Under The Dome

Poirot

Poirot

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Don't usually watch this type of show. Not fond of sci-fi or alien outer space stuff at all. I watched the first few episodes of Revolution and to me, it deteriorated, (for my taste) and I quit. So I did not watch the first couple episodes of this show, but boy, I have watched the last 2 or 3 weeks, and have really been pulled in. Exciting, suspenseful, well acted, mysterious. Am surprised. Also surprised that I caught on, caught up mostly as quickly as I did.

Anyone else intrigued by this series?
 
I don't have TV service, :(. I read the book when it first came out, as I am a Stephen King fan. The book looks quite intimidating, over 1000 pages I think, but it was a great read.
 
The series is based on the book, but supposedly different. I have to say there IS more violence than I would like to see, but within the context of the story...I guess it has to be.
 
Yeah, I can't imagine the series strictly following the book or everyone would know what happens. I wish I could see it, though.
 
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If you can watch online....tis on CBS.com


Just read that Steven King is going to write the first episode of Season 2. He has been on the set.
Just think, Under the Dome is still filming Season 1 and there are only 5 episodes left.
And Days is 4 months ahead and filming Christmas. Sigghhhhh.
 
Thanks Poirot, I thought I was looking in the right place, now I'm going to have to look again!
 
Thanks so much Barb! we have not been able to get Under the Dome for the last couple of weeks due to our cable company, Time-Warner, and CBS having a fight with each other. Even though we pay for the cable in advance, they have stopped a couple of channels. Perhaps we will be able to find out what is happening by using the cbs site. They had been saying that they were going to make that inaccessible in our area also. I keep hoping the two work out their differences and make it so we could catch up with what we missed through some on demand feature.
 
I see the show following the book pretty closely, but some characters have different relationships to the town and each other. For example, in the book the Sheriff had a wife and the journalist was back in town to run her family newspaper. Just little details. From what I watched online, it's not making that much difference with the plot. The book is very long, but moves at a rapid pace. I can see where some things would have to be abridged. Also, I got the impression this was a 13 episode miniseries. Has it been extended now?

PS: I caught the nod to Stephen King when the King's Appliance truck trashed the water tower. When Stephen King does a movie/show/etc. he usually does a cameo as well. Then there are the biblical references, etc. I've read enough of his work to pick up on those quickly.
 
jgk said:
Thanks so much Barb! we have not been able to get Under the Dome for the last couple of weeks due to our cable company, Time-Warner, and CBS having a fight with each other. Even though we pay for the cable in advance, they have stopped a couple of channels. Perhaps we will be able to find out what is happening by using the cbs site. They had been saying that they were going to make that inaccessible in our area also. I keep hoping the two work out their differences and make it so we could catch up with what we missed through some on demand feature.
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I love the show, and I'm in the same boat as you...unable to watch because CBS OnDemand has been suspended. If CBS and Time Warner don't settle their differences soon, I'll be reduced to watching online on a laptop...definitely NOT my favorite way to watch!
 
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Kt, it's been renewed for a second season from what I read. I thought it was just supposed to be a miniseries, but I never read anything specifically that said that.
 
jgk said:
Thanks so much Barb! we have not been able to get Under the Dome for the last couple of weeks due to our cable company, Time-Warner, and CBS having a fight with each other. Even though we pay for the cable in advance, they have stopped a couple of channels. Perhaps we will be able to find out what is happening by using the cbs site. They had been saying that they were going to make that inaccessible in our area also. I keep hoping the two work out their differences and make it so we could catch up with what we missed through some on demand feature.
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yeah having the same problem. no channel to watch days, Law and Order SVU, Chicago fire, the voice, ect.... mad at that so im missing everything!!!! work it out channel 4
 
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Sounds as tho you are not getting NBC.....while others are not getting CBS. Is there some sort of war going on with the cable companies????
 
I absolutely love this show and have watched from the beginning. Don't know how they can make a series out of it though, you can do only so much with trapped people. I also love revolution, big science fiction fan not the blood and guts in today's shows.
 
Stephen King has already said that the first season covers months while the book was a very short time. Plus the "ending" of what caused the dome will be different because he received a lot of flak about the cause for it that he wrote in the book. Will go look for where I read that so I can post the link.
 
I liked the book, too. I have no idea what people complained about.

This is the link to Stephen King's letter to the viewers of "Under the Dome" that I was referring to earlier.

http://www.stephenking.com/promo/utd_on_tv/letter.html


A Letter From Stephen:
For those of you out there in Constant Reader Land who are feeling miffed because the TV version of Under the Dome varies considerably from the book version, here’s a little story.

Near the end of his life, and long after his greatest novels were written, James M. Cain agreed to be interviewed by a student reporter who covered culture and the arts for his college newspaper. This young man began his time with Cain by bemoaning how Hollywood had changed books such as The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity. Before he could properly get into his rant, the old man interrupted him by pointing to a shelf of books behind his desk. “The movies didn’t change them a bit, son,” he said. “They’re all right up there. Every word is the same as when I wrote them.”

I feel the same way about Under the Dome. If you loved the book when you first read it, it’s still there for your perusal. But that doesn’t mean the TV series is bad, because it’s not. In fact, it’s very good. And, if you look closely, you’ll see that most of my characters are still there, although some have been combined and others have changed jobs. That’s also true of the big stuff, like the supermarket riot, the reason for all that propane storage, and the book’s thematic concerns with diminishing resources.

Many of the changes wrought by Brian K. Vaughan and his team of writers have been of necessity, and I approved of them wholeheartedly. Some have been occasioned by their plan to keep the Dome in place over Chester’s Mill for months instead of little more than a week, as is the case in the book. Other story modifications are slotting into place because the writers have completely re-imagined the source of the Dome.

That such a re-imagining had to take place was my only serious concern when the series was still in the planning stages, and that concern was purely practical. If the solution to the mystery were the same on TV as in the book, everyone would know it in short order, which would spoil a lot of the fun (besides, plenty of readers didn’t like my solution, anyway). By the same token, it would spoil things if you guys knew the arcs of the characters in advance. Some who die in the book—Angie, for instance—live in the TV version of Chester’s Mill…at least fora while. And some who live in the book may not be as lucky during the run of the show. Just sayin’.

Listen, I’ve always been a situational writer. My idea of what to do with a plot is to shoot it before it can breed. It’s true that when I start a story, I usually have a general idea of where it’s going to finish up, but in many cases I end up in a different place entirely (for instance, I fully expected Ben Mears to die at the end of ’Salem’s Lot, and Susannah Dean was supposed to pop off at the end of Song of Susannah). “The book is the boss,” Alfred Bester used to say, and what that means to me is the situation is the boss. If you play fair with the characters—and let them play their parts according to their strengths and weaknesses—you can never go wrong. It’s impossible.
There’s only one element of my novel that absolutely had to be the same in the novel and the show, and that’s the Dome itself. It’s best to think of that novel and what you’re seeing week-to-week on CBS as a case of fraternal twins. Both started in the same creative womb, but you will be able to tell them apart. Or, if you’re of a sci-fi bent, think of them as alternate versions of the same reality.

As for me, I’m enjoying the chance to watch that alternate reality play out; I still think there’s no place like Dome.

As for you, Constant Reader, feel free to take the original down from your bookshelf anytime you want. Nothing between the covers has changed a bit.
Stephen King
June 27th, 2013
 
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