I can't believe I'm about to say this
but TV Stefan and Damon are 10x more awesome than Book Stefan and Damon. Book Elena still beats TV Elena though. For now. Original books mind you, not Nightfall.
It isn't even the changes that make them better, it is the stuff that comes from the books that is better. The brothers' rivalry/mistrust/grudge isn't as black and white. Damon is charming and scary and even as we learn more about him, stays pretty darn scary and makes you unsure of what he'll do in any situation whereas that was lost as the books went on. Stefan's guilt and brooding isn't whiny or pathetic and he doesn't put Elena on the pedestal that Book Stefan did.
Also, I'm not even sure I care about the next book. Nightfall was just so bad and now with the TV show surpassing my expectations, especially in the character department which is where Nightfall failed the most, I just kinda feel blah about the whole Shadow Souls book. This is going to sound awful, almost blasphemous if I was all hardcore fandom and such, but I really don't want to read the next book and have it ruin TV Stefan and Damon for me.
I will admit, I was highly skeptical--dismissive even of the show. I had never seen LOST so I didn't give a crap about Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley had really annoyed me on Everwood (as did the kid playing Jeremy) and then there was Mia from Degrassi (while Degrassi is addicting, I wouldn't call it amazing). Then bits of the script were out and it was awful and I really was never a fan of Dawson's Creek. I sat down that first airing expecting to hate it, even though I was squeeing inside over seeing these characters live for the first time.
And I didn't. Then each episode just got better and better and I fell more in love with the show. It is my favorite new show of the year. I have yet to finish an episode with anything other than amazed-face and complaining that it isn't next Thursday yet.
Tonight is a perfect example. Alaric in the books is kinda bumbling, this one became so badass. Stefan was tough with him, but not out of character. Elena held her own against Damon. You can see the tinklings of the Elena/Stefan/Damon triangle in the books starting to form. It was the little things in the scenes they shared, proximity (mostly on Damon's end, but on Elena's too), Elena's face when Damon called her out for lying to him, his hand on her hair when he passed her to Stefan. Damon's comment at the beginning about their manage-a-threesome kinda kinky was played for laughs, but at the grave his comment about how he'll and Stefan will have Elena as a vampire girlfriend was revealing. From the past few episodes he's starting to get not possessive, not accustomed, more than attatched but I wouldn't say devoted to Elena. I'm not sure the word I'm looking for, but then it is 2am and I am exhausted.
In other musings, I find it quite funny that my Amazon UK order shipped two days ahead of my Amazon US order. I ended up buying the second series of Hex as Kristen promised it would be as cracked out as the first one. Cost me $10 US. I also added in Doctor Who 1-4. Total came to $100 US w/ shipping. That's roughly $23 a set. I want to go hug my DVD player now. Sad really. However, aside from Switch Witch, I've now gone back into a spending hiatus (well, after tomorrow, my purse is dying and I need to find a new one).
It isn't even the changes that make them better, it is the stuff that comes from the books that is better. The brothers' rivalry/mistrust/grudge isn't as black and white. Damon is charming and scary and even as we learn more about him, stays pretty darn scary and makes you unsure of what he'll do in any situation whereas that was lost as the books went on. Stefan's guilt and brooding isn't whiny or pathetic and he doesn't put Elena on the pedestal that Book Stefan did.
Also, I'm not even sure I care about the next book. Nightfall was just so bad and now with the TV show surpassing my expectations, especially in the character department which is where Nightfall failed the most, I just kinda feel blah about the whole Shadow Souls book. This is going to sound awful, almost blasphemous if I was all hardcore fandom and such, but I really don't want to read the next book and have it ruin TV Stefan and Damon for me.
I will admit, I was highly skeptical--dismissive even of the show. I had never seen LOST so I didn't give a crap about Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley had really annoyed me on Everwood (as did the kid playing Jeremy) and then there was Mia from Degrassi (while Degrassi is addicting, I wouldn't call it amazing). Then bits of the script were out and it was awful and I really was never a fan of Dawson's Creek. I sat down that first airing expecting to hate it, even though I was squeeing inside over seeing these characters live for the first time.
And I didn't. Then each episode just got better and better and I fell more in love with the show. It is my favorite new show of the year. I have yet to finish an episode with anything other than amazed-face and complaining that it isn't next Thursday yet.
Tonight is a perfect example. Alaric in the books is kinda bumbling, this one became so badass. Stefan was tough with him, but not out of character. Elena held her own against Damon. You can see the tinklings of the Elena/Stefan/Damon triangle in the books starting to form. It was the little things in the scenes they shared, proximity (mostly on Damon's end, but on Elena's too), Elena's face when Damon called her out for lying to him, his hand on her hair when he passed her to Stefan. Damon's comment at the beginning about their manage-a-threesome kinda kinky was played for laughs, but at the grave his comment about how he'll and Stefan will have Elena as a vampire girlfriend was revealing. From the past few episodes he's starting to get not possessive, not accustomed, more than attatched but I wouldn't say devoted to Elena. I'm not sure the word I'm looking for, but then it is 2am and I am exhausted.
In other musings, I find it quite funny that my Amazon UK order shipped two days ahead of my Amazon US order. I ended up buying the second series of Hex as Kristen promised it would be as cracked out as the first one. Cost me $10 US. I also added in Doctor Who 1-4. Total came to $100 US w/ shipping. That's roughly $23 a set. I want to go hug my DVD player now. Sad really. However, aside from Switch Witch, I've now gone back into a spending hiatus (well, after tomorrow, my purse is dying and I need to find a new one).