The Vampire Diaries (spoilers, for books and TV!)

[KatieHal]

Continued from a conversation that started elsewhere....

Haids--I've never read the books, and I watched the show with the intent that it would be a silly guilty pleasure. But it's actually pretty damn good! I know it deviates quite a bit from the books themselves, too. I recommend giving it a shot. Although it sounds like you have seen it, so I'm curious why you didn't like it?

(I didn't at first either, but about 4 episodes in, I changed my mind)

This game, however, is hilariously awful! And was made in 1995. Oh man, it's everything that's wrong with FMV! The LP videos aren't complete, but my favorite line that I did hear is this one:
Stefan: "Sweet Elena. I'm a vampire, not a seer."


Go here for Let's play videos of the hilariously bad FMV game based on the books: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4l2VAx8vFI
And the trailer is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMSPzLWac98

[Haids1987]

This game, however, is hilariously awful! And was made in 1995. Oh man, it's everything that's wrong with FMV! The LP videos aren't complete, but my favorite line that I did hear is this one:
Stefan: "Sweet Elena. I'm a vampire, not a seer."

Ohhhh man, okay, if it was made in the 90's that makes it okay.

The horrid one-liners in the books are fantastically bad, too.  In the newer ones Stefan suddenly started calling Elena his "little lovely love" and it makes me cringe even as I type the words!

I tried the show once or twice, and it was so off from the books that I couldn't do it.  The Vampire Diaiers are something I went through my teens with, so they're kind of sacred territory to me.  Weird and embarrassing?  Very much so. But still!  Elena is supposed to have another friend named Meredith in her little group, she has a 5-year old sister named Margaret, she lives with her aunt, since her parents are dead, and she has no brother!  It IS fun to watch and make fun of, though.

[KatieHal]

I can see why they avoided the 5 year old little sister. In a show that's very much teen drama, having an adorable moppet is like a death knell. And Jeremy, the brother, is pretty cool really.

I can understand not being able to really separate out the TV show and books. If you ever can though, I really do think the show is worthwhile for us girls who love our vampires.

[Haids1987]

And in turn, I also recommend the first four books!  (NOT the newer ones...*shudder*)  I loved them as a tween/early teenager--it wasn't until I was in high school that I realized how sappy and cheesy they really were. But it's the original vampire series; before I read Twilight I was like, "Puh.  Leeze.  This Meyer chick is just ripping off the Vampire Diaries!"

So...in the show, who's your favorite character?  Meredith is my favorite in the books, but like I said, she's apparently not in the show. OH, and FYI, Bonnie is a tiny, curly and red-haired Irish girl in the books.  She's kind of annoying, really--like a little kid in teen form.

[KatieHal]

Caroline, hands down. Who is very different from how she is in the books...but season 2 especially, she is absolutely my favorite character. I can't much go into why without big spoilers, though.

I've read summaries of the books and yeah, the later ones sound crazzzzy whackadoo!

[Haids1987]

I can't much go into why without big spoilers, though.

Aw, c'mon! Slap a spoiler alert on the title and we'll chat.  I wanna know about her, 'cause she's a big ole hussy in the books.

[KatieHal]

Okay. It is a pretty big spoiler for her TV storyline, just to warn you, but...

[spoiler]Caroline is the awesomest vampire ever! Her story arc in season 2 has been fantastic![/spoiler]

[Haids1987]

HOOOO boy![spoiler] She's a vampire?!  [/spoiler] That's so awesome!    Are there werewolves in the TV show?  'Cause they end up being important in the books with her storyline.

[KatieHal]

Werewolves show up in Season 2, yes. They are a pretty big deal!

[spoiler]Yep! She gets turned very early on in S2. She ramped right up into badassery when, having known nothing at all about vampires prior to, she figured out almost everything she needed to do and not do on her own. It was awesome. It's also done wonders for giving her character some depth![/spoiler]

[Haids1987]

Okay, the way LJ Smith writes Caroline, [spoiler]she's this shallow, prissy b**** who will turn on her friends on a whim, then pretend to be all nicey-nice only to screw them over again.  And then, when she has her moment of redemption at the end of the fourth book, Dark Reunion, she just sells out and goes back to her old bitchy ways![/spoiler] It's so frustrating.  Again, LJ Smith needs to stop trying to cash in on this book series.  The newest three have been terrible, and she's mangling her characters and stripping away their admirable traits!

[KatieHal]

Yeah, in the show she starts off more just kind of obsessed with things being perfect and is constantly thrown for a loop. And she has some jealousy issues towards Elena that are well-founded--the girl does seem to always end up getting what she wants, which is often what Caroline herself wants. But she's never been wretched, which is good I think--that kind of character usually ends up being really one-dimensional and cliched and not very fun for anyone.

[Haids1987]

Jeez, she sound LIKEABLE, kind of like a younger Monica Gellar!

Meredith is awesome in the books. She's calm, level-headed, and puts out the aura of elegant and serenity.  Plus, she's badass when she needs to be--she can kick some serious vampire booty when the need arises!  It sounds like the character in the TV show who plays Elena's friend is kind of a mix of Bonnie and Meredith's character traits.

[Buddy1991]

Is it okay for a guy to join the conversation? Love the show
I have actually read the first two books, and I liked them... I dunno why I didn't go on with the 3rd...

I would really give the TV Show a shot, altough it's very different from the books! The characters in the show are nicely made, as KatieHal has already described Caroline, for example. They all have depth and character. I mean Damon - don't forget I'm a guy - is just awesome! I love him and seeing him suffer in Season 2 is the most horrible thing!

[Haids1987]

Wow Buddy, I love that you like the Vampire Diaries! You should really finish the third and fourth books in the series, they're soooooooooooo much better than the crap she's put out recently.  Try 'em out, you'll enjoy them.

Haids, actually, what is the take [sex] in the Vampire Diaries books? I'm curious. It comes up in the show, but honestly sex is pretty much a sidenote to the rest of the plot (which is pretty cool, too, I have to say).

Well, LJ Smith kind of touches on the idea of sex in the original four books, but it's not a Huge Plot Point like it is in Twilight.  It's a little more talked about in the later books, but not to the same exhausting extent.  Elena and Stefan never have sex in the entire series, though in the latest book, Midnight, there's an "almost" scene that's really stupid and sappy and, I gotta say, ultimately disappointing.   Actually, one of the most ridiculous changes that Smith made in the newer books is the way that vampires "physically" show their love---through a blood exchange.  Yeah.  Seriously.  Elena willingly offers her blood to Stefan, and he accepts it with pleasure, then gives her a little of his blood, and it's the vampire equivalent to having sex.  SO FREAKING LAME.  Talk about drawn out and melodramatic, sheesh!

Actually (and not so surprisingly) Damon is the oversexed one.  They do flashbacks of Stefan and Damon's life in 1500's Italy in the first couple books (since that's where they're from originally), and their dad mentions something about Damon wasting his time with "all those women."  Also, in one of the newer books, Damon starts to feel "desire for Elena...in a way he hadn't desired a woman since he was human."   And oh boy, scandal!  Damon discovers in the sixth book that Elena is a virgin, even though she pretends to have all this experience, and randomly remembers it for the rest of the series and feels that strange human desire again.  Oh Damon.

[KatieHal]

Face. Palm.

They at least have sex in the show. But like I said, it's not a huge plot point.

Okay, well, I'm 99% certain they do. I suppose they never actually SAY if they did or not, but there was a little montage of them getting all kissy and clothes coming off and her spending the night, so it's very heavily implied!

[Haids1987]

Okay, well, I'm 99% certain they do. I suppose they never actually SAY if they did or not, but there was a little montage of them getting all kissy and clothes coming off and her spending the night, so it's very heavily implied!

Oh gosh! See, that happens in the book, too--but they never end up doing it.  Elena objects because a)Mrs. Flowers is downstairs, b)She doesn't want her first time to be a stolen moment in an attic, and c)She's not wearing hot lingerie designed by some otherworldly fashion designer.

[KatieHal]

LOL. Yeah, this one just happens in the Salvatore's house and Stefan's room, so...pretty sure that's what happened! Or the video editors have some real explaining to do, cause seriously.

[Haids1987]

The Salvatore's house?  They have their own house?  In the books Stefan lives at a boarding house with an old lady named Mrs. Flowers, who's his landlord.  Damon's just a lurker.

[Buddy1991]

In the show, they live in their own house. It's the house of their great great nephew - since they look younger than him they told everybody he's their uncle ^^ anyway, he dies in the very first episodes (Damon kills him), so the house eventually is their house. And no, Damon is no lurker in the show. He kind of is in the first episodes ... I think the Damon from the book and from the show differ in many kind of ways ...