Harry Potter Conundrum

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soccergrl

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If a similar thread has already been posted - apologies.

My sons a big fan of Harry Potter, both the films and the books. I love the books but I'm not keen on the films at all.

Unlike Lord of the Rings, etc, I don't quite see how they can make a satisfactory series of films until the series of books has actually finished - particularly as there is supposed to be a finite amount of books. And JKR has already said that she knows what the ending to the series is. Unless you know the whole picture I don't see how you can get the right 'feel' into the series - like LotR.

I'm not convinced about what we've been 'fed'. Here's why.

She bumped off Dumbledore in the last book, quite unexpectedly. Its noticeable that the new Dumbledore is not as good as Richard Harris was (I know the whole series has its faults and critics - I'm talking here about the wider picture).

I think JKR has bumped off D because of the new actor in the films. I think she's being influenced by what she sees/has seen on the big screen. Somehow that strikes me as wrong.

Any opinions???
 
I don't think she is influenced at all. HBP was well underway when Azkaban was released (the first with the new Dumbledore) and I do not believe that she would change such a major plot point just because of that.

Yes, it was unexpected, but quite necessary IMO. It has given Harry the final push to deal with Voldemort once and for all in book 7, and has also forced him into adulthood by removing his 'advisor' / 'father figure' (or whatevery you want to call him).
 
i totally agree with WillowFae!
i can't wait til the last book comes out but that won't be until next summer and i'll be 17!
it'll be really good to find out how she enRAB it but will be sad as it's the last one!
 
Thanks for the spoiler warning ..... NOT !! :mad:

I cant believe it, my missus has been itching to tell me who gets bumped off since it was released. And you go and spoil it ...... My own fault, should of read it quicker.... :cool:
 
As far as I know JKR works very closely on the films - everything that stays in the films (and is cut from the books) is what is most important. It's an interesting way to try and work out the last book ^_^
 
Sorry - I'm fairly new to RAB, and I'm not sure what spoilers are.

Humble apologies if I've spoiled the books or films for anyone.

Perhaps the moderators could remove this post before it spoils it for anyone else???
 
Well you can edit it yourself using the 'edit' button you'll find on your post. Then put the spoiler stuff inbetween these two worRAB ...

[ spoiler] write spoiler here [/spoiler]

But delete the first space between '[' and 's'.

I love the books and the films, people have to accept that they're different entities, the plots have to be streamlined and only the really important stuff can be fit into the movies. Prisoner of Azkaban( especially) and GOF were excellent adaptations of the books I thought.

JKR is too smart a woman to allow the films to influence the books, I can't see her (or many other writers) doing it.
 
Sincere apologies to all but it appears that I'm not able to edit this for
'spoilers' now. I under that facility is limited to 60 minutes after first posting.

Similarly, I can't delete this post for the same reason.

But if the moderators want to.......?????
 
There is no way that JKR would
kill Dumbledore just because she maybe didn't like Michael Gambon.
What would be the point in that? The idea started out as a book, and she's not going to change that just because it might make the films better.
 
I quite like the second Dumbledore better, he's more 'quirky' and how I imagined him :) I'm not sure what differences it would make to the film though if the last book was already out
 
Sorry, but I'm not saying that she did it to make the films better (or the books). I'm saying that she is being influenced by what is happening on the films - commercial pressure if you like.

It always struck me as wrong that they started making the films before the series of books ended - and there is a definite number of books, thats JKR speaking. You can't possibly know what the overall 'theme' of the series of books is until you get the last book. It just strikes me as wrong - if I'm right - that what she writes is influenced by how the films are made, who is in them, etc.

I always felt that the books should have been made in to a TV series, giving them a lot more scope in terms of time and plot, etc. I still they should, and it won't surprise me if they are.

We already know that the size - no. of pages - of the books was definitely influenced by the audience. No bad thing, but she IS open to influence in what she writes.
 
I agree with your whole post apart from the highlighted bits.

No offense to Richard Harris (R.I.P) but Michael Gambon as got dumbledore down to a T. The third film was his best performance, The Goblet of Fire he was really good aswell, however his slight frustation or little sparks of anger in some scenes werent really fitting to how he was in book 4, having said that this is exactly what Dumbledore was like in books 5/6. If anything Gambon was playing Dumbledore in advance.

Lastly JK rowling like you said "knows the ending" to the series, so im sure, and it actually states on her official website that Dumbledores death was planned since the beginning. JK would certainly not kill of a charater because she didnt like a certain actor/actress's performance on them. Another point - on the Prisoner of Azkaban DVD, in the interview JK also states that Gambon's performance was "brilliantly spot on". So I found the last part of your post rather ignorant. :rolleyes:

Last thing, there was no need to really bring LOTR into it. There are plenty of other books series (incomplete) that have already been adapted to a film. An example being Lemony Snicket's a series of unfortunate events. :)
 
Another question: What happens when Daniel Radcliffe starts getting to old for his part as Harry? I think he may already be past 'the right age' for the next movie to follow the books.

He is a very talented new comer and has possibly set the bar a bit to high.
 
Dumbledore will be back in the next book anyway. All Hogwarts headmasters are there in the headmasters office in their portraits so why will Dumbledore be any different?

Also, IMO Snape is NOT a baddie. Dumbledore knew Snape would have to kill him.

In the first book, Dumbledore said something along the lines of "To the well organised mind, death is nothing more than the next step."
 
Im sure its somewhere on the FAQ questions about the book. Im sure shes send in multipule interviews (you could probably find them at www.mugglenet.com) that DD death was planned and she always knew it was coming.

As soon as I read a couple of chapters into books 6, his 'dead' hand forshadowed his death, other things like dumbledore suddenly wearing nothing but a 'black travelling cloak', his deat h was hinted at.

It has nothing to do with MG performance of DD, as there is NO WAY jk Rowling could have predicted Richard Harris's death! :rolleyes:
 
Oh for god's sake stop all the spoilerage!! You're ruining it for people who are the fans of the films or haven't read the books yet. If you want to discuss the plot of the books go to a Harry Potter site.

As for Radcliffe, he's only 17 in July, which makes him 18 months older than Harry while playing him. AT the most there'll probably be a 3/4 year age difference by the time they do the last one. Considering 'The OC' and 'Smallville' have 30 year olRAB playing 18 I don't think there'll be a problem. I like him I hope he does well after the movies.

Also JK Rowling vets the scripts for the movies before they make them so the films contain everything that is important to the story. Therefore I don't really see much of a problem with them starting the movies before the books are done. PLus she's stated numerous times that she worked out the structure of the overarching story of the books before she even wrote the first one so anything major that has happened will have been planned years ago.
 
Nearly a year the book has been out. i have had it ready to read since last summer but have not got round to it yet. I knew a major character was killed off but had absolutely no idea who it was..... until two minutes ago!! Now I know. Cheers!!!
 
The book has been out a year i don't think people should be too hard on the OP for spoiling it.

I beleive the rule on the Lost/24/etc threaRAB is that once it's aired on TV it isn't a spoiler, therefore, no spoiler tags needed. So since it's a year since the book was released anyone who would care about it being spoiled would have probably read it by now.
 
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