Under The Dome (tv series)

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by agentalbert, Jun 24, 2013.

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  1. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    Since I know there are a fair amount of Stephen King readers here, I figured there would be some interest in this new show which starts tonight. I haven't read the novel, but maybe I'll get to it sometime. The only review I've read of the show was a short very positive blurb in Playboy, but I don't put much weight in that.

    Hoping for the best!
     
  2. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    The 1100-page novel is horrible (and I'm a huge Stephen King fan), and I'm concerned that this is not a limited-run series with a set end -- they're doing 13 episodes this year, and possibly more next year! The whole book takes place in about a 3-week period in this small town. I think a 2-hour movie (or a 500-page novel) could've covered it just fine.

    I was bummed-out that the entire story is just a reworking of Lord of the Flies: a group of people is cut off from civilization and descends into a fascist state, bringing out the worst in humanity, with the strong crushing the weak. That's basically it. And the explanation for why the dome is there and who put it there... it's not even a single page. I won't spoil the ending except to say that I threw the book at the wall when I finished reading it, and left a big dent in the plaster (because the book weighs about 4 pounds).

    The producers have promised they've made quite a few changes to the story to surprise us -- including some alterations to the ending -- so there might be some hope.

    Mondays at 10PM on CBS, starting June 24th.
     
  3. hanleyp

    hanleyp Forum Resident

    Not exactly a ringing endorsement. I will at least watch the first couple of episodes of this but King lost my interest many years ago so I won't waste too much time if the story doesn't stay interesting.
     
  4. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    Were the advertisements unintentionally funny, or is this a comedy?
     
  5. If Fox was smart, they'd run The Simpsons Movie at the same time.
     
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  6. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    The book is really grim and downbeat, just the absolutely worst of humanity. Things go horribly wrong until the very end. Lots and lots of innocent people die in interesting ways, this being a Stephen King novel.

    My problem with the thing is that it's really a big Shaggy Dog novel, where we have this vast epic kind of setup, and then the payoff is so jaw-droppingly trivial, your head will explode. I wouldn't say it's funny per se, but there are some ironic situations, plus some black-comedy moments that are not fun -- for example, certain people who are having nervous breakdowns and sorta/kinda becoming serial killers while inside the dome. Just typical small-town mayhem.

    Having said that: portions of the novel are very well-written, and a handful of the characters are interesting and compelling. But The Stand it ain't.

    King has produced a 1976 typewritten chapter of a novel called The Cannibals (posted for a time on his website) showing that he already had the idea for an apartment building entombed by an impenetrable alien dome long before the Simpsons movie came out, and decades later, changed it to a small town. Plus it's an idea done in science fiction for a long time. So King has defended himself against this plagiarism charge before.

    [​IMG]
     
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  7. MLutthans

    MLutthans That's my spaghetti, Chewbacca! Staff

    I like how the small airplane smacks into the dome at full speed, erupts in an explosive fireball, then what appears to be a full half of the airplane falls to the ground, uncrumpled, not burning.
     
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  8. Karnak

    Karnak "81, 82, 83, 84..."

    Worse than "Dreamcatcher"? I barely remember that, except that it involved a dog too.
     
  9. I never accused King of anything. I just thought it would be quite funny for Fox to run the movie at the same time.
     
  10. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Not much dog stuff in Under the Dome. The fate of the dog in Dreamcatcher was beyond horrible. That was certainly one of his lesser stories... but better than Under the Dome (IMHO).

    Never said you did. I am saying that King has defended himself from many people who've said that Under the Dome was a rip-off of The Simpsons Movie, and if you read the link, you'll understand and agree with his defense.

    The truck hitting the invisible wall is a big highlight of the book. But on TV, it's a CG mess, done real cheap.
    There's also a moment where... well, let me just say, if you own a gun, do not attempt to shoot the dome.
     
  11. RockWizard

    RockWizard Forum Resident

    I don't call a cow sliced in half funny!
     
  12. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    Would you rather the sirloin were neatly separated from the New York Strip? :shrug:





    Now playing on Ariel Stream: Enya - Caribbean Blue
     
  13. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Maybe if you're a vegetarian...

    I don't remember this bit being in the book. They do have some birds flying into the dome and getting stunned and bouncing off.
     
  14. P(orF)

    P(orF) Forum Resident

    King has always said that he writes a set number of pages a day and sometimes he seems to just mash a couple old plots together for his own amusement, and, maybe, for lack of an original inspiration. "Lisey's Story" was a shameless mashup of "Secret Garden" and "Rose Madder" and "Under the Dome" is what happens if you jam "Needful Things" and "Tommyknockers" together. I kind of like his big rambling books like this (though I never re-read them) and this one was no exception. I liked the ending - I thought it was vastly better than having the problems caused by a more traditional batch of villains (reliance on which, for instance, has ruined Nelson DeMille's recent fiction.)

    There has been speculation that, if the current miniseries does well, it might be continued. On the one hand, it would be interesting to see the ending continued, with further exploration of the antagonists. On the other hand, this is exactly what happened with the otherwise excellent "Golden Years" miniseries, and the result was an ambiguous and highly unsatisfying ending to the miniseries that was never resolved when the network decided against turning it into a series.
     
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  15. rjp

    rjp Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    the first episode was good enough to make me watch again, but........some of the characters need adjusted, quickly. i know there has to be good and evil, but the evil, so far, is borderline comically annoying.

    the mystery guy (now staying with the redhead) is the most interesting so far, to me anyway.
     
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  16. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    I like those kind of stories. But TV shows, particularly network TV shows, usually don't go far enough in this regard. While I really liked Jericho, I was always annoyed that it never really did descend into the inevitable Lord Of The Flies style mayhem. Whatever strife was introduced was too often solved in kumbya fashion by the end of the episode.
     
  17. Macman

    Macman Senior Member


    Not even close to being his worst IMO, although the ending IS laughable. Good news they're going to change that. I couldn't finish Dream Catcher or Lisey's Story.
     
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  18. Raylinds

    Raylinds Resident Lake Surfer

    I think this is the silliest concept I have ever seen- a town stuck under a giant cake cover? What is the story behind someone creating a town under glass?
     
  19. guidedbyvoices

    guidedbyvoices Old Dan's Records

    Location:
    Alpine, TX
    I think the concept is fine for sci fi but let's be honest. It's Stephen king, king of the great idea and setup but crap endings.
     
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  20. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    Liked the first episode, haven't read the book. As others have noted, King has stated that the show takes some set pieces and the general setup from his book, but runs from there.

    I thought the characters were OK. Very broadly written, for the most part. The mysterious stranger from Bates Motel is, as noted above, the most subtle (and thus most interesting) so far.

    I'm wondering if all those fuel deliveries are to help make blue meth? :)
     
  21. agentalbert

    agentalbert Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    San Antonio, TX
    The town wasn't created under glass. The town was there and a glass dome is dropped or placed or brought into being around it. How? I don't know, I haven't read it. And I don't really care for a logical explanation of how it got there, as there can't really be one. With a story like this, its more about the setup of what happens in the situation and how people react or cope. That's interesting to me. I don't care about the logistics of how it got there much.
     
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  22. No Static

    No Static Gain Rider

    Location:
    Heart of Dixie
    I'll watch it again next week. During the first couple of weeks it's all setup anyway.

    We did notice all the dome-shaped objects in the opening minutes (egg, cake cover, bald head, etc.).
     
  23. ivan_wemple

    ivan_wemple Senior Member

    In other words, it's just like lots of other Stephen King novels.
     
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  24. kevintomb

    kevintomb Forum Resident



    Yes I can hardly imagine it ever being turned into a book or TV series...utter silliness.............................o_O
     
  25. kevintomb

    kevintomb Forum Resident

    The Redhead while not super interesting, looks wise alone......:D
     
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