# What adaptation is least like the source? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2021, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-adaptation-is-least-like-the-source/949238 "2021-08-20T20:44:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-adaptation-is-least-like-the-source/949238/141 "2021-08-24T17:12:03Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > Actually, a related question. Has there ever been a Stephen King TV/movie adaptation that DID closely follow the plot of the original? **Stand by Me** does a pretty good job. And **The Dead Zone** isn’t far off. **Cujo** is pretty straight, too, although it leaves out an awful lot. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-adaptation-is-least-like-the-source/949238/142 "2021-08-24T17:57:51Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > Actually, a related question. Has there ever been a Stephen King TV/movie adaptation that DID closely follow the plot of the original Also **Shawshank Redemption** and **The Green Mile**. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-adaptation-is-least-like-the-source/949238/143 "2021-08-24T18:11:25Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **Cujo** is pretty straight, too, although it leaves out an awful lot. Because it happens inside the mind of the dog! So much is packed into every Steven King book that it’s awfully hard to do a faithful adaptation!! ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-adaptation-is-least-like-the-source/949238/144 "2021-08-24T18:53:21Z")
**The Night Flier** was pretty accurate IIRC but that’s also because it’s literally a short story turned into a full length movie meaning they actually had to add new stuff to it for length reasons. Of course fellow short story **Trucks** became **Maximum Overdrive** which again had very little to do with Trucks besides the “Trucks become possessed and lay siege to a truck stop” basic premise (which was further deviated as in **Trucks** literally only trucks came alive while in MO literally EVERYTHING electric came alive to kill people) Then Trucks became itself a TV movie that was somewhat more accurate to the original story, except of course the DVD version of said movie decided to add a bunch of MO style “Electronics kill random people” that literally had nothing to do with the main plot because they could show gore in the DVD version. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2021, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-adaptation-is-least-like-the-source/949238/145 "2021-08-24T23:15:29Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > Actually, a related question. Has there ever been a Stephen King TV/movie adaptation that DID closely follow the plot of the original? “It” was pretty close, as far as movies can or should be - the first movie adaptation, haven’t seen the recent one - with the understandable exclusion of the scene that I actually don’t even want to mention, but if you’ve read the book, you’ll know which one I mean. Most of them aren’t necessarily “close”, but you could easily recognise that the book and the film are the same, even if the names were all changed. No adaptation is ever going to be exact, and it’s usually a sign of either a bad movie or a bad book if they are. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-adaptation-is-least-like-the-source/949238/146 "2021-08-25T00:00:02Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > The book “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” has no songs at all - and no plot. The musical has twenty songs with no melody and no hook. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-adaptation-is-least-like-the-source/949238/147 "2021-08-25T00:40:42Z")
Are you suggesting they didn’t really try? Or just didn’t succeed? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-adaptation-is-least-like-the-source/949238/148 "2021-08-25T00:57:04Z")
“Brotherhood of Man” is a great song. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/PdTpcYKc4I4/maxresdefault.jpg "Brotherhood Of Men - Drew Carey Show") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdTpcYKc4I4) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-adaptation-is-least-like-the-source/949238.md?page=7)