Under the Dome, Middle of the Road Post...

Last Monday was the big day for CBS to premiere Stephen King's Under the Dome. Apparently, this is going to be a series? I have my DVR working overtime to keep updated with it, but I have read the grumblings of fans far and wide that they are disappointed as there are a lot of changes from the book already. Stephen King responded to this via his website. Click here to digest his defense! There aren't any spoilers, really, but I feel like King was a bit miffed at fans who were upset with changes. I almost feel he was... I don't know, sort of condescending? Maybe I'm wrong, but I do know that I'd probably feel inclined to defend changes for my work if I were in his shoes (ha, I should be so lucky!), but there is always that doggone Hollywood-artistic license which gets in the way. As avid readers, we should all just automatically assume anyway any book adapted to film will have gigantic and erroneous changes. It is what it is, no matter how much of a purist we can be. Oh, well.

And yes... I'm late in posting this so that all of you can have a chance to publicize your write-up of the halfway mark. There is a good reason for that, but I'm not announcing that until this weekend...! But my apologies for the delay and please do make sure you add your link to the below.

Here are my thoughts so far:

• I was hooked into the story so quickly that within the first week, I only had 300 pages left and needed to slow down and eded up taking a break. Slow intro, but once it picked up, it really got going. The usual formula from Uncle Stevie, and I can always count on it.
• Yet again, the town becomes its own character, one divided from the rest of the world, left to its own devices. Stephen King is the master when doing this, whether it's the scary town of Derry in Maine, Castle Rock, or this quiet township trapped under an invisible dome, it's the same effective method of truly isolating an entire area. Freaky stuff.
• Not to mention, Stephen King always brings an infuriating injustice into the mix of it all. The fact that Barbie was ganged up on in the Dippers' parking lot and no one except the Chief (who is now dead) can appreciate that Barbie wasn't the antagonizer? I mean, it was four against one, for cryin' out loud.
• Who doesn't love Dale Barbara, aka Barbie? The strong drifter who has incredible ethics, love him.
• While I don't know if I'd classify this as strictly horror, there is such an intensity of fear at the idea of a dome falling over a town and imprisoning everyone within it with no indication of why it fell, and how to destroy it, that I can sense the attempt at the same build up of tension felt in The Stand.
• SICK Characters. Big Jim Rennie?! The image of true evil led by greed and need for power. The guy is a whack job who has the successful snake-like charming abilities to lead those who aren't bright, but mostly who are just downright afraid. Seeking solace in anyone who takes ownership of a bad situation always makes one feel safer, and Big Jim certainly is up to task for it. And his son?? Sick, sick, sick, not to mention the Chef. Twisted.
• When the kids started to have the same visions, I started to get this goosebump, hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck feeling. It was the first time I felt that it really could be horror. The Great Pumpkin? Who knew that could be so frightening?
• I'm getting flashbacks of The Stand. Anyone else? Trashcan Man=the Chef? Big Jim Rennie=Randall Flagg?
• I have decided that this is my new tradition: For the start of summer each year, I will always read Stephen King to kick it off. It's the only way to do it right.

Have you all seen this picture for the CBS show? So sad.

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