Thoughts on tv adaption of The Mist.

[Dennis E. Taylor]

The only problem I had with Mist (the TV movie) was what I call the D&D ecology--every single freakin' animal was a predator of some kind. Realistically, the food chain is a pyramid for a reason.

 

[Phyrebrat]

The only problem I had with Mist (the TV movie) was what I call the D&D ecology--every single freakin' animal was a predator of some kind. Realistically, the food chain is a pyramid for a reason.

Heheh. True. Although I'm a bit skeptical of how interesting the movie would be with a load of grazers.

Truth be told, though, the spiders used humans as incubators. I guess that's possibly justification. We don't know the motives of the tentacle creature (I'd suggest it definitely is a carnivore with those bitey-opening tennaculls tho ). I just thought, maybe that massive Hexapod (?) at the end was an herbivore.

The biggest vegetable in that movie was the bag boy.

 

[Dulahan]

The only problem I had with Mist (the TV movie) was what I call the D&D ecology--every single freakin' animal was a predator of some kind. Realistically, the food chain is a pyramid for a reason.

True, but all animals attack or run away when frightened/cornered. If you go for a hike you are no doubt surrounded by dozens of critters who flee from you without your noticing. You only notice that bear or wolf that knows it's place on the food chain and isn't ready to flee just yet.

Big docile creatures aren't that adventurous either, they are not as likely to see what tasty things are on a the other side of a portal as a predator would be.

Realistically, there are plenty of large deadly predators that Humanity is sending extinct on accident. We are pretty far ahead of the curve on the Predator list. A Lovecraftian Horror could be killed by a bunch of farmers with AR-15s. Get the millitary involved and they wouldn't stand a chance ... hence the ending of The Mist, terrified civilians trapped in a store, introduce army, credits roll.

 

[Frost Giant]

The biggest vegetable in that movie was the bag boy.

And his 2 genius buddies that egg him on to go outside.
More timid, life forms would probably be frightened away from a dimensional portal. It might be that the more aggressive predators were the first ones to take advantage of the dimensional portal (detecting prey on the other side, maybe provoked by some sort of probe or an explorer that stepped through), or it happened to form in a particularly busy area. A real world example of such an environment would be:

The Cretaceous ocean ranks as the most dangerous sea of all time due to the sheer number and ferocity of its marine predators.
You just have to look at Hesperornis. This bird spent much of its time on rocky ledges above the water. But it was frequently picked off by small mosasaurs like Halisaurus, who waited in the shallow caves beneath these ledges for a Hesperornis to dive in. When it did, Halisaurus would grab the bird in its short, sharp teeth.
But these mosasaurs were dwarfed by their huge relatives, the Giant Mosasaurs. These gargantuan fiends reached up to 17 metres in length and could take on pretty much everything in the sea.
Also common in the Cretaceous was the largest of the long-necked plesiosaurs: Elasmosaurus. This 15-metre-long plesiosaur used the length of its neck to sneak up on unsuspecting shoals of fish.
You weren't safe on land either. This period saw the evolution of some of the fiercest land predators of all time, including the notorious Tyrannosaurus rex.

It's likely that the Arrowhead portal opened onto parallel version of Earth that was in a similar stage of development to the one described above.

I just thought, maybe that massive Hexapod (?) at the end was an herbivore.

I thought the giant at the end was the source of the questing tentacles, like the tentacle that consumed the bag boy....

....it seemed to be covered with tentacles when they glimpsed it.

 

[Phyrebrat]

When I saw that monster in the cinema I was blown away. In the book it's just a massive leg!

Have you read The Dark Tower? The monsters come from a space inbetween worlds/other Earths, called Todash Space. It's a horrid, concept. There are, other worlds with creatures in - cf one of my favourite Stephen King novels (and highly recommended if you like The Mist) - From a Buick 8. it had some exceptional character writing too!!

Anyway yep you're probably right about the tennaculls ... I just thought they seemed too high up.

Nice to meet another monster aficionado!

pH

 

[Dulahan]

@Phyrebrat that is the only misgiving I have with a Mist TV show. (Well, in addition to it becoming another run-of-the-mill Scifi War series) At what point does it stop becoming The Mist and becomes a "Dark Tower" spin-off?

The Dark Tower series of books is fantastic and I know they have been kicking around a show/movie combo with it for a while. Why not just go ahead with DT and leave The Mist to what it is, a fun movie?

 

[Frost Giant]

Have you read The Dark Tower? The monsters come from a space inbetween worlds/other Earths, called Todash Space.

Yes, I've read the Dark Tower series and I'm familiar with the Todash idea. When I saw The Mist, I did not think these creatures were demons or demi-gods, I just thought of them as wildlife from a parallel world. The impression I got from the film's description of the Arrowhead Project was that they were trying to access an alternate Earth. I don't know how they will handle the creatures for the TV show, they could take it in either direction and make it more mystical or more scientific.

t what point does it stop becoming The Mist and becomes a "Dark Tower" spin-off?

King tends to link most of his works to the Dark Tower, they share plot elements and references. The most notable recurring characters being Randall Flagg and the Crimson King. I wouldn't go so far as to say their spin offs, but he does try to weave some common threads though a lot of his stories.
As far as the film vs. the series, I think each one will exist separately from the other, the series being something of a reboot. We'll see if it even lasts past it's first season.