Have they got Tomorrow When the War Began right?

I was quite looking forward to this when I first heard about a TV series. The movie never had a sequel so I never saw other events come to life. The first thing I wondered was how they'll make a PG version of Tomorrow When the War Began. Obviously the books include violence, gruesome descriptions, sex, suicide and a lot of deaths. I mean, it is a war after all. Nonetheless, I was looking forward to see them pull it off.

I saw the first episode and second episode and I am slightly conflicted. I'll be a positive person first. I like the modern twist within the show, the direction of it and how they've expanded beyond Ellie's point of view. It's interesting to see how they interpret what goes on in the showgrounds. They do capture some intense moments in that wonderful slo- mo which I quite liked. The TV series is still based on the books yet manage to distinguish themselves from the movie so I don't entirely feel like I'm rewatching something they have created once before.

Now here comes some of the negativity. Firstly, this is to do with the casting. I think the biggest problem is Fi. In the book, she's the pretty one, she's the supposed perfect one yet she's still down to earth and possibly one of the best people you'll know. One significant thing is that she has blond hair and looks like her mother. In the show, her mother has blond hair and looks the part to be Fi's mother. Fi, on the other hand, looks nothing like her mother. Realistically they are actors... but brown hair? Really? And her character is just a standard teenage girl. In fact, none of the characters have really distinguished themselves from another. I personally think the movie did a better job with both casting and characterization. Lee is another problem. I mean, I like him in the show. He's nice. But the book Lee resembles movie Lee better. They had mysteriousness, deepness, quietness, but TV Lee isn't as indepth. I think movie Homer was more interesting as well and also captured Homer better. I haven't seen as much Ellie and I can't quite figure her out yet. Robyn seems to be the only character that is most like book Robyn. Kevin showed his cowardice and I guess he's not as featured so he's ok. I do like how Corrie is also featured more and I swear the actor was in My Place in that first episode.

Like I said, story expansion is really cool. But they did make some tweaks. On the most part it's ok but there's a couple that gets to me. For the smaller one, does Robyn have feelings for Lee. I feel like sometimes that's all she's there for. I dont recall her affections for Lee. But that's a small one- now for the big one... CHRIS! Yes, just one word that pissed me off. HE IS NOT FI'S LITTLE BROTHER! Why? Why did they do that? Fi had a little sister. Not a little brother. But not only did they change the gender, they made a main character from the group a little brother. The real Chris was a really good writer, he often wrote poems. His parents went overseas but left him behind. The group found him but be struggled with coming to terms with the war. He would cope by getting drunk, writing more poems or being by himself. That is a whole different character, not Fi's brother.

I think the real outcome of the show will be shown at the end. It's 50-50 for me but let's see how far they'll go.