Under the Dome is a TV series based upon a Stephen
King Novel. In Under the Dome the
small town of Chester's Mill is suddenly cut off from the world by a giant
invisible dome. This book was fantastic (given no one reads the last 200
pages). Stephen King has a habit of writing himself into unfixable situations
and then using magic or supernatural methods of solving the problem with
no foreshadowing previously in the book. I am hopeful about this TV
series however because Stephen King himself has said "[If] you look closely, you’ll see that most of my
characters are still there, although some have been combined and others have
changed jobs. That’s also true of the big stuff, like the supermarket riot, the
reason for all that propane storage, and the book’s thematic concerns with
diminishing resources. Many of the changes wrought by Brian K.
Vaughan and his team of writers have been
of necessity, and I approved of them wholeheartedly. Some have been occasioned
by their plan to keep the Dome in place over Chester’s Mill for months instead
of little more than a week, as is the case in the book. Other story
modifications are slotting into place because the writers have completely
re-imagined the source of the Dome" (Source: Wikipedia). This is great
news for someone who liked the book but hated how Stephen King explained the
appearance of the dome. If the writers manage to change why the dome was put
there then this plot is filled with trill, drama, and plenty of action.
The actors in this series are not the
best quality but they are good enough to be believable. Some of the side
characters are bad actors but because they are side characters (and will
probably die soon) I don't mind too much. One of the great things that was
changed from the book to the series is the grayness of characters. Stephen
Kings (who I should mention is one of my favorite authors) has the good or bad
quality (depending on how you see it) of making some characters the obvious
good guys, who are modern day heroes, and other characters pure evil with
no likable qualities. In this series there are still one or two
characters that you are obviously supposed to root for or against but most of
the characters have been changed to be a little more well rounded. The
politician who takes over the town and becomes a tyrant is a little more
likable and appears to be acting, in what he believes is, in the best interest
of the town. The hard army veteran is a little more mean, blunt, and aggressive
than in the book, giving him some unlikable qualities. From reading the book, I
know who to root for and who will become the bad guy, but the writers have
managed to frame the majority of the people in a light that makes it unclear
who will be helpful to the town.
Lastly, for anyone who is interested in the effects of pollution
and resource depletion on the environment and
our interactions with each other must check out this show. It is very
interesting to see how people would react if we could instantly see the effects
we have on our air quality and number of resources around us.
For now, I will give this show my approval but with some
hesitation. There is a lot of potential here with the cast and plot but any
episode now, this show could really turn south. I will put up a post at the end
of this season if you would like to wait a little longer before watching the
show. For now, check out episodes 1 and 2 and if you aren't interested at the
end of episode 2 don't continue unless I explicitly say it gets better and is a
must watch. If you like the plot and bad endings, read the book!
