Sci Fi Alert

It’s not a real surprise, but according to SyFy Portal The Dresden Files is dead.  I could never really get into the series.  It was poorly cast and the producers seemed to go out of their way to distance the show from the magic that was so integral to the novels.  It was just poorly exedcuted.  These novels would be better served by a series of TV movies written and produced by people who really get the novels.

SyFy Portal is reporting there’s a good chance Sci Fi Channel will not renew The Dresden Files.  I can’t say I’d be surprised by this development.  The series was not all that good and I never — ever — liked Paul Blackstone in the role of Harry Dresden.  Rumor has it the job was offered to James Marsters (Buffy and Angel’s Spike), but Marsters turned it down because he didn’t want to live in Canada to film the series.  While Marsters is, like Blackthorne, too old for the part I think he would have been a better choice; could have inhabited the role better.  Another issue I had with the series was it’s lack of magic.  Sure, I get the series is probably made on a shoestring budget, but it seemed like the writers and producers were more interested in making a police procedural drama with a smidgen of magic, and to me that’s just not the Dresden novels Jim Butcher created.  Magic in inherent to these novels and it should be inherent to the series.  Additionally, the people behind the series changed too much of that what made these novels interesting and a joy to read.  The novels would have been better served as several made-for-television movies.

After eagerly anticipating the TV series based Jim Butcher’s fantastic books The Dresden Files, I have to say I was more often than not disappointed in the TV show.  It wasn’t completely terrible, but it just wasn’t all that great either.  There were some good things about it.  I liked that they gave Harry’s spirit assistance, Bob, a human form.  It works in a visual medium like TV to have Bob in a human form and Terrence Mann is perfect in the role and his interaction with Paul Blackthorne is one of the best things about the series.  Blackthorne, however, is a different issue.  From the beginning I though he was too old for the role and while the actor has certainly inhabited the role well, making it his own, I still think someone five to ten years younger would have been a better choice.  I also wasn’t a big fan of Valerie Cruz has Murphy, but I think that had mostly to do with the lack of development for the character.  In the novels Murphy is such a strong character, a good foil for Harry’s naiveté, but in the series that role is reversed.  Murphy is the naive one and it detracts from the character.  I will say by the end of the first season that was beginning to change and by the season finale, “Second City,” a stronger Murphy was beginning to appear.
All of that was fine, for the most part, because first seasons of TV series are always slow to develop the supporting characters.  More time was spent this first season of The Dresden Files on developing the character of Harry and setting up his conflict with the High Council of Wizards.  So that was understandable, but what really began annoying was the lack of magic (and don’t get me started on Harry’s staff being turned into a hockey stick!).  Magic is such a major part of the
Dresden novels yet the writers and producers seemed more interested creating a detective series; a poor man’s The Night Stalker.  I’m sure some of that is a budget constraint and it did start to improve as the series progressed, but to have a series about a wizard lacking in what makes him a wizard is just shoddy writing and a lack of understanding for the series and the characters.
I don’t want to leave anyone with the impression that The Dresden Files series is not watchable because it really is.  The problem for anyone who’s read Butcher’s wonderful novels is that the series is lacking some of the essence of the books that made them so much fun to read and quite addictive.  The series certainly has lit a fire under Sci Fi’s ratings numbers, but it seems to do respectable compared to their other shows, so I don’t know if it will return for a second season.  If it does, I hope the writers use the opportunity to develop Harry’s world a little more, bring in some more of the supporting characters from the novels, and bring in some damned magic.  He’s a wizard, after all, and a very powerful one at that.  It would also be nice if Sci Fi took the series off Sundays and paired it with something else besides Battlestar Galactica.  They are just not that compatible.  Dresden is much more compatible with shows like Doctor Who or Eureka.  Put BSG back on Fridays following Stargate where it belongs.

OK, this series is beginning to annoy me just a little bit. Why are the producers trying to make a bad version of The Night Stalker? Why do the producers seem like they don’t want Harry Dresden to be and act like the wizard he’s supposed to be? Other than cheesey ghost effects there seems to be very little magic involved in a series about magic. Annoying! I’m not even going to go into the plot of this episode, it was just too stupid. I hope the writers of this series realize they have to embrace more aspects of the novels than they are currently doing or it will fail.

So, I tuned into the Sci Fi Channel’s news original series, The Dresden Files. I went into this with some trepidation. Having read the books upon which the series is based for several years, and enjoying the hell out of them, I wasn’t thrilled with some of the choices and changes they made. Well, having now watched the series I can say that some of it worked, some of it didn’t, but it’s a very watchable series.
***SPOILERS***

Harry Dresden: I still believe Paul Blackthorne is too old to play this character. Part of what makes Harry of the novels so enjoyable is his still youthful naivete. It’s impossible for Paul Blackthorne to pull something like that off and he doesn’t even try. All that being said, for the series that aired Blackthorne was good in the role. He was able to capture some of the klutziness of the character not to mention the sarcasm. From what I understand, James Marsters, who reads the audiobook versions of the novels, was offered the role, but he wasn’t interested in moving to Vancouver if the series was picked up. Marsters would have been, I think, a perfect choice.

Bob: In the novels, Bob is a non-corporeal spirit who lives in a skull. In the series they’ve decided to make Bob a spirit that Harry (and us) can see and interact with. This, I think, was a good choice by the producers. A lot of the humor found in the novels is kept and Terrence Mann is fantastic in the role.

Uncle Justin: In the novels, Harry’s Mother Margaret LeFay died in childbirth and his magician father later died of an aneurysm. After a time as a ward of the court, he is adopted by the powerful, renegade wizard Justin DuMorne. After Harry discovers DuMorne’s evil ways they fight and Harry kills DuMorne. The series chooses to keep that basic premise, but they’ve made Justin Harry’s uncle; and based on last night’s episode, he’s not dead. This may have some interesting twists as the series progresses.

The High Council: In another change from the novel, the series renamed The White Council to The High Council and paints a much more ominous picture of them than the novels. Granted, in the novels Harry doesn’t have the best relationship with The White Council since they nearly had him executed for killing DuMorne, but they are for the most part a benevolent organization (at least until recent novels). The series paints them as a much darker force and I wonder how this is going to pan out. This one is a wait and see.

The staff: In the novels Harry carries a staff wherever he goes and uses it to focus his powers. This was missing from the series premiere and from what I’ve read the producers have replaced his staff with a hockey stick! There’s also no blasting rod; the shield bracelet is all wrong; and the silver pentacle that belonged to his mother is missing, as well.

Harry the ladies man: In the novels Harry tends to shy away from intimate contact with women due to the chance of a Soul Gaze. The first scene of the movie paint Harry as a total ladies man, a major departure from the novel.

For the most part, the producers behind the series have kept the overall feel if the novels. They’ve certainly tinkered with a few things, some of which I not sure I like, but the series premiere was interesting enough that I plan to keep watching (or at least TIVO when Desperate Housewives is new).

In a decision I don’t quite understand, The Sci-Fi channel has accounced it will move Battlestar Galactica to Sunday evenings at 10 pm (9 pm for us in the Central time zone) beginning January 21, 2007. It will be preceded by the new series, The Dresden Files. This seems like a move designed to kill the series! They move the show from Friday nights, where is still has competition from the broadcast networks albeit limited competition, to a night when most people are watching either Sunday Night Football or Desperate Housewives; and those who aren’t watching those two shows are watching whatever is on CBS. Granted, being combined with a new series that is buzz-worthy might be helpful, but Sunday seems like a stupid choice. Tuesday or Wednesday would have made much more sense, but then when does Sci-Fi make sense these days?

Considering how much I bitch and moan about the state of the Sci-Fi Channel’s original programming — Ghosthunters! — as I’ve said before here, I cannot wait to see their latest original series, The Dresden Files. Hats off to the execs at NBC Universal for finally green-lighting an original series that actually seems worthwhile. If you don’t know, The Dresden Files is based on a series of novels by Jim Butcher about a young wizard living in Chicago, IL fighting against demons, vampires, and the like. It’s a fun and original take on wizards and horror that I’ve been enjoying for years now. When I heard Nicholas Cage was producing the series I had to take pause, but when I saw that he was surrounding himself with a great group of writers and producers, among them Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Robert Hewitt Wolfe, I became very interested. I wasn’t all that thrilled when I read Paul Blackthorne had been cast as the lead since the book insinuates that Harry Dresden is someone in his middle to late twenties, not his late thirties, but what I’ve seen of the previews has me interested. The Dresden Files could easily be Sci-Fi’s next breakout hit.