Vampire Academy

I had my doubts when I saw the trailer, but I kept telling myself "never judge a movie/show by its trailer", but I should have just stuck with judging this one because it really shows how boring and bland it is (trust me, it only gets worse if you watch it). The plot/storyline is boring, rushed and makes no sense whatsoever. When I say rushed, I mean characters are together with no build up and they move from one thing to another way too fast, and it makes no sense because there are things in this that need to be explained but they don't explain them or build up to them. The music doesn't always fit and is sometimes used when not needed, and it's too loud, you can barely hear what people are saying. I don't like to say bad things about people, but these actors are terrible. 😣 Bland, blank, 2-dimensional with no chemistry with each other. And because they have no chemistry, the romances are just awkward. I don't even know if you can call them romances. Maybe lust or just one night stands or something fits better? I don't know. The fighting reminds me too much of ballet and plays in general. It needs to look more real not practiced.

Overall, this was hard to watch and I won't be doing it ever again.

Can't actually believe that someone put money into making this. Where to begin... 1) acting... not to be seen in this. They have little to no emotions, chemistry and are wooden. 2) Actors are meant to be teens but are anything but 3) script... cringe af 4) I can't even with the wardrobe 5) the "bad" vampires look like zombies 6) why can the "good' vampires be killed so easily? 7) why do those dhamp-things have "bad" vampire like powers when they are created by the weak "good" vampires? 8) The cgi for that crash, those dogs and the other stuff is, well you know, cringe 9) why does the set rarely change and look like a literal stage? 10) Why is everyone together when they don't even know each other? Relationships don't just happen like that.

I could go on, but I don't want to. Clearly you can see by what I've written that nothing is explained and everything is cringe.

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.

Not appropriate for anyone 18 and under, but it's also too immature to be for adults, so I'm not too sure who the target audience is. I can't say I will stick around to watch any more episodes, managed to watch the first 5, as I just didn't find it to have that certain spark that pulls you back in for more, which other new shows do have. The acting and script were both very mediocre, and I think that plays a huge part in why I couldn't get into this show. I also found it to be very rushed and not well explained, so I was confused as to what was happening most of the time, so with all of those things, I just couldn't get into even though I wanted too.

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.

===== ===== ===== UPDATE #1 ===== ===== =====

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.