Let’s face it: hardly anything on television now is based off a book. Sure, True Blood is based off a book series, but there isn’t any show that is based off a singular book. Why is this? The answer is quite simple: if you only adapt one book, you'll run out of content in a relatively short time, probably within a season or two. That's what books are often adapted to the small screen as either a miniseries or a TV movie.
And that’s where ABC’s upcoming drama Flash Forward deviates from the mold. It’s an upcoming series (without a definitive run) that’s based on just one book. That book is Canadian author Robert J. Sawyer’s Flashforward, which was originally published in 1999. It’s a relatively short book – my trade paperback copy clocks in at 319 pages. It would probably take a regular-length season of twenty-four episodes to cover all the important plot points of the book from beginning to end. So in order for Flash Forward to survive, there are going to have to be some major changes when adapting.
And there have been changes aplenty. Most characters have been created purely for the television show, or have been adapted from a character in the book, but changed considerably. The most obvious character to look at is Mark Benford, played by Joseph Fiennes. Within the show, Benford is an FBI agent dedicated to finding out what exactly happened during the titular flash forward, going so far as to even set up a website called the Mosaic Collective (an actual version of which has already been set up in promotion for the series) in order to gather information about what other people saw, so that he can begin to piece together a rough “mosaic” of the future seen by everyone during the flash. Benford will be the de facto main character of the show; he’s been the focus of almost every promotional photo and commercial, and he’s been heralded as the main character. And here’s the kicker – he’s not even in the book.
That's right. Instead, the book was focused on protagonist Lloyd Simcoe, a CERN scientist who causes the flash forward when using the Large Hadron Collider. He's the main focus of the action for most of the book. That's not to say that Simcoe has been cut from the television adaptation, however; Pirates of the Caribbean star Jack Davenport's character is named Lloyd Simcoe, but the character is considerably younger than his novel counterpart, and isn't focused on nearly as much, according to early reviews for the first episode.
Simcoe's not the only character from the book who's been split up between two television characters. Harold and Kumar's John Cho will play Demetri Noh, Benford's FBI partner who sees absolutely nothing during the flash, leading him to believe that he is dead by the time the flash occurs. Like Benford, Noh does not exist in the novel. Instead, his role is mostly based upon the book's secondary protagonist, CERN scientist Theo Procopides. Procopides, Simcoe's best friend, experiences a similar vision during the flash (he sees nothing at all) and eventually tries to stop his own murder. But even though Noh's character has taken on many of Procopides' character traits, there will still be a character named Theo Procopides on the show. Lost star Dominic Monaghan has been reported to be playing a character named Theo, who, aside from what has been taken by Demetri Noh, will have a similar role to his counterpart in the novel.
Benford’s wife Olivia, played by Lost’s Sonya Walger, is a completely new addition to the show (no one even similar to her character appears in the novel), as are the five other main characters of the show, all of whom will undoubtedly soon show parallels with characters from the novel.
But the characters aren’t the only thing that we know has changed from the book; something else quite large has been altered from the original text. This alteration regards how far in the future the flash will show. Instead of the twenty years, like in the book, the show’s flash will only show six months into the future. Though this does seem counter-productive to the lengthening of the show, it does buy the show more time. In the novel, once the twenty years has passed and it’s time for the resolution of the story, there’s no turning back, and the show can only go on for so long afterward. That’s why after the first season, the series will be reset, in a way, with another flash occurring. This could be both good and bad for the show. It could follow the 24 model, where each season stands alone, or it could follow the Lost model, with one overarching plot. I find it hard to get hard to get hooked on shows that you can miss a season and still be able to watch the show effortlessly. That’s why it’s integral to me that this reset model be done right. It’s up to showrunner David S. Goyer, who has had both a huge hit (The Dark Knight) and a huge miss (The Unborn) this past year. I can understand deviating from the source material, but since the source material is such a tightly wound piece of literature, he’ll have to be very careful with how he does it.
But all in all, I’m excited for Flash Forward, especially having read the book. It looks like it’ll be a wonderful show with a star-studded cast, and I hope it finds the niche that Lost will leave behind. It could have worked well as a miniseries, but I’m glad that this adaptation will be a lot longer. I'll be watching it all the way.
Having recently read the book, I am finding it hard to capture the handful of good points of the story in television form. To me the book was almost abismal, at least the story line was. I am willing to give the tv show the benefit of the doubt as the story seems perfect for tv. We'll see how it turns out.
Having recently read the book, I am finding it hard to capture the handful of good points of the story in television form. To me the book was almost abismal, at least the story line was. I am willing to give the tv show the benefit of the doubt as the story seems perfect for tv. We’ll see how it turns out.
I foresee a lot of disappointed readers. But a lot of happy happy viewers who are still ignorant of the novel. It's an enlightening and imformative piece of work. I'm interested and will most likely have a look at the book if not the show. Good show Sam (heh heh, a pun, how embarrassing).
I foresee a lot of disappointed readers. But a lot of happy happy viewers who are still ignorant of the novel. It’s an enlightening and imformative piece of work. I’m interested and will most likely have a look at the book if not the show. Good show Sam (heh heh, a pun, how embarrassing).