A few thoughts...
So first I wanted to say I'm so excited at all the lurkers coming out to say hi! I just went to the main info page, and we're being watched by over a hundred people!!! Very exciting.
Our membership, though, is at, I believe, 92, so joinjoinjoin, you lurkers! We love you all.
Anyway, I was thinking we need to have some Tom/LordV/Hermione discussions here, revive the place a bit.
I know many of us have discussed these sort of things over at Fiction Alley Park at the "Light and Darkness" forums, but what the hell, I'll bring some stuff up again.
So I, for one, was highly disappointed in HBP. While I really, really liked the fact that JK included more Riddle backstory (seriously, there might have been squealage) after I pondered on it later, I realized I was actually quite disappointed in many things about the Riddle backstory. I loved quite a few things: How Tom framed so many people for his murders, his interaction with Hepzibah (hilarious, you KNOW the whole time he was mentally "Avada-ing" her) Slughorn's obvious pedophilic love for Tom which Tom seemed to be quite aware of, and willing to use to his advantage.....
I mean seriously, JK couldn't have meant Slughorn to come across as anything but a (vague to major) pervert. Unless she is really, really clueless.
Although, since I'm being honest, I have to admit I was most excited about the Riddle backstory because it implied that the delectable Mr. Christian Coulson would get to reprise his role as Tom in HBP, (and if he doesn't, I will seriously kill someone at Warner Brothers.)
I mean....he can't play the eleven year old Tom, obviously, and he *might* not be able to play the melted!face!Voldy who requested a job from Dumbledore (Although I think it would make more sense for him to play that part than Ralphemort, since Tom basically looked like himself, but melted, at that point) BUT he certainly (and SHOULD) play the Tom asking Slughorn about the Horcruxes, the Tom who visits Hepzibah, and the Tom who visits the Gaunts. All of these are important scenes, and I can't see them being cut from movie!HBP.
But the parts I didn't like about Tom's backstory were these:
1. The implication that he was born evil
2. The fact that his mother's side of the family was so cliche'd trailer trash, and that JK implied that inbreeding is what also caused Tom to be nuts
3. The fact that he was so, blatantly obvious when first meeting Dumbledore about how eeeeeeeeeevil he was. Like, what? Doesn't that contradict everything we've known previously from Canon!Tom? Wasn't he supposed to be a master of manipulation, fooling everyone into thinking he was this brilliant, innocent golden boy, and here he is blathering on and on to Dumbledore about "I can hurt people If I want to," etc etc. And THEN Dumbledore ignores this?! And doesn't immediately suspect/accuse him of opening the CoS?
Gah. HBP was like JK Rowling not only couldn't do math anymore, but she couldn't, for the life of her, remember her own canon. Doesn't she have an editor, for godssake? Or just hire a fanboy/fangirl for continuity problems. We would've set her straight.
So after that ramble.....what do y'all think? Am I hitting the crack pipe? And what did you think about the distinct LACK of Voldemort in HBP? (Yeah, I make the distinction between TR and LV.)
Our membership, though, is at, I believe, 92, so joinjoinjoin, you lurkers! We love you all.
Anyway, I was thinking we need to have some Tom/LordV/Hermione discussions here, revive the place a bit.
I know many of us have discussed these sort of things over at Fiction Alley Park at the "Light and Darkness" forums, but what the hell, I'll bring some stuff up again.
So I, for one, was highly disappointed in HBP. While I really, really liked the fact that JK included more Riddle backstory (seriously, there might have been squealage) after I pondered on it later, I realized I was actually quite disappointed in many things about the Riddle backstory. I loved quite a few things: How Tom framed so many people for his murders, his interaction with Hepzibah (hilarious, you KNOW the whole time he was mentally "Avada-ing" her) Slughorn's obvious pedophilic love for Tom which Tom seemed to be quite aware of, and willing to use to his advantage.....
I mean seriously, JK couldn't have meant Slughorn to come across as anything but a (vague to major) pervert. Unless she is really, really clueless.
Although, since I'm being honest, I have to admit I was most excited about the Riddle backstory because it implied that the delectable Mr. Christian Coulson would get to reprise his role as Tom in HBP, (and if he doesn't, I will seriously kill someone at Warner Brothers.)
I mean....he can't play the eleven year old Tom, obviously, and he *might* not be able to play the melted!face!Voldy who requested a job from Dumbledore (Although I think it would make more sense for him to play that part than Ralphemort, since Tom basically looked like himself, but melted, at that point) BUT he certainly (and SHOULD) play the Tom asking Slughorn about the Horcruxes, the Tom who visits Hepzibah, and the Tom who visits the Gaunts. All of these are important scenes, and I can't see them being cut from movie!HBP.
But the parts I didn't like about Tom's backstory were these:
1. The implication that he was born evil
2. The fact that his mother's side of the family was so cliche'd trailer trash, and that JK implied that inbreeding is what also caused Tom to be nuts
3. The fact that he was so, blatantly obvious when first meeting Dumbledore about how eeeeeeeeeevil he was. Like, what? Doesn't that contradict everything we've known previously from Canon!Tom? Wasn't he supposed to be a master of manipulation, fooling everyone into thinking he was this brilliant, innocent golden boy, and here he is blathering on and on to Dumbledore about "I can hurt people If I want to," etc etc. And THEN Dumbledore ignores this?! And doesn't immediately suspect/accuse him of opening the CoS?
Gah. HBP was like JK Rowling not only couldn't do math anymore, but she couldn't, for the life of her, remember her own canon. Doesn't she have an editor, for godssake? Or just hire a fanboy/fangirl for continuity problems. We would've set her straight.
So after that ramble.....what do y'all think? Am I hitting the crack pipe? And what did you think about the distinct LACK of Voldemort in HBP? (Yeah, I make the distinction between TR and LV.)