Saturday, September 12, 2009

Bite Club - Vampires take Over the World

I saw down tonight to watch Vampire Diaries and my husband said to me "I am sick of vampires"

what?

wait - NOW!?!?!

After months of set-stalking, being out at all hours, obsessing, photographing, blogging, discussing, analyzing, planning, waiting, watching, predicting....

NOW he is sick of vampires... LOL

I can't complain it has been about 6 months since I started getting caught up in the sets and seeing vampires take a major role in my life...

Not that they didn't back in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel days.... or Lost Boys for that matter...

When i introduced him to True Blood Recently he questioned my vampire obsession but didn't seem to object... he even watched some True Blood with me... but a CW show about Vampires was too much.... ha ha ha!

And so - I watched it alone....



Then I popped online and say TwiFans had a post about my vampire families....

As if it wasn't already impossible to avoid the living dead in pop culture these days, along comes The CW's new "The Vampire Diaries" to -- ahem -- drain more blood from the genre. And although the young-adult novels that inspired the seres were published way back in 1991 -- years before Sookie Stackhouse or Bella and Edward were created -- we can't help but compare the show to the popular "True Blood" and "Twilight." Here's how all three stack up against each other.



The Ingénue

"True Blood": Sookie's a waitress with psychic abilities and an open mind.

"Twilight": Bella's a moody high school student who wants to stay young forever.

"Vampire Diaries": Elena's a gorgeous teen with a tough past.

WINNER: Sookie. While she can make moronic life choices, she's strong-minded, can defend herself in perilous situations and is generally pretty darn adorable.



Vampire Boyfriend

"True Blood": Bill is a Civil War vet and Sookie's neighbor.

"Twilight":
Edward is a dreamy high school student with a big family.

"Vampire Diaries": Stefan is a renaissance man from classic Italy.

WINNER: Edward. He's more appealing than Stefan and carries less baggage than Bill.



Shape Shifter Guys

"True Blood": Sam's a sweet bar owner who can turn into any animal.

"Twilight":
Jacob's a werewolf who is totally in love with Bella.

"Vampire Diaries": Stefan's brother Damon is not only a vamp, but can also turn himself into a scary crow.

WINNER: Jacob. This good-hearted Native American boy only turns himself into a vicious killer to protect his loved ones.



The Romance


"True Blood":
Sookie loves Bill, but it's slightly a strange love given that his blood saved her life and may have put her under his thrall somehow.

"Twilight":
Bella and Edward are complete and utter soul mates, determined to be together for all eternity.

"Vampire Diaries":
Elena is torn between two brothers that she's attracted to.

WINNER:
"Vampire Diaries." Elena's is the classic love story, and what girl wouldn't want two hot siblings vying for her love?



The Vampire Rules

"True Blood": The bloodsuckers on this show abide by most of the common vampire rules: They can't go out in the sun without turning into a fritter, can be killed by stakes or by being beheaded, need to drink blood (though synthetic is acceptable), have super speed and can fly (at least some can).

"Twilight": While you could kill one of these vamps with a stake, the sun is not their enemy in the traditional sense of the word. They don't get burnt to a crisp; instead, they get all sparkly in the sunlight.

"Vampire Diaries": These vamps can go out in the sun, but only when wearing a special piece of jewelry that keeps them safe. They like to drink blood and try to keep their identities a secret.

WINNER:
"True Blood." We prefer our undead to be creatures of the night. Call us old fashioned.



By the Book?

"True Blood": It hits some of the major plot points and character traits, but has gone its own way and invented new characters, kept some alive and embellished a lot of details.

"Twilight": It's extremely loyal to the books -- painstakingly so, as the fans quibble over any slight alteration or omission.

"Vampire Diaries": Based on the first episode, it's very loyal to the book, but the producers are going to have to do a lot to stretch this into a weekly series.

WINNER: "True Blood." We like the fact that the show is willing to take chances with the source material that usually pay off.

I saw this over at TwiFans where they said:
Tell me what you think? Im not really a bug fan of "True Blood"...... seems a little trashy to me. I saw the first episode of "Vampire Diaries" and I actually liked it..... What is your opinion?

My Opinion (as if you had to ask!)

True Blood is AWESOME - I love it.... Twilight I will always love, but I am thankful True Blood has the smut Twilight lacks.... Vampire Diaraies I watched and I felt like i was watching a copy-cat of Edward and Bella from his look to her stuttering.... still, it intrigued me enough to set a series record on my PVR ;)

My picks



The Ingénue - Sookie & Bella annoy the HECK out of me... and I don't know Elena well enough.... so I vote NONE!

Vampire Boyfriend - Edward... I totally agree!!!!

Shape Shifter Guys - Jacob... I agree... hands down

The Romance - Well I don't know enough about Vampire Diaries, but it sounds great, girl torn between 2 brothers... still... Edward and Bella have that eternal love... so I pick them

The Vampire Rules - I think True Blood sticks MOST to the traditional Vampire rules... so once again I agree.

By the Book? - Totally disagree, True Blood is SO different and NOT in a good way... this second season has some boring plot lines that are barely in the book and should not have been lasting a whole season on the show.... Twilight is the winner, it may be "painstakingly" by the book - and the fans may whine over every altered detail - but the books are so great - we just want the best movie

6 comments:

QuiltNut Creations said...

i completely agree with your picks. i wasn't impressed with Diaries and i too felt like it was a copy. and it seemed too glossy/perfect. it just felt off.

but i set my PVR for the next one too lol

Susan Blexrud said...

Ya gotta love the blog world. My Google alert for Love Fang (the title of the first book in my fang series) popped you up today, and I visited. I agree with your analysis of the three series. I've come to enjoy TruBlood apart from the books since the storyline is so divergent. I really prefer the books because Eric is a much more interesting character there, and I'm a huge fan of Alexander Skarsgard. He's actually my muse for my vampire, Luciano. Anyhow, nice to meet you, Mandy. If you want to check out my books, head to: www.susanblexrud.com

Unknown said...

Oh my frind you forgot the hottest Vampire, Eric Northman. Eric gets my vote any day of the week. Bill can be wimpy, Edward is too perfect and I just don't know Stevan well enough. The True Blood books habe lots of shifters but Jacob is still my favorite. He is passionate and loves with every fiber of his being, even if it is a lost cause.

Diana Laurence said...

Mandy, what an awesomely entertaining analysis of The Big Three! And I'm glad someone brought up Eric...he really gets to me. What I love about all these vampires in the media is that we really have something for everyone (and some days aren't you more in the mood for Bill, or Eric, depending on how the day's gone?). I have eleven vampires in my book, some good, some bad (in a good way) and one thoroughly evil. Like I always say, variety is the spice of undeath.

--Diana Laurence, author of "How to Catch and Keep a Vampire" (www.howtocatchandkeepavampire.com)

Anonymous said...

I watched Vampire Diaries and decided I'd had enough of the "teenage romance" vampires for now. While I love Twilight and will forever be a huge fan, True Blood does give me that "adult" feeling I was missing.
I'm reading the Sookie Stackhouse books now and love them . . . and the show holds up for me, even though they change what happens to characters and whatnot.
Vampire Diaries doesn't really hold my interest at all so far. It's not a show I am dying to see each week at this point. If it gets more interesting I might pick it back up, but right now I am way more into True Blood and I can only handle one vampire mythos at a time.

Diana Laurence said...

I'm gobbling up "Dead Until Dark" (the first Sookie book) right now...just as wonderful as the show. Brilliant writing!