History Series / TheDresdenFiles

* AdaptationDecay: To the point where it was pretty much InNameOnly.

* BreakoutCharacter: Bob, who in the books was a talking skull whose sole purpose was exposition and comic relief, whereas in the show he's an angsty ghost with a backstory. YourMileageMayVery as to whether this was a good or bad change. See below.
* BrokenBase: The fandom is vehemently torn over whether Book Bob is better than TV Bob, and generally over whether the show is a good adaptation of the books.

* {{Discontinuity}}: For many book fans. Others just pretend it's an AlternateUniverse.

* TooGoodToLast: Damn you, SyFy.....

* ''Discontinuity'': For many book fans. Others just pretend it's an AlternateUniverse.

* SofterandLighter: Than the books. Though in it's defense, it was still on its first season.

* RaceLift: Short, blonde Irish Karrin Murphy became Connie Murphy in favour of a Cuban-American actress. It works. Susan Rodriguez goes the opposite direction, switching from a tall, Hispanic woman to a short (Well, shorter than Dresden), blonde woman.

* AdaptationDisplacement: Oh so much, that most of it is InNameOnly, along with the concept, which is pretty general as it is.

* Beam-O-War: Fired from Harry's trusty hockey-stick.

* WeHelpTheHelpless: Harry does what he does 'Because I can.'

* VampiresAreSexGods: In the series, Harry has a sexual relationship with a Red Court Vamp, which in the novels have a more violent and predatory relationship with humans.

* YouFailLawForever: Several people are arrested or threatened with arrest for murder in cases where a conviction would be impossible, because the victims were killed via supernatural means. For example, the killer in "Hair of the Dog" is poisoning werewolves by getting them to inhale powdered silver. No coroner in the country would testify that cardiac arrest was caused by breathing in powdered silver.

* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Harry. Lampshaded and double-subverted in "Rules of Engagement":
** Lampshaded when Bob grills Harry on why he is still involved in the case, even though he's not being paid, the murder victim has turned out to be a demon, and the girl he's trying to save gave him a TapOnTheHead rather than be rescued.
** Subverted when it turns out that Harry's meddling has an actually been making things worse.
** Double-subverted when he puts everything right in the end.

* IdiotBall: Murphy seems to catch it on a regular basis.

* VampiresAreSexGods: In the series, Harry has a sexual relationship with a Red Court Vamp, which in the novels have a more violent and predatory relationship with humans.

* CompositeCharacter: Creator Robert Wolfe said that Morgan was intended to be a blend of his book self and Michael as 'the badass with a sword'. Similarly, Bob is an mix of his book self, Ebenezar and Thomas by being Harry's teacher and only remaining 'family'. Ancient Mai is a composite of the entire White (High) Council.

* TheWoobie: Harry rarely gets through a case without suffering grievous bodily harm, not to mention Bob the cursed soul.

* SealedEvilInACan: Every other villain.

* VampiresAreSexGods: In the series, Harry has a sexual relationship with a Red Court Vamp, which in the novels have a more violent and predatory relationship with humans.

* CoconutSuperpowers: Rather noticeably, especially if you read the books. Except for a few offensive spells, nearly all of the magic Harry is seen doing is revisiting the scene of the crime in several ways (i.e. the mirror trick in The Hair of the Dog), which can easily be done by using normal cameras. Pretty much all supernatural creatures are seen as humans, '''including''' the toad demon from ''Storm Front'', who goes from being some sort of amphibian nightmare to a brawny human thug who looks funny, and Bob, who is pretty much only seen in human form, never as the talking skull from the books. The rare occasion a supernatural creature is shown, it is oftentimes poorly animated. Sheesh, I wouldn't be surprised if the reason Harry has a drumstick and a hockey stick instead of a blasting rod and a staff is because there was no budget for props.
** He does actually wear the bathrobe, and, with the exception of his duster, most of his clothes are on the raggedy side.

* ConspicuousCGI: A certain dragon...

* FakeBrit: Terrence Mann as Bob. In the DVD commentary for the series, Mann jokes that he and Blackthorne swapped accents as soon as the cameras started running.

* HeyItsThatGuy: [[{{Farscape}} Claudia]] [[StargateSG1 Black]] guest stars in one episode. And for you theatre fans, Terrence Mann was the Elvis-esque Rum Tum Tugger in the original Broadway cast of ''{{Cats}}'', Javert in the original Broadway cast of ''[[{{Theatre/ptitlenjisnv3p}} Les Misérables]]'', Beast in the original Broadway cast of ''BeautyAndTheBeast'', as well as Larry in the movie version of ''AChorusLine''.

** Force of habit, maybe?
* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: Averted by cheap CGI effects.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Unlike many other dragons (including the only one seen in the books), they are room-sized creatures made entirely from CGI...

* PragmaticAdaptation: In the treatment of Bob, at least, who here is a GhostlyAdvisor with the ability to visibly manifest (which works much better for a TV audience).
* RaceLift: Murphy, in favour of a Latina actress. It works. Susan goes the opposite way.
** Morgan is Scottish, and, if the comics are to be believed, looks it. [[ScaryBlackMan Not so in here.]]
* ScaryBlackMan: Morgan. Not in the books.
** However, its worthy of noticing that while in the TV series Morgan might be a ScaryBlackMan, he often acts a great deal more reasonable than his InspectorJavert literary counterpart. In “Walls” he is actually rather considerate and gentle in his own way and in “Storm Front” near the ending he actually shows amusement when dealing with Harry, even returning Harry’s sarcastic quip with “class dismissed” and a smirk. Some might harshly argue that this is CharacterDerailment of the worst kind, but this also gives him, in this troper’s mind, a far more humanizing element and firmly positions Morgan as a morally decent man whose’s side might not be as forgiving or compassionate as the BigGood normally is seen as

* VampiresAreSexGods: In the series, Harry has a sexual relationship with a Red Court Vamp. In the novels, this would be '''massive''' {{Squick}}, since Reds are [[spoiler:ugly human-size bat monsters that wear "flesh masks"]]. Whether this is AdaptationDecay or part of the PragmaticAdaptation is [[{{YMMV}} up to individual tastes]].

** However, its worthy of noticing that while in the TV series Morgan might be a ScaryBlackMan, he often acts a great deal more reasonable than his InspectorJavert literary counterpart. In “Walls” he is actually rather considerate and gentle in his own way and in “Storm Front” near the ending he actually shows amusement when dealing with Harry, even returning Harry’s sarcastic quip with “class dismissed” with a smirk. Some might harshly argue that this is CharacterDerailment of the worst kind, but this also gives him, in this troper’s mind, a far more humanizing element and firmly positions Morgan as a morally decent man whose’s side might not be as forgiving or compassionate as the BigGood normally is seen as

* StarCrossedLovers: Part of Bob's backstory.

* MagicTool: Harry uses a drumstick/wand ''exactly'' like a sonic screwdriver form ''DoctorWho''.

* HeyItsThatGuy: [[{{Farscape}} Claudia]] [[StargateSG1 Black]] guest stars in one episode. And for you theatre fans, Terrence Mann was the Elvis-esque Rum Tum Tugger in the original Broadway cast of ''{{Cats}}'', Javert in the original Broadway cast of ''LesMiserables'', Beast in the original Broadway cast of ''BeautyAndTheBeast'', as well as Larry in the movie version of ''AChorusLine''.

* ScaryBlackMan: Morgan. [[RaceLift Not in the books]].

* CoconutSuperpowers: The TV series has this. Rather noticeably, especially if you read the books. Except for a few offensive spells, nearly all of the magic Harry is seen doing is revisiting the scene of the crime in several ways (i.e. the mirror trick in The Hair of the Dog), which can easily be done by using normal cameras. Pretty much all supernatural creatures are seen as humans, '''including''' the toad demon from ''Storm Front'', who goes from being some sort of amphibian nightmare to a brawny human thug who looks funny, and Bob, who is pretty much only seen in human form, never as the talking skull from the books. The rare occasion a supernatural creature is shown, it is oftentimes poorly animated. Sheesh, I wouldn't be surprised if the reason Harry has a drumstick and a hockey stick instead of a blasting rod and a staff is because there was no budget for props.