MovieChat Forums > 11.22.63 (2016) Discussion > Why the changes from the book??

Why the changes from the book??

posted 8 years ago by Affirmative_Dave
16 replies | jump to latest

Read the book. Watched the show.

Why on Earth does the scriptwriter need to change a lot from the original novel?

Stephen King writes timeless books.

The script suffered changes that makes the show very 2010's... and, in 10 years, will be obsolete (while the book will not).

--- few spoilers below ---

- We're losing some of the "epoch intimacy" with Jake when it was decided in the show he'll have a long time partner (Bill) ; that was preferred over voiceover. In the book Bill has a much smaller role.

- Why the need to add these unrealistic "you shouldn't be here" - especially the dead (?) woman after her car collides the phone booth? The Yellow card man does enough to remind us Jake is not in his own timespace.
At that time Jake tries to call his dad and says... "Dad?" over the phone so that we all viewers understand! But his dad must be 5 (or less) in 1960! That's not in the book for a reason...

- Jake should have came back to 2016 more often (one or two more times).

The script does cross the T's and dot the I's. Way too much.

And why 8 episodes and not 10? Many scenes in the show needed a smoother (longer) beginning and ending, it seems a lot has been cut.

--

All in all not bad, and I'm glad a pretty good tv series was made from the book.
But it could have been a cult show.

[–] shanayneigh 8 years ago

Yeah, I agree. I'm only on episode 3 so far but can't really understand why they've made some pretty big changes from the book. Perhaps that'll be explained later.

[–] Keelai 8 years ago

Jake had many internal thoughts in the book. The writer didn't want to use voiceover, so Bill's role was expanded and dialogue was instead used.
Repeatedly returning to the present would have been too repetitive. What works in a book doesn't always work in a movie or miniseries which is why changes are made.

[–] DannX68 8 years ago

Yeah, but like the OP said, they could have shown it just one or two times.
I liked the tv-series, it's around a 7.5-8/10 for me, while the book is a 12/10 ;) But those times he travelled back to now and had to start over were thrilling and frustrating (in a good way) in equeal measure. So yeah, once ot twice would have been nice :)

IMDb: A place where actors are complimented for their acting, actresses for their boobs

[–] duckofprey 8 years ago

By the way, Stephen King himself said the expansion of Bill's role for the series was a "brilliant" move. Just sayin'

[–] pat-rigley 8 years ago

I agree. Eliminating an interminable voiceover as well as adding another layer of complexity with Bill's expanded role was a smart move. At first I found it jarring (that's not in the book!!) but his part was written well and it contributed something new and unexpected for those of us who knew the book so well.

[–] IceUpSon 8 years ago

lol u really think he would trash it

**Christ died for your sins, was buried and rose on the 3rd day. Turn away from sin and to Christ**

[–] Death163 8 years ago

Jake says at one point he was born in 1972 his father could not have been a small child in 1960

[–] jpowers4667 8 years ago

I enjoyed the expansion of Bill's role--I really liked the buddy aspect of it.

I hated that they failed to explain the Yellow Card Man...at all.

I hated that, on the second to last episode, we spend all this time blazing through title cards ("Three days until the assassination", for example) and it's essentially a montage of Jake doing things like taking his pills or sitting in between each title card. Could have easily been done in one day, and it's time we spent on nothing when it could have been spent building up other scenes that needed it. Also, it seemed like they just got lazy and wanted to rush to the ending at that point.

[–] mccalvi 8 years ago

Overall, enjoyed it well enough as a mini-series. Expected some changes, though, I agree - wish they would have explained the Yellow-Card man as in the book.

[–] frobandit 8 years ago

He said '78, so his dad could've been a little boy in '60. My dad was born in 1951 and my older brother in 1978, so it's just right.

[–] crpl_hicks 8 years ago

Not sure, but didn't King do the Screenplay?

We're all in strung out shape, but stay frosty, and alert.

[–] drivenkick43 8 years ago

Are you sure about 1978?
I was thinking it was 1971, thought it may have been '72 as the poster said above. I remember when he said the year he was born thinking "He's a few years older than me," and I was born in '75. I'm pretty sure he wasn't younger than that.

[–] The-Original-Pinky 8 years ago

I've read the book - several time. It's one of my favorite King books.

You have to watch the miniseries with an open mind, and let the book go. At first, I was a bit confused about Bill since I couldn't remember him being such a large part in the book, but I did like that change.

I wish they had Jake go back and forth a few times and show how he learned, but they did that with the flashbacks to Al's instructions when they met that one last time. It would have been fun to watch that for every thing/death he prevented, another catastrophic event would occur. But I like they way it was handled in the miniseries. It was done cleanly and left no loose ends.

It would have been nice to have the yellow card man (remember when the card was black, and then a new green card on a new man, and what the colors meant?); but this was handled well, albeit in a different direction.

I'm guessing they kept it to 8 episodes catering to short attention spans of a younger Kind audience. Me? I would have eaten it up!!!!

And as you said, after all is said and done, I rated it 8/10. Well presented!

Life can be arbitrary and comes without a warranty.

[–] Mychosenamewastaken 8 years ago

Agreed, a heap of unnecessary changes.
But without them, this chick wouldn't earn her writing fee.
Everyone thinks they can do a better version of SK books.. even SK and he ruins em just as bad as everyone else.
The only way to do a SK book is to give it the allotted time that it needs without ruining/changing things.

The Greatest Documentary Films (Highly engrossing docos) -
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls002769580/

[–] drivenkick43 8 years ago

This reaction happens every single time a book is adapted to a movie or TV. We just have to accept and expect changes when stories change mediums like this.

The audio book of the Stephen King novel is over 30 hours long. When you try to adapt that to an eight hour (or whatever it was) mini series, changes are going to have to be made! Things are cut. Several trial runs at changing the past are condensed or skipped entirely. (The trial when Jake saves the girl who was killed (or paralyzed?) in the hunting accident is is condensed into one sentence from Al saying it was something he tried once while the past pushed back and tried to stop him.

These are just changes and cuts that have to be made to turn it into a mini series. And because of those cuts, other things have to be changed to make it understandable for viewers who haven't read the book.

I loved the book. I loved the mini series. Even thought they weren't identical!

[–] gary_overman 8 years ago

This reaction happens every single time a book is adapted to a movie or TV. We just have to accept and expect changes when stories change mediums like this.

The audio book of the Stephen King novel is over 30 hours long. When you try to adapt that to an eight hour (or whatever it was) mini series, changes are going to have to be made! Things are cut. Several trial runs at changing the past are condensed or skipped entirely. (The trial when Jake saves the girl who was killed (or paralyzed?) in the hunting accident is is condensed into one sentence from Al saying it was something he tried once while the past pushed back and tried to stop him.

These are just changes and cuts that have to be made to turn it into a mini series. And because of those cuts, other things have to be changed to make it understandable for viewers who haven't read the book.

I loved the book. I loved the mini series. Even thought they weren't identical!

One thing to keep in mind is that a scene that works well in a novel might not translate well to the screen. I watched the first disk of my DVD set yesterday and there were some changes, but the overall story presented is the same as that we see in the book. The change in Bill doesn't bother me, as it is an expansion of the character's role and doesn't really change the story as a whole.

So far, I'm happy with what I've seen in the DVD.

Plus, I am grateful for the subtitles as I have a serious hearing problem.