The trailer has the best reloads this side of Equilibrium.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjwfqXTebIY
It looks like a lot of the movie is from books not named The Gunslinger, which is not a good sign for me.
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I know literally nothing about the Dark Tower except that:
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People who do seem as obsessed with it as the Wheel of Time people.
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I read Eyes of the Dragon in middle school (it’s in the canon).
I know that it is a series of Stephen King fantasy novels. I know it is mad popular. People who are into it are WAY into it. I think it also has some sort of western action, guns and such? I only ever heard of it because people talk about the comics, which I think pick up where the books left off.
That’s a big trend, by the way. Having comic series pick up where continuing series in other mediums have left off. I think Buffy The Vampire Slayer is the biggest example. X-Files is also doing it. Of course Star Wars is using comics to fill in the gaps as well.
I only know that I received the first 3 novels as dead trees, read the first one and honestly didn’t care about what happened next enough to pick up the second. It was well written and cool stuff happened but… I just couldn’t be asked. It fell into the same trap so many things fall into where the will to keep going fades.
I have been thinking about rereading Dark Towers, read them as a kid, remember liking them but don’t remember much about them outside of some bits and pieces here and there. Besides, as I read them when they were still coming out I had forgotten lots of details form beginning and middle by the time I reached the end.
The thing that interested me about the Dark Tower was that it ties into 75% of Stephen King’s other novels. Not only is Eyes of the Dragon part of the canon, but so is Salem’s Lot, It, Hearts in Atlantis, The Stand, Insomnia, and plenty more. I’ve read a lot of Stephen King novels lately, and it’s become more fun once I realized that most of them take place in the same universe, and there are unexpected connections everywhere.
I enjoyed the books to varying degrees, but I certainly wouldn’t call it a favorite series. King made some very strange choices in the later books. Though I did think it was funny that in the epilogue, he straight out said, “I know you guys are obsessed with these books, but please for the love of God don’t come to Maine just to show up my house.” I feel like he’s had problems with that in the past.
I’m pretty excited about this movie - they are definitely mix-and-matching a lot of the content from the books into the movies, which is great because the first book on it’s own would be a snoozefest. I see content in the trailer that appears to be from book 1, 3, and possibly 4-5 at least. (assuming the shootout scene is from either Mejis or Calla Bryn Sturgis and not the flashback from the first book.)
I read the first book and thought so little of it that not only did I not bother reading the second book, I didn’t even bother talking about it on my book review podcast. I felt there was nothing there to talk about.
Blane the Monorail made a distinct impression but otherwise I remember enjoying it for it’s surreal feelings and strange crossovers to the other books. (I have read a lot of Stephen King) So I got a lot of the references.
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Two characters in Dr. McNinja are obsessed with Dark Tower.
That is the source of most of my non-dragon-related knowledge about the world. I literally don’t even know if there is a literal dark tower.
(If there is, I assume it’s that weird tower in the Wheel of Time, completing the circle).
What’s up with fantasy novels and towers? There are other forms of architecture to be obsessed with. More grottoes please.
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I’ve always meant to check out The Dark Tower; the combination of western gunslinger plus precursor technology plus surrealism sounds way up my alley. I might have to finally bite the bullet once I’m done with Dune.
Towers are highly visible, thus they are good goal for long epic journey, which fantasy likes to be all about.
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I wouldn’t consider myself to be a big Stephen King fan, but I love the Dark Tower series. The first book can be very hit or miss with people, but there is just something about those books that are incredible. As King himself has stated, the books are kind of like the Lord of the Rings trilogy crossed with the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. If Sergio Leone and Tolkien had a literary lovechild, it would be the Dark Tower.
That said, this trailer looks horrible. I love Idris Elba, but this movie is going to be such a hot mess. I have no idea why this isn’t going to be a TV series. This could have been HBO’s next big hit after Game of Thrones ends. Instead, we’re getting a muddled mess of a movie that can’t decide if it’s a prequel, sequel, or just mashes random bits of the books together.
It’s my girlfriend’s top book list she mentions this all the time. Not fond of Steven King later work but according to her it was enjoyable.
I was writing a response to this topic but my opinion is pretty much exactly what you just said.
For those who want to know what the book is about that description is perfect. I would recommend it, and the first book would be a great Book Club Book.
[quote=“Apreche, post:3, topic:696”]
I think it also has some sort of western action, guns and such?
[/quote]It does, and also haunted houses, and heroin dealers, and vampires, and [details=Spoilers, if you care]Stephen King himself entering the series as a character.[/details] I liked the first book. The dropoff after that was… precipitous.
[quote=“SkeleRym, post:9, topic:696”]
Two characters in Dr. McNinja are obsessed with Dark Tower.
[/quote]I read the first book because of that.
Edit: huh, why does the spoiler thing not work for me? The spoiler won’t go away.
I have been spoiled that the series has some cyclical nature to it with it ending where the series starts and they are using this aspect to say that the movie is going to be a different cycle to the one shown in the book series. Since my favourite aspects of Stephen King’s works are his more surrealist takes (The Turtle in IT, The short stories"Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut" and “The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet”.)
I am hoping that it does well and the follow up TV series is made but I think that Castle Rock is going to be a better series for my particular taste in Stephen King adaptations.
The movie looks great, I’ve read the entire series as they came out when I was a kid and have fond memories of them.
Likely they’ll remove all the subtle connections to the rest of King’s stories.
The series is unique in that it bridges the gap between King’s stories and his real life world. With the primary focus being on bridging our reality and Roland’s (the protagonist’s) reality.
That no look head shot from the trailer is one of the scenes I remembered from the books.
Also one of the craziest things I’m sometimes remembered of when getting on the train is Blane the Monorail.
I also got invested with the Ka’tet aspect which connected people which would otherwise never need to rely upon each other.
I haven’t read the comic books but they did have some retelling from the blurbs I read and some high profile artists.
edit:
I’d also rather see Idris Elba as Roland Deschain than as a trash character like James Bond.
I missed this while looking up castle rock. Another likely fun but also bad expansion of a Stephen King short story and one of my favourites too.
I still haven’t gotten around to watch the movie version of it but this looks more silly than that version.