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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2016 22:33:10 GMT
So the Dirk Gently show that the BBC made a couple of years ago starring Stephen Mangan and showrun by Howard Overman was pretty good. It didn't capture some of the more surreal tones of Douglas Adams but it was suitaly offbeat. However it got quite poor ratings and we only got 4 eps. Now..BBC America plan to make their own adaptation of Dirk Gently and instead of Howard Overman, it's gone Hollywood - Max Landis who wrote American Ultra, Chronicle and Victor Frankenstein will write all 8 episodes. Rather unusual choice. www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/news/a779344/douglas-adamss-dirk-gently-is-coming-to-tv-again-courtesy-of-max-landis-and-bbc-america/ |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2016 8:50:10 GMT
Don't know his work so not sure what to make if this, but was disappointed by the last version. stopped watching after the first couple - not deliberately, I could just never seem to summon up enough enthusiasm to sit down and watch the next episode. there was always something I'd rather put on instead. it's a shame as the two I watched were good, I can't work out what was wrong with them.
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Post by mrfuggleboppins on Jan 9, 2016 21:21:00 GMT
The last TV series was pretty good. But this should be keeping the American setting of the IDW comic series - which doesn't interest me in the slightest.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2016 10:19:42 GMT
I thought the last attempt for TV may have been decent tv but as a Dirk adaptation? It was a bit of a disaster that didn't have the guts to actually put Adams on screen. It buried the crazy plots from the books as sidestories or ignored them entirely.
And one crime that both the last TV attempt and IDW have made - and I think this new tv version will too - is casting Dirk as quite a handsome, thin guy who's something of a dashing rogue. Dirk in the books is overweight, unkempt and slovenly. He wears unfashionable clothes and has old thick lensed glasses. It says a lot that the best choice to adapt him wasn't even on screen or the comic page it was on radio - Harry Enfield played him and he's closer (though too old) for where Adam's Gently should be.
What the BBC TV series did is try and make him Jonathan Creek. What the IDW comics did is try and make him Doctor Who (with the art style of Chew). Neither are good fits for Gently. You've got two wonderful source books (and one sorta kinda odds and ends posthumou piece) by one of the most acclaimed writers ever - why throw that out to just copy other properties?
I'm going to go in with an open mind because if this fails...I don't think we'll every get another attempt.
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Post by J.A. Prentice on Jan 12, 2016 4:38:29 GMT
I really like both the books and the BBC 4 series (which wasn't cancelled due to low ratings. It was license fee nonsense.), so I'm tentatively looking forward to this. I'd agree that a less handsome Dirk would be a good idea, but I feel like that's not something a modern TV series would strongly consider. I'm not necessarily opposed to the American setting as long as Dirk himself remains British. I'm enjoying the IDW series, although it's not quite as good as it could be.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2016 23:38:14 GMT
We've got our main cast.
Dirk will be played by Samuel Barnett from Twenty Twelve, The History Boys and Jupiter Acending. He also played Hans in The Beast Of Orlok! Nice to have a BF connection.
The sidekick in this will not be Richard McDuff but instead a new character called Todd - played by Elijah Wood from, well, you know who Elijah Wood is.
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Post by SG. on Mar 30, 2016 0:49:59 GMT
I'm not too familiar with Dirk Gently but I absolutely love Max Landis. If you're into comics, read his current series Superman: American Alien, it's very good.
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Post by agentten on Mar 30, 2016 5:18:34 GMT
I hope they'll have faith in the source material. I'd argue that the Dirk Gently books are much harder to adapt than Hitchhiker's, largely due to the subtleties of some of the humor and the undercurrent of cosmic chaos that are integral to the stories but are also things not just any writer can pull off. I'm hopeful, though, I'd love to see a good adaptation. The Elijah Wood casting strikes me as solid. I don't know Samuel Barnett's work but I agree that Dirk should be kept unkempt and slovenly. It's an important part of the character. Dirk is supposed to make people vaguely uncomfortable all of the time and his personal grooming is an element of that.
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Post by mrperson on Apr 12, 2016 19:22:41 GMT
I'm hesitant about these things.
The zany nature of a Douglass Adams story is only about 20% of the pleasure. The other 80% is the absolutely hilarious manner in which he tells the story (ditto Terry Pratchet, except I think Adams is even funnier), and that's something that cannot translate to the screen. I've always vastly preferred read his books than seeing them in TV or movie format.
For similar reasons, I think LOTR is infinitely better than the LOTR movies, loved though the latter may be. You just can't translate hilarious or beautiful language to the screen. All you can do is present the story in the best way possible and try to stay true to dialogue. Maybe you can create some of the atmosphere, but at the end of the day, it's that descriptive language and/or random asides that lack. With some writers (the truly skilled), that element missing from the screen is irreplaceable.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2016 2:41:21 GMT
Hitchhiker's, for one, was a drama before it was a book so it's clear Adams wrote with both sensibilities. I'd also suggest the 80s series is as good as any version of that story - radio, film or stage so I don't think the page is sacred for his work since he was just as interested in other mediums. LOTR is a different beast. Tolkien was clearly not, like Adams, writing with drama in mind. He was writing tomes the likes of which he adored from Homer to Beowulf. The density of his work could never be recreated exactly but I'd argue that the Jackson films are masterpieces anyway. Huge commercial AND critical hits that resonated with audiences all over the world.
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