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I started idly watching the new TV series The Passage (airing on Fox, but I'm watching on Hulu) based on having owned the book for probably ten years without reading it, and on the still image Hulu was showing, of a young black girl's face, which had an immediately compelling haunting, yearning quality. This was a very good life choice, as I'm enjoying the show a lot and the actress in question, Sanniya Sidney (age twelve) is excellent.
The next plot explanation is true of both book and movie:
The premise is that a secret government project, Project Noah, discovered an immortal vampire and decided to try to use him to create immortality and immunity from disease minus the vampirism. They tested the vampire virus via unethical experiments on Death Row inmates, all of whom just became vampires who are now silently and ominously lurking in clear plastic cages in the basement of a government facility. They appear to be essentially brain-dead, but are actually communicating with people via creepy dreams.
What kicks off the story is that a deadly avian flu virus is spreading through the world and heading to the US. A scientist in charge of Project Noah thinks the only chance of saving humanity is to infect a child with the vampire virus because younger people last longer before becoming vampires and neuroplasticity ~handwave handwave~ so they need a child who won't be missed and who will save the world!!! (This is equally stupid-sounding in both book and TV series; you have to roll with it.)
So they send two federal agents, one dude who's not important and a guy named Brad Wolgast who is divorced and whose only child, a girl, previously died tragically, to kidnap a young girl named Amy who is an orphan and who will definitely not be missed, to inject with the vampire virus and then presumably use her blood to synthesize a non-vampiric serum which will make everyone immortal and resistant to all disease including the avian flu. (Like I said. Roll with it.) Brad and Other Agent kidnap Amy, but Brad and Amy bond, Brad grows a conscience, and they go on the run together.
I liked the TV series enough that I couldn't resist picking up the book. Well...
In the book, Amy is weird and has special powers before she gets injected with the vampire virus. She's basically a Mysterious Creepy Child and is more of a plot device than a heroine, at least as far as I read because I ended up DNF-ing the book. The first fifth or so of the book is very effective as horror, which as a genre can work on pure atmosphere even if you don't like any of the characters. (I did not like most of the characters.)
The TV series is also effective as horror, but it's not primarily horror but more a character-based sf-with-horror-elements a la The Stand, and I like or am at least interested in almost all the characters. Amy is not a Creepy Child, but a smart girl from a rough background, who blends learned wariness with a heartbreaking openheartedness. It's a phenomenal performance and I love her. The TV series keeps the thing from the book where people keep saying how special she is, but since she does not seem to have any inborn special powers, it takes on a different meaning: she is special because she's her own wonderful self, just as a human being. Having a little girl repeatedly told that - especially a little girl of color - is really nice to hear right now.
The other major thing the TV series changed is the race and gender of a number of the characters. At least in the part of the book I read (I DNF'd about a quarter in), all the main characters are either white or race not stated except for an African nun, Lacey. Amy is white. The scientists and the Death Row vampires and vampire candidates are all male. In the TV series, Amy (main character) and the main Death Row vampire candidate (major character) are black. One of the two most important vampire characters (so far) is now a white woman, and one of the two main scientist characters is now a black woman. I have to say that I love these changes and I'm really enjoying the series. Amy and Brad are fucking adorable together (but not in a saccharine way), and the actors playing the vampires and vampire candidates are really compelling.
Three episodes so far. Hopefully it won't get canceled midstream.
Major book spoilers ahead! I'm not sure how spoilery the book really is for the TV series, since it's already diverged significantly, but they're definitely spoilery for the book. ( Read more... )
The Passage: A Novel (Book One of The Passage Trilogy)
The next plot explanation is true of both book and movie:
The premise is that a secret government project, Project Noah, discovered an immortal vampire and decided to try to use him to create immortality and immunity from disease minus the vampirism. They tested the vampire virus via unethical experiments on Death Row inmates, all of whom just became vampires who are now silently and ominously lurking in clear plastic cages in the basement of a government facility. They appear to be essentially brain-dead, but are actually communicating with people via creepy dreams.
What kicks off the story is that a deadly avian flu virus is spreading through the world and heading to the US. A scientist in charge of Project Noah thinks the only chance of saving humanity is to infect a child with the vampire virus because younger people last longer before becoming vampires and neuroplasticity ~handwave handwave~ so they need a child who won't be missed and who will save the world!!! (This is equally stupid-sounding in both book and TV series; you have to roll with it.)
So they send two federal agents, one dude who's not important and a guy named Brad Wolgast who is divorced and whose only child, a girl, previously died tragically, to kidnap a young girl named Amy who is an orphan and who will definitely not be missed, to inject with the vampire virus and then presumably use her blood to synthesize a non-vampiric serum which will make everyone immortal and resistant to all disease including the avian flu. (Like I said. Roll with it.) Brad and Other Agent kidnap Amy, but Brad and Amy bond, Brad grows a conscience, and they go on the run together.
I liked the TV series enough that I couldn't resist picking up the book. Well...
In the book, Amy is weird and has special powers before she gets injected with the vampire virus. She's basically a Mysterious Creepy Child and is more of a plot device than a heroine, at least as far as I read because I ended up DNF-ing the book. The first fifth or so of the book is very effective as horror, which as a genre can work on pure atmosphere even if you don't like any of the characters. (I did not like most of the characters.)
The TV series is also effective as horror, but it's not primarily horror but more a character-based sf-with-horror-elements a la The Stand, and I like or am at least interested in almost all the characters. Amy is not a Creepy Child, but a smart girl from a rough background, who blends learned wariness with a heartbreaking openheartedness. It's a phenomenal performance and I love her. The TV series keeps the thing from the book where people keep saying how special she is, but since she does not seem to have any inborn special powers, it takes on a different meaning: she is special because she's her own wonderful self, just as a human being. Having a little girl repeatedly told that - especially a little girl of color - is really nice to hear right now.
The other major thing the TV series changed is the race and gender of a number of the characters. At least in the part of the book I read (I DNF'd about a quarter in), all the main characters are either white or race not stated except for an African nun, Lacey. Amy is white. The scientists and the Death Row vampires and vampire candidates are all male. In the TV series, Amy (main character) and the main Death Row vampire candidate (major character) are black. One of the two most important vampire characters (so far) is now a white woman, and one of the two main scientist characters is now a black woman. I have to say that I love these changes and I'm really enjoying the series. Amy and Brad are fucking adorable together (but not in a saccharine way), and the actors playing the vampires and vampire candidates are really compelling.
Three episodes so far. Hopefully it won't get canceled midstream.
Major book spoilers ahead! I'm not sure how spoilery the book really is for the TV series, since it's already diverged significantly, but they're definitely spoilery for the book. ( Read more... )
The Passage: A Novel (Book One of The Passage Trilogy)
