hecate
Reptile Researcher
Posts: 11 
Likes: 4
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Post by hecate on Jan 13, 2015 9:10:24 GMT -5
As with many fans of ASoUE and ATWQ, I am very excited about the forthcoming tv adaptation of the former from Netflix. But given the fact that you can't expect pitch perfect page-to-screen translations, there is no guarantee how the series is gonna turn out.
With that in mind, name the things that you would like to see in the A Series of Unfortunate Events tv series and the things that you do not wish to see.
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Post by Skelly Craig on Jan 13, 2015 9:31:59 GMT -5
Going to cross-post something I buried in another thread that is nevertheless important to me regarding this (and any) ASoUE adaptation: What I hope most is that the series will communicate the same sense of postmodernism that the books did (while still taking the story's drama seriously). Basically they'll have to be super creative to do something similar to such moments in the books like filling two whole pages full of "never"s; repeating the sentence "He found himself reading the same sentence over and over"; hiding secret messages in the story; or the two entirely black pages in TEE. That's why I also think the intro in the 2004 movie, with the Littlest Elf, was one of the best moments in the entire film. I have since been thinking a lot about cinematic techniques that could be equivalents or similar scenarios to these aforementioned moments in the series. I managed to compile a whole list of ideas, but many are kind of undercooked. I don't really know yet if I should post them on the forum or maybe work on them for something 'bigger' (a fan script or something? Though that sounds like a lot of unpaid work). |
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Post by Dante on Jan 13, 2015 10:38:22 GMT -5
I'm expecting a more faithful script than the movie, but without the same quality of props and special effects. To make a proper continuing series out of it they need to be more careful in how they script it, and in presenting it as an episodic TV series they don't need to reshuffle any of the events of the books to better integrate multiple books as a single story the way the movie did. However, no way will they have the movie's budget; I don't expect Netflix to follow Nickelodeon's act of building the largest ever indoor lake or anything like that.
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Post by B. on Jan 13, 2015 11:05:26 GMT -5
Going to cross-post something I buried in another thread that is nevertheless important to me regarding this (and any) ASoUE adaptation: What I hope most is that the series will communicate the same sense of postmodernism that the books did (while still taking the story's drama seriously). Basically they'll have to be super creative to do something similar to such moments in the books like filling two whole pages full of "never"s; repeating the sentence "He found himself reading the same sentence over and over"; hiding secret messages in the story; or the two entirely black pages in TEE. That's why I also think the intro in the 2004 movie, with the Littlest Elf, was one of the best moments in the entire film. I have since been thinking a lot about cinematic techniques that could be equivalents or similar scenarios to these aforementioned moments in the series. I managed to compile a whole list of ideas, but many are kind of undercooked. I don't really know yet if I should post them on the forum or maybe work on them for something 'bigger' (a fan script or something? Though that sounds like a lot of unpaid work). Do share. |
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Post by Teleram on Jan 13, 2015 18:30:20 GMT -5
Changing the ages of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny to make them older would be my #1 fear for the series.
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Post by Strangely on Jan 13, 2015 18:37:05 GMT -5
I really have no fears for this so far. I mean they won't have a movie budget, but I don't think they'd need one. The movie took a much more fantastical approach to the world of Lemony Snicket embellishing what Lemony Snicket himself had already embellished. It wasn't enough that Aunt Josephine's house hung halfway off a cliff for the movie it had to be entirely off the cliff. The show doesn't need to go as over the top as the movie went to look good, so I expect it'll be fine. Plus CGI on television actually looks good now, so anything they can't create physically will just be done digitally I guess.
Plus all the other Netflix shows have been great, so I assume this one will be great as well.
I hope they go for long episodes that cover the entire book rather than cutting each book into parts. I also hope they cast Sunny as being a bit older. In the movie I felt like she wasn't overly involved most of the time and I feel like that's due to the limitations of her age.
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Post by Invisible on Jan 13, 2015 19:10:35 GMT -5
None so far. I think I'll enjoy it no matter how it turns out.
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Post by bandit on Jan 13, 2015 19:28:23 GMT -5
Netflix has picked up the ASOUE show because they recently opened a Kids section on Instant Watch, and they want more kid-oriented original shows. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that on paper, but my biggest fear right now is that they'll dumb down the story. In a movie adapted for kids, this usually isn't a problem at all, because children have to drag their parents along to the movie theater as well and so the creators intentionally make it enjoyable for both adults and kids. With TV shows, especially these new Netflix shows, that's not necessary, because they're catering to these 21st century kids who get an iPad for their 5th birthday and are learning to use Netflix by themselves. Imagine if the Baudelaires broke the fourth wall and explained the meanings of new words to the viewer!  |
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Post by penne on Jan 13, 2015 20:31:14 GMT -5
Oh gross. I'm not even that excited by the idea of this Netflix series, but that would be messed up.
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Post by Strangely on Jan 13, 2015 23:38:10 GMT -5
Netflix has picked up the ASOUE show because they recently opened a Kids section on Instant Watch, and they want more kid-oriented original shows. Of course, there's nothing wrong with that on paper, but my biggest fear right now is that they'll dumb down the story. In a movie adapted for kids, this usually isn't a problem at all, because children have to drag their parents along to the movie theater as well and so the creators intentionally make it enjoyable for both adults and kids. With TV shows, especially these new Netflix shows, that's not necessary, because they're catering to these 21st century kids who get an iPad for their 5th birthday and are learning to use Netflix by themselves. Imagine if the Baudelaires broke the fourth wall and explained the meanings of new words to the viewer! I doubt they'll dumb it down that much. At the end of the day if they wanted something less complex then they could have adapted any number of well selling kids book series. My impression of this deal so far is that they want a show for the entire family to watch, not just the kids. And really Netflix must realize that with the movie being ten years old that means there's people who will tune it out of nostalgia for the movie they watched as children, dumbing it down severely would alienate that audience. Plus why bother having the Baudelaire's break the fourth wall when we naturally have a narrator who does that every other paragraph anyway. |
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Post by Skelly Craig on Jan 14, 2015 1:55:49 GMT -5
Wow, an Adventure Time-ish update on ASoUE would really be the worst. Let's just hope they know what they're doing. Also, let's not forget that Handler is an offifcial supervisor on the show.
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Post by Dante on Jan 14, 2015 3:29:24 GMT -5
Honestly, one thing that really isn't a problem for an ongoing ASoUE TV series is the actors actually aging, given that they're doing so in the story. Probably not as much in the story as they would in real life after making thirteen adaptations, but if anything it's preferable that they should look significantly older by the end.
Also, as far as dumbing down goes, one would hope that they're aware that being intellectual didn't stop the original books from selling millions, so. There are definitely practical concerns involved with integrating the narratorial element, and the loss of Snicket's particular writing style is the biggest necessary cost to any movie adaptation of the series, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of that got transferred to character dialogue instead, even word definitions - and sometimes the characters in the series were the ones who defined words, it wasn't just Snicket. I can even see the fourth-wall thing working out, though best not, really.
I do feel obliged to note, though, in relation to Aunt Josephine's house, that the canon description in Chapter One of TWW does state that the vast majority of the house is hanging off the cliff and only a small porch is actually on the ground. Looking up pictures of both the movie version and Helquist's version, they actually aren't extreme enough (though Helquist's maybe goes a bit overboard on the struts instead).
Anyone with fears for the project, here's a simple barometer: See if Handler's still on board when it airs. He eventually jumped / was shoved from the ASoUE movie and how that turned out mostly isn't on him, but if he's still involved with the Netflix series once it airs then that will indicate that he's happy with it. Though ironically he might actually be one of the people most willing to mess around with it, but that's fine; he has the authority, the credibility.
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hecate
Reptile Researcher
Posts: 11
Likes: 4
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Post by hecate on Jan 14, 2015 9:02:59 GMT -5
I'm confident that there will be little (if anything) in the way of dumbing down, given that Handler's on board and the majority of Netflix's output tends to be of high quality. Combined with the serial format of television series is a better fit for any book series than a film in terms of adaptation, I'm optimistic regarding how the TV series will turn out.
If there is one thing that I really do not want to see in the TV series, it would be if they dumbed down any of the female characters. It was bad enough when the film made Violet into a damsel in distress, I do not wish to see that rubbish happen again.
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Post by Cafe SalMONAlla on Jan 14, 2015 10:23:25 GMT -5
I have a bunch of fears, largest of which is, like others', dumbing down. That could take many forms, obviously, but the blurring lines between good and bad guys is something that might be at risk of being chucked. Also, I hope they don't go overboard with the steampunk. I have nothing against it in general, but in my mind, asoue is really not right for it. I like to call the visual style that Nickelodoen went with "pointless and half-assed steampunk". I can't imagine being totally happy with the series (that's just the way I am), but just as long as they don't completely root vegetable it up, I'll be ok. Lucky the adaptation bar is set so low. If there is one thing that I really do not want to see in the TV series, it would be if they dumbed down any of the female characters. It was bad enough when the film made Violet into a damsel in distress, I do not wish to see that rubbish happen again. Agreed. |
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Post by gliquey on Jan 14, 2015 11:27:52 GMT -5
There are definitely practical concerns involved with integrating the narratorial element, and the loss of Snicket's particular writing style is the biggest necessary cost to any movie adaptation of the series, so I wouldn't be surprised if some of that got transferred to character dialogue instead, even word definitions - and sometimes the characters in the series were the ones who defined words, it wasn't just Snicket. I can even see the fourth-wall thing working out, though best not, really. I was just going to point out that characters have defined words; in ATWQ, Theodora even used "a phrase which here means", although I did think that felt a bit unnatural. I just hope they don't overuse certain definition premises e.g. Sunny going "what does that word mean?" all the time. It'll be interesting to see how they deal with the narrator, or perhaps an absence of one. |
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