The Fredösphere

I taped that Earthsea miniseries that aired on the Sci-Fi Channel, and we've been watching it over the last few nights.  A month ago, I asked, "is there any possibility that this mini-series will not be a crashing disappointment?"  Apparently, the answer is:  no.

Why didn't they decide to cover only the first book?  Instead they overlapped the plots of the three books into one time frame.  To make the overlapping work, the plot of the second book was completely scrambled.  You will not be shocked to learn the changes did not result in a net improvement to the story.  The book had priestesses from competing temples playing a deadly game of cat and dog in a very believable context of religious politics (or politicized religion).  In the miniseries, we get a reverend mother burbling on about how the strength of the faith of her fellow priestesses holds the evil Nameless Ones at bay.

Memo to screenwriters everywhere:  people of faith don't talk about their faith - they talk about the object of their faith.  Religious people have things called gods.  One's God is the principle focus of religious activity.  There is a hint that this is true, in the way verbs are used that ought to receive subjects:  Faith in what?  Prayers to whom?  The dialog in the Earthsea miniseries sounds like it is written by someone who doesn't understand religion -- or maybe someone prevented from representing it truthfully, either due to P.C. constraints or some other Hollywood "logic."

Speaking of goofy movie depictions of religion:  the promised Choir Music In Sci-Fi post is coming soon.  It's going to be big.  Real big.  Here's a tease:

Hi. My name is Bruce. I'll be your worship facilitator today.

It so perfectly fulfills the mission statement of this blog, I may have nothing to say once it's done.  In fact, it may fulfill the Meaning of my Life.  There may be no reason for me to stay on this earth once I've posted it.

Labels: movie, PlanetOfTheApes