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Stephen King's Under the Dome at Showtime

Temis the Vorta

Temis the Vorta

Fleet Admiral
Admiral
Under the Dome.

In one of Showtime’s most ambitious undertakings, the pay cable network is partnering with Steven Spielberg and Stephen King for Under the Dome, a drama series based on King’s 2009 novel, which will be produced by DreamWorks Television. The supernatural thriller revolves around locals at a Maine vacation spot who battle one another when a force field suddenly surrounds their town and cuts them off from the rest of the world.
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Sounds reminiscent of Haven but since it's on Showtime, I'd expect it to be a whoooole lot better and for starters, actually seem like something Stephen King would write.
 
Temis the Vorta said:
Under the Dome.

In one of Showtime’s most ambitious undertakings, the pay cable network is partnering with Steven Spielberg and Stephen King for Under the Dome, a drama series based on King’s 2009 novel, which will be produced by DreamWorks Television. The supernatural thriller revolves around locals at a Maine vacation spot who battle one another when a force field suddenly surrounds their town and cuts them off from the rest of the world.
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Sounds reminiscent of Haven but since it's on Showtime, I'd expect it to be a whoooole lot better and for starters, actually seem like something Stephen King would write.
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So I take it you didn't actually read the novel?

It was good, but the end was kind of hokey...
 
Nope, and I don't want any spoilers! :D

But since they're adapting it for TV, who knows what the plotline will be. A closed ended novel won't translate exactly to an open ended TV series (just look at the hugs differences between Dexter the novel series and Dexter the TV series.) Novel spoilers may not even matter, too soon to tell.
 
Temis the Vorta said:
Sounds reminiscent of Haven
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In that they're both inspired by Stephen King stories set in small towns in Maine. After that they have no similarities whatsoever. There's one unchanging genre phenomenon key to the whole story (the dome), and no strange magic phenomena or creature of the week like Haven.

Under the Dome is more of a psychological struggle for power mixed with an apocalypse in a fishbowl like the Stanford Prison Experiment meets Jericho meets The Simpson's Movie (specifically the dome over Springfield).

I hope they go for a miniseries format instead of a multi-season series, because if they do that they're just going to stretch the story out to hell and back where no developments of significance are going to happen except at the end of the season. If they tell a tight story in ten or so episodes it can be fantastic though. The whole story of the book doesn't last that long, so hopefully they take their cue from that and don't drag it out too long.
 
I don't see any indication in that story that they're planning to keep it to a miniseries. Showtime really needs an ongoing sf/f series. I've been waiting for them to announce something (and hoping it would be Star Trek, oh well.)

But if the story is psychological warfare with supernatural overtones, there's plenty that can be developed from that premise. The show writers will expand on the novel as needed, which is why nobody needs to fret that the novel had a stupid ending. Who knows what the show's ending is going to be.
 
I loved the book and with some retooling I think that it can be made into a good ongoing series. If Frank Darabont were put in charge of it I could see it turning into something awesome.
 
okay another great show that I can't wait for. I loved the book. all so you may want to check out mile 81.
 
I just read a spoiler in the Deadline comments about the ending. Yikes. :rommie: If they used that, it would make the Lost furor look like child's play. (No spoiler intended.)

Anyone who's read the book, can you provide brief descriptions of the major characters and maybe some ideas for actors who could play them?
 
Temis the Vorta said:
I just read a spoiler in the Deadline comments about the ending. Yikes. :rommie: If they used that, it would make the Lost furor look like child's play. (No spoiler intended.)

Anyone who's read the book, can you provide brief descriptions of the major characters and maybe some ideas for actors who could play them?
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I can't remember enough to name names, but I remember the Second Selectman (a town councilor) distinctly. He's the main power grabber of the book, a big man who's always used his position to garner power behind the scenes of town government and sees the coming of the dome as a huge opportunity. While I was reading it I could only think of him being played by John Goodman.

Actually, it just occurred to me that Seth Rogan would be good for another bad guy, one of the new Sheriff's Deputies/thugs that get brought on to help instill martial law in the town. Maybe even the Second Selectman's son.
 
They should just do a remake of The Stand instead. That was Stephen King's best novel. It wasn't the Dark Tower and certainly not that crappy Under the Dome.
 
Temis the Vorta said:
That explains why someone in the Deadline comments is ranting about John Goodman. :D
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Only reason I can think of. It's like the character was written for him.

Dream said:
They should just do a remake of The Stand instead. That was Stephen King's best novel. It wasn't the Dark Tower and certainly not that crappy Under the Dome.
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No, Carrie was his best novel, and that's been remade enough.
 
JWD75 said:
I loved the book and with some retooling I think that it can be made into a good ongoing series. If Frank Darabont were put in charge of it I could see it turning into something awesome.
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Since AMC so rudely kicked him off of The Walking Dead, he's now available.

I was recently watching the first part of The Stand on Netflix, and I cringed when I heard one of the characters say "Bullcrap!" So I love the fact that this will be on Showtime. It doesn't have to obey the silly broadcast network rules of no cursing, etc.

I've been planning on reading the book for a while now. Looks like I can bump it up in the queue.

Sean
 
Admiral2 said:
No, Carrie was his best novel, and that's been remade enough.
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I disagree. Carrie was good but he improved greatly as a writter with his later works like Salem's Lot and The Shining.

I consider The Stand to be his Magnum opus. IT was a close second.
 
Dream said:
Admiral2 said:
No, Carrie was his best novel, and that's been remade enough.
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I disagree. Carrie was good but he improved greatly as a writter with his later works like Salem's Lot and The Shining.

I consider The Stand to be his Magnum opus. IT was a close second.
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Then we do disagree. I consider the three C's - Carrie, Christine and Cujo - the ultimate trifecta of Stephen King Awesomeness. The Stand is boring, and after I saw the mini-series I didn't feel compelled to read IT.

BTW, Under The Dome isn't complete crap. It's a great study in human nature under adverse conditions...until you get to the ending.
 
Under the Dome was a good read. I wasn't bothered by the ending. I can see them stretching this out over a couple of seasons quite easily as far as the "what happens when people are cut off" angle. But I don't know if that's enough to keep people interested over several seasons.
 
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