The Chaser
By Ryan Abraham
	Short stories often have a written version and a televised version. Almost every time both versions exist, there are many differences. Most would say the differences are comparable to each other. The televised version of “The Chaser” is more developed than the written version. When you compare the two, the written version looks like a rough draft. The televised version is more developed, has more defined characters, and setting. This being said, the written version is viewed as a less developed version of the same story.

	The storyline and development in the televised version is much more noticeable than in the written version. The written version describes a scenario with two men having a discussion about certain products the other may possess, as if both men already knew what they came for. After a brief discussion about the products, the story ends. It is as if the televised version took that and added a story to it. It added purpose, not just making a little snippet of a plot. The televised version featured a man who was desperately in love and a man giving him a business card that will supposedly solve all of his problems. Then the man walks into the old man’s shop with a similar scenario to the written version, however, the man does not know what he is looking for. After a brief conversation, he realizes he wants a love potion and buys one. It further expands on this by making an ending, where the girl he loved has become too crazy for him, so he tries to kill her, but fails. This shows that the televised version took the written version and expanded upon it into a story.

The characters are very developed in the televised version compared to the written version. In the written version, the only characters that exist are very faintly defined. All you know about the characters is that there is a young man who is in love with Diana, an old man who either works at or owns the shop, and a girl named Diana who is loved by the young man. In the televised version, we know of those three characters, but in much more detail. We know there is Roger, who is a young man who is deeply in love with Leela, an old man who runs the store and makes all sorts of potions, and Leela who is a young woman who lives in a small apartment, and feels like Roger is too attached to her. With this being said, we can picture the story much better as we know what the characters are like.

	The setting in the written version is much less set than in the televised version. In the written version, all you know is that there are 2 men in some place, which after the story, you presume is an alchemist’s shop. In the televised version, it portrays the story starting in a telephone booth in New York, followed by him going to an old man’s store of some kind, which is then realized to be an alchemist’s shop. After that it depicts him going to Leela’s small apartment. This is, however, a particularly difficult point to compare, as the televised version has the advantage of displaying the scene, giving you an automatic knowledge of where the event is taking place.

	As you can see, the televised version is much more detailed and developed than the written version in “The Chaser”. More storyline is shown, development is much more noticeable, and the setting is better portrayed. One may even think that the written version is simply a rough draft of the televised version. All of these facts lead to one point, the televised version is simply more developed and therefore, better.