Books becoming TV Shows

Ahh, the written word. It has the power to transport us to a myriad of worlds with our imagination, our minds the engine and the words its fuel. Now I enjoy the visual mediums the same as I do the printed. But is it always a good idea to put these words into images on the small screen? Well, I have two examples that I would like to put forth as confirmed evidence that this may not always be the case.

The first is a little show called Legend of The Seeker, on ABC Family (this may be part of its problem). Its based on a book series by Terry Goodkind, The Sword of Truth. Its not a bad series in the beginning, but towards the end, he starts swinging his politics and faith/religion at you with Thor's Hammer. Well, I decided to give Legend of the Seeker a try, and I was disappointed. But not exactly for the reasons I thought I would, given my feelings on the book series. The Legend of The Seeker is a case where only the character names and base ideas are translated to the screen. But, you say, you (me) just said that I don't like the book series. True I say. I'm upset because Goodkind has given his blessing for the series. Does this mean he sold out? Who knows, but to allow his vision to come to come to screen in such a ripped off manor, makes one wonder.

Now for an example which may prove to be... more blatant.

George R.R. Martin... quite possibly one of my favorite authors. Writes a series called A Song of Ice and Fire. Made it through four books....and stopped. The series is simply amazing. Well, HBO is currently filming a miniseries based on the first book. His last update on the novels was in January of 2008. I want the next book to come out. I'm hoping that the series fares better on television than the afore mentioned Legend of The Seeker. Maybe because HBO has a bigger budget it will be done more justice. Time will tell on this one.

Either way, have Goodkind and Martin become sellouts? I'll reserve judgement until I see the adaptation of Martin's work. Goodkind...well, given what I saw his vision become I'd have to say yes.