George R.R. Martin, the author of the fantasy novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, which formed the basis for the hit HBO series Game of Thrones, criticized the blog TV and movie adaptations of books.
«Wherever you look, there are a lot of writers and producers looking to take great stories and «make them their own». It doesn’t seem to matter if the original author was there in the first place,” Martin writes.
As an example, the writer cited the series «Sandman», with which Netflix adapted Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comic book series, although he did not specify what was wrong with the film adaptation.
«No matter how great that writer is, no matter how great the book is, there’s always someone who thinks they can do better, who wants to take the story and «improve» it,» Martin continued. «”A book is a book, a movie is a movie,” they will tell you, as if they were saying something profound. And they make the story their own, but they don’t make it better».
The author of «Game of Thrones» added that in «adaptations, the story gets worse in 999 cases out of 1000» and at the same time noted that those rare cases are really good — such as «Shogun». Martin said that he had read James Clavell’s book when it was released in 1975 and also watched the first 1980s adaptation — «Milestone», which did not need a new version, in the writer’s opinion (which he actually changed after watching the FX series).
«I’m glad they did. The new Shogun is great,» he wrote. «Better than Chamberlain’s version, you ask? Hmm, I don’t know. I haven’t watched the 1980 miniseries since, well, 1980. That one was great too».
He added that the old and new versions have some significant differences — notably subtitles that make the Japanese dialog understandable to English-speaking viewers, but both are faithful to Clavell’s novel in their own way.
«I think the author would be pleased. Old and new screenwriters alike have honored the source material and given us stunning adaptations, resisting the impulse to «make it their own».
The TV adaptation of Martin’s own books, the «Game of Thrones» series, although it had a modest start, later became one of the most popular shows on HBO. The number of viewers increased with each subsequent season — with the 8th season becoming the most popular with a staggering 46 million views.
By the time seasons 7 and 8 were released, the series had already surpassed the events of Martin’s original novel, so the creators had no source material and tried to complete a number of storylines on their own (including the confrontation with the Night King and the election of a new ruler of Westeros) — and this ending did not go down well with viewers. In a recent interview, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss said they expected better reactions.
Earlier, George R.R. Martin announced 8 series from the Game of Thrones» universe at once. In the summer, we expect to seesecond season «House of Dragon»Also this year, thedevelopment «Knight of the Seven Kingdoms» — a series based on the novels about the Knight Dunk (Sir Duncan the High — later Lord Commander of the Kingsguard) and his squire Egg (later King Aegon V Targaryen).
HBO, meanwhile, has partnered with «Batman» writer Matson Tomlin to create the seriesabout Aegon «the Conqueror» Targaryen (the events will take place about 130 years before most of the events «House of the Dragon», i.e. almost 300 years before the events of the original series «Game of Thrones»). Re direct sequel «Game of Thrones» about Jon Snow, it was canceled — due to a lack of source material, which sounds rather ironic against the backdrop of Martin’s statements.
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