Cool News
Thirteen Episodes Of
King’s UNDER THE DOME
Headed For CBS Next Summer!!
Last year we heard this was in development at Showtime, but Showtime's parent company CBS says differently.
Note that Brian K. Vaughn, missing from television since the 2009 demise of "Lost," is scripting:
CBS WILL TAKE VIEWERS “UNDER THE DOME” IN SUMMER 2013
Network Orders 13-Episode Series Based on Stephen King’s Best-Selling Novel
CBS Entertainment and CBS Television Studios Join Forces with
Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television and Simon & Schuster For
Summer 2013 Television Event
STUDIO CITY, Calif. – CBS has given a straight-to-series order for 13 episodes of UNDER THE DOME, a serialized drama from Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television based on Stephen King’s best-selling novel of the same name. The series will be broadcast in summer 2013.
UNDER THE DOME is the story of a small New England town that is suddenly and inexplicably sealed off from the rest of the world by an enormous transparent dome. The town’s inhabitants must deal with surviving the post-apocalyptic conditions while searching for answers to what this barrier is, where it came from and if and when it will go away.
CBS and Simon & Schuster will cross-promote the television series and book in advance of the show’s summer launch with the April 2013 re-release of trade paperback and electronic editions from its Pocket Books imprint. UNDER THE DOME was initially published by Simon & Schuster's Scribner imprint in November 2009, earning widespread critical acclaim and #1 best-seller status.
“This is a great novel coming to the television screen with outstanding auspices and in-season production values to create a summer programming event,” said Nina Tassler, President of CBS Entertainment. “We’re excited to transport audiences UNDER THE DOME and into the extraordinary world that Stephen King has imagined.”
In addition to the featured broadcast on CBS, UNDER THE DOME will have a unique programming model tailored for a summer launch with a multi-platform window available for each episode shortly after the network airing. The series will be distributed domestically by CBS Television Distribution and worldwide by CBS Studios International.
CBS Television Studios will produce the series in association Amblin Television. Neal Baer, Stephen King, Justin Falvey, Darryl Frank, Stacey Snider and Brian K. Vaughan, who wrote the television adaptation, will serve as executive producers. Acclaimed director Niels Arden Oplev will direct the first episode.
About CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A and CBS) is a mass media company that creates and distributes industry-leading content across a variety of platforms to audiences around the world. The Company has businesses with origins that date back to the dawn of the broadcasting age as well as new ventures that operate on the leading edge of media. CBS owns the most-watched television network in the U.S. and one of the world’s largest libraries of entertainment content, making its brand – “the Eye” – one of the most recognized in business. The Company’s operations span virtually every field of media and entertainment, including cable, publishing, radio, local TV, film, outdoor advertising, and interactive and socially responsible media. CBS’s businesses include CBS Television Network, The CW (a joint venture between CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment), Showtime Networks, CBS Sports Network, Smithsonian Networks, Simon & Schuster, CBS Television Stations, CBS Radio, CBS Outdoor, CBS Television Studios, CBS Global Distribution Group, CBS Interactive, CBS Consumer Products, CBS Home Entertainment, CBS Films and CBS EcoMedia. For more information, go to www.cbscorporation.com.
About Amblin Television
With UNDER THE DOME, Amblin Television produces five series at five networks; this joins season #2 of “Smash” at NBC, season #3 of “Falling Skies” at TNT, season #1 of “The Americans” at FX, and season #3 of The Borgias at Showtime. Amblin is run by Co-Presidents Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank, who have been with DreamWorks/Amblin for 17 years.

Readers Talkback
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Nov. 29, 2012, 3:54 p.m. CST
Just like Golden Years...which was good till it fell apart, I recall. Just like most of King, unfortunately.
by openthepodbaydoorshal
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Nov. 29, 2012, 3:58 p.m. CST
And any mention of a King mini-series makes me think of TNT passing on making The Talisman.
by openthepodbaydoorshal
Which would be the perfect mini-series.
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Nov. 29, 2012, 4:05 p.m. CST
Is this like that episode where Dr Crusher gets stuck in that static warp bubble shell?
by kindofabigdeal
Will the dome keep getting smaller and smaller. Will people start disappearing. When it comes down to it, will two men enter, one man leave?
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Nov. 29, 2012, 4:08 p.m. CST
Any mention of a King mini-series makes me think of STORM OF THE CENTURY
by jim
where, it seemed, more often that not they went to commercial break with a shot of Colm Feore looking menacing and hissing at the camera.
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King has been ON FIRE the past few years. This, the Kennedy book, the new Dark Tower are all outstanding. The climax with The Chef and the AK-47s has gotta be one of the most satisfying scenes ever. My cousin has a pre-release copy of this book sealed in plastic. I'm always thinking about just stealing it and ruining the family ties everytime I'm in his home library.
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and airing it during the Summer. Although, I guess it does have elements in common with CBS's other Summer show, BIG BROTHER. Starting to make a little more sense now.
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Simpsons did it! I'm all for serious drama takes on Simpsons plotlines
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Nov. 29, 2012, 4:22 p.m. CST
Zero episodes headed for metroid_fetish's eyes forever.
by Metroid_Fetish
Fuck this stupid bullshit.
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This is. Under The Dome was the one of the most entertaining SK books I have read (There are about 4-5 that I have not read). It has enough scope and meat to fill a 13-episode season easily, adn filled with enough villians and heroes to make for some good TV time.
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As soon as I read the Kennedy book, it became my favorite SK book, overtaking The Stand. Stellar. If you haven't read it, you need to read it.
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Nov. 29, 2012, 4:34 p.m. CST
Thomas Jane as Barbie, John Goodman as Big Jim Rennie. NOW
by memento108
Make it so.
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Nov. 29, 2012, 4:41 p.m. CST
Featuring a 5-second cameo of Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher
by Adelai Niska
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Nov. 29, 2012, 4:49 p.m. CST
Please keep Mick Garris away from this. Please.
by openthepodbaydoorshal
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Nov. 29, 2012, 5:30 p.m. CST
JUST ONCE CAN WE GET A FUCKING STEPHEN KING BOOK ADAPTED ON AN UNCENSORED NETWORK? JESUS TITFUCKING CHRIST.
by Dandelion
STEPHEN KING DOES NOT BELONG ON SOME FUCKING ALL AGES BULLSHIT NETWORK FOR JAKE AND IZZABELLA(THAT'S WHAT ALL THE TWILIGHT FUCKBAGS ARE NAMING THEIR KIDS FOR THE NEXT 10 YEARS) TO SIT AND WATCH WITH MOMMY AND DADDY. CUNTS.
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Are we going to see snippets of the Lost sequel in this show...?
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I don't know what anyone else here thinks but the end of the book seemed strangely lacking in epic closure, especially as there was an opportunity to delve more into the motivations of the beings doing the doming. Maybe I'll re-read it and see if it makes more satisfying sense a second time around.
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Well. There goes any enthusiasm I may have had for this thing.
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Too many characters and I didn't care about any of them. None. THE STAND and IT - I felt invested in the people. This book? They could all die. I never finished it. Bored me to tears. I actually looked up the ending on wikipedia, and I'm glad I didn't waste my time getting to that fuck-shit of an ending that <spoiler!> was a rip-off of EXPLORERS.
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from CBS. Like most King, the book started out strong and ended up with a crappy ending. I wish I could say that I'm looking forward to this, but I'm not. Also, why CBS? They're not known for having anything edgy on the air. They appeal more to the 'Matlock' generation.
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I get the South Park reference, but King actually started writing Under the Dome (The Cannibals) long before The Simpsons debuted on the Tracey Ullman Show. Horrible book though, one of King's worst.
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Nov. 29, 2012, 6:36 p.m. CST
Stephen King's closet contains thousands of incomplete books.
by Metroid_Fetish
And his boyfriend.
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Under the Dome was no different. Great book until the ending, anti-climatic. I almost wish we just wouldn't have figured out what was behind the dome being there at all, just focus on the people.
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Very true. Not many of his books actually end where you think "that was good", except.... Gerald's Game. Damn. Now that, I want to see made into a movie. So creepy.
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Nov. 29, 2012, 7:06 p.m. CST
The main guy was a boring character (can't even remember his name)
by performingmonkey
So hopefully they can give him some life in this adaptation. Luckily, Big Jim is a classic King character that makes up for all the story's shortcomings (of which there are very few IMO). The ending is how it should be. The whole thing had a slight LOST vibe to it (interesting that Brian K Vaughan is writing for this show too) and I'm guessing that's where they'll go here. Heck, they may even open with an air crash.
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Too many elements of this story is so beyond the restrictions of regular tv. Its gonna be 13 episodes of watered down King.
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Nov. 29, 2012, 7:36 p.m. CST
King's no doubt one of the greatest writers of all time, but man can he be formulaic
by TheSeeker7
I mean how many times has he done the "members of a New England town separated from the rest of society by a [insert here]" plot?
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i would say "The Stand" ranks in the lower top 10 ok Kind adaptions.. I admit the last 30 minutes with the hand of god thing was goofy... also i actually enjoyed "IT" as well but i will admit i didnt finish the book on that one.. these are the exceptions not the rule..
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Nov. 29, 2012, 8:36 p.m. CST
BASED UPON PAST KING NOVEL MINI SERIES ON A MAJOR NETWORK, I CAN SAFELY PREDICT THE FOLLOWING:
by Mike Soiseth
It will suck the paint right off the primer.
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Viewers may be more apt to tune in to shows that have a definitive built-in ending, since they know they won't be strung along with filler episodes while a show just treads water. It's what they do in Japan, and for the most part it works like gangbusters.
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I have pretty much everything he has ever done, thanks to being a member of the Stephen King library, and this book holds up with any of them. And unlike a lot of his stories, it can be done on network television without being a total clusterfuck, in relation to making it network-friendly. Definitely been looking forward to this. Glad it is finally happening.
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He rips off pretty much everyone. Including the Simpsons. The Simpsons for Christ sake. The man has no shame.
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Nov. 29, 2012, 10:47 p.m. CST
I hope they change the ending, as much as i like king he's shit at endings
by kingoflight
i'll look forward to seeing the first 12 episodes.
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But then I've always been a King fan... As for it being on CBS...boo.
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Yes, yes. It surely did die didnt it, Herc? Six seasons ending when they wanted it to. Dollhouse died. Lost ended.
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But I'm still looking forward to it. Oh, and when I was reading the book, I could only envision Big Jim being played by Brendan Gleeson.
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as not only does he have this coming out in the summer, but his first book that got him into fantasy "Through the Eyes of the Dragon" will also be a series on Syfy
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Nov. 30, 2012, 12:15 a.m. CST
I stopped reading this retarded article after "...post apocalyptic conditions..."
by PoweredUpPackman
Ugh...
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Nov. 30, 2012, 1:36 a.m. CST
Don't get the hate for SK endings... well okay The Stand
by David Cloverfield
has an ending that is a crime against the reader. And the final confrontation of the Dark Tower books is balls (but I dig the epilogue). But more often than not his books wrap up nicely into nice little packages.
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Even King admits he can't write endings and this one sure proved the point. C'mon, alien kids at playtime? Still, the dome idea worked for Battleship right? I'd like to see proper adaptations of Running Man and the Long Walk. But we'll never see the former due to the ending (which was good but it'll be years before we see a plane hit a building in movies again) and unfortunately the Long Walk had a shitty ending too. Isn't someone doing From a Buick 8? Hope so, that was entertaining enough although the ending just kind of petered out. Hollywood would go for the jump-scare instead and pave the way for From a Buick 9 or some shit.
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Over 1,000 pages of watching paint dry. Can't wait for the horrible, boring series..
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Nov. 30, 2012, 6:44 a.m. CST
Premise won`t matter, It`ll all come down to people being scared, arguing, grabbing power etc. All these shows do.
by higgledyhiggles
Not read it, I might be wrong about the book but that`s what the series will be. It`s how you fill airtime.
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I can't see the actual ending/explanation for the dome staying true to the book ... TV will change it to something less far fetched. Simpsons fans - despite the title it's not really a dome shape - rather a wall that goes waaaayyyy up.
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Nov. 30, 2012, 8:33 a.m. CST
HATED UNDER THE DOME...didn't even bother to finish it
by Michael Morning
I was SO tired of that book...seriously repetitive and dull. I usually love King's stuff, but his most recent novels have left me cold. He felt the need to hammer home what a bad guy that lead character was (can't remember his name) that it just got silly after a while. Won't be watching this series.
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They are going to have to change some things to make it CBS-friendly. Only thing I didn't like about the book was the ending, might make a decent show... doesn't really get me excited tho.
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Obviously with CBS you get a much bigger audience so I get why they're going that direction but its a guarantee that we'll now have a watered down network TV friendly version instead of what they could've had with Showtime.
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They tried to go under it. The dome went way down as well.
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...the Simpsons? Or, is this the live action version of the Simpsons? Patton Oswalt as Barnie Steve Buscemi as Moe Gary Oldman as Burns Jeffrey Jones as Chalmers Allan Ruck as Skinner
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1. Get John Goodman to play Big Jim. 2. Take it away from CBS and give it to Showtime/FX/HBO/anyone not named CBS. CBS: Where great ideas go to die.
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Nov. 30, 2012, 9:19 a.m. CST
I liked this book! Not exactly classic King, but it was a good way to spend a weekend.
by ChickenStu
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it's a sphere
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Google it.
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Isn't one of the primary "bad guys" a Sarah Palin clone?
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Change the ending entirely, trim a bit of fat here and there, and please, no bloody Mick Garris, and you'll have something decent.
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Then when they did IT so many yrs ago, they could have included the kiddie porn. Repugnant. Folks, there are few writers in the world that need a strong-hand editor more than Stephen King. But thematically, haven't much of the isolated 'ratcage' themes been addressed in other projects: King in "The Mist" and CBS in Jericho?
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Is too old to play Big Jim, in the book he's in his 40's.
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I've given this a lot of thought....here are some choices I think would be great Julia - Anne Heche (w/long hair) Rusty - Jon Hamm (or similar ytype) Linda - Elizabeth Banks (She had a great dramatic role in The Next 3 Days opposite Russell Crowe) Chef Bushey - Jeremy Davies Thurse - Dave "Gruber" Allen (the guidance counselor from Freaks & Geeks) Junior - Sam Whitwer (I remember him from an episode of Dexter, turns out he was also in The Mist. Kismet?) Big Jim Rennie - Stephen Root (I pictured him the entire time I read the book)
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Now I can see Mark Addy as Big Jim, a little bit younger than Goodman or Root. He was great in Game of Thrones, he could do it.
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Nov. 30, 2012, 11:15 a.m. CST
He didn't rip off The Simpsons because he started writing this book like 20 years ago
by Judge Briggs
...and recently just finished it. The ending was, at least, better than The Dark Tower. Fuck that ending so so hard in its ass. Worst endings to, otherwise, a good series: 1.) Lost 2.) BSG 3.) The Dark Tower EASILY.
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Nov. 30, 2012, 11:43 a.m. CST
Hell...FX or AMC would be better than the nets.
by openthepodbaydoorshal
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Nov. 30, 2012, 11:53 a.m. CST
Read details at "Deadline" - Some of your questions answered....
by MovieManStill
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Hack, hack, hackedy-hack. There are actual writers out there who could use the exposure.
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Nov. 30, 2012, 12:05 p.m. CST
My book about talking horses that share friendship and magic with the world was started back in 1945.
by Metroid_Fetish
Don't compare it to My Little Pony, you cocksuckers.
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I totally saw the bad guy from Last Boy Scout as Big Jim. But exactly as he was then, so gutted. Oh, and Simpsons Movie rip off... not to mention that Pertwee Dr Who The Daemons yo.
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Guess you aren't reading previous comments ... because once again, this is NOT a Simpsons movies rip-off because King started this story back in the 70s.
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His original version of Under the Dome was titled The Cannibals, and made no mention of a dome around a town, just people trapped in an apartment building. He claims to have not seen The Simpsons Movie (despite being a guest star on the show) but I don't buy it: http://www.stephenking.com/library/unpublished/cannibals_the.html This may be another subconscious rip-off on King's part, like how The Green Mile has the same premise as the Amazing Stories episode Life on Death Row. Still a good book, though.
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Considering Vaughn ditched Lost before the shit ending, and every other ending he's written has been awesome sauce, I'm not worried about the ending. Unless they force something on him.
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I mean, suddenly a demented bum shows up with a nuclear warhead?
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Nov. 30, 2012, 4:42 p.m. CST
Corrupt car dealers who run meth labs will hate this show.
by illegal alien vs sexual predator
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The "dome" idea is brain-dead simple and not something you "steal". Good grief. It's on the first page of Genesis. The earth is flat with a dome holding the waters above from the water's below.
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Were any of you alive to watch "Golden Years" when it first aired? As far as I know, the *actually aired* ending isn't available anywhere. It wasn't on the DVD, nor was it on the stream on Netflix. The aired ending was not actually an ending, but a bit of a cliffhanger that directly implied more story would come the following summer. Of course, that never happened.
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It is perfectly possible for two writers to come up with the same concept. King started out with a group of people getting trapped inside an office building, then resorting to cannabalism. Somewhere along the line, King changed it to an entire town, and instead of actually eating thier neighbors, the townspeople would simply turn on each other. But how to cut the town off from the rest of the world? Obviously a wall would not work: people could just go around it. It had to be a dome. See? The idea for a dome was a perfectly natural consequence of King's train of thought. No plagiarism necessary.
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Nov. 30, 2012, 10:01 p.m. CST
vaughn can write his own ending if he wants it's kings original ending i don't like.
by kingoflight
No offence to the guy because i love his work but he does have trouble ending things sometimes.
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Nov. 30, 2012, 10:10 p.m. CST
King does not work from outlines. He comes up with the characters, puts them in a situation, and goes from there...
by P. David
I think that goes a long way towards explaining why his endings are unsatisfying. I love King, but I never embark on one of his novels without expecting an anticlimactic finale. The ending of The Dark Tower was pretty awesome, though.
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Dec. 1, 2012, 1:17 p.m. CST
King wrote the beginnings of this book decade before the Simpsons movie, btw
by Tim
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Dec. 1, 2012, 1:19 p.m. CST
Also, the endings of Carrie, Christine, Firestarter, The Shining, Shawshank, Apt Pupil are all fucking brilliant.
by Tim
He's got a hell of a lot more amazing endings than disappointing ones.
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Dec. 1, 2012, 3:18 p.m. CST
Loved King up until the last 2 Dark Tower books...
by TheDroidYouAreLookingFor
I thought Under the Dome was pretty good, but the man came outta the box with something special when he wrote "11/22/63." I'm something of a fantasy and horror afficianado (I often spell that wrong) and I've become jaded and hard to please, I won't deny. So believe me when I say I'm pretty sure ANYONE would dig 11/22/63. This TV series, however...King's books don't always translate well to film or TV. To see what I'm talking about, you should see the Nostalgia Critic's take on every King movie or mini-series known. King is very psychological, his work goes into those places of the not-quite-explainable-or-seen, and this is hard to get across in film, which is a visual medium. Also, he often just wraps up his endings in a "deus ex" fashion by killing people in great swaths and then just having an answer fall into their lap. That's my take, anyway.
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Dec. 1, 2012, 3:43 p.m. CST
I thought that the Dark Tower started to lose its way when it entered meta-territory, but the ending was perfect...
by P. David
I think that one reason King's endings seem anti-climactic is that he views evil as mostly smoke and mirrors. In King's worldview, the simple act of standing up to evil can defeat it.
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Dec. 1, 2012, 4:13 p.m. CST
After all the buildup, Flagg (in The Stand and in Dark Tower) and the Crimson King both turn out to be nothing in the end...
by P. David
And that's the point. Evil is fundamentally dishonest.
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Say what you will about King's "version of evil," but man, talk about the anti-climax to end all anti-climaxes. The Crimson King was just dancing up and down throwing grenades from a window of the Tower? Whuuuuuuut? And the kid from Insomnia "un-draws" him to death? Whuuuuuuuuuuut? And Walter o'Dim, after all his forward thinking and planning, lets himself get his eyeballs and tongue sucked out by a half-spider-child-thing that he KNEW was powerful enough to do just that? Whuuuuuut? And then Roland shoots Mordred flat in one paragraph? Whuuuuuut? I think he fell victim to One Two Many Balls In The Air Syndrome, like "Lost" and "Battlestar Galactica." If you're just making this stuff up as you go, with only a vague sense of where you're going with it, instead of mapping it out and deciding definitively where it's all going (or, even still, just writing the books into forever without an ending, as he originally planned), then you're going to end with the "non-ending" type of stuff you got from Lost, BSG, and Dark Tower. In this, I agree with George R.R. Martin: there is no way to satisfy THAT MANY mysteries. The best thing to do, IMO, is to MINIMIZE the amount of mysteries and stick to the basics: characters, characters, characters. Which is one of King's strongest points, anyways.
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Dec. 1, 2012, 11:55 p.m. CST
King's message to his DT readers about how stores are about the journey and not the destination...
by P. David
...has some truth to it, but also comes off as a self-serving rationalization. The fact is, many of his books do have deux ex machina endings, and I accept that when I pick a new one up. But I thought that the VERY end of DT series worked. I always felt that Roland was an extremely dark character, possibly even the true villain of the series. He got what he deserved in the end.
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Dec. 2, 2012, 12:03 p.m. CST
Yeah, I get that stories about the journeys, however...
by TheDroidYouAreLookingFor
He also likened this to sex. Near the end of DT 7, he said "For people like you who think it's about the ending, you are also the type to think that sex is about the little squirt at the end." This, in a nutshell, not only offended me a little, but also seemed needlessly crass and insulting to his entire fanbase. To that, I would say this (not that King cares to hear MY 2 cents worth, but here goes): Mr. King, if you want to equate it to sex, fine, then have the story go on and on like some forms of tantric sex and prolong the story indefinitely. But you're KIDDING yourself if you're saying you'd rather have sex and no definitive ending (the painful feel of blue balls). In short, you can have a satisfying "finish" in all things--TV, books, film, sex, LIFE! If you WANT it to be about the journey, then do what you planned to do from the get-go and write the book until you die, without a finish, and leave the rest of it for future writers, just let it go on and on, like DOCTOR WHO, never let it end. At THAT point, it truly becomes about the journey. If you didn't want to give it an ending, Mr. King, you didn't have to.
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Doesn't mean the journey's any fucking good.
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Besides, a good storyteller isn't just defined by his ideas, but more importantly, by what he does with them. It's not just about the "WHAT", it's about the "HOW".
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