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First batch of Dark Tower images and plot details

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Meia

Member
What's with the modern day setting. I thought this series was a fantasy Western.


As said by Roland in one of the books after a bit of storytelling: "Do people in your world always want only one story-flavor at a time? Only one taste in their mouths? Does no one eat stew?"


It's a sci-fi horror western? Probably more genres it could fit into. :p
 

Kingbrave

Member
As said by Roland in one of the books after a bit of storytelling: "Do people in your world always want only one story-flavor at a time? Only one taste in their mouths? Does no one eat stew?"


It's a sci-fi horror western? Probably more genres it could fit into. :p


That's what I was going to quote damnit!

You have robots and Lovecraftian horror and fantasy and western and all sorts of stuff thrown into the mix.
 

bionic77

Member
From what can be interpreted in the EW articles it seems they're starting this off with Jakes POV and how he finds Roland in The Waste Lands. While Roland himself is hunting Walter who goes from Mid-World to New York, and Walter is hunting Jake who goes from New York to Mid-World.

Or alike. Just speculating.
The first book is decent but would make for horrible movie material other than maybe the battle at Tull or whatever that town was. And even that seems tame and boring to what follows.

At least when I was reading it, the book was at its best with the interactions between Roland/Eddie or Roland/Cuthbert. I feel the movie would benefit from focusing on the same.
 

maxcriden

Member
Spoiler about the horn thing:

It's been years since I read the books, but my memory is that the horn "resets" Roland's journey and he begins again. Which is actually a pretty awesome way to explain this movie's differences between it and the book. But does the horn also allow Roland himself to change? Sort of how Link is a bit different in every Zelda game, but it's the same Link? It could explain why this version of Roland looks so different from the Clint Eastwood everyone pictures in King's books.

BTW,

in most of the Zelda games it's not the same Link. There are several different Links.
 
Oh shit, they're actually doing the Dutch Hill Mansion too?!
10465400000df800gyu_0.jpg

Now give it dancing elf wallpaper and it can tie into the new IT movie!
 

Jackpot

Banned
Walter has ventured to the Dixie Pig in pursuit of a boy in our world named Jake (15-year-old Tom Taylor) who has a power known as “The Shine,” which can be harnessed to break down the trans-dimensional beams that keep the Tower standing strong.

I do like a good over-arching multiverse. The Shining obviously, and the monsters from The Mist being from the Todash Space described in Dark Tower.
 

ThankeeSai

Member
I say it every time this series comes up:

Wizard and Glass (Book IV) is the greatest book I have ever read in my entire life.

It certainly is amazing, but for me. it's a very close tie between this and The Drawing of the Three for the best in the series.

I'm not a huge reader by any stretch, but the DT books are definitely the ones that have captivated me the most out of anything I've ever read.

I started reading them not long after Wolves of the Calla came out. After finishing the Gunslinger, I bought the next 4 books and read them one after the other. Every spare moment I had, I read those books. I've never been so wrapped up in a books world before.

Love it.
 

Voror

Member
I really hope they manage to pull this off. Also glad they're going the direction with they are since it actually justifies the various differences from the books.
 
AWEEEE MAN. Those pictures look great. Who cares about
Susannah and Eddie
, the main question is... WHERE IS OY!?!?
I am just finishing Wizard and Glass at the moment
.... poor Susan :(
. Though I think I just got some Jake spoilers from that description... I'm too afraid to read this thread that closely but I have a question for you book readers: should I read The Little Sisters of Eluria or The Wind Through the Keyhole or Wolves of the Calla next? If I save Eluria and Keyhole till last which one goes first?

I say it every time this series comes up:

Wizard and Glass (Book IV) is the greatest book I have ever read in my entire life.

I need some time to process it (and finish it, the part I read last night involved
Oy put on some red shoes and Jake and Eddie helped him click his heels together
) but if is obnoxiously good. I'd really love the main part of the book to get adapted into a miniseries like 11.22.63 did.
 

Kingbrave

Member
AWEEEE MAN. Those pictures look great. I am just finishing Wizard and Glass at the moment
.... poor Susan :(
. Though I think I just got some Jake spoilers from that description. I'm too afraid to read this thread that closely but I have a question for you book readers: should I read The Little Sisters of Eluria or The Wind Through the Keyhole or Wolves of the Calla next? If I save Eluria and Keyhole till last which one goes first?

Doesn't matter. You can read them whenever you whatever order you want.
 

Freshmaker

I am Korean.
Spoiler about the horn thing:

It's been years since I read the books, but my memory is that the horn "resets" Roland's journey and he begins again. Which is actually a pretty awesome way to explain this movie's differences between it and the book. But does the horn also allow Roland himself to change? Sort of how Link is a bit different in every Zelda game, but it's the same Link? It could explain why this version of Roland looks so different from the Clint Eastwood everyone pictures in King's books.

That's not how it works. The horn
is just one example of many of points where Roland thought he fucked up last time around. It's been resetting every time he misses a detail like the horn, but the horn itself doesn't necessarily drive the reset. He basically needs a perfect run to fix the tower or else it'll keep resetting.

Also on the casting of Roland. Thank you Hollywood for not trying to make him look like Stephen King. That was the nastiest thing the books did to Roland.
 

SpaceWolf

Banned
“The man in Black fled across the Desert, and the Gunslinger followed.”

But Roland is also wearing black.

Is Roland the Man in Black?

Is the Gunslinger chasing him?

Is Jake the Gunslinger?
 

Voror

Member
But Roland is also wearing black.

Is Roland the Man in Black?

Is the Gunslinger chasing him?

Is Jake the Gunslinger?

You could make some weird connection that he's both. The Man In Black being the obsessed person he is with the Gunslinger still there as well following along. If you didn't want to just take it as literal anyway.
 

Krowley

Member
What's with the modern day setting. I thought this series was a fantasy Western.

There is a portal fantasy element, like Narnia, and a multiverse. Within the overall universe, sci-fi, fantasy, and horror intermingle freely.

how are the books?

In the epic fantasy genre, the series is one of the best ever. Obviously, there are a few problems as there will be with any series of this length, but overall the books are full of amazing situations that will stick with you for a long time. The first book is considered by many to be a weak point (but an interesting one) and some people don't like the way the series ends. The only book I had a serious problem with was Wolves of Calla, which came in the middle and had some pacing issues. But even that one had some great sequences and it was filled with all sorts of cool ideas.

I do like a good over-arching multiverse. The Shining obviously, and the monsters from The Mist being from the Todash Space described in Dark Tower.

Yep, this stuff is all over the Dark Tower books. Pretty much every Stephen King book ties into them in one way or another. Some of them, like IT and The Stand, are almost direct extensions of the Dark Tower series.
 

mrbagdt

Member
That's not how it works. The horn
is just one example of many of points where Roland thought he fucked up last time around. It's been resetting every time he misses a detail like the horn, but the horn itself doesn't necessarily drive the reset. He basically needs a perfect run to fix the tower or else it'll keep resetting.

Also on the casting of Roland. Thank you Hollywood for not trying to make him look like Stephen King. That was the nastiest thing the books did to Roland.
in a way this loop kinda makes me think of the matrix...
 

Krowley

Member
The fuck? Why is it so low?

Sounds like they expect the audience to be kind of small and want to insure it's profitable so they can continue with their sequel/TV series plans.

Doesn't bother me much because I really think you can do these without a huge budget. It's high fantasy, with magic and monsters and alternate worlds, but it's also very different from something like Lord of The Rings.

Some of the books would require higher budgets. The Wastelands would probably be the most expensive to film.
 

Kingbrave

Member
Uh, fuck you guys I love the first one. Not the touched up book that he reworked later and added the Taheen and 19 to but the original.

I'm old and I'm sticking to my old man shit!

I love how it's a flashback of a flashback told to a ginger with a pet raven. "The musical fruit!"

I love the way it was published originally as three pieces in that magazine.

It really gives you the idea of how alone and how long he's been on this journey.

Also Nort. He's kind of a zombie!
 
The first book is great. I would have loved a movie of that or at least half hour of this film adapting it (hope that's the case honestly). It sold the desolate world better than the rest of the books for me and I liked how it was just focused on gunslinger chasing the man in black. A very sparse story with a lot of western influence
 

Joey Fox

Self-Actualized Member
I say it every time this series comes up:

Wizard and Glass (Book IV) is the greatest book I have ever read in my entire life.

Ok I'm ashamed to say I got bogged down in The Wastelands and skipped to Book 5.

I'd better finish the series then.
 
The Wastelands was my favorite in the series. IV was too tangental to me. It started off strong but got bogged down.

V has moments but the pay off did feel earned. VI was...tangental. VII had great concepts but felt way too rushed.
 

Krowley

Member
The first book is great. I would have loved a movie of that or at least half hour of this film adapting it (hope that's the case honestly). It sold the desolate world better than the rest of the books for me and I liked how it was just focused on gunslinger chasing the man in black. A very sparse story with a lot of western influence

The first book had a great vibe for sure, and had lots of neat world building.

It's very bleak though, and the story is kind of off-kilter. It's not really shapely or satisfying in a conventional way.

You can tell that King grew as a lot as a writer by the time he wrote The Drawing of the Three. I always warn people that the first book is very different, and if they don't like it, not to worry because it's short, and The Drawing of the Three is totally different.

I feel like the first book is a real stumbling block for a lot of people. I'm constantly running into people who tried it and just couldn't get into it.I feel like a lot of them would love the series if they just kept going.
 
Yeah Drawing of the Three is the best page-turner of the series, and as the series goes on the plotting gets more substantial.

But I loved the atmosphere King sold with Gunslinger, I can see it being a big hurdle for newcomers to the books though.
 
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