Under The Dome

[Ricky]

I purposefully didn't read the comments here before I watched the new episode. Honestly, I really didn't have a problem with it. Sure it's moving a little slow, but we're only at episode two. It's been awhile since I read the book, but I'm definitely noticing a lot of the differences. One thing that I think the show's doing right, though, is the effect of the dome itself. I was worried that we'd be able to see it (kind of like a jar, as if to say, LOOK, IT'S A DOME!) and it'd be cheesy, but think it's well done.

And I did think it was funny that Big Jim just tapped Duke's house a couple times and it fell like a flimsy house of cards.

[WeDealInLead]

Are they trying to portray Big Jim as seemingly normal* so that when he loses his mind, we're all in complete shock? He hasn't done anything that bad so far and actually seems likeable on the surface.

Will Angie become to UtD what Andrea is to TWD?

* compared to the book.

[Iwritecode]

excellent casting for Big Jim and some other roles

I'm still trying to get used to the actors they cast for Big Jim and Junior. They are not what I pictured in my head at all.

Obviously they are too old for the roles now but I had Big Jim looking like Brian Dennehy (Big Tom Callahan from Tommy Boy) and Junior looking like Devin Ratray (Buzz from Home Alone).

Everyone else seems about right.

[Bryant Burnette]

Are they trying to portray Big Jim as seemingly normal* so that when he loses his mind, we're all in complete shock? He hasn't done anything that bad so far and actually seems likeable on the surface.

I think there have many too many scenes in which he talks in ominously conspiriatorial tones to Duke and Lester for that to really be the case, but I think they are definitely trying to make it seem plausible that the town would rally around him. I don't think the execution of these ideas has been very good so far, so conceptually, it works really well.

[NeedfulKings]

I'll give it time, but as has been said, TV standards have increased over time. Cheesy plots and hokey scenarios are hard to tolerate. The house fire was a mess. We are led to believe that a person can survive in a room where the fire began while the rest of the house is up in flames? Uh...heat....smoke....flame. Dead.

I absolutely LOVE the Dome effect. I think it's spot on. As for the characters, we are missing some transitional parts of the story - why are they good, why are they bad?

I'll keep watching. I just don't know that the series will last long enough for the Dome to lift.

[mtdman]

I liked episode 2, and I'm totally digging this series so far. I am very pleasantly surprised!

I'm the opposite. I thought it'd be cool with me reading the book just before and all, but really I'm irked. The changes in characters and thinking back to how well written the book was just gets to me. I don't think it's bad-- excellent casting for Big Jim and some other roles-- I just don't like it nearly as much as the book, and subsequently cannot become engrossed in it.

I hated the book, so the tv show can't help but be better imo.

[Lookwhoitis]

I think the adaptation is terrible. Cheesy. Cliched. No character development. Generic characters cast to appease the mass audience.

The best acting job in ep 2 was Truman the dog. I groaned audibly when linda the cute little boricua cop (hit them demographics!) Calked a shotgun with shells visible on it a "rifle" in dialogue.

I was rooting for the fire to burn all those wooden actors and their bucket brigade up!

I guess I am just not used to watching network tv anymore. I pretty much only watch shows on HBO, Showtime, AMC,& F/X.
I feel like I am wasting my time with this show when I have full seasons of Homeland and the Borgias to catch up on.

I feel bad for BKV. he is a great writer.

Very dissapointed with Under the Dome the tv show.

[Lookwhoitis]

I wouldn't have thought it was possible for a series to jump the shark as soon as its second episode, but doggone if Under the Dome doesn't seem to have done it. What a shitty episode.

Concur

[Bryant Burnette]

[Bryant Burnette]

I feel bad for BKV. he is a great writer.

The only thing I've read by him is Saga, which I have been reading since the beginning. It is absolute genius. I can't wrap my head around the fact that Under the Dome is being written for television by the same person; it has no spark to it, no vitality of any kind, and Saga is chock full of spark and vitality. Something here does not compute.

[WeDealInLead]

I feel bad for BKV. he is a great writer.

The only thing I've read by him is Saga, which I have been reading since the beginning. It is absolute genius. I can't wrap my head around the fact that Under the Dome is being written for television by the same person; it has no spark to it, no vitality of any kind, and Saga is chock full of spark and vitality. Something here does not compute.

Oh man. You gotta read Y: The Last Man. I wish I could experience it for the first time. The premise is this: every male of every species on the planet dies except a boy and his monkey. That's not a spolier, it's right in the title. Ex Machina is brilliant too.

I don't get why so many of the movies and shows based on King's works don't translate well on the big screen.

[Bryant Burnette]

Yeah, I've been wanting to read both of those -- plus Runaways -- ever since I started reading Saga. I'll get to 'em eventually!

[mattgreenbean]

I figured out how to enjoy the show, drink and laugh at all the changes.

[wahlers]

I thought the book had a really riveting 800 pages and then the last 200 pages really crapped out and failed to deliver. Bad "villain" death, terrible dome explanation, etc. So, I went into this excited that there was going to be some different explanation for the dome and, hopefully, a better ending.

However, I'm having a real hard time just getting through it. It's boring.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind a good slow, deliberate pace like a lot of good old films had, etc. I also don't mind having to wait for pay-offs and answers (i.e. I loved watching Lost the entire 6 years and even loved the finale).

However, it's really hard to put my finger on the problem. I don't know if I should blame the actors, the script, the editor, the director, or the cinematographer. The whole thing is just so damn slow and boring. Nothing seems accomplished each week and I don't care about anybody in it after they killed their best actor in the first episode. The fuzzy late-90s-looking effects don't help either. :/

About the characters, what's terrible too is that I read the book (granted it was when it was first published) but still can't remember hardly anybody's name three episodes in. I know "Scarecrow" Joe, Duke, Barbie, and Junior. I think Junior's dad is Big Jim? I'm not cheating and looking elsewhere online to confirm, so those are the only characters I can name off the top of my head. There's just no attachment for me to anyone now.

If this was going to be a full season of 22+ episodes I think I would quit watching now.

However, I only have 10 more to go, so I'll stick through it. If they haven't convinced me by the end I'm not going to come back next season (if there is one).

Glad to hear I'm not the only one disappointed with the show itself and not just the changes from the book.

[Steve]

I have stated my disdain for Under the Dome as a novel before (though perhaps not around here), as I consider it one of King's worst novels. Far too bloated and meandering, and this is from a guy who has great talent at creating expansive, epic world-building stories. But he really missed the mark with the book.

That said, the concept is interesting, and I think the series has the potential to take a poorly-executed idea and better it. Brian K. Vaughan is a master at plotting stories (see his comic runs), and I think he's already improving greatly on the source material by keeping the good stuff and expunging the rest. All the characters seem more richly shaded here than the novel, where most of the townsfolk were walking stereotypes. Dean Norris is an excellent choice for Big Jim, and I love that they are tempering the whole right-wing hail-fellow-well-met praise-Jesus aspect of his character to something much more restrained, much more believable... and with much greater potential. It's also the best performance I've seen from Mike Vogel.

The show isn't flawless. I don't like the actresses who play Norrie and Angie (the punk chick and Junior's obsession, respectively). But everyone else is doing quite well for what the show requires. It's a solid B+ from me.

[Bryant Burnette]

I thought the third episode was the best so far. It had a few scenes that genuinely held my attention, which is a step in the right direction.

[johnsmith87]

Yeah, episode 3 was a big improvement from the last one. Some parts of the show are edging very close to cliché, but there's enough going on to hold my interest. I'm sticking with the show.

[Stebbins]

excellent casting for Big Jim and some other roles

I'm still trying to get used to the actors they cast for Big Jim and Junior. They are not what I pictured in my head at all.

Obviously they are too old for the roles now but I had Big Jim looking like Brian Dennehy (Big Tom Callahan from Tommy Boy) and Junior looking like Devin Ratray (Buzz from Home Alone).

Everyone else seems about right.

Really? Well in my head Big Jim didn't look that way, and Junior is nowhere near what I had pictured. If we're going off what we had pictured, Julia bothers me the most.

Mattgreanbean: I'll have to try that, because so far the drastic changes have really been irking me.

[subie09lega]

I didn't picture Julia like that either....at all.
And Big Jim I thought would be bigger, like 2x.
I just ignore the differences and try to enjoy it for what it is; so many changes it's hard to compare with the book.

[Merlin1958]

If there is a "Mod" out there, shouldn't the thread title reference that it is the TV show discussion thread? Just a thought since at least one other member was confused.

[RUBE]

My wife gets tired of me comparing Game of Thrones to the books they are based on so she was wondering why I wasn't doing the same for this. I told her that the show and book were so different that there wasn't really a point. I am just going to watch and hope that the show turns out alright. It's obvious so many things are different that we don't know what's going to happen.

[mtdman]

I have stated my disdain for Under the Dome as a novel before (though perhaps not around here), as I consider it one of King's worst novels. Far too bloated and meandering, and this is from a guy who has great talent at creating expansive, epic world-building stories. But he really missed the mark with the book.

That said, the concept is interesting, and I think the series has the potential to take a poorly-executed idea and better it. Brian K. Vaughan is a master at plotting stories (see his comic runs), and I think he's already improving greatly on the source material by keeping the good stuff and expunging the rest. All the characters seem more richly shaded here than the novel, where most of the townsfolk were walking stereotypes. Dean Norris is an excellent choice for Big Jim, and I love that they are tempering the whole right-wing hail-fellow-well-met praise-Jesus aspect of his character to something much more restrained, much more believable... and with much greater potential. It's also the best performance I've seen from Mike Vogel.

The show isn't flawless. I don't like the actresses who play Norrie and Angie (the punk chick and Junior's obsession, respectively). But everyone else is doing quite well for what the show requires. It's a solid B+ from me.

Great post!

[divemaster]

I just finished watching last night's episode. Better than the second, but still a lot of head-scratching behaviors.

Some of the changes from the book I can see were necessary. You really couldn't portray Junior as in the novel. Keeping and molesting dead girls stashed in a closet? Becoming a shambling tumor-ridden wreck in a matter of days? No way that works in a TV series. And I can see where it would detract from your name star (Dean Norris) if there were two more council members to have to keep track of.

But did we really need the whole "my two lesbian moms" angle? There's no reason Norrie couldn't have been a town girl. And one of my favorite characters from the novel (Rusty) is relegated to outside the dome status in the TV show. Why? And a whole bunch of little stuff that just irks me b/c there's no apparent reason for it. No need to go point by point here.

I did like the novel a lot, despite the anti-religious fervor which was way too heavy-handed. So I'm glad they've toned that down. I had no problem with King's "reason" for the dome in the novel. In fact, I really liked the explanation. I did wish for a better comeuppance for Big Jim though. I guess I'll keep watching for a while to see where the TV version goes.

[Bryant Burnette]

You really couldn't portray Junior as in the novel. Keeping and molesting dead girls stashed in a closet? Becoming a shambling tumor-ridden wreck in a matter of days? No way that works in a TV series.

Of course you could. Not on CBS, maybe, but on HBO, or Showtime, or Starz, or Netflix...? Of course you could. And maybe that's part of the problem. Should this be on a network, where it has to be at least partially defanged? I'd say not.

[Bryant Burnette]

But did we really need the whole "my two lesbian moms" angle?

Depends on where the show goes with it. My guess is that things are, at some point, going to get very unpleasant for that couple; whatever happens, it might (or might not) justify the addition. I'm certainly not willing to write it off this early on.