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Pob hwyl,* Susan Cooper
Oct. 3rd, 2007 12:20 pmLike many people, I have been gnashing teeth and rending garments over the desecration of The Dark Is Rising that will shortly be infesting movie theaters under the title The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising. (Go here to learn why we are so cheesed off.) But whenever I’m in danger of giving myself an aneurysm, I take a deep breath and recall Raymond Chandler’s response to the question, How do you feel about what Hollywood has done to your novels?: “Why, Hollywood hasn’t done anything to them. They’re still right there, on the shelf.”
Furthermore, even this towering thunderhead of dreck has a silver lining: perhaps someone, intrigued by the film or by the tsunami of outrage from the fans, will pick up Susan Cooper’s books; which means, if they read all five volumes of the series, that they will finally come to these words from Silver on the Tree:
I have to make a mildly embarrassing confession: that’s what happened to me. In grade school I read the first four books (out of order—The Dark Is Rising, which is the second volume; then the first, Over Sea, Under Stone; the third, Greenwitch; and The Grey King) but not the fifth. I can only assume that my elementary school didn’t have Silver on the Tree, and then I forgot that I hadn’t read it until I borrowed the entire series from the New York public library. So although I am very, very disappointed in everyone involved with The Seeker (and yes, that includes you, Christopher Eccleston; this might cost you all the geek cred you earned from Heroes and Doctor Who), I suppose I owe them a debt.
Still not gonna buy a ticket or the DVD, though.
* Welsh for good luck.
Furthermore, even this towering thunderhead of dreck has a silver lining: perhaps someone, intrigued by the film or by the tsunami of outrage from the fans, will pick up Susan Cooper’s books; which means, if they read all five volumes of the series, that they will finally come to these words from Silver on the Tree:
( For Drake is no longer in his hammock, children, nor is Arthur somewhere sleeping, and you may not lie idly expecting the second coming of anybody now, because the world is yours and it is up to you. )
I have to make a mildly embarrassing confession: that’s what happened to me. In grade school I read the first four books (out of order—The Dark Is Rising, which is the second volume; then the first, Over Sea, Under Stone; the third, Greenwitch; and The Grey King) but not the fifth. I can only assume that my elementary school didn’t have Silver on the Tree, and then I forgot that I hadn’t read it until I borrowed the entire series from the New York public library. So although I am very, very disappointed in everyone involved with The Seeker (and yes, that includes you, Christopher Eccleston; this might cost you all the geek cred you earned from Heroes and Doctor Who), I suppose I owe them a debt.
Still not gonna buy a ticket or the DVD, though.
* Welsh for good luck.
