Having read the novel about a year ago, I was quite excited by the prospect of it's transfer to the small screen. Sadly, it only took the opening 2 minutes for disappointment to set in. Where the novel is centred around the scientists whose experiment seems to be the cause of the flash-forward, the TV show makes no secret of the fact it is just going to be another cop show from the outset.
At least the TV writers pay some lip-service to the novel, running with one of the main themes, that of the protagonist's side-kick being dead in the future. Elsewhere though, it has little in common, with the focus being on characters who were never in the novel at all, and that is largely to it's detriment.
I would have thought shows like CSI would have paved the way for scientists solving mysteries on TV but it seems we are still stuck in the 70s, where only cops and shoot-outs make for decent ratings. They have also tampered with the time-line, bringing the flash-forward down from 2 years to 6 months, which makes it harder to believe that so many people's lives will be so fundamentally different. Of course, it fits in much better with the length of the TV season, so it's understandable, and I imagine there will be new flash-forwards to fuel subsequent seasons.
Where the show really falls down is in it's prime driving force - Agent Benford's (a nod to the scientist/novelist Gregory Benford, perhaps?) flash-forward of his investigation board. All the supporting characters question his single-minded pursuit of his memories of the board's contents, yet no-one comes up with the obvious possibility - maybe the board has those things on it purely because that's what he saw in his flash-forward, not because they have any relevance in the real world. i.e. It is an obvious self-fulfilling prophecy. Of course, the whole story would fall apart if that strong possibility emerged, but it is a fatal flaw for me and after 5 episodes my suspension of disbelief has evaporated because of it. I'm still enjoying Lost, at least it doesn't pretend to have any basis in reality, but I think I'm done with this show now.
At least the TV writers pay some lip-service to the novel, running with one of the main themes, that of the protagonist's side-kick being dead in the future. Elsewhere though, it has little in common, with the focus being on characters who were never in the novel at all, and that is largely to it's detriment.
I would have thought shows like CSI would have paved the way for scientists solving mysteries on TV but it seems we are still stuck in the 70s, where only cops and shoot-outs make for decent ratings. They have also tampered with the time-line, bringing the flash-forward down from 2 years to 6 months, which makes it harder to believe that so many people's lives will be so fundamentally different. Of course, it fits in much better with the length of the TV season, so it's understandable, and I imagine there will be new flash-forwards to fuel subsequent seasons.
Where the show really falls down is in it's prime driving force - Agent Benford's (a nod to the scientist/novelist Gregory Benford, perhaps?) flash-forward of his investigation board. All the supporting characters question his single-minded pursuit of his memories of the board's contents, yet no-one comes up with the obvious possibility - maybe the board has those things on it purely because that's what he saw in his flash-forward, not because they have any relevance in the real world. i.e. It is an obvious self-fulfilling prophecy. Of course, the whole story would fall apart if that strong possibility emerged, but it is a fatal flaw for me and after 5 episodes my suspension of disbelief has evaporated because of it. I'm still enjoying Lost, at least it doesn't pretend to have any basis in reality, but I think I'm done with this show now.