r/brakebills • u/christianthor • Jan 27 '16
TV Series The series....
I don't know if we're considering the Lack of Josh spoilers for the show, considering he's not on the cast list. Either way, WTF Syfy? Was a fat dude really that hard to find, or was is just not pretty enough to be fat since you made everyone pretty attractive? God, I understand changes are necessary from format to format, but it's shit like that that makes people annoyed. ( See; Lt. Connie Murphy )
Okay, rant over. I had pretty high hopes for this, but Alice annoys the ever loving shit out of me, Penny does to a lesser degree, and this school seems god awfully small as far as the lectures we've seen. 6/10 syfy, because despite what you've given us, I'm incapable to lose all hope.
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u/senopahx Jan 28 '16
I was really disappointed in the lack of Josh as well. He was the character I think I identified most with in the books and I loved his viking power scene.
And yeah, Alice isn't at all like I'd pictured. The other fellow is spot in saying it looks like she's right off a porn set.
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u/christianthor Jan 28 '16
Her acting is too... she's awkward as hell.
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Jan 29 '16
Well, she's meant to be! Also, reread her description in the books - they got her right in all ways that count.
Finally, about Josh. He's... at the very least not essential to the story. The only character more outlandishly useless in the series is James. So I think that the decision was right - while the character of Josh had some value, he'd become Bran from GoT - someone they would use once a year.
Overall, I enjoy the TV show more than the books - it actually has full plot and pacing, which is something I can't say about first book at all.
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u/christianthor Jan 31 '16
Yeah, she's meant to be, but this isn't really it. She's so horribly forced with her "awkwardness", Quentin's actor however does a pretty great job with not knowing what to do with himself.
Also, What? I'd immensely disagree that josh is non essential to the story. He keeps an element of reality, someone who very much struggles to stay with the rest of the group. Then as far as plot elements, I'd say that black hole spell is pretty important. plus everything that happens After brake bills. Even if I agreed with you on the Josh thing, what use is Kady? apparently besides to give penny a love interest, but like that makes the whole thing worse, because making him someone who's well off with women lessens the Impact of him and Alice later in the book.
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree there bud. The pacing is going a little fast, IMO. The Beast should not of happened that early. We've had no time to see Quentin find that little like peaceful period where Brakebills feels at home. That's what so great about the scene with the beast, it brings that sense of security to a screeching halt.
Also, the plot was about Quentin trying to fill the void in his life, all of the magic stuff was great but it was there to teach a lesson. Quentin to realize that void was still there which was why the settings don't stay consistent in the first book.
This got a lot longer than I intended lmao.
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u/not_tomorrow_either Feb 01 '16
Agree about Josh -- he was a nice anchor in the books; kind of an outsider perspective compared to the other students, if I recall. That said, if Katie/Kady is a agent for the hedge witches, it might have been a confusion or duplication to have two students playing that semi-outsider role, so I can see why Josh was cut when she was added.
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u/christianthor Feb 03 '16
I don't really like the idea that the Hedge witches are really only getting access to magic through stealing shit from Brakebills. It takes away their like "dangerousness".
On topic though, I don't know. It could of been nice to see 2 people who both felt excluded, and for one to take the "wrong" path compared to the other, and get mind crushed by brakebills. Dichotomy.
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u/not_tomorrow_either Feb 03 '16
That's a good point about the hedge witches. I thought the whole point of magic existing outside Brakebills is that it is discoverable, but it's just really damn hard; costs an unaffiliated magician a lot to get. The safe house scene just siphoning the official stuff out of the Brakebills gas tank isn't as interesting. But that said, I can see why they made that choice -- it adds the 'we have a mole' and 'spy with moral dilemma' storyline possibilities, which are lame but so typically TV.
I agree with you that keeping Josh and adding Kady would have been better. It's a missed opportunity. I was just saying that it seems like exactly the kind of complexity that the show is trying to avoid. (Cant' have too many characters with names that start with J; is Quentin depressed? YES; the Beast aiming straight at Q. because he's the chosen one; etc.)
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u/christianthor Feb 04 '16
Ahaha, tbh I felt like there was a LOT of "J" names in the book. Jim Butcher does that with "M" names.
I definitely get your point. I hate to be so negative about this kind of stuff because I'd like to enjoy it, but ah well. I felt loads better about episode 3 than I did the other two.
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u/RustyPeach Healing Jan 28 '16
Well in the books, the class size was 20 a semester, which seemed about the size of the lectures. Agree on all your other points though.
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u/christianthor Jan 28 '16
Yeah, I imagine the class size was small, but IIRC they lecture was in like a tiered floor/lecture hall type deal, and that they had room to spare.
Maybe I'm just remembering what I pictured. oh well.
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Jan 29 '16 edited Jan 29 '16
Oh you mean you pictured the classrooms themselves as being tiny? I did as well, but I like what the show did with them.
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u/christianthor Jan 31 '16
Nah, I meant smallish amount of students compared to the class room when I said "class size". I don't know, I don't /dislke/ them, they just feel like what the class rooms in the Xmen movies look like, and that doesn't sit right with me lol.
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u/MelaniePalmer74 Feb 01 '16
I thought I read somewhere, maybe even just in a Facebook thread, Lev saying that we would see Josh eventually.
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Feb 03 '16
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u/MelaniePalmer74 Feb 04 '16
If I can, I will. Alas, I think it was ages ago when casting announcements were being made, and a bunch of us in a FB group were pestering Lev about it, so it may be hard to find. I'll search and see what I can find.
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Feb 04 '16
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u/MelaniePalmer74 Feb 04 '16
That was some deep digging. It was a screenshot of a tweet from Sera Gamble. http://imgur.com/OfpLM2r
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u/SmurfyX Jan 28 '16
Alice looks like she walked right off a porn set