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“Silo” Book versus TV Series: Size Matters
After watching the first season of Silo (AppleTV+) I read all 3 books in rapid succession.
When I saw the TV show was based on a book, I knew I would eventually read the book. I had to know what happened when the first season ended on a cliffhanger. The differences between the book and the show were apparent but not dealbreakers.
The first difference I noticed was travel time in the silo. The book explains why there are no elevators or dumbwaiters. The technology is forbidden. The Pact doesn’t even permit a basic pulley. This means both goods and people transit the silo slowly. A trip up or down the full length of the silo is said to take days, with stops to rest along the way. The porters travel fastest since it’s their job to do so, but others take their time. With 10,000 people living and working in the silo, even the quickest trips between levels can take a while.
The TV show uses “speed of plot” when it comes to travel time in the silo. We see characters race between levels that would have taken an hour or more, based on distances as described in the book. This is done to move the story along. We’re not expected to think what we see on the screen is happening in real-time, but sometimes, the writers get lost in the idea that it is. The silo is huge. It extends more than a mile deep. It’s the equivalent of 4 Empire…
