Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2010 May 31

Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

May 31

Zombies

[1]

Who is the person biting the left arm of the person (and who is this person) in the cap (holding the flare? and gun)?174.3.121.27 (talk) 02:33, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

I have taken the liberty of adding the "m" missing from your heading. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 16:03, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

By a process of elimination, the man in the cap is Michael Kelly (American actor) (see this image on IMDB for confirmation). The other man's face isn't very clear; I haven't seen the film, but perhaps someone who has could tell you if it is one of the main cast or an extra. --Kateshortforbob _talk 17:44, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

Arakawa Under the Bridge

Is Arakawa Under The Bridge (the anime, not the manga) available in the US? --Dr Dima (talk) 03:47, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

It can take some significant time before anime series get the rights sorted out and translated into English, and often it never gets done (officially). Considering that this series is very new, just 8 episodes so far (out of 13), it is unlikely that an English translation is available. That said, if you can understand Japanese, the series will be available to buy on DVD from July 7, 2010 in Japan; though I very much doubt there will be any English subtitles and you will need to have a DVD player able to play R2 disks. Astronaut (talk) 10:05, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

You can watch the first episode free at here, in Japanese though. Scroll down and click yellow lettered "FREE 荒川アンダー　ザ　ブリッジ　第１話「１ BRIDGE」" in the aqua rectangular box. Oda Mari (talk) 15:03, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

Thank you all! --Dr Dima (talk) 02:23, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Most faithful adaptation?

What (to the best of the desk's knowledge) is the most faithful adaptation from a book to a movie? I'm speaking in technical terms - the ideal would use all the dialog from the book with no modification, use all the same scenes exactly as narrated, etc. --Lazar Taxon (talk) 13:27, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

Ira Levin called Rosemary's Baby "the single most faithful adaptation of a novel ever to come out of Hollywood." I was somewhat dubious, but one day I reread the novel and determined that virtually every page is in the film. Pepso2 (talk) 13:58, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

Do plays count? Branagh's version of Hamlet is supposed to be totally faithful to the text (although the setting is completely different). Adam Bishop (talk) 14:21, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

TV adaptations are more likely to be faithful to the book than films are, due to their longer running time which means that fewer liberties have to be taken with the text. Brideshead Revisited (TV serial) would be the obvious example. This adaptation is extremely faithful to the novel, to the extent of having Jeremy Irons read out long passages of narration. The execrable Brideshead Revisited (film), of course, is far less faithful. --Richardrj ^{talk email} 15:15, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

According to our article on Get Shorty (film), the film "...remained true to the book except for a few minor details." Having read a few other novels by Elmore Leonard, I can imagine his writing style lends itself very easily to movie adaptation, with little change to the story or dialogue. Astronaut (talk) 18:03, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

That article might need amendment; I've read the book and seen the film and while the movie is a very identifiable adaptation of the book they're a pretty long way from identical. (The whole business with the cars, for example, is unique to the movie.) - DustFormsWords (talk) 03:25, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

I would suggest The Day of the Jackal (film) as another example. The Wikipedia article actually has a fairly long section on differences between the novel and the movie, but it's only long because it goes into considerable detail about small differences. --Anonymous, 19:39 UTC, May 31, 2010.

The film A Passage to India seems fairly close to the book by E. M. Forster. --Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 11:22, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

The Haunting not the remake struck me as remarkably faithful to the book.hotclaws 20:14, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

The British series Out of the Unknown was a series of television adaptations of print short stories and novellas. They're often surprisingly close to the source material. Word for word even. I'm not sure about the legal status of this link, but if you've ever read The Machine Stops, compare it to this episode on videos.google : [2] APL (talk) 21:31, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Obscure French animated series on TV

Now, this might be a hard one. A number of years ago, I used to watch a French animated series on television (Britain) although the channel remains a mystery. As I remember it, the show was science-fiction in nature and had a Fallout series background - far in the future in the aftermath of some great war/cataclysm, ruined buildings. A totalitarian government had been set up, and the series followed a young boy/man in his adventures - he was looking for something, I believe. There were mutants and possibly psychics, but I remember the most distinctive thing being the large battlescenes almost every episode - soldiers regularly appeared on-screen blazing away, and I think there were tanks and aircraft as well. It might have been on Cartoon Network, but possibly also terrestrial. I realize that this is very vague in places, but I'm hoping there aren't many series that fit these parameters. Any help would be greatly appreciated - I'd spend quite a bit of money to secure the series on video/dvd. Many thanks! Skinny87 (talk) 20:56, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

Chris Colorado? It aired in the UK on Cartoon Network's Toonami in 2001. Steve ^T • C 23:55, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

Highlander: The Animated Series? --Rixxin (talk) 15:19, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Three Letter Abbreviations

On reading the article on the 2009-2010 UEFA Champions League season, I saw that the clubs in the group stage are abbreviated. Manchester United is "MAN", Coppenhagen is "FCK," and so on. Where do these abbreviations come from? Is there some sort of master list with abbreviatons for every club? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.21.165.102 (talk) 21:40, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

I linked the article in question. Dismas|^(talk) 23:56, 31 May 2010 (UTC)