I don’t know about other people, but I get really annoyed
when I’m watching a TV show or movie made from a best-selling novel and the
scriptwriters completely change the story. The one sticking in my craw right
now is HBO’s Game of Thrones TV series.
Up to now it’s been a fine production. Yes, there have been some “revisions” to
the story line along the way, but I’ve written them off as necessary due to the
limitations of putting the books on the screen. Now however, the writers have
gone way off course, and it’s Game of
Thrones in a parallel universe! Then there’s that nagging little problem where
George R. R. Martin hasn‘t finished the book version yet, and all of us are
hanging on by our nails waiting for The
Winds of Winter to come out. Where, oh where do we go from here? What happened
to Griff and Little Griff?
In this day where less people read and most watch TV,
watching a story on screen does not mean you know what happened in the book. That’s
been true for a long time. But the book was great for a reason, and what
entitles scriptwriters to screw around with that? If I sold rights to a story,
I would insist that the scriptwriters had to remain faithful to my creative
vision. Okay, so you can’t tell the story in an hour or even two-and-a-half hours.
Admit defeat and don’t try. Do a series or a mini-series—or, as in the case of Lord of the Rings, or The Hobbit, do several movies. Or, don’t
even try to put it on film! Let people actually read the story if it’s so
important. The first few attempts to put Lord
of the Rings and The Hobbit on film
were complete fiascos, and most folks believed film versions were impossible.
My husband Sam doesn’t even want to watch Game of Thrones anymore, and I’m
obviously disgusted. I suppose Daenerys will be disappearing down a rabbit hole
next. I’m equally certain that HBO doesn’t give a fig what I think. Stay tuned—I’m
still wondering how they plan to pull it all off!
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