# "The Stand" questions take two **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759 "2011-02-27T00:27:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/41 "2011-02-28T06:12:44Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Exactly. It takes 18 hours to drive from here to Boulder. Hey, pick you up on our way south (assuming we all make it)? 🙂 We’ll make it easy: I’ll be standing at the highway 3/highway 25 junction. Pull over when you see me. 🙂 ETA: No reason why I can’t get started on my own. Watch for me on Alberta 4, and I-15, but remember that rather than heading to Vegas on I-15, I’ll divert at some point to get me into Boulder. At any rate, keep an eye open for a tan Chevy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/42 "2011-02-28T06:13:59Z")
This is my favorite book of all time. It’s my Desert Island book. I was glad to read the longer version to fill in some of the details, but I started with and always go back to the original version for my yearly read. Btw, is everyone aware that they’re making a feature film out of **The Stand**? No? Well, they are, and even King [didn’t know about it](http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/02/03/stephen-king-10-things-i-know-about-the-remake-of-the-stand/). They’ll (whoever they are) have to cut out a lot, but it could be good. I didn’t care much for the miniseries myself, and it was TV, for god’s sake. This story deserves a big screen. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/43 "2011-02-28T06:25:20Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I didn’t care much for the miniseries myself, and it was TV, for god’s sake. This story deserves a big screen. I did like the miniseries. The story is too long and detailed to be done on a few hours on screen. I’d be interested in seeing how it is done, but I think any remake has a lot to do to rise to the miniseries. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/44 "2011-02-28T06:57:44Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > I did like the miniseries. The story is too long and detailed to be done on a few hours on screen. I’d be interested in seeing how it is done, but I think any remake has a lot to do to rise to the miniseries. A trilogy would really be the only way. Are there 3 “books” or 4 in the Stand? They could break it down by “book”. As to the actors, I’m with SK, Gary Sinese was THE Stu Redman, and as much as I like Molly Ringwald, I didn’t think she was right for Frannie. Jake Gyllenhall? Is he kidding? Ugh. Maybe some newcomers. Yeah, I’d love to see this on the big screen. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/45 "2011-02-28T08:06:12Z")
> [@obfusciatrist](#): > > No there’s no indication. Not even indication that it was a Polynesian island for sure. > > He wakes up on a beach next to a jungle. He’s wearing jeans and boots and nothing else. They are “brown, smooth skinned folk.” They possess spears. They don’t sepak English, Spanish, German, or French. > > A macaw and a mongoose are seen. Assuming (for the sake of argument) that it wasn’t simply a mistake by King, macaws and mongoose do not overlap in their indigenous habitats. So if nothing else this would indicate that Flagg has returned to a place and time after humans introduced one of them into the environment of the other. > > So it is open to almost whatever you want it to be but I have always assumed a post-plague remote island or very remote part of Africa that had not been reached by the flu. I just checked, and he mentions outrigger canoes, for what that’s worth. OK, my question is it ever explained what’s the significance of The Dark Man’s initials? All of his names are RF, anyone know why, if there’s a reason? ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/46 "2011-02-28T08:06:32Z")
Back when I first read the book, I pictured Tommy Lee Jones as Stu. I never pictured anyone else in particular for any of the other characters. I agree Gary Sinese was good as Stu, but Molly Ringwald was too old and all wrong for Frannie, one of my favorite characters ever. I like Molly Ringwald, but no, just no. I’ve only seen the miniseries once, and I’ve kind of blocked out everyone else, especially the guy who played Randall Flagg, who was a good actor but nowhere near scary enough. Oh wait, now it’s coming back to me. I absolutely HATED the woman who played Nadine and the guy who played Harold. I’m sure they’re lovely people, I just hated them in those roles. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/47 "2011-02-28T08:09:27Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > OK, my question > is it ever explained what’s the significance of The Dark Man’s initials? All of his names are RF, anyone know why, if there’s a reason? Nope. They say in the book that the initials RF seem to be behind all of his aliases, but the reason for those particular initials is unknown. And none of the other books that Flagg pops up in (the _Dark Tower_ series and _Eyes of the Dragon_) reveal it, either. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/48 "2011-02-28T08:35:42Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Back when I first read the book, I pictured Tommy Lee Jones as Stu. I never pictured anyone else in particular for any of the other characters. I agree Gary Sinese was good as Stu, but Molly Ringwald was too old and all wrong for Frannie, one of my favorite characters ever. I like Molly Ringwald, but no, just no. I’ve only seen the miniseries once, and I’ve kind of blocked out everyone else, especially the guy who played Randall Flagg, who was a good actor but nowhere near scary enough. Oh wait, now it’s coming back to me. I absolutely HATED the woman who played Nadine and the guy who played Harold. I’m sure they’re lovely people, I just hated them in those roles. See now, Franny is probably one of my least favorite of all Kings ‘good guys’. ---
**Author:** ![Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shinna_Minna_Ma)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/49 "2011-02-28T13:38:58Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > Don’t forget there were more casualties from the lack of “society” - kids died from their parents’ neglect due to being sick, people had accidents, people OD’d from free drugs, rampant suicide. This was my favorite part of the entire book, especially the part about the cheerleader who married the nerd and then died in the cellar. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/50 "2011-02-28T13:47:23Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > … played Randall Flagg, who was a good actor but nowhere near scary enough. Oh wait, now it’s coming back to me. I absolutely HATED the woman who played Nadine and the guy who played Harold. I’m sure they’re lovely people, I just hated them in those roles. Exactly. Laura San Giacormo (or whatever) was so wretched in her portrayal of Nadine Cross that watching her made me temporarily forget the horrendous music. She either didn’t read the book _at all_ or purposely remade the character into the complete, exact opposite of the Nadine Cross in the novel. And the music was bad - did I mention that? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/51 "2011-02-28T14:51:24Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > This is my favorite book of all time. It’s my Desert Island book. I was glad to read the longer version to fill in some of the details, but I started with and always go back to the original version for my yearly read. > > Btw, is everyone aware that they’re making a feature film out of **The Stand**? No? Well, they are, and even King [didn’t know about it](http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/02/03/stephen-king-10-things-i-know-about-the-remake-of-the-stand/). > > They’ll (whoever they are) have to cut out a lot, but it could be good. I didn’t care much for the miniseries myself, and it was TV, for god’s sake. This story deserves a big screen. It’d be interesting to see as an HBO miniseries. I thought the original miniseries was pretty good for its time, and in spite of the network limitations it did have some really scary scenes (the Lincoln Tunnel for example). Also Gary Sinise as Stu Redman and especially Jamey Sheridan as Randall Flagg were spot on. But it really hasn’t aged well and looking back on it, it’s pretty apparent that they were working on a not very large budget and some the special effects are almost cartoonishly silly. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/52 "2011-02-28T16:03:20Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Btw, is everyone aware that they’re making a feature film out of **The Stand**? No? Well, they are, and even King [didn’t know about it](http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/02/03/stephen-king-10-things-i-know-about-the-remake-of-the-stand/). I loved number 10: “M-O-O-N, that spells ‘you probably won’t see this anytime soon.’” ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/53 "2011-02-28T16:07:23Z")
Bill Fagerbakke was perfectly cast as Tom Cullen! ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/54 "2011-02-28T18:47:04Z")
> [@gravitycrash](#): > > Naw, the edited version is fine. I loved the uncut version but I’m a King fanboy. A lot of the full version isn’t really necessary especially the 50 or so pages about when the Kid and Trashcan man were together. To me, the only worthwhile bit of the uncut version is the part where you see the disease spreading and people dying of secondary causes. The rest was (to me) really padded. Plus in the revised/uncut edition, he totally did the revision half-assed. The original book was written in (say) 1977 or so. It made sense in 1977 for Frannie to have a battery-powered record player that she listened to her old Sean Cassidy (Leif Garret?) 45s on. It made sense in the Brill Building era, in the era of James Taylor, John Denver, Dan Fogleburg that Larry had a soft-rock hit called (gad!) “Baby, Can You Dig Your Man?”. That makes _no_ sense in 1992, when the Grammy winners were Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo Bonnie Raitt for Luck of the Draw and for Rap, LL Cool J for “Mama Said Knock You Out” He just ran a search/replace function and changed the year from 1977 to 1992 (or whatever years) to the point where the cultural stuff is so very, VERY badly off that it’s like fingernails on a blackboard to read it. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/55 "2011-02-28T18:54:07Z")
😕 With the power out, what else would Fran use but a battery-operated record player? Perhaps it is a hand-me-down from her dead brother. As far as Larry’s song is concerned, wasn’t Michael Bolton big in 1992? [Yeah, he was](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_a_Man_Loves_a_Woman_(song)). ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/56 "2011-02-28T19:00:06Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > 😕 > > With the power out, what else would Fran use but a battery-operated record player? Perhaps it is a hand-me-down from her dead brother. > > As far as Larry’s song is concerned, wasn’t Michael Bolton big in 1992? [Yeah, he was](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_a_Man_Loves_a_Woman_(song)). A battery-powered cassette or CD player, perhaps. But, yeah I can buy a record player if that’s the only battery powered audio device you have around, or if you just prefer the sound of vinyl. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/57 "2011-02-28T19:02:22Z")
People stopped saying “dig” except ironically about 1976. Her older brother would have to be a LOT older than her to have had a battery powered record player since they stopped making low-end record players around 1985 or so. A Walkman or a CD player would have made more sense. And what’s she doing nostalgically listening to Leif Garrett in 1992 anyway? If she was 17 in '92, she would have been born after Lief Garret was a has-been. She shouldn’t have ever even heard of him. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/58 "2011-02-28T19:04:17Z")
These aren’t major points, but little stuff like that pops up _everywhere_. Stuff like commercial jingles, current pop-culture trends, etc–King is so damned good with setting the time and place of a story that changing the date on it is jarring to me. So much so that it shakes me out of the story. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/59 "2011-02-28T20:05:01Z")
Wasn’t there something about the chocolate PayDay bars that Harold was eating? That they didn’t make them anymore or something? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759/60 "2011-02-28T20:12:52Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > A trilogy would really be the only way. Are there 3 “books” or 4 in the Stand? They could break it down by “book”. > > As to the actors, I’m with SK, Gary Sinese was THE Stu Redman, and as much as I like Molly Ringwald, I didn’t think she was right for Frannie. Jake Gyllenhall? Is he kidding? Ugh. > Maybe some newcomers. > > Yeah, I’d love to see this on the big screen. Once I saw Gary Sinise as Stu, he will always be the Stu I picture when I read the book now - that stands out as one of the perfect casting decisions of all time. I chuckled when I read that Molly Ringwald wouldn’t be playing Fran - that was one of the things I had to work to get over to enjoy the mini-series. I like her as an actress, but so wrong for Fran. > [@Rilchiam](#): > > Bill Fagerbakke was perfectly cast as Tom Cullen! Totally agreed. There was lots of good casting in the mini-series; so much so, I think, that the clunkers really stood out. I’ve been tossing around the idea of watching the mini-series again, two hours at a time per week and starting a thread on each two hours - would all y’all be interested in that? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stand-questions-take-two/572759.md?page=4)