As a Book lover, how do you feel when scenes or characters are completely changed when the book is adapted to film?
Take the Loves Comes Softly series. Imagine my surprise when I learned Marty Claridge's (Katherine Heigel's) husband Aaron in the film, was named Clem in Janette Oke's book, and their movie son, named Aaron Luke after his father and Marty's father, was named Claridge "Clare" Luke Davis in the book.
As the book series continued, Marty and Clark Davis had numerous children--Arnie, Ellie, Luke, and Belinda--and adopted Nandry and Clae Larson. The only two children in the Love Comes Softly movie series were Aaron and Arnie. Though adoption played a role in the movie series, Marty and Clark did not adopt anyone. However, Clark's (Dale Midkiff's) daughter Missie (Skye McCole Bartusiak) adopts a girl named Belinda in the movie, Love's Unending Legacy.
Everyone who is a fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder or the classic family television series, Little House on the Prairie, knows Michael Landon strayed far and wide in the TV adaptation, which divides Laura fans into two camps--show lovers and show haters. It also lead Ed Friendly to adapt a mini-series closer to the source material that aired in 2005.
Having fallen in love with the TV movie version of Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea, it shocked me to learn how different Morgan Harris and Anne Shirley's relationship was portrayed in the books. Even Gilbert Blythe's relationship with Christine Stewart made it to film differently.
What are some great TV/movie adaptations you've enjoyed? What are some you wished had stayed closer to the printed book material? Did any of your favorite book characters not make it onto the screen?
