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This is going to be one of my rambling, fangirl posts. So strap in.
This all started rather randomly when I read that Katherine Isabelle (Ava from Supernatural) was in an X-Files episode ("Schizogeny"), and it happened to be one for which I have the DVDs. So I was rewatching that (incidentally the guy that played Ash was in that episode, too), and guess what other episode was on that disk? "Chinga"! The one written by Stephen King. I hadn't seen it in ages, so I watched it next.
Mind you, when this episode originally aired, I was not only a rabid X-Phile, but I was also an insatiable Stephen King fan. I still am... but you get the point. When I heard these two things were going to collide, I was fangirling like a spaz, and this was before I even knew the term "fangirl". My expectations were really high, and this was also before I'd learned not to do that to myself. So of course it didn't live up to my intense freak-out, and I walked away disappointed. For a few reasons I'm about to explain.
It was very Scully-centric. Now while I love both characters, Mulder always has been my favorite, and rather than write him properly, King took the opportunity to make Mulder look like a pathetic sack... Which is funny, but at the time, I didn't find it that amusing. I still think it was over-indulgent of King's inside jokes with Duchovny when really he should have been trying to please an audience, not his own sense of humor. Secondly... it wasn't scary. I have never been frightened by the evil doll scenario, which is all "Chinga" was. Evil doll on a rampage. Spare me, honestly. Now I don't know what I expected... For Pennywise to come driving up in Christine with Randall Flagg riding shotgun and Cujo in the backseat? At the very least, I wanted better than an evil doll. One which was obviously evil with tons of telltale signs, yet they still kept blaming the mother and her daughter for all the craziness that ensued. Right until the very end of the episode, that is. The final "fight" was anticlimactic to say the least, with the doll getting nuked in a microwave.
Okay, so the disappointment lingers on, even today. But when you hear about Stephen King writing an X-Files episode, you should be blown the fuck away by the finished product! Right!? Not left asking why this was so dull and unimaginative. Which leads me to say that no one should expect even a bestselling author to come onto an established show, one with its own mythology and characters they've never written before, and have it be the best thing in the universe. Stephen King achieved what most fans would die for: his fan fic got filmed. That's about it. And I'm not going to kick him around for that, because trying to tell a story in less than an hour under the circumstances I just described is kind of impossible if you don't do it for a living. That's why I admire shows like The X-Files and Supernatural, that pull it off so damn well and make it look so damn easy.
Anywho, it's the doll's origins that lead me into Duma Key. Polly, the creepy girl who owns said doll, was given it after her father, a fisherman, pulled it from the water one night. He was going to take it home to his daughter when he was killed, seemingly at random, by a hook on the boat. Since then, Polly has carried this doll, and weird shit keeps cropping up. Sounding familiar? Elizabeth's father gave her a china doll (her fair salvage) that was among the wreckage she'd created for him to weed through. Then it turned out to have an evil entity using it as a conduit to manipulate her. So in essence, Duma Key feels like "Chinga" done right. With an evil doll included in the plot but not dominating it. An odd conclusion to come to maybe, but one I've reached, nonetheless.
Also, I'm nearly done with the novel. Not entirely there yet but close. Edgar has discovered the power his paintings have, as Tom Riley and Dr. Kamen are both dead now. Tom... I wasn't as upset about. It was really disheartening that he was on his way back up when it happened, but he'd been more of a nuisance throughout the book than anything. Kamen... now that was harsh. He was such an awesome guy! Now I'm terrified for Ilse, because Edgar doesn't seem to recall that she does have a drawing. And if that doesn't do it, then he still has the one he drew of her shithead boyfriend, and that might have enough spark in it to start something bad... *whimpers* And of course, because Wireman is so insanely kickass, I know he's not long for this world. :(
This all started rather randomly when I read that Katherine Isabelle (Ava from Supernatural) was in an X-Files episode ("Schizogeny"), and it happened to be one for which I have the DVDs. So I was rewatching that (incidentally the guy that played Ash was in that episode, too), and guess what other episode was on that disk? "Chinga"! The one written by Stephen King. I hadn't seen it in ages, so I watched it next.
Mind you, when this episode originally aired, I was not only a rabid X-Phile, but I was also an insatiable Stephen King fan. I still am... but you get the point. When I heard these two things were going to collide, I was fangirling like a spaz, and this was before I even knew the term "fangirl". My expectations were really high, and this was also before I'd learned not to do that to myself. So of course it didn't live up to my intense freak-out, and I walked away disappointed. For a few reasons I'm about to explain.
It was very Scully-centric. Now while I love both characters, Mulder always has been my favorite, and rather than write him properly, King took the opportunity to make Mulder look like a pathetic sack... Which is funny, but at the time, I didn't find it that amusing. I still think it was over-indulgent of King's inside jokes with Duchovny when really he should have been trying to please an audience, not his own sense of humor. Secondly... it wasn't scary. I have never been frightened by the evil doll scenario, which is all "Chinga" was. Evil doll on a rampage. Spare me, honestly. Now I don't know what I expected... For Pennywise to come driving up in Christine with Randall Flagg riding shotgun and Cujo in the backseat? At the very least, I wanted better than an evil doll. One which was obviously evil with tons of telltale signs, yet they still kept blaming the mother and her daughter for all the craziness that ensued. Right until the very end of the episode, that is. The final "fight" was anticlimactic to say the least, with the doll getting nuked in a microwave.
Okay, so the disappointment lingers on, even today. But when you hear about Stephen King writing an X-Files episode, you should be blown the fuck away by the finished product! Right!? Not left asking why this was so dull and unimaginative. Which leads me to say that no one should expect even a bestselling author to come onto an established show, one with its own mythology and characters they've never written before, and have it be the best thing in the universe. Stephen King achieved what most fans would die for: his fan fic got filmed. That's about it. And I'm not going to kick him around for that, because trying to tell a story in less than an hour under the circumstances I just described is kind of impossible if you don't do it for a living. That's why I admire shows like The X-Files and Supernatural, that pull it off so damn well and make it look so damn easy.
Anywho, it's the doll's origins that lead me into Duma Key. Polly, the creepy girl who owns said doll, was given it after her father, a fisherman, pulled it from the water one night. He was going to take it home to his daughter when he was killed, seemingly at random, by a hook on the boat. Since then, Polly has carried this doll, and weird shit keeps cropping up. Sounding familiar? Elizabeth's father gave her a china doll (her fair salvage) that was among the wreckage she'd created for him to weed through. Then it turned out to have an evil entity using it as a conduit to manipulate her. So in essence, Duma Key feels like "Chinga" done right. With an evil doll included in the plot but not dominating it. An odd conclusion to come to maybe, but one I've reached, nonetheless.
Also, I'm nearly done with the novel. Not entirely there yet but close. Edgar has discovered the power his paintings have, as Tom Riley and Dr. Kamen are both dead now. Tom... I wasn't as upset about. It was really disheartening that he was on his way back up when it happened, but he'd been more of a nuisance throughout the book than anything. Kamen... now that was harsh. He was such an awesome guy! Now I'm terrified for Ilse, because Edgar doesn't seem to recall that she does have a drawing. And if that doesn't do it, then he still has the one he drew of her shithead boyfriend, and that might have enough spark in it to start something bad... *whimpers* And of course, because Wireman is so insanely kickass, I know he's not long for this world. :(
contemplative
It's an interesting comparison you make with "Chinga"; God, it's been so long since I saw that episode, and, yeah, I tuned in especially to geek out and was...disappointed, to say the very least. I think it was also, along with all of the faults you mention above, the very first time when I really felt a story wasn't explained to a satisfactory conclusion; there seemed to be a lot of loose ends that no one felt the need to tie up and that bothered me. It still bothers me, and it's a problem that still plagues that type of show up to the present in a few SPN epsidoes.
My mom collected dolls when I was little, old antique things which should have creeped me out but they really didn't because she used to show them to me and play with them with me. Shrug. Heh, my sister did once tell me she came downstairs early one morning and saw my mom staring at them, and wondered what the hell she was doing. I replied that she was, "waiting for them to tell her to kill again." Yeah, I was a wise-ass, but it lived forever in family legend as one of our great repeated quotes! XD
Speaking of Katharine Isabelle, have you watched the Ginger Snap films? They're pretty awesome. Throw in Nathaniel Arcand in Ginger Snaps Back and, yeah, wow! They're a little overrated but, werewolves, Katharine Isabelle and Nathaniel Arcand, oh my! XD
I have heard of the Ginger Snaps films but never seen them. Being a freak for werewolves as I am, I need to look into them. :D
And, yeah, the number one criticism I've seen of the book is that Wireman has to die at all, which is totally unnecessary. I like to ignore that one little part at the end where he tells us that and pretend that Edgar and him see each other lots in the following years and keep their friendship as close as it was because they are so much love!
I got that feeling too, about the "missing scene". I was like, "'you'll want to but you mustn't' is monkey-paw-ese. He's going to try and bring her back, because he's a grieving idiot." Aaaaaand yep. Although the shocker was that he didn't try to follow her. He proved stronger than I'd feared, so that was a good thing.
Yeah, Wireman's death is pretty pointless, and as a fan of him, it was painful. BUT! I could see what King was trying to say. Basically, that's life. Just because you have something epic happen to you for once does not mean you will go out in a blaze of glory. The chance is equally good that you will survive and be the hero of the day only to eventually die in a more mundane fashion. Some heroes die of heart attacks. Sad but true...
Oh, and Jack! I heart Jack. I totally agree with you AND Edgar that Ilse should have dated him. I lurved him so much. He's one of those people that just begs to be snuggled. :D