[SPOILERS] Sphere: movie vs.book ending....
Nathan Slevin
Anyone else a bit ticked off? I read this book about 5 years ago and I
thought it was one of the best books I've ever read, and definately the best
MC book. The main thing that got me was the ending... I went NUTS over it!
I've always loved twist endings ever since too. So that was my complaint.
The movie is 99% true to the book, but the remaining 1% being the most
important element of all. The book ended similarly to the film, with Norman,
Beth, and Harry in the military hold, awaiting debriefing. They all agree to
use "the power" to forget what happened, and forget "the power." They all
concentrate and forget. The military questions them, they remember nothing,
and a bland technical malfunction is blamed for what happened at the bottom.
It's all over. Norman and Beth are sitting in a room, and then "Beth stared
into space, preoccupied with her own thoughts. But her face was serene;
despite the hardships of their time underwater, Norman thought she looked
almost beautiful. 'You know Beth,' he said, 'you look lovely.' Beth did not
seem to hear, but then she turned toward him slowly. 'Why thank you,
Norman,' she said."
"And she smiled."
Now that is damn cool. Beth keeping the power and all. But in the movie...
no such twist. Just everyone forgetting everything, and the sphere returning
to space to be found around 2042. That ticked me off. The movie was great up
to that point, but then it let me down.
Now I recall something involving calling back Jackson, Stone, and Hoffman
for ending reshoots to confused test audiences. I'm thinking... they
originally filmed the ending from the book, but then changed it. That pisses
me off even more! Just cuz some sutpid people didn't want to THINK a little
bit about a movie, the ending gets ruined. All I can hope for now is a
director's cut. (Thank you for allowing my rant.)
--fmluder
The X-Files: The Movie Website
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Academy/2364/
Michael Gibbons
Well, I haven't seen the movie, but that's terrible how they cut out the part
with Beth keeping her powers!!! That's why I loved the ending so much! And
the way Crichton wrote it, it can be easy to miss. It's so cool how mysterious
it is. I wish the movie would end that way!
Nathan Slevin wrote:
--
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Michael Gibbons >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
<<< "When you don't know that you don't know, it's a >>>
<< lot different than when you do know that you >>
<<< don't know. He knows now that he doesn't know. >>>
<< Last year, he didn't know that." >>
<<< -- Bill Parcels, New England Patriots head coach >>>
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< p...@omen.com.au >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Justin Wainwright
Nathan Slevin wrote:
I was ticked off..but for a different reason. I didn't like the "just forget"
idea altogether. For the suspense and tension that's built up through the
story, I didn't find "let's forget" a justifying resolution. I heard the ending
was changed in the movie and I thought I was finally going to be relieved of
this feeling...but unfortunately, it stayed pretty much the same (with the
exception being what you pointed out).
On the flipside of what you mentioned, I'm almost glad they DIDN'T make a carbon
copy of the ending from the book...because that would leave a possibility for a
sequel - and this is one movie that doesn't need a sequel.
-Snake
