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 The Last Kingdom is a new historical drama on BBC America, inspired by the book series The Saxon Tales by Bernard Cornwell. The series picks up at the onset of the invasion of Britain by the Danish Vikings, AKA The Great Heathen Army. The West Saxons are literally "The last kingdom" unconquered by the Danes, and under the leadership of Alfred the Great, are struggling to defend themselves from the Viking horde.  Uhtred of Bebbanburg (Alexander Dreymon), the protagonist, is a Northumbrian ealdorman, captured by the Danes as a boy when they raid his father's castle, and raised by them. Hated by his father for being weak and unworthy of becoming the lord of Bebbanburg, and having had his birthright stolen from him by his treacherous uncle following the deaths of his father and brother, he subsequently takes well to the Viking way of life and becomes accepted as one of them, learning their language and how to fight like them. Uhtred prefers the Viking gods, having disdain for Christianity, a view which earns him scorn and distrust amongst his fellow Saxons and especially the priests and bishops who advise the king. He is soon (somewhat unwillingly) caught up in Wessex's struggle for survival against the Danes, his loyalties torn.  Alfred (David Dawson) is the brother of King Aethelred and the future king of Wessex (and eventually England). Pious and intelligent, he employs Uhtred frequently and uses Uhtred's experience and knowledge of the Danes to gain advantage over the Danes, though Uhtred's unwillingness to turn from paganism exasperates Alfred and causes him (and most other Saxons) to distrust Uhtred.  Earl Ragnar (Peter Gantzler) is a Danish warlord who captures young Uhtred and raises him as a Dane. He teaches Uhtred to fight and speak their language, and looks upon Uhtred as his own son and a brother to his actual son, Ragnar Ragnarsson.  Father Beocca (Ian Hart) is a Christian priest who mentors Uhtred, despite Uhtred's pagan ways.  Ubba (Rune Temte) is one of the leaders of the Great Heathen Army, a bloodthirsty sociopath. Uhtred is told by Ravn, Earl Ragnar's father, that to survive amongst the Vikings, he would do well to avoid crossing Ubba, and that he must never, ever fight him.  Brida (Emily Cox) is a fellow Saxon, also captured by the Danes and raised alongside Uhtred. She is Uhtred's best friend and companion. After the first two episodes, I have high hopes for this show. Comparisons to History's Vikings are inevitable, but this show should hold up well against the former and will also attract those who have read Cornwell's The Saxon Tales. The production values are not quite as good, but the cinematography is very well-done, as is the fight choreography. Bernard Cornwell did his research, and it shows in the books and this adaptation. The costumes seem to be well-done, too, and decently historically-accurate. The Last Kingdom airs on Saturdays at 9:00pm central. http://www.bbcamerica.com/the-last-kingdom/ This is my first OP in TV/IV (God have mercy on my soul), so I'm open to suggestions on changes or additions! Book-readers: If you're talking about anything that happened in the show that's exactly like what happened in the books, or even if you're talking about the differences between the books and the show, please spoiler tag. If in doubt, spoiler tag. It doesn't even matter if you've read a wiki page for one of the historical characters in the show--Cornwell takes liberties with time lines and characters often, so you may think you know what happens in the books or show based on the history, but be proven wrong. life is killing me fucked around with this message at 15:13 on Nov 23, 2015 |
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Oct 19, 2015 20:32
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Erghh posted:That was a good intro and covers the bases. Could use more branch-in-rear end action though Thanks, I wrote and re-wrote a few times because I don't want to expose the whole story and things that I already know happened in the books, because those who didn't read the books won't know what's supposed to happen later. I still hope I didn't write too much. etalian posted:The test of faith scene in the recent episode with King Edmund was loving hilarious. That actor is always pretty loving hilarious in everything, so I really enjoyed that scene. Ubba is loving hilarious too.
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Oct 19, 2015 21:07
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It just kind of hit me how much Uhtred looks like Channing Tatum 
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Oct 19, 2015 21:09
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Omnomnomnivore posted:I don't see episode 2? Is there a non- I know the first episode was on there, but for some reason I think they aired the first two concurrently, so maybe try and see if what BBC America's website has posted also has the second episode included? I had trouble finding either on their website actually, which is why I didn't mention them being available to view on the website, but it could just be me being a lazy bastard. If episode 1 is on there, I'm guessing they really did air the first two episodes on the premiere night and that's why Episode 2 isn't posted separately. It's a possibility? life is killing me fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Oct 19, 2015 |
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Oct 19, 2015 21:10
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way for a filthy cord-cutter like me to watch this show? I read the book and I like Vikings.
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Yay, mods changed the tag and corrected my thread title! Thanks, mods
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Oct 19, 2015 22:03
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etalian posted:That whole test of faith scene was some brilliant black humor, I liked Ubba's line, "If the arrow don't work can we try the club?" I like how he feigned curiosity about it while making fun of Edmund. The guy who plays Ubba is doing the character justice, and the dude is just inhumanly big. I'm really looking forward to Uhtred vs Ubba
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Oct 19, 2015 22:06
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VDay posted:Checked this out after people were talking about it in the Vikings thread and am liking it so far. None of the characters are quite as strong as the Vikings main cast, but they're all pretty much solid so no real complaints there. I do think Alfred got kind of a weird introduction with the whole cheating thing. He came off as this kind of weird, weak guy who was surprised that he got invited to an important meeting and then one episode later he's clearly got his poo poo together and is important. Not a huge deal, but just felt like kind of a weird tonal miss. I do like how the main character is pretty much just an idiot and Brida is there to be the constant voice of reason and to tell him how he's loving up. If this just ends up being a lighter version of Vikings that helps fill the gap between seasons then I'm 100% ok with that. Uhtred is actually meant to be a snide, but fearsome guy. At least in the books, he's described as taller than most Saxons and gains a reputation for his fighting prowess. But, he is also not an idiot...he makes pretty intelligent tactical and political decisions, but makes dumb mistakes along the way as anyone would, I guess. The only guy Uhtred won't gently caress with, by his own admission in the books, is Steapa, whom he describes as being the largest, most intimidating (but also dumbest) man he has ever seen, and a man even the Danes are afraid of. Steapa (though I don't think they said his name in the show yet) is the guy who questions Uhtred when he shows up at Aethelred's castle to speak to him, and almost fights him. I guess I don't have to use spoiler tags here, but in that scene in the books, the fight is stopped just as it was in the show (and for the same reason, because the Danes show up) and later on Uhtred realizes that he was being way too prideful and dumb to ever have thought he could take on Steapa. And Alfred, it's thought by historians, had Crohn's disease, which would have been pretty debilitating, and is why, in the second episode, you see him sort of wince and groan in pain. Cornwell describes this in his books too. Alfred was a strong leader historically, despite this, and he was very cunning. He was the guy who turned every Saxon town into a fortified burh to make it harder for the Vikings to take them. life is killing me fucked around with this message at 00:17 on Oct 20, 2015 |
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Oct 20, 2015 00:11
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Did the one poster ever figure out if he could see E2 yet? IDK if it's on the site and still don't know if they were supposed to have aired concurrently.
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Oct 20, 2015 18:09
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Bacon Terrorist posted:I haven't seen any of this yet but I'm hoping it's going to be good given the amount of trash talking Cornwell was doing about GoT the other day To be fair, one is historical fiction and the other is pretentious fantasy (not going to act like I didn't read all of the GoT books), which is why the two shouldn't be compared really, at least IMHO. Not sure why Cornwell would poo poo-talk GoT since his books have got nothing to do with GRRM's books and they are in two different genres, but it's dumb. I watch GoT too, but I won't lie; it can get a little boring. TLK so far looks like it's going to have more action (I'm speculating sword fights and battles that were at least true to the way they did it historically), and only some boring politics (which is a main reason I tend to find GoT boring at times). Probably won't ever have the viewership of GoT, though.
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Oct 21, 2015 14:18
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Bacon Terrorist posted:He said in an interview he thought GoT covered over its boring plot lines with shocking gore and nudity, going on to say he didn't need to do any of that because the plot was compelling enough. I'm sure there was a certain spin put on his answers to create a story. I mean, his plot IS compelling enough. And GoT does appear to do those things, even when they are also in the books.
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Oct 21, 2015 15:21
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Welp, I make this thread and then realize I'll not be able to even look at it this weekend since I have a wedding to attend Saturday night and won't even get to watch it. The loving DVR better record it, every time I get on the DirecTV app and try to record a show from that, it records one episode and no more than that, so I have to be home and actually remember that a show I want to watch is returning soon or whatever. Meh
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Oct 23, 2015 15:52
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etalian posted:the branch torture was pretty creative Cornwell has a pretty good sense of humor, the creative insults in the books are actually pretty hilarious for such serious books
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Oct 23, 2015 17:41
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He is pretty young at this point and makes some dumb decisions, in the book, he even mentions how young and dumb he was. This guy is doing a good job as Uhtred. I also like how, instead of portraying him as some kind of ultra-smart chosen warrior, he is just shown as human, making dumb decisions, and really caring only for revenge and having his title restored, without any really clear plan on how to get all that. Meanwhile, Alfred is pretty much outwitting Uhtred at every turn. I mean, really, in the books, again, Uhtred is taller than most people outside of Steapa (who it looks like they merged in with Leofric, because Uhtred was supposed to have almost fought Steapa) and actually is a pretty fearsome fighter, he just has no reputation for such just yet. He's smart and knows how to fight, but doesn't make great long-term decisions until he gets older and wiser.
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Oct 26, 2015 14:04
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Falukorv posted:For book readers, did Aethelreds manchild son appear at this stage in the story, or is it a possible plot line created by the show? Red Red Blue posted:I'm pretty sure he had shown up by this point, yeah Yes, in the books he was shown to be a fool and a drunk and was made to do public penance along with Uhtred, in front of Alfred, who was already king (in the books, Alfred has very recently become king when the books start, contrary to the show, which has Aethelred as king to start off). He made jokes to Uhtred, and then they both did their penance. Funny scene in the book, actually.
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Oct 26, 2015 22:49
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etalian posted:The casting for Alfred is spot on too, he really sells the celebrall and devious nature of the character. Fairly sure, IIRC, that Odda the Younger wants to bone Mildreth, which is why he's so pissed off about Uhtred getting all up in that dark ages poon.
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Nov 2, 2015 16:29
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Unzip and Attack posted:I just don't like the lead actor at all. He's a poor man's Karl Urban and the fact that he can't grow a real beard just makes him seem like a douchey kid. The dudes playing Ubba and Alfred are fantastic though. He's a poor man's Channing Tatum to me. But, he does decent with the role IMHO. Keep in mind he's a teenager still at this point in the books, re: the beard comment. And his character is very much a dark ages douchey kid in the books, too. Actually, one of my favorite things about Uhtred as the main protagonist is that he's very, very flawed and selfish, in contrast to many authors' writing their protagonists as unerringly smart, charming and invincible. tooterfish posted:I'm kinda liking this. I keep waiting for the narration to mention the sword's name, Serpent's Breath. He also is supposed to have a saxe, Sting, IIRC. Much is made in the entire book series about how well Serpent's Breath was forged and how great a weapon it is, so I'm right there with you on that minor complaint.
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Nov 3, 2015 00:36
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wiegieman posted:He wears his weapon all the time because he's a nobleman, and that's why he's allowed to have one. It was a big deal in older cultures. It's not so much that he wears it all the time as the fact the show has him wearing it on his back, which I'm not sure the book described.
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Nov 3, 2015 01:14
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tooterfish posted:Yeah. It's an impractical place to wear a sword all told, and pretty ahistorical AFAIK. That's all I've seen that, as far as I know at least, is historically inaccurate. It's totally fine that he wears it all the time given his dual status as an ealdorman and Danish take-in, because Cornwell, in the books, describes that nobles were allowed to be armed most times except when in the council or court of the king or in the hall of another noble or reeve. Of course I'm giving Cornwell the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his research, but he seems to have done his homework pretty well to write the books.
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Nov 3, 2015 02:46
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I suppose an important thing to note is what little we know of the vikings as a whole and even the Danish vikings in particular, right down to how they wore their swords. That's not a hugely important fact to know, and in the context of the show I think also that the producers might have Uhtred wearing his sword on his back to show him as a man of two nations--he stands out amongst the Saxons and the other English nations, because he looks and acts more like a Dane given his upbringing. So while it does irk me a little how he wears his sword, it's a minor detail, and I feel like the producers of the show maybe did that on purpose.
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Nov 3, 2015 03:01
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I hope the show continues with the story and that the series isn't just a one-off of the first book. I'd really love to see other prominent characters from the later books show up--Finan, most notably, and Asser (though I think he's SUPPOSED to be in this season) and Haesten. Maybe even some of Uhtred's more notable warriors of his household, like Rollo (yes, that's another character with the same name as one from Vikings).
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Nov 6, 2015 20:12
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Iseeyouseemeseeyou posted:What's the significance of the pommel stone? As far as I remember, a silver cross was in the hilt, not a particularly important pommel stone. I'm going to re-read the first book anyway so I'll find out. The cross that was worked into the hilt was a gift from a friend, and symbolized (at least to my understanding of the books, people will get different things out of this to be sure) his duality of Viking and Saxon, his disdain for Christianity and priests versus his devotion to the Norse gods.
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Nov 6, 2015 21:18
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I don't even remember the pommel in the books, but it's been awhile since I've read them. I've already read them all like 2-3 times, though. And now I'm about to read them again. I really like how Cornwell meshed the Ragnar Lothbrok saga with actual history. Like has been discussed in the Vikings thread, Ragnar probably didn't exist as a single person but was more likely an amalgam of many different real people. Ubbe, Halfdan, and Ivar the Boneless were supposedly Ragnar Lothbrok's sons, and IIRC it's disputed whether or not they existed, or at least whether or not Ivar the Boneless existed, I think? I wish he'd show up in TLK, but I think he was mentioned in the show as having already died. In the books, I think his character died when fighting the Scots. But anyway, Cornwell did a good job taking these guys and fleshing them out as characters and developing them even though they weren't the central characters in the books. And I'd love to see this period in history be portrayed in Vikings to see what they do with it compared to TLK. I'm also really, really hoping they stay true to the books with the battle in which Uhtred fights Ubbe. I'm guessing that battle will be the season-ender, though, if it happens that way.
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Nov 7, 2015 00:47
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silly posted:The pommel stone is unique to the show, it's not in the books. It was a symbol of the ruler of Bebbanburg that he took with him. Uhtred's swords and their origins are different in the books. Yeah, you're right. The first book was pretty much Ubbe as the main antagonist, but after Uhtred kills Ubbe, it moves on to multiple new antagonists. My favorites were Harald Bloodhair and Haesten (the latter a pretty prevalent reoccurring character throughout the whole series, and kind of a huge rear end in a top hat). fake edit: spoilers for info from the books that hasn't happened yet in the show, for any of you who didn't read the books
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Nov 7, 2015 01:22
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savinhill posted:Also, from what I remember of the first book, didn't a lot more happen and time go by before Alfred became king? As I remember he was already king, or at least was just about to be. It was pretty early in the books, for example, when Uhtred had to do his penance in front of Alfred, and either before or after that he almost got his rear end kicked by Steapa Snotor, who I've now realized they merged with Leofric in the show.
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Nov 7, 2015 02:00
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savinhill posted:Alright, for some reason I thought there was a lot more of insecure, womanizing pre-king Alfred in the first book, and that Steapa didn't appear til the second when they were recruiting Saxon farmers, peasants, etc for the big armies Alfred wants to build Now I might be wrong. Just started re-reading the first book this morning while staying with my FIL at the hospital. Not much else to do in the ICU
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Nov 7, 2015 17:58
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savinhill posted:That sucks, hope your Dad-In-Law gets better soon. Thanks. We've been here all weekend. Seems I AM wrong. Sort of at least. Almost halfway in and really, Alfred isn't king yet. That said, I was probably thrown off because in the books, by the time Uhtred is older, Alfred is king. And the fight with Ubbe seemed sort of contrived but overall it was good...Uhtred was supposed to have killed Ubbe in the battle not before it, and I think the only way Uhtred really wins the fight in the book is because Ubbe slips in some mud. To Uhtred's credit, he at least admits this more than once.
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Nov 8, 2015 22:09
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savinhill posted:I think Uthred mentions, and brags about, how he is the killer of Ubbe at least half a dozen times a book, including the latest ones eight or so volumes later, when I couldn't even remember Ubbe very well anymore. It made this episode even better too, as it gave him very good reason to have a complex about harping up his own achievements, especially concerning Ubbe, every chance he gets. I remember you saying you were hoping they stayed faithful to the Ubbe battle from the books, did you specifically have the mud slip in mind, or just the whole big battle in general? I don't remember the details much anymore, except that I think it happened next to a river like on the show, and that Uthred killed Ub himself of course(I think Uthred got like the highest body count of any main character I've read, good to see the show staying true to the character this episode with one of his dick move civilian rage kills). Wallet posted:It's sort of a simplified version of what happens in the books. Uthred sets fire to the ships on his own, but he brings 100 (or something like that) men with him who form a shield wall after the ships are alight to keep the danes busy while Otto comes from behind. He kills Ubba during the battle. Yes, he killed Ubbe during the battle and not beforehand...in the books, Ubbe didn't challenge him to single combat when Uhtred tried to slip away--it was during the battle that either a shield wall broke or Uhtred left the shield wall to seek out Ubbe. And yes, Uhtred does brag about it a lot in the books to keep a reputation going (in the books, at least, he is a pretty accomplished and fearsome warrior, but once or twice he mentions, or admits rather, that in his earlier days he was young and dumb and knows he wouldn't have been able to take Ubbe and might have died had it not been for Ubbe slipping in some blood or mud). But that's the thing about writing in first person--I think it leaves flexibility for adaptations like this show. Whereas in third person we might get one character's view of it from far away and might be expected to assume the character's viewpoint is truthful, in first person what we really get is not only the firsthand account of events, but also Uhtred's personal spin on things. He can admit where he might have died, but we also know very little of any other character's view on Uhtred and his reputation. To another character, he might just be a decent fighter who gets lucky constantly. To Uhtred, overall, he's pretty good at fighting and that's the only opinion we get of his prowess--his admissions of when he was outmatched notwithstanding. And yeah, in the show we got him cutting Ubbe's Achilles tendons when he was conveniently able to reach his short sword on the ground, but what we saw also was that he really WAS outmatched--Ubbe would have eaten him for lunch if it hadn't been for luck on Uhtred's side. So they changed it around a bit, but I guess the scene in the show got the point across well enough. As far as Odda the Younger, yeah, that's how it went in the books. The dude took credit for killing Ubbe when anyone watching knows that Ubbe would have run Odda through pretty quickly. Leofric even told Uhtred that probably would happen, and only when Uhtred finds out that no one knew he was still alive does he get pissed about it and storm into Alfred's court. I loved the scene where Wulfhere tells Uhtred that as far as everyone else is concerned, Odda the Younger killed Ubbe and the sun now shines out of Odda's rear end and he can do no wrong. e: Re: Uhtred's bragging, it might help to know that the times he admits to not being able to take Ubbe after all are not the only times. Since the books are written as Uhtred being an old man looking back on his younger days, he speaks a lot of how arrogant and dumb he was, and how he knows better now, and how he would have done it differently if he knew then what he knows now. life is killing me fucked around with this message at 17:01 on Nov 9, 2015 |
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Nov 9, 2015 16:59
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etalian posted:Funny how a majority of thread discussion is now about what happens or doesn't happen in the books. Mostly my fault. I swore I wouldn't do this. I'll curb it, outside where the books give perspective on the characters' actions in the show
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Nov 9, 2015 17:29
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Yeah, and I'll continue to try to put anything in spoilers that happened in the books but not in the show yet. At least that way, if something turns out different in the show it can be discussed, rather than not spoiler tagging something and then it happens the same way in the show and people get pissed. I'd ask that anyone else who read the books does that too, but like VDay pointed out, we seem to have done an OK job of not spoiling things. Some things have happened and will happen the same way they did in the books, and the rest of the things that don't are done in an interesting enough way to get the same point across and to keep it interesting for people watching. e: I also do really value talking about how the characters are in the books to be compared to the show, especially Uhtred.
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Nov 9, 2015 18:55
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I really identify more with the Danish characters and with Uhtred more than I identify with the Saxons, which, I suspect, is what Cornwell was going for. His own (assumed) disdain for Christianity kind of bleeds into how he writes Uhtred. The Vikings seem like the cooler guys to hang out with, like real bros who you could drink and fight with and just have fun. The Saxons? All they really do is tell everyone what they can't do. So I was also sad to see Ubbe go, though I know that he himself might not be all that fun to hang out with because he's superstitious and gloomy. I'm not sure what they'll do with Guthrum since, if you know your history, Guthrum eventually becomes king of, I think, East Anglia and converts to Christianity as a condition that he be allowed to rule there, and takes the Christian name of Aethelstan.. I'm guessing Kjartan will come back into the picture.
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Nov 9, 2015 20:24
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tooterfish posted:Yeah, I especially liked the way they repeatedly hoisted that peasant girl up to the rafters and let her drop. Fun guys. Well, they're fun when they aren't torturing Christians 
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Nov 9, 2015 20:39
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They should follow the books with that inasmuch as they can, but I just read the part in the books where Uhtred meets Leofric for the first time and serves with him on a Saxon ship. Leofric is pretty formidable and IIRC, Uhtred realizes that not only would Leofric give him a run for his money, but also Leofric has a lot of warrior experience on Uhtred. Now that I've started reading the books again, I have a new appreciation for how the show handles the various plots...like how they melded Alfred tricking Uhtred into marrying Mildrith and taking on her debts, with being tricked into Alfred's service in the first place. That was two different things in the book, first he gets tricked into serving on a ship with the promise of commanding troops with Leofric, then into marrying Mildrith, then into learning how to read, and then finally he's tricked into being a hostage with the Danes. He lets himself get tricked because he doesn't think, and all he can see is getting his birthright back. Hilariously, he gets tricked the whole time while thinking he's actually tricking Alfred, so I love how through all this he's slowly realizing how crafty a dude Alfred really is. -Blackadder- posted:I just watched the promo, it almost looked like they might doing the fight get's interrupted by someone(Guthrum) attacking the castle, or something. Yeah, and now I see what they are doing. Since the show really must meld characters together since there are too many interesting characters to put in the show at once, I think what they are doing is making this fight the stand-in for what, in the books, was Uhtred fighting Steapa. Looks like Leofric in the show is actually Leofric AND Steapa (who isn't portrayed in the show as a separate character), which to me is smart writing. life is killing me fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Nov 17, 2015 |
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Nov 17, 2015 16:01
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Yeah and the book described Steapa as a big guy, and Leofric I think was shorter than Uhtred. Uhtred described himself as taller than most Saxons and I imagine that people back then were, just as a rule, shorter on average. In the show, Leofric is taller than Uhtred I think. The only other thing was Steapa was enormously stupid, Uhtred says. That's a trait that Leofric, in the show, didn't seem to inherit. Steapa's nickname was Snotor, which meant something in pejorative terms about his lack of intellect.
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Nov 17, 2015 19:09
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-Blackadder- posted:Are the books worth reading? I hadn't even heard of them before the show. How many are there and how many seasons of the show do you think they could get out of them? The books are very much worth reading and there are nine books with the latest having been published this past October. And as they have condensed some characters and plot points in the show, I'd say maybe 4-5 seasons can come out of it, but no telling until we see how far they get in the book material by the end of the season. e: Warriors of the Storm was only published in October and isn't available until January, but depending on how fast you read and how into them you are, won't matter for new readers because it will take that long or more to read them all. life is killing me fucked around with this message at 22:22 on Nov 17, 2015 |
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Nov 17, 2015 22:09
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-Blackadder- posted:Don't be so hard on yourself man, I didn't quite catch it at first either. The Wheel of Time would be really difficult to do--there are twice as many books in that series as in Game of Thrones, and each book, IIRC, is longer than any of the GoT books--and they are actually more complicated to me in terms of plot and characters. I imagine it'd take more than one season just for each single book, even if they heavily condensed the plot and merged characters like they've done with The Saxon Tales. Luckily for The Saxon Tales, each book is not overly long, and they still have to condense stuff to make it fit into a television show. But man, I'm a longtime fan of The Wheel of Time, and I've always sort of fantasized (ha) about a TV series or movie sept/octilogy (or whatever the word is for nine, even) based on the series. The only thing I'd fear is the fact that I haven't read any of the books in a long time, and it would take me a whole month of nonstop reading just to finish one, even now--and I'd want to re-read them before watching any show or movie based on them. The big problem with the length of the books was that if you didn't read them literally one after the other, like if you left any time in between, so much happened in the books that by the time you did get to the next one, you already forgot what happened in the previous books. I'd like to see an adaptation based on a lesser-known book series called The Raven's Shadow by Anthony Ryan. And also maybe a show or movie based on William C Dietz's Legion of the Damned novels. e: Just read an article about that stealth pilot. Apparently the whole thing was a rush job and was actually based on, it seems, the prequel book. And it had Billy Zane in it, which would have killed the thing for me. If there is any adaptation to be done and done right, it should be on a premium channel like HBO or Starz and have Billy Zane nowhere near it. Ugh. I said the same thing (minus the Billy Zane part) about the AMC adaptation of Preacher, wherein Jesse Custer, the titular character, is played by Dominic Cooper. While I love him as an actor, hard to imagine a British actor playing a Texas boy, even though AMC does well at casting British actors and actresses ala Rick Grimes in TWD. Subject matter like Preacher has no place on a regular cable network, wherein the main character is an irreverent, violent preacher, his vampire buddy gets his dick shot off by a mob hit man, and the (bald) main villain gets cut across the top of his head so that it looks like a penis. Some adaptations just belong on premium networks that have fewer constraints on violence and nudity, and Preacher is one of those. At least WoT lacks the subject matter that would make a premium network a necessity, but it needs better production values than FXX. life is killing me fucked around with this message at 16:26 on Nov 18, 2015 |
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Nov 18, 2015 16:07
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savinhill posted:Is there really a Preacher show coming out? And, yeah, I agree that it would have to be on a premium network to capture what made it truly enjoyable, it was just so over the top irreverent, had some great use of the most foul language possible, and had some gross humor and dick jokes that they probably won't be able to do on AMC. Too bad, it could've been a very unique type of show if they captured the right tone and spirit of the original property, sort of something like Starz has right now with Ash Vs The Evil Dead. Yep. I mean, I'll probably still watch it to see what they do with it, but so far it seems to be missing Herr Starr and the Saint of Killers, so I'm already disappointed. e: That said, the dude playing Cassidy looks to be born for the role. But AMC probably won't ever air a Cassidy origin episode, wherein we see him sucking a drug dealer's dick to get drugs back in the early 1900s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBLPxOt7TPw life is killing me fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Nov 18, 2015 |
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Nov 18, 2015 23:07
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-Blackadder- posted:I never read Preacher but I did read Ennis' The Punisher Marvel Knights and MAX which I can't recommend enough, they're some of the best comic runs I've ever read. But Ennis' humor can be annoyingly silly sometimes. I prefer the more serious tone he took in The Punisher MAX over the over-the-top boobs on Cyborg Russian tone he took in Marvel Knights. Although "A Confederacy of Dunces" is easily one of my favorite comic stories ever. They made that into a comic? At any rate, I mean, I laughed out loud at Ennis' writing in Preacher. From the mob hit man shooting Cassidy in the dick while holding him prisoner and saying, "Let's see if that grows back!" and Cassidy responds with, "Jaysis, I fuckin' hope so..." to a whole paneled page of Herr Starr trying on different hats in the mirror to hide the scar on his bald head that makes it look like a penis, it's just irreverently funny and I never found it silly, but to each their own. I just wonder if his black humor is going to be done justice in the AMC adaptation, because the promo makes it look excessively dark and serious, which isn't really the source material's style.
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Nov 19, 2015 00:18
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-Blackadder- posted:Are you talking about "A Confederacy of Dunces"? I didn't mean the original. A Confederacy of Dunces is also the name of an arc in Ennis' The Punisher Marvel Knights where Daredevil, Wolverine, and Spider-man get together and try to take down The Punisher. Of course they fail horribly, but it's sooo glorious. Oh, I didn't realize that. Whoops! I'm disturbed by how Wolverine couldn't take the Punisher.
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Nov 19, 2015 00:28
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-Blackadder- posted:Just read it, man, it's absolutely fantastic, Ennis' entire run on The Punisher is phenomenal, especially if you're an Ennis fan, it's a must read. Speaking of Batman, if you've never read Kingdom Come, definitely do. It's a trade paperback, and it's about the apocalypse basically, and most of DC's better-known and lesser-known heroes are in it. In the comic, Batman's body is so broken from the years of fighting and physical strain that he literally has to wear an exoskeleton to get around. It's actually kind of hilarious. And I guess I have trouble with Wolverine vs Punisher and Wolverine losing that bout because Wolverine is almost unkillable, unless we're talking about the post-adamantium Wolverine whose healing factor is almost gone. I remember that from a Wolverine issue where he's back in Canada and gets into a fight and then runs into Lady Deathstrike, who notices that his claws are bone and that he's still bleeding hours later from using them in the fight. In other words, I just realized how big of a comic nerd I've always been e: I just saw a review of a Superman exoskeleton toy, and I'm sort of confused now as to why Superman needs an exoskeleton
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Nov 19, 2015 00:57
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| # ¿ May 18, 2024 07:21 |
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Doesn't really matter if you think or know someone else has read the books or not, I'd prefer spoiler tags for the things in the book that happen in the show or that you hope happen in the show if you've read the books. And yeah, even if you haven't read the books, if you think you've got an accurate prediction, might as well spoiler tag it in case. The point of this, is not to spoil the show for non-readers. I'll need to edit the OP to include this if I didn't already, but that's why I've been using spoiler tags, because I mention things that happen in the book quite a bit and don't want it to spoil the show OR the books.
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Nov 23, 2015 15:08
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