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Post by ArcLight on Aug 31, 2012 11:51:58 GMT -5
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Post by Werewolf on Aug 31, 2012 15:54:03 GMT -5
So i guess the proposed movie staring Angelina Jolie isn't being made then!
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Post by darkwolfavenged on Apr 9, 2013 16:43:47 GMT -5
For anyone interested, BITTEN started filming today in Canada. Space TV, who are funding the show, have also released additional casting details after announcing a few weeks back that Laura Vandervoort (Smallville, V, Ted) had been cast as Elena Michaels, the world's only female werewolf. I've been a fan of Kelley Armstrong's Otherworld book series since Bitten first came out in 2001 and initially I was quite excited for this series. However I wasn't that impressed by the casting of Vandervoort as Elena. And now the rest of the actors playing the Pack seem far and away from Kelley's descriptions. I mean the kid playing Clayton (the gruff, lethal, battle hardened Pack enforcer) looks like a young, fresh faced Christian Slater circa 1990! Anyway, we'll see. I'm extremely skeptical of the whole thing now but I hope that I'm proved wrong when it goes to air later this year. Blog with latest updates and casting info: thebittensource.tumblr.com/ |
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Post by Werewolf on Sept 17, 2013 21:34:15 GMT -5
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Post by Marcus on Sept 18, 2013 3:22:47 GMT -5
I've not read Bitten, but by the sound of it, they've aimed this at the teen market if they're casting 20-somthings in rules that were older in the books.
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Post by Werewolf on Sept 18, 2013 18:16:15 GMT -5
I've read them and they didn't remind me of the teenage market. Now admittedly they may well be aiming the tv show at the twilight audience... I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I'm not thrilled on the casting. She doesn't look how i imagined her from the books. Fingers crossed.
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Post by darkwolfavenged on Oct 12, 2013 9:04:25 GMT -5
I managed to see a series trailer online (shown at a recent convention) before it was taken down. Tonally it looks right: bloody, sexy, serious. Def not the tween Twilight thing thank God or the tongue in cheek silliness of a Lost Girl. Most of the actors still don't look like how I envisioned the characters but the show is its own thing separate from the book and is not using all the other supernatural stuff from Kelley's series either due to rights issues. The TV show will be werewolves only. I'm still skeptical but the trailer did look good. Looks like it is due to air in Canada and the US early 2014. No idea if/when it'll come to the UK.
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Post by darkwolfavenged on Nov 22, 2013 15:15:24 GMT -5
Okay, so BITTEN begins airing Jan 11th in Canada (Space) and Jan 14th in the US (Syfy). No date for the UK yet. In the meantime here's a short trailer. The longer series trailer was better (bloodier, sexier, more characters) but I think the general tone seems right even if I'm still not sold on the casting. Also the CG wolves don't look too bad.
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Post by darkwolfavenged on Jan 13, 2014 11:39:53 GMT -5
Seen the 1st ep now. Not very good I'm afraid to report. It is obviously lowish budget with the script for the pilot being something akin to tedious soap opera quality with added quasi nudity and boinking. The wolves themselves looked okay in some shots but linger too long on them and they look like what they are: averagely rendered cgi that don't look any better than the beasts in the BBC's rather excellent kids show Wolfblood. Worst of all though were the characters and the actors playing them. They came across as completely bland and flat with no energy or charisma whatsoever. And that's a crime. What I love most about Kelley Armstrong's books are her characters. She writes great fully rounded entertaining characters who you truly enjoy getting to know and hanging out with. None of that came through here. The whole thing felt flat and lifeless. I'll catch another couple of eps as it's only fair to give it a fighting chance. Not hopeful though.
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Post by Noel on Jan 13, 2014 14:03:26 GMT -5
Just uploaded my review of the first episode of this show ( www.werewolf-movies.com/movie.php?TVID=79 ). I have to say I agree with you, and the word "soap opera" lingers in my mind as well having seen it. I'm curious to ask, since you've read the books - have they changed a lot for the show? Is there a central metaphor at work in the books, or is it just a story about a pack of werewolves, plain and simple? I get the sense there is probably more going on here which they have simply left out in favour of blandness and simplicity. |
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Post by darkwolfavenged on Jan 13, 2014 16:01:48 GMT -5
I'm curious to ask, since you've read the books - have they changed a lot for the show? Is there a central metaphor at work in the books, or is it just a story about a pack of werewolves, plain and simple? I get the sense there is probably more going on here which they have simply left out in favour of blandness and simplicity. Well, it's been a while since I've read Bitten but I'll wrack my brain and try and answer your question about metaphor. In the book I seem to recall a lot of stuff about the Pack – rules, loyalty, order, control – vs. the Mutts who represent chaos, disorder, cruelty, violence. I think that The Pack is all about the man mastering and controlling the beast whereas the Mutts are mostly about the beast mastering and controlling the man. Apart from that, I think the main theme of the book would be about family. Elena is a product of the care system and as a kid was bounced around a lot of different foster homes and survived a lot of really bad stuff. Bottom line: she has major issues. Bitten and subsequent Pack focused books are at least in part about Elena coming to terms with her past and learning to make a better present and future for herself while also finding a place to feel safe and secure, to truly belong. So nothing original perhaps but Kelley writes terrific characters and fills her adult books with sharp humour, lots of gritty action and plenty of boinkage. Also, all of her Otherworld books are constructed as proper mystery thrillers with Elena and co. having to investigate, solve puzzles and catch/kill bad guys. If nothing else they can make for great page turners. As for the TV show... It's still very early days so I'm not gonna totally damn it despite its rather cheap look and so so effects. That wouldn't be fair after just one ep. So far, plot-wise at least, it remains almost exactly the same as the first few chapters of the novel, which is a good thing. Although for some odd reason they have gone and changed Elena from a journalist to a photographer. Dunno why seeing as how her being a journo plays a major role in the books – she has sources, connections, and a talent for nosing around to get to the truth. It will be quite interesting to see how much more gets changed as the series progresses. My biggest gripe with the pilot though was that it all just felt so darn bland. It seemed to lack any energy and no one in the cast appeared to have any notable charisma. Some of them were positively wooden. As the lead, Laura Vandervoot is gorgeous and a solid enough actress but she's not someone I'd ever have considered for Elena. But hey, what do I know? The rest of them look and act almost nothing like the characters I've come to love over the years. But at least Clay is still a Professor and teacher. Small mercies I guess.  Anyway, I'll stick with it for the time being and will remain open to the idea that things can and will improve. |
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Post by Werewolf on Feb 7, 2014 20:37:39 GMT -5
I know i should reserve judgement until i have actually seen the show for myself but the use of the words "soap opera" concerns me deeply. Having been forced as a child to endure hours of soap operas until i was finally reprieved and bought a tv of my own, i swore i would never ever watch another one. But it is a werewolf soap opera......... And based on books i have loved. Depending on how it does in the US and Canada i'm sure it won't be long before it shows up in the UK. After all it didn't take them long to send Dracula over here.
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Post by darkwolfavenged on Feb 13, 2014 15:19:48 GMT -5
Okay, so I'm five eps in now and it's got better. Thankfully. But not by a huge amount.
The main Pack characters are settling in and coming alive as are the actors playing them. Nobody really sticks out as being especially great but Greyston Holt has at least managed to capture some of Clayton's gruff and dangerous quasi-misanthropy. Laura Vandervoort remains okay as Elena, though she is far too glamorous, never being without perfectly done hair and great make-up (which is not who Elena is at all). Then there's Greg Bryk as Jeremy, the Alpha. Actually he is growing on me. He has a calm, steady, serene manner which is very much how Jeremy is in the books. The rest of the Pack and mutt actors are solid.
As to the overall story...
The mutt's targeting of the Pack mystery is playing out much the same as it did in the book. However the TV people obviously feel we need more soap and so they've bigged up the sub-plot of Elena's boyfriend in the city, giving him a sister who is getting hitched and a possessive mother, plus a bunch of career related stuff which takes up waaay too much time. Honestly, all this should have been axed. Nobody cares. One minute you are watching some decent enough stuff about renegade mutts and bloody wolf kills set against the backdrop of rising tensions with the locals, then the next it is on to some crap about Elena's fella back in the city getting a contract to advertise a new vodka!!! I kid you not. Oh, and his sister too, going on about her wedding plans and wanting Elena as a bridesmaid. Just...no.
Anyway, so far I'd give Bitten the series a 6 out of 10. It's not great but it's not terrible either.
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Post by Werewolf on Feb 17, 2014 19:53:43 GMT -5
I shall keep paws crossed that Elena eventually eats the sister and mother.....
Wonder what Kelly Armstrong makes of it?
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Post by darkwolfavenged on Feb 18, 2014 14:34:58 GMT -5
Wonder what Kelly Armstrong makes of it? Kelley has said in her blog that she won't be watching the show for a very long time as she doesn't want to know what changes/additions/deletions have been made. Not because she has anything against the writers and what they are doing, rather that she sees the TV show as something totally separate and doesn't want anything in it to accidentally affect anything in any future Otherworld stories she writes. She has her name in the credits as an exec producer but it is purely as a courtesy as she has no dealings at all with the production and seems to want to keep it that way. |
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