Consider this my review for HBP

[trinityvixen]

I can't really say that this wouldn't be a great idea. Obviously, we'd need a break of about a decade or two, and I don't think this could be reliably done with live action unless a lot of things about doing television change any time soon. But an animated series would be good, and it would do better than the films have done.

As for Half-Blood

Comments

[ivy03]

I haven't seen the movie yet, don't know if I will. But my two big problems with the book, which are related to each other, are:
1 - The entire book is exposition
2 - The interesting stuff, with Draco, is off camera, meaning Harry goes through no emotional arc with respect to his view of Draco. Harry standing at the end of the book and saying he always knew Draco was a bad seed was just insulting. Why not let Harry (and us) see Draco's dilemma?

Rowling did really badly by her morally ambiguous villains, both Snape and Draco.

[trinityvixen]

As to your first point: it's funny that I came out of the movie going, "What happened to all that exposition?" like it was a bad thing. Seriously, there were quite a few scenes that, while my Potter timeline isn't as perfect as it could be, I think were left out and will make it all the harder for them to do even two Deathly Hallows movies. I won't say what got axed, but, yeah, much as I loathed how late Rowling left the exposition of the whole set of books, at least she, you know, got to it.

As to the second, like I said, the movie made the choice to let us see what happens when neither Harry nor the others are around. This was a powerfully good idea, as Draco comes off as the ambitious, grasping, yet ultimately cowardly creature we're meant to believe he really is. The threat on Draco's head is much more tangible, and it really explains why his mother is so desperate to secure Snape's help at the beginning of the story. Had Draco ever been as complex a villain before this story, it would have been even better

[trinityvixen]

In general, with reboots, the longer you wait, the better the odds that the new generation will be receptive to the material again. Also, after about ten years of Harry Potter movies, people are going to want a nice long break. Having that time off leaves space for people to maybe forget enough about the books to support a TV show that would be more suspenseful if you don't know the story already.

And any reboot would probably have to change a lot of things, if only to keep people interested.

[saturn_shumba]

Random thought: That article you linked too took a random swipe at Michael Crichton. That article is now my favorite thing. :D

[trinityvixen]

Random thought: That article you linked too took a random swipe at Michael Crichton. That article is now my favorite thing. :D

It's true: once you get the exposition dump that is the point of a Crichton novel out of the way, the rest of the story tells itself, really. I remember reading Timeline and totally grooving on the science-y set-up and then falling asleep for the rest. He made Clive Cussler seem subtle with his plot developments in that one.

I thought it was the biggest mistake cause the 7th book is my least favorite--it felt like JK was just packing in too much shit into too few pages

This was my problem with Half-Blood Prince (the origin of which was not explained at all in the movie ::rolls eyes:: ). Basically, there wasn't enough build-up to that. Horcruxes out of nowhere is not an acceptable plot twist. Yes, she did do some building up with Riddle's diary, but that was it. There weren't really any objects of significance anywhere near that level. I mean, technically the locket was in the Black house, but it was such a

[saturn_shumba]

Snape the ultimate double agent might have played better if he'd been just appalled at the way Voldemort was wonton in his destruction instead of hinging it on a seeeeeeeeekrit looooove for Lily Potter. ::rolls eyes hard::

Oh, that. That which was seen a million miles away. I didn't like what that implied either--that Snape was only a good person because of his love for purer that pure Lily. That kinda creeped me out. It also seems a bit lazy to me.

The whole horcrux thing bothered me. I first thought they were clever, but I think JK's eyes were bigger than her stomach--she had way too many. The way the diadem was destroyed was absolutely ridiculous--we didn't even see it! Only got a sentence from Ron and Hermione about how "Oh yeah the diadem's destroyed! Yay!" Wtf.

[trinityvixen]

Same thing with the cup, too. Ron, again, got to be a hero offscreen. Then again, that's always been Rowling's MO w/r/t Ron because she never worked out how to use him as anything other than an illustration of the way a totally wizarding family would be.

[chuckro]

the movies give the story the short shrift and often require the audience to have read the books to follow along.

Honestly? I never had this problem. I read book 3 (and watched movies 3, 5 and 6) and haven't had any problems following along. Hell, I haven't even needed most of the stuff I picked up from cultural osmosis.

[trinityvixen]

We had someone with us for this one who'd never read the books, and he was sort of lost. Granted, he also fell asleep during the movie, which didn't help. But past about book 3? I'd say you'd have to read them to get a better idea of the story

[negativeq]

I was very bothered about how Voldemort's and Snape's mothers were cut out of the movie. The disturbing tale of Merope Gaunt is very interesting in itself, and has connections to the Horcruxes and Deathly Hollows. IIRC, it is in her story that the name "Peverell" first comes up. The HBP movie made the Horcruxes seem even more random that they were already, and I suppose the last movie will do the same with DHs.

And how could not a few lines be spared for the Half-Blood Prince? Hermione could easily have mentioned while walking to Hogsmeade that all she could find was a woman surnamed Prince who married a Muggle.

I had hoped Sectumsempra would be much bloodier. While Moaning Myrtle is goofy, it would have been nice to see her interact with Draco and NOT be disturbed by Harry. It would make Draco more sympathetic - he is stressed, scared, and she is all he has to talk to. I also wished that scenes of Draco using the trio's strategies against them were included.

[trinityvixen]

I missed a lot of the Gaunt story line, too. And I'm with you: WTF is a Half-Blood Prince if you don't go into what that actually means? Are we getting to that next time or what?

The sectum sepra was actually really horrifying to me because of the blood. We've seen Harry bloodied, but never really bleed much. And when people die in this universe it's snap-of-the-fingers quick. To see Draco laid out, bleeding uncontrollably was really shocking.