# Something Wicked This Way Comes-Bradbury **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 5, 2004, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-wicked-this-way-comes-bradbury/227608 "2004-02-05T03:07:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-wicked-this-way-comes-bradbury/227608/21 "2004-02-06T00:40:31Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > And if they ID it as **both**? Marraige. Or sex. But not both. ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-wicked-this-way-comes-bradbury/227608/22 "2004-02-06T00:58:16Z")
I find the book a bit… treacly. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-wicked-this-way-comes-bradbury/227608/23 "2004-02-06T01:17:32Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > I like Something Wicked This Way Comes – the novel is much better than the film. Which Stephen King work do you think copies this idea? (I have not read most of his oeuvre). I _have_ read most of his work, and I can’t think of a one that involves an evil circus. A clown, yes, but not a circus. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-wicked-this-way-comes-bradbury/227608/24 "2004-02-06T03:13:45Z")
Haven’t seen the film in a while. Read the book a few years ago… Love the “35 a good year . . . 35 gone!” scene. IIRC not in the book. I also think the breaking many mirrors ending of the film works better than the dancing and playing nonexistent harmonica of the book. I love the image of the dust witch, the balloon rising and falling as she breathes, searching the wind as it blows though her palm. Re- It Nahh. Without spoiling either book, they’re very different evils. Pennywise is an ancient predator, beyond human comprehension. He torments his prey and feeds on their fear, their bodies, and their souls. Dark’s carnival is an infernal realm of granted wishes and corruption. For those of you into rpg’s, I reccomend White Wolf’s Midnight Circus. “Who wouldn’t give their very soul for a day and a night at Anastagio’s Lunar Carnival And Midnight Circus?” ---
**Author:** ![beegirl13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@beegirl13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beegirl13)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-wicked-this-way-comes-bradbury/227608/25 "2004-02-06T04:08:28Z")
> [@Drastic](#): > > I’ve gotta reread the whole thing again thanks to this thread. 🙂 I read it every October 24, which, IIRC, is the date the book takes place. Sometimes I just can’t wait and read it as soon as the autumn nights start getting the right creepy feeling. ---
**Author:** ![Nightingale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@Nightingale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightingale)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-wicked-this-way-comes-bradbury/227608/26 "2004-02-06T06:42:24Z")
> [@](#): > > I like Something Wicked This Way Comes – the novel is much better than the film. Which Stephen King work do you think copies this idea? I was thinking of _Needful Things_. Not an evil circus, but an evil store that gives people what they desire. I watched _Something Wicked This Way Comes_ on cable about 2 weeks ago. I think it’s time to read the book. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-wicked-this-way-comes-bradbury/227608/27 "2004-02-06T06:59:31Z")
As others said, the movie does not do the novel justice, even though Bradbury wrote the screenplay. Opening paragraph: > [@](#): > > The seller of lightning rods arrived just ahead of the storm. He came along the street of Green Town, Illinois, in the late cloudy October day, sneaking glances over his shoulder. Somewhere not so far back, vast lightnings stomped the earth. Somewhere, a storm like a great beast with terrible teeth could not be denied. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-wicked-this-way-comes-bradbury/227608/28 "2004-02-06T13:21:53Z")
While I agree that the film of _Something Wicked This Way Comes_ doesn’t do the book justice, I thought it was an honorable attempt. In so far as it falls short of the book, it’s because of the standard reasons: First, to do justice to the book, it would take a miniseries. A movie is equivalent in story structure to a short story, while a novel is equivalent to a miniseries. Second, there was a lot of description in the novel that no movie could find an equivalent for. Some truly brilliant screenwriting and directing could perhaps produce a better movie, but I’m not certain it could ever produce a great one. Some great novels just can’t be made into great movies. I should also mention that some of the casting for the film was excellent - Jason Robards, Jonathan Pryce (a great actor who’s never received the attention he deserves), Royal Dano, Pam Grier (I didn’t even know who she was when I saw it 21 years ago, so I had forgotten she was in the film). hazel-rah writes: \> I find the book a bit… treacly. In some sense I understand what you mean, but that’s Bradbury’s worldview. You either like it or you don’t. I like it better than the worldview of many horror writers. I thought on the other hand that the Peter Jackson versions of _The Lord of the Rings_ are bad examples of adapting a book, being full of completely arbitrary changes just to prove that the screenwriters like their own words better than Tolkien’s. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-wicked-this-way-comes-bradbury/227608/29 "2004-02-06T14:18:24Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > I like to say to people I’ve just met, “By the pricking of my thumb, something wickid this way comes,” and see if they ID it as Shakespeare or Bradbury. > > Tells a lot about a person. What if they say Harry Potter. (see the trailer for the newest film) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/something-wicked-this-way-comes-bradbury/227608.md?page=1)