A little note on adaptation

What is adaptation?

Webster defines it as 'a composition rewritten into a new form'.

It's always risky to do an adaptation since it can't be helped but to be compared to the original medium / material, especially if it was a popular or a good one. Books adapted into movies or television series... Movies adapted into television series... Comics / manga adapted into movies / television series... Most of the time, viewers will chose the original material.

But do we really have to choose?

Based on my Film classes, adaptation should be taken as an individual work of art. As much as possible detach it from the original material.

It's ideal, but it's better said than done. I'm not a critic here. At the end of the day, I'm still a fan of the original MNIKSS. I would be still be comparing ASKSS every now and then to the original drama.

ASKSS is a difficult adaptation because it will be adapted to the same medium - television series. GMA's biggest challenge now is to present it in a Filipino-way and not end-up doing a "re-enactment". And so far, based on the teasers and write-ups, I don't think GMA is heading towards the "re-enactment route". At least in that way, ASKSS can still be differentiated with MNIKSS. I'm open to changes (rather than suffer from watching MNIKSS again, only this time different faces for the actors). I just hope that they will be able to keep MNIKSS' "heart" since that the most important element.

TRIVIA:
Did you know that the original "My Name Is Kim Sam Soon" was also an adaptation?
It was originally a Korean novel with the same title, written by Ji Soo Hyun, published a year before the drama series was produced. I have the book and I attempted to read it. I ended up not understanding anything. But here's a summary of the book (in case you are interested). Based on the summaries I've read over the years there were also a lot of major deviations from the book when they adapted it into the television series medium. And those deviations were really effective. Thanks to the wonderful writing talent of Kim Do Wo.