Something is buried in the woods behind Bobbi's house. And, once it is partly uncovered, it starts exerting an influence on the inhabitants of the small Maine town - strange things happen, strange talents manifest themselves, people get smarter, and the outside world gets cut off. It falls to Bobbi's friend Gard to get some idea of what's happening and find a way to put a stop to it.
With the benefit of hindsight, The Tommyknockers is something of an early run at an idea developed more fully in Under The Dome. As an avid King reader, I found my first pass at this book very difficult: I got a lot more out of it at the second attempt. And, like much of King's work, it defies attempts to adapt it effectively. But the elements which reduce the effectiveness of the adaptation are strange (and, I suspect, different for different people). For me, there were two things which really screwed things up - one was the fact that what was buried in the woods was a saucer, and it was the very edge of this which got uncovered: in the miniseries what got dug up was a series of interconnected boxes. And the other thing was the physical deterioration of the townsfolk - one appreciates how difficult this would be to do on screen, but Bobbi was nearly as attractive at the end as she was at the start, and she should have been a gaunt mess.
The ensemble cast isn't bad, and does a reasonable job of recreating most of King's characters. The main problem is that there is a distinct 2nd class/TV feel to what should have been a 1st class/movie project.
With the benefit of hindsight, The Tommyknockers is something of an early run at an idea developed more fully in Under The Dome. As an avid King reader, I found my first pass at this book very difficult: I got a lot more out of it at the second attempt. And, like much of King's work, it defies attempts to adapt it effectively. But the elements which reduce the effectiveness of the adaptation are strange (and, I suspect, different for different people). For me, there were two things which really screwed things up - one was the fact that what was buried in the woods was a saucer, and it was the very edge of this which got uncovered: in the miniseries what got dug up was a series of interconnected boxes. And the other thing was the physical deterioration of the townsfolk - one appreciates how difficult this would be to do on screen, but Bobbi was nearly as attractive at the end as she was at the start, and she should have been a gaunt mess.
The ensemble cast isn't bad, and does a reasonable job of recreating most of King's characters. The main problem is that there is a distinct 2nd class/TV feel to what should have been a 1st class/movie project.