Under the Dome (TV Series)

             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!