Academia de vampiros

I can't believe I subscribed to Peacock TV for this. I'm glad I got a discount for the year. It doesn't look like I'll be subscribing for a second year though. I will never understand why someone takes a book and reworks the characters, world, and story to create something different from the original form. The whole point of watching a book come to life as a movie or show is to see it play out on the screen like it did in my head. To see this world with my own eyes, and to see the characters in the flesh. I DO NOT want changes.

The more I watched, the more I fumed. The show writers CANNOT write this world, characters, nor story better than the author. And if they were true fans of the books, they would understand that veering away from the books is a stab to the heart. I only gave the show a chance because I wanted a better version of the movie. The movie isn't great, but I still love it dearly. I felt no love for the TV show. I'm being generous with a 3. Sadly, that will reflect badly for the look of the show, which was the best thing this show had going for it.

If you're a non reader, and you love the show, DO NOT read the books until long after the show gets canceled, you'll regret it. Or do yourself a favor and read the books, and drop the show. Your choice. I'm off to grieve for the high expectations I had that was murdered this evening.

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Since I paid for one-year subscription of Peacock TV, I will be watching more episodes of Vampire Academy's first season. I was hoping that once I had grieved the show I was wanting, that perhaps I could let it go and take on the show from a different, new viewer, perspective. Yeah. No. The fifth episode started out okay, and then more drastic changes were made. Sure, the changes were made to minor characters. But these minor characters had strong roles in the plot line of the main character and her posse. Which just goes to reinforce that the show is on a completely different path than the books. If I wanted to watch a show that was nothing like the books, I wouldn't be as peeved as I am right now. I just don't get why anyone would buy the rights to a book or book series just to change it up into something completely different. Why not just use the works as inspiration without buying the rights to it? (The built in fandom, duh! Guaranteed high ratings, at least in the beginning.) Why not let someone who will be true to the book/s buy the rights, and you just create everything from scratch that is similar to the book/s, and thus not tick off the fans. I'm not sure I'll even bother to continue to watch. I may have to find other things on Peacock to get my money's worth during my one (and only) year of subscription. Julie Plec has been added to my, "never again will I watch anything by this person ever again" list.

===== ===== ===== UPDATE #2 ===== ===== =====

I've finished the last episode, and I'm done with it. I'm hoping it doesn't get picked up for a season two so that someone else will buy the rights and give me a more book accurate version.

The best thing about this show is that it has given me an idea for how to sell the rights to future works. If the people planning to buy the rights to your work is going to make drastic changes to it, don't sell the rights to your original work . . . Instead sell the rights to a fanfic parallel world version of your original work. Make those who are planning to buy your work and making drastic changes buy the fanfic parallel version instead. Make them change the title and character names, and leave your original work free to be sold to someone who will be loyal to it. Make them pay extra to temporarily take the original work off of the market. They can pay a yearly fee, or a three or five year fee to prevent the original work from becoming competition.

I mean, if they buy the rights to your original work, and then create fan fiction with it, why not just sell them the fanfic rights instead, and keep your original rights to sell to those who want to use the original version of your work? Sounds like a win-win to me. Fans will know from the start that the new show or movie is a fanfic version, not an original version. If Vampire Academy had been sold as a fanfic version, with a new title and new character names, and the fans were made aware of it, I probably would have enjoyed it more. But to sell me a fanfic version of the original work? Nope. Never going to fly with me.

Turned if off real quick after giving it a couple episodes, but couldn't stand it. Vampires that are weak enough to die in crashes and have elemental powers, evil vampires that look like zombies and human/vampire offspring that are meant to be their protectors, but there isn't a whole lot of that happening. This is all supposed to take place at an academy, but I see none of that and all the supposed students do is sleep around and drink like they've got nothing else to do and their fighting/parkour-ing looks like dancing. Also has an older guy going after a student in it. I feel like this show was meant to be serious with all the politics and stuff in it, but it's just so boring and bland and rushed without being explained. The acting isn't great and I couldn't pick out much if any chemistry. Not even going to continue this in the future, because I can't stand it.

I was half expecting them to break out in song to go with the dance moves that they were doing. Oh sorry, I mean fighting. 🤣 Action is obviously all wrong, I really don't think you can even call it action as it really is just like they are dancing, and the acting and script are both bad, not sure which is worse, might even be in the running for top spot of bad against the outfits and sets... alone with special effects and music, lighting, accents (they really do change, like these people are meant to be actors? 🤣) and everything else that is wrong with this. You really have to wonder who knows who or who has done what with who when stuff like this is aired.

I did not think this could be worse than the movie... wow, was I mistaken. Who thought this was good to produce?? Why?? Mixed emotions of angry, sad, disappointed... a disgrace to the books and the wonderful world created within. It's not even the acting, it's the plot. If Julie Plec hadn't ruined it now at the beginning, she certainly would have after 2 or 3 seasons, drag it on and on just like with the Vampire Diaries.

5 minutes in and I was already thinking how boring it is. Decided to give it further chance. Another mistake.

Don't waste your time, reread the books, forget this ever exists.

I loved the vampire academy books growing up, but this series is basically unwatchable for many reasons and nothing like the books. The creators have used the names and title, but everything else is gone and that really ticks me off because pretty much everyone involved in making this series said that it was an adaptation with minimal changes... but keeping only the names and title means that they've done more than minimal changes and they lied to all of us books fans, which is a seriously disgusting thing to do. Did you all think that we wouldn't notice and would just watch this poor excuse of an adaptation? I can only assume you did, which means you are all severely delusional and need to seek medical help immediately.

As I mentioned above, this series is basically unwatchable even with being nothing like the books, and here is why...

1. Actors with poor to dreadful acting skills 2. Awful script

There is more, but those two things alone make it impossible to watch.

While I don't recommend this show, I do recommend the books to anyone that reads this review. It's an amazing story from start to finish with incredible world building and character development and much more.