The world will end on Sept. 21!

Shaggy

Shaggy

Vice Admiral
Potential Spoilers Ahead!!!!


Okay maybe not. But that's when The Dark Tower book 7 comes out, and since the Tower is supposed to be the center of all things I thought it might be interesting to see how many Tower fans there are here. I figure it might be nice to open a thread to talk about thevarious aspects of the books away from the dedicated DT sites, and some of the more incendiary fans.
So to kick things off I'll pose two questions:
What do you think about Stephen King writing himself into DT6?
Who would make a good Roland in a movie?
 
Did he always intend to do seven of those Dark Tower books? I thought there were only supposed to be three. And how many times did he say he was gonig to retire? The Shining was good.
 
Shaggy said:
Potential Spoilers Ahead!!!!


Okay maybe not. But that's when The Dark Tower book 7 comes out, and since the Tower is supposed to be the center of all things I thought it might be interesting to see how many Tower fans there are here. I figure it might be nice to open a thread to talk about thevarious aspects of the books away from the dedicated DT sites, and some of the more incendiary fans.
So to kick things off I'll pose two questions:
What do you think about Stephen King writing himself into DT6?
Who would make a good Roland in a movie?
Click to expand...

I thought it was very odd, but then, the DT books have some undermeshings of other literary works in it as well. So maybe that tracks a bit.
I was actually more surprised that Jake never thought about checking up on his family once he was back in NYC. Considering how bad his parents were in the first place, I imagine that they'd steadily deteriorate after his departure.

As for a movie.... I dunno. Clint Eastwood would make for a far obvious choice. Maybe Lance Henrickson (Aliens, AvP, Millenium) could fit the bill. Of course, I was always a fan of his. <G>.
Though Cole Hauser (Pitch Black, Tears of the Sun) would make a good Eddie, IMO. <G>. Sussanah a bit more of a harder role to fill out. But I think Sanaa Lathan (AvP) would fit the role nicely. <G>.
 
Shipgate said:
Did he always intend to do seven of those Dark Tower books? I thought there were only supposed to be three. And how many times did he say he was gonig to retire? The Shining was good.
Click to expand...
When The Wastelands came out he didn't seem totally certain of how many, in the end note I think he figured it would end at 5. When he wrote Wizard And Glass he seemed to solidify it to seven, but he didn't seem too certain of when he would write the final three, and I think the accident really shook up his priorities for the series compared to his other books.
As for retiring, he's said he's not going to quit writing, just quit publishing. Coincidentally, the last I heard he's following the Red Sox around during this season and writing a book about that, which will be published.
I think if he writes something that he thinks is good and original he'll probably publish it. He just doesn't want to write something that's going to retread old stuff, he even said in an interview once that there were shades of Christine in From A Buick 8.
Instead of a movie I would rather see somebody make a tv series, or movie series, that goes back and covers stuff that took place before Roland's quest. Maybe something that would cover the Gunslinger's war with Farson. You know get some more back story out there that would add to the written series.
 
Hello all, my first post. I have been lurking on here for awhile and this topic made me want to post. I am very much looking forward to the last Tower book, I have been waiting for it all year. I have no idea who I would want to play Roland, he is such a deep character it would be hard to picture him on the screen.

Off topic- I am glad to see that there are other W.C. nerds out there in the world besides me.
 
It's going to end on the 21st? Okay, that's cool. At least I'll get to see Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow before I die.
 
Okay I picked up DT7 on the day and started reading.
So instead of starting a new thread I'm going to just use this one to chat about everybody's thoughts on the new book.
I'm only a couple chapters in but so far it's been pretty cool. :D
Of course it has, if it wasn't I might have to kick Stephen's ass. ;) Okay only joking.
All though I do have to say that I like Michael Whelan's illustration of Oy better than what's been presented in the past. It's sort of cute and cuddly but still dangerous, kind of like a pit bull. :D
And the picture of Father Callahan was practically a dead ringer for Jon Voight.
So what's everybody elses feelings. Any WC fans finished it yet?
 
Hey there.

I remember getting into the dark tower books. I got wizard and glass from a car boot and thought it was amazing. Even my missus liked it and she is a dyed in the wool mystery fan.

I have been looking forward to the last 3 books too. Was a little annoyed though when I heard that the first three has been re-released with new material which has made my copies somewhat useless. I am cheap though, I shall wait til they are out in paperback. Then I shall have them all in one go.

Who would have thought that one poem could spawn a 7 book series.
"To the dawn tower roland cameth"

Great stuff!!
 
The Gunslinger is the only one with anything added in the body of the story. The rest have a new introduction from Stephen King about the creation of the series, and the introduction is pretty much the same in each book.
Getting the revised version of The Gunslinger is well worth the cash though, IMO.
It adds more historical info as well as connecting some of the quirks, ie the number 19 and reap charms, and has the first appearance of a Taheen. It connects to the rest of the series much better now.
 
This feels very much like revisiting the past.

I remember starting with the series in '91, buying the book in the (then-)dingy foreingn-language bookstore section of Wiesbaden "Grand Central" train station, and stopping after the Wasteland in '92, always thinking of King's statement in one of the forewords that the scope of the story would take him about 30 years to finish, at least at the rate he was going. I remember a brief flash of interest when the Wizard & Glass came out in, what, 1997? - but looking at the size of the book discouraged me from giving it priority over the rest of carry-on luggage :)

Now, we're at book 7, and Mr. K gives the impression that he's finished? Hm, tells me something of the good man's work scheduling habits. Speeding up a niche-seller from long ago into prime production potential (where's that movie talk coming from?) reeks of need of money and lack of new ideas.
Or am I just the cynic, as usual. Maybe I should mention that I never liked any other book he wrote, which was the fault of an early literary criticism class that dealt with the mechanisms or formula writing and the use of cinematic effects in writing. King's works were the prime example - and the Dark Tower was a refreshing change from that. But only until I sat through the major literary canon repeater class, that went straight through Childe Roland and spent quite some time with T.S. Eliot's Waste Land.

Maybe I should get bthe rest of the books, sit down with King in one hand and the Norton Anthologies of American Lierature in the other, and retrace. But at the rate I'm going no compared to free time, I'll be done in about 30 years. Or less.

Ah, and to make this slightly WC-related: I want to see Clive Owen as Roland! And Jürgen Prochnow af Father Callahan! And Saffron Burrows as... - well, we'll find something. Or wouldn't Malcolm McDowell be better as Callahan...?

/CM over and out
 
Clive as Roland is an interesting choice. Technically speaking, the accent wouldn't really matter that much considering Roland comes from another land. The image that the books create for me, though, is the clearest most unique visual of a literary character I have ever experienced. The closest match to any living actor I have encountered for what I see\hear as Roland has been Ron Perlman's voice work in Titan AE, as Kale's father. It was very restrained, unlike his usual live performances, and his voice was deep and ominous. It kind of gave me the feeling that he, Kale's father, is the type of dude who doesn't waste breath on pointless words. He says what needs to be said and leaves it at that.
Oddly though I kind of see Cort as being a bit of a cross between the Rock, for his build, and Anthony Hopkins. :D
I don't know. Maybe that's a little skewed. :)
Anyway criticalmass, I can't really tell if you've lost favor for SK or not, but to where I'm at in book 7 Roland is pretty pissed at King for dilly dallying as long as he has. Maybe it's just Steve's way of working out some buried frustrations with the series, having his creation hate him so.
Or maybe the whole thing is real and we're all in horrible danger. :confused:
 
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