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All right, all right
I broke the rules. Yes, I watched the TV show before reading the book. Sue me,
it happens on occasion, not many but it does. So of course having seen the show
first you would assume that I would like that better than the book, that she
show would be my baseline to which I compared every little detail and aspect of
the story that Kass Morgan so meticulously created.
And that’s where
you’d be wrong.
I mean of course I’m
going to notice the differences between the two, characters, language, setting,
etc. and there are some MAJOR differences! (Um, Jasper & Monty? Hello where
are you guys?)
Now at two-thirds of
the way through the Morgan trilogy I’ve come to the conclusion that the
differences between the novel and the show are not bad, not in any way. Sure
the differences are pretty obvious and I find myself searching for those
characters I fell in love with on the show but at the same time I got to meet
new characters, who I fell in love with for entirely different reasons! We’ve
got our favorites around to tether us all together (Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia)
and yes Octavia Blake is still chasing butterflies and making friends with the
Grounders (Earthborns). Bellamy Blake is ever the protective older brother of
his little sister and one half of the only set of siblings in space. Clarke
Griffin is actually a doctor guys! Well almost, she kind of gets arrested
before finishing training and you can kind of piece together what happens from
there.
Maybe I am not
judging this adaptation as harshly because I watched the show first and had
already resigned myself to the changes that had to be made to stretch a three
book trilogy into a whole show. Even still I find myself enthralled with the
world, the same basic story, and not minding those changes in the least. It’s
clear to me that the books and the show can have two entirely separate fan
bases without ever really needing the other; but it is also possible to be a
fan of both, as I have recently become part of that category.
For anyone that has
seen the show but not read the books yet, I implore you to give them a try!
They are a world apart and just as thrilling. Fans of the show we have Jason
Rothenberg to thank for keeping the integrity of the story but should praise
him for creating such a fantastic world of his own. The TV show is and
adaptation in its truest form.
For those in the
back the meaning of adaptation, according to Oxford Dictionaries, is …
- The action or process of adapting or being adapted
- A movie, television drama, or stage play that has been adapted from a written work, typically a novel
- Biology A change or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment
Ironically it’s the
last one that I think is most relevant in this instance. This is a case of
Jason Rothenberg taking the idea created by Kass Morgan, changing and altering
it to fit its new medium. What Morgan does in three books Rothenberg has to
stretch over as many episodes and seasons he can muster. So yes, while I am the
nerd that would gladly sit through a seventeen hour Harry Potter movie if it
meant nothing had to change, I make an exception to my general rule. The 100 is
fantastic regardless of whether fans came by page or by screen.
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