Book vs. Movie (The Dark is Rising)
Comics section
Having not read the comics section of the Inquirer for a little more than a week now, I was pleasantly surprised to see Ben and Baby Blues! At least that makes the comic section worth going back to, next to Kikomachine and Pugad Baboy.
The Dark is Rising
My brother Miks and I watched the The Dark is Rising last night. He hasn't finished the book yet, so his observations weren't that much yet. The memory of the book is too fresh in my mind yet ehehe.
I don't really like to compare books to it's movie counterparts (unless it's really bad) though I suppose it's only natural. Plus, movie adaptations tend to make changes to fit the story onscreen. Words afterall have less limitations than digital medium (and costs less).
Perhaps if I didn't read the book I might not have minded it much, but since the book is still fresh in my mind, the changes are glaringly obvious. In a way, though the basic plot and the characters are there, it has become quite different from the book. Essentially, the movie is loosely based on the book, rather than an actual adaptation, and much of the folklore that was referred to in the book was lost in the movie.
I'm going to be ranting off the differences that I've noticed. I wrote it all down as best as I can remember of both the book and the movie, with a few references from the Wiki article and this site. All mistakes are my own.
Will Stanton and family
In the book, Will Stanton is a young Englishman about to celebrate his eleventh birthday a few days before Christmas. He is the youngest of nine children, and is the seventh son of a seventh son. His father, Roger, is a jeweller while his mother is, I think, a regular housewife. Will has six older brothers: Stephen (who is in the Navy), Max (going to art college), the twins Robin and Paul (who is probably the only one among Will's siblings who can sense something is going on with Will), and James. Will also has two older sisters, Barbara and Mary. The entire family is close to one another, but Stephen and Will seem to share a special bond. Will later finds out that he has another brother born before Stephen, but he died when he was just a few days old due to a lung complication. His name was Tom.
The movie introduces Will Stanton as the youngest son of an professor. The family is American, and moved to England because of his father's job. Will has six older brothers (Stephen, Max, James, Robin and Paul) and one younger sister (Gwen). The movie portrayed Will as a much harrassed and teased young brother, with a hint of antagonism between the brothers. Will is celebrating is fourteenth birthday a few days before Christmas, and his brother Stephen sends him a belt with spiral designs and weird hooks.
Later Will finds out that he had a twin brother, Tom, who disappared a few months after their birth. Tom was born a few minutes before Will. Tom was taken by the Dark Rider and held hostage for fourteen years. Tom later reuinites with the Stanton family.
Will is the last of the Old Ones to be born.
The Signs
Will must gather six signs to ensure the Dark will not overcome the Light. Merriman clearly states that though Will can travel through time to search for the Signs, Will has to be within his own time to get them. One of the Signs he receives from an Old One, while another Sign he gets from The Walker.
The Signs are a set of six artifacts that look is circle in shape and divided into quarters by a cross. Each sign represents an element: iron, bronze, wood, water, fire and stone. Once gathered, Will has to give them to John Wayland Smith to forge them together.
In the movie, Will has to find the six signs. It is implied that the signs represent an element, and the last is contained in "an essence of a human." In the end, Will realizes that he is the last Sign.
Maggie, The Walker, The Hunt
In the book, the second Sign Will gets is from The Walker, a man readers later find out was once Merriman's foster son Hawkin. He betrayed the Light and as a punishment, he was to carry the Sign until the Sign Seeker comes of age. The Walker isn't exactly immortal, but he is allowed to live a long life and can speak the language of the Old Ones.
Hawkin is tempted into betrayal by a woman whom Will recognizes as Maggie Barnes: a young girl who acts as a helper to the Dawson family. Later as Will receives the Sign from Walker, Maggie comes up and tries to make Will give her the Sign. Merriman arrives and casts Maggie away by saying her real name and the road's real name.
At the end of the story, once Will gets all six Signs and has John Wayland Smith put them together, Will must give Herne the Hunter the mask his brother Stephen sent him. Herme will then chase the Dark into the ends of the earth. Note: I believe that had the Dark gotten the Signs, Herne will chase the Light.
In the movie, the hunt and the road was referred to during the first meeting of Will and Rider, as the latter chases Will along with a pair of dogs. Maggie in turn acts as Will's supposed love interest and tries to use that attraction to get the signs from him. Maggie was enlisted by Rider to get the Signs in exchange for eternal youth (I see this as a sort of opposite for Walker, who wanted to have the same status as the Old Ones and in the end just wanted to age and die peacefully).
No mention of Herne throughout the movie.
Other things
Stephen gives Will a belt for Christmas in the movie. In the book, Will loops the Signs through his belt because they look like belt buckles. Stephen gifts him with an odd mask that will play a part in Will's quest.
Merriman said that the Light and the Dark cannot harm or completely vanquish each other, nor can they hurt people. But they can give people the suggestion of hurting themselves or each other. In the movie, the Rider threatens Will's family with ice stalactites (though nobody really died, not even Mr. Smith, who came back in the end).
Will's family is totally unaware of his quest, although his brother Paul had some brushes with the Dark when Will was around. In the movie, the Dark uses his brother Max to try and gain the Signs. Will jumped through time with Max in tow. Will also jumped through time with his sister Gwen.
Having not read the comics section of the Inquirer for a little more than a week now, I was pleasantly surprised to see Ben and Baby Blues! At least that makes the comic section worth going back to, next to Kikomachine and Pugad Baboy.
The Dark is Rising
My brother Miks and I watched the The Dark is Rising last night. He hasn't finished the book yet, so his observations weren't that much yet. The memory of the book is too fresh in my mind yet ehehe.
I don't really like to compare books to it's movie counterparts (unless it's really bad) though I suppose it's only natural. Plus, movie adaptations tend to make changes to fit the story onscreen. Words afterall have less limitations than digital medium (and costs less).
Perhaps if I didn't read the book I might not have minded it much, but since the book is still fresh in my mind, the changes are glaringly obvious. In a way, though the basic plot and the characters are there, it has become quite different from the book. Essentially, the movie is loosely based on the book, rather than an actual adaptation, and much of the folklore that was referred to in the book was lost in the movie.
I'm going to be ranting off the differences that I've noticed. I wrote it all down as best as I can remember of both the book and the movie, with a few references from the Wiki article and this site. All mistakes are my own.
Will Stanton and family
In the book, Will Stanton is a young Englishman about to celebrate his eleventh birthday a few days before Christmas. He is the youngest of nine children, and is the seventh son of a seventh son. His father, Roger, is a jeweller while his mother is, I think, a regular housewife. Will has six older brothers: Stephen (who is in the Navy), Max (going to art college), the twins Robin and Paul (who is probably the only one among Will's siblings who can sense something is going on with Will), and James. Will also has two older sisters, Barbara and Mary. The entire family is close to one another, but Stephen and Will seem to share a special bond. Will later finds out that he has another brother born before Stephen, but he died when he was just a few days old due to a lung complication. His name was Tom.
The movie introduces Will Stanton as the youngest son of an professor. The family is American, and moved to England because of his father's job. Will has six older brothers (Stephen, Max, James, Robin and Paul) and one younger sister (Gwen). The movie portrayed Will as a much harrassed and teased young brother, with a hint of antagonism between the brothers. Will is celebrating is fourteenth birthday a few days before Christmas, and his brother Stephen sends him a belt with spiral designs and weird hooks.
Later Will finds out that he had a twin brother, Tom, who disappared a few months after their birth. Tom was born a few minutes before Will. Tom was taken by the Dark Rider and held hostage for fourteen years. Tom later reuinites with the Stanton family.
Will is the last of the Old Ones to be born.
The Signs
Will must gather six signs to ensure the Dark will not overcome the Light. Merriman clearly states that though Will can travel through time to search for the Signs, Will has to be within his own time to get them. One of the Signs he receives from an Old One, while another Sign he gets from The Walker.
The Signs are a set of six artifacts that look is circle in shape and divided into quarters by a cross. Each sign represents an element: iron, bronze, wood, water, fire and stone. Once gathered, Will has to give them to John Wayland Smith to forge them together.
In the movie, Will has to find the six signs. It is implied that the signs represent an element, and the last is contained in "an essence of a human." In the end, Will realizes that he is the last Sign.
Maggie, The Walker, The Hunt
In the book, the second Sign Will gets is from The Walker, a man readers later find out was once Merriman's foster son Hawkin. He betrayed the Light and as a punishment, he was to carry the Sign until the Sign Seeker comes of age. The Walker isn't exactly immortal, but he is allowed to live a long life and can speak the language of the Old Ones.
Hawkin is tempted into betrayal by a woman whom Will recognizes as Maggie Barnes: a young girl who acts as a helper to the Dawson family. Later as Will receives the Sign from Walker, Maggie comes up and tries to make Will give her the Sign. Merriman arrives and casts Maggie away by saying her real name and the road's real name.
At the end of the story, once Will gets all six Signs and has John Wayland Smith put them together, Will must give Herne the Hunter the mask his brother Stephen sent him. Herme will then chase the Dark into the ends of the earth. Note: I believe that had the Dark gotten the Signs, Herne will chase the Light.
In the movie, the hunt and the road was referred to during the first meeting of Will and Rider, as the latter chases Will along with a pair of dogs. Maggie in turn acts as Will's supposed love interest and tries to use that attraction to get the signs from him. Maggie was enlisted by Rider to get the Signs in exchange for eternal youth (I see this as a sort of opposite for Walker, who wanted to have the same status as the Old Ones and in the end just wanted to age and die peacefully).
No mention of Herne throughout the movie.
Other things
Stephen gives Will a belt for Christmas in the movie. In the book, Will loops the Signs through his belt because they look like belt buckles. Stephen gifts him with an odd mask that will play a part in Will's quest.
Merriman said that the Light and the Dark cannot harm or completely vanquish each other, nor can they hurt people. But they can give people the suggestion of hurting themselves or each other. In the movie, the Rider threatens Will's family with ice stalactites (though nobody really died, not even Mr. Smith, who came back in the end).
Will's family is totally unaware of his quest, although his brother Paul had some brushes with the Dark when Will was around. In the movie, the Dark uses his brother Max to try and gain the Signs. Will jumped through time with Max in tow. Will also jumped through time with his sister Gwen.