Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Dresden Files (2007)


Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden came and went from the small screen thanks to the short sightedness of the SCIFI network. Rumor is someone didn't like the show and bounced it around the schedule so it would be difficult to find when that didn't kill it they just canceled it despite being one of their highest rated shows.

The series chronicles the adventures of Harry Dresden the one Wizard listed in the Chicago phone book. Dresden uses real magic to help him solve his cases which often involve things like demons and werewolves.

As limited as it sounds Dresden's world is decidedly large and because of the cast of characters including Bob, a spirit bound to his skull and Murphy, a female cop, the series never really ran the danger of falling into the monster of the week category that many supernatural shows fall into (Kolchak anyone?). I think the show is one of the best supernatural shows that ever ran on TV. Sure some could argue about Charmed or Buffy, but as good as they were they always felt artificial, they were in a world somehow one step away from reality..Dresden could be real.Dresden also had some really good mysteries.

I won't bemoan the stupidity of SCIFI for the poor scheduling and other mistakes that doomed the series (I'm convinced they just didn't like it), I'll just take pleasure in knowing that we got to at least see the 12 shows that were produced, even if they are now only on DVD.

Highly recommended.

(The series of novels that the series is based on has 13 novels and a short story collection. They are highly addictive and highly recommended. While the feature pilot was based on one of the novels it was cut down to an hour for airing.

Author Jim Butcher does approve of the series and is okay with the changes that were made to his characters, being well aware that for the show to work on TV things had to be altered)

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