Kiwi Farms
Somehow I just heard about this yesterday. Wish I'd remained in ignorance. One of those "I don't even know where to start..." things. Was looking forward to it...for about the first twelve seconds of the first trailer. Now. Eh. Probably not even gonna pirate it. But sperg on the internet? Hell, yeah.
Trailer 1:
Trailer 2:
NYCC interview with the cast:
(Whoopi Goldberg was being Whoppi Goldberg. Could not finish. Spent most of the video wondering when did she get so fat.)
Maybe the media knows this is gonna suck? It doesn't seem to be getting much coverage. Most of what I'm seeing looks like regurgitated press releases. Very brief and very vague. If there's anything written worth posting links to, either in praise or not, I haven't seen it yet.
Warning: Some mildly spoilerific shit follows.
What we know:
One character from the novel has been raceswapped. (Larry Redwood) One Character has been genderswapped. (Ralph Bretner is now Ray Brenter.)
Bizarrely, Larry Underwood was a white pop singer who was accused of "singing black" in the novel, and even the 1994 miniseries. Now he, well, IS black. Will he be accused of "singing white?"
Ralph Brenter was kind of, well, one of life's losers in the novel who always retained a faith in humanity. The kind of guy who could figure out how to jump your car when no one else could, but who couldn't make heads or tails of financing a new car purchase. Looks like his, excuse me HER, importance has been severely diminished in the adaptation anyway. (More on why I think the Brenter character is deprecated in the spoiler tag below. If anyone cares.)
Ruby Dee was a fantastic Mother Abigail in the 1994 mini-series. That's Whoopi Goldberg here.
My favorite YouTube comment on the topic:
Why not, indeed?
Amber Heard is playing a selfish, mentally ill, manipulative psychopath (Nadine Cross) in the new series. Can't fault that casting, I guess.
Marilyn Manson is supposed to be in there somewhere. Too lazy to look up his real name and figure out who he's playing.
2nd Edit: I have to think IMDB is wrong, and that Kinnear as Bateman is in multiple episodes, at least five or six. Greg Kinnear is all over the trailers. I guess this Dr. Wen is simply a new character. Phooey on me for thinking IMDB is reliable. And phooey on IMDB for making this post such a mess.
Edit: Greg Kinnear is in it as Glen Bateman. But only for ONE of nine episodes?
I missed him before because I did not open the "full cast" at IMDB. Yeah, he's way down it. Sorry about that. He's listed BELOW "random plague victim," in my defense. And LMAO.
So confused RN. And sorry about that. I don't even know what to think. Why TF would you do it that way? And why would they drag him onto Comicon if they knew he was only on for one episode?
Rumor:
A rumor from that most unimpeachable of sources (YouTube comment sections) is claiming the linear flow of the novel and the 1994 miniseries is going to be completely changed, with the series starting after the epidemic and showing the epidemic itself only in flashbacks. Probably not, but at this point, why not? Why not dump the most interesting part?
I don't even know if this deserves a spoiler tag, since it is right off the trailer. But, eh. Better safe than sorry. I guess I also get a bit autistic here.
2nd Edit: That's Greg Kinnear as Glen Bateman, Olivia Cheng as Dr. Sylvia Wen, James Marsden as Stu Redman and Jovan Adepo as Larry Underwood. I assumed what I was seeing was Nick Andros, Wen, Redman and Underwood. All white people look alike, I guess. Looks like they dropped Brentner and added Wen on the walk to Las Vegas, as previously noted. Andros was dead by then, I forgot. He died in the bomb Harold Lauder set off.
This is all wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
That screen shot is clearly when the Boulder "leaders" are walking to Las Vegas. Very close to the end of things, not sure WHY it is in the trailer, but there it is. In the book (and the 1994 miniseries) it was Stu Redman, Glen Bateman, Nick Andros, Larry Underwood and Ralph Brenter. Here it is no Bateman and no Brenter, but plus one Dr. Wen. Leading me to think Brenter is not only a female character, but is now a minor character, and Bateman is well and truly gone just there in passing. (See above.)
So. There it is. Thanks for letting me rant/sperg, even if nobody replies.
2nd edit: Hopefully everything is now accurate. How dare a website confirm my biases.
Trailer 1:
Trailer 2:
NYCC interview with the cast:
Maybe the media knows this is gonna suck? It doesn't seem to be getting much coverage. Most of what I'm seeing looks like regurgitated press releases. Very brief and very vague. If there's anything written worth posting links to, either in praise or not, I haven't seen it yet.
Warning: Some mildly spoilerific shit follows.
What we know:
One character from the novel has been raceswapped. (Larry Redwood) One Character has been genderswapped. (Ralph Bretner is now Ray Brenter.)
Bizarrely, Larry Underwood was a white pop singer who was accused of "singing black" in the novel, and even the 1994 miniseries. Now he, well, IS black. Will he be accused of "singing white?"
Ralph Brenter was kind of, well, one of life's losers in the novel who always retained a faith in humanity. The kind of guy who could figure out how to jump your car when no one else could, but who couldn't make heads or tails of financing a new car purchase. Looks like his, excuse me HER, importance has been severely diminished in the adaptation anyway. (More on why I think the Brenter character is deprecated in the spoiler tag below. If anyone cares.)
Ruby Dee was a fantastic Mother Abigail in the 1994 mini-series. That's Whoopi Goldberg here.
My favorite YouTube comment on the topic:Why not, indeed?
Amber Heard is playing a selfish, mentally ill, manipulative psychopath (Nadine Cross) in the new series. Can't fault that casting, I guess.
Marilyn Manson is supposed to be in there somewhere. Too lazy to look up his real name and figure out who he's playing.
2nd Edit: I have to think IMDB is wrong, and that Kinnear as Bateman is in multiple episodes, at least five or six. Greg Kinnear is all over the trailers. I guess this Dr. Wen is simply a new character. Phooey on me for thinking IMDB is reliable. And phooey on IMDB for making this post such a mess.
Edit: Greg Kinnear is in it as Glen Bateman. But only for ONE of nine episodes?
I missed him before because I did not open the "full cast" at IMDB. Yeah, he's way down it. Sorry about that. He's listed BELOW "random plague victim," in my defense. And LMAO.
So confused RN. And sorry about that. I don't even know what to think. Why TF would you do it that way? And why would they drag him onto Comicon if they knew he was only on for one episode?
What I am 99% sure of:
One character from the novel has been both race AND genderswapped. There is no Glen Bateman, sociologist, character in the cast listing at IMDB. There is, however, a "Dr. Sylvia Wen," played by Olivia Cheng. My Favorite Martian (Ray Walston from the 1994 mini-series) is now My Favorite Moo Goo Gai Pan, I guess. (More on why I think this in the spoiler tag below. If anyone cares.)
Oddly, older stuff I read says Glen Bateman's character was going to be played by Greg Kinnear. That's even what Wikipedia is still showing. Too many white men, presumably. He's even in the NYCC cast interview video as "Glen Bateman." So...as recently as October 9th, 2020. Very odd.
So..maybe I'm missing something here? Would they change all that stuff so close to release? I think they did, but I guess I could be wrong.
Oddly, older stuff I read says Glen Bateman's character was going to be played by Greg Kinnear. That's even what Wikipedia is still showing. Too many white men, presumably. He's even in the NYCC cast interview video as "Glen Bateman." So...as recently as October 9th, 2020. Very odd.
So..maybe I'm missing something here? Would they change all that stuff so close to release? I think they did, but I guess I could be wrong.
Rumor:
A rumor from that most unimpeachable of sources (YouTube comment sections) is claiming the linear flow of the novel and the 1994 miniseries is going to be completely changed, with the series starting after the epidemic and showing the epidemic itself only in flashbacks. Probably not, but at this point, why not? Why not dump the most interesting part?
I don't even know if this deserves a spoiler tag, since it is right off the trailer. But, eh. Better safe than sorry. I guess I also get a bit autistic here.
2nd Edit: That's Greg Kinnear as Glen Bateman, Olivia Cheng as Dr. Sylvia Wen, James Marsden as Stu Redman and Jovan Adepo as Larry Underwood. I assumed what I was seeing was Nick Andros, Wen, Redman and Underwood. All white people look alike, I guess. Looks like they dropped Brentner and added Wen on the walk to Las Vegas, as previously noted. Andros was dead by then, I forgot. He died in the bomb Harold Lauder set off.
This is all wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
So. There it is. Thanks for letting me rant/sperg, even if nobody replies.
2nd edit: Hopefully everything is now accurate. How dare a website confirm my biases.