7 Reasons Why I Disliked Netflix’s Interpretation of Watership Down

I’ll start off spoiler-free, then warn you before I get there in case you don’t want me to tell you things. I get it.

I’m not usually into tearing down the creative work of others, and I’m not comfortable publicly bashing books I hate. Because maybe someone else loves it.

But I don’t feel like Netflix is going to worry too much about my opinion. And I adore Watership Down, by Richard Adams. I was so excited for the new animated series. I love James McAvoy. And I thought that John Boyega as Bigwig was going to be gold.

Whenever screenwriters adapt a book into a movie or TV series, things will have to change. It’s open to interpretation, and as two different mediums, they have different strengths. I get that.

For example (not a spoiler), they had more female characters in the Netflix version, and these female rabbits had some agency. In the book, they stuck more to the way rabbits in the wild act. Female rabbits having agency is fine and doesn’t have to change the story in a significant way. That was a good change.

I just feel like the screenwriters didn’t get the original book. And my reasons are all spoilers, either for the book or the series. You’ve been warned. Spoilers below the picture.

1. All the rabbits fought with each other all the time. In the book, the rabbits bicker and fight in the beginning, but after they rescue Bigwig from the snare, they all acknowledge their strengths and start to act like a team. In the Netflix series, they continue bickering and acting like bratty children until the very end.
2. Kehaar was a jerk. In the book, Kehaar is defensive and angry at first, making sure the rabbits know he can defend himself and is no one’s victim. But once he learns that he can trust them, he becomes an ally. He’s dependable, loyal, and helpful. In the Netflix series, he’s cagey and unreliable. I think it was supposed to be funny, but it wasn’t.
3. Bigwig was a bro. Who was the version of Bigwig in the series? The best things about the Bigwig of the books is that he’s tough but with a kind heart. He might complain about things, but he’s always the first one to volunteer to do anything difficult. And even though he’s big and could overpower Hazel in a fight, he’s willing to acknowledge that Hazel is the better leader. But in the Netflix series, he’s always spoiling for a fight, challenging Hazel and basically flexing his big muscles. What a waste of John Boyega.
4. They seemed dumb. The rabbits in the book came up with plans and executed them. They were organized and worked together. The rabbits of the Netflix series were always reacting with no real idea of what was next.
5. Why was there all this romance?? I love romance, and most of my favorite stories have romance, but not every story needs it. They gave the girl rabbits more agency and larger parts, which is 100% fine with me. But why did they have to make it all romantic with these love scenes between the various rabbit couples? It struck the wrong chord with me. Watership Down is an adventure story, and while I could get behind some sweet nose touching or some subtle signs of affection, speeches about how one rabbit loves the other in the middle of gearing up for battle just seemed out of place. Not going to lie, I yelled at the TV.
6. I didn’t entirely understand why they changed certain things. I get it, they needed to change some things because it’s a different format and the book is pretty long. But why did Buckthorn and one of the other rabbits (Dandelion? Bluebell?) argue with one another all the time? And why was Bluebell the storyteller instead of Dandelion? And why did everyone just impulsively do things, like go to the farm and others to Efrafa? Would it really have made it that much longer for them to take a moment to plan to do it like in the book? What purpose did those changes serve to the story they were trying to tell?
7. The ending didn’t do anything for me. Hazel died… so what? Now, maybe this is because I was mad at the rest of the series, but the ending just fell flat for me. I was so irritated by it that I took out my book and read the epilogue to my husband, who got a bit teary-eyed and agreed that the book version was much more touching.

This could have been something amazing, and they totally missed the mark. I’m so sad about it, but the writers didn’t seem to understand the characters. I kind of wished I hadn’t watched it because it just made me sad and angry. I know movie versions of beloved books are often not as good, but it doesn’t usually make me feel like this.

Did you watch the Netflix series? What did you think?

12 Reasons Why Spoilers Are the Worst

Some people don’t care about spoilers, but those people are wrong. Spoilers are the worst! (For the record, I’m mostly going to mention books, but this applies to movies and TV shows too.)

Spoilers Are the Worst

1. I can only read something for the first time once. That feeling of discovery, that I can’t consume pages (or watch it) fast enough is a magical feeling, like falling in love.
2. Trying to figure it out is half the fun. I love reading a mystery or thriller and looking at clues to try to figure out whodunnit or what’s going to happen in the end. I’m more engaged in the reading experience than I would be if I already knew what happened.
3. I want to experience it as it happens. If I didn’t care about the experience of reading, I’d just go to Wikipedia and read the summary. (I’ve actually done this occasionally on sequels where I was curious enough to want to know what happened, but not so curious that I wanted to invest time in the next book.) For me, it’s like the difference between enjoying a gourmet meal and being fed glucose intravenously.
4. Writing an enjoyable story is hard, and spoiling it for someone else makes it so they can’t experience it as the author intended. Writing anything: a book, a movie, a TV show, is an art. Most published authors wrote the story deliberately, in a certain order. Spoiling that is disrespectful. If the author wanted to write just a summary, they’d write a summary.
5. Spoiling a story ruins the secondhand discovery. I love discussing stories with people when I know what happens and they don’t. Or when they know what happens and I don’t. It’s so much fun to watch someone enjoy something that I love as it unfolds.
6. We can all use more good surprises. I like opening Christmas (or birthday) gifts and having no idea what I was given ahead of time. I love when someone texts or calls me out of the blue (someone I like, anyway). And I love when a story brings me something I didn’t see coming, yet was inevitable.
7. If I wanted to know what happened in a book, it’s not that hard. It would take me less than 30 seconds on the Internet. Therefore, when people don’t warn spoilers and they’re RIGHT THERE in my face, it makes me crazy. Spoiler alert is twelve letters. Just type it.
8. Most of the spoiler alerts that snipe me seem to be for no good reason. I’m talking about online, now. When you post “OMG, Harry Potter appeared and saved Rick and Michonne!” you’re just posting a fact. (This is a made up fact, BTW. No spoilers here.) You’re not adding to the conversation. Couldn’t you just as easily post, “OMG, can you believe that ending of The Walking Boy Who Lived??” Spoilers that are buried in text or articles can usually be avoided.
9. I’m always behind the times, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care. Buffy the Vampire Slayer aired in 1996, and I just started watching it in 2018. In general, I don’t watch TV alone because I’m an addict. Once I get hooked on a story, I can’t stop. A friend insisted I had to watch the show, and I’m now in season 3, loving every moment of it. I’ve actually had a certain plotline spoiled for me because people still love and talk about this show 22 years later. It’s changed how I watch the show, and I’m not happy about it.
10. Anticipation increases enjoyment, and unpredictability increases anticipation, according to a 2015 study reported in Psychology Today. What does that mean? It means that most people enjoy looking forward to things, especially when they don’t know exactly what they’re looking forward to.
11. They make it harder to suspend disbelief. We don’t know what’s going to happen in real life, but when we know what’s going to happen in a story, it makes it harder to get immersed. If I know that a particular storyline is coming up, rather than concentrating on what’s happening now, I’m wondering how the writer is going to get us there, whether I want to or not.
12. It’s the journey, not the destination. Cliche, but it has a lot of truth in it. Why do sports fans watch a game instead of just tuning in afterward for the score? Why don’t booksellers include the ending of the book on the back cover? Why do movie trailers not tell the ending? Because we want to experience it “live,” as it’s happening in that moment for whoever is reading/ watching.

I know there are plenty of people out there who either like or don’t mind spoilers, and I say, to each his own. If you want to know the ending, I’ll tell you. But PLEASE be respectful of my wishes and don’t tell me.

But Doree, don’t you love re-reading and re-watching things? Doesn’t that contradict everything you just said?

Indeed, I do. But no, it doesn’t. Stay tuned. Next week, I’ll explain why not.

How Do They Have Nice Clothes In the Apocalypse?

 

Look at how nicely they’re dressed!

My husband and I re-watched Battlestar Galactica earlier this year. I love that show; it’s got fantastic characters and a great plot.

 

One thing that bothered me when I watched it was how they manage to have such nice clothing. The clothing is neat and pressed, without tears or obvious repairs. The clothing has matching buttons, like they had a stock of them for when someone lost one (and it would happen.) At one point, “the last tube of toothpaste” is offered as a reward for something. So they have limited toothpaste, but unlimited uniforms?

I always wonder about that in shows like The Walking Dead too. Although their clothing does get dirty, torn, and bloodied, it always fits nicely and reflects the style of the person wearing it. It’s like they all had stylists or something. 🙂 I can’t even manage to dress well when I have access to every store in existence.

I realize that it’s a show and I’m supposed to suspend disbelief. And honestly, I do. It’s just that I struggle to believe that no one on the show ever thought about this. And if they did, why didn’t they just offer me an explanation? I’d be willing to buy even a bad explanation.

Am I the only one who wonders about things like this?

 

The Stupidest Thing I’ve Ever Said

My husband and I enjoy going to the movies. We didn’t always. Once upon a time, we went to movie theaters with annoying children running around during a midnight showing of The Omen (true story).

Don’t take this to mean I hate kids. I like them. During the noontime showing of Beauty and the Beast. But if I’m going to see an R-rated movie, or anything after 7 p.m., I expect my movie to be a kid-free zone.

Sorry, I totally went on a tangent there.

Anyway, we like going to the Alamo Drafthouse, which has a no talking policy. During the previews for a good movie we saw, I happened to see a preview for Annihilation. After the movie (because no talking during!), I mentioned to my husband that I’d read the book and didn’t like it, but… wait for it… here comes the stupidest thing I’ve ever said…

“Maybe the movie will be better.”

I actually said that. Out loud. I was serious.

A friend and I had read (and hated) the book together.

Before I start bashing the movie (and I will bash it), I have to say that I actually enjoyed the first 75-90% of the book. It was interesting, well-done science-fiction. No spoilers, but it’s the ending that was awful. It was one of those non-endings. It made me feel like it was specifically designed to make me read the sequels, but it had the opposite effect.

So, there was only one major flaw with the book, in my opinion, and I hoped Hollywood would fix it.

I know, I know. I’ve already admitted this was the stupidest thing I’ve ever said. No need to rub it in.

They didn’t. They took the basic premise and turned it into a different movie. I read the book awhile ago, but I only recognized some basics. The rest was different. There were some lovely visual effects, but even they didn’t make up for the lack of a coherent plot, an ending that was just as unsatisfying (but in a different way) as the one in the book, and more of a jump-scare horror than science-fiction. (I don’t like jump-scare horror unless it’s actually a B movie and I can find it hilarious. There’s nothing scary about things jumping out at you.) Oh, and the soundtrack gave me a headache. My husband described it as “un-anesthatized cat vivisection.”

Have you seen it or read this book? What did you think?

Character Deaths Should Mean Something

In real life, death often feels meaningless. People we love die, and we know that the world would have been a better place if they were still with us. The death of a loved one is painful and life-changing for those left behind.

In fiction (books, movies, or TV), death should serve a purpose. We get close to those characters, in some cases understanding them better than we do people in real life. We see them when they brush their teeth, eavesdrop on their phone conversations. We see the face they project to the world and the things they try to hide.

In good fiction, we become connected to characters. Their deaths can be heart wrenching.

I think it’s important that writers are never arbitrary in their choices, just killing off a character because they couldn’t figure out how to move the plot forward or for ratings.

From this point forward, I’m going to talk about the Harry Potter books and The Walking Dead Season 8, Episodes 8 & 9. There will be spoilers. You’ve been warned.

Especially in Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, JK Rowling kills off some important characters, but I would argue that they’re almost all necessary.

I cried when Hedwig and Dobby died. But after I got over my denial and anger, when I looked at those deaths as a writer, I realized they were necessary. Harry needed to understand that there was always going to be a price. It’s not like in the movies, where the heroes don’t take a single bullet, but the bad guys all get wiped out (I do love those movies though, BTW). Bad things happen to good people (and owls and house elves), and the survivors are left with a giant hole where their loved ones were.

When Dumbledore died in Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince, it had to happen. It was inevitable. The mentor in a hero story always has to die in order for the hero to be truly heroic. Did I love it? No. But did it serve an important purpose? Yes.

JK Rowling understands when it’s important to kill characters, and when it’s not. Case in point, she was going to kill Arthur Weasley, but realized it didn’t serve the story, so she backed off.

In episode 8.8 of The Walking Dead, they made it clear that Carl was going to die. While I wasn’t happy about it, it wasn’t Daryl, Michonne, or Rick, so I thought it would be okay. I thought I was ready for it.

But as I watched episode 8.9, with Carl dying, I realized that it wasn’t okay. There was no good reason for him to die. We first met him 8 years ago as a little kid who got himself into bad situations and needed to be rescued/ protected from zombies… excuse me… walkers. Then he started shaping up into a little sociopath, and that was interesting to watch. But when he grew up and emerged from those two identities, he became a badass. He was this thoughtful 18 year old who could stare down death, shoot a bad guy without blinking, and still want to save a guy who was living alone.

Carl survived two gunshot wounds, countless fights with walkers, and almost being killed by Negan twice.

And yet he died because he was bitten by a walker during an ordinary killing of just a few of them.

That’s not okay.

Carl symbolized hope in the group. He survived so much, and was the obvious leader of the group after Rick and Michonne. And then the writers killed him. Probably for ratings.

This fan art, I think embodies everything all of us feel about Carl. It’s how it was supposed to be.

The actor playing Carl, Chandler Riggs, didn’t want to leave the series. Carl’s death serves no greater purpose in the story. Sure, his dying wish was for Rick to be a leader who could accept Negan’s people instead of killing them all. But there are so many other ways to accomplish this! Carl could have had a talk with Rick and reminded him that they integrated Woodbury’s people after the attack. Rick could have listened to Morgan or Jesus or Maggie. But no, they killed Carl.

One could argue that Judith or Maggie’s child is the hope for the future, but while cute, I’m not invested in Judith. It will be years before either of them could be a viable leader. So… no.

Honestly, it was a good episode. Maybe even one of the best recent episodes. But I think they killed the series.

I’ve stuck with The Walking Dead and loved it despite its flaws, even when everyone else said it was going downhill. Despite the fact that the writers can’t seem to come up with anything but this dragged out conflict with Neegan, I was still all in. But now? It’s not that I’m going to stop watching on purpose. But I fully expect that one day, I’m just going to forget that there’s a new episode. Or, instead of waiting for it breathlessly, I might find other things to do.

And that will be that.

My 18 Favorite Couples in Fiction

I’m not a fan of Valentine’s Day. First off, the sea of pink starting the day after Christmas annoys me. Second, restaurants are always crowded. Third, I prefer incidental romance, like when my husband snaps a picture of something he knows I’ll like, or when he helps me fold laundry without being asked.

That being said, the approach of V-day does make me think about romance. I love romance novels and movies. And I’m totally a shipper! I call out my choices and stick to them. (I still think Twilight would have been better if Bella ended up with Jacob… Team Jacob forever!)

1. Elizabeth and Darcy, from Pride and Prejudice: I’m a sucker for when people think they hate each other, but then end up in love. They’re both strong characters and end up being so awkward with one another when they start to realize all the ways they were wrong. Their coming together at the end is a delightful payoff.
2. Eve Dallas and Roarke, In Death series: Eve Dallas is a homicide detective who thinks that cops make bad life partners. Roarke is a former thief/ smuggler, now richest man on the planet. When she has to interview him for a homicide investigation, he romances her with coffee. (My kind of guy!) They dated for a few books, then got married. 58 books into the series, they still love, argue, and negotiate difficulties of two passionate people being married. Part of the reason I love this series is it’s one of the few romances that doesn’t end with “and they lived happily ever after…” There’s so much more to love.
3. Qhuinn and Blaylock, Lover at Last, the Brotherhood of the Black Dagger (#11): The Brotherhood are vampires sworn to protect their people from the Lessening Society, evil creatures who want to destroy them. Each Black Dagger book focuses on a different couple, and I love them all. Qhuinn and Blaylock are my favorite because the title sums up my feelings… at last! All the other couples had a sense of inevitability about them. But Qhuinn and Blaylock danced around one another in the background for many books, first as friends, then they had a falling out. When they finally get together, it was a beautiful thing. Incidentally, it was the last book in the series that I read. The author was starting to focus on characters who’d been in the background before, who I didn’t care about. Maybe I’ll go back to it someday…
4. Claire and Jamie, Outlander: I love everything about their romance. I love how they challenge and test one another. Even in book form, their chemistry lights up the page. (I have not watched the TV series) This is another couple who’s story doesn’t stop with marriage, and their devotion to one another is captivating.
5. Bishop and Miranda, Out of the Shadows: Kay Hooper writes a special crimes book series where the investigators all have some paranormal ability. Bishop created the unit and is in charge. Throughout the series, it’s alluded to that he’s looking for someone. Well, he finally finds her when Miranda Knight, a small town cop, has to call in the FBI for a series of murders. He wronged her a long time ago, and she’s not sure she can forgive him. Something about their chemistry has always spoken to me and made this book my favorite in the series.
6. Noah and Allie, The Notebook & The Wedding: I know some people who like romantic stories who didn’t like The Notebook, and my guess is that they only saw the movie. I liked the movie, but it loses quite a bit of the power the book had. No matter what comes between them, Noah and Allie love one another fiercely, and nothing can stop them. It’s a beautiful love story set across two books, and even death doesn’t end it.
7. Katniss and Peeta, The Hunger Games: I was always Team Peeta. I’m a sucker for unrequited, unselfish love, and I never believed, not even for a little while, that Peeta was hunting Katniss. I love that she’s the pragmatic one, and he’s the romantic one, and that we the readers can see her slowly falling in love with him long before she realizes it. The conclusion of the trilogy, while sad, felt right.
8. Jane & Mr. Rochester, Jane Eyre: I know there are people who hate this pairing, who think that Mr. Rochester was selfish and awful. I get it, but they’re wrong. Mr. Rochester is a passionate, proud man, and as such makes mistakes. Yes, he tries to deceive Jane about his lunatic wife, but his reasoning is sound. He doesn’t consider himself to be married, and in today’s world, he could easily get a divorce. See, if he treated the wife in the attic badly, I’d be all about “down with Rochester.” But he doesn’t. He hates her, but still takes good care of her. He deceives Jane, but never intends to hurt her. Jane is fantastic because, in an age when women were blindly submissive, she always does what she thinks is right. Her passion is a barely restrained thing, in an age where a passionate woman could get herself locked up in an insane asylum. These two perfectly complement one another.
9. Will and Louisa, Me Before You: The first time I read this book, when I finished it, I started back over at the beginning. It spoke to me that much. Louisa never quite fits in anywhere. People are always teasing her about her clothing, the way she acts, and the things she says. Will is perpetually pissed off after the accident that left him paraplegic. At first, they don’t like one another, but as time goes on, they learn that the other one is the only one who really listens and understands. It’s beautiful and sad.
10. Mia and Adam, If I Stay & Where She Went: Mia and Adam are brought together by their mutual love of music. Adam feels comfortable with Mia and her family in a way he’s never felt before. When a car accident kills her whole family, Mia learns about it from her coma, and realizes she has the power to stay or to go. She looks back on times with her family and with Adam as she makes her decision. I haven’t seen the movie, but the book gave me all the feels.
11. Mulder and Scully, The X-files: I was on board for them to confess their love for one another in Season 1! But it didn’t happen that way, and the underlying tension was what made the romance great. I hated any of the rare times they dated or flirted with anyone else, but their close relationship and deep understanding of one another made me certain they were meant to be together. That’s part of the reason I’m enjoying the new series, even though it seems they’re together-but-not-quite. No one understands them the way the other does.
12. Jim and Pam, from The Office: I didn’t even want to watch the stupid show. My husband started and thought it was funny. As often happens, he watched several episodes before something caught my attention, and then I was done. Throughout all 9 seasons, I was rooting for them, and I loved that their love story continued (and had conflict) even after they got married.
13. Admiral Adama and Laura Roslin, Battlestar Galactica: BSG is not a romance series, and of all the romances that happen, this one is probably the most subtle. I doubt it’s making anyone else’s list, but I love it. They’re both a little older than are typically focused on for romance, but I think that’s part of what makes it great. They don’t get along at first. I don’t even think they respect one another at first. (OMG, this is just like P&P… no wonder I love it.) But slowly they start to learn how to work together, until at one point, Adama admits to his son, “I can’t live without her.” What makes that statement even more poignant is that she’s dying, and everyone knows it.
14. Harry and Sally, When Harry Met Sally: There are so many amazing scenes in this movie, but the last scene, where Harry confesses his love on New Year’s Eve, is romance gold. They were enemies, then they were friends, then they fell in love. It seems to happen that way a lot in fiction, and I firmly believe it’s because we see ourselves in the people we hate, and overcoming that is like learning to love yourself.
15. Prince Henry and Danielle, Ever After: I’ve always loved Cinderella stories, but I love this one best because: 1. Hello, Drew Barrymore. 2. Danielle isn’t some milquetoast heroine waiting to be rescued. Nope, she challenges Prince Henry, and he becomes a better man because of it.
16. Han Solo and Leia, Star Wars: They hate each other until they don’t. Their relationship is volatile but based on respect. Even in the more recent movies, when they’ve been broken up, it was still obvious how much they loved one another. I liked how it showed that a broken up couple can still love one another, even if they shouldn’t be together.
17. Kate and Luc, French Kiss: When Kate’s fiancé goes to Paris for a medical conference and meets the love of his life, Kate overcomes her fear of flying to follow him and win him back. She ends up teaming up with a French con man, Luc, who shows her why the one who left wasn’t good enough for her in the first place.
18. Honorable mention: Rick and Daryl, The Walking Dead: I realize that they’re not a couple, but their bromance is the best. It’s not uncommon for women in books and movies to have close friendships, but we rarely see it with men. These two have such amazing chemistry that many of the best scenes are just the two of them. Seeing them go from enemies to brothers has been one of my favorite things on the show.

Did I miss any? Who are your favorite romantic couples, in books or TV/ movies?

X-Files & Me

I’ve loved the X-files forever. I was in high school when it premiered, and a friend called me before Season 2 and told me I had to watch it.

I was hooked from the first episode. This was back in the day when TV shows were rebroadcast, and I never knew which episode they were going to show. I watched them all. If they overplayed a particular episode, I watched it every time.

I got in the habit of “collecting” them. I taped them, then re-taped them, putting them in order. We didn’t have a computer at home during my first year of college, so I clumsily used the search function on machines at college to look up episode numbers and names from clues given during the episode.

If it sounds time consuming, it was. But I was obsessed.

I even went to the X-files expo in New York in 1998.

I stopped watching partway through Season 6. I was a senior in college and busy, so I just lost track of it. And my video project stopped too.

When we heard the movie was coming out, in 2008, my husband and I started re-watching the show from the beginning, and I loved it just as much as I had watching it the first time.

There are episodes that leave me with a feeling of “What just happened?” and some plot lines that never quite make sense. (If you think too hard about the alien invasion thing, there’s so much inconsistency with it. Maybe someone else can piece it together, but I’m lost.)

But I still love it. I love Mulder and Scully and their on-screen chemistry. I love how their personalities complement one another, yet their respect for one another is clear. I love the idea of FBI agents investigating weird cases (I also love the Special Crimes Unit series by Kay Hooper. It involves FBI agents with various psychic powers… so good!)

I’m glad that when they decided to resurrect the X-files, they got David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson instead of trying to “reboot” it with different characters. Of course, it probably wouldn’t have worked. Season 9, anyone?

Season 10 last year was a lot of fun. I loved that the story didn’t pick up with Mulder and Scully as if no time had passed. It was clear that they’d had lives that had gone on, that they weren’t static characters, frozen in time. Mitch Pileggi reprised his role as Assistant Director Skinner, and he’d also done some changing, though not as much as Mulder and Scully. Some of his old skepticism was gone, replaced by an open-mindedness from all the things he’d seen with Mulder. It was also clear that he trusted Mulder in a way he hadn’t always in the old series, though it’s clear that Mulder has become more paranoid, trusting no one except Scully. And not always her.

Season 11 premises on January 3, 2018. I can’t wait to tune in! Until then, I’ll just be watching old episodes.

I’ve never actually watched Season 8 or 9. We just finished Season 8, and you know, it was actually pretty good. Our goal is to get through Season 9 before the new season starts. Wish us luck.

Fellow X-files fans… what did you think of the newest season? Will you be tuning into Season 11?

10 Reasons Why Stranger Things is Fantastic Entertainment

As I pretty much always am, I was late to the cultural phenomenon that is Stranger Things. I’m sure I was aware of it because it’s on Netflix, but there are so many awful shows out there that I don’t always pay attention.

I assumed it was based on a Stephen King novel. I think I got Stranger Things confused with Needful Things, and then the font of the title (which matches early Stephen King novel font) clinched it in my brain. (For those of you who don’t know, the show pays homage to Stephen King and much other 80s pop culture but isn’t actually based on any single thing King wrote.)

What caught my attention was when a friend, who hates horror, started posting how much she loves this show. This friend is such a scaredy cat that when I took her to a mild haunted house, she was so terrified that she dug her fingers into my arm and left bruises.

I made a casual comment to my husband that we should watch the first episode. We had no idea that we wouldn’t be able to stop until we were done.

If you’re reading this without having watched Stranger Things, I’ll keep the spoilers mild. I will make references to Season 2 characters and situations.

So, what’s so great about it?

1. There are few one-dimensional characters. The main characters aren’t perfect. They have flaws and problems, but at the end of the day, they’re interesting. I wanted them to win, and my heart started racing when they were in danger. The one-dimensional characters we see are not onscreen long enough to develop them. Even Billy (who was pretty close to being a one-dimensional bully) got some screen time showing slightly more depth.
2. The groups of kids (and adults) mostly work together. The four main characters, Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dusty, work as a team to solve problems. They argue sometimes, but ultimately they manage their disagreements. Nancy and Jonathan don’t always get along, but they put aside their differences to try to kill the big bad guy. I hate when, in movies or TV, the main characters are so busy arguing that they forget to focus on the real enemy. That doesn’t happen on this show.
3.  The female characters are strong. Every main character on this show, male and female, have agency. At times, everyone thinks Joyce is crazy, but all she cares about is communicating with her son. She vigorously defends herself and doesn’t seem to care what anyone thinks. Nancy is concerned about buying a new blouse and getting the popular guy to like her, but when she starts to realize bad stuff is going down in her town, she doesn’t hesitate to grab a gun and go hunting. She’s scared afterward and asks a friend to stay in her room with her, but it doesn’t stop her from fighting. El wants to look pretty so Mike likes her, but is the definition of badass. I read a criticism of the show that Maxine (Max) is only there so that Lucas and Dusty argue over her, trying to win her affections. The thing is that kids develop crushes in real life, so I felt that it was realistic. Max didn’t hesitate to get involved when they needed to help Will.
4. The male characters are strong without being chauvinists. At one point, Max asks Lucas if the boys won’t include her “because I’m a girl?” Lucas looks genuinely confused before exclaiming, “No!” The boys and girls all protect one another. Hopper is probably the male character who most often insists that he take the lead into danger. But it makes sense, because he’s the sheriff, and he protects everyone. Plus, his character makes it clear that he’s protective not because he thinks others are inadequate, but because he doesn’t want to lose anyone else.
5. The characters’ relationships are sometimes messy. Friends don’t get along all the time in real life. At one point, Lucas and Mike even get into a physical fight, as boys that age sometimes do. Barbara and Nancy argue over how Nancy is acting to get Steve to like her, but Barbara supports her anyway.
6. The 80s references. I see all kinds of articles talking about how my generation is nostalgic and loves 80s pop culture, and while I think that’s true, I think that everyone loves entertainment set in the 80s. It was such a colorful, interesting time. There are so many iconic things that signal the 80s that it’s hard not to love that decade.
7. The references to other horror movies/ books. People talk about how this show is “derivative,” as if that’s a negative. For my husband (who’s a huge movie buff), half the fun was saying, “That’s from Aliens!” or “That’s a reference to The Thing!”
8. It’s more about the characters than about the scary. When I asked a different friend why she liked the show, considering that it’s horror, she said that it wasn’t scary all the time. Mostly, it’s about a group of friends trying to find their missing friend. She said she just covers her eyes during the scary parts and makes sure her boyfriend watches it with her. I agree with her; the story has fantastic character development and I loved all the characters’ storylines.
9. The acting is fantastic. I am in awe of how talented these kids are. Millie Bobby Brown as El has only 42 lines in Season 1, so most of her acting is using body language and facial expressions. She does a fantastic job and is a nuanced character even without dialog. Will also has a lot of subtle things going on with him, and he does an amazing job of conveying it. The adult actors are great too. Winona Ryder does crazy without being over the top about it, and David Harbour plays the tortured sheriff in a way that made me want to slap him and give him a hug. I loved the addition of Sean Astin and Paul Reiser in Season 2.
10. The music! I almost never go out of my way to find TV show soundtracks, but when they include songs like “Should I Stay or Should I Go” by the Clash and “Heroes” by Peter Gabriel, I’m all in. Even the second season soundtrack, which is mostly instrumental, is great.

So, there you have it, all the reasons I loved Stranger Things and have spent the last four days binge watching it. Have you seen it yet? Did you love it or hate it?

Death Note, Not Really A Horror Movie

Last night, the husband and I were looking for something to watch on Netflix, and we came across this interesting looking “horror movie: called Death Note. The premise is that a teenage boy, Light (yes, that’s his name), comes across a leather journal labeled “Death Note.” In the book, there are a list of rules, but what it all boils down to is that if he writes down the name of the person while holding their face his his mind, they die. He can even pick the method.

He starts with the school bully. (That’s not a spoiler. If you couldn’t see that a million miles away, then this is probably the first movie you’ve ever watched.) Ryuk, presumably the creature who orchestrates the killings, appears to him and goads him into killing more people.

Sounds pretty cool, right? It’s apparently based on manga of the same name, and people who reviewed this vs. the manga on imdb.com said that the creators got most everything wrong.

I haven’t read the manga, but the story felt off to me. The whole time I was watching it, I wanted to like it. But it was too much like bad TV movie instead of the quality I’ve come to expect from Netflix originals. Even worse, the premise was fantastic, and I saw how it could have been great.

What I didn’t like (SPOILERS below):

1. It turned into a bad cop show. Now, I love cop shows. But this was supposed to be a horror movie. It was like a caricature, with the nameless “secret” detective not only believing that a single person could be responsible for the deaths of 400 people, but then figuring it out that it’s a teenage boy. Yes, Light has people leave his “signature” at their death scenes, but the police never heard of copycat crime?
2. No real exploration of human nature. The kid starts killing bad people, starting with the bully and then the guy who was responsible for his mother’s death. Which is totally understandable. Light starts dating this girl who’s obsessed with death. At first they’re just killing bad people: rapists and murderers. But when detectives start getting too close to them, Mia wants to kill the detectives and Light doesn’t. This could have been such an interesting storyline, but they just left it flat. Light was the good guy, Mia was the bad guy. Black and white.
3. The book falls from the sky. The first scene of the movie is that a storm rolls in, and the Death Note literally falls from the sky. Literally falls from the sky. Light picks it up and becomes the “keeper.” This is the dumbest way it could have happened to get the book. Off the top of my head, I can think of many better ways for this to happen. It’s too deus ex machina for me. But at least the opening scene set the stage for how the rest of the movie would go.
4. Light never wonders what happened to the last keeper(s) of the book. Ryuk alludes several times the previous keepers, but Light doesn’t seem to pick up on it. Ryuk says only the keeper can hold the book for more than 7 days. And that Light can either give the book away, or Ryuk can find a new keeper. But the way he said it made me wonder if the last one died, and how.
5.  I love when music blends seamlessly into the background, enhancing the mood. This didn’t do that. It led to that caricature-like atmosphere I mentioned before.
6. The ending was ambiguous. I like ambiguous endings, when appropriate. The ending of Inception was cool because it wasn’t lazy storytelling; it was part of the story. In this case, how it ended would change the message of the entire movie. I understand why the writers did it; to leave it open to the audience to determine, like a commentary on human nature. But the rest of the story didn’t do a good enough job of this to have it end this way.

One thing I really liked:

Other than the premise, the one thing I really liked about this show was the fact that people started worshipping “Kira,” the entity who took credit for the killings. Criminals started turning themselves in to police, instead of waiting for Kira to kill them where they were. I found those two things believable and interesting.

In conclusion:

Overall, it was interesting to watch once. I wouldn’t have been as disappointed by it as I was if it didn’t have such great potential. It’s just that I like when horror explores human nature, and this was a let-down.

Metaphors and Mad Science

Today’s blog is a guest post, presented by a friend from my critique group. 

Guest blog by Jeff Shaevel

Writers are constantly working with metaphors. Sometimes they’re direct, as in the phrase ”a tsunami of information.” Sometimes they’re indirect, as in Harry Potter, when J. K. Rowling uses the character Buckbeak as a metaphor for another character (Sirius Black) because both were persecuted for crimes they didn’t commit. Metaphors are powerful tools for improving readers’ experience by comparing to the known (the force of a tidal wave) or to something easier to relate to (the mistreatment of a beloved animal).

There’s another place where metaphors are important: game design. There are many abstract games—such as checkers, Go or most card games—that have no metaphor. The pieces are pieces. The rules are actions to be performed. No effort is made to relate the activity to anything in our world.

Many games, however, are enhanced with metaphors that give context, and sometimes they help make better sense of arbitrary rules. Chess, for example, has a military metaphor, the battle between two armies tearing each other apart and attacking the enemy king. Furthermore, the knight is usually represented by a horse (or figure on horseback) to help remind the players that, like the animal from which the metaphor is drawn, the piece can jump over other pieces.

In designing a game, picking the right metaphors can make all the difference in how much fun players have or how engaged they are in the action. “Chutes and Ladders”—a Milton Bradly game adapted from an ancient Indian game of “Snakes and Ladders”—depicts images of children performing good deeds, which result in a reward of climbing a ladder to further progress, and images of bad deeds, which result in falling down a chute to lose progress. A trivial exercise in shifting tokens becomes a series of stories about the consequences of good and bad actions, and much more fun.

My other half recently created a dice game and it took some effort to find the right metaphors to make the game both entertaining and educational. The game is “Mad Science!” and uses dice with scientific symbols (like atoms, beakers, and test tubes). The objective is to roll the dice to make sets of matching symbols. The more items that match, the higher the score. You can keep rolling, but dice that don’t match go into a “waste pile” and if, over time, more symbols end up matching there than you’ve scored, your lab explodes and you lose points paying to clean it up!

The game could have been about regular numbered dice and matching numbers, but the metaphor of the “waste pile” both makes it easier to remember the rules and gives people the opportunity to talk about science, experiments and the risks of explosions.

There is a campaign to get the game published, by the way. Please check it out on Kickstarter and let us know what you think.

What metaphors have increased your reading (or gaming) enjoyment?