Collateral Bloggage What passes for thought around here…

MM: Flash Forward, Ethan’s Picks, Indian in the Cupboard

I’ve been watching ABC’s Flash Forward mostly because I read the book, Flashforward, back in April, which book I read because I heard about the series.  So sometimes my book reading and movie/tv viewing becomes a recursive loop.  Chicken and egg and all that.

The series made some substantial changes from the book, most of which actually make sense.  For instance, in the book the Flash was more than twenty years in the future.  So the rest of the book was people wrestling with what would happen a long time from now.  Hard to accomplish in a series, that.  So they went with six months.  And it totally works, especially in the case of Dmitri Noh, who had no Flash, and therefore concludes that he’ll be dead in six months (which is complicated by his upcoming nuptials).

The other good move the series made was to shift focus from the scientists who caused the Flash in the book to the people trying to figure out what caused it in the series, and I figure the cause will be different in the series.  In the book there’s really no mystery about who caused it, even if the cause isn’t fully understood.  Keeping it a mystery makes sense in the series.

But enough about that.  Watch it if you want.  But this past week, I noticed what might be a subtle (well, actually blatant) reference to Dean Koontz’s sci-fi-time-travel-love-story Lightning.  Agent Benford (portrayed by Joseph Fiennes) travels to Munich to meet a former Nazi who claims to have information about the blackouts.

When Benford arrives at the prison where the Nazi is being held, it’s quite stormy, with lightning featured rather heavily.  And his liaison?  One Stefan Krieger.

For those who haven’t read Lightning, first of all you should.  Second, Stefan Krieger is one of the main characters in the book, and he happens to be a German SS Officer. 

I seriously doubt it’s a coincidence.

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Last week, I asked Ethan who he thought would win the MLB Playoffs.  Yes, a couple of the series are over, but I promise these are Ethan’s Picks:

Division Series Picks:

Yankees-Twins: Yankees (Bingo!  Three-game sweep.  Sorry, Tyler)
Angels-Red Sox: Red Sox (Could not have been more wrong here.  Three-game sweep the other way.  Still not sure how that happened.)
Phillies-Rockies: Phillies (Phils are up 2-1, so this is looking good)
Dodgers-Cardinals: Dodgers (Again, bingo on the three-gamer)

And his League Championship Picks:

Yankees-Red Sox: Yankees
Phillies-Dodgers: Phillies

Which leaves us with the World Series between the Yankees and the Phillies.  Ethan has the Phillies winning it.

So sub in the Angels for the Red Sox and we’ll stick with Ethan’s picks and see how it comes out.

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Since Ethan so enjoyed The Indian in the Cupboard that we decided to check the 1995 movie adaptation out from the library.  It was fairly well done, but in case you wanted to know, it had a lot more questionable content than the book.  We don’t recommend it.

Language was definitely coarsened (nothing that you mightn’t hear on TV, but that’s hardly good news), and somehow a Motley Crue video was featured.  Really?  And the little bit of a Western the boys watch (following the disgusting Motley video) is a bit rougher than I’d pictured.  Yes, it makes a good talking point, but it was a bit much.

So in case I’ve been less than clear, read the book.  Forget the movie.