By ALEX PECHA
Staff Writer
The strangest things can be found on Netflix. Staff Writer Alex Pecha takes a look as some of the more unusal finds.
The Dresden Files is, in case you are not aware, a rather well known fantasy-mystery book series starring a noir-style detective/wizard named Harry Dresden. The book series is up to about 12 books (not including the side short stories) and has been well received.
With such a well-received book series it was probably inevitable that it got a TV or movie adaptation, and true to form it did. Haven’t heard of the TV series before? Neither had I until it showed up on my Netflix suggestions. Apparently, The Dresden Files got a one season run on SyFy (Back when it was still Sci Fi) in 2007, it only got that one season only. Well why is that? Did it suck? Was it just poorly viewed? Let’s take a look.
The first thing that anyone should consider while watching the Dresden Files TV show is that it is not a direct adaptation of the book series. Certain ideas, characters and settings have either been streamlined/altered for television, or removed completely. If you’re a diehard fan of the books this is potentially a deal breaker, but if you’re willing to look past the omissions the show actually has a charm of its own.
Like the books, the TV show stars a “Wizard for hire” named Harry Dresden. Dresden is not the party type wizard however; he actually can use magic to solve “problems” for anyone who can pay (Though in the show he often winds up not charging anyone anything). Harry is often hired by the local Chicago PD to take a look at “odd” cases by Lieutenant Murphy, his sort of friend, sort of colleague. Due to Dresden helping Murphy with her cases he is often dragged into paranormal conspiracies and crimes which he tries his hardest to hide from Murphy for her own good.
Dresden isn’t on his own though, he has the spirit of an ancient wizard who’s bound to a skull named Bob to help him as well as a local wizard who acts like a paranormal cop named Morgan. Although more often than not Dresden and Morgan are at odds to put it lightly.
There are other reoccurring characters, such as the vampire brothel owner Bianca (played by Warehouse 13 star Joanne Kelly) and antagonistic Detective Sid Kirmani (played by Raoul Bhaneja). There are more but I won’t spoil all of them for you.
The setting is a well thought out alternative to the books, if a bit more homogenized to fit what we expect of the “Secret world of Magic” idea. Magic is split into black magic and basically everything else, the difference being that black magic is sort of like the dark side from Star Wars on crack. It makes you evil, literally eats your insides and is always tempting to magic users to use.
This evil magic is fought by the “High Council” which acts as the governing body of magic; though the show quickly shows that just because they aren’t exactly your normal “good guys”. Instead of walking around in robes with a giant staff with ancient writing on it wizards often hide in plain sight by using inconspicuous objects as magical weapons or shields, though the effectiveness of this varies from wizard to wizard. For example Dresden wears a long jacket atop normal clothes and carries a hockey stick and a drum stick to use as his staff and wand respectively.
The plots themselves range from “excellent” to “foreseeable”. Some of the episodes are genuinely well written mysteries that will keep you guessing as to what’s going on, while others you will be able to guess the ending a mile away. Though for the most part the episodes keep their heads above water and keep the viewer interested, making the overall writing of the series good.
There is a bit of a jarring shift about half way through the series with one particular episode however. Before the TV show was officially commissioned a shortened movie version of the first Dresden book Stormfront, was made for TV.
Instead of forgetting that the whole thing existed the creators of the show made the baffling decision to cut it down and slap it in the middle of the series. This particular episode doesn’t have Bob, changes Dresden and Bianca’s relationship by almost 90 degrees and is made overall darker to be more in line with the books; the end result being an episode that looks, sounds and feels rushed and out of sync with the rest of the series. It’s probably best to skip this episode altogether as it doesn’t tie into the rest of the season at all and is just sort of there.
The shows characters are decently written for the most part, though it seems like the always skeptic cop Sid is just there to say “Pah, magic” whenever something weird happens. That said the entire ensemble is well acted; everyone feels like they were casted right for their roles This is especially true of Paul Blackthorne as Dresden who plays the “Goofy wizard” part extremely well; Though
Terrence Mann as “Bob” deserves special mention for his stellar performance as a deadpan dead guy in a skull, which is much more complimenting then it sounds.
While they are well written and excellently acted, Murphy and Dresden don’t really bring a whole lot different to the mystery TV series genre, filling their “awkward buddy cop” roles to a T. That’s not to say that makes the show worse for it, it just makes it not wholly different than other existing cop shows out there.
That might very well be why the series didn’t get off its (admittedly well built) feet, besides having wizards as characters it doesn’t really add a whole lot that other TV series haven’t done yet. It also walks an odd line of being part buddy cop show and fantasy show, which is a nice place to be but means it has to compare itself both with shows like Law and Order as well as Buffy (That’s still a relevant comparison to make, right?). At this, it doesn’t fully live up to what it had to be to survive.
All that said however, The Dresden Files is a very neat little series that got shot down sadly before it could make a true identity for itself. This is a shame, because you could see where the creators were setting up for further seasons.
If you have a rather easy week and a Netflix account look it up, its 12 episodes (11 if you skip Stormfront like I suggest you do) so it can be finished in about a week. It has good mysteries, good characters and a great setting; and what more can you really ask for?
