A lot of people complain that movie Hermione was too idealized, her flaws way too diminished, I think the changes were pretty minor but I still also do tend to prefer movie Hermione, that she was just a lot less scolding-nagging-preachy. Some claim that that caused her to have less growth over time but I think with the books in a lot of book 6 she was at or near her worst.
The teaser trailer for the HBO Max Harry Potter series landed this afternoon.
I wasn't feeling this before, and I am feeling it even less now. There's a good comment I saw on Twitter that, to my surprise, captured my sense of ennui about the whole thing: "against all odds, I was fully unprepared for just how off-putting and uncomfortable this would be to watch. something about seeing such a classically-crafted, iconic film series translated into the aesthetics of a modern HBO prestige streamer show just feels uncanny valley wrong."
I wasn't feeling this before, and I am feeling it even less now. There's a good comment I saw on Twitter that, to my surprise, captured my sense of ennui about the whole thing: "against all odds, I was fully unprepared for just how off-putting and uncomfortable this would be to watch. something about seeing such a classically-crafted, iconic film series translated into the aesthetics of a modern HBO prestige streamer show just feels uncanny valley wrong."
Off-putting is a good description for it. It's like stepping into something that you know looks familiar, yet something feels very off. It technically looks OK, but I don't feel any of the magic via the trailer. It only reinforces my feeling that they could have done so much more than just repeating what's already been made. They have a whole wizarding world to explore, ie new schools, different possible timelines, yet they chose to repeat these same stories, and it's not like there's a lack of potential for telling new stories in the world.
It's not the same without John Williams music. Music felt generic
Something about it felt too manufactured. It doesn't look as grand as the movies.
It also feels like they don't WANT you to know about the movies and to pretend this is the first adaptation
"Based on the beloved books by J.K Rowling"
Which yes makes sense. These will be closer to the books but something feels off
Something about it felt too manufactured. It doesn't look as grand as the movies.
It also feels like they don't WANT you to know about the movies and to pretend this is the first adaptation
"Based on the beloved books by J.K Rowling"
Which yes makes sense. These will be closer to the books but something feels off
And that's before you get to the awfulness of Rowling and how watching this series supports her views.
I just don't have any interest in this series and I'm still disappointed by Lithgow (and his half-assed response to the controversy).
Good point about the music. It hadn't even occured to me, and it does feel decidedly more generic. It does feel too manufactured as well, which goes with my comment that I don't feel any of the magic. It has the feel of something that's very calculated, yet has none of the warmth that the movies had. Which makes me feel bad for the kids, as no matter how good they are in this, they'll be forever compared to their movie counterparts, which doesn't feel fair to them.
Seeing Hagrid in this version only makes me realize just how perfectly he was cast in the movies. No matter how good Nick Frost is, he still looks like a Spirit of Halloween knockoff.
I'm as opposed to this show on principle as much as anyone, and I also wonder where Williams' music is, but, I dunno, the visuals and sets look pretty damn solid to me. It's a fantasy tale set in Northern Britain/Scotland in the fall/winter/spring, so yeah, it's not going to be the most colorful and sunny series ever made; dark and earthy tones amidst Gothic architecture are kinda the whole game. If I were the sort who wanted eight-hour versions of each book, without any drastic re-imagining, I imagine I'd be pretty happy with this preview.
No.
Lithgow, being a huge loser, pathetically caved in and said what was expected of him. But I suppose it's never enough, is it?
That's exactly what it's like for the Villeneuve Dune movies. And pretty much every new version of The Parent Trap.
They have boxes to tick. Some of them were ticked in weird ways. And some of them were changed in ways that make no sense. As a lot of people pointed out, there is no way that some people won't take the dislike the Marauders had for Snape and the dislike the younger kids have for Snape as anything more than racism, rather than dislike for his personality and standoffishness. And that was never supposed to be the point about Snape. But modern audiences will make it the point.
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Yeah, it looks, as in the actual visuals, pretty good, but it just feels like a pale imitation of the movies. And it's really going to have work hard to justify it's existence, and then you have to added controversy of JK Rowling is just going to make things harder on the series.
I have such mixed feelings on this, I pretty much hate JK Rowling at this point, and I can't stand the thought of doing anything that supports her, but at the same time I love the franchise and am curious how it turns out.
Personally, I really just done something with a completely original concept without JK Rowling. My two ideals would have been a prequel about Harry's parents during the original war with Voldemort, or a sequel about Harry & Ron's time as Aurors.
I have such mixed feelings on this, I pretty much hate JK Rowling at this point, and I can't stand the thought of doing anything that supports her, but at the same time I love the franchise and am curious how it turns out.
Personally, I really just done something with a completely original concept without JK Rowling. My two ideals would have been a prequel about Harry's parents during the original war with Voldemort, or a sequel about Harry & Ron's time as Aurors.
My thought back when the series was announced was to adapt the books... but from a different perspective. What's life like over in Ravenclaw tower? How do they view the doings of Harry and his crew? Where does their story intersect with the story of the books?
I'm forgiving of the actors, because acting is a tough and precarious profession that goes through feasts and a ton of famines. And a Harry Potter television series is pretty much a guaranteed paycheck.
Yes, the series is going to make a bugfuck bigot richer than she already is. But it's also going to keep a roof over the heads and food on the table of a whole lot of people, both in front of and behind the camera.
It's complex.
The day Robbie Coltrane died, and I was a fan of his through a hell of a lot of things, I couldn't go on working that day. It was rainy and a bit on the cold side. I drove to the other side of town and went to Fuddrucker's for a late lunch. I sat there for a while, just in a state of shock. My sister told me later that when she told my niece, she was inconsolable. There will never be another Robbie Coltrane.
My issue with Nick Frost was not the look. It was the voice. That voice doesn't say "Hagrid" to me. Maybe it will be overdubbed or some deepening effect put on it. Right now, it's not Hagrid.
I once had a dream about an awesome spin-off movie.
Sometime after the book/movie series, the world's greatest dragon hunter is John Malkovich.
And John Malkovich is a muggle.
Yes, the Ministry of Magic must turn to a freakin' muggle to solve a little dragon problem, and John Malkovich and some snot-behind-the-ears know-it-all recent magical academy grad is assigned as his unwilling and unwanted partner by the Ministry.
It was awesome in my dream. Malkovich had a goatee and an Indiana Jones-esque fedora, and he kept having to pull Snot-Ears out of jams while saying, "You think you're so hot with your magic? See? Who just pulled your ass out of the fire?" Or words to that effect.
In a way, I guess the Fantastic Beasts movies have kind of that format -- wizards and muggles working together on magical matters.
But they don't have John Malkovich.
I refuse to even stream the trailer because I want absolutely nothing to do with Rowling's works. Nothing about this series is appealing.
At the end of the day, I feel sorry for the kids that got cast in this. Anything they earn in reputation and economically will be tainted by Rowling.
That's a fair and valid look at the situation. To be clear, I don't hate Lithgow, just disappointed.I'm forgiving of the actors, because acting is a tough and precarious profession that goes through feasts and a ton of famines. And a Harry Potter television series is pretty much a guaranteed paycheck.
Yes, the series is going to make a bugfuck bigot richer than she already is. But it's also going to keep a roof over the heads and food on the table of a whole lot of people, both in front of and behind the camera.
It's complex.
While I agree that this a massive paycheck for all of those involved, this very production is still harmful for those in the trans community. Further financing Rowling continues to fuel her crusade against that community, including through the J.K. Rowling Women's Fund which the LGBTQ+ news outlet Them calls "a euphemism for the anti-trans advocacy to which she has devoted herself and, seemingly, every waking hour of her life."
I agree it's a complex situation. While I wouldn't go as far as hating those involved with the series or turning on those who watch the series (as I've already seen on social media), I refuse to support the show in any manner.
Which, of course, begs the question of why I'm in this thread and the simple answer is to engage those who are interested in the show regarding how it impacts Rowling.
That does indeed sound amazing. If there was ever a way to separate Rowling from Harry Potter and create stories within it without financing her, I would be curious to see such stories produced in whatever form.
Yup, I'm not clicking on that trailer here or anywhere else.
Yeah, I feel bad for them as well. They most likely have no idea of the complex situation here. I'm just happy at least Radcliffe, Watson, Grint, and Lewis have all been vocally pro-trans and aren't afraid to speak out against Rowling (even to the point of Rowling attacking them in return as she did with Watson not too long ago).
Has anyone caught Daniel's new NBC series with Tracy Morgan?
He plays a director documenting ex-football player Morgan as he's involved in some sort of scandal.
I caught a brief bit Monday night where Daniel was talking to the camera and he said this, "I once watched a sloth commit suicide. It took four days. I don't know where he got the gun."
He plays a director documenting ex-football player Morgan as he's involved in some sort of scandal.
I caught a brief bit Monday night where Daniel was talking to the camera and he said this, "I once watched a sloth commit suicide. It took four days. I don't know where he got the gun."
The thumb looks AI. I'm not giving Rowling a click. Screw that.
Yeah, sometimes just ticking the boxes is not enough. I feel like the movies were passion projects in some way. This on the other hand feels like they're just doing it to do it. And Is it fair to say the kids look bored? They don't look engaged. The scene on the train is a perfect example of this. Radcliffe and the other kids were all looking more engaged knowing they were going off to Hogwarts, like they were on some grand adventure.
That would certainly be one way to do it, and perhaps they'll do some of that seeing as they'll technically have more time via a TV series, but if say the series is only 10 episodes per season, as seems to be the trend, then they likely won't offer new perspectives. And that's what is so frustrating about all this. It'd be like remaking SW beat by beat as a TV series, where at some point you'd have to realize they'll never be able to capture lightning in a bottle twice. Not to mention that you have so much more of a world left to explore than to repeat what's already been done. And rather than honor what came before, you'd doing yourself a disservice, to the fans and to the franchise. There is just so much to the world to explore, yet they just take a straight line. I can't even fathom that.
That bothered me too. It doesn't have that grandiose eloquence to it that comes with such a big man as Hagrid. I can't imagine him saying "You're a wizard, Harry!"
If it makes you feel any better, I've kind of imagined more of that for this series. Anything but a repeat of the movies, really. Maybe an anthology series following different schools each season. Or if there are franchising opportunities, maybe localized versions featuring different countries and their wizarding schools.
In the one little glimpse we get of him as Dumbledore, I hardly recognized him.
Get thee to AO3 (Archive Of Our Own) or fanfiction.net. There are over a MILLION Harry Potter stories/HP crossovers on those two sites alone. And there are other fanfiction sites I've vaguely heard of but haven't found.
There are some stories I've been following for years, and in one case the author updates it like clockwork every Tuesday except when she's sick or on holidays. We've been able to correspond via the comment section, and so help me, she named a character after my dad. I just about cried (happy tears).
How that came about was Hermione was pregnant, the author asked us for baby name suggestions (keeping in mind that she already had a short list but might change it if another really good suggestion came along). Somewhere in that conversation about names, I mentioned the situation in my own childhood when my dad acquired 3 adult geese and a gosling as payment for fixing someone's vehicle (this was in the 1960s and he ran an automotive repair shop in our garage on the acreage).
The geese came with names. One of those names happened to be the same as my dad's middle name. We had a good laugh about it.
Several chapters later, Hermione had the baby. It was a boy. And the name she gave him was my dad's middle name (or the gander's name, however you want to look at it). The author told me this is why the baby was given that name.
The actual story is Wind Up All the Clocks. The premise is that 6 years after the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry and Ginny are married. Ron and Hermione have split up and Ron marries Astoria Greengrass. Hermione is single... and then the Ministry of Magic brings in a marriage law.
So many wizarding people had been killed in the war, and the Ministry was concerned about the birth rate. So they brought in a law stating that all single people between the ages of 17-55 would have to marry and have 2 children within 10 years. They would have a little time to find someone, and then go into a matching pool. From there, they would have 3 chances to refuse the match chosen for them. After the third rejection, the fourth match would be compulsory.
Hermione's almost out of matches. She's rejected Goyle and Draco. The owl delivers the third one, and they all get a shock. The name is...
Arthur Weasley.
Ron is horrified, and Hermione is shocked. Not that Arthur's name is in the pool, since in this story Fred and George are fine, but Molly and Bill died in the fighting. Arthur has been a widower for 6 years, and he's only 54, so is still eligible for this law.
Hermione agrees to marry him, mainly because she trusts Arthur not to be cruel to her, and because she's terrified of being forced to marry someone like Lucius Malfoy (soon to be released from Azkaban and he's also a widower because Narcissa had killed herself).
Anyway, the story has been going on for years now, and I just read Chapter 202 yesterday.
Another story I'm reading has me in stitches. The Muggle Death Eater and His Daughter is hilarious. The Malfoys run across the Grangers in Diagon Alley when the kids are shopping for school supplies. Lucius Malfoy happens to see that Hermione's father has a cadeucis tattoo on his left forearm... and immediately thinks it's a different sort of Dark Mark. Richard Granger happens to make a few comments that accidentally give Malfoy the impression that not only is he a Death Eater, but he's replaced Sirius Black as Voldemort's right-hand man.
This sets the stage for a completely different dynamic for Hermione and Draco (they're only 1st-years at this point), and Narcissa and Linda (Hermione's mother) become friends. I'm only up to chapter 9 so far (the Quidditch World Cup is about to start), so I have no idea how it's going to turn out. I'm enjoying it immensely, though.
And if fanfiction isn't your thing, how about fan films? There are some very good ones about the Black sisters, and about Neville's parents.
And how about this tribute to Severus Snape?
Honestly, there's so much more story without putting a cent in Rowling's pockets.
Yet every so often someone pops up to suggest just that -- not necessarily a show, but a remake.