The Stand

General horror discussion. Movies, DVDs, Blu-rays, TV, and Podcasts.
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Re: The Stand

Post by Alien Redrum »

Don't make me hate this like I now hate Swan Song. :lol:

They make very little mention of his popularity. It's weird, you are right, they kind of shit the bed with his character. Because...okay, so in the book and the '90s miniseries, when Nadine said, "You ain't no nice guy, Larry," it had meaning because the character is famous and shallow and grows as time goes on.

But when it's said here, if you haven't read the book, it's kind of meaningless because they didn't build the character.

I'm still enjoying it though. A lot. Because I can fill all this stuff in having read it so many times. I'm super curious on how people who've never read the book feel. But, in a way, I don't think this is made for them. It really feels like it was made for the fans because they are doing so little development on key characters. I'm not going to bullshit. I don't think I'd be exaggerating if the total time spent on Nick was maybe 10 minutes. It really feels like that. And he's a major player.

MAJOR book spoiler regarding Nick:
Spoiler:
Remember what a fucking gut punch it was when Nick died? Well in this version, I'm going to be honest, I didn't care. I mean, I did because I know Nick, but if I was a rando not-having-read-the-book watcher, I wouldn't give one shit. At all.
It's as if the show is assuming you already know these people. And I do. And you do. But there are many folks who don't. I'm going to start looking for those reviews. I'm very curious about how people who are going in with no knowledge are enjoying it.
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Re: The Stand

Post by Neon Maniac »

That's a really good point. And it kind of goes into the worries that I've been trying to express. Everything I saw showed that they didn't really give a shit about the Stand they just wanted to make a series about the Stand, and it was developed by people, who basically, you told them about the Stand and then told them to make a miniseries about it. I would 100% doubt that everyone who wrote or produced or directed or even starred in The Stand even read it.

This is not based so much on them and my fears; but that when I've seen remakes over the last 20 years, it seems like instead of going back to the source material and remaking it based on that, they're only going back to the previous movie and basing it on that, which makes no sense to me and just shows as being lazy and sloppy to me.
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Re: The Stand

Post by Neon Maniac »

So no baby can you dig your man? But he's a righteous man. :confused:
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Re: The Stand

Post by Neon Maniac »

And here's a real life example of what I'm trying to illustrate here.

I go on twitter just now, and some millennial "expert" is going, "Oh today is Brandon Lee's Something (birtday/death/release of the crow?) and he is so awesome. You can tell that he was the inspiration for The Joker (and then a bunch of side by side pics of The Crow and Heath Ledger's Joker).

Yeah, no junior. I don't think 1 shitty minor movie character trumps literally 70 years of the Joker.
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Re: The Stand

Post by Alien Redrum »

Yes, I heard it last night on episode 7 for the first time.

A soundtrack is coming out tomorrow and it's going to be on there apparently.
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Re: The Stand

Post by Alien Redrum »

Neon Maniac wrote: Mon Feb 01, 2021 8:18 pm And here's a real life example of what I'm trying to illustrate here.

I go on twitter just now, and some millennial "expert" is going, "Oh today is Brandon Lee's Something (birtday/death/release of the crow?) and he is so awesome. You can tell that he was the inspiration for The Joker (and then a bunch of side by side pics of The Crow and Heath Ledger's Joker).

Yeah, no junior. I don't think 1 shitty minor movie character trumps literally 70 years of the Joker.
:lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: The Stand

Post by Neon Maniac »

Alien Redrum wrote: Mon Feb 01, 2021 8:27 pm Yes, I heard it last night on episode 7 for the first time.

A soundtrack is coming out tomorrow and it's going to be on there apparently.
I always hated that song. The lyrics are so cringe worthy :lol:

I can't wait to hear it.
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Re: The Stand

Post by Neon Maniac »

Alien Redrum wrote: Mon Feb 01, 2021 7:36 pm Don't make me hate this like I now hate Swan Song. :lol:

They make very little mention of his popularity. It's weird, you are right, they kind of shit the bed with his character. Because...okay, so in the book and the '90s miniseries, when Nadine said, "You ain't no nice guy, Larry," it had meaning because the character is famous and shallow and grows as time goes on.
yeah Larry started out as a very ego-driven character, with a lot of frustration over not being recognized for being famous. Like I forget how he starts out in the book. He basically had to run back home to the east coast to avoid the people he borrowed all the cash from in California so that he could act like the big shot super star before he actually got paid for being the big shot super star. And how his song was basically the last pop song of the apocalypse, and it turns out everyone associates that song with the apocalypse.

I think the travel from wherever they originated to Denver or to Las Vegas is very key for all of the characters. I don't think a lot of people really pay attention to that though and short shrift it, thinking the majority of the book really is once the two sides start planning. I think the stupid millennials believe the book is 80% setup and maybe 20% of things actually happening at the end, when I think the reality is that last 20% is really just the act 3 climax, and the main story is the 80% of what came before.
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Re: The Stand

Post by Alien Redrum »

Neon Maniac wrote: Mon Feb 01, 2021 9:41 pmI think the travel from wherever they originated to Denver or to Las Vegas is very key for all of the characters. I don't think a lot of people really pay attention to that though and short shrift it, thinking the majority of the book really is once the two sides start planning. I think the stupid millennials believe the book is 80% setup and maybe 20% of things actually happening at the end, when I think the reality is that last 20% is really just the act 3 climax, and the main story is the 80% of what came before.
100% agreed with this. 1,000%.

The Stand is one of my favorite books of all time (the other being IT, I bounce between the two). And my favorite part of the book is right up to the moment where all the chess pieces are in place, and right before the four start walking to Las Vegas.

It's not that I dislike the rest of it. LAWS NO. It's just that the journey is so much better than the destination. That sounds very cliche, but in this case it's true. King did a phenomenal job with having a lot of the characters grow as time went on. Harold changed, Nick changed, Larry changed, Lloyd changed. Stu is about the only one that didn't change, but he always was a solid, leaderly fellow.

I'm VERY curious about how they are going to end this. Apparently, King and his son Joe rewrote it. Did we talk about that already?

I'm okay with a changed ending. As much as I love the book, the ending is a bit weak. It's like, "Okay, I'm done, BOOM!" Kind of the same with IT. Okay, I'm done, everyone fuck!
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Re: The Stand

Post by Neon Maniac »

I think Stu doesn't change because he is unchangeable. That's kind of why I called him a juggernaut. He's not immortal, he's going to die one day. He's not real powerful or anything like that. But reality changes itself around him for his favor. He's unstoppable in that way. He doesn't get sick. He likely should have died in the CDC of starvation when everyone else died around him but events made it so that he could escape. He breaks his leg and has to be stuck in the pit, which keeps him from dying in Vegas and also from dying from the explosion since he's down in the pit. Really I think Stu is "the truth". You can't change the truth and the truth has more effect on everything around it then those things can affect the truth. All of the good people like Stu, just like they like the truth. The evil people are all phonies and hate the truth just like they hate Stu. In his way I think Stu is the Catalyst for a lot of the other characters change too. Those other characters get confronted by the truth of who they are and either can change to that truth or go on living a lie.

So I don't know what he would be called, but that is how I see him.

I didn't know King and his hack son rewrote it. That could be interesting. Is it just the ending they did?
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Re: The Stand

Post by Alien Redrum »

God, great thoughts on Stu. Could not agree more. I think even Harold changed because of Stu (and the guy that gave him the nickname; he really liked that :lol:).

Owen King wrote the teleplay for episode 7, so there's that.

Oh! And you remember how Tom left Vegas? DEFINITELY NOT THE SAME IN THIS VERSION. :lol:

Honestly, it's really hard for me to hate this show. Mainly because [broken record] I can easily fill in all the blanks.
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Re: The Stand

Post by Neon Maniac »

About a year before the pandemic I was sick with the flu really bad and I bought The Stand and It (OG) miniseries' on Vudu for some kind of special offer. And I just marathoned The Stand in a day. I kept thinking about all the things I was filling in from reading the book too with both of them. So at least it's not just that series.

Yeah, 100% on Harold. I think Harold was someone who could take either path and he chose wrong. He could've stayed with the people who appreciated him and thought he was cool, but he chose to run off with hand job Nadine and die on the side of the road. It's been so long since I've read it, but it seems like there was a part where Nadine mentions her dreams and says she assumes he has them too, and he's like oh yeah of course. But he doesn't have dreams from either side about going anywhere or doing anything.
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Re: The Stand

Post by Alien Redrum »

Okay, one more episode to go, but the second to last episode is THAT episode. Where shit comes down in Vegas. The last episode is going to be the wrap up of folks making their way back to Boulder Free Zone.

Some thoughts so far:

I've really enjoyed this miniseries. Overall, it's better than the '90s version, but that's partially because the effects and just how good it looks. I'm overall satisfied with all of the slight (and not so slight) changes, as well as the casting (although Larry will always bother me, but more on that in am minute).

Two things that do bother me though. They fucking blew it with Trashcan Man. Hard. Trashy had depth and there was a reason why he did everything he did. Totally robbed the character of ALL of that. Mild spoiler (but not really a spoiler if you read the book/watched the '90s version):
Spoiler:
You know how in the book, the kids teased Trash, and how part of the reason he was the way he was was because of the shock therapy? And you know how he got that nuclear weapon for Flagg not because Flagg told him to get it, but he fucked up and set shit on fire, so he had to get back in the graces? Yeah?

Absolutely none of that is there here. None of it. Here's Trashcan Man's entire point in the new miniseries:

1. He sets that tanker on fire.
2. He shows up in Vegas.
3. Flagg tells him to go find big fire.
4. He comes back with the warhead.

That's it! You see him maybe a total of 5 minutes? No backstory. He's ONLY used to get the warhead. That's it. Fucking mildly infuriating because I always loved that character.
Larry being black, in relation to this series and that's it, doesn't bother me. They made virtually no big deal about his singing career other than him playing in a club early on and Lloyd's brief teasing him about it.

Speaking of Lloyd, another missed opportunity. BUT, I'm also pretty sure is I just thought Miguel handled that role to perfection in the original series. But overall the character in this version is just too goofy. Lloyd wasn't a goofball.

Now, the Vegas finale. It's the same but different and that difference is better. I'll put it in spoilers.
Spoiler:
Instead of the 'hand of God' touching the warhead, a lightening storm comes down and starts wiping people out. It's pretty awesome. Then, naturally, a bolt hits the warhead and BOOM!
I needed to break this up because there are two more bigger spoilers here (but not spoilers if you read the book, the FULL-ON re-release).
Spoiler:
Larry and New Ralph still die in the explosion (oh, and they weren't crucified, something else changed there). So I was glad about that. I didn't want them to pussy out on this.

Also, when Flagg 'dies' by a lightening strike, he seems to disappear rather than die. Now, remember at the end of the extended edition Flagg shows up in the afterward walking in on that tribe in the jungle? I REALLY hope they throw that in the end credits somewhere. Flagg is eternal.
Last, one more spoiler (that's only a mild one if you read the book):
Spoiler:
Remember how Nadine goaded Flagg into killing her in the book? It's different here and I don't like it. The book's handling is FAR better because it shows how Flagg is losing control more and more. Bad move here. BUT her death itself is pretty cool.
That's all I have for now. I'm looking forward to the last episode because it should be a lot of Tom Cullen, and the guy playing him is so good. Still my favorite character.

And I think I'd still choose Vegas over Boulder. They're a bunch of squares in Boulder.
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Re: The Stand

Post by Neon Maniac »

You'd die on the side of the road like Harold.
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Re: The Stand

Post by Neon Maniac »

When is the last episode of this? CBS All Access?
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