Stephen King's The Stand...

[ColonelColinCaine]

More like Walt Disney's The Stand.

I first saw this when it originally aired on ABC back in May of 1994, and I have to say, being the impressionable young mind that I was, I was quite the scared little bastard for a while afterward.
The first part of the flick is the best, depicting the end of the world at the hands of a deadly strain of superflu. To tell you the truth, this, to me, is the scariest part of the movie (and the book, as well). As scary as the thought may be, this shit could actually happen one day. Hopefully, I'll be long gone before that happens.
Anyways, the flu wipes out 99.4% of the Earth's population, and the few survivors, led by a 108 year-old woman, end up having to face off against Satan and his minions (composed mainly of bikers, convicts, and mentals).
Compared to King's fantastic book, this movie looks like shit, but then again, compared to the book, a lot of things look like shit.
Needless to say, for a TV mini-series, it's pretty good, especially since they were severely restricted in the amount of violence they could show.
IMO, they need to remake this theatrically, keeping all of the horrific violence and chaos of the book. There's no way they could fit it all into one movie, so they should split it up into three 3 and 1/2 hour long movies, ala Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings. That's the only way they can do this story justice.
Anyways, as I said before, for a TV movie, it's still pretty effective, but it's nowhere near as disturbingly effective as the book.

My Rating: 7.5/10

[Batgirl1979]

I own "The Stand: The complete and uncut edition". When first published in 1978 it was incomplete, since more than 150,000 words had been cut from the original manuscript. In the version I own it includes more than 500 pages of material deleted, along with new material King added as he reworded the manuscript for a new generation(1990 c.). It gives you new characters and familiar ones with new depths. It has a new beginning and a new end.
In total the book is 1141 pages in length and is the best novel I have read in my life. I could hardly put it down. I too agree that is would be wonderful to see this masterpiece remade and to be able to add all of the pieces left out in the original like Trash-can man's trip across country and Frannie's and her mother's confrontation which was noticabley scarred in the original version.
But as Stephen King himself has said "To let the character's in the book belong to the reader, who will visualize them through the lens of imagination in a vivid and constantly changing way no camera can duplicate. Movies after all, are only an illusion of motion comprimised of thousands of still photographs. The imagination, however, moves with it's own tidal flow. The glory of a good tale is that it is limitless and fluid; a good tale belongs to each reader in it's own particular way."
I don't think his movies will ever come across as great as his books for exactly the reason King himself has stated above. But I will say in my books that the movie to me was a haunting realization of what could be to come and that the movie itself was the closest of all of his to come to the vision inspired in his works of pure imagination.

[This message has been edited by Batgirl1979 (edited 06-24-2002).]

[thingsgoinon]

I think the Tv movie was ok, ...but just OK...at the time of airing I thought it was the best King adaption ever, but I was REAL dissapointed in some of the changes and how they forced King to remove from his TV script hanging our hero's on actual crosses at the end ( Freedom of Speech ,eh? http://www.joblo.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif )

Gary Sinese really did an outstanding job, as did Ray Walston and Molly Ringwald and alot of the other supporting cast.I didn't like the guy who played Flagg tho.

Hope they'll make a multi part Theatrical version someday (sorta like LotR)....hope they can get Sinese back to reprise his role too.

And yeah Batgirl, that extended edition is too grand for words http://www.joblo.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Batgirl1979]

Bump..Would like to see more opinons of this made for TV movie. I took a long time writing my post and nobody read it.(cries like a little girl....)

[danliebl]

hate to see any girl cry, even more so when it i s a batgirl...

I really enjoy Steven King Movies and books, that being said, i have never read the Stand, but i do like the TV Movie. I watched it originally when it came out so long ago, i have since watched it on TBS or USA ot TNT, whatever station it was on, i have watche dit a couple more times...

I think the story is cool and the actors are good, and also i still have a crush on Molly Ringwald.... yeah baby!

[rtatick]

Both my roommate and I had mono freshman year of college so we stayed in bed and sent someone to get this. We watched the whole thing and I have to say... It's very dated. It was interesting in some places, but in others it was laughably made-for-TV. I love the book. I too read the unedited. I doubt there's any hope of there ever being a LOTR type series of movies. It just doesn't have the fanbase. The way I figure it, it would have to be at least 4 movies and no studio would ever make 4 "The Stand" movies.

[Antonio]

Excellent TV miniseries, and one of the best King adaptations to hit the big or small screen. I love doomsday and end-of-the-world thrillers, and THE STAND was much better than similar-themed theatrical releases such as INDEPENDENCE DAY, ARMAGEDDON or DEEP IMPACT.

[thingsgoinon]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Antonio:
Excellent TV miniseries, and one of the best King adaptations to hit the big or small screen. I love doomsday and end-of-the-world thrillers, and THE STAND was much better than similar-themed theatrical releases such as INDEPENDENCE DAY, ARMAGEDDON or DEEP IMPACT.</font>

I think you make a great point there. The reason for that I feel is that King has this great gift of showing humans as they REALLY are (much as Romero).....not the typical stereotypical type characters as in the films you mentioned. The characters of the Stand are just you and me.

He also has a gift for not over sensationalizing key scenes....no "guts or glory" speeches.....look how low key the Town Meeting to select the commitee or the turning on of the power scenes(among others) are. Just regualar ppl. Yet the way he displays a scene is no less powerfull.And to me thats what makes it so horrific, because "you and me" know our shortcomings and "you and me" know that at any moment, right or wrong or "God" behind them or not, these regular ppl are quite capable of failing. Just because they're 'you and me'.

He IS the King. http://www.joblo.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

I guess if there was one thing I didn't like about the Stand is it's slant towards religion. I guess thats cuz I'm what I call a 'spiritual agnostic'...meaning I believe in goodness , but not that there's any all powerfull being watching over us(if I die and it turns out there is , I would even be so bold as to give God a piece of my mind for allowing the shit that goes on in this world). But I suppose to be fair, many of our hero's in the book were also agnostic, so ...well I guess I could never quite tell where he was leaning with that .

Back to the TV version thop, I really think they screwed up the end tho....&lt;SPOILERS FOR BOOK AND FILM&gt;
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I didn't get the impression in the book that the "hand of God" LITERALLY came down and touched off the bomb, more that it was just the impression some got...I think he says "as if the Hand of God" in the book...plus I liked the cage scene in the book much better than what was filmed.....


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&lt; tissues for Batgirl...and shoulder if neccesary http://www.joblo.com/ubb/wink.gif &gt;

[This message has been edited by thingsgoinon (edited 06-28-2002).]

[ColonelColinCaine]

Bumpty Bump

[ColonelColinCaine]

Well, I finally got to see this again, after I bought the DVD, and I'm gonna have to raise my grade to 8/10.

The flick was actually able to show quite a bit of the carnage, especially for an ABC mini-series, and I felt genuine emotion for the characters throughout.

A damn fine TV movie!

[Fettdog]

The Stand has always been one of my favourite books, and certainly one I can read again and again and never tire of! I remeber reading the original edition when it first came out, and then being overjoyed when the Uncut edition came out! There wasjust so much more of my favourite King book - I was like the cat who got the cream!

As for the TV series, I must admit when I first heard they were going to film it I was very dubious, as traditionally, much as I love King's books, they just don't translate well onto the screen. The main reason for this in my opinin is because King gives his characters so much depth, and gets so far inside their minds that you just can't portray them on screen. There's a lot of delving into what they are thinking and what makes them tick in the books that can't be convincingly portrayed on film.

However, once I actually saw the mini-series, I was blown away! OK, it didn't have all of the book in there, and some of the sequences had to be changed (most notably the Lincoln Tunnel sequence which takes place in pitch black in the book, but which (obviously!) wouldn't have worked on TV), but overall I think they did a bloody good job!

All of the lead characters came across as convincing (particularly Rob Lowe as Nick Andros, Miguel Ferrer as Lloyd Henreid and Bill Faberbakke as Tom Cullen), and although Flagg wasn't like I had imagined him, Jamie Sheridan did a good job nevertheless.

The tale was convincingly drawn out over the six hours running time, with the first part being by far the most effective as (particularly post-Sept 11th) it brings home that this scenario is only ever a few minutes away from us in this day and age.

The only disappointing thing about the series (and if I'm honjest, much as I love King's work, a lot of his books) is the ending. In print, the 'hand of God' works well, but on screen it just came across a little cheesy (like the spider at the end of IT). However, this didn't in any way ruin it for me. I have watched the DVD several times (and listened to the commentary too - six hours of intersting comments and insights into the series by King, Mick Garris, and some of the cast) - and will, I'm sure be watching it several more times in the coming years.

Overall, I was very satisfied with The Stand and think that kudos should be given to everyone involved in the production fo doing a great book justice!


(PS That a good enough post for ya Batgirl? http://www.joblo.com/ubb/smile.gif )

[Grebdron]

I unfortunately have to disagree with most of you. thingsgoinon pointed out one of the major faults, being that I am also a "spiritual agnostic." I just don't know that they can do a work of this magnitude justice on film, especially on the small screen. The Stand is my second favorite novel ever. (Behind To Kill a Mockingbird.)

I would go see any movie they made of it, but I would probably be overly critical. I read the original version probably ten times, and have read the uncut version at least that many times.

P.S. For those of you who enjoyed The Stand, have you read The Watchers by Dean Koontz? Another outstanding work.

[Psychocandy]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Grebdron:
I unfortunately have to disagree with most of you. thingsgoinon pointed out one of the major faults, being that I am also a "spiritual agnostic." I just don't know that they can do a work of this magnitude justice on film, especially on the small screen. The Stand is my second favorite novel ever. (Behind To Kill a Mockingbird.)

I would go see any movie they made of it, but I would probably be overly critical. I read the original version probably ten times, and have read the uncut version at least that many times.

P.S. For those of you who enjoyed The Stand, have you read The Watchers by Dean Koontz? Another outstanding work.</font>


Yes I have read Watchers and many more Dean Koontz books besides. He is a truly talented writer and the book is little short of a masterpiece. Compared to the TV adaptation of The Stand (4/5) the movie adaptation of Watchers was a total travesty (1/5). Corey Haim? Ugh. What were they thinking?

[Fettdog]

Dean Koontz is a great author. My fave DK books are (in no particular order) Lightning, Strangers, Midnight, Intensity, Shattered, The Bad Place, and The Face Of Fear.

(I've probably forgotten about several other classics of his that I've read!)

BTW, did you know that DK wrote the novelisation of The Funhouse under the name Owen West?

[Grebdron]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Psychocandy:

Yes I have read Watchers and many more Dean Koontz books besides. He is a truly talented writer and the book is little short of a masterpiece. Compared to the TV adaptation of The Stand (4/5) the movie adaptation of Watchers was a total travesty (1/5). Corey Haim? Ugh. What were they thinking?</font>

Yeah, I refused to even watch the movie. Not just because of Corey Haim, but that didn't help. I just don't think they could even begin to translate that story to the screen.

And I know that this is The Stand thread, but on another literary note, Psycho, have you read The Brotherhood of the Rose by David Morrell? They also made a pitiful mini-series out of this, but it's in my top 5 books, ever. Morrell has done some great stuff, and a few stinkers. But BOTR was magnificent.

[Psychocandy]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Grebdron:
Yeah, I refused to even watch the movie. Not just because of Corey Haim, but that didn't help. I just don't think they could even begin to translate that story to the screen.

And I know that this is The Stand thread, but on another literary note, Psycho, have you read The Brotherhood of the Rose by David Morrell? They also made a pitiful mini-series out of this, but it's in my top 5 books, ever. Morrell has done some great stuff, and a few stinkers. But BOTR was magnificent.

</font>

I have read some Morrell. First Blood pisses napalm over the Stallone travesty (I actually kinda liked the movie until I read the book). Testament is a devastating tale of revenge. The Totem is pretty much a horror novel and a very effective one it is too. I've read another couple but not Brotherhood of the Rose. I'll likely get around to it eventually.

Keep avoiding the Watchers movie.

[Grebdron]

Testament was great. You should try his older stuff. Start with BOTR, then The Fraternity of the Stone, The League of Night and Fog, The Covenant of the Flame, and The Fifth Profession. First Blood was great, and I'm not usually a fan of espionage novels, but he does them very well. Again, start with BOTR, and I will continue to avoid The Watchers.