(Sound)
- I'll kill you all! I'm every nightmare you've ever had. I am your worst dream come true. I'm everything you ever were afraid of. (Noise)
- The 1986, Stephen King's novel 'It' tapped into
one of mankind's most ancient fears, spooky clowns that promise
we'll float down there. - And in 1990, ABC brought them to
prime time with a two part mini series. - But in 2017, New Line Cinema made
a spooky horror film adaptation. - And I'm going to skip it,
because (Bleep) clowns, man. I'm Laura Prudent, by the way. - And I'm Clint Gage, and with no
restrain on spoilers, it's time to ask, what's it's difference? (Music) Right off the bat, most obviously, there's a structural difference
between the book and the miniseries. Partly, because it's an 1,153 page book, which is just way too
long to adapt completely. Though it was a two part miniseries
with a run time of around three hours, if you don't count the commercials,
so they kept quite a bit in. - The basic story of 'It'
follows a group of friends, self deprecatingly known
as the Losers Club. Coming together to battle an eternal
demon in the form of Pennywise the dancing clown. And just to reiterate (Bleep) clowns,
man, they're scary. - But there are two halves to the story,
the first taking place in Derry, Maine, 1958, the first time the Losers Club
faces off with Pennywise. And second half taking place in
present day, when, as adults, the Losers return to fight
Pennywise once again. - The book crosscuts the two halves of
the story with both the 1958 losers and their present day grownup counterparts
squaring off with Pennywise towards the end of the novel. The structural differences in
the miniseries are probably because of commercial breaks. Part one of the miniseries ends with
a 1958 showdown with Pennywise. Then everybody had to come back
to ABC the following Sunday night to see how the adults fared
in their present day confrontation. - But what's probably the main
difference between the two can be chalked up to something
we've already mentioned, a Stephen King novel, complete with
unbridled gore and terror, was adapted for a nationally broadcasted ABC Sunday
night miniseries, in 1990. So in the book you get a vivid description
of a bully poisoning one of our hero's dogs and watching it die. In the miniseries, you get this, a montage of two grown men
funning around on an old bike. (Music) - While Pennywise, himself, stays largely
the same from the book to the miniseries, his carnage is much more
explicit in Stephen King's book. Actually, the entire
town of Derry is as well. For example, the novel opens with
George Denbrough's death back in 1958. It may be the most iconic
image from the novel, Pennywise literally rips the 5 year
olds arm off from inside a gutter. The miniseries, on the other hand, begins with Pennywise killing
a little girl in the present day and Mike Hanlon discovering a picture
of George at the scene. Something that really doesn't
happen at all in the book. - Georgie. (Music)
- The book marks Pennywise's return to Derry, Maine with a hate crime. Two local assholes are drunkenly harassing
a gay couple and end up shoving one of them over the side of a bridge where
Pennywise is waiting underneath. The man is found later torn to ribbons and the local assholes
are convicted of his murder. Stephen King goes into extreme detail
recounting the events of that night, including police interviews and
parts of the trial. But this homophobic attack isn't the only
bit of bigotry the novel spends more time with. Racism, anti Semitism and misogyny area
all featured much more prominently in the book than they are in the miniseries. Again, pure Stephen King has a swarm of
flying leeches slowly eat a boy alive. The cleaned up mini series has this cheery
dinner time scene set to happy time music. (Music) - They love each other. - But these are all differences between
gory, unfiltered Stephen King and a sanitized network broadcast. Narratively, though,
'IT' stays pretty much intact. All the main characters make it
from the page to the screen. But, as we said, their stories
are told in a very different order. So instead of going chronologically,
let's take it character by character, starting with the Losers Club. - First up, defacto leader of
the Losers Club, Bill Denbrough. - Can I go sail it? - We have to seal it first with paraffin. - Stuttering Bill is basically the same
in the book and the miniseries. A kid dealing with a particularly
nasty speech impediment and, right, the tragic death of his brother for
which he feels responsible. Bill grows up to be a wildly successful
horror author turned screen writer, which can't possibly be a stand in for
anybody because he's bald in the books, so there's no way Stephen King wrote
himself into his own fantasy adventure. Bill is also married,
quite happily, to a famous actress. So, you know, NBD, you guys. - Then there's Ben Hanscom,
the overweight, easy target for bullying. - Hey, look, it's the fat boy. - Top of the day, fat boy. (Music) - In the book,
much more is made of his intelligence. He's a smart kid who spends a lot
of time reading at the library. Knows how to build dams and
even smelt silver. And as an adult, book Ben loses the weight
and becomes a successful architect. However, he still keeps to himself,
living quietly outside of Omaha, Nebraska. He even has a private jet and
landing strip on his property, and makes a point to come home every weekend
no matter where his work takes him. - In the miniseries, adult Ben is
also a successful architect, but he's more of a playboy. We meet him drunkenly getting out
of a limo, champagne bottles and industry awards spilling out
of his grip as he escorts his lady of the evening up to
a 90s chic downtown loft. Though the rest of his back story remains
the same, including the part about an asshat track coach, who spurred lose
all the weight back in high school. - "Richie Tozier" is my name,
and doing voices is my game. - Richie Tozier is the same loud
mouth cut up in both mediums. The only real difference with them is
in the book, he's a popular radio DJ, famous for his many characters. And in the mini series, he's a popular
comedian, famous for his many characters. - Look, look,
the cricket is attacking the city. - There's not much difference in the level
of racial insensitivity in his characters though. - Mike Hanlon is a young man very
interested in the history of Derry, in both the book and the mini series. And also goes on to run the Derry
public library as an adult. The book spends a great deal more time
outlining his research through several interlude chapters. - It's time to tell
the others what's happening. I can't put it off any longer. - Narratively, the interludes function the
same as the miniseries use of Mike's VO. But the book provides a ton more
information in these sections. - Mostly, the interlude chapters cover
other incidents It has been responsible for over the years. Like the old iron works exploding
during an Easter egg hunt, and that time that some dude wandered
into a bar in the early 1900s, and chopped up a bunch of people with an axe,
as you do. - The mini series most likely cut
these for time and relevance, but it's also a prime example of unfiltered
Stephen King running wild in his pages, and ABC trying desperately
to fight him back. - Another loser is Eddie Kaspbrak, a hypochondriac with an overbearing
mother in both mediums. - I don't want you to
play with them anymore. No good will come of it. - But, ma, they're my friends. - You don't need any friends,
Eddie, except for your own ma. - As an adult, he runs a limo service in New York with
a clientele that includes Al Pacino. But while the book sees grown up Eddie
married to a woman who is exactly like his mom. Mini series Eddie is still
living with his mom. This is actually a very useful
shorthand for the mini series. Instead of saying to the audience,
remember what his mom looks like? Doesn't it seem like his choice of wife
indicates that Eddie's got some Oedipus business to deal with? They were just able to say this look at
this dude's still living with his mom. Full stop. - Stan Uris is also a member of the
Loser's Club for whom not much changes. In both mediums, he's a successful
accountant in Atlanta who, upon hearing of It's return, goes straight upstairs,
to slit his wrist in the bath tub. The book delves much deeper into Stan and
his wife's back story, and trouble conceiving a trial. Plus, he brutally chops
himself up in the book, while the mini series only shows a few
drops of blood, but mostly it's the same. - And, finally, there's Beverly Marsh,
the only lady member of the Losers Club. She's mostly the same from page to screen. The daughter of an overbearing and abusive
man, Beverly grows up to be a fashion designer in a relationship with
another overbearing and abusive man. - Book Tom is her husband and an asshole
of the more beer bellied, quiet, the game is on, variety. While mini series Tom is her boyfriend
in a slick 80's champagne and coke kind of douche. - That's perfect. Don't touch it. - Though both are equally manipulative and
abusive. The book's version of their fight,
as she leaves for Derry, is decidedly more violent. But this is true for all the characters. Each of their back stories are basically
the same just bloodier, more violent and more upsetting. - But this is a good spot to transition
into the role of bloody Stephen King versus overcoat network TV conversation. Beverly's transition from page to
screen is not just about violence. Young Beverly's sexual awakening
is a big difference as well. The mini series portrays the kids
as close as 12 year olds can be. They're just really, really good friends. - The mini-series skips the part where
Beverly checks her breasts each morning to see if they got bigger overnight, and the part where her father becomes very
creepily interested in checking her hymen. Even though it's likely Pennywise who
had taken him over in that scene. But, most notably, she has sex with
each of the guys in the Losers Club. - After they defeat
the spidery Pennywise in 1958, the Loser's Club is falling apart,
emotionally. They talk about how they could ever
possibly keep it together after the trauma they've just endured. After all, Pennywise just forced them to come
face to face with their deepest fears. But, that's when 12 year old
Beverly realizes their love for each other is the answer. So, right there in the dark
tunnels underneath Derry, just outside a supernatural
ancient spider demon's lair, Beverly has sex with each of the boys
in the Losers Club one after another. - And Stephen King's prose in this section
is, well, detailed, to say the least. But I guess the Losers Club thought
that it still wasn't enough. When they get back above ground, Stan
still makes them cut their hands and swear a blood oath to return should Pennywise
ever start clowning around in Derry again. So, cutting the 12 year old's sex stuff
was a no brainer, where standards and practices is concerned. But, it was also an easy lift
from a story telling perspective. - The difference though
is really a thematic one. Stephen King's book spends a lot of
time on the idea of childhood trauma, on giving kids grownup
issues to deal with and ultimately handling themselves
better than the adults around them. The miniseries is more concerned with just
telling a story about a scary thing that happened to kids, who then grew up and
had to deal with it again. The monster is a metaphor for
unresolved childhood issues. - In the book, though,
the sex scene works as a metaphor for the kids becoming adults before they
really understand what it means. The circumstances
the Losers Club finds itself in, necessitates the transition
into adulthood. Going back to the structural
difference to the story, the books intercut race to the finish
makes that point more emphatically. Meanwhile, the two half
structures of the mini series, shows the kids going through
the trauma in the first half, and the adults picking up
the pieces in the second half. - I don't want to be scared anymore. (Music) I'm going back in. This time I'm going to kill it. - But we've got like 11
minutes into this thing and we barely touched on the real
star of 'It', It, itself. (Sound) Iconically,
played by Tim Curry in the movie series, Pennywise the Dancing Clown is every bit
the terrifying circus nightmare your inner child remembers. - Won't do any good to run, girly boy. - He's a monster that shows up
every 30 years to feed on children. And while he takes several different
forms in the mini series, largely, the Loser's Club just sees him as a clown. - In the book, however, Pennywise appears
to each of the kids several more times and in different forms. He shows up as anything from a giant bird
attacking young Mike Hanlon at the old iron works, to a homeless man offering
Eddie a blowjob under the porch of the house on Neibolt Street. But his methods, and even a lot
of his dialogues, stay the same. - I'll show you how to float down here. They all float down here. - The mini series sees the kids, in 1958,
defeating Pennywise by banding together. Holding hands while a bright
light soars pass them and out of sight after sling shooting
a piece of silver through his forehead. Then, in present day,
Pennywise turns into a spider, hypnotizes a few of the losers with
his dead lights before they eventually rip his heart out with their bare hands. - The book, again,
because of the structural differences, has Pennywise turned into
a spider in both time periods. There's also more metaphysical
aspect to the clan in the book. In fact, there are a few sections of these
final chapters that are from Pennywise's perspective. It is in these scenes that we find out
that he's some kind of elder god from outside of space and time itself. And during the fight in 1958, Bill goes
into the dead lights, and meets a turtle that created the universe, a being that
is kind of the yin to Pennywise's yang. Because why not? - So Pennywise goes way back in the book. In the miniseries, he's a monster
without any sort of origin story. Creepy for sure, but
who knows where it came from. There's this weird thing that happens
towards the end that looks like it's outside of space and time, but
really that's probably just cheap effects. The focus of the miniseries owing in
part to the two halved structure of its roadcast, is not concerned with
Pennywise the Dancing Clown for anything other than a creepy metaphor for
childhood trauma. - Yeah, and actually inflicting some
of its own, because, again, and I cannot stress this enough,
(Bleep) clowns, man. - Very much agreed. - Kiss me, fat boy. - And so, universe creating turtles aside,
ABC's two parter is a basically faithful adaptation when it
comes to the story's basics. Kids find a monster, they beat the
monster, they come back 30 years later to beat the monster again, but
that's as far as it goes. Like the town of Derry itself, the
miniseries ignored all the blood, gore, bigotry, and preteen sexual awakening
of Stephen King's original novel. That's all for this episode, but
be sure to subscribe to CineFix for more What's the Difference? I think a certain sequel to a certain
iconic science fiction film based on a certain legendary science fiction
author's work, might be coming out around the time a certain show would
be doing its next episode of- - Blade Runner. We're doing Blade Runner next. Dammit, can we get away from
this clown now, please? - We'll see you guys next time. (Music)
