Why can an adaptation reproduce the characters, costumes, lore and famous moments, yet still feel completely wrong? The problem may not be fidelity, but whether the people rebuilding the story understand what is holding it together.
Hollywood loves an established world.
The maps already exist. The characters have names. The famous scenes are waiting. The fans are already emotionally invested. On paper, adaptation should be the safest possible form of storytelling.
So why do some adaptations change enormous parts of their source and still feel completely right, while others reproduce the surface almost perfectly and somehow miss the point?
In this episode of Geekstorians, Dave begins inside the screening room where HBO tested the original Game of Thrones pilot and discovered it had a very expensive problem. The world was on screen, but the audience could not see the machinery connecting it.
From the pilot’s reconstruction and the brutal dramatic logic of the early seasons, through the moment the television series ran beyond George R.R. Martin’s published books, the episode explores what happens when an adaptation understands its load-bearing parts, and what happens when it loses the road beneath them.
Then, as television launches its post-Thrones fantasy gold rush, Dave looks beyond simple arguments about “faithfulness” to examine The Witcher, The Wheel of Time, The Rings of Power, Foundation, The Boys and The Last of Us.
Because adaptation is not the art of making the same thing again.
It is the art of rebuilding it without bringing the roof down.
Season Three of Geekstorians is The Conquest, exploring what happened when geek culture moved from the margins and became the machinery of mainstream entertainment.
Spoiler warning: This episode contains major spoilers for Game of Thrones, along with discussion of storylines from The Last of Us, Foundation, The Boys and several other television adaptations.
Written and presented by Dave Elliott.
Geekstorians is a Geektown production.
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