Sai King Tweets "Last Time Around"

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GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
Cambridge, Ohio
...The Horn of Barbecuing....
il_340x270.651693726_lefy.jpg
 

Baz

Well-Known Member
Sep 14, 2008
376
303
England
I hope these films are a massive success, cos if this is a continuation and this is the Last Time Around then this really is the end, and our final injection of story in relation to The Tower. So the more films we get the better. The Tower must be calling to Sai King again, or Roland. I bet he hears them. If these films don't fly we can only hope Sai King writes the rest of the Last Time Around. But I want them to fly. Films feel right to me for this.
 

ReplayJay

New Member
Aug 19, 2015
3
13
After I finished the last book, I always wondered if every journey was exactly the same, of if there were some where Roland died before he reached the tower, and as he took his dying breath he realized he was going back to the beginning. Or if he became more "human" over the course of his journeys, worn down by the humanity of Jake, and Eddie, and Susannah.

Never knowing if the story would ever end or not, I decided a long time ago that Roland would have to cry off the Dark Tower in order to finally be free of his purgatory, and maybe, that might mean *SPOILER*
crossing the threshold of the last door, following Susannah as she entered winter of New York , and found Jake and Eddie as brothers.
That was my ending to the Dark Tower series.
 

Patricia A

ReMember
Jul 10, 2006
12,887
13,846
Puget Sound
I hope these films are a massive success, cos if this is a continuation and this is the Last Time Around then this really is the end, and our final injection of story in relation to The Tower. So the more films we get the better. The Tower must be calling to Sai King again, or Roland. I bet he hears them. If these films don't fly we can only hope Sai King writes the rest of the Last Time Around. But I want them to fly. Films feel right to me for this.

After I finished the last book, I always wondered if every journey was exactly the same, of if there were some where Roland died before he reached the tower, and as he took his dying breath he realized he was going back to the beginning. Or if he became more "human" over the course of his journeys, worn down by the humanity of Jake, and Eddie, and Susannah.

Never knowing if the story would ever end or not, I decided a long time ago that Roland would have to cry off the Dark Tower in order to finally be free of his purgatory, and maybe, that might mean *SPOILER*
crossing the threshold of the last door, following Susannah as she entered winter of New York , and found Jake and Eddie as brothers.
That was my ending to the Dark Tower series.
I see a multitude of Rolands and variations of the Ka-Tet, while maintaining the same characters, on all sorts of different levels all coming to different ends, but never really ending.
Sometimes if I think about it too much I get swoony. ;;D
I'm really happy about this movie... these movies!!!!
And I agree with Baz on there eventually being a book based on "The Last Time Around." I hope Stephen King writes that book whether the movies pan out or not. I'm thinking he may not be able to help himself because the power of the beam compels him... or some such.
 

Steffen

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2015
2,233
12,800
I love it. It's clever when you think about it. It means nobody should weep and moan about the film not being faithful to the book. It's Roland's next cycle, so anything is possible, including perhaps an ending that won't polarise viewers as much as the book's did.
 

Robert Gray

Well-Known Member
I love it. It's clever when you think about it. It means nobody should weep and moan about the film not being faithful to the book. It's Roland's next cycle, so anything is possible, including perhaps an ending that won't polarise viewers as much as the book's did.

No, it is not. Even if this is the trick they pull to try and avoid complaints about how the film doesn't even remotely resemble the books, this isn't Roland's next cycle because Stephen King didn't write it. He may have given his encouragement, ideas, and even his blessing to make the film, but it isn't one of his books. At best this will be some sort of cinematic homage to the ideas he has created. That's about it. On a different note, when were the fans polarized? I recall one or two people not liking the ending, but that is true of every book. In my own, anecdotal experience as well as reading posts here, most Constant Readers feel it ended exactly as it should have ended. The ending was inevitable. Use of the word "polarized" which gets used and abused so much in the political world, seems to infer you think King's fans are split down the middle as love it or hate it. No.
 
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carrie's younger brother

Well-Known Member
Mar 8, 2012
5,428
25,651
NJ
No, it is not. Even is this is the trick they pull to try and avoid complaints about how the book doesn't even remotely resemble the books, this isn't Roland's next cycle because Stephen King didn't write it. He may have given his encouragement, ideas, and even his blessing to make the film, but it isn't one of his books. At best this will be some sort of cinematic homage to the ideas he has created. That's about it. On a different note, when were the fans polarized? I recall one or two people not liking the ending, but that is true of every book. In my own, anecdotal experience as well as reading posts here, most people feel it ended exactly as it should have ended. The ending was inevitable. Use of the world "polarized" which gets used and abused so much in the political world, seems to infer you think King's fans are split down the middle as love it or hate it. No.
No it is not, but like any artist, he has decided to take one of his ideas and expand on it in another medium. When someone has done one type of work for so many years, especially an artist, branching out into other areas and taking ones work and developing it in different ways is how a person can remain fresh. You have to remember, this isn't just about us. This is SK's life and profession; he has to satisfy himself as well. When we demand of him only what we want, we are all being selfish.
 

Robert Gray

Well-Known Member
No it is not, but like any artist, he has decided to take one of his ideas and expand on it in another medium. When someone has done one type of work for so many years, especially an artist, branching out into other areas and taking ones work and developing it in different ways is how a person can remain fresh. You have to remember, this isn't just about us. This is SK's life and profession; he has to satisfy himself as well. When we demand of him only what we want, we are all being selfish.

If he was the writer, director, and producer, I might cede you the point. He isn't. And King has managed to stay fresh as an author with or without the occasional film tangent. I think those are apples and oranges and have nothing to do with one another. King likes the movies. That fact comes through in several of his nonfiction books loud and clear. It is only natural that he would want to see his favorite stories up on the big screen. In short, he wants to see them up there for the same reason we want to see them up there. That doesn't mean he is approaching the process as an artist expanding into another medium. That would demand quite a bit more input to sustain as an argument. The last time King reached that kind of involvement in a film was Maximum Overdrive (which I loved even if I disagreed with most critics). King has commented directly on film adaptations of his books in interviews and in some of his nonfiction books. He appears to be happy if he just breaks even by it not being terrible. They can never take the BOOKS away. It is always about the writing, both for himself and us as Constant Readers. The rest of it is just icing on the cake. I'm not making the argument that the film will be terrible. That I cannot guess. I'm simply saying that the next cycle of Roland's trip to the Tower, the only one that will matter, will be between the pages of a book or not at all.
 

carrie's younger brother

Well-Known Member
Mar 8, 2012
5,428
25,651
NJ
If he was the writer, director, and producer, I might cede you the point. He isn't. And King has managed to stay fresh as an author with or without the occasional film tangent. I think those are apples and oranges and have nothing to do with one another. King likes the movies. That fact comes through in several of his nonfiction books loud and clear. It is only natural that he would want to see his favorite stories up on the big screen. In short, he wants to see them up there for the same reason we want to see them up there. That doesn't mean he is approaching the process as an artist expanding into another medium. That would demand quite a bit more input to sustain as an argument. The last time King reached that kind of involvement in a film was Maximum Overdrive (which I loved even if I disagreed with most critics). King has commented directly on film adaptations of his books in interviews and in some of his nonfiction books. He appears to be happy if he just breaks even by it not being terrible. They can never take the BOOKS away. It is always about the writing, both for himself and us as Constant Readers. The rest of it is just icing on the cake. I'm not making the argument that the film will be terrible. That I cannot guess. I'm simply saying that the next cycle of Roland's trip to the Tower, the only one that will matter, will be between the pages of a book or not at all.
I totally disagree with this statement. Personally, I feel Doctor Sleep and Revival were two of his weakest efforts in his 40+ years of writing. It's all personal opinion and I respect what you have to say but I stand by my statement above.
 

Robert Gray

Well-Known Member
I totally disagree with this statement. Personally, I feel Doctor Sleep and Revival were two of his weakest efforts in his 40+ years of writing. It's all personal opinion and I respect what you have to say but I stand by my statement above.

Really? I read Revival and loved it. I haven't gotten to Doctor Sleep.
 
Mar 12, 2010
6,538
29,004
Texas
Well, think of it this way. If all of SK's works exist on various levels of the Tower, wouldn't it stand to reason that their adaptations will too? Especially the ones SK is personally involved with? So by that rationale, the film version of Roland and his journey will differ from the book version, but still counts as part of the tale. As for how the cinematic version will end, we shall see when the money starts coming in. I would imagine even if the journey ultimately continues, the film version might have a bit more satisfying conclusion between Roland, Flagg, and the Crimson King.

Wouldn't that make the film fan fiction? I'm not big on fan fiction :(
 

carrie's younger brother

Well-Known Member
Mar 8, 2012
5,428
25,651
NJ
Really? I read Revival and loved it. I haven't gotten to Doctor Sleep.
I've read all published novels by SK, all pretty much as they have been published. The only book I have yet to finish is Dreamcatcher, though I have attempted 3 separate times. I will some day read it through. That said, I can't remember ever feeling as disappointed with any of his books as I was with Doctor Sleep (especially this one!) and Revival. In my opinion, they are populated with poorly written characters and their story lines are a mess; there is no fluidity to the narrative. I was afraid SK was hitting his "phoning it in & end of career period" but then there was Joyland which to me is one of his best and the 2 Brady books so far which are solid reads. But as always, to each his own.