The more I've learned about the original novel, the less satisfied I've become with its official film adaptation, Village Of the Damned. So when I saw that they were updating it as a British television miniseries, I was excited. We could have a version with everything left out of the novel, and tackle some of the more adult themes a 1960 sci-fi flick wasn't prepared to deal with (for instance: abortion).
When I saw it was updated to present day and received middling reviews, however, I backed off. I didn't watch it until this week, when I finally whittled down my watch list to the bottom. But now I'm glad I finally got to it!
We don't need older novels updated to modern times, we really don't. I can apply everything Jane Austen is expressing in Mansfield Park to the relationships in my life perfectly well without a screenwriter turning Fanny Price into a coke-slinging EDM DJ at a hot London nightclub. But, honestly, the modernization didn't hurt this film at all. The change from a small village to a more plugged-in modern town doesn't wind up making too much of a difference, except them having to add a few throw-away lines like, "I posted about it on Facebook, and it was removed!" If that's what the producers felt they needed to do to secure network funding in 2022, fine; it's not important.
And yes, this series does get to more of the themes and nuance in the source material. It gives female characters more agency in a smart way. And the most famous scenes from both the film and the book are still here (the boiling kettle, the car crash, the bomb), just slightly adjusted to fit the new trappings. In a lot of ways, this is the fuller, more grown-up adaptation I always wanted.
But they made some dumb changes, too. They're not too destructive, but I wish somebody could've been on set to stop them. The inclusion of a 40 year-old "Child" doesn't add much, and makes the end anti-climatic to the point that it lead audiences and critics to expect a season 2 (but the show runner has assured us it was intended to be and will remain an enclosed, completed story). And the addition of a good Child is just schmaltzy and counter to the themes of the story they're telling. But if you put it out of your mind and make a conscious effort not to let it bother you, it doesn't change much in the end. Everything good about this story is still there.
So yes, it's flawed and I can see why it didn't make a splash. But seeing as how this likely has shut the door on anybody else taking a stab at this novel for at least another decade, it's nice that they got so much right. I's not perfect, but it's underrated. Is it better than the 1960 film? I don't know (it's certainly better than the 90's remake, that's for sure). The original still holds up - those kids were great. But I wish this show was a little better appreciated, too. It's quite good.
When I saw it was updated to present day and received middling reviews, however, I backed off. I didn't watch it until this week, when I finally whittled down my watch list to the bottom. But now I'm glad I finally got to it!
We don't need older novels updated to modern times, we really don't. I can apply everything Jane Austen is expressing in Mansfield Park to the relationships in my life perfectly well without a screenwriter turning Fanny Price into a coke-slinging EDM DJ at a hot London nightclub. But, honestly, the modernization didn't hurt this film at all. The change from a small village to a more plugged-in modern town doesn't wind up making too much of a difference, except them having to add a few throw-away lines like, "I posted about it on Facebook, and it was removed!" If that's what the producers felt they needed to do to secure network funding in 2022, fine; it's not important.
And yes, this series does get to more of the themes and nuance in the source material. It gives female characters more agency in a smart way. And the most famous scenes from both the film and the book are still here (the boiling kettle, the car crash, the bomb), just slightly adjusted to fit the new trappings. In a lot of ways, this is the fuller, more grown-up adaptation I always wanted.
But they made some dumb changes, too. They're not too destructive, but I wish somebody could've been on set to stop them. The inclusion of a 40 year-old "Child" doesn't add much, and makes the end anti-climatic to the point that it lead audiences and critics to expect a season 2 (but the show runner has assured us it was intended to be and will remain an enclosed, completed story). And the addition of a good Child is just schmaltzy and counter to the themes of the story they're telling. But if you put it out of your mind and make a conscious effort not to let it bother you, it doesn't change much in the end. Everything good about this story is still there.
So yes, it's flawed and I can see why it didn't make a splash. But seeing as how this likely has shut the door on anybody else taking a stab at this novel for at least another decade, it's nice that they got so much right. I's not perfect, but it's underrated. Is it better than the 1960 film? I don't know (it's certainly better than the 90's remake, that's for sure). The original still holds up - those kids were great. But I wish this show was a little better appreciated, too. It's quite good.