The Vampire Diaries

I read the books 15 years ago, and I was a bit excited and apprehensive about it being made into a TV series with all the liberties that are taken these days. Last night, I watched the pilot. I have a few beefs (missing character and particular character interactions), but mostly I think I was alright with it. It has been update to fit with the times a bit more.

It appears that they are loosely following the story, and that is fine if they are making it into a series. To follow the books, they would have just needed to make a mini-series and been done with it. For a full-on TV series they needed to make many adjustments. I'm a little sad that they are aiming so very hard for the Twilight crowd by throwing the romance factor in right away, but it has the potential to be pretty good.

The acting isn't the greatest, but I have definitely seen much worse. This felt to me like actors that had not yet fit themselves into their characters. It will smooth out with time and become more comfortable for them and it will show through in the series. They have managed to obtain a bit of balance between the almost care-free world of high school and the dark gritty nature of what they can't see and don't know about. That was actually what I was most worried about.

So, from a MAJOR fan of the books (I rejoiced when I realized they were with me instead of another state and started reading them for the umpteenth thousandth time) to the CW....So far, so good. Let's see where they take this and hope they keep true to the feel.

First Impression: Oh this is just some Twilight rip off.

The Truth: Twilight is the one ripping off THIS series.

The Absolute Truth: The Vampire Diaries is infinitely better than Twilight, and no I am not exaggerating.

The plot is as you would have guessed. Elena (Nina Dobrev) is a high school girl who captures the heart of Stefan (Paul Wesley) who of course is a vampire (sounds familiar right?). Later on we get introduced to Stefan's troublesome vampire brother, Damon (Ian Somerhalder). Damon also happens to be attracted to Elena and this creates a love triangle that will follow for the remainder of the series.

Of course that's merely a sample of the entire story. There are werewolves, hunters, witches, and even stronger vampires waiting in future episodes to make this one nail biting show.

The acting is also definitely above average, however obviously not enough to make you believe the actors are high school "teenagers".

My advice: Give it a chance. The first few episodes are slow, but a lot of great TV series are. This show will have you on the edge of your seat each week as the plot thickens more and more.

Last Impression: This is one of my favorite shows on TV. 9/10

After watching The Originals, I watched this series, and I mention it because it really influenced my experience, as I found too many illogical things, like for example an amateur witch being super powerful, 150-year-old vampires defeating 1,000-year-old immortal vampires who in the other series could kill 50 vampires without breaking a sweat, among other things. Also, having watched The Originals takes away some of the suspense from the storyline, for instance with the whole werewolf situation.

I think the overall story is good. For me, The Originals is one of the best series, and while this one doesn't quite measure up to it, it's still good. It has very interesting characters like Damon, Alaric, or Caroline, and I find the whole universe very appealing.

The biggest problem with the series is the dynamic and the characters of its two protagonists, Stefan and Elena-how annoying! I understand that the show starts as a teenage drama and romance, but as the seasons progress, the dynamic between them stays the same. Elena acts the same in the first episode and in the 30th, and the same goes for Stefan, the vampire who fluctuates between moderation, values, love, and uncontrolled murder. Throughout the whole series, it's the same dynamic-they don't evolve.

The appearance of The Originals saves the series, in my opinion.

I really like the episodes, it is somehow fluent and has a taste of Twilight. Maybe it is weird but its shooting is better than Twilight because in watching Twilight you can feel the coldness, silence and a sort of pause which drift the interest of the spectacular away. But in Vampire Diaries, you can feel the hot impression of the characters, hot color of each frame of the movie. These series make you feel more connection to the reality than Twilight. The characters are involved in excellent combination with the setting and the plot. Stephen perfectly reflects his good mood through his face. Elena is another good chosen actress for the character. Because you easily see her bright intelligence and innocence on her face.Damon is just like his name demonic,attracting and tempting person. This good adaptation of the characters to the story makes the film more powerful and better than Hollywood production Twilight thought it is a TV series. I wish Twilight was shot by Vampire Diaries technical production team.

In this day and age it's the time of the Vampires. You have Twilight and True blood and Vampire Diaries but don't let them keep you from watching. While many tend to compare it with the two, it's actually very different. Vampire Diaries, based off a series written 15 years before Twilight,is about a girl Elena who just lost her parents when a new guy, Stefan Salvatore, comes to town but with Stefan also comes trouble, his brother Damon Salvatore. This show is definitely the middle of Twi and True Blood. It has a romance like Twilight and the intensity of True Blood. What this show has is a lot of twists and turns that you don't expect.

The only flaw may be the characters. While there is a lot of character development, it really only applies to the main ones. The supporting characters like Caroline and Matt seem flat. Even though Matt seems to have some roundness, Caroline just doesn't seem to change, she is always that annoying whiny girl;there are even times when Elena can be naive.

All in all, despite it's flaws, every episode has a mystery to it; it's hard to guess what's going to happen. Believe me at the end of every episode, maybe even in between commercials, you begin to speculate what the end possibilities could be.