Shadowhunters Discussion || Pt. 3: The TV Series

Part Three:

The TV Series

Raphael: Stay. Good dog.
Luke: Bite me.
Raphael: Roll over.

Luke: Play dead.

Simon: Boom! *High-fives with Luke*
-Raphael and Luke banter, while Simon supports Luke, Shadowhunters Season 1

The following post contains spoilers. You've been warned.

From left to right: Isaiah Mustafa as Luke Garroway, Matthew Daddario as Alec Lightwood, Emeraude Toubia as Isabelle Lightwood, Katherine McNamara as Clary Fray, Dominic Sherwood as Jace Wayland, Alberto Rosende as Simon Lewis, Harry Shum Jr. as Magnus Bane (from www.cafecomlivroo.com)

I have to say, people of the Shadowhunter fandom has been through a lot. They've been through the incest, the excessive love triangles, the passion cries for the right casting for the film, the movie itself, the failure of the movie, and finally this. The Mortal Instruments converted itself into a television series on Freeform, and it started to air last January of 2016. Before the series even began, the reactions to this has been a mix-bag. Everyone was pretty comfortable with the movie casting, so I can understand if everyone panicked when the casting has been brought to a clean slate. Then the trailers came, and people worried. It was easy to say that the budget given to this series is not as big compared to most, and it is quite evident in the special effects. Plus, a lot of people were not comfortable with the acting skills of the actors and actresses portraying the characters. Recently, the series has ended and it has been renewed for a second season in 2017. Now the question remains...did it give justice to the Shadowhunter fandom? Welcome to the last day of our Shadowhunters Discussion, where we finally tackle the first season of Shadowhunters.

Shadowhunters Discussion || Pt. 2: The Movie

Part Two:

The Movie

Simon: You killed two cops!
Jace: They weren't cops!
*banters about it for the next ten minutes*

-Simon & Jace, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones movie (2013)

The following discussion contains spoilers. You've been warned.

From left to right: Lily Collins as Clary Fray, Robert Sheehan as Simon Lewis, Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace Wayland, Kevin Zeger as Alec Lightwood, Jemima West as Isabelle Lightwood. (From: Moviepilot)

Today is day 2 of the Shadowhunters discussion, and we are going to talk about the movie that showed during 2013.  Yesterday, I discussed the book and if you want to see that before diving into this, you can click here. For this post, I will not go on and on about how it was not loyal to the source material (a.k.a. book), because it is just a movie adaptation. These kinds of things do not necessarily have to be extremely accurate to the original story. The movie is based on the book, and it is not the book. In my opinion, movie adaptations are all right just as long as they can still make a good story. Yes, I am looking at you Percy Jackson movies. Anyway, I just watched the film again last night and I have a lot to say about it.

When I heard that this movie was going to happen, I had my reservations. Then the casting news came, and all I could do was nod. And then the production designs were teased, my eyes gleamed for a moment. Finally, the trailer and pictures came, and I became even more excited. The movie looked aesthetically good so I couldn’t wait to see it in theaters. And guess what? I did, and did I like it? Well…

Shadowhunters Discussion || Pt. 1: The Book

Part One:

Book Discussion

"Once you've spent a bit more time in our world, you won't ask me that again." -Jace Wayland, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

This following discussion contains spoilers. You've been warned.

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The first season of Shadowhunters is officially over! To commemorate its success in television, I'd like to stroll down memory lane and talk about everything that you may need to know about The Mortal Instruments. By doing that, I am going to spend three days discussing about the book, movie, and of course the TV series. These are not really reviews, but more of thoughtful detailed discussions on what I liked and disliked about this fandom. If you've been following my blog for quite some time, then I am sure you are aware that I am part of the Shadowhunter fandom. I love the stories of the Shadowhunter, mostly because they are compelling, suspenseful, romantic (???), and thrilling. It's all you can ask for in a typical Young Adult series.  For part one, I am going to talk about the thing that started it all; the book itself. But I will only be discussing the first book of the Mortal Instruments, which is The City of Bones, since the TV series and movie based their storylines here. This week, I took some time rereading it and studying it. So let's get started.

The Story: Clary Fray is just your average teenager until she started to feel insane. Well, this is because she began to see things that are out of the ordinary. She would see people with wings or fangs, or even cat-like eyes. She even witnesses a murder committed by a bunch of teenagers that only she could see. The confusion and hysterics continue until Clary's overprotective mother goes missing, leaving their house trashed and attacked with no explanation. Clary had no choice but to seek the help of the murderers she saw earlier, only to learn that everything that she had in her life was a lie. Turns out, she was a Shadowhunter, a part-human and part-angel that serves to protect the humans from demons. She inherited this from her mother, who was assumed to be kidnapped by Valentine; a megalomaniac whose mission is to grab the Mortal Cup and to use it for his dark purposes. Clary and her newfound Shadowhunter friends attempt to find the Mortal Cup before it reaches to the evil clutches of Valentine. 

New Yolk Times: Thoughts on SHADOWHUNTERS

Hello! I am here with another New Yolk Times post for you and today I am going to discuss the series that I've been waiting for, Shadowhunters. As some of you know, The Mortal Instruments series has been rebooted as a TV series on ABC Fami--- I mean, Freeform. So the plot is basically the same as the one you read in the book or seen in the movie. 

To be honest, I was not looking forward to this. Yes, I got excited until I learned ABC Fa--- I mean, Freeform has decided to adopt the show. The promos to me were not too flattering but I was ok with the casting choices. And when I saw the pilot episode I gotta say... I was surprisingly okay with it.

Fangirl Moment (?) Shadowhunters Teaser and Trailer

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Remember when I fangirled about the announcement of The Mortal Instruments becoming a TV series? Well guess what, it actually pushed through and after all the casting announcements and progress, we finally get a glimpse of a teaser and a legit trailer! Unless you're one of those people who went to New York Comic Con, then oh, well. You already.

Now I am well pleased with the very first teaser. For me, all the colors and all that mystic shiz going on accurately captured the vibes of the TMI series, at least for the first book. Also, for once, the casting is pretty good. Isabelle finally looks Isabelle, Clary's hair color is correct, and so on. My only concern now for the show is that if it will also be able to transition into a much darker and eerie tone, like that of the movie. The problem with the movie was that it was trying too hard to be scary and kinda dark. The Mortal Instruments has that very element but it is wrapped around with some light and vibrant stuff. Kinda like ecstasy, but not really. The teaser is able to give me that very feel, but I'm really hoping for some serious things to happen, because as of now it really aims to cater to a much younger audience. I am honestly hoping they would be able to make the show look enticing for adults too, because the series deals with also very mature topics as the story progresses.

And then we have the trailer. Honestly, this very trailer kinda reduced my excitement. First and foremost, we again talk about casting choices. Kat McNamara pulled off the Clary look, but the acting skills? I'm not so sure about that. Her acting technique seems a bit ten times more awkward compared to what Lily Collins offered. Her screams and yells were too sweet-sounding, and Clary Fray is anything but sweet. Unfortunately, the trailer only showed her frightened side, but as they put in more teasers, I'd like to see another angle of Kat McNamara as Clary, preferably her stubborn side. I also have a good feeling about Harry Shum Jr. and Dom Sherwood who are playing Magnus and Jace, respectively. Harry, for me, will somehow never pull off the complete Magnus look compared to Godfrey Gao, but his acting was really good. It is the first time I've seen him act in such a setting, and so far I like what I see. As for Dom Sherwood, we only get to see barely a glimpse of his character. He managed to say a line that was very Jace ("What? No thank you?"), and that's probably the only Jace line I've ever heard. The rest was him explaining what Shadowhunters are. Mostly, the trailer and teaser highly focuses on Clary, who is obviously the main protagonist. I didn't get to see much Jace, and it is something that I still look forward to because he's also a very major character. Apart from that, I think he did okay. So apart from the eerie element, I am very concerned with the acting. Yes, I am looking at you, Kat. I will be watching each and everyone of the cast, especially her.

I do hope that the next trailers will reveal the other characters as well. I am also kinda disappointed that these guys do not have accents anymore. Having accents almost seemed like a shadowhunter trademark to me. But, whatever. Shadowhunters will premiere on ABC Family this January of 2016, and this time, I will lower my expectations for this. I get that most of these actors and actresses are still not that established, so I will cut them slack. But it's very important that they do the storytelling right. I'm not saying that it should be book accurate, but hopefully it would still be very interesting and that they will be transition to different types of tones.

And that is it for my post! Till the next one~

Fangirl Moment! The James Dean as Jace!

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Here ye! Here ye! We have a new Jace, and that means...aww, Jamie Campbell will not be our Jace.

Recently ABC Family announced that Dominic Sherweood shall be our brand new Jace for the Shadowhunter series! And honestly, I know nothing about this guy.

Since I love The Mortal Instruments so much, I took the liberty to do a little bit of research on him. Aside from being the boyfriend of the adorable Sarah Hyland, he was born and raised in Southeast England. And this makes him fit the role of Jace well, since Jace has English blood. But then again, if the series still intends to make all the Shadowhunters sound European, then yes we will get more accents than we bargained for.

I also checked the movies and televisions series he has done, and he's actually the guy in Vampire Academy (You know, the weird emo guy who stays in the library all the time). And he's also the guy who.....

papodeblogueiro.com

Got that James Dean daydream look in his eyes! That's right, folks. Our beloved new Jace is the same two-colored eyed man in Taylor Swift's artsy music video, "Style". And as most Shadowhunter fans know, Jace has golden-like eyes, and he has neither. Looks like you still need contacts, buddy.

And so far, that's all I know about him. Hopefully we will receive more announcements about the upcoming show and hopefully a new casting for Clary Fray. So my question for you is, do you think Dominic Sherwood will do Jace justice? I know it's too soon to tell, but if we got more suggestions or if we still want Jamie back, then it's better to voice out those opinions now while the production is still young. As for me, I'm fine with it as long as they get him to look more like Jace. As for his acting skills, I don't have much worries. He may not have a very credible background on it, but I've seen him done the stoic bad boy archetype before. However, Jace is not exactly stoic, right? So I guess the question I have for him is that if he can pull off the troll, tormented, narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive, pretty boy.

Till the next post~

Fangirl Moment! "Shadowhunters" series adopted by ABC Family

Source of photo

Last year I posted that The Mortal instruments will be turned into a series. And it is finally happening. ABC Family just announced that they will take on the high-end series entitled, "Shadowhunters". Now the title has really great ring to it, but there are still so many questions that need to be answered. Who are the cast? How much of the story will they keep and delete? Will they include the incest and the other controversial themes the entire series entail? Will they change it up more? Will it turn into a flop?

According to an article by The Hollywood Reporter, Constantin Film will be involved in the project, with Ed Lecter as the executive producer. Not much is revealed about the series itself and there is still no word about who is going to be part of the cast.

I don't know much about the ABC Family and the series they produce. However, as far as I'm aware, they also make movies meant for kids and families. It gives movies and shows to Disney, for crying out loud. In other words, I haven't seen them take on a project that involves adult-like plots yet (maybe we can give Once Upon a Time, an exception). If you do know, please let me know. Because for now, I am not confident about ABC handling the entire thing because I was hoping for HBO or at least, CW, because I've seen them execute shows that are beyond abstract. And The Mortal Instruments has a lot dark themes that cannot be easily explained to younger audiences. Plus the reading audience of the series are purely young adults, or at least that's what I observed. And that kind of conflicts with the target audience, ABC intends for the Shadowhunter series. I understand that they want to attract older viewers (and by older, hopefully they mean someone ranging from late teenage years to mid-adulthood), but families? Really? And if Disney somehow wants to become involved with this, then we are doomed. However, I hope they prove me wrong. Like, if they can stay true to the story, bring in fantastic actors with actual acting skills, and offer a fair amount of fan service, then I will be more than glad to say that my doubts were too much. Let's just see how this will play out. And I pray it will turn out well.

Till the next post~