Quote Originally Posted by Vakanai View Post
I think the fundamental difference here is that, I love TLH and you just don't care for it as much, hence I would prefer faithfulness to it, and you'd rather have them make something else. Instead of an adaptation you want an original story. But I want an adaptation. So...I hope they're as faithful as they can possibly be like they were when adapting Year One, and I hope you can settle for watching any of their other original stories instead!

What? It seems like I'd be more disappointed in a wildly changed "adaptation" while you can be just as pleased the next time they make an wholly original story ala Soul of the Dragon.
No, I don't think TLH as it is is very good beyond the art, but it makes a good template for a film or seasonal arc for a show. The broad plot beats and players can all be the same, but saying they can improve the execution on how they do some things is not the same as "they shouldn't make this film"

How does making Bruce a more competent detective change the spirit of the book? Unless the spirit of the book is that Bruce just isn't very bright and the World's Greatest Detective title was given to him by someone who was being sarcastic? They can adapt the basic plot and still have Alberto and Gilda be the killers. Why would Batman actually doing detective work and figuring out Alberto was one of the killers be a negative change? I also said the Gilda twist can still be there as long as it is better foreshadowed and has at least one less dubious plot hole (the hospital bed). All the villains can show up (I'd love it if they do), but how does making them speak in less annoying/one note ways change the spirit of the story in any significant way whatsoever?

Quote Originally Posted by godisawesome View Post
The gold standard for me is still Under The Red Hood - arguably both extremely faithful and still a definite improvement. So I guess for me it’s less that I think they need to “fix” TLH, as much as I think they could use some ambition and insight to “strengthen” it.

Thing’s I love about The Long Halloween:

-The atmosphere.
-The “freaks vs mob” setup.
-The escalation of the tension on the story.
-Harvey Dent’s story.
-Selina and Bruce’s interactions.

Thing’s I think could be strengthened:

-The mystery (arguably, a couple of dialogue changes or minor adjustments in details take care of that.)
-Pacing (“Running the gauntlet” is great, but I think it could be streamlined and focused quite a bit more.)
-Catwoman’s story and Selina and Bruce’s interactions (that it’s to say, I wouldn’t mind a few pieces of Dark Victory and When in Rome popping in.)

The mystery is the biggest thing for me, though that's partially because I genuinely think it’s the weakest execution in an otherwise wonderful premise, and partially because I think they need to come up with more stuff for Bruce if they’re unlikely to adapt all his monologue - to me, you would only gain something by making Brice’s detective skills mean more to the story, and there’s plenty of room for improvement there.

I would genuinely love them adding some of Dark Victory’s moments between Bruce and Selina into the story, though, especially the scene where he tries to apologize for missing a date and bribes her with good food.
Agreed. There is a lot of good material to work with and expand upon with TLH and DV, but improving on the execution definitely isn't impossible.