David Kajganich

This ten-episode limited series is based on Dan Simmons’ novel about the Franklin Expedition. This adaptation changed events and modified characters enough to make pay me attention. If the changes had a goal, it was to tone the story down, to make everyone and everything, demonically-possessed polar bear aside, realistic. I could go on and on about each change, but I think the most important involved a character and the ending. Cornelius Hickey, the villain, was in the book a sneaking vulgar rat; in this series, he is a subtle serpent who is reasonable and sympathetic until he makes his play. The ending is the major change, though. Simmons’ novel ended with the hero, Captain Francis Crozier, going happily native, settling down with a very young Inuit wife and their children, living as a servant of the monster/protector. In this version, he kills the monster, he sees the horrible end of his men, he ends up with the Inuit, not as an honored shaman, but as a tolerated hanger-on. And he does not get the girl. And he is alone and dishonored. I found it the saddest ending I’ve seen in a while.… (mehr)