After 1979's Salem's Lot, Stephen King on television went on hiatus until 1990. Although production standards and television's prominence relative to the movie theater had grown considerably over the intervening decade, there was still considerable room for improvement. The 1990's television adaptations are primarily network TV miniseries, and the novels tackled are typically the big (and not necessarily best!) ones: The Stand, IT, and The Tommyknockers, typically shown during sweeps-time. Did this inflate their sense of importance? No idea, but ABC kept coming back for more, almost annually from 1990, and finally, by 1997 Stephen King was ready to put forth the "authoritative" version of The Shining. This version would take full advantage of the miniseries format, presenting the saga of the Torrance family at the Overlook in six hours, including commercial breaks. It would use the real Stanley Hotel, and restore the dynamics among the characters that were stripped from the Kubrick version.
That was the idea, anyway. Unfortunately, this undoubtedly more faithful version would end up being painfully dull, and, ultimately, it too would end up breaking ranks with the source material. Plot-wise, this version is around 75% faithful. Even at six hours, some things would need to be removed. For instance, Hallorann has little difficulty getting back to the Overlook, and the flashbacks to the Torrances in Vermont are short and few. Other things were probably scrapped for budget reasons, so you don't get the huge hedge animal battle at the end, just some minimal shots to establish there are "living" hedge animals that don't do much more than move a little bit. Another twist from the book is the frequent and prominent references to Alcoholics Anonymous. While mid-1970's Stephen King never gave AA much thought, mid-1990's King was all about his sobriety and made a big point of building this into the screenplay. Finally, the big plot change sweeps in right at the end. In the novel, Danny and Wendy are staying at Hallorann's new gig in Maine, still recuperating from their ordeal. In this version, it jumps ahead ten years to Danny's graduation from Stovington Prep in Vermont (Jack's old gig), where it is revealed (GASP) that Tony was actually future Danny, turning a slight a-ha! moment in the book into a heavy-handed faux-shock scene. Also, did Danny graduate at age 15???
Let's talk setting. Last year, my wife and I visited the Stanley and quickly learned that although it inspired the novel, it appears nowhere in the 1980 movie. Well, the 1997 movie works fast to remedy that little problem, using the "real" hotel as much as possible. We probably should have figured that out, given the 1997 version was the only movie they were selling there, except for Dumb & Dumber, which also used the Stanley for some scenes. For what's it's worth, the trip there was worthwhile, but don't expect anything from the Kubrick edition except for the hedge maze, which was recently planted because they were tired of people asking where it was. As for being a great shooting location for the movie, that is debatable, as the Stanley is way smaller than the Overlook as depicted in the Kubrick film. It seemed like they were moving around a very confined space, compared to the vastness of the 1980 Overlook.
Finally comes the inevitable comparison of the casts. Watching this only reaffirmed how powerful the cast of the original movie was. Okay, so they didn't play it by the book, which upset Stephen King, but if you accept the movie for what it was, you really got into the heads of Jack, Wendy, and Danny. Steven Weber play a reasonable Jack, much more by the book as a loving father consumed by the demonic hotel, and even pulls off both sides fairly well. All the AA stuff added to the movie generally supported a Jack that was committed to getting better before the Overlook made him its pawn. Wendy is much stronger character in this one, but Rebecca De Mornay also didn't have to compete with Jack Nicholson at the height of his powers. And then we get Danny. Courtland Mead was no novice to acting when he stepped into the role. He was ten when the miniseries aired, but perhaps due to some measure of development hell he looks a bit younger, but probably older than Danny Lloyd in 1980. Since this version tries to stick close to the book, Danny talks a lot more, and it comes off pretty wooden. And maybe I'm just a bad person, but his mouth seemed to be hanging open all the time like he was in awe of everything around him. As for the rest of the cast, it's about even with the competition, although we really don't see as much of the extra-pimpin' Melvin Van Peebles Hallorann as I thought we would. The decision, however, to "visualize" Tony was regrettable. He just looked silly and showed up at the weirdest times. They probably should have just stuck to having Danny do voices.
All in all, this was a pretty weak miniseries, and definitely should make one question how important King's involvement or approval actually is to the reputation of a production. For comparative value, however, it wasn't an entire waste of time. I'll save my vitriol for some of the upcoming movies, which have a notoriety so great even someone as oblivious as me is leery of them.
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