Dresden Files

Not too long ago Stewart wrote a post about the Dresden Files, a series of books written by author Jim Butcher. And now the Sci-fi channel has debuted their TV show based on the popular series of books. For those not familiar with the series, it's based on the character Harry Dresden, a private eye who lives in Chicago and has the added benefit of being a wizard. The real kind, not a sleight-of-hand magician-- and who just happens to have a listing in the yellow pages under wizard. I agree with Stewart when it comes to his assessment of the books; entertaining but not profound fiction. And I guess you could say the same about the TV series. Though to be fair, I liked it. The season premier introduces us to Harry and gives us a little bit of information on his background. We learn that he inherited his wizardly powers from his mother's side of the family and that his father earned a living as a stage magician, though he didn't have any powers of his own. The premier is mainly about a little boy, who happens to be a whole lot like a young Harry. The boy is a wizard who has not come into his powers and yet is already in danger of being found and exploited by those who would use his abilities. The boy only knows that he is being followed by "monsters" and comes to Harry for help. Harry dismisses the boy initially, but circumstances, and the prodding of a ghost that lives in a skull, intervene and Harry ends up trying to help the boy. At this point the series seems to be attempting to build up the back story as much as trying to present an interesting show. In some ways I like that, but it does tend to take time away from the main story and that ends up taking away from the build up and tension. Maybe I'm being a bit picky since the show only had an hour for the premier. That's not a heck of a lot of time to grab the viewer and they did a pretty decent job of gaining my interest. I haven't deleted the season pass, and that always a good sign. I also like the actor that plays Dresden, Paul Blackthorn. He has a way about him that makes him easy to like, not a bad quality for a guy you're building a show around. But he seems like he could be a private eye. He looks fairly young, but his face has the lived in quality of someone who's seen a lot, as we assume Harry has. So at this point, I'm giving the show a tentative recommendation; with the hope that as the show builds up the back story they won't take away as much time from the main story in the future. And for someone like me, I'm happy to have a show on television the features a little magic, it is one of my favorite things after all.