The Vampire Diaries

[redbrunja]

So I've got a new show. That I will actually be watching while sitting on the couch, on the actual television.

The show itself is The Vampire Diaries, which is like Twilight, if Twilight were actually good. ( I know, it's hard to grock.)

I kept hearing that TVD was so bad it's good, so bad it's good, until the last episode, in which people whose taste I trust were like, 'Okay, Red, it's good.'

If you don't believe me, you can read this or this or this.

To which I will add random thoughts:

-Yeah, you know the subject that Elena is always talking about? Being happy after her parents died. Which is just WAY more healthy than any particular boy. (I told you - it's the anti-Twilight)

-I found Damon to be kinda hot-fugly when he came on, but the more he acted like a complete sociopath, the more I liked him, until the latest episode, in which he's feeding on Vicki and she's sucking his blood and it's the hottest thing since the sex in Dexter.
 
-I love Vicki and Jeremy and am so thrilled that Vicki is now a vampire. Badass.
That said, most of these teenagers really feel like they're playing at being adults.

-I'm glad that Stephan has a reason for being able to be out in the sun, even if 'vampires in the sun' is a trope I hate.

-I like that there is both the vampire = drugs metaphor and actually drug use going on. Especially because I really really like Vicki and Jeremy. I find them way more interesting than what's going on with Elena and Stefan, most of the time.

-I think that Stephan's "uncle" being is nephew is legitimately creative.

-While I hated Mr Tanner's smack down of Aunt Jena, I actually really feel for the guy. Could you imagine how hard it must be to try and teach those kids history? And having the only one able to ever answer any questions be some punk showing you up? (Although it is unrealistic that there isn't one teacher's pet in the classroom - or even more likely, someone who ACTUALLY DID THE READING and keeps answering the questions out of pity for the instructor.) So I hope he gets more screentime and character development. Only he's dead, so that's not going to happen.

Comments

[trillionite.livejournal.com]

I haven't watched TVD but I've heard good reviews about it. Have you read the books?

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I have not.

I've heard mixed things about them.

[cynchick.livejournal.com]

Ive been watching it since the beginning, and while its not fantastic, its good enough that yeah, I'll watch it. However, the producers of the show did some heavy reworking to make it a watchable tv show. I looked into getting the books, and read that Elena is originally a blond, blue eyed cheerleader who everyone says looks like an angel. Blech. Instead of dealing with her parent's death she pursues Stefan from the moment he arrives. Her brother doesn't even exist, and right from the start its a love triangle between Elena, Stefan, and Damon. Needless to say, I wont be reading those books.

Btw, why don't you like vampires in daylight?

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Sounds like the producers where on the right track. I know I like that while Elena is very lovely, she's also a brown-eyed brunette.

Heroines like Elena-in-the-books is actually why I stopped reading Christoper Pike.

Btw, why don't you like vampires in daylight?

Because it feels like lazy writing. Vampires are creatures of DARKNESS. Vampires in sunlight always felt to me like the writer wanted the sexy allure of vampires but was too much of a weak writer to deal with the fact that that meant that they would have to do more work to have the characters interact - you can't just have your vampires showing up in high school.

Furthermore, it ties into the gradual de-fanging of the vampires that if going on in a lot of books and which I hate.

Vampires are MONSTERS. They are CREATURES OF DARKNESS.

OWN THAT SHIT, WRITERS.

That's one reason I like sociopathic Damon so very much.

[cynchick.livejournal.com]

I think its acceptable as long as it affects them negatively somehow, like losing their powers. I like this best when the vampires are a natural born, separate species, and not undead humans. I actually prefer vampire stories that are more scientific than religious, like Underworld and Trinity Blood where vampirism is a virus, or where they avoid daylight because they're allergic to UV radiation or something, not because they are cursed by the "holy light" of the sun.

"I don't want to die!" "Then you should never have been born."

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I remember those books!

They were quite sad. Mainly I remember the main character and her evil daughter.

And if it takes a lot for you to get into a vampire story, TVD probably isn't for you - it's not so good that it could suck in someone who doesn't have that attraction to the vampiric.

[kalliel]

I think in the end I'm too grounded in Lestat cultism to involve myself in any other vampire lore--I tried TrueBlood and TVD and for some reason could not shake the notion that it ought to be Lestat off running around. XP I think what makes that more pathetic on my end is that I didn't even like/read the majority of The Vampire Chronicles.

I may check it out past the pilot though, because I think that the fact that half of my vampire experience comes from having read Twilight is even more pathetic than the aforementioned. XP I don't believe I met Vicki and Jeremy (or if I did, they didn't actually have role roles yet) so I suppose I have that to look forward to.

Thanks for the rec~

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

HALF of your vampire experience comes from FUCKING TWILIGHT?

That just hurts to hear.

It should be fixed. Here is my epic rec post of actually good vampire novels:

http://redbrunja.livejournal.com/237070.html

[iki-teru.livejournal.com]

The show itself is The Vampire Diaries, which is like Twilight, if Twilight were actually good. ( I know, it's hard to grock.)
This! My exact thoughts! (granted TVD comes on Thursday evenings when I'm at work. Grrr.) So I read the book instead. and having read Twilight I got this eerie deja vu feeling from some of the plot-points because they parallel what's in Twilight (only, it's really Twilight paralleling TVD since TVD came out first.) And I have heard many more wonderful things about the tv series and wants it now. Grrr

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Can you get it through hulu?

[mistaria.livejournal.com]

Good to hear a review for this finally (not that I've gone looking for one, haha)! I wondered how good the show would be considering the fact that I'm sure it was created to ride on the coat tails of Twilight's success.

Also, totally unrelated but I read this absolutely beautiful fic today. It's by the same person who wrote Miss Stewart Disposes that I recced to you a while back. The Silver Doe (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5474236/1/#) is another twist on the marriage law challenge... it is from the perspective of one of SSHG's children (and is a oneshot) and is absolutely brilliant.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I'm sure it got made into a tv series now because of Twilight, but it actually predates those books by a good ten years.

The Silver Doe is another twist on the marriage law challenge... it is from the perspective of one of SSHG's children (and is a oneshot) and is absolutely brilliant.

Awwww.

[mistaria.livejournal.com]

Aa, I didn't realize there were books before the show.

Also, if google released skynet. (http://www.collegehumor.com/article:1793643) Haha.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

That was a kick to read.