from the lil' screen to the page...

[evilgrins]

...I usually do this sorta thing from the other direction.

9:18 PM 11/14/07 · Earler this year, or thereabouts, I started watching a series that I'd been looking forward to for a long time; I'd been seeing ads for it for months. Popping up on the SciFi Channel, The Dresden Files became very addictive to me very fast. I saw every episode at least twice a week, SciFi is handy that way, and I just couldn't get enough of it. I was saddened when the series was cancelled but enjoyed that they at least allowed it to complete one full season.

Still kinda hope it might get picked up again down the road.

I was aware that the show was inspired by a series of novels and made a point to lookup the series and check it out; got the author's name and then completely forgot about it. It wasn't until this past weekend, while visiting
Anna at Barnes & Noble that I was reminded. Apparently other friends of hers had been trying to get her to read it for ages and her telling me of it reminded me. That and a customer in passing, familiar with the series, gave it an extra little zing.

Bought the first 4 books of the series last Friday. Started reading them Tuesday and I finished the 2nd book today; Wednesday by my perspective. Books have an easy flow to them and so far I've been able to polish off each one in just under 8 hours. I read really fast normally but I've found things I've seen, either in movies or television, I practically breeze through. Guess it makes it that much easier to not have to build up all the visuals myself.

If you're not familiar with the series in either format, Harry Dresden is a detective of sorts. The sorts being that he's a wizard, only one listed under that section of the Yellow Pages, and he specializes.

Harry Dresden · Wizard
Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations.
Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates.
No Love Potions, Endless Purses,
or Other Entertainment.

He's also a consultant to the police on some of their more "out there" cases.

I've only got into the series by two books so far, Storm Front & Fool's Moon, and I've been coming across a number of inconsistancies from the show. While you can get a decent list off Wikipedia...kinda feel obliged to do this as I love doing these kinda lists; it's de geek in me. Also, I'm kinda considering scanning and posting Chapter 7 of the 2nd book to my werewolf community as it's funny and informative regarding 4 distinct types...

...I may not, haven't made up my mind yet.

I highly recommend the series of novels but if you are interested and want to read them then you might wanna not look under de evil LJ·cut. Really only contrasting what I've read thus far with what was shown on SciFi but these could definitely be taken as spoilers.

• Harry supposedly wears a protective charm around his wrist that he inherited from his dead mother that offers magikal protection. In truth, it's supposed to be a pentacle that he wears around his neck on a cord. It's silver.
• The show tells of his longstanding friendship with a vampire named Bianca, she helped him during a period of crisis and they became lovers. In actuality, Bianca and he never met until much later in his life and they have never been friends. In their first encounter, and supposedly each one to come, she's tried to kill him. Her true form is quite hideous.
• Harry killed his mentor on the show for trying to overthrow the ruling body of the wizards. The actual version is that he did kill his mentor but for entirely different reasons. Along with he also killed his lover, who was also an apprentice to his mentor, at the same time when they worked in concert to try and sacrifice him. It's my understanding that she's supposedly not dead but I'm only two books in so far.
• The two closest women to Harry are a reporter named Susan and a special investigations officer named Murphy. The description of them given in the book reveal that the show got them reversed, Murphy's supposed to be the blonde and Susan the brunette. The description of Susan in the book fits Murphy on the show as does it do the same with Murphy to Susan.
• The stories in the first two books are sort of the same as episodes of the show but just as different. The show with the werewolf FBI agent trying to find a cure by killing off more werewolves she created is totally off although the 2nd book does deal with multiple types of werewolves and one type that just happen to be rogue FBI agents. There's a rogue wizard on the show that kills off people by summoning a demon. This is in the first book although it a little more involved than that and the demon wasn't his prime means of execution.
• The drug that opens the 3rd Eye is in the show but distributed by a faction of vampires. The first book reveals that the drug has nothing to do with the vampires. It was the rogue wizard in the first book.
• I really liked Morgan on the show but the casting is a tad suspect considering. The book describes him as being more of a spectral figure though solid. He's seen as having long and haggard brown hair that is gray in parts, is 50 years of age, and has gray eyes. Wears dark clothes with an unusually bright white shirt. This does not even remotely resemble the character on the show.
• One of the popular features of the show is Bob. He inhabits a skull and is a former wizard currently dead. Harry uses him as a font of information and he had a large part to do with Harry's training. In actuality, a term I'm using way too much in this post, Bob was never a wizard but is a spirit that inhabits a skull that Harry used kinda like a computer with an attitude. Bob never takes on human form, spectrally or otherwise, but often does display a number of affectations; turning and angling its view. The skull is very animated. Periodically for a favor to Harry, it bribes him with the option of going out to do what it pleases. Harry is reluctant to do this as Bob is obsessed with sex and apparently one of the times he was given a 24 hour free pass he caused a massive orgy just so he could watch it. Bob is also extremely addicted to trashy romance novels.
• This may've been on the show but I don't remember it being mentioned or brought up as much as it is in the books. Technology it seems does not respond well to a wizards presence. It constantly malfunctions or breaks down completely anytime Harry is fairly close to it. His home is understandably low tech...nothing in there that isn't run by flame or oil or magic.
• Unlike the show, Harry's office and home are in different locations. He lives a little lower than street level with a further level down where his lab is.
• The car he has in the novels is a really beat up old VW Bug. Described as the Blue Bug...it's not entirely so. The doors have been replaced, one green and one white, and the trunk is currently red. Strangely the car is the least affected by his presence...though it does break down from time to time either due to him driving it or just being horribly old.
• On the show Harry's wand is at first a drumstick and when that gets destroyed he switches to a hockeystick. Other than the bracelet of protection he wears around his wrist he doesn't use much else. In the novels he has a boomstick, a staff with engraved runes he can fire with the force of a cannon. He occasionally wears a shielding bracelet and, just in case, he periodically carries a .38 revolver. There are a few other things he picks up now and again depending on the situation.
• Demons on the show tend to look human...which I'm guessing was a budget concern as a number of other mystical creatures seem to have the same tendency. In the novels I've "seen" fae, demons, giant scorpions, werewolves, vampires, and a number of other things. A few of these are vaguely humanoid and the ones that weren't are only in diguises that seem to fail with emotional outbursts. There's even one woman that turns out to be a werewolf in purest form, a wolf that can shift to human form.
• Harry's love life on the show is a tad more successful than in the novels. Better to say he's more monogamous in the written word.
• While I can see similarities between the episodes and the novels, they're not only not in the same order but I've seen elements of multiple shows just from either one of the first two books.
• In the show where that rogue wizard is killing people with a demon there's mention of a gangster named Marcone. I don't believe we ever saw him on the show but he's a very prominent character in the books.
• Murphy has a partner that is very skeptical of Dresden on the whole "magic is real" situation named Carmichael. He's a fairly constant character throughout the run of the show. While it was decidedly a hero's death, he's killed in the 2nd book.
• In the novels there's listed a ruling body among the wizards known as the White Council. Due to the circumstances regarding the death of his mentor and fellow apprentice, they are not fond of Harry and have Morgan keep a tight reign on him. On the show this goes on continually but due to his actions in the first novel the Council decides the lift their restrictions upon Harry and give him a free pass...or as least as much as they would give anyone given the circumstances. They're still not fond of him but become less suspicious that he's going to suddenly switch sides. Harry is also mentioned a number of times as being a member of the White Council.
• In a move not too dissimilar to what happens to a certain Anita Blake, a character I love by Laurell K. Hamilton, a pack of werewolves form a tight bond with Harry by the end of the 2nd book. According to Wikipedia they stick with him through the rest of the series.

Also, if I may, there's a lot of truth in the descriptions of magikal practice.