Of Blaine, the train, Stephen King, dreams

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I just woke from a rather weird experience, so from the top I am walking in and unfamiliar city, fully aware that I am just a dreamer. The city is bustling with cars, people, and half unseen “creatures” who are as unconcerned with the people and I as we are of them. I don’t really have any clue as to where I am or what I am doing until I am in the station. I immediately recognize Blaine, the unconcerned people are boarding / disembarking without hesitation as I pass money through a window and am handed my ticket. There is no sign of the gunslinger, Frank, or King himself. I have a serious sense of foreboding as I board and take my seat. Not deadly, I just know this train and it has a mind of it’s own. Mind you, I am well aware that I am sleeping, dreaming this.
As the conductor moves towards me asking for tickets, I am holding mine, Blaine is moving, and I hiccup! Now I am fully awake, wondering WTF!! I don’t (HIC) wake up easily from BAD dr(HIC)eams. (HIC) The last (HIC) few minut(HIC)s of the (HIC) dream are (HIC) stuck firmly in my (HEIK) head. (HIC) I grudgingly get up an(HIC)d go down for a dr(HIC)nk to kill, er ,(HIC) stop my (HIC) ups. (NOTE, the power / intensity of the hiccups increases as I move about, I had to clean up the spilled drink as I couldn’t hold the two liter bottle straight!) Now that’s better, except I have traded the damned hiccups for severe heartburn. UGH!

I am not usually into putting myself into movies or stories that I have watched or read. I have read The Gusnslinger series by Stephen King.

For some reason, I want to re-read them. Not sure why, I enjoyed the books, I was disappointed in the ending though. I do believe I missed one of the books though.
!!!OY!!!, the creatures, I just realized they were OY! Well, not himself, but his kind. Not tethered to people either, moving about purposely with their own concerns, and just as oblivious to the people as each other.

I actually feel much better remembering.
OK, comment or question as you will, I am going to look up a set of books, I now have a mission to find and buy a set of books to re-read.

I still wonder what Blaine wanted to see me about, I am abysmal with riddles.
I still wonder if King will make a gunslinger movie / miniseries.
Hell, I wonder if I will get back to sleep tonight!
I wonder what King would think if he read this post???

(((Another nutter there)))
Comments, or Questions anyone??
(( Cold chicken at 3:35am blech, what else is there, besides the Tums anyway?? ))

2

I wish I could have a Gunslinger dream. I miss that world. However, I wouldn’t want to hop aboard Blaine; as cool as he was in the book, I can’t think very well under pressure.

FWIW, King mentioned we might see one more Dark Tower book. Probably somewhere between Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla.

As for a film adaptation, looks like the gunslingers running LOST (Abrams, Cuse and Lindelof) have optioned the rights for $19. Love it. But it looks like they passed due to intimidation of the epic size and nature of the story. Alas, it still languishes in development hell. Here’s the Wiki entry.

3

((how 'bout a popkin and a nice frosty can of Nozz-A-La soda?))

4

I don’t know where I got Frank from, I meant Eddie I believe. Jake is the boy, Roland is the gunslinger and I think the woman is Susan. Of course there is Oy. I loved Oy and thought there was too little of him.

The feel of the dream was really wild though. I knew I was sleeping in my own bed, but I was also there. I had to get on the train as I was “called”. The feel of the dream fit very well with the world that Roland and Blaine inhabit.

I went back to bed around 5am, I continued to dream about the gunslinger but more in a third person, and I myself was not in the story at all. More like remembering how I imagined parts of the story and how they unfolded in my imagination.

The popkin and cold Nozz-a-La soda sound better than the peanut butter and Diet Pepsi I had. Gunslinger Burrito sounds good too.

5

A miniseries (on HBO or such) is the only way to go. As separate movies the novels wouldn’t work, and you’d have to find a Jake who doesn’t appreciably age. A miniseries would have a shooting schedule of months (even if 18 months), not years.

6

Moving thread from IMHO to MPSIMS.

7

I LOVED that series so much. I thought the ending was pure King. I do not think they could do a movie (or mini series) adaptation without totally hosing it. That’s just my opinion and I am sure others would disagree.

Loved Oy - his situation made me cry more than anyone else in the entire freaking series. It didn’t help that up until that point I had been visualizing him as more like my dog than he actually was written. Oh Oy . . . I wish I had a bumbler.

8

That’s why all the movies should be shot back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back. :wink:

But really, I agree. There’s been a lot of commotion from the fan base for a while pining for an HBO produced mini-series. I think this would work best logistically, and would be very satisfying from a time-released perspective… my only concern is giving the entire universe the production it deserves. Even for HBO… it’s a pretty ambitious story to conquer. It’ll take a lot of dough to do right.

9

I don’t think even a mini-series would do it justice - it should be done like they do in the UK, a whole, self-contained season of television. Roland could be played by Robert Knepper Eddie - Ryan Reynolds.

I often have dreams about tv shows and characters, but I don’t think I’ve ever dreamed about being in a Stephen King book (and I’ve been reading a lot of them lately). Lucky me! :slight_smile:

10

The problem is that Hollywood would wind up casting Keanu Reeves as Roland, Leonardo DiCaprio as Jake, and Mariah Carey as Susannah.

11

Excellent choices for casting. I was banging my head trying to think who could play Eddie, and Ryan Reynolds is perfect. I think Robert Knepper has the look, but I wonder how he’d pull of a western-like Gunslinger like Roland… it’s so hard for me to get a Clint-Eastwood-in-his-50s out of my head, that I can’t picture anyone else.

I wonder… Ian McShane for Flagg?

12

Yeah, a 40-ish (or 50-ish) Clint Eastwood is basically the archetype for Roland - a lean, craggy, no-shit-taking kind of guy. Hugh Jackman? Too pretty?

Ian McShane for Flagg works for me. :slight_smile:

13

Billy Drago is the person I picture playing Roland

14

That’s pretty damn good, actually. He certainly fits Eddie’s description of Roland! What was it? Long, tall and ugly? In fact, I’d say everything’s perfect except for his teeth. Yeek. Plus, he might be just a tad too old now.

(I wondered if you were gonna show up in this thread.) :wink:

Also, there’s a Doper here called Oy!… I can’t tell if the handle was chosen because of the DT character, or they’re just from the UK or jewish.

15

Let them sort out The Talisman first.

16

The Dark Tower is to The Lord of the Rings as The Talisman is to The Hobbit… and hey, they made LOTR first! :wink:

17

Very interesting. He certainly has the lean look that Roland would have to have.

Other casting choices - Nia Long for Odetta/Susannah. I’m not familiar with her work, but I love her look - beautiful but not delicate; she has a strong, old-fashioned look that you’d want Susannah to have (not some waifish-looking nymph).

Freddie Highmore for Jake. I liked him a lot in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” and he has kind of a regular-boy look.

18

I may get to see the movie before I die of old age then.
I’ve heard too many people cut down the Stand because of the low budget look, not enough special effects. I myself believe it to be a classic. It is well done and sticks to the story like glue.

The Dark Tower would require much more special effects to pull off, but those are relatively cheap now a days and makes it easy to overdo. And I think Mr. King should take on a more active roll instead of low key cameo.

19

Well…

considering he writes himself in in the last few books, he may not have a choice. :wink:

But honestly, that was one of the things that really bugged me about those books. So, I’d be thrilled if they cut it from the screenplay.