Vampire Academy

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.

The subject matter is similar and most of the characters have the same names, but that is where the majority of the similarities to the book series disappear. The story in the show bounces all over all of the books picking and twisting the different events. These books were also for young adults and the content of the show is definitely not for young adults. I wish I had not read the books prior to seeing the show, maybe than I wouldn't be as disappointed. I read all of the Vampire Academy series books and then continued on the the Bloodlines series. I genuinely hope they do not attempt to convert those books as well.

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.

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 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.