Is The Central Vamp In "True Blood" Like Barnabas?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Here's an Associated Press review of True Blood that likens its central vampire Bill to (Frid's) Barnabas: Vampire novels adapted for HBO's 'True Blood'

(As a side note: when I watched the original version of the True Blood pilot (with Brook Kerr for you Passions fans - though her role has since been recast), I thought Stephen Moyer, who plays Bill, looked familiar but I couldn't place him. But thanks to this review I now realize it's because he was in Ultraviolet.    How foolish of me not to have remembered because I really enjoyed that - and now I'm looking forward to True Blood even more than I already was because I know what Moyer is capable of doing with his role.)

[GooberCollins]

There are the similarities mentioned in the article, and that's about it, at least as far as I can tell from the books in the series I've read (currently the first two, and I'm reading the third one now); Barnabas and Bill are fairly dissimilar in most ways. I'd also like to point out that the character of Tara has merely been expanded upon for TrueBlood, not created for it, as the article claims.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Barnabas and Bill are fairly dissimilar in most ways.

And Bill is probably quite happy about that because, well, let's face it, (Frid's) Barnabas has more than a few unenviable traits. 

[joe integlia]

theres an article in the san francisco examiner about this new show on hbo. the article compares it to dark shadows and mentions frid and barnabas.

http://www.examiner.com/a-1565610~Vampire_novels_adapted_for_HBO_s__True_Blood_.html#articleComments

[Taeylor Collins]

I told everyone he was gonna sorta be Barney like...

[David]

The producer of True Blood gave an interview at Salon.com in which he said that the show will gve rise to a new phrase:
Fang Bangers
mortals who have sex with vampires!

David

[GooberCollins]

I've noticed that many of the articles about the show directly mention things taken all but verbatim from the books and credit them to the show's writers, like the article David mentioned, and the bit from an article that was posted in another thread that mentions Sookie guessing that Bill's name would be something more traditionally vampiresque; that one was written to make it sound like Ball wrote the line rather than it being essentially Harris's original line. (Did I punctuate that correctly or was that a run-on sentence?) Of course, in the former case, the producer could simply have meant that it would popularize the phrase, not create it, and these are just entertainment sites, which are notorious for the occasional slight screwup.

[Taeylor Collins]

So Goober you have mentioned your age before and so I wondered are these books as graphic and sexually provocative as the HBO show looks? I really have no idea how strict your folks are on your reading habits.  Not being nosey about your private life I just wondered more or less what the novels were like versus how HBO shows usually handle sex, violence, etc.

[GooberCollins]

My mother (quite hesitantly) gave me the go-ahead to read them after reading them herself. There's a lot of sexual content, but nothing terribly explicit, and I can read it maturely (read: without going "tee-hee, sex, lol"). I don't have HBO, and, aside from Dead Like Me, have never watched a "premium" network show on DVD, so I can't comment, but I get the strong feeling from the interviews that they're going to go into sexual territory more frequently and more explicitly with TrueBlood.

And, fairly major book and potential TrueBlood spoiler, [spoiler]you're looking at Moyer as a regular for the first two or three seasons only. It's my understanding that Bill becomes more recurring than regular after Book/Season 3.[/spoiler]

[Mysterious Benefactor]

but I get the strong feeling from the interviews that they're going to go into sexual territory more frequently and more explicitly with TrueBlood.

Like I said, I've seen the original pilot, so trust me, they are. And Ryan Kwanten wasn't just joking when he remarked, "One of the grips jokes that he sees me naked more than he does his girlfriend" - he's stark naked for a good half of the pilot. And it won't really ruin a plot point to reveal that the woman his character is with not only has sex with him, but she's seen on video having sex with a vampire.

I don't know if they're still doing so, but last week when I was in Best Buy they were giving away a copy of the reworked pilot (with Rutina Wesley as Tara instead of Brook Kerr) to anyone who bought any HBO series on DVD.

[Taeylor Collins]

WELL I have seen RYAN and he can be naked in the whole series for all I care. I know I am a shallow horrible person.   

MB you must have connections. You told me that story about your avatar and now this.  You name fits you!?? Mysterious!

[Taeylor Collins]

Oh sorry for the double post.  I forgot to say thanks Goober. I was interested to hear your take since you have been reading the books.  I read the spoiler since one has no idea if ALAN BALL will completely stick to the books.  Again thanks for the insight!  Those mothers CAN be hard to convince.  I remember those days....However relish them for the bad, the good, and everything in between, because it will be over in the blink of an eye!!  I wasn't allowed to watch Smurfs or Dungeons and Dragons or anything that dealt with magic when I was young.That was mostly brought on by our churches preacher's views!  However, when I hit about 13-14 my mother (kind of like yours) did let up on me. SHE had no problem with me watching DS 1991 and it was kind of provocative and bloody for it's time and dealt heavily in the occult. She did make me quit watching them after I had watched them a hundred times over the summer waiting for it's return.  They thought I was becoming obsessed.  Maybe they were right!

[GooberCollins]

Oh, I love my mom, and she doesn't have restrictions on anything related to magic, and never has (though, as I've said before, my grandmother is another story!  ). There are a few things I'd like if she lightened up on, but she's cool, basically.

Anyway, I likely won't be seeing the show for a while (if ever; I'm not really that interested in watching it, to be honest), but I do hope it turns out well.

[GooberCollins]

Anyway, I've seen a few clips of TB, though I haven't seen the whole first episode. Bear in mind that these are merely based on what I've seen from clips.

First of all, I hate the title sequence. Not the song; I love that song, though, since Sookie is the main character, a song performed by a female artist would have been slightly preferable. But the visuals go over just about every Southern stereotype there is, and I personally find it somewhat offensive. We have rickety swamp shacks, closed-minded Bible-thumpers, roadkill, Coyote Ugly dancers... Ugh. And none of the cast whatsoever appears, which I could deal with if the video montage they used wasn't so horrible.

As for casting, Anna Paquin is a bit too pale to play Sookie, but I could easily have put up with, except that her accent is terrible. "Wayull, Beeyull, yoo juhst likkd awl ovurh mah hayud. Thayut's prihtee puhrsahnahl." Stephen Moyer looks the part of Bill, and his accent, though not great, is easily passable. Ryan Kwanten and Sam Trammell just don't play Jason and Sam the way I pictured them. And, God, did they ever butcher Tara. From what I've seen, her character has been reduced to a hollow stereotype. Gran is also not how I pictured her.

I find it strange that they felt a need to jack up the profanity from the books. I'm not offended by it or anything, but Dead Until Dark had two f-bombs in the whole book, whereas a two-minute clip of TrueBlood that I watched had about 15.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts based on what I've seen.

[Taeylor Collins]

I love the show.  I actually just finished the second episode  Bill really does remind me of Barnabas in lot of ways. They have taken some Whedon mythology and added it in.  Or possibly the guy who made The Lost Boys, did those vampires need to be invited in?? I can't remember.  I don't mind the F word.  I don't mind the sex.  I am actually glad I haven't read the books so I have nothing to compare them too.  I may read them after the show is finished.  Kind of like my brother is doing with Harry Potter!   

BTW!!  It has already been picked up for Season Two!