Conference ljsrv1::tv_chatter

  I am not a fan of Stephen King and I haven't read any of his books or seen
any of his movies before now. I was interested in The Langoliers because it
sounded sort of like science fiction, which I like.
  
<spoiler alert>
  This movie had some good stuff in it, but I thought it was stretched out
far too much. There were far too many loose ends that were not tied up, such
as who or what was in control of the time rift and the alternate Earth on the
other side. How did this "force" get the people off the plane, and why did
this force only remove the people themselves and not the stuff that was at-
tached to them, such as watches and glasses. And we never found out where the
people who disappeared went. I expected that when the plane made the return
trip thru the time rift, that the missing people would reappear on it.
  I think King got part of this idea from the movie Millennium, in which people
also disappeared from an airliner in flight.
  I am a fan of real science fiction. I think those of you who have seen real 
SF, such as the Star Trek series (plural) and movies, know what I am talking 
about re the difference between real SF and this movie.
  As drama, this movie was good and that's probably the best way to think of
it, as a highly emotional and psychological drama that uses science fiction
and fantasy as the source of the drama.

I've never read a King novel, including this one, so I'm curious whether 
this movie fairly represented his work.  I liked some of the psychological 
twists, but the science fiction fan in me was quite frustrated -- I went to 
bed muttering about the inconsistencies and unexplained phenomena.  A major 
loose end was the reference at the end to them being "new people."

Some of the characters/performances were totally nondescript.  The Dean 
Stockwell character grated on my nerves.  But I thought Pinchot, Wettig, Morse, 
and the soldier-guy were good, and the little girl sort of grew on me.

    I watched a few minutes of this, because I wanted to see the monsters.
    Which one newspaper review called laughable, similar to the "scrubbing
    bubbles" from some toilet bowl cleaner ad.
    
    It seemed completely incoherent, maybe you had to sit through four
    hours (gack) to understand it all. 
    
    I was curious about where the name Langolier came from, but  missed it.
    Anything to do with Bangor?  Is it French?  
    
    My French dictionary fell into a deep hole.  A man has been smothered
    by his beret. The rain bothered Loustalot. The bathyscaphs of the
    French navy dive to more than four thousand meters.
    
    Oh, the incoherence is catching!

    I also thought that between the six minute commercial breaks and
    waiting for the Langoliers that the movie dragged some.  But I thought
    the depiction of the Langoliers was terrific, and Bronson Pinchot was
    very entertaining as the businessman.
    
    Stephen King is not always easy to turn to film.  I am a fan of his,
    and enjoy his books more than many of the movies made from his
    stories.  The Langoliers was not the best adaptation (The Dead Zone is
    my favorite movie from a KIng book), but it is far from the worst
    (Cujo).  I agree that as a 3-hour TV movie or a 2 hour 10 minute          
    feature film it would have worked better.
    
    I haven't read the story in several years, and I was wondering how
    close people felt that the film adaptation stayed to the book.
    
    NAZZ

    Ah, I remember. The review said the Langoliers, when they finally did
    appear, were laughable because they were like a cross between the
    scrubbing bubbles, and early pac-men.
    

    
    It followed the book closely.
    re 1:
    SK does SiFI bits, but they don't always makes sense.
    
    I enjoyed the film. The only charactor/actor I didn't care for was
    the pilot. He used to be in St.Elsewhere. Couldn't stand him then 
    either. Robert Morse.
    
    Dave
    
    

    I didn't read the Langoliers, but I have read many SK's and seen
    several of the shows based on his books.  I think this one followed
    my expectations.  His shows tend to have a big, slow build up followed
    by a letdown of the actual monster (remember the big spider from
    IT?).  In some of his stories, the endings tend to just drift off.
    I think he does that to keep you guessing at the end of a story,
    but I find it frustrating to read a really long book and then its
    just dies at the end.  It also doesn't fit an actual TV show very
    well.
    
    I like SK because he is good at getting your imagination going.
    He has good character development and he writes very vividly.  This
    doesn't always come across well when it is adapted to film.  I'm
    sure his description of the Langoliers was much better than actually
    seeing the flying coconuts with razor teeth.
    
    I would have to say as a tv show, I'd give it about a 6 out of 10.
    But for a SK adapation, I'd give it more like an 8 out of 10.
    
    Dead Zone was the best one I saw too.
    
    Renee

    
    	That was David Morse, not Robert.
    
    	And I liked him as the bad guy in "The Getaway".  [I think that's
    	where I saw him last.]
    

    Regarding where the name Langoliers came from.....In the crazied 
    business man's mind he kept hearing voices from his father.  His
    father was always scaring him saying if he didn't do good the
    Langoliers would come and get him.  He used that word and the
    others picked up on it.
    
    Regarding all the inconsistencies....he doesn't really get into
    reasons of "why" or "how".  When I read his books, its more of
    a feeling of this is what is happening in these peoples' world
    and this is how they are trying to deal with it.  He doesn't relate
    his stories to anything that could actually happen or use any techno
    babble to explain things.  I don't know if I would call it real
    science fiction...its more like good storytelling.
    
    Renee

    I loved the movie.  I wished there had been another episode.  All the
    characters were wonderful, the little blind girl, the teacher,
    the English guy, the pilot (whom I have loved since St. Elsewhere),
    etc.
    
    I think I will read the book now - hopefully it gets into more detail.
    
    Mo
    

    Re .9--
    
>    father was always scaring him saying if he didn't do good the
>    Langoliers would come and get him.  He used that word and the
>    others picked up on it.
    
    I think I saw that bit but, didn't they say what the word meant?
    Didn't the other people ask?
    
    Maybe it means flying-coconuts-with-teeth in French?

    I have to agree with the inconsistencies previously listed, plus my own
    list during the movie.  
    
    Does anyone know if this has been shown before?  As I watched it, I had
    this dejavu experience that I had seen all of this before, exactly as
    it was being played out; almost to the point of flashbacks.  I mentioned
    this to a friend, also asking if it had aired previously.  She said she
    didn't think so, but she also was experiencing the same feelings, and
    felt it was because the movie does follow the story so closely, which
    we've both read.  Given that King's works are far superior in print
    media than visual, this would tend to make sense.
    
    If I kept my logic suspended, the movie was okay.
    
    Bill 

    I liked the movie a lot.  Like previous noters I had some questions:
    What happened to the other people and  what's the origin/meaning of the 
    word Langoliers (maybe just something SK made up!).  One thing that's 
    really been bugging me, though, is what was the big deal about Mr. Toomey
    (Pinchot) having to come out of the terminal...why did they need him so
    much?  Was it because, somehow, the little girl knew that the
    Langoliers would go after him first instead of attacking the plane? 
    And if that is the reason how did she know it and why would they go
    after him first?
    
    Maybe the book answers my questions but I haven't read it yet.  Anyone
    have any explanations?
    
    Thanks!
    Carol
    

    I believe she knew they would follow him first.  How she knew this
    wasn't explained,except she seemed to be telepathic and tuned in
    somehow to the Langoliers so I assume she just picked up their vibes.
    I also got the feeling they were somehow controling him and making
    him crazier than he already was. 
    
    rs

    
    This show was number 4 in the ratings.
    May not have been great, but it was entertaining.
    
    Dave
    

    
    	Did anyone recognize Chris Collett from "The Manhattan Project"?