The Stephen King Megathread

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Starbreaker, Jan 28, 2011.

  1. label

    label Vice Admiral Admiral

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    You and I have very different definitions of ABC After-school specials. ;)

    The one's I watched did not have an almost the entire town get massacred - mostly at each others hands - all because some advanced species wanted to have a little "fun".

    I understand what your saying, but I felt that the book did a great job holding a mirror up to the human race and how we are often capable of similar, unspeakable cruelty and how little it really takes for us to walk through that door. Plus, I think it' s also accurate that every once in a while we acknowledge the pleas for mercy and take a little pity even if there's little or no remorse for the pain we've inflicted.

    Honestly, given how much death there is and how gruesome some of it is in this story compared some others I've read I really don't know how you thought it was a Kumbaya moment just because the alien race decided not to kill every last person in the town.
     
  2. Starbreaker

    Starbreaker Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    The fact that you've liked everything of his is reason to read more. I didn't think I'd really like his Dark Tower stuff, but I love it so far. I think his straight up horror stuff is even better, though.
     
  3. Admiral2

    Admiral2 Admiral Admiral

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    I watched that series religiously when I was a kid. If we have different definitions you weren't watching the same shows I was.

    Of course not, but they did all end with a message about life, which is out of place in a story about the situation you just described.

    Absolutely true.

    Not all of us and not always, or else there wouldn't have been half as much carnage as there was in the story, and that's why an ending that eludes to bullies showing mercy detracts from the rest of the story.

    Because it was an easy, heart-tugging moment that couldn't possibly have happened if the aliens were truly alien in their thought process. How could they even have understood the concept of mercy without the example of the Merciful Little Girl Bully in someone's head?

    Here's my mindset: Remember that my favorite King stories all have Good&Evil, Life&Death struggles at the end. A couple of those battles may have been one-sided, but, well, nobody sat there and begged Carrie "Please, stop"...and Carrie didn't stop until she pretty much nuked the town.

    And Carrie's not even alien.

    It was a silly ending.
     
  4. label

    label Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Speaking for myself, I would have been pretty depressed if I read that book, got to know all those people, watched them struggle to survive, begin to care about their lives (especially that boy on the farm left alone by himself) and just to have them all die.........I dunno......given the set up and the story about the bullies and the obvious corollaries between that story and the aliens I really don't see how he could have ended it differently unless one of two things happened.

    Despite their pleas for mercy, it falls on alien, deaf ears and they all die

    or

    some techno-babble answer about temporarily defeating the force shield and letting a small group escape. The first would have been depressing (much like the end of the movie version of the Mist) and the second would have been like a Star Trek solution to a problem.

    What would you have preferred to happen in the last 100 pages....? They discover the device at the barn, they recognize a malevolent alien presence..... then what?

    That's just it......there's no struggle and no potential for struggle........like ants under a magnifying glass, they are completely subject to the whims of their captors....that was one of the central points of the story in the end.
     
  5. Joel_Kirk

    Joel_Kirk Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Random post:

    I want to see Julia Stiles as the lead in an adaptation of 'The Breathing Method.'
     
  6. timothy

    timothy Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I've read the first book in the series loved took a break now that all seven are aviable on the nook I plan on reading all of them before the trilogy comes out.
    anyone see episode of family guy were stephen run's into dean koontz and he wants
    to work together on a novel . then kills him with his car which is christine.:mallory::devil::evil:
     
  7. Admiral2

    Admiral2 Admiral Admiral

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    This would be preferable for a horror story. The ending doesn't always have to be happy.

    Your option one, like I said.

    Which means their captors have absolutely no reason to show mercy, and realistically, they wouldn't have.

    It was a cheap tearjerker cop-out.


    So...you want to see Julia Stiles in a movie where she'll be headless for most of the third act?
     
  8. Joel_Kirk

    Joel_Kirk Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yeah, that will be kind of weird.

    It's a heartbreaking story about a woman shunned by society, then suddenly turns into a horrific decapitation...:alienblush:
     
  9. Starbreaker

    Starbreaker Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    That's not what happens. Brian runs over who he thinks is King and apologizes. The guy then says he's Dean Koontz and Brian proceeds to back over him again.
     
  10. timothy

    timothy Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    there is that also . they have done three episodes with king in them the one your talking about is the first one . the one I am talking about is the third one there is one where peter hits im he flies in the air and say's this would make a great story scribles it down and lands on his and say;s done. now has anyone read just after sunset?
    and how many of his books coinside with his gunslinger series I know the mist and heart's in atlantis do what others.:devil::mallory::evil:

    currently watching season 3 of supernatural then onto season 2 of v.
    currently reading star trek articles of the federation & star wars knight errant.
     
  11. Starbreaker

    Starbreaker Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Salem's Lot (father Callahan)
    The Stand (Randall Flagg)
    The Eyes of the Dragon
    Insomnia
    It
    The Talisman

    Almost everything has references.

    Link
     
  12. timothy

    timothy Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    okay thanks for that link . you ever watch kingdom hospital or golden years?

    currently watching season 3 of supernatural then onto season 2 of V.
    currently reading star trek articles of the federation & star wars knight errant.

    Then onto the games of throne and then the dark tower series .

    and how about ROSE RED where did that come from.
     
  13. Admiral2

    Admiral2 Admiral Admiral

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    I loved Golden Years.


    Kingdom Hospital, not so much. (The evil giant anteater ruined it for me.)
     
  14. Starbreaker

    Starbreaker Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Finally to the point in The Waste Lands where I gave up on it ten years ago... and I made it a little further this time. :)
     
  15. label

    label Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I don't know how any one gives up in that book.....I find that for myself, the earlier books are the high points and I generally fly through the first 4 books in no time flat. By the time I've hit The Drawing of the Three I'm in full speed ahead mode and nothing really slows me down until I get to the Wolves of Calla, about half-way through where it starts to be a bit more tedious to get through. Song of S. isn't bad to get through but parts of the The Dark Tower are also a bit slow as well.
     
  16. Ubik

    Ubik Commodore Commodore

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    There'a a reason the first 4 books of Dark Tower are all fantastic - he wrote them years apart, and only when he felt the urge. Then, after his car accident, he started to feel mortal, and decided to get them finished before he died. As a result, books 5 and 6 are a bit tedious, not as memorable or powerful. On the other hand, book 7, the finale, is one of the best books he ever wrote, and that's saying something. Books 5 and 6 are not terrible at all, and they're certainly worth getting through for the epic book 7.
     
  17. Starbreaker

    Starbreaker Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Well, there's just a large section where nothing much happens. I'm loving it this time around though.
     
  18. label

    label Vice Admiral Admiral

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  19. Starbreaker

    Starbreaker Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Pet Sematary remake back on track. Link
     
  20. timothy

    timothy Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    children of the corn remake on sy fy today @ 4 pm if anyone is enterested.:bolian:

    currently reading star trek articles of the federation and star wars knight errant.:drool::drool::drool:

    currently watching supernatural season 3 and season 2 of V.:rofl::rofl::rofl:

    I am admitedly a BOOKAHOLIC I do two books a week plus comics and graphics:beer::barf::beer::barf:

    I am a reader not a gamer! R.O.D:brickwall: