil any real plot points, I’m afraid of seeing something that I might be able to pair with some other not-on-its-own-a-spoiler information I have and put two and two together.  And the thing is, I don’t need to see the trailers to know I’m going to keep watching the show. I’m excited about it based on the fact that I loved the first season. The production was quality, and the story and characters hooked me, so really I’m just ready to keep rolling down the midnight highway that is ASOIF without any LED-billboards up ahead breaking up the darkness.

Also, I heart Bronn and Lancel.  The scenes I re-watched made me realize they are my favorite minor (?) characters from Season 1.  TEAM BADASS FTW!  And also yay whatever team Lancel plays on.  Team More Wine, Sir?, perhaps?  YES. As a resident of New Orleans, I can get behind that team!

Rachel:

Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that I am READY for Season 2. I’M SO READY, YOU GUYS! Every time a cab passes me with a “War is Coming” ad on it I think to myself, “Self, you should get in that cab because that cab is as excited about Game of Thrones as you are.” I know this isn’t true, but I’m particularly vulnerable to fandom-based marketing.

Despite the fact that there hasn’t been a lot of physical marketing for Season 2 (no food trucks! A constant source of depression for my friends and I), I think HBO has firmly cast its lot with the Game of Thrones fans (seriously, I am not calling myself a “Thronie,” wtf is that?) The “fan” t-shirts and posters are great (the new design for the Stark t-shirt, THANK YOU!) and the “The King can do as he likes” poster and booth that they debuted at Wondercon…that right there is proof that if you market to fans in a non douchebag corporate way – you win!

The character featurettes that have been posting all on HBO.com are wonderful! They introduce lots of new characters without spoiling any of the incredible storyline that is coming at us come April 1st. Plus I get to enjoy all the manips and gifs hitting Tumblr, and that just makes me even MORE excited (warning, the Game of Thrones tag on Tumblr is probably not safe for those wishing to remain unspoiled). I’m not sure if the digital media only advertising track is going to bring in new viewers, but at this point word of mouth might just be HBO’s greatest hope on that front. Even if the “War is Coming” fist poster looks more like “Angry Jesus is Coming” than “Baratheon Boys gonna FIGHT”. It does. Don’t even bother getting grumpy about it. It could easily be mistaken for an evangelical billboard of doom.

Also, judging from those character featurettes, not only will we be enjoying some awesome new characters (Lobsterking! Delicious Knight! Weirdly evangelical sexy lady! Lady Knight! The Brother Taunter! The Girl Who Knows Everything!) We’ll be getting expanded content of some already established characters. (I’m looking at you, people of Highgarden!)

Whose storyline are you most excited to pick up again?

Elena-

Hm.  Tough one here.  Probably Arya’s, just because hers has the most likely chance of immediate resolution.  I mean, she is currently on her way to The Wall to be reunited with her bestest brother evah, Jon Snow, Who Knows Where To Put It (that is officially his name now.  Does it make an easy acronym the way ASOIF does?  JSWKWTPI.  No.  FAIL.  Oh well, I’ll just type it out every time then).  So, either she gets there and goes on ice as a character the way Jon has (heh, on ice…at The Wall made of…ice. Yeesssssssssss), or she doesn’t get there.  Either way I think it will wrap up quickly?  Or she’ll spend the entirety of Season 2 traveling, in which case her story will be almost as boring as Dany’s was last season!

This is not to say I am a Dany-hater—the horse-heart-chomping convinced me on her—but her story?  Way too drawn-out, at least in the books…it might have played better on screen, but after 8 months I am conflating my multi-media experience of Season 1.  Also I am getting off topic.  So, yeah, Arya’s whom I want to pick up with the most.

I am also excited to see more of Rob King In The North Stark but that’s really more because he makes my eyeballs steam.  More of that please!

Rachel-

In an attempt to keep at this anticipatory post as spoiler-free as possible I will say that I am excited to see Jon Snow’s story-line for obvious reasons if you have read A Clash of Kings and if you haven’t well…stuff. Reasons.

I’m also excited for the Blackwater and for Baratheon against Baratheon shenanigans. Also Robb Stark and King in the North stuff!

Character you are most excited about in Season 2?

Elena-

For me I’m actually going to go Dany.  She ended last season in a literal conflagration of all that her life had been.  And she walked out of the ashes with dragons. DRAGONS, you guys!  That’s a pretty blank canvas for her to repaint herself and her life with.  Rachel has laughed wickedly at me for intimating I thought her book/season 1 arc was slow-paced, so I am not sure I have huge expectations for her…but I am really excited to see where she, in particular goes, because I think right now she is the most dynamic character—the one who is in a state of change.

If I knew nothing of the books I would say Sansa as well, but the Sansa I know from the first book is functionally retarded, and so I have no hope of her ever doing anything except sucking more than she did before.  So instead I’m going to say TYWIN LANNISTER as my #2.  This guy has three extremely interesting (and possibly FUBAR) kids; he is obviously a politicker par excellence, and kind of a badass.  I want to see more of him.

Rachel-

Probably Jon. But I’m also excited to rejoin the Lannisters and Renly and all that. It’s hard to say, “I am most excited about this character” without telling you why and spoiling everything. I’ll spoil everything in the episode recaps under giant SPOILER WARNINGS. Promise.

Character you most want to see die in Season 2?

Elena-

JOFFREY.  Oh my god, Joffrey’s sanctimonious little tyrant ass would be such a sweet assassination.  I do not expect this to happen—mostly because Martin killed of Viserys in the first book, and you can only kill off the single most obnoxious character in the book once before it becomes a pattern—but I would LOVE to see it!

And I would be hella impressed, if he does die, if it’s in such a way that I feel sympathy for the little shit.

Rachel-

Everybody wants Joffrey to die, Elena! Jack Gleeson has done such an amazing job of providing us with a truly evil character to hate in a cast of characters neither good nor evil. It’s Joffrey who is our shining white knight of douchebaggery! HUZZAH! Long live the king, and stuff!

And boy is going to be even more douchey! Get ready!

This question relates to my ongoing attempts to create a Game of Thrones drinking game with my friends. We’ve pretty much settled on shots every time someone dies, but perhaps certain characters should get different drinks. Suggestions?

Elena-

If a major character dies drain your whole glass/bottle/can? If Joffrey dies drain two?

Is there a new character you are particularly excited about?

Elena-

Not exactly…I mean, for one thing I don’t KNOW any characters to come other than those mentioned off-screen last season, like Stannis Baratheon.  But I have seen from casting announcements and Rachel’s FB/Twitter that we’re getting some new females who at least some in the fandom love, so I’m excited about that. I don’t know who any of them are except Asha-Not-Yarra Greyjoy.  I’ve seen other names but couldn’t place them in a context.  Let’s just call it as “New Women of Westeros.”

Rachel-

Hmmm, I don’t know if it is a good idea to skip all of the featurettes. There are a whole lot of new characters coming at us in the new seasons. The story lines will be effectively doubled, and sometimes the connections between characters gets muddled. I think it was smart of HBO to release these little featurettes to help fans who have not read the books keep everyone straight. Not that I don’t have complete faith that all the new people will be effectively introduced to the audience. I just know that I watched the show with people who had not read the books last season and I often had to answer “who is that again?” questions.

Saying that:

Melisandra, Jaqen H’ghar, Asha-not-Yarra, Margaery Tyrell, Ygritte, Brienne, Stannis and Davos, Roose Bolton. So many crafty people coming at us you guys! SO MANY CRAFTY BITCHES! (I’m looking at you, Stannis.)

Any fandom you’re particularly excited for?

Elena-

Well, of the GOT Tumblrs my favorite is probably Arrested Westeros, simply because I love Arrested Development so much.  But in this case, the fandom I’m most excited about is my work family!  I have changed jobs since Season 1 was on air.  At my old job, no one watched the show, and if I brought it up they gave me the skank eye for being so weird and nerdy.  At my new job, EVERYBODY watches GOT!  Fuck yeah Monday morning dissections!  Also this will obviously force me to watch it every Sunday regardless of what else is going on in my life, else risk having the episode completely spoilered for me at work.  The good news is, none of the coworkers read the books, so I can have my fellow newbie/TV-only reactions and speculation with them, and then my evil laughter/cryptic remark-dropping dissections here with Rachel.  Win-win!

Also, if you did not catch the “here” part of that, Rachel and I will be discussing every episode here at Optionated!

Rachel-

I feel like the fandom is super healthy. It’s always nice when you’ve got new things to anticipate, but Game of Thrones fans have been keeping a hilarity-driven fandom going through the long waits between books for years now.  (For example, there is an 8-second video on YouTube that has been around for a long time that shows a wine glass and a golden hand knocking over the wine glass that pretty much puts me into hysterics.) The show has just given us pretty pictures to manipulate. Which I’m going to say, does have its advantages. I have even done my share of stupid mspaintery.

Behold:

I thought that Roose needed a little help. So I helped him.

But I think my favorite little fandom nugget is the following, which I am using because I actually know the person who made this but I only found this out recently. That’s how the Internet works sometimes:

BECAUSE ONIONS! LoL This never fails to make me laugh hysterically.

This person that I know is known as SwordintheDarkness on Tumblr. But be warned – she is super spoilery, and her GoT knowledge is incredible. She can remember the PAGES that shit happens on. So if you have read through A Dance with Dragons I recommend her Tumblr.

I also can’t promise that my own twitter (@DarthRachel) will be spoiler free. Sorry. There’s nothing I can do about that. In fact, as I am the spoilery side of these Episode discussions you should just beware me all together.

I’m the Shaggydog of Optionated.

No, I’m not. I’m not that cool.

Elena-

Well, if you’re Shaggydog then I’m Rickon. Always in the background, never in the know. I am the sweet summer child slowly losing my innocence under the shadow of war.

WAR IS COMING, Y’ALL!

Fuck yeah.

Who Will Be The Next Death on The Walking Dead?

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::::Warning Spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen season 2::::

AMC’s mega-hit show “The Walking Dead” is heading to its season finale (but thankfully it has been renewed!) and the body count  of cast members is mounting. But just because major characters have already bit the dust, doesn’t mean fans can relax. Showrunner, Glen Mazzara, has promised even more losses for our group of survivors.

In the last two episodes of season 2 have seen the Rick’s group lose two of its pivotal members. Fans saw the shocking loss of Dale and then the not-so shocking, kind of had it coming, death of Shane the groups #2.

Mazzara said Thursday during a conference call with reporters,

“If you count up all the deaths, we’re on a big killing spree here. There’s more bloodshed coming. These characters have felt that they are safe on this farm and they’ve been wrong. I guarantee there will be bloodshed.”

With 13 remaining members of the group, it is pretty much a wildcard on who could be the next to join Sophia, Dale and Shane as casualties this season.

Starting with Rick, who is played by Andrew Lincoln, we can safely assume he is going to survive. Even in the original comic book, he is going 94 issues strong sans one limb. Mazzara has said that the deaths have helped develop Lincoln’s character the most. He went on to say, “[Shane’s death] is a statement about our main character, that he’s evolving as a person and as a leader and what he’s willing to do.” Basically, fans can reasonably rest assured that Rick won’t be killed off anytime soon.

It seems there aren’t any fans who still like Lori, played by Sarah Wayne Callies. There is still major backlash floating through the internet. “Can you watch Carl” has been used as her slogan in meme after meme questions her characters morality and worth to the group. Mazzara has stated that “nothing is over the line”  for the writers (especially when the characters death is warranted or will propel the story forward.) When reporters asked the showrunner about mounting wishes for her death, he said, “no character is safe” and that writers “have examined at different times killing every character.” If even Dale wasn’t even safe this early in the show despite lasting much longer in the comic, we can expect that Lori might be right behind her ex-lover Shane in the death tole.

The last, but not so innocent child of the group Carl, played by Chandler Riggs, is one that the writers love writing for. “If he survives, Carl will grow up in a world where the pre-apocalyptic world will be a distant memory,” Mazzara says. Carl can easily put a shot through the head of zombie as proven with zombie Shane. “We do want to see Carl grow into that badass [in the comics],” Mazzara told reporters. Basically, it seems cruel to kill the last child off, so they will probably keep him.

One character that has made great strides in the series is Andrea played by Laurie Holden. Mazzara recently revealed a bit of a teaser regarding her character when he said, “If she makes it out of Episode 13, it will be interesting to see what she does.” Andrea has changed a lot over the last season from a cowering young woman who wanted to die, to a confident survivor who had a sexy romp with Shane. She has taken over Dale’s position in both the series and comics. It seems resonable to say she will continue on for a while in the band of survivors.

With Shane dead, the group for reals needs a new #2, and since Dwight isnt in this show, who better to take over than Daryl, played by Norman Reedus. Mazzara said regarding Daryl, “”If he survives the finale, I would certainly lean on that character heavily,” Mazzara says of Daryl’s Season 3 potential. “He’s a viable leader and a viable No. 2. … Daryl is the character, in a sense, that’s preadapted to the world and most qualified to survive.” Since Rick is going to need an assistant TO THE leader, Daryl seems to be safe as well.

Who doesn’t feel bad for Carol, played by Melissa McBride? Season 2 saw the unfortunate search for her daughter Sophia that ended with her being a walker in Hershel’s barn the entire time. Plus you kind of wanted to see her get it on with Daryl. However, promos for the final invasion in the finale see her literally pinned against the wall. She deserves to live!

T-Dog, played by Robert Singleton has been made fun of countless times by the internet as he seemingly does, well, nothing in every episode. But Mazzara has said that while fans may see him as a prop, his lack of a storyline is intentional. “In our minds, he’s very smart in that he keeps his mouth shut and doesn’t draw anyone’s attention … his agenda has been to survive,” the showrunner told The Hollywood Reporter. “There was an intention here of why this guy was quiet; in our mind, he is playing everything close to the vest. There’s a method to our madness.” For those of you willing to put up with the quite character, Mazzara promises that they will give fans a reason to love T-Dog. He could possibly bite the dust in an epically awesome way, or save the group in an equally epic way.

Which brings us to Glenn, played by Steven Yeun. Poor Glenn is the best at navigating through dangerous zombie filled situations. Because of his worth to the group in that way (I mean they do have to survive the farm and I can bet Glenn will be pivotal for that) it is reasonable to assume he is going to survive.

Hershel, played by Scott Wilson, probably had it right when he said he would die at his farm. Even though Hershel dies by the hands of the Governor in the comics, it doesn’t seem he will be making it off of his land in the series. And besides his daughter will probably get it on with Glenn and the two will be happy together anyway.

Glenn’s lady love, Maggie played by Lauren Cohan, could go either way. She could die along with Hershel or be saved with the help (and love) of Glenn.

Another one of Hershel’s daughters, Beth played by Emily Kinney, has already come INCREDIBLY close to suicide but she now appears to be taking inspiration from Andrea to heart. However, she doesn’t quite have a role in the group yet. Without a plausible function within the group it is easy to see her killed off without affecting the group to devastatingly.

Beth’s boyfriend at the time of the apocalypse, Jimmy, played by James Allen McCune, is pretty useful to the group, unfortunately for Beth who is increasingly uninvested in life with him. But he at least has a purpose to the group not to mention he can actually WATCH Carl. He would be a definite asset to the survivors so it would be easy to see him staying with or without Beth by his side.

Otis’ wife, Patricia, played by Jane McNeil, is incredibly handy when it comes to medical emergencies but unlike the rest of the group she has no weapons training therefore can’t defend herself. It is even questionable that she would leave Hershel’s side in an emergency. She could likely perish on her own when she can’t defend herself or an instance with Hershel while in peril.

 

Either way, we know that someone else is going to follow Sophia, Dale, and Shane out of the apocalyptic world the question is who. I think the biggest shocker would be Lori despite the ire her character causes for fans.

Be sure to watch the season finale this sunday entitled, “Beside the Dying Fire.”

You can watch the promo for the finale below:

Discover The (Gorgeous) Secret World of Arrietty – A Review

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Why are you interested in this adaptation?

Elena-

The real question is why would I NOT be interested in this movie?

I love animated films.  And by animated I mean cartoons. Anime is one of the few remaining sources for old-school animation, and it’s also essentially the only place you find animation for adults that is therefore moving the techniques and aesthetics of the medium forward still.

I also enjoy anime as a genre, although I never really go out of my way to find it…but when it comes to me, I see it and enjoy.

To the final relevant point in this discussion, I enjoy fairy tale/folk tale type stories, especially new ones (either new to me or original stories in that vein), and the idea of a world of little people who live in a small corner of our world is right along the traditional folk lines.

Rachel-

Sure, I read the plethora of novels about small things when I was a kid (The Borrowers, Indian in the Cupboard, etc.) but I’m in this for Studio Ghibli. I pretty much love Every. Single. Thing. Ghibli has ever produced. (Except Tales from Earthsea, but we can talk about that later…)

They’re just sooo friggin beautiful! And there are lots of girl heroes! The stories are also much more varied than the Disney offerings of the last 15 years, and I really appreciate that. I didn’t discover Ghibli until college, but I was an instant convert.

If you’ve never heard of Studio Ghibli or its founder, Hayao Miyazaki, you probably remember Spirited Away winning an Oscar about 10 years ago, or you’ve seen the Ghibli character of Totoro making cameos in a few Pixar films. Suffice it to say, Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli are extremely influential, and to call him the Japanese Disney is at once accurate and entirely misleading.

And yes, my favorite is Nausicaa. People are never surprised by this.

Elena-

I would like to point out another instance of my growing up under a rock: I had no idea what The Borrowers book series was until after I had seen this movie when I was recommending it to a friend and she was all, “Oh, I wonder if it was based on The Borrowers books?”

And for the record Howl’s Moving Castle is probably my personal favorite Ghibli film, but that’s probably just because it’s so abstract and weird, especially in the middle.

 

What would make it awesome?

Rachel-

I don’t really know what to expect. I’ve purposefully only seen the teaser trailer. I know it’s beautiful already, and I won’t be disappointed there. I also know it won’t follow The Borrowers‘ plot even though some of the names are the same. The teaser trailer doesn’t really let you know any plot details, so I can’t point to any specifics. I assume the Borrowers will be discovered, and there will be an escape of some kind.

I’m also looking forward to the soundtrack and even the sound editing, which in Ghibli films is always excellent. Judging from the teaser trailer and posters this is going to be a nature-heavy film (most of them are, but I’m thinking of My Neighbor Totoro especially), and I’m looking forward to seeing the fruits of the extensive research Miyazaki and his team have obviously done.

Elena-

I am going to take this question as, what would make it not just good but FUCKING GOOD.  To that end…if the animation is really creative and proves why this has to be a 2-d animation movie.  What I mean by this…there were scenes in some of the Cowboy Bebop episodes that literally could not be filmed in live action.  The angles and perspectives were just too extreme.  That is pushing animation as a film technique forward.  If this movie has that kind of A-game animation, and a really good and original story, then it will be off the chain.

At this point with the track record Rachel and I have had on watching movies together, I’ll settle for just a really good and slightly original story!

 

What would make it suck?

Elena-

I don’t really think there’s a lot of feasible ways to make this film terrible.  Maybe if they just rewrote the story of the original and were working with either a spliced version of the visuals or trying to fit a new story onto the original animation.

But if they’re working with the original movie (which is highly acclaimed and would not be chosen for export if it were not solid), just dubbed in English, there’s nothing that will make this awful short of using Gilbert Gottfried and Fran Drescher as the voice talent.

Rachel-

Before I had seen Tales from Earthsea, I would have said with great confidence that no Studio Ghibli film could ever disappoint me, but Miyazaki’s son definitely did that with Earthsea. There’s some drama behind that film (it led to a feud between father and son because Hayao didn’t think his son Goro was ready to direct, and the film was based upon not just Ursula Le Guin’s novels but also Hayao’s manga. You can see how things got touchy). While Tales from Earthsea had the quality animation we’ve all come to expect from Studio Ghibli, it was a rambling, incoherent mess. It suffered from too much going on, the type of interrupted plot lines you get when you watch condensed film versions of really long anime series.

I hope the story is simple. That’s what Studio Ghibli excels at.

 

Thoughts on casting/production?

Rachel-

While Hayao Miyazaki’s name is attached to Arrietty, he is not directing it. He did write the screenplay and is involved in production, so I am confident that this won’t be another Tales from Earthsea.

I am disappointed in the fact that I’ll be watching a US-specific dubbing when I see it in the theater. In general, I find the Disney-lead American dubs to be more about using famous voices to get American parents to see a film with their children than picking good voice actors. In fact, they generally don’t even use professional voice actors at all, which is really disappointing! The US dub features Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, and Carol Burnett. A more inspired casting than, say…Christian Bale in Howl’s Moving Castle…but I’ll bet the UK version will be better. (Although…Christian Bale could technically be the UK dub of that one, except I don’t believe they did region specific dubbing on that film, just Japanese and English)

Elena-

I…didn’t even bother to watch the trailer.  I read the synopsis and country of origin and knew I wanted to see it.  I actually don’t want to go into the film with any expectations—I think in this case a blank slate might be better for me—so, long story short, no, I have no additional thoughts about this production before I see it.

 

Reaction to film:

Rachel-

AHHH. IT WAS SO GOOOD!!!

Legit. Look at this. LOOK AT IT.

The dubbing was fine; there really wasn’t all that much dialogue to begin with. I was having little artgasms examining all the scenes filled with random bits of stuff and trash that the Borrowers had converted into useful objects. Just looking in the corners of their home was worth the ungodly price of NYC admission. It really was.

I loved how ridiculously brave Arrietty was. It was a wonderful counter to the careful details that really made the audience FEEL how being that small must feel. Simple human movements became lumbering, clumsy and ominous. And yet when confronted by cats, insects, chasms and heart stopping realizations, Arrietty just stood and faced it. NO. FEAR. It was just amazing. The boy that the lonely Arrietty befriends, Shaun in the American dub (Sho in the Japanese version), was kind of horribly creepy. But I liked that. He wasn’t charming or really that endearing. He was almost zombie-like in the way he moved around the house and how he just sat, unmoving. He came across as a very sick and lonely boy with no one to talk to and not very much to say anyways. But his intentions were good, if misguided. But yea, that scene (that I now know is in the official Trailer because I watched it) when Arrietty and her father and taking tissue and she realizes Shaun is just STARING at her…that was terrifying!

I also liked the sad little ending. The two new friends must part, never to meet again, but you know that Arrietty will continue her adventures and you feel happy for her that she is going somewhere where she can make friends (and possibly boyfriend! I laughed when a friend of mine who was seeing it at the same time but in another state texted me “Spiller is totally husband material. He grunts, he flies, and he can steer a kettle down a river!”). I’m not sure what happens in the Japanese version as I haven’t gotten my hands on a subbed version yet, but in the American dub Shaun doesn’t die like I was CONVINCED he would. I know in the Borrower novels the boy is the one telling the stories, and you don’t really know if everything he writes about happened or if he is just making it all up. So I assume that Shaun surviving is a nod to those novels. I don’t know why I was so morbid about him. He seemed pretty lackluster as a character. Arrietty definitely stole the show. Hell, Spiller was more interesting than creepy Shaun.

Favorite Scene: When Arrietty is sitting in the crawl space and the roly-poly bug comes up and she uses it as a ball. I don’t know why but I was SO HAPPY when that happened.

Least favorite scene: The freaking CROW in the screen of the window! HOLY CRAP. I mean, hilarious, especially when Haru came in and solved the issue by beating it on the head with her shoe. That scene had me laughing, but I also felt like it was kind of intensely crazy? I dunno. It was like meditating in the glow of a warm and happy film full of quilts and cookie flour and then CROW IN YOUR FACE AND IT WON’T STOP SQUAWKING. Mostly it was jarring.

Ha…jarring. Poor Homily. Haru is a sadist. At least she poked holes in the plastic wrap? I had visions of poor Homily suffocating as soon as she shoved her in that mason jar. Tsk tsk!

Actually let’s take that back. My least favorite scene was the opening scene (even though it was awesome) when I had to listen to that ridiculous song about coming into a garden and the trees and she used to spend her childhood. WHAT. IS. THAT? WHAT IS THAT SONG? IT’S HORRIFIC. It inspired my boyfriend to rewrite the song with dirty lyrics, and he sang it all weekend. That song has to go. It’s even in the Japanese version with the English lyrics. GET IT OUT. IT’S AWFUL. Arrietty’s song at the end was fine, though. Just the coming into the garden song…ugh.

And the cat! We love the cat! I love that cats are looked upon fondly in Japanese culture. Too many Americans are all “I’m a dog person!” and…proud of that. For some reason.

Cats forever.

Except when they eat little people. They shouldn’t do that. Don’t let your cat eat any borrowers living in your house. It’s not nice.

Elena –

I have three words to anyone who loves art and is wondering if they should see this film (and for once none of them are f-bombs):  moving Impressionist garden.

That’s what this movie looked like to me in its animated art direction.  There were lots of colors, lots of shades of green, lots of details of leaf shapes, and yet…this was not photo-realism.  It wasn’t even pretending to try to be. It was just…blurry and lovely and rustling and alive.  It’s worth seeing if you love visual art just for that.

But…the movie on the whole is also pretty much fucking awesome (hey, there’s the drop you knew was coming!).  The heroine, Arrietty, is just awesome. She’s the kind of female hero character we need more of—unafraid of the world, curious, determined, and self-sufficient, yet also vulnerable and open and able of accepting help and seeing the good in others.  She’s like all the good parts of urban fantasy heroines blended with actually being a whole, healthy person instead of an embittered introvert.  I loved especially how willing she was to question the established rules of her life.  I know that’s what kids are supposed to do, but…I don’t think I questioned survival issues when I was 14.

Then there is the High Romantic angle of this being like…the most impossible of all impossible love stories.  She’s the size of one of his fingers.  Even if they were true soul mates they could never have more than companionship.  But they can’t even have that!  Because her parents live by the rule of “human sees us, we have to leave”—and evil housekeeper Haru proves them right to have that rule.  Oh, she’s awful!  (There may also have been a strong resemblance to someone I used to know in real life who caused me significant grief, so my reaction to her was perhaps…extreme.)  It was hilarious to see her foiled again and again and put herself in an even worse position than she’d been in before, when her employers just thought she lost things left and right.

Anyway, the burgeoning friendship between Shaun and Arrietty is sweet and bittersweet at once, since the closer they become the more certain it is that she will have to leave.  Not gonna lie, I teared up at the end.  It was so beautiful.  And how sad was it that the grandfather and Shaun’s mother had built that lovely dollhouse just for them, and they could never live in it?  I totally expected Shaun to relocate them into it and take them home with him, or give them to another house but within the dollhouse.

There were definitely echoes of it being a vaguely romantic interest, at least on Shaun’s part, because both he and Spiller give each other the stink eye, who is THAT asshole?, style.  Spiller was hilarious.  He was great comic relief, but subtle, and also a point of extreme depth for the film’s world-building because he showed that not only are there other Borrowers but that there are also very different ways of Borrowing.  Not all of them live in houses and scaled-down versions of human civilized life.

The movie felt longer than it was—not in a bad way, but it seemed more than 90 minutes.  Maybe because it unfolds at a pretty slow pace, and for all that you can guess several directions it might take you’re never sure which it will take, so you can’t guess how far you are in the plot by typical 3-act structure analysis.

One of the things I liked most is the feature this film shared with other Ghibli movies I’ve seen, and that is that it’s a callback to the fairy tales of childhood.  Not necessarily specific stories, but the infusion of a sense of wonder into quotidian, mundane life.  In an age where Disney has decided they are done with fairy tales (lame), I love that Studio Ghibli proves they can not only be retold but also invented fresh.  While this had great reminders of “Thumbelina” or “Tom Thumb” in terms of the relationship between full-size human and little person, and the scale of our world to them, the story and the scenario were totally different.  Again, not having read The Borrowers series, I can’t speak as to how close it was to those books, but it was fabulous for an impartial observer.

Battle Royale VS The Hunger Games – A Comparison

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I will go ahead and say this, yes; there are some major similarities between The Hunger Games and Battle Royale. But when you take a moment to look at individual components of each, you realize that while they are similar, the feel and details are very different.

So I’ve created a comparison of the two works to see where they stand.

Origins

Both films, Battle Royale and The Hunger Games, were initially based on novels. BR is a 1999 Japanese novel written by Koushun Takami. It has also been adapted into a film and a manga series. HG was written by Suzanne Collins as part of a trilogy that is being adapted into a four film series.

Setting

This category is a little bit of the same and a little bit different. HG takes place in a dystopian future in which North America has collapsed and everyone is ruled by the central governing body, The Capital.

BR takes place in an alternate timeline, in Japan. And it is in the pretty close future you know give or take 20 years.  In this world, the dystopian world is most likely linked to economic collapse (and is pretty plausible the way the world is heading now – minus the “BR Act”).

While both are indeed set in dystopian settings, they have enough differences to safely say they are different.

The Hook

The Hook, and the main proponent that the two are so similar is the fact that they involve a countries young children fighting each other to death in an arena type situation. It is true, they are VERY similar ideas, but they are ideas that are unique to the novels as a whole.

Both BR and HG the event, called “The Program” or the “BR Act” in BR and “ The Hunger Games” in HG, is punishment by the government to instill fear and oppression upon their citizens,

However, in BR, the program is used mainly to deter the young citizens from forming or joining gangs and enacting violence in the already desolate world they live in.

In HG, the games are primarily used to show the overwhelming power that the government holds over its citizens. The Capitol uses the games to show people that they are so powerful they can make their children fight to the death whether they like it or not.

But it is important to point out that in BR, the program is basically secret, no one knows when or where it is happening while the games in HG are broadcast like a terrible reality television show that you are forced to watch (another way the Capitol secures its power over its citizens). In BR it is even unclear if most of the country even knows what the BR Act is or that it is even happening.

Also the means of which to choose its victims is different between the two. In BR, a random classroom of teenagers are chosen against their will and knowledge and placed in an secluded area and are given three days to kill each other so that one can live.

In HG, the whole country watches as they send tributes off to the arena where the games can last a week or more (although if there isn’t enough action, they make sure people die).  There is also a volunteer choice people can make. Either for the honor to win and live or (as in the novel) to save a loved one from going in to the nightmare of the arena.

Another big difference in the setting is that while District 12 in Panem (HG) is poor, the whole country isn’t. In fact some are relatively well off and the Capitol is the definition of a hedonistic lifestyle. While in BR, the whole country is in shambles with an unemployment rate climbing and the country crumbling.

Dynamic Between Participants

I think it is interesting to point out that the dynamic between the participants in the games or the program is vastly different. This lends itself to being one of the biggest differences between the two stories because it changes the whole feel of the novels.

In BR, they choose a whole classroom to go in, which means everyone there knows each other pretty damn well as they have probably been in school together for years.

In HG, many are just meeting for the first time, and thus, have no emotional attachment to each other besides their district mate and even then because they could be years apart in age and in status of the community, they still might know each other and have no attachment.

In BR, it is much worse because now friends and lovers must kill each other rather than strangers killing strangers to live (which would be much easier for the contestants).  So when other tributes like Glimmer or Clove get killed, you don’t really mind so much because you don’t know these people, they are strangers.  But in BR, you are watching friends kill friends, which add a whole layer of sadistic sadness to the situation.

The Weapons

Of course this is similar in that the participants have random weapons, but how they get them is what makes them different.

In HG, the tributes are set in random spots around each other and at the starting mark they have to make a choice. Run for the Cornucopia where there are a plethora of weapons and items and possibly get killed (this is where most of the tributes die) or run and find water and a hiding place till everyone else is spread out and then try to get your bearings and a weapon.

In BR, it is much different. The contestants in BR are given a survival pack before entering the area. The packs contain different supplies and a random weapon with which they will kill each other. The “weapon” could range anywhere from a gun, to a bow, to a random ass item like a frying pan. It is a surprise grab bag basically for all the contestants.

One very similar idea, however, is that both works do contain a failsafe incase people are not dying fast enough. In HG, the game makers will rain all kinds of shit down to make sure people at home aren’t bored with the entertainment. This could include an earthquake or fireballs raining down.  The game masters in BR also use this same tactic to try and encourage these friends to kill each other.

I’d choose the girl who was on fire over the pot lid any day.

LOVE

Yes, it is true that the love aspect of HG is one of the higher selling points of the novel, that has spawned squeals of girlish glee and teens clamor over whether to buy a “Team Peeta” or a “Team Gale”. But there is also a love story written into the pages of BR except that this one is downplayed as a way to make room for much MUCH more violence.

In HG, Peeta Pocket and Male Gale internally fight over who deserves and loves Katniss the most. While she proceeds to play with them both in attempt to A) LIVE and B) figure out her own confused feelings of life and love. (And yes I am all for Peeta Pocket and Katniss together so they can make delicious bread together).

I just want them to make out right now!

In BR, we have Shuya and Noriko who you definitely want to live and love but when you realize that, hey, all these characters have dated one another, loved one another, have emotional attachments to one another, its hard to focus on the love story of these two characters. Not to mention the rape-y aspect of one of the characters is a little unsettling.

The Villain

In HG you have President Snow, in BR, you have the teacher. One is slightly to incredibly more powerful then the other, but surprisingly, the teacher is scarier. Yes, Snow smells of blood, but the teacher in BR you have a lonely angry man who has a wayyyy to weird obsession with children killing each other.

Both rulers also have an uncomfortable obsession with the lead female though, which is creepy in the “don’t leave the house” kind of way.

 The Characters

This NEEDS to be said. All the students in BR are freaking insane.  With the exception of Shuya and Noriko, everyone else in the story are literally just crazy. BR takes the characters to an extreme in which they will stop at nothing to kill each other and anyone who acts reasonably and logically like the leads, stand out as weird when surrounded by such insanity. (One of the characters doesn’t even feel real human emotion due to a brain injury!)

In HG, all the secondary tributes and characters are a little bit in the least relatable. The careers make sense, they want honor and they want victory in something they’ve been training for their whole lives, and everyone else was thrown in there under the same circumstances and they all want to live but they all have moral codes that at one point or another hold them back. Thresh doesn’t kill Katniss as a payback for her taking care of Rue, and often the tributes from each district form a partnership for as long as possible, protecting each other.

In BR, the only people who don’t go on a full on Patrick Bateman in the novel are considered weird and weak.

The Technology

Technology plays a huge part in both films/novels. It is used to police and monitor much of the world around them as well as control the arena in which contestants are dropped.

In HG, since they are in the future, they have crazy awesome technology like giant hovercrafts, the ability to manipulate anything in the arena as well genetically alter new species and creations. They even have the ability to create force fields, and biotech weapons as well a whole underground city complete with food and water.

Although BR isn’t that technological advanced, it still uses extreme technology to keep people in line. They use an exploding collar on the neck of every participant to make sure they either fight to the death, or die by way of the collar.

Each story uses the technology is a different way, but its results are the same, fight to death or die anyway if you refuse.

The Violence

 Pretty obvious right? I mean it is about kids murdering each other for basically entertainment. But while HG is very violent (this includes arrows to the neck, stones to the skull, and poison) BR still wins. It is gory and bloody to the very end with very little in between.

It has been pointed out that BR uses such brutal violence as a way to remind those watching that hey this is what the story is about. But in HG, we are seeing things from the eyes of Katniss, who internally struggles with killing, rationalizes it, and actually kills very little when compared to her fellow tributes who kill without second guessing themselves.

With that said, they are both pretty brutal.

The Overall Tone

In Panem, the tributes spends weeks in front of cameras, at events, touring, doing interviews and such BEFORE going into the arena where the whole country watches them die. The world gets to know each tribute only to watch them die horrifically weeks later.

In BR, the program happens secretly and is called “military research” so the biggest mind f*** is only between the participants.

Panem spends weeks building emotional investments to the tributes in front of the cameras so that can see them die. The Capitol must certainly uses this technique as another way to assert their dominance (albeit subconsciously).

In the program of BR, the only emotional investments have already been made over years and YEARS (instead of weeks) of friendships and time. So when the characters have to die, its even more heartwenching for the reader/viewer al though not for those involved because they are already insane.

This lends to the very different tones of the stories. In HG you get to know the characters as well, bond with them and move with them because we are seeing the story and the history through the eyes of someone living it.

BR is about blood, violence, hatred, and little touch of love set in a world that gives little explanation and very little connections between the characters. It is a good film, but doesn’t have the bonding quality that HG does.

So yeah, these stories have a few elements that are similar, but hey most of the world is similar if you look hard enough. And hey, who says two people can’t have similar ideas? Besides I am just as much a fan of the gore in BR as I am in the overall story of HG. I like them both but for different reasons because each film/novel gives me something different when watching it or reading it.

Top 3 Scenes From The Hunger Games I Am Most Excited To See

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With the massively anticipated film, The Hunger Games, little less then a month away from hitting theaters, my personal anticipation for the film is growing. Yes, I preordered midnight showing tickets, and yes I read all three books in less than three days, and most certainly, yes, I am team Peeta (and no I can’t believe I just said that…) Either way, the point is, we are all excited for this film.

After reading the novel and considering the film, I have decided these are the three scenes from the book that I am most excited to see in the big screen adaptation. Unfortunately, we know that when it comes to movie adaptation of books, often things are left out for time purposes (although director Gary Ross maintains this is a very faithful adaptation) so hopefully these three scenes will remain intact for our viewing pleasure.

:::::Caution: there are a few tiny spoilers if you haven’t read the novel:::::

The Interview With Caesar Flickerman

I had to put this one, because I am girl who can’t resist a good proclamation of love. And I would be lying if I said my heart didn’t melt when Peeta professed his love for Katniss. I mean what girl didn’t enjoy that (even albeit slightly). It was a sweet moment, even if at the time you weren’t sure if it was a true revelation or manipulation. Thankfully, we all know it was a revelation of true love. When I read it, I read into its sincerity and thats something that Peeta isn’t able to fake during the games or even afterward. I hope Josh Hutcherson (who plays Peeta) will be able to pull off the sincere admission of love in the movie.

Either way, it was a great scene in the novel and I am looking forward to squealing in girlish delight when the scene plays in the theater.

Tripping of Tracker Jacker Venom

This was definitely one of the more intense moments of the novel. Katniss drops the nest of tracker jackers on the careers camp, killing two of them. However, in the process she gets stung several times and begins to hallucinate. I am very curious on how they are going to film this because basically, she was tripping. Her hallucinations are vivid and bright and incredibly weird.

I am excited to see this scene, because I think watching it will be pretty powerful compared to just reading about her tripping on the acid. I am also curious how the visualization of the weird things she sees will translate on screen.

The Feast

Easily my favorite scene in the novel. (The end with the berries is pretty awesome too, but c’mon you knew they would both live or there wouldn’t be two more books!) While reading, you know there is so much at stake when Katniss drugs Peeta to go to the feast and retrieve precious medicine and materials they need.  It was pretty intense and I couldn’t force myself to stop reading this. I can guess its going to be even more intense of the big screen. The feast scene adds more intensity when Katniss is about to be killed and Thresh saves her life.

While this is easily one of the most brutal scenes in the novel (I mean Thresh does cave in Clove’s skull) I know they will probably lighten it a little bit, however, even if it is a little less bloody, I really hope they retain the immense anxiety and fast paced imagery that the novel employs. Seriously, it was brutal.

I have mentioned before how much I loved this book series, and I still do. And frankly, I haven’t been this excited for a movie since Arrested Development announced chances of a movie. I will be moderately happy with the adaptation if at least these three scenes remain relatively intact. (But hopefully this really is a faithful adaptation and I will love it) I think all three are crucial turning points in the novel and should remain as they are.

Bleach Manga To Become Live Action Film? Please No!

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Haven’t we had enough terrible live action versions of animated movies in our time? I mean c’mon Avatar the Last Airbender as a live action film, who thought that would be a good idea? And even worse, please, world, stop turning amazing animes into live action films! Just stop!

Apparantly, my appeals go unheard as Warner Bros. recently announced plans to adapt Tite Kubo’s manga series Bleach into a live-action feature. It is already an anime and a manga which usually go hand in hand so I am ok with that, but a live action movie? I have definite reservations.

If you haven’t read the manga or seen the anime here is the plot:

Bleach follows the adventures of Ichigo Kurosaki who is a teenager gifted with the ability to see spirits. His life is drastically changed by the sudden appearance of a Soul Reaper—one who governs the flow of souls between the human world and the afterlife—named Rukia Kuchiki, who arrives in search of aHollow, a dangerous lost soul. Ichigo obtains the powers of the Soul Reaper (死神 Shinigami, literally, “Death God”). With her powers diminished, Rukia is left stranded in the human world until she can recover her strength. In the meantime, Ichigo must take over Rukia’s role as a Soul Reaper, battling Hollows and guiding souls to the afterlife realm known as the Soul Society. – it is bascially pretty awesome.

With it already being super popular in terms of anime fans, I can see why they would want to make it a movie that everyone would enjoy but it would lose so much  of the reason it is awesome.

Firstly, if they want it to be a huge commercial success they would have to move it from Japan to America. They made the decision to do this to the live action adaptation of Akira and look what happened to that? It got put on hold! (and it upset many fans who felt that a story set in Japan should stay in Japan and I agree).  I can imagine this would similarly piss off many of the fans of the original because a change in setting changes much of the feel of the show and manga. Also, if you a hardcore fan of the series you probably watch it in its original Japanese language subtitled in English. Which certainly will not be the case if it is a feature length live action film. (This would also mean that most likely it would feature american actors rather than Japanese which would just be… weird!)

You can not turn these characters into live people!

Secondly, can you imagine a main character with bright orange hair? You probably think, yeah just get an actor with naturally red hair, a ginger! But no, if they do the same as they did on Dragon ball Z you know that they will probably try to style the hair just like the anime which will look ridiculous on a live human person.

Yeah, Kind of like this. It is just ridiculous.

So, I really think if they try to live action it, the characters that I love will end up being just ridiculous looking. Anime features are exaggerated for a reason and can’t be on a real person! (Although I am looking forward to seeing what they do with Kon….live action killer stuffed animal? hmmmm….)

Also, if this is to be commercially successful much of the humor will have to be changed or it definitely won’t be appropriate. I mean if they kept in every reference to Orihime’s boobs then you can bet that many people will not be amused. It would also mean that much of violence would have to be cut down because some of those hollows are pretty intense.

Basically what I am saying is this: PLEASE DONT MAKE THIS LIVE ACTION! I think a CG version could be cool but in reality it will probably look like the Hulk movie from 2003. The only saving grace is that it has a decent director attached. Peter Segal, who most recently directed Get Smart, will produce and potentially direct while Dan Mazeau (Wrath of the Titans) is attached to draft the screenplay.

But if they put the live action film, Akira on hold, I wander if this will even go any further? But as a fan of the manga series, Bleach, I can only hope they do this film adaptation correctly, and not have another Dragon Ball Z situation unleashed on world giving anime fans a bad name.

9 Doctor Who Episodes You Might Not Know Were Inspired By Novels

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“Doctor Who” is and always will be my FAVORITE show of all time. And after spending an entire snowy weekend rewatching all the seasons, I realized something. Many of the episodes (or serials in the earlier seasons) were actually based on or inspired by novels. Some of them were incredibly obvious like the “The Shakespeare Code” which appears in season 3 of the revived series. Also “The Myth Makers” serial from season 3 in 1963. That whole serial is based on the Illiad. Not to mention “The Unicorn and the Wasp” in 2008 is based on novels by Agatha Christie

However, those are just to obvious. (and there were over 20 in my original list till I cut it down to 9). So here are 10 episodes of “Doctor Who” that you might not have known were inspired by novels. Allons-y!

The Android Invasion

This is the fourth serial of the 13th season and was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 22 November to 13 December 1975. It featured perennial favorite Doctor, Tom Baker and Sarah Jane Smith as the companion.

To most this seems a simple Auton or android storyline that appears in much of science fiction. And they would be right, partly atleast.  This serial was originally influenced by the film and novel Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It would be the last Terry Nation script for Doctor Who for four years.

Some people will notice the similarities which is why it is number 10 on the list (and not number 1).

Image of the Fendahl

This is the third serial of the 15th season and was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 29 October to 19 November 1977. It featured once again, Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor, and Leela as the companion.

This is one of my favorite references and inspirations for an episode ever. Not only is it my favorite show, but this episode is inspired by my favorite little known Kurt Vonnegut Jr. novel, The Sirens of Titan.

The major plot device of this episode, that alien life has influenced and pushed along the evolution of mankind and brought contemporary humanity to where it is today, is highly influenced by the plot of the 1959 Vonnegut novel.

Underworld

This is the fifth serial of the 15th season and was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 7 January – 28 January 1978. It featured once again, Tom Baker as the fourth Doctor, and Leela as the companion (along with K-9!)

I think this is one of the most blantant episodes inspired by written work. The reason it is on the list is because I love the way it references the work that inspired it. Jason and the Argonauts (And I am not entirely faithful that the population has read that particular myth anyway.)

The references are MANY in this episode. We have the “Minyan” race which are related to the Minoans, the search for “P7E” references Persephone, and character names such as Jackson “Jason”, Orfe “Orpheus”, Herrick “Heracles”, Tala “Talaus”, Idmon and Idas. The connection is highlighted at the end of the episode, with the Doctor likening Jackson and his journey to Jason and his quest for the Golden Fleece.

This one is obvious, but I love the parallels it draws while retelling the story in a new setting.

Revelation of the Daleks

This is the sixth serial of the 22nd season and was first broadcast in two weekly parts on 23 March and 30 March 1985. It features the sixth Doctor portrayed by Colin Baker and the companion Peri Brown.

This particular episode was loosely based on the book The Loved One written by British novelist Evelyn Waugh. It is also in part, influenced by the film and novel Soylent Green (novel  Make Room! Make Room!). It features the eating of people as a food source which is promptly stopped by the Doctor in favor of something similar to the soybean.

Paradise Towers

This is the second serial from the 24th season and was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 5 October to 26 October 1987. It features Sylvester McCoy as the seventh doctor and has Mel as a companion.

“Paradise Towers” is storyline that follows a luxurious 22nd century high rise apartment building now fallen into disrepair and chaos. It has gangs that are always fighting and yes there are robots. This seems like a pretty standard set up for an episode but it is actually based in part on the J. G. Ballard novel High Rise, which depicts a luxury apartment building which descends into savagery.

And yes, this episode aided in one of my fears of swimming as a young child.

The God Complex

The first on this list from the revived seasons of “Doctor Who.” It is the eleventh episode of the 6th season (renumbered beginning when it was revived in 2005) and first broadcast on BBC One, BBC America and Space on 17 September 2011. It featured Matt Smith as the eleventh doctor and Amy Pond and Rory Williams as the companions.

This isn’t the first of the revived series to base on literature but it was the first that was obvious but needed to be said. And no not because of the minotaur. I mean yes that is based on mythology but that is not the point that needs to be made. This episode was highly influenced by Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining which as most know is based on the novel of the same name. The overall look of the hotel it takes place in as well as the use of long corridor shots are very reminiscent of The Shining. 

However there is another influence that many might not catch. George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four inspired much of this episode as well. From the concept of rooms containing each person’s deepest fear, which is a major plot point toward the end of the novel. But also in the quoting of the english nursey rhyme “Oranges and Lemons” is also in the novel.

Remember: “Here comes a candle to light you to bed, here comes a chopper to chop off your head!.”

Planet of the Dead

This is actually a special that aired in between seasons while David Tennant was off being Hamlet for a year. It was the first of the four specials aired between the fourth and fifth season. It aired in April 2009 and featured David Tennant as the doctor and a one time companion of Lady Christina de Souza.

This one isn’t an adaptation as such but a direct influence. The writers used the novel  The Highest Science as a jumping off point for this episode. The novel featured a train stuck on a desert planet but the writers substituted the train for a bus and went from there.

The Eleventh Hour

This is the first episode of the fifth season and also the first episode to feature eleventh doctor Matt Smith. It also featured companion Amy Pond for the first time. (Also pretty awesomely it feature amateur astronomer and The Sky at Night presenter Patrick Moore in a guest appearance as himself!)

While the main influence of this episode came from a crack in the writers’ sons bedroom wall, he also drew inspiration from A.A. Milne’s The House at Pooh Corner. This is noticeable in the scenes where the new doctor claims to like everything but then proceeds to reject everything offered to him. Finally Amy (or Amelia) figures it out and he is able to eat something to fuel his regeneration. Definitely one of the silliest influences but nonetheless it is one derived from a children’s book.

The Girl in the Fireplace and MANY many others.

This one is kind of a doozy so I put it in the end. There are two characters who are influenced by one novel. It is not necessarily that their story lines in each episode were inspired by novels but more of the core of their person and their relationship with the Doctor.

The novel? One of my favorite, The Time Travelers Wife written by Audrey Niffenegger.

When knowing someone who can time travel, you have to assume you may or may not have met them prior when they were, well, time traveling. What makes these two characters so similar to the novel is that they are both women, who meet the doctor as children when he is an adult, and both have romantic escapades with him.

The first character only appears in one episode, “The Girl in the Fireplace” which is the fourth episode of the second season featuring David Tennant as the Doctor and the companion Rose and Mickey. The woman is Madame de Pompadour (the mistress of King Louis XV). The Doctor greatly admires her and through the course of the episode falls for her (and she falls for him apparently since she was a child….?)  He falls into her world at different time periods through her life, promising to return for her (and making out with her) while the episode is structurally different from the novel it features a similar understated connection.

The second character is a biggie. Not just for this article but for the Doctor, for the fans, and for the over all mystery of the question “Doctor Who?”. River Song. She rests as one of the most enigmatic characters in the series at the beginning because of her familiarity with the Doctor, the fact she knows his name, his REAL name, and also that she seems to know many different versions of him. The character creation and conception of River was directly influenced from the name novel. (Steven Moffat must have loved that novel as much as I did). Much like River and The Doctor, Niffenegger’s lovers in the novel experience an asynchronous and tragic love story. Also River, when he first meets her, she has known him her entire life (much like Clare and Henry in the novel) and she informs him that she is his WIFE. She is literally a Time Travelers Wife. This ends up occurring at the end of the season 6 when the two actually wed.

So bam. 9 Doctor Who Episodes you probably didn’t realize were based on literature, and if you did, then bravo because that means you probably like the show just as much as I do.

5 Reasons That Woman In Black Is Scary As Hell

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On opening weekend, I went with my boyfriend to see the film, Woman in Black starring Daniel Radcliffe. The movie is based on the novel of the same name written by Susan Hill. After watching the incredibly creepy trailers and covering it over here at Optionated, I really really wanted to see this movie. Watching scary movies is one of my favorite past-times and as scary as the movie looked from the previews, I knew I had to see it in theaters and not just 3 months from now in my apartment (which by the way, I am about 84% sure is haunted).

Overall, this was a pretty scary movie. I definitely did not disappoint. So here are the 5 reasons that Woman in Black was scary as hell.

:::::Warning there are some mild spoilers ahead::::

1. Creepy Kids

I have a pretty irrational fear of children, in most respects. They are tiny, with big eyes and a unique position to be taken over by ghosts (I.E. Poltergeist, Insidious, really any supernatural horror movie at some point during the plot.) So generally children in horror films, freak me out. this movie had an abundance of dead ghost children. Not to mention a dead muddy children rising from the marshes only to sneak into the house and finds its way to his bedroom to be even creepier there. One of the weirdest things about the children was the soulless look on their faces as they walked (or jumped, or burned, or drank lye) to their death. It was incredibly unsettling.

The unsettling stare of death in a child…. shiver.

Towards the end of the film, we got some great glimpses of all of the towns dead children just chillin’ following Arthur Kipps around, which would throughly freak me out if I was him. (Personally, At the first site of the titular woman’s eye in that spinning thing would have sent me running home).

2. Creepy Toys

This is a big one. Whoever the prop team was, did a freaking fantastic job making the house this film takes place in creepy. I don’t know why old toys always look weird and unsettling. I mean I can’t think of a better adjective than creepy for the toys that were prevalent during this time period. And whoever found (or made) the toys for this movie found he creepiest ones of all. From the oddly painted clowns to the dolls with teeth appearing to be filed down to look like a mouth full of fangs (and we can’t forget the incredibly racist african monkey toys).

All the toys in the movie were downright disconcerting. It made me wonder who the hell would play with these as a child and NOT get nightmares from the very sight of them?

Seriously… So weird.

It also didn’t help that they toys in the film would inexplicably move on their own and start moving. The cat playing the violin becoming sinister looking, the jovial clowns beating on their drums were all together terrifying. Even the racist african toys move and play on their own to create their own horrifying backdrop for a ghostly encounter.

3. Creepy Scream 

The titular Woman in Black was pretty scary. I will definitely admit that. Whoever did her makeup to look all dead and cracked and decaying did a phenomenal job. But it wasn’t her far that sent shivers down my spine, no it was her scream. As the film got going, and she wasn’t just a woman standing around, but now a thoroughly pissed off woman, she did this piercing scream that can only be described as a scream of death (pretty similar to a banshee the more I think about it).

Often it was almost complete silence when she let out her impish shriek of impending doom, which added to the terror affect. However, while it was scary (and I kept expecting it to occur in my apartment in the dark while I slept) it was more of a shock terror as opposed to an actual unsettling moment like other parts of the film.

 4. What You Don’t See Can Get You

There were several parts where the audience could only see something briefly, or barely. This technique is great because at the beginning you don’t really know who she is, what she wants, or where she is headed and that in itself is pretty scary. (This one of the reasons I love the Paranormal Activity series). This film really utilizes the “what you can’t see is what will get you” idea. Whether it is a wisp of black in a mirror during an uneventful scene, or an empty rocking chair that won’t stop rocking, I found myself clenching tightly in anticipation of what as about to happen, more so then what did happen (or in some cases didn’t happen). There was one scene where we see the woman heading for a sleeping Arthur but we don’t  see her so much as see darkness heading for him. She gets so close she can almost touch him before he wakes up and she is gone. But that tense scene doesn’t even feature a fully visible woman to scare, just the idea that she is heading his way while he is vulnerable.

She is barely visible in this scene but it was still terrifying. 

The great thing about this film was that, the filmmakers (and original story) didn’t have to rely on gore or cheesy setups to get scares out of the audience. It used a minimalist type of filmmaking for most of the first half and followed it up with the action shock scenes to bring the thrill home.

5. Darkness

I touched on this briefly in the section above, but the use of darkness in this film definitely added to its frightening moments. Having the character surrounded by darkness is always a goo technique because it forces the audience to feel the disorienting emotions of the scene right along with the character. This whole movie (almost) is shot in a dark house. Before the days of electricity. Yes, he lights like a million candles but those only give off light in like a 5 foot radius. Most scenes that takes place in the house are well lit in the front wherever the character is but the darkening background houses no light and no salvation (and often the woman just chillaxing watching Arthur in a slightly voyeur type of way.)

This scene is super dark, it is hard to tell what anything is other than himself.

Other than the darkly lit world this film takes place in, the film also uses darkness in another way. Obviously in portraying the woman in black. She is always in black and she is often just scene surrounded in by darkness. She also makes herself known to the audience by either just being a blur of black or a by blending into the shadows just to move and you realize she has been there the whole time. This is one of the best types of scares in the film. Where the audience and Arthur think they are safe or its an uneventful moment until you see a shift in the shadows behind him and realize that the woman has been watching him (and it kind of feels like she is watching you too) the whole time.

Over all this movie was pretty good. It definitely got some good jumps out of me (and my boyfriend). Even with the cheesy not book accurate ending, the movie still got a 4 out of 5 stars from me (this is partly due to the cutest dogs wearing sailor suits… seriously it was gold).