Comments
monsieurxander t1_ivigvg3 wrote
I read this a few years ago and thought that, structurally, it would lend to an adaptation quite well.
The trick is getting the tone right. The time-traveling slavery show sets itself up for mockery if it goes too light or too heavy.
[deleted] OP t1_ivihdk9 wrote
Yeah. I feel you totally. When I read it, I noted there were lots of story beats that could serve as the climax of an episode or even a season, if structured right. The plot takes so many turns. And I agree with you on the tone- there are a lot of things that are brutal enough to read, they'll have some difficult choices to make about how to depict it on screen.
Lanky_Chemist_3773 t1_ivjeuzo wrote
I don’t know if you saw The Time Traveler’s wife but they did an excellent job of showcasing how brutal time jumps can be.
tfresca t1_ivm8qrt wrote
I mean Halloween would be a good time cuz this is literally my fucking nightmare. The book is excellent though.
Klope62 t1_ivpq5t0 wrote
It’s going to be an intense show for sure. They are modernizing the book but hitting all the points well. A lot was put into the sets and visuals it may pay off!
jogoso2014 t1_ivi5b9w wrote
I’m excited.
Would love to see Wild Seed too.
[deleted] OP t1_ivi69u4 wrote
Maybe we're entering an era of Octavia Butler adaptations? A24 has the rights to The Parable of the Sower and supposedly is working on producing a movie.
Nandi_La t1_ivid12o wrote
whaaat! That's fucking amazing, their films are always so good! I hope they do the work justice
xCesme t1_iviptk9 wrote
That book is a masterpiece.
horseren0ir t1_ivis5vi wrote
What’s that one about?
blankbox11 t1_ivjj9r2 wrote
Edit: this is a description Wild Seed not Parable of the Sower
It’s about the relationship between two superpowered if I remember correctly ancient beings over centuries and across two continents. If, they ever adapt it, it’s going to be a really hard watch. If I’m being completely honest it is thorny and ugly in ways that I don’t think Hollywood would like, and doubt they would try to adapt it without radically changing it first.
doegred t1_ivliwzl wrote
That's Wild Seed, not Parable, right? (Though confusingly the latter has Earthseed in it.)
blankbox11 t1_ivllz6a wrote
Yep. Lost the track of the comment thread.
Necessary-Image-6386 t1_ivissxf wrote
Hard to describe Wild Seed. A body changing woman in 18th century Africa comes to the States. Wait I forgot
jogoso2014 t1_ivk4gt2 wrote
It’s part of a series but it’s best to think of it as an anthology as the series covers centuries.
The first book is about two beings with different powers getting together and forming essentially a community and super race.
One of them is clearly a bad guy and the power is cool and scary.
What I love about it, along with Kindred, is that they both change the perspective on the slave narrative from what we typically see.
horseren0ir t1_ivltpeq wrote
Change it to what?
jogoso2014 t1_ivm5fzf wrote
For example, I grew up on a narrative of Thomas Jefferson being in love with his slave Sally Henming and that romance tends to crossover to to other interracial slave based relationships.
Wild Seed likewise shows what happens when black people actually have the power to change a systemic circumstance.
It’s interesting to see slavery in the context of fantasy or sci-if and Butler makes it feel natural.
Underground Railroad does a great job at it too but that story has nothing to do Butler.
mieiri t1_ivjfsgo wrote
oh wow! TIL. Hyped already!
nick281051 t1_ivj6brf wrote
Last I remember hearing is that it is being adapted. This was from an NPR throughline episode maybe from 2019 though. No idea if it's gone anywhere since. Love love love that series, it was the first Octavia Butler book I read
holymojo96 t1_ivmc3v1 wrote
Dawn is my personal favorite of hers but it would be pretty fucked up in a visual medium so I don’t think that’s happening anytime soon lol
jogoso2014 t1_ivmgryg wrote
I think it would work as a combo with Adulthood Rights Dawn would come across as slow even though reading it is fascinating to me) but the ship would be tough to explain.
Ozlin t1_ivmfve7 wrote
I love Wild Seed. I recently finished Mind of My Mind, the chronologically second book of the series and also loved that one. I'm hoping to read the whole series. It reminds me a lot of X-Men in a way, if X-Men started a lot darker. Doro reminds me of Shadow King in Legion. Would also love to see it adapted, it could make a good TV series.
[deleted] OP t1_ivi3ar2 wrote
As an Octavia Butler fan I have been looking forward to this, and I hope that it's good! The showrunner seems to have passion and a vision for it, and I hope it turns out. The lead actress is a newcomer, and she looks great in the very little footage I've seen.
Cherishedcrown t1_ivid6nq wrote
My heart just stopped! Omg I can’t believe they’re adapting this!!!!
[deleted] OP t1_ividdqh wrote
Yeah! Not too long to wait now, it comes out in about a month!
fizzyanklet t1_ivj94xb wrote
Right?! I had no idea they were adapting this. I got chills thinking about it!
Cherishedcrown t1_ivqn1mh wrote
I might cry forreal!
Destination_Centauri t1_ivif5m7 wrote
Interesting side note:
The actress Mallori Johnson just recently graduated with a Bachelor's from Juilliard!
So, I'm pretty eager to check out and see her first real role performance. And of course... at the same time: I'm keeping in mind how lots of actors have an iffy start in their first few roles.
But ya, Julliard which frequently works with the best of the best talents, obviously saw something in her! So did the show's producers.
[deleted] OP t1_ivife40 wrote
I'm excited, yeah. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins seems to think she's a future star. She looks awesome in the little teaser trailer.. I'm hopeful.
SmokeontheHorizon t1_ivkf0wc wrote
Nandi_La t1_ivicybv wrote
holy shit I'm so excited! This is one of my favorite novels!
isuamadog t1_ivi98fv wrote
Bout time
marchbook t1_ivimlmm wrote
So very excited for this!
BanishedJedi t1_ivj5tcq wrote
I will be watching this!
horseren0ir t1_ivisc9e wrote
Man FX is having a great year, under the banner of heaven, the old man, the bear, the patient, 2 seasons of Atlanta and they’ve got this and flirshman is in trouble still to come.
_just_two_brothers_ t1_ivkoz5f wrote
I've only read Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents by her and they were fantastic. Would love for them to get a show. Super relevant politically and would be such a good atmosphere if done dark and gritty enough.
[deleted] OP t1_ivkqdwh wrote
Yeah, if done well I would love to see it. There's nothing about those books that would be technically difficult or expensive. A24 actually bought the movie rights to Parable of the Sower and supposedly there is a movie in the works, but there hasn't been much news about it yet.
_just_two_brothers_ t1_ivktkvr wrote
Oh damn, that's the perfect studio for it! I'll look it up now!
ComoSeaYeah t1_ivlhaly wrote
Kindred is one of my all time favorite novels so I’m super stoked about this but also have some reservations about the setting change from 1976 to modern times. I hope it does Ocavia’s masterpiece justice.
[deleted] OP t1_ivlhucz wrote
I think it makes sense. The showrunner said he didn't want it to be contrasting the 70s vs 1815, but modern day vs 1815, which is what Butler was going for- it just so happened that she wrote it in the 70s.
He didn't want the audience to be able to distance themselves from the "present" storyline because it happened 50 years ago. There's nothing in Kindred that is specific to the 70s or requires that setting, so it seems like a smart adaptation choice to me
ComoSeaYeah t1_ivlm4ph wrote
You might be right. I guess for me the 70s setting made Dana who she was and where she was in the world as it was then. I’m hoping Butler’s Dana remains relatively unchanged in the adaptation.
batsofburden t1_ivj7km9 wrote
That looks super intense.
Konradleijon t1_ivjalfo wrote
Read the comic adaptation it was good
JohnnyAK907 t1_ivlhj8z wrote
Can I just say I am getting so sick of the stupidly overused Ticking Clock theme in all horror/thriller trailers lately?
It's reached the point of Chris Nolan's "WWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHMMMMMMM!!!" bad, and they need to find a new gimmick.
[deleted] OP t1_ivlix9u wrote
Yeah you're right. Trailers are very formulaic and they make everything look like a thriller even if it's not.
cosmicdreams t1_ivji23g wrote
I hope that this may lead to an adaptation of Parable of the Sower
dccomicsthrowaway t1_ivjwx87 wrote
Read this at university, really enjoyed it and had no idea this was coming. Nice!
RobbieHart79 t1_ivk28hl wrote
That should be fantastic. The sci fi channels online project ‘seeing eye theatre’ used to have a wonderful version.
everyman50 t1_ivl3mnv wrote
Saw the teaser trailer. Looks like they're going with a horror angle than what it truly was in the book - a slow, depraved look at the ante-bellum south during slavery. Does not look good on screen with this adaptation, but maybe it's just a crappy trailer. I'll keep my mind open. Also, the police and neighbors weren't involved.
ComoSeaYeah t1_ivlh0jm wrote
They’ve changed the time period from 1976 Los Angeles to modern times, hence the cop cars. I have concerns about this change from the novel because the 70s really set the tone and the juxtaposition with the antebellum South. Not to say that this also won’t be a critical look between current racial divides and the past but it’s just different.
[deleted] OP t1_ivl531k wrote
>Also, the police and neighbors weren't involved.
That sort of detail doesn't bother me in an adaptation. It's fully appropriate and necessary to flesh out the world and other characters in a TV adaptation. What's more important to me is staying true to the themes of the original, and I agree with your first point- I hope the show follows the tone of the book.
Can't read too much into a teaser trailer- people who make trailers make everything look like a thriller. It's a formula.
Klope62 t1_ivprbfa wrote
I don’t believe it’s going to necessarily be focused as a horror series. I get more dread than horror.
I totally see what you mean though, it ends up seeming like “Get Out.”
I enjoyed the trailer myself, but do note that people that make marketing trailers are usually different from the people making the show.
If I’m going to be honest I think the cut was purposely to veer away from making things seem like a typical slavery piece.
[deleted] OP t1_ivjj0vi wrote
[deleted]
nilsy007 t1_ivovn7u wrote
Way to dark for my taste, probably pass on this torture porn.
Still handmaids tale was successful so maybe this will find its audience. Just hope they dont drag out a tiny short book to 5 seasons as handmaids tale.
If its a limited 1 season maybe ill give it a go depends on total length
yazzy1233 t1_ivk8ybz wrote
Seems interesting. It's giving Jordan peele(and also AHS??) but thst might be because of the music.
Its funny, we've seen this story written a lot, usually with black women or white women, and I think it would be interesting to see a man get sent back, or people from different other races. How would the story change if an Indian person got sent back, an indigenous person? If that hasn't been written yet, I desperately need someone to do it.
monsieurxander t1_ivkfzdh wrote
Spoiler for the book but >!eventually her white husband gets sent back with her!<.
LoganTheHuge00 t1_ivi8tru wrote
Had no idea they were adapting this book, looking forward to it. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (showrunner) is a MacArthur Genius winner as well as Pulitzer Prize winner for his play, An Octoroon. I got to see a production of it and it’s a brilliantly written play so have high hopes for this.