Stephen King's "Under the Dome," A CBS Summer Miniseries Sphere-Fest

[Irish]

By the way, I don't think this is a miniseries anymore (if it's successful, that is). They kept calling it "first season" at the Wondercon panel and said that they changed the ending to be open-ended so they can tell the story of the town for years and years.

Ahhhhh. This is what I came here to find out. And wow, that makes no sense. If they're going to diverge from the source, does that mean they plan on teasing the origins of the dome for years? Jesus. Because I can't see anyone watching this over multiple seasons for any other reason.

I like King, but holy shit does he use archetypes as a crutch here. Small town sheriff. Menacing politico. Fiery journalist. Mysterious loner. The dome is cool, but the people living under it seem to be made of cardboard.

[D_Davis]

The best part of the novel was the first 200 or pages, in which King systematically guides the readers through the town, and what happens in the town right after the dome drops. It's some of the best writing King has ever written, and his control over scene changing and selection, and the introduction to the characters, is absolutely masterful. It's just an incredible sequence of action that sets up the rest of the novel. Like I said before, King is a master of the set up.

Dome is not King's best character work. As they say, when it comes to politics and art, subtlety is always the first casualty. Dome is King's most political book, it is very reactionary to post 9/11 America and the effects of fundamentalism on the culture. King was more concerned with examining how these archetypes would react to the situation at hand than he was telling a nuanced character piece (as in Bag of Bones, Insomnia, or Lisey's Story).

I'm disappointed that this is supposed to be an on-going series. I can't see how it would be interesting at all to stretch out the story. Bu who knows? Maybe the writers have some good stuff to show us.

[number8]

I'm guessing the network wants it to be like a Walking Dead, following a group of people surviving as they are isolated from normal civilization, which is how they're going to stretch it out. It'll be less about the dome itself and more about the relationships that happen inside a bubble.

[Dukefrukem]

So just one opinion so far?

[D_Davis]

I'm guessing the network wants it to be like a Walking Dead, following a group of people surviving as they are isolated from normal civilization, which is how they're going to stretch it out. It'll be less about the dome itself and more about the relationships that happen inside a bubble.

Yeah - that's pretty much the book. But it works because things happen fast.

I"m still really looking forward to the show, and I'll definitely catch up with it when the first season is finished.

[number8]

Yeah - that's pretty much the book. But it works because things happen fast.

I know, I meant that instead of just showing the immediate aftermath and powerplay of the dome dropping, the show seems to be changing it to a story where the townspeople have to figure out a new society as they live under the dome for years, more akin to TWD's survivalist theme.

[D_Davis]

I see what you're saying, and that makes sense.

[dreamdead]

This was never King's strongest with characterization, but he was nonetheless able to get into the interiority of people's thoughts as the dome came down. That sense of interiority was far less prominent here. It didn't feel nearly as effective throughout the opener, and so Junior especially comes off as trite. While he was always id, he's so far into a caricature here that I'm surprised Vaughan didn't try to get us into him a different way. And Vogel just feels too young for the lead.

Not that confident this won't deteriorate in quality, despite how much I like the novel.

[ContinentalOp]

I'm very disappointed with the pilot. I had a problem initially with all the characters being younger and prettier and my problem worsened with the characters being written so broadly (I hate what they're doing with Junior and the DJ and don't see why they're changing Barbie's background so much). The dome coming down and the immediate aftermath among the survivors was the best part about the book. The overwhelming sense of confusion and ignorance and its deadly consequences and the inventive reactions to the dome coming down are missing in the pilot. They're doing okay setting things up but it's a very generic set-up with only a few interesting scenarios/scenes keeping me interested. I'll give it another week.

[Irish]

Anyone for episode two? Anyone? Bueller?

[Dead & Messed Up]

The Junior stuff is getting irritating, and even accounting for the

[

Show Spoiler

reverend tweaking,

]

the fire felt like an arbitrary way to reach a climax.

At the same time, I get why they did it. Have a nice big group scene with all the mains, really establish the community, and then end with a pow. That gunshot at the end is a significant reworking of an important moment in the novel, and, yeah, the novel did it better. Doubling back on what Dreamdead said, a lot of that has to do with King's skill at immediate interior understanding of a character.

In the novel,

[

Show Spoiler

a kid has a eureka moment and figures that a rifle bullet could permeate the Dome, because nobody's try to apply pressure in a concentrated manner (i.e. the plane crash covers a large surface area). So he drives up to the Dome, aims his rifle carefully, shoots, and the bullet ricochets off and plugs him in the face.

]

Stuff with Barbie went about as I expected. I predicted immediately after the first episode, on Reddit, that Julia's hubby was up to bad things, and Barbie would end up having shot the man in self-defense. And that's an obvious bit of prognostication, because it's CBS. They can't have a genuinely dark hero, so they'll have someone who's kinda emptily misunderstood.

[Gizmo]

I think the show is interesting enough to keep watching so far. I haven't read the book. Didn't even know it was a book until I started reading this thread.

[Dukefrukem]

I think the show is interesting enough to keep watching so far. I haven't read the book. Didn't even know it was a book until I started reading this thread.

You saw the "Stephen King" in the title and thought he wrote or produced a series for ABC?

[D_Davis]

You saw the "Stephen King" in the title and thought he wrote or produced a series for ABC?

Stephen King's Storm of the Century wasn't a novel first, smart ass.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Neither was Kingdom Hospital nor Golden Years. And this is on CBS.

[Dukefrukem]

Stephen King's Storm of the Century wasn't a novel first, smart ass.

Honestly, I always thought it was. *ignorant smile*

[Irish]

The Junior stuff is getting irritating, and even accounting for the

[

Show Spoiler

reverend tweaking,

]

the fire felt like an arbitrary way to reach a climax.

At the same time, I get why they did it. Have a nice big group scene with all the mains, really establish the community, and then end with a pow. That gunshot at the end is a significant reworking of an important moment in the novel, and, yeah, the novel did it better. Doubling back on what Dreamdead said, a lot of that has to do with King's skill at immediate interior understanding of a character.

In the novel,

[

Show Spoiler

a kid has a eureka moment and figures that a rifle bullet could permeate the Dome, because nobody's try to apply pressure in a concentrated manner (i.e. the plane crash covers a large surface area). So he drives up to the Dome, aims his rifle carefully, shoots, and the bullet ricochets off and plugs him in the face.

]

Stuff with Barbie went about as I expected. I predicted immediately after the first episode, on Reddit, that Julia's hubby was up to bad things, and Barbie would end up having shot the man in self-defense. And that's an obvious bit of prognostication, because it's CBS. They can't have a genuinely dark hero, so they'll have someone who's kinda emptily misunderstood.

Was the fire not in the book? Interesting that they are deviating from the novel this quickly. King's stuff sounds much darker, and more interesting, than the show.

I laughed out loud when they [

Show Spoiler

gave Barbie an out -- it was self defense! -- so that the audience could continue to like him.

]

Show is alright. Just alright. It's got that unmistakable stink of a SyFy series, though, despite being on CBS.

[D_Davis]

The book is very dark, almost comically-so.

So much so that it has seemed to me a poor choice for network adaptation from the get-go. There are better King things for network television.

[D_Davis]

How are they handling Junior's friends in the closet?

[Irish]

How are they handling Junior's friends in the closet?

It's only been two episodes. [

Show Spoiler

All we know about Junior at this point is that he's a psycho. He's got his girlfriend chained up in his father's old bomb shelter and he's attacked Barbie out of jealousy.

]

That's it. That's all we know so far. The characterizations on the show are thin. Everybody is an archetype. They get one or two defining characteristics ("Lesbian from LA") and then only talk about the plot.

[D_Davis]

The book definitely does a better job of showing Junior's madness.

[

Show Spoiler

He keeps two dead chicks in a closet, and has sex with their bodies throughout the book

]

[Irish]

The book definitely does a better job of showing Junior's madness.

[

Show Spoiler

He keeps two dead chicks in a closet, and has sex with their bodies throughout the book

]

Holy shit. Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and guess that CBS will never show that on this series. :lol:

[D_Davis]

Holy shit. Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and guess that CBS will never show that on this series. :lol:

That's what I'm saying! The book is fucking crazy. Almost Lansdale-esque (but not quite - nothing will take Lansdale's crown in that department: see "Drive-In Date" for reference) in its depictions of human cruelty (which is the entire theme of the book, completely reinforced by the ending!). So when a network can't depict the theme properly, then why even bother with an adaptation? I don't mind when plots/characters are changed for different mediums (on the contrary I think they often should be modified for different mediums), not at all. The problem here is that King wrote Under the Dome with a definitive political and social agenda (it is by far his most politically and socially charged work), and without the ability to depict the cruelty, that agenda becomes diluted to the point where the story becomes just another pulp thriller.

[Irish]

That's what I'm saying! The book is fucking crazy. Almost Lansdale-esque (but not quite - nothing will take Lansdale's crown in that department: see "Drive-In Date" for reference) in its depictions of human cruelty (which is the entire theme of the book, completely reinforced by the ending!). So when a network can't depict the theme properly, then why even bother with an adaptation? I don't mind when plots/characters are changed for different mediums (on the contrary I think they often should be modified for different mediums), not at all. The problem here is that King wrote Under the Dome with a definitive politically and social agenda (it is by far his most political and socially charged work), and without the ability to depict the cruelty, that agenda becomes diluted to the point where the story becomes just another pulp thriller.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. With maybe one or two caveats. I don't know who the producers are on this show, but CBS excels at taking touchy material and mainstreaming it. So while I don't think they'd ever depict, or even reference, necrophilia, it's possible they'll pick up another story thread and run with it. They've done this on shows like "NCIS" and "The Good Wife." There's been some pretty fucked up plots on those shows, but they've been presented in mild ways.

I think they're using King's premise and name as the hook, and what they want is another prime time soap opera. They want their "Lost." They want to draw more female viewers. Their fall lineup is heavy on the action-adventure-mystery shows (with a whopping three "NCIS" procedurals on air this September).

[Gizmo]

You saw the "Stephen King" in the title and thought he wrote or produced a series for ABC?

Honestly, I didn't even pay it any attention. When I saw the premise I thought they were ripping off the Simpson's movie. I only watched the pilot Monday thanks to word of mouth saying I'd probably enjoy it since I watch Walking Dead.