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 Synopsis quote:High school teacher Jake Epping travels back in time to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy - but his mission is threatened by Lee Harvey Oswald, falling in love, and the past itself, which doesn't want to be changed. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXUx__qQGew
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Feb 15, 2016 21:03
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Pretty good first episode, hoping it doesn't turn into another Under the Dome.
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Feb 15, 2016 21:03
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Ape Gone Insane posted:Pretty good first episode, hoping it doesn't turn into another Under the Dome. I hope it's a well done, limited mini-series, which is what Under the Dome should have been. Both have good concepts but stretching that premise out over multiple seasons is a bad, bad idea.
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Feb 16, 2016 00:51
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First episode was fantastic. Never read the book, and won't until the series is over. Very much looking forward to the rest.
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Feb 16, 2016 01:16
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My wife looooved the first episode, and has never liked anything else Stephen King related. Great, great start. I hope it doesn't fall apart, like the old adaptation of The Stand did. Great at first, but every subsequent hour worse than the last.
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Feb 16, 2016 01:51
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egon_beeblebrox posted:My wife looooved the first episode, and has never liked anything else Stephen King related. Even Shawshank, The Green Mile, or The Mist? Wow. I really enjoyed this episode too. I was this close to getting the book, and now I want to avoid spoilers.
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Feb 16, 2016 02:46
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That was really, really good. Maybe even better than the book! I guess this means the upcoming Dark Tower adaption will be terrible, because Steven King books can only be made into a good film/show once a decade
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Feb 16, 2016 04:49
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Loved the pilot and I'm also one of those people that just can't get into King's novels. Why isn't Hulu releasing all the episodes all at once like Netflix?
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Feb 16, 2016 04:54
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I guess the only thing I can complain about is that they're doing one episode at a time. Please learn from Amazon and Netflix. Drop it all at once if it's streaming first. There's no reason not to do that.
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Feb 16, 2016 04:56
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pahuyuth posted:Why isn't Hulu releasing all the episodes all at once like Netflix? The networks that own Hulu are old-fashioned that way.
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Feb 16, 2016 05:21
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First episode was pretty cool. I do wonder why they changed where the janitor guy is from, though. I can understand not using Derry because they probably couldn't get the TV licensing for what is basically a location cameo, but moving him all the way to Kentucky seems random. Not being one of those people who loses their mind at any deviation from the source material, I just like thinking about why they made the changes they did.
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Feb 16, 2016 06:32
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They also changed the arrival year to 1960 from 1958. Which makes sense as it speeds up the time line a bit. I haven't read the book since it came out so I'm sure there's other stuff too.
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Feb 16, 2016 13:31
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It appears the entire series has been sent out to the reviewers. Seems to be pretty well-received if not exactly a rave review. http://www.avclub.com/review/james-franco-tries-save-jfk-flawed-worthy-stephen--231721 I don't read a lot of Stephen King but the book was really fun. Also I don't actually care for the entire season dump that Netflix tends to do. It doesn't let shows generate as much momentum and discussion and binge watching a series always sort of changes how it feels
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Feb 16, 2016 14:54
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I really enjoyed the first episode, I have high hopes for the rest. Franco's doing a great job, this seems to be a story that's pretty focused on a single main character, so that casting was very important. King's stuff is usually very character focused, so casting is always a big factor in how adaptations turn out. The Dark Tower will be dead in the water if it doesn't get three specific castings right.
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Feb 16, 2016 15:16
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I'll keep watching, but I'm not entirely sold on this. The JFK conspiracy stuff seems pretty dumb, and just going back to prevent his murder seems like a bit of a waste of a time portal. But most of all the protagonist is just really unimaginative and is doing a lot of dumb stuff. Like, when he pissed off the bookie, why didn't he return to the present immediately and reset everything so he could go back and not gently caress up so badly? Why did he do so little preparation? Why, when he realised how unprepared he was, didn't he go back to the present to reset everything and do some more prep? Why did the old guy's research exist only in a single, hand-written copy? He should have typed up all that stuff on his computer and printed out multiple copies to send back with the protagonist. Why did the protagonist try to phone his own father? What was he hoping to achieve? If it were me, and I was absolutely set on trying to save JFK, I'd go back, make some quick cash, and pay someone to put a plan into action to foil the assassination. Then you can come straight back to the present and see if it worked.
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Feb 16, 2016 16:43
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Because it's a story and if he just rests out of every conflict, it would be boring.
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Feb 16, 2016 17:17
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This was good. I haven't read the book but I'll try to once I watch the series. I think he should have come out and gone back in after that first day though, a slightly more low-key car and bet a bit less on that first fight. The world looks nice, good use of large outdoor areas that look right for the time.
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Feb 16, 2016 17:20
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As I'm expecting him to reset at least once, right now I figure that the old man has the all the documents scanned and on his computer.
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Feb 16, 2016 17:22
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Yea I did expect him to reset a few times right away after some amateur mistakes, but that's a minor gripe. Seems like the way its going now is that he's going to make that one dude's life a lot better by stopping the murder, but he'll have to reset that in order to fix something else even worse. Probably not even the JFK assassination, maybe something he himself caused. Hard to predict where King is going to go with a story, I'm actually glad now that I never read the book. King wouldn't necessarily be afraid to have him actually stop the JFK assassination, and return to a completely alternate reality.
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Feb 16, 2016 17:28
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Having read the book, I'm going to stay far away from discussing anything that happens later on in the series even in speculation because I don't want to spoil it. That said, the book was excellent and I'm waffling between watching the episodes as they come out or waiting for the whole season and binge-watching it.
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Feb 16, 2016 17:52
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blue squares posted:Because it's a story and if he just rests out of every conflict, it would be boring.
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Feb 16, 2016 18:58
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Fast Luck posted:Also because he literally has to live all those days. So like he'd have to go back and live through however many days and weeks all over again if he has to reset, and he gets older too each time. I believe the series has him going back to a time a little closer to the assassination date but in the book it's even more like if he goes back he just wasted a lot of time. True, he's probably no looking to spend a decade+ of his life doing this. Three years is the minimum, and if he were to fail at preventing the assassination and have to reset that's six years. It adds up pretty quick.
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Feb 16, 2016 20:25
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Without spoiling anything, the producers are taking a lot of liberties and changing a lot of stuff about the story. Some changes are better for TV, and some are making me roll my eyes out of my sockets. Anyone interested in the central idea would be doing themselves a service to read the book. It's a good, surprisingly tight story for a time travel plot. I struggled to get through this first episode, and it took me four sittings. Some things I just can't imagine why they changed, and with no explanation so far, they feel like big plot holes. I'm going to keep trying with this, but my expectations are low.
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Feb 16, 2016 23:52
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Stop comparing it to a book and getting upset about changes. Instead ignore the book and allow it to be it's own thing
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Feb 17, 2016 00:21
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You know, I actually had that epiphany about a quarter of the way into the video, I said to myself, "Look, let's just try and disassociate from the book, and enjoy this as a unique and separate piece of media", and I still found several issues that took me out of it. Some were small, "Well that's stupid that he did that", things, and some were more glaring plot holes. Look, I'm not interested in being THAT GUY in this thread, so I'm going to just lurk and avoid posting. I didn't want to turn this into a book versus movie thing, simply wanted to point out to anybody sharing my sentiments about the plot here on the show, if they haven't checked out the book, let's just say there are a lot more reasonable explanations and a tighter story to be found, if this general outline seems to be interesting to you. Have fun, boys, King told an amazing story here and I'm looking forward to seeing this adaptation play out.
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Feb 17, 2016 01:24
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Really enjoyed this, didn't expect to be so pulled in. Whoever is doing the cinematography is killing it – it feels far better produced than most shows on TV, and the narration from Al Templeton reminds me of Shawshank so much.
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Feb 17, 2016 01:48
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How accurate is this? Obviously there were no interfering time travelers (or WERE there?!) and whatever conclusions the show comes to about who actually shot Kennedy will at least be somewhat supposition, but were people like the general who had the assassination attempt on them or the Russian dude Franco was tailing really exist?
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Feb 17, 2016 02:00
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Comrade Fakename posted:How accurate is this? Obviously there were no interfering time travelers (or WERE there?!) and whatever conclusions the show comes to about who actually shot Kennedy will at least be somewhat supposition, but were people like the general who had the assassination attempt on them or the Russian dude Franco was tailing really exist? Not sure about the general, but the Russian was definitely a real person with ties to Oswald as I remembered the name from something I'd seen over the years.
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Feb 17, 2016 02:14
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blue squares posted:Because it's a story and if he just rests out of every conflict, it would be boring. B: Saying "It has to be that way for the story to work" is just admitting that it's badly written. There should be a reason within the story for how the characters behave. Fast Luck posted:Also because he literally has to live all those days. So like he'd have to go back and live through however many days and weeks all over again if he has to reset, and he gets older too each time.
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Feb 17, 2016 02:31
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The general was a real person: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Walker
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Feb 17, 2016 02:50
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If we're talking "stuff the characters are too stupid to do" then we can include the entire investigation because all they have to do is shoot Oswald in 1960 and then go back to Maine and see if he acted alone or not
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Feb 17, 2016 03:57
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I read the book and was so pumped when I heard it was getting a miniseries. So far I like what they're doing with it but I would be in for the whole thing either way. There's an epilogue in the book where King describes his exhaustive research and how after everything he read he's convinced there was no conspiracy and Oswald acted alone. . I'm not an expert on the subject so I wouldn't know, but he said that staying factually accurate was a top priority - unlike Oliver Stone. A Good Thing, imho. My biggest beef with the book was the Al character and the time portal existing in a diner. It felt really hacky and generic. Even "Al" is a generic name. Why were a high school teacher and diner chef friends? Though I get that Al's necessary to leave Our Hero a trail of breadcrumbs (and I think Jake is more interesting since he's reluctant). I was a little surprised that they didn't change that. The book's storyline was compelling and fast paced enough that once it got going I didn't care and burned through the rest of it in a weekend. So I guess my advice there for new people that didn't read the book is to hang in. I also thought they'd cut the "save the janitor" test run, but it looks like we're going to get that.. albeit for a slightly different reason.
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Feb 17, 2016 04:29
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blue squares posted:If we're talking "stuff the characters are too stupid to do" then we can include the entire investigation because all they have to do is shoot Oswald in 1960 and then go back to Maine and see if he acted alone or not Oswald is in Russia in 1960. He doesn't arrive in the U.S. for a couple of years. This is assuming it's so easy to "just shoot a guy" and make it back to a time portal across the country, even if LHO were in Texas already. I'm telling you, man, King researched the subject of the assassination for like a decade making the book. It's very well thought out and without getting too conspiracy nut it explores a few interesting things about the whole affair, while telling a brilliant story. The creators of this show got some sort of outline and they're just doing their own thing from minute one. Not that that's inherently a bad thing, and once again, I'm watching this all the way through. It's very entertaining in it's own way. I really like Franco in this role. But the nitpicks raised in this thread (not by me) are already hitting some of the weaker points in the story. Not too impressive for a first episode.
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Feb 17, 2016 04:30
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I haven't read the book but I really loved the first episode. I can't wait to see more of it.
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Feb 17, 2016 05:33
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pahuyuth posted:Loved the pilot and I'm also one of those people that just can't get into King's novels. My guess would be to keep people talking about it and anticipating episodes for the next 2 months, instead of having people talk about it for a week or two and then forget about it.
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Feb 17, 2016 05:35
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Tiggum posted:No one was suggesting he should stay in the past three years and then reset it and try again, but he definitely should have reset it after that first day because he really hosed up and it had only been a day.
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Feb 17, 2016 14:13
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Advice posted:Oswald is in Russia in 1960. He doesn't arrive in the U.S. for a couple of years. This is assuming it's so easy to "just shoot a guy" and make it back to a time portal across the country, even if LHO were in Texas already. It's a good thing this is an adaption of a book or else we'd miss out on a whole lot of posts like this!!!!
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Feb 17, 2016 14:47
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losonti tokash posted:First episode was pretty cool. I do wonder why they changed where the janitor guy is from, though. I can understand not using Derry because they probably couldn't get the TV licensing for what is basically a location cameo, but moving him all the way to Kentucky seems random. I thought about this when watching it, but honestly The whole Derry thing was like a gift to King's fans, and the town doesn't make sense as this ominous place that is still reeling from something terrible if you aren't in on it. So rather than alienate people who aren't avid readers with a weird haunted town , they just drop all that subtext altogether. Plus it will speed up the amount of time it takes them to go through that whole plotline. And since he decides to hit it up on his way back fleeing from Dallas to Maine, Derry would not have worked since it's fictional setting is up near Bangor, which is 1.5 hours north on 95 of Lisbon Falls.
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Feb 17, 2016 15:17
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Why did he throw his phone away? Whenever he goes back to the future, won't he need a phone?
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Feb 17, 2016 15:41
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blue squares posted:If we're talking "stuff the characters are too stupid to do" then we can include the entire investigation because all they have to do is shoot Oswald in 1960 and then go back to Maine and see if he acted alone or not Aside from the whole "Oswald is in Russia in 1960" thing, there's also the whole "the past pushes back" thing that makes attempting to change things really dangerous in the first place. Jake might get only one shot at killing Oswald, and the past might kill him in the attempt, so he would probably want to be sure he's doing the right thing.
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Feb 17, 2016 16:07
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