I'm listening to Resident Beat's really odd (but good) techno type remixes of Resident Evil music. Groaning zombies ahoy! And I have to admit my thing about Resident Evil only really happened because of Spaced. And I've only played Resident Evil: Nemesis, but it's coooool.

Anyway, what I was really going to talk about was K-PAX. Finally. Because I just finished reading the book, by Gene Brewer, who was Associate Producer (or something) on the film as well! And I've come to the conclusion that the book and the film are both very similar, using whole bits of dialogue, and also very different. Some of this I don't want to talk about in black because it'll spoil it if you haven't seen the film, but I want to talk about it, so there.

The whole premise of K-PAX is that there's this guy called prot, who ends up in the Manhattan Institute. Is he mad - is prot some sort of delusion - or is prot really an alien from the planet K-PAX? Sounds silly, I know. You're sitting there thinking, "How can that possibly work?" But it does. Remarkably well. Moreso in the film than the book.

The thing I liked about the film was that it pulled off something that the book didn't quite manage. The prot in the book was universally liked, even loved, but you couldn't see why. Or I couldn't, anyway. He didn't seem like a nice guy. But Kevin Spacey did a great job of making prot lovable in the film. And Jeff Bridges made an excellent Doctor. It was a pleasure watching them bounce off of one another. (Not literally.) I don't think it worked, entirely, if you didn't like prot.

The film missed out a few things that were probably unnecessary to the story. Like cats. And Russell, who thought he was Jesus. But it added some scenes which really added to the plot. Like the 4th of July scene. And the bit where he talks to all the astronomers. And the way they find out about Robert is completely different, too. I'm trying to be obtuse so that I don't spoil people. You may have noticed. :-)

So, what important aspects bring me to certain conclusions?

The book (highlight below for more info):

The book seems to indicate that prot was just a secondary personality of Robert Porter. He hid behind prot whenever he was under stress, and the stress of what happened to his family (and his suicide attempt)meant that he ended up hiding permanently. Or at least until he left for K-PAX. Okay, so he still came up with a few observations that you couldn't really see how he knew them without having alien knowledge, but it wasn't emphasised as being really strange. At the end it's all wrapped up with an explanation of how each and every aspect of K-PAX is to do with something Robert Porter was unhappy about on Earth. All vaguely depressing.

The film (highlight below for more info):

A lot of things about the film are different, although the basic plot is completely identical. It's just that the emphasis on certain things has been altered. If you know what I mean. For instance, prot seems to be able to do a lot of weird stuff, and they make a big deal of it. Like his abnormal sensitivity to light, and his different pulse rate, his astronomical demonstration, and being able to talk to dogs. When he left for Greenland in the book, it was thought that he'd hidden in a room for a while. The end made me think that prot led the Doc on so that he'd find out about Robert, and then prot could leave and the Doc would look after his friend. There's doesn't appear to be a logical explanation for prot's abilities other than he is from another planet! And if you wait until after the credits, you see the Doc watching the stars. As if he believed prot, too.

What conclusions did I reach from the two things, then?

The book: he's quite, quite mad.
The film: he's an alien!

I understand there's apparently a lot of debate over whether or not he's an alien. Perhaps staying to watch the bit after the credits (the bit no-one watches) gave me that extra bit of info I needed to come to a conclusion.

Whatever, it was a truly excellent piece of cinematography. It made me think! I recommend it! Go and see it! Even if you don't like Sci-Fi! It's not really Sci-Fi! Honest! :-)

Aren't banana skins poisonous?