More Dark is Rising Angst

Its worse than even I had heard. This post at the livejournal community "A Blog of Authors" breaks it down in a handy chart. (Hattip Bellatrys) It does not look good.

I could handle the nationality and the plot changes, even removing my beloved Arthurian elements, but they are changing Will.

Will discovers his powers on his thirteenth birthday, because John Hodge says Will's extra years make him more "plausibly capable."

One of the things about Will was he always seemed like an old 11. He was like a thousand-year-old man wrapped up in a little boy's body. Why would they need to add two years to him if seeming older than his age is still a characterization point?

Will is assertive, challenging his older brother head-on, and doing many other things — as John Hodge says often — "head-on." I guess it's a pro to his being American, as Americans have a reputation for being more proactive than passive.

Yay for nationalistic stereotyping! Will he do rope tricks too? All the British kids'll be tea-drinking and uptight, right?

He is told of his powers, refuses to believe anyone when he hears of them, then goes home and apparently gives his brothers what-for.

Why? Would he think his brothers put the guy up to it?

At thirteen, Will gets disgusted at not being able to tell anyone. He blows up a car and acts out in some other ways. According to John Hodge, Miss Greythorne tells Merriman, "He's just expressing himself."

Remember the scene where he got especially curious and went out to the woods and set a stick on fire with his powers? Then realized what a humongously stupid thing he'd done?

Yeah, I bet that's gone. That way they get to blow up cars and shit whenever Will gets angry, because he doesn't have that natural "Old One" attitude, he's a spoiled brat with anger management issues who wants attention and glory! Yeah, way to keep with the unique spirit of the hero of these books there.

So, the thoughtful, introverted youngest member of the Old Ones? Our gentle little hero who was loaded with ancient power despite all appearances to the contrary? The guy who was responsible and thoughtful and didn't waste his power in showy displays? Gone! Replaced by a Harry Potter clone!

Oh, but they changed all the surface stuff that would make people mistake him for Harry, but they went ahead and took Will's unique personality and exchanged it for the more popular boy's so they could clone Harry Potter but not be accused of cloning Harry Fucking Potter.

Fuckers.

You know, I hate to be one of those fans who gets mad whenever they change any little thing about a book I loved, but seriously, this sounds like mass-produced shit that's trying to capitalized on the Potter popularity. They're killing this book, dammit. Killing it (And yes, you can quote that for your fan entitlement rants, thank you very much.)

Seriously, though, the Jack Black as Green Lantern rumor (it surfaces every few months) didn't induce nearly as much disgust as that chart does.

Its just as well, they probably wouldn't have gotten a good actor for Bran in the sequels, and Bran is the character I'm really a fan of in this one.

When this movie comes out I'm spending my ticket money on a bottle of whiskey and sitting home to reread the novels.

I advise you to do the same.