Steven Spielberg Teams with Stephen King for Under the Dome

[Sawyer]

It'll teach her dumb ass to stand up on a speed boat.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Just hope she didn't somehow make it to shore alive.

 

[carrrnuttt]

Just hope she didn't somehow make it to shore alive.

I told my wife after Jim drove off in the boat that if he really wanted to get rid of her, Jim should have just shot Mama Max.

It's not really that hard to swim without hands. Lifeguards do it all the time while dragging people back to shore. Hell, for all we know, she fell off the boat on purpose and faked drowning, gambling that Jim would do what he did.

All Jim basically did was ensure that she'd be back in future episode.

 

[Golgo-13]

The characters on the show are sooooo cliche. The only thing that's missing is the hot small town party girl

I'm surprised they haven't shown what's going on outside the dome for the past few eps, especially after the bomb laid waste to the entire area outside of it. I could have sworn that one side of the dome looked perfectly fine on the outside just an episode or two ago...

 

[Sawyer]

The characters on the show are sooooo cliche. The only thing that's missing is the hot small town ho

I'm surprised they haven't shown what's going on outside the dome for the past few eps, especially after the bomb laid waste to the entire area outside of it. I could have sworn that one side of the dome looked perfectly fine on the outside just an episode or two ago...

Might have been on the other side of the dome. But the writers have said they don't want to go outside the dome too much, they mostly want to focus on Chester's Mill.

 

[Golgo-13]

But wouldn't a bomb of that caliber decimate the entire area? The Dome isn't that big when they showed an ariel view of it....

 

[Hunter Rider]

For once, I'm in 100% agreement with the sentiment. You just find out that he's involved in this operation, you ask him to come with you and he declines, what you do is bust out the handcuffs, not tell him you're coming back in the morning.

Grow some girl-balls, Linda.

Exactly, if you swing at a guy like the Jimster you best not miss, and you certainly don't let him have a night to plot your death.

Please, never again create images in my mind of Natalie Martinez with man parts.

 

[Thundercrack85]

But wouldn't a bomb of that caliber decimate the entire area? The Dome isn't that big when they showed an ariel view of it....

Although it's hard to gauge exactly how big Chester's Mill is, no. The MOAB isn't that powerful. It can't wipe out an entire town. A good chunk of a downtown area, sure, but not many square miles.

Fat Man for example had a yield of 21 kilotons, by comparison the MOAB is a measly 11 tons. There are a thousand tons in a kiloton.

So it obliterates everything in a 1000 yard radius. So, everything a mile in either direction of the target is probably dead, or in ruins. But if you're let's say 5 miles away, you'd be fine (windows might break, but that's about it).

 

[voyzovrezon]

Jim seems like a crypto-fascist, just a toned-down version from the book. He views his thoughts and desires as what's best for the town. Anyone who isn't loyal enough to him has to be kept on a short leash. Anyone who conflicts with his viewpoint has to be eliminated. He doesn't view this as wrong, but a way of protecting Chester's Mill.

I agree that his character is toned down from the book. The Big Jim in the book was much more self-centered and less involved in the town's problems unless they either threatened his criminal activities or his leadership/dictatorship of the town, particularly after the dome came down.

Like in the show, Big Jim did kill the reverend (who was actually a composite of two book characters---the reverend and Second Selectman.)

 

[voyzovrezon]

When the Dome Came Down

 

[Sawyer]

Well, this show is just getting too damn silly. I feel like they're really going overboard with both the minidome stirring **** up and the organized crime bit. I hope the writers look back on this season and decide that they need to do better and right the ship for S2. King writing the premiere is a promising enough sign, but they really need to get it together here.

 

[Sawyer]

I'm like three chapters into the book and I can already tell that this show can be fixed, at least in large part, by making Junior proper crazy and having him kill Angie. Cut this mini-dome stuff with them and the kids. I don't even know if it's in the book, but it just seems too overtly sci-fi.

 

[Sawyer]

Well, alright, the preview for next week did look pretty good.

 

[Agent Z]

So, I just started watching this eleventh episode and, BOOM!, right in the opening credits is an obvious spoiler.*

Sorry, I'm not usually the type to casually watch something and chat about it during the viewing, but this was such a smack upside my head that I had to vent.

Alright, back to the show....


ETA: Okay, I was all set to come back here and rag on this episode, cause it had some of the worst dialogue being spouted during modern primetime television. There's one scene where Big Jim and Barbie are face to face and declaring how they will stop one another, save Chester's Mill from one another, and if only they would have each put on a respective black or white cowboy hat while spouting off the cliches, it would have been hilariously fitting.

The majority of the episode was so "television drama" in every sense of that damning label. When someone mentioned that this series feels like it's from the '90s, this cliche-filled and by-the-numbers episode perfectly encapsulates that very feel, that very complaint.

Wait until you see the point-blank murder "attempt".....

Seriously, I'm being nice. This was gloriously stupid.

EXCEPT....the final five minutes, which showcase a pretty startling reveal, and a definite shift (finally) in the apparent endgame.

I'm not sure that it's worth wading through the rest of the episode to get to that reveal, but it's a solid note to end on, all the same.





* Said spoiler ended up not being quite what it could have been. Actually, what little actually did transpire, on that note, was kind of humorous when thinking of an actor's resume and what constitutes an "appearance".

 

[Victarion]

How drastically have they strayed from King's novel?

 

[Asgard]

Angie made quite the intuitive leap with her conclusion that murdering Big Jim would open up the dome...

 

[Hunter Rider]

I thought the last couple of eps really had the show going in the right direction but there aren't enough face palms in the world to convey the utter contrived stupidity of the events that have led to Barbie now playing The Fugitive.

Plus they killed Max after 3 eps..............

 

[Sawyer]

Max was not a good presence, and I'm glad she's gone.

 

[Sawyer]

http://popwatch.ew.com/2013/09/03/under-the-dome-character-rehab/

Character Rehab: Everyone on 'Under the Dome'
By Darren Franich on Sep 3, 2013 at 4:00PM

Here at EW, we have a weekly series in which we — and readers — weigh in on ways to rehab much-maligned characters on some of our favorite shows.

Under the Dome is one of the biggest success stories of the summer 2013 TV mini-season. Adapted from the Stephen King novel about a small town cut off from the outside world, Dome earns great ratings in its Monday time slot. It was renewed for a second season and seems destined to become a fixture on the CBS summer calendar. And there is a lot to like about Dome. The first episode introduced a whole array of interesting characters with mysterious backstories, all brought together by the mysterious Dome. Unfortunately, every episode since the pilot has made all of those interesting characters vastly less interesting.

Some people have become one-dimensional: Lead protagonist Barbie (Mike Vogel), introduced as a morally ambiguous fightin’ man burying a corpse in the forest, has become a vanilla-bland hero, with no real stated purpose besides Being a Good Guy. Meanwhile, the show’s kids have spent the back half of the season pressing their hands up against various Domes and restating all the show’s mysteries in exposition-heavy mythology-dumping conversations. But the show also has a problem with giving characters too many dimensions. Big Jim Rennie is by far the show’s most interesting character, thanks to Dean Norris (who, between this and Breaking Bad, is almost certainly the MVP of the summer). But Big Jim whiplashes like crazy between being a mastermind villain and a power-mad thug: He also has that J.J. Abrams Villain Problem, where attempts to “humanize” Big Jim’s villainy (He misses his wife! He loves his son!) just make him seem schizophrenic.

The show turned a corner ever-so-slightly this week, killing off the most ridiculous character and making the Jim/Barbie antagonism explicit. After the next two episodes, the show’s producers will have a whole year to tinker with Dome; here are four suggestions for turning the cast of characters into a force to be reckoned with.

1. Cut back on the Dome. Part of what made Stephen King’s original novel such a great read was that, at a certain point, King didn’t really care about the Dome at all. It was just a handy plot mechanic: A way to send a small town on a Lord of the Flies downward spiral. The book’s explanation of the Dome was basically a non-explanation: King was much more interested in establishing the citizens of Chester’s Mill. The TV show has gone the opposite route, establishing a whole assortment of Dome mythology. There’s a Mini-Dome! And it’s got an Egg! And the Dome speaks to people using visions! And also the Dome can induce early labor in pregnant women! All that Dome takes away valuable time from the inter-character drama. When season 2 starts, there should be a five-episode moratorium on Dome visions, Dome acts-of-god, and anyone saying some variation of the phrase “This is what the Dome wants!”

2. More Game of Thrones, less Lost. One of the main problems with Under the Dome is how quickly the lead characters have become a “gang”: At this point, it feels like everything important in Chester’s Mill happens to the same seven or eight people, who often run into each other walking down the street just in time for an exciting new plot point. This was basically the setup for the first season of Lost, which focused in on the most interesting/attractive survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 and quickly turned them into the Lead Gang of People, while various barely dressed extras hung out in the background. The problem is that Under the Dome thinks it’s Lost, when really, it should be Game of Thrones: A show about different factions of people warring over the same stretch of land in a bid for ultimate power. Imagine how much cooler Dome would be if Barbie and Big Jim were in charge of their own groups of people, with the other characters pulled in various directions and/or playing all sides against each other. The show has actually already engaged in an intriguing amount of world-building, establishing the geography of Chester’s Mill and playing off a historical rivalry between the farmers and the townspeople: Bringing those rivalries to the foreground would give the show more depth, and make it feel less like a Mission-of-the-Week structure. It would also help solve one of the show’s main problems…

3. Give the supporting characters an actual reason to be there. At the start of the season, we learned that Phil Bushey and Dodee Weaver run the local radio station. Eleven episodes in, here’s what we have learned about them: They run the local radio station. (Also, Phil likes to gamble.) Too many of the show’s seem to just exist so that Barbie and Jim have someone to talk to while they’re doing the cool stuff. And then there’s Norrie, the troubled L.A. teen who was trapped inside of the Dome. Norrie initially came off like a hell-raiser, but after one of her moms died and the other one basically disappeared from the show, she’s spent the last few episodes on the Dome trail. “Trying to solve the Mystery of the Show” is not a particularly interesting character arc.

4. Time jump! The easiest way to reboot a show from scratch: Take a giant leap forward in time and kick off the next season with all our characters in radical new circumstances. Right now, part of the problem with all the characters on Under the Dome is that they’re still adjusting to the new Dome-ified status quo; nobody really thinks the Dome will be around for much longer. (Big Jim does, which is also why he’s the best character by a mile.) Let’s jump six months or a year forward and see how Chester’s Mill has come along. Would Big Jim have declared martial law? Would the other characters have formed a guerrilla breakaway society, hiding in the caverns underneath the power station? Maybe in the interim period, other citizens of Chester’s Mill would have come forward to take positions of power — meaning that there could be a role for recently unemployed Walking Dead star Michael Rooker?

Agreed on all counts. Especially cutting back on the Dome.

 

[Ultimatehero]

The last episode to me was the one that really felt Spielberg rather than King - kids uniting together who also have complicated family lives.

 

[Maximus One]

Michael Rooker would fit in perfectly here. Like, seriously.

 

[Sawyer]

Michael Rooker would fit in perfectly here. Like, seriously.

He does seem like the perfect candidate to play a Stephen King bad guy, doesn't he? Not so much a Pennywise/Randall Flagg/Kurt Barlow type, but one of the standard SK dirtbags who are hiding A LOT of ****ed-upness under the surface.

 

[Maximus One]

Right? I can't believe no other show has scooped him up yet for real

 

[Siby]

I'm surprised Max got killed off so fast. I thought she would be a thorn in Big Jim and Barbie's side for a little while longer.

The conclusions the characters on this show derive are so ridiculous. It was funny to laugh at them in the beginning but now it just makes me angry. I loved the confused look on the Four's faces when they each thought they knew or thought they were the reason the storm went away.

This whole fugitive Barbie thing is going to quickly resolve when Julia wakes up and says it was Max that shot her. Big Jim is going to have some egg on his face after telling everybody Barbie did it. I laugh when Big Jim tries to be all leader-like and make threats of martial law. Martial law only works when you have an army. All he has now is an incompetent sheriff, a psycho deputy, and one or two red shirts.

I really hate the sentient dome. I agree with the article that the show should be about the social dynamic between the people rather than the dome.

 

[X-Ray]

Silly move by Barbie. You already don't trust Big Jim, you know what type of ******* he is, you just heard that he killed Max's mother and you turned your back on him expecting him to do nothing to the two (Max and her goon) while you go get the car. C'mon man!

Defiant to the end, Max sounded like she had a 2nd insurance policy lined up. I hope she does because she came and went too quickly.

Stupid Sheriff. Yeah, she's stupid.

Didn't take long for Junior being the 4th key to turn into a complete **** storm, literally. I knew that psycho would do something like this. I hope Joe reaches into his inner Sam Winchester and kills the ****er.