The Dresden Files (merged) (1 Viewer)

[Abby_B]

I have been seeing a lot of promos and media coverage (and one particular online friend who talks about this alllll the time) about SciFi's new series The Dresden Files. Anybody know anything about this new show? The premise sounds interesting to me (Harry Potter lover that I am), and it's on right before BSG now that its on Sunday. Seems worth checking out.

 

[David Williams]

If you want a preview of the series you can check out the book series that it is based on. The first book is Storm Front by Jim Butcher.

 

[Abby_B]

Oh, have you read the books? Are they worth it? I read on another board that Jim Butcher actually had a modicum of creative input on the series, so that seems like a really good thing.

Mostly I figured it's worth watching because it's paired with BSG, but the more I read about it, the more I see that it looks like it's going to be a really good show in its own right. Paul Blackthorne was badass on 24, I'm really curious to see what he'll do with a leading role here.

 

[David Williams]

I tried to read Storm Front but didn't care for it. I found it a bit boring to tell you the truth. Hoping for more in the TV series. A lot of people like the Dresden series, so don't just take my opinion for it.

 

[Kevin Grey]

I couldn't really get into Storm Front either (didn't make it beyond 50 pages). But it's his first book and I've heard he's improved a lot since then. I'm kind of hoping that the show will provide me some motivation for making another run at the books.

 

[Phil Florian]

Is this a kind of HELLBLAZER sort of show? Wizard guy solves problems for people using magic? Or not using it? I am looking forward to DVRing it along with BSG if it is decent.

 

[Abby_B]

It's based on a character named Harry who is a wizard detective. (I've been doing my homework!) And it seems to me to be a sort of scifi twist on the current sort of crime drama craze (like CSI crossed with X-Files or something), but I think it sounds good. And I keep hearing people rave about the books at any rate. I'm hoping to hit up a Barnes & Noble this weekend.

It's on right before BSG, which is the perfect timeslot for me, since I'm watching Battlestar after anyway. And I almost always enjoy Scifi's orignal programming - Eurkea was a great show, and of course, BSG itself.

 

[LarryDavenport]

If I wanted to read I would go see a foreign film.

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

Bewitched meets Columbo?

I'll give it a try.

 

[Mary_P]

I'm looking forward to tonight's show. I read Storm Front about a year ago and seem to be one of the few among us who enjoyed it! I liked the mix of detective story with magic and humor. I'm definitely interested in reading the rest of the series, just haven't gotten around to it yet. I'm disappointed to hear that there's at least one character change (Bob) in the series, but I'll definitely give the show the benefit of the doubt.

I hope the series will avoid some of the location-related errors that were in the book; those always take me right out of the story, like the address given on an early "ER" episode that would've been a mile or so out into Lake Michigan. I got the sense that the book was written by someone who knew where Chicago was on a map, had maybe visited a time or two, but didn't really know it well and didn't get pre-publication feedback from anyone who did. I could be totally wrong about that, but that's how it read to me.

 

[Paul_Sjordal]

Did anyone else catch this show?

From what I understand, fans of the books are up in arms, but as someone who never read the books, I was mildly impressed. This show will certainly be part of my regular Sunday viewing schedule now that BSG is on Sundays.

 

[David Williams]

Already a thread here.

 

[David Williams]

I'm interested enough to play along with the show for now, but I have to agree with the reviews that said the show doesn't know what it wants to be. The show definitely needs to go more magical. Maybe it's a budgetary issue, but you can only talk about magic for so long without whipping it out big time. You would have thought they would have brought the big guns to the pilot episode, but they gave us a tease. The doombox did not fulfill my quota, but I'm such a huge fan of Terrence Mann that I'm gonna give the show awhile to find its footing.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

I thought this was on Tonight is it getting a replay?

 

[Mary_P]

3:00 CST this afternoon, according to Zap2It.com.

I wasn't particularly impressed by the first episode, but I'll probably give it another shot or two. Agreed, they needed to go a bit stronger on the magical element.

And I just found out why it didn't come across as a pilot -- it isn't one. According to The Futon Critic, the original two-hour pilot, whittled down to one hour, will air as the fifth episode. Good grief, did Sci-Fi learn nothing from Fox's mishandling of "Firefly"???

 

[Abby_B]

I enjoyed it - I thought that Terrence Mann in particular was outstanding! (I am such a theater dork.) But, yeah, I thought he was great - and that Harry himself was also a good character, sort of prickly but interesting.

And even though I'd never read the books before, it made me want to, because it made the universe look really interesting. I like that it didn't overkill the Introductory Exposition angle, but rather let you figure things out on your own and left more questions for later. There's a lot of things I'm already looking forward to knowing more about (how does Harry know Murphy? How many people know he's a wizard? Are there other wizards? How did Terrence Mann's character end up as a ghost?). I'm definitely looking forward to seeing where this show goes.

 

[Paul_Sjordal]

I don't have a problem with less magic and a lower SFX budget. It forces the writers to spend more time on the characters.

 

[KeithAP]

When I was watching the show I was thinking to myself that it seemed like an odd pilot. There was not much explanation or introduction of characters. It is really disappointing that they did that.

I also wasn't thrilled with the animated banner ad that they used to let us know the show will be available on iTunes tomorrow...and of course, the Sci-Fi logo bug. I actually kind of liked the show but I don't think I will stay with it if they are going to flash ads up while it is playing. I will probably just end up waiting until it hits DVD.

-Keith

 

[TheLongshot]

I watched the rerun on Monday. Better than what I was expecting. That being said, there does need to be some better explinations of what is going on. I mean, there wasn't any explination of what the dues ex machina that got rid of the Skinwalker was, so we don't know why it was valuable, other than it was.

Jason

 

[Mikel_Cooperman]

I wasn't impressed at all. Maybe it is because this wasn't the original pilot.