Last night (September 10, 2009) was the premiere of the CW’s newest hit: The Vampire Diaries. In the wake of the huge success both Twilight and True Blood created, it seems the vampire trend is catching on in the media. I, for one, have absolutely no complaints.

Stefan, Elena, Damon in The Vampire Diaries

The Vampire Diaries revolves around Mystic Falls’ most popular girl, Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev). The show takes place three months after her parents’ death in a car crash, and the devastation echoes in her brother’s drug problems and her social life. But everything changes when the new kid, Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley), arrives with his “romance novel cover steamy eyes” and instant attraction between him and Elena, who is a look-alike of his maker, Katherine. He thinks he can change his life and fit in amongst human society, since he began to feed off of animal blood years before.

But those hopes are shattered when his brother, Damon (Ian Somerhalder), arrives. He is the bad boy in the family, the complete opposite of Stefan. And when people start dying from “animal attacks,” trouble begins to brew for the vampire brothers and the girl they both want, Elena.

Elena's Love Interest, Vampire Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley)

This TV show is based off the young adult paranormal romance novels, The Vampire Diaries, by L.J. Smith. Published in 1991, this series is 15 years older than the hit Twilight and 10 years older than the Sookie Stackhouse novels written by Charlaine Harris which turned into True Blood. If you read them, you will notice blatant similarities between Twilight and Vampire Diaries, from the high school vampire romance, to the love triangle in which the protagonist is pulled.

The Bad Boy Vampire, Damon (Ian Somerhaldor)

I picked up the novels back in 2000 when they went out of print (you guys are so lucky you don’t have to hunt them down like I did!). After that, I loved LJ Smith’s novels and she inspired my writing dreams, until I got a hold of every novel she ever wrote and wrote about 10 novels of FanFiction. I was so happy to see that within the past year and a half that most of her novels have been reprinted. You can find them at any bookstore or online at Buy.com. So far, The Vampire Diaries quartet (with three new books to be published over the next two years to make seven total), Night World series (vampires, witches, shifters, apocalypse, oh my), and Dark Visions trilogy (psychics with the love triangle) have been reprinted. Personally, I hope they reprint her Forbidden Games trilogy (a demon-esque Billy Idol look-alike who tries to win a human girl by sending her and her friends into a deadly game in the Shadow World), simply because there is nothing else like it out there. And it probably would have made a more unique TV show, since the majority of vampire fans see The Vampire Diaries as a Twilight rip-off, when in truth it is the polar opposite.

Click on Image to Buy The Vampire Diaries Novels

The only thing I see as a possible rip-off is that it was turned into a visual entertainment. Elena, in the novels, is a blonde, blue-eyed “ice princess” who gets her rocks off by breaking boys hearts, where Bella is the clumsy, clingy girl who follows a cute boy around like a sick puppy. In the TV show, Elena was turned into a brunette with brown eyes, who is so sweet her friend’s seem to be the darker influence. Whereas Twilight focused on the relationship of a high school girl and a vampire, the story of Elena focused on her growth as a woman, the strength of her relationships (including her friends), and learning the darkest depths of her personality. She starts as a girl you don’t like and evolves into an angelic, wise girl with love as her only guide. Hopefully, the show keeps with most of this journey rather than copping out with a flat protagonist, like others.

The premiere showed a lot of promise. You could actually see and feel the chemistry between Elena and Stefan, and I can already imagine how hot it will be between Elena and Damon. So far, it feels like a mix of Dawson’s Creek with vampires, so you get your teen drama with your paranormal intrigue, good acting and dynamic characters (and pretty cute, too, once you get over the tween party scenes and girl drama). Needless to say, I’m hooked – not just from loyalty, but from curiosity. Within one episode, you got a feel for the characters and want to know what happens to them. I can’t wait for next week, where Elena and Damon finally meet; Caroline gets swept up by Damon; and Stefan and Elena share their first kiss.

The Vampire Diaries shows every Thursday at 8PM on The CW. But if you miss an episode, you can find them at Vampire Diaries Online
or at Vampire Diaries Episodes.

Maybe next will be a Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead? Who knows. We can only speculate.

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