We’re back to the show and the book falling in line with each other. Kind of.
I had a few issues figuring out where to stop reading since a fair few things that happened in the show haven’t happened in the book. And I don’t mean like the single event that the episode ended on. I mean like 3 different things.
SPOILERS AHEAD – WON’T RUIN THE SHOW BUT WILL TELL YOU SOME THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO KNOW BEFORE WATCHING/READING IT
SHOW
BOOK
The interview with Kadmin was done illegally in a real body
The interview with Kadmin was done legitimately in virtual reality
The Raven finds out about Bancroft being at the fight ring and Kovacs tells Ortega
The visit Kovacs and Ortega pay to Kadmin’s lawyers is how they find out about the fight ring
The fight ringleader shows them footage of Bancroft getting into a fight with his son in the stands
The fight ringleader answers some questions but has no footage to show them and appears to be holding back on info
Ortega is badly wounded while Bautista is killed after interviewing Kadmin
This doesn’t happen in the book at all
I didn’t find too many similarities in this section of the book as we seem to be getting more and more variations. As more and more little things change the flow on effects mean more changes need to be made as well.
We may see some things circling back and being shown/read later down the line but I’m not going to know until I get to them.
As I continue my comparison of the book to the TV show, I’ve found that they are in line again. But will it continue?
SPOILERS AHEAD – WON’T RUIN THE SHOW BUT WILL TELL YOU SOME THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO KNOW BEFORE WATCHING/READING IT
SHOW
BOOK
Kovacs wakes up in his own body with no enhancements and some defaults
Kovacs wakes up in a female body with no enhancements
Kovacs remembers his training with Falconer to beat the virtual torture
Kovacs remembers his friend Jimmy to beat the virtual torture
Kovacs gives the speech after waking up that convinces them to unlock him
Kovacs gives the speech in virtual that gets him released from the torture
Kovacs kills everyone in the facility after getting free and before leaving
Kovacs leaves with an escort then kills them while in the flying car
Kovacs leaves with Kadmins head
Kovacs leaves with a doctor’s head
Kovacs sees Ortega at the hotel
Kovacs goes back to kill everyone after escaping the car and avoids the cops as they arrive
Although Kovacs was tortured in both the book and the show, the show was much more graphic and detailed. Which explains why the book was short compared to it being so accurate to the show. Given books generally have more time and space to be more graphic I was a little surprised that this was the case.
The overall feel of the episode followed the book; however, I’m starting to see more and more differences. Which is ok!
Adapting a book to a film version does mean changes will happen. Which is great coz we get to see the writer’s interpretation of the book. And I’m excited to see what those changes will include!
The episode and the book are so different this time! Like SOOOO different!!
SPOILERS AHEAD – WON’T RUIN THE SHOW BUT WILL TELL YOU SOME THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO KNOW BEFORE WATCHING/READING IT
SHOW
BOOK
Kovacs is invited and went to dinner party at Bancroft’s
No invite was issued, and no party happened
Elliot takes Kovacs to get weapons
Kovacs goes to the armourer Bancroft recommended
The knife bio-weapon goes to the tip
The knife bio-weapon is no where near the edges to ensure the owner doesn’t get poisoned
The hooker, Louise, drugs Kovacs
Kovacs goes with them willingly and is drugged at the facility
Since there was so many differences between the two in this episode, there’s not too many similarities to look at. So let’s have a look at them.
Other than Kovacs getting weapons, seeing Louise and being kidnapped, there’s like no similarities between the book and the show. Which isn’t surprising given that this makes up all of like 10 minutes of the episode and only 25 pages.
Not much time to have anything really happen.
I’m kinda hoping that the dinner party happens later in the book so that I can see some of those bits playing out in more detail.
In case you missed it, I decided to compare the books to the TV show Altered Carbon. It’s a trilogy with both seasons 1 and 2 currently available on Netflix so I’ll be knocking out one episode a week for you over the next 18 weeks.
Episode length: 59 minutes
Pages read: 72
Chapters read: 6
I’m really looking forward to bringing you my thoughts on each episode compared to the book. Even though I almost instantly found differences between the show and the book, by the end of the 6th chapter I was able to say that the main points happened in each.
SPOILERS AHEAD – WON’T RUIN THE SHOW BUT WILL TELL YOU SOME THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT WANT TO KNOW BEFORE WATCHING/READING IT
To give you a summary, I’ve broken the differences and similarities down into dot points.
SHOW
BOOK
Flashbacks happen throughout the episode
Flashback is the prologue only
The girlfriend is murdered by the Protectorates in cold blood
Sarah (the girlfriend) is gunned down while trying to shoot the Protectorates
Kovacs is made a martyr
Kovacs is show in the chest before he realises what’s happened while reaching for his gun
Bancroft lives in some tower structure where all the rich people live
Bancroft lives in an estate out of the city, overlooking the Reach
Kovac knows what a Songtree is
Kovac doesn’t know what a Songtree is
Ortega has a drink with Kovac while he’s tripping on various drugs before checking into a hotel
Ortega has a drink with Kovac in his hotel room after he’s attacked
Kovacs knows The Raven is an AI hotel before going into it
Kovacs finds out The Hendrix is an AI hotel after the firefight happens
Kovac is attached by like 5 or 6 guys (including one woman)
Kovac is attached by one guy and one woman
Kovac tried to avoid working for Bancroft
Kovac never tried to avoid working for Bancroft
Pretty much everything from when they wake Kovac up until he get’s to Bancroft’s place is slightly different as well. Little things like the process of being woken up, being discharged, knowing vs not knowing the cops are escorting him to Bancroft, being given a letter from Bancroft before being discharged explaining why he’s been brought back. Little things like that are more detailed in the book.
Yet I understand they needed to change it so show you what the narration of the book tells us. Unless they felt like narrating every episode, I can see why they chose to do this a little differently.
The similarities are straight forward in that the general timeline and progress Kovac’s makes in the book and the show are pretty bang on. There’s a detour in the show where Kovac’s goes to get high and drink whereas in the book he questions Bancroft and his wife.
However, if I remember correctly the scene I read in the book where Miriam (Bancroft’s wife) is questioned, that happens in a later episode. It could have just been creative license to get interest in the series early.
Unlike with books, you’ve got one to two episodes to get the audience interested. If you weigh those episodes down with boring stuff like someone being questioned, you might lose the audience and cost the show success. Which is exactly why the show is “based on” the book. Not a direct adaptation of the book.
A few years ago, a new sci-fi, steampunk series was released on Netflix; Altered Carbon. As soon as I saw the trailer, I knew it was one I wanted to see, so when it finally dropped, I binged it over a single weekend. The following month I was able to keep reliving each episode as my work friends worked their way through the series and I was able to talk about it with them.
We dissected each episode from the choice of actors, the cinematics, the way it was shown and what they could have done differently to make it better. When I started my book blog a couple months later, these same friends suggested I do a comparison of the book to the Netflix adaptation.
Before Christmas I saw the announcement that Season 2 would be dropping in Quarter 1 of 2020 so I realised I needed to get a move on with my comparison of Season 1 if I wanted to keep up. Especially since there are only 3 books!
To help with this I asked for a Secret Santa to give me a copy of Altered Carbon, and I was lucky enough to get it! Yay!
Unfortunately, I’d signed up for so many book tours in January and February I knew I couldn’t get to it until March. So even though Season 2 dropped a week ago I’ll be reviewing Season 1 with the first book over the next 10 weeks. Then I’ll go straight into Season 2 over the following 8 weeks.
Whether you’re a fan of the books or the show, come back every week on a Wednesday to see how the show and the book are the same or different, and who did it better. Feel free to disagree or even point out anything I’ve missed coz I’m only human and I may see or interpret things differently to you.
Come back in a week for my comparison of the first episode of Season 1!
You can also keep track of each episode and book over on my Altered Carbon page.
So I’m sure I’m not the only one who reads books but also watched TV shows and movies. But I do find that when I discover they are based on a book I have to wonder if the book is better than the film version.
Since I’m sure I’m not the only one like this I thought I would start a discussion about this. Because this is intended as a DISCUSSION post I’d like you to share your thoughts in comments below. If you don’t, then it won’t really work will it?
To kick off the discussion I thought I’d start off with a bit of a list of some of the film versions of books I’ve seen that I either have read or want to read. In coming weeks (I haven’t decided on how often I will add a new discussion posts) I will be exploring individual ones in more detail to explain WHY I want to read the books.
I read these ones after seeing them (even if it was only the first episode/movie)
Game of Thrones
Harry Potter
Trueblood
Hunger Games
The 100
Divergent
Water for Elephants
I want to read these ones
Outlander (currently working on this series SLOWLY)
Altered Carbon
Vampire Diaries
Pretty Little Liars
Gone with the Wind
The Time Traveller’s Wife
Me before You
Veronica Mars *added late May*
I saw these after reading them
Vampire Academy
Eragon
The Hobbit
I am going to make a note that if I think of other books to add to any part of this post I will be doing so. You never know, you might even be the ones to remind me of others!
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