This is one of those things that kind of drives me crazy. Whenever a movie or TV adaptation comes on, based on a book or a video game or whatever, and people scream that “it isn’t accurate!”
Who cares? If you want accuracy, go read the book or play the video game. I want entertaining. I want something close enough that I can see the source, but that is it’s own thing and has value on its own.
Sadly, I seem to be largely alone in this.
People were posting how terrible the new season of The Witcher was going to be. Granted, they were posting that before it even aired, but I guess they think they can read minds. I’m a fan of the video games. I’ve read the books. I don’t care if Geralt on TV is the exact same thing as Geralt in other media. I just want to be entertained.
Yes, I think there were some problems with the first two seasons. It wasn’t anything deal-breaking but structurally, the first season was kind of a mess and the second, while they fixed some of the issues of the first, they still had quite a bit of work to do. The third season, which dropped the first half a couple of days ago, I saw the first two episodes and didn’t have a problem with it. Was it perfect? No. Was it perfectly serviceable television? Sure.
This happens all the time. Back when Halo came on TV, people screamed that it wasn’t a perfect representation of the video games. I am a big fan of the video games. I just finished playing through Halo Infinite again yesterday. I don’t care. I don’t care if we got to see Master Chief’s face. I don’t care about some of the complaints. Yes, there are things I would have done differently in the first season, but I’m not the showrunner. I’m just someone with a choice of entertainment options. I enjoyed the first season for what it was. If I want to play the games, I can go play the games. They are right there on my shelf, everything from Combat Evolved onwards.
I think a lot of people need to get lives.
I can look at something like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and tell, just from what I know about it, that I wouldn’t want to see it, therefore, I’m not going to see it. For me, Indiana Jones ended in 1989. I saw Crystal Skull, I thought it was crap, that was that. I still own the DVD, although I don’t think I’ve watched it in more than a decade. I know my tastes and I don’t hate-watch anything. I find that absolutely idiotic.
I know that modern Star Wars is garbage. For me, Star Wars ended in 1983. I don’t need anything else. If I catch something, which these days, I don’t do, I judge it on its own merits and, after seeing a lot since 1983, have concluded that it’s all just bad fanfic, even the stuff that George Lucas did. Nobody gets to tell me what I have to enjoy. That’s my job.
I really don’t care for Star Trek beyond TOS. I can tolerate some parts of TNG, but the rest, no thanks. I’ve tried some of the newer stuff, I don’t like it. My wife and I watched the first episode of season 2 of Strange New Hair and decided to give up. We don’t care about any of the characters and they are getting all the TOS references wrong. Fine. Whatever. We walked away. We won’t be watching any more. Does that hurt my feelings? No. Do I wish there was good Star Trek on? Sure. I wish there was better television on across the board. There just isn’t. Big deal.
I really don’t get people these days. I like what I like and I ignore the rest. Everyone seems to be so angry. They want things to hate. I just want to be entertained. The things that are entertaining to me get my money and support, the things that aren’t, don’t. I’m not bothered by what fails to hit that bar, I don’t care. I’m already down the road, looking for things that strike my fancy. If I find it, fantastic. I will buy your physical release. I have thousands and thousands of DVDs and Blurays on my shelf. If not, you get none of my money and I’m on to the next thing. Earn my support or don’t. No skin off my nose either way.
It would be really nice if the rest of the world operated that way, wouldn’t it?
