Thoughts on Under The Dome Novel/TV Differences

I read the book, I watched the show. The fellow Constant Reader might already guess what I'm hinting at. Indeed, I'm talking about Under The Dome, Stephen King's biggest book of the past years that has received a TV show treatment. I liked the book a lot as it had a wide variety of believable characters (I'm strongly drawn to King's epic dramas with huge casts), which is a surprise due to the fact that it plays in a single small town, Chester's Mill, and its surroundings, an area sealed off from the outside world by a mysterious dome - "unbreakable and inescapable" as the intro to the show proclaims. As long as the experience is still fresh I would like to blog about my opinion on the massive changes from book to show.

The book. Among King's longest works and starting point for the tv series.

 As a friend remarked weren't it for the dome "Under the Dome" the show would have nothing in common with the book. This is on purpose as Stephen King himself declared that those who dislike the changes in the show can still go back to the book: "Nothing between the covers has changed a bit." And the dome truly is the only common denominator in what can be seen as an alternative playthrough of the Chester's Mill drama:

"There’s only one element of my novel that absolutely had to be the same in the novel and the show, and that’s the Dome itself. It’s best to think of that novel and what you’re seeing week-to-week on CBS as a case of fraternal twins. Both started in the same creative womb, but you will be able to tell them apart. Or, if you’re of a sci-fi bent, think of them as alternate versions of the same reality."

Being a books-first kind of guy I read Under The Dome before beginning to watch the show. As I have a favor for King's long works I was excited for this one a long time. 1000+ pages, a real achievement of endurance to finish a brick of a book like this one. One you put on your shelf and afterwards think 'I finished that, yes, I did. Tak!'. Okay, forget about the Tak that slipped in, that's due to my current readthrough of Desperation about which I will blog soon as I'm on the brink of finishing it.

Big Jim, Julia Shumway, Angie, Barbie.

Under The Dome is a drama with a huge cast like The Stand and It, King's longest works beside the Dark Tower series. Due to the dome which suddenly materialized (you get the idea that it fell down from the sky, actually, compare "The airplane and the wood chuck" or the cow in the show) Under the Dome plays on a limited territory, a limit in playground which neither It nor The Stand have (even though It plays mostly in Derry, there are certain parts of the book leading to Derry). The story in its epicness is unharmed by this, probably there's even more room to character development to this as lengthy descriptions of the landscape are rare. Another point strengthening this argument surely is that in the book the source of the dome and the mysterious 'leather heads' play marginal roles and just towards the end get some more play time. That's why months after finishing Under The Dome I still have vivid memories of characteres like Dale 'Barbie' Barbara, Rusty Everett, Julia Shumway, Reverends Coggins and Libby, 'Chef' Phil Bushey and his poor wife Doodee Sanders. And of course the one to rule them all James 'Big Jim' Rennie, arguably King's most charismatic dictator. As I feel like I knew these characters once I finished the book I of course was very sensitive and at first even offended by all the changes made in the show. There's no Rusty, an important side kick in the book, there's no Libby, no Sanders. 'Chef' turned from a crystal meth smoking Christian fundamentalist hill billy into an African-American disc jockey. Thankfully they got Big Jim right as he is brilliantly played by Dean Norris, know to most as Hank from Breaking Bad. He is every bit as cunning, sinister and power lusting as in the literature. And it actually is exciting to see him react to situations that are as well unknown and unexpected to the Constant Reader. Barbie, our hero, on the other hand has a completely new background. He's still an Iraq veteran, but he's also some kind of insurance repo man. Even though he never was that kind of professional killer in the books, the producers still found an excellent actor for Barbie which is Mike Vogel.

Oh, Rusty, where are thou? Locked out in the show.

So much for the characters, or some of them at least, but what about the story? As said the only common denominator between book and TV show is the dome itself. There's a new source to it, there's no more armageddon like in the book and the whole plot is planned for a longer span of time. The astounding thing with the book was how fast - during the course of a few days - the dome (or Big Jim) altered everything from normal life to the solid establishment of a dictatorship. The show on the other hand plays in a time frame of weeks, probably months to come, what explains the sudden inner-dome eco system versus the scarcity of ressources in the book. Even though the first season ends with a prophetic Jim Rennie commanding hordes of town folks he doesn't have it as easy in the books as there are a couple of new characters competing with him: Some farmer sitting on Chester's Mill water ressources and a mysterious woman namend Maxime who - even by Big Jim - is refered to as the devil. The show gives her a few episodes to consolidate some kind of underground fight club in an abandoned factory before Big Jim shoots her in the head and blames it on Barbie. Also Junior Rennie plays a different role in the show. He's still loyal to his father but instead of getting mad by brain tumor he now is part of a group of chosen, a ka-tet if you will, who receives visions by the beings who brought the dome down on Chester's Mill. This forces him in the show to cooperate more with other characters like Scarecrow Joe, Norrie Calvert (let's not begin to talk about her change from skater girl (or 'riot grrrl' as called in the book) to some suburban interracial lesbian mothers' child) and Angy. The first mistery of 'The pink stars are falling' which was due to air pollution in the book is made into a cliffhanger on the end of the first season (the dome first blackens, blocking every light out and is then redeemed by mysterious pink stars coming from the remains of the 'mini dome'). On top of that the show adds another plot spin unknown to its literary archetype: 'The monarch will be crowned'. This is the message the ka-tet receives when collectively touching the mini-dome. The first assumption is that Barbie is the monarch and that the monarch is vital to bringing the dome down. Also there's a monarch butterfly hatching inside the mini dome, but once it hatches and gets out it is drawn to Julia Shumway, suggesting the she is the monarch. The last episode also features a short communication with the creator beings of the dome, who chose the physical appearence of Norrie's dead mother to not scare the stupid humans away (showing themselves as dead people, oh well). There it is revealed that Chester's Mill was sealed off to save it. The question to save it from what is postponed to the next seasons. Along with many others.

The TV invention of Under The Dome's Ka-Tet.

So what do I as Constant Reader make of all these changes? I'm one who always bashes 'Game of Thrones' for its many changes to the 'A Song of Ice and Fire' books, despising the sacrifizing decisions that take out a lot of complexity from the tv adaptation. Adaptation is the keyword here, I guess, as 'Under The Dome' the show is not a literary adaptation to the screen but rather something completely new. Other than with 'Game of Thrones' this re-vision, not re-telling, of  a book also changes my frame of perception for the TV show of 'Under The Dome'. Even though I miss a lot of the characters that should be under this dome, I still find it exciting to experience this new approach to a known King story I travelled through already in my mind, to live through a new reality, an alternate dimension, a contingency of Chester's Mill. Theres's one thing a Constant Reader should know and there's no better approach to the TV-Chester's Mill: "Go then, there are other worlds than these."

So yes, I'm certainly looking forward for season 2 of Under The Dome which starts very soon already, June 30th 2014.