I’m about halfway through book four of The Dresden Files (Summer Knight), with every intention of continuing the series, and I’m starting to think about checking out the TV show – but I don’t want to spoil my reading. Does the first season cover more than the first 3-4 books? Is it a book-per-season matchup?
Thanks!
I don’t know, but I found it interesting that I’m at the same point in the same series. 
Good stuff, huh?
I wish.
No, there’s only 13 episodes. They only got one season out before it was canceled. Some of the episodes are derived from the books (Storm Front is the biggie), but some are wholly unique to the TV show. Butcher worked on the show, though, and it’s still pretty good. There are some canon changes: Murphy is black-haired, Morgan is black and a little more restrained than in the books, and Bob isn’t an air spirit but a human soul bound to his own skull. This was presumably done so they could give Bob an actor, and if I may say he’s a damned fine one. I honestly vastly prefer the TV Bob over the books Bob.
It’s well worth watching if you like the books, just be aware that some stuff is different.
Edit: FTR, I’m in the middle of Summer Knight, too, but on my second read-through. Sadly, the Nevernever is nevernever mentioned in the TV series.
Edit edit: And to answer your question that I totally missed, the series won’t spoil the books at all. Storm Front is similar, but from there they diverge wildly.
Oh, yeah, and as if I didn’t have enough footnotes, the entire run is available on Hulu.com.
Btw, does someone know if the audio version of “Turn Coat” will also be released on April 7th? It took me a while to get accustomed to James Marsters’ reading, but once I did, I enjoyed it very much.
Bosstone, I had only seen the first episode back when they aired and it just … didn’t feel right (unfortunately, I don’t recall the pilot well enough to explain it better). Still, now I wonder if I missed something. Were the following episodes … different … or did they very much follow in the track of the pilot?
I’m hurrying my way through the series for the first time now. I’m kind of on a deadline…
It depends on which one you’re referring to. If you’re talking about Birds of a Feather, with the scared kid, then no. I actually think that’s one of the weaker episodes, and when I’m looking at episodes to replay I only watch that one if I’m tired of all the others. The real pilot, Storm Front, is an excellent episode.
It doesn’t take much to watch all 12 episodes (I miscounted in my previous post), but if you want the highlights, I’d suggest watching, in this order:
Storm Front
The Boone Identity, not my favorite, but it kicks off maybe the only recurring plotline; nearly all the episodes are self-contained, but several refer back to this one.
Hair of the Dog, skippable, but vaguely follows the plot of Fool Moon.
Rules of Engagement, my third favorite, and very sweet.
Bad Blood, if you like vampires; Bianca’s very different from the book Bianca.
What About Bob?, hands down my favorite episode. It fleshes out Bob’s and Harry’s story, and is suspenseful from start to finish.
Things That Go Bump, a locked-room whodunit. It’s a fun personality examination, my second favorite episode.
The rest can be skipped or watched as you like, but I’d recommend those.
Aside from Storm Front and Hair of the Dog, the series really doesn’t follow the books at all. Relationships and personalities are different, and some characters are eliminated for the sake of brevity. They don’t even have Mister the cat. 
If you can accept the changes, though, they’re very enjoyable. I can’t stress enough how awesome Bob is compared to the little SOB in the books. 
Just noting, Jim Butcher has his own Message Boards and website: http://www.jim-butcher.com/
And Cecil recently addressed the question of Jim Butcher’s Underground Chicago: http://chicago.straightdope.com/sdc20090319.php and Mr Butcher actually posted to the Straight Dope Message Boards in the therad on Underground Chicago: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10775969#post10775969
As Mr Bus Guy noted, Chicago area Dopers who are planning on going to the signing on Monday night… we’re trying to sched a get-together before.
Thanks, Bosstone, yes I meant Birds of a Feather – didn’t even know that it hadn’t been the pilot. :o Weird, I had been sure I had started at the beginning … or did the show get the oh so successful Firefly treatment?
Anyway, I think you have inspired some interest and I am going to start as you suggested.
Hmm, no, I won’t ask you.
*
added: thanks for the links, C K Dexter Haven!*
The latter. Storm Front got a lot of the upfront budget and was made intended to be the show’s first impression, but it was pushed aside and they ran Birds of a Feather instead. I really hate it when the suits do that. :mad: I nearly didn’t give the show another chance, I found Birds that uninteresting. I’m glad I did, though, and I’m very glad I decided to read the books after watching the show.
LIAR! Not skippable, no, no, no, no… because it has one of the hottest scenes ever put on television…
Harry ‘dialing his nose up to 11’ and proceeding to grab and sniff the potential-werewolf-girl. :: pant pant pant ::
However, I agree wholeheartedly about Book!Bob vs TV!Bob.
And I think they did a bang-up job casting Harry. In my head, he looks like Paul Blackthorne. That young werewolf lady was also VERY cute-what was her name?
Here you are: Kathleen Munroe.
I’m watching the series on Hulu now, thanks to this thread. I only caught a couple of episodes when it was on TV, but have read the series since then. I’m starting with Stormfront, and in the first 10 minutes, Harry says the person/thing that killed the ppl with the burst chests might have been “something out of the nevernever”. Maybe they would have expanded on it had the series continued.
According to Jim Butcher’s web page, the audio version of Turn Coat has been delayed until April 30, but it won’t affect the book release. Go here for the details.
Yeah, I watched that again today and smacked myself when it came up.
I don’t see why a pesky fact should get in the way of using a line like, “Sadly, the Nevernever is nevernever mentioned in the TV series.” 
Thank you – it explains the contradictory information I had.
I had a little time and watched “Stormfront”. Unlike “Birds of a Feather”, it’s not boring, but so weirdly cut that I think, it was meant to be much longer than aired. Some elements I liked: Paul Blackthorne is an almost perfect match, Morgan and Ancient Mai had potential and Harry fits better into modern society (the hockey stick was a nice idea – I always thought that a man carrying around a wizard staff and other ancient items would look outlandish even in Chicago). They also laid out some bread crumbs that could have been followed at a later date.
On the other hand, Susan was just bland and I am not sure, I like this Murphy (btw, Connie?) – but I didn’t like the written Murphy in the first books too, so she might have grown on me.
The episode showed all the problems that I’d expect from a starter: there was no flow yet in the narrative, it felt more like an abstract of a book and not a visually oriented show, the cast didn’t click and no one was exactly sure what to do with his character.
But Buffy’s beginnings were at least as clumsy and lets not even consider B5 - so, I think they could have done an interesting show, given more time. I am going to take a look at some of the other episodes.
Also, Stormfront was supposed to be a two hour episode, but was cut down to one hour when it was pushed back to being a later episode. I can’t remember offhand what I’d heard about how “complete” (in terms of effects) the two-hour version was, but there were rumors that it was going to be included as an extra on the DVD set. It wasn’t, but sometime last year SciFi ran it - at 3am, and I didn’t hear about it until the next day.
I agree. I thought Blackthorne was great. He does a pretty good American accent. Some of the things they changed on the show worked. The hockey stick, the drumstick. Book Harry is just way to powerful to live in a big city and not be noticed. I can suspend my belief in the books but it would be harder on TV. But mostly it was probably because of the small budget. They changed Harry’s car because Blackthorne is too damn tall to get in and out of a Beetle.
Damn shame it was cancelled.