Gail
When I want to watch a mystery, I find myself playing the Granada production of Sherlock Holmes starring Jeremy Brett. Of all the adaptations that have been done over the years, it's still the most faithful to Conan Doyle's original stories.
What's your favourite adaptation of a book? Are there any that you enjoyed so much that you keep watching them over again?
Yohan Yukiya Seseㆍ사요한・謝雪矢
What I can think of right now is #Shadowhunters (TV) based on the work of #CassandraClare entitled #TheMortalInstruments.
(#SPOILER ALERT)
What I love with it is that they took the idea from the novel about having multiple worlds and used that as a "setting" (if you will) for the TV adaptation.
This allowed them to use the same characters, same plots, but at the same time, add their own original twists and character development. There were parts which were completely changed, as far as the original novels are concerned, some parts that are not.
They did not make it obvious at first, of course, it happens later in the series (as is in the novels). But when they presented this part of the story explaining multiple worlds, the TV series "suddenly made sense" (although I already know it).
The acting were also good, and the way they built the world, and the special effects, were perfect for me. Not too much, not too little.
Thus, when they brought the novels to live-action, and also took literary freedom, the Shadowhunters TV series became one of the best live-action adaptation of a written work.
Yohan Yukiya Seseㆍ사요한・謝雪矢
@GailCBull Ahh! I just remembered another.
The #HisDarkMaterials TV adaptation from the novel series of the same name by #PhilipPullman.
Another live-action adaptation wherein they did not overdo yet at the same time was not lacking.
They picked the important parts, plots, and little tidbits, and focused on the message and essence of the story.
They did not fall into the "Hollywood" formula wherein it's all about "entertainment", like what happened with the first live-action adaptation of the novel " entitled #TheGoldenCompass (a #movie.
I understand it is not easy to do an adaptation of written works, most especially a novel. After all, there are a lot of details an author can put in a novel that simply is not possible to fit in a 2-hour movie or a 12-episode season. I have no qualms about it; however, adapting a work and focusing on the entertainment value instead of the essence and message of the story, is a big no-no for me.
This is what the His Dark Materials TV adaptation did right as compared to The Golden Compass movie.
Yohan Yukiya Seseㆍ사요한・謝雪矢
@GailCBull Lastly, there are Japanese and Korean written works (novels, manga, webtoon) which had great live-action (or anime) adaptations.
They're too many, I can't think of one. LOL.
But, yeah, the Japanese, and Koreans do it right most of the time. Pick the right parts of the original work, the message, the essence. The entertainment value is not central to the production. The result, many of their adaptations are successes; and at the same time, they helped the original authors, the original works, gain even more attention and readers.
GNU social JP is a social network, courtesy of GNU social JP管理人. It runs on GNU social, version 2.0.2-dev, available under the GNU Affero General Public License.
All GNU social JP content and data are available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license.