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TeeVee: the British period drama edition
Dec. 30th, 2013 09:05 pmCall the Midwife 2013 Christmas Special: as always, the series somehow manaes to be simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting, though this year's Christmas Special was more tense and had less heartstomping than last year's. Like with a large part of the second season, Shelaugh's plotline was the most compelling.
Death Comes to Pemberley: 3-part miniseries that is a murder-mystery sequel to Pride and Prejudice. Wickham plans to crash Lizzy and Darcy's annual ball, but then his buddy runs off into the woods and gets shot, and everyone thinks he did it! And Lizzy and Georgiana are BFFs (their closeness was actually my favorite part of the series), and all the men are dark and brooding, and the cameramen really like Downton Abbey's cinematography. I actually really enjoyed this, in a thoroughly uncritical way, despite the fact that it has far too many dude-only scenes for something based on Austen to have. It's not wholly original and the characters aren't spot on, but it is very enjoyable, and while the cast may not have universally been the perfect choices for the characters, the cast is a very good cast (Anna Maxwell Martin as Lizzy, Eleanor Tomlinson as Georgiana, Matthew Goode as Wickham and Jenna Louise Coleman as Lydia were the standouts for me), and they have their period drama chops.
Though, I have to say, I've been very amused at seeing a lot of pearl clutching over the fact that Lizzy and Darcy don't have a 100% perfect and flawless marriage and the fact that their backgrounds and personalities lead to the occasional fight means that THEIR HAPPY ENDING HAS BEEN RUINED. RUINED.
I have been enjoying the complaints about Anna Maxwell Martin's looks considerably less. People have been complaining that she isn't pretty enough to play the lead in whatever drama she's in at the time everytime I've watched something that she's in, and it hasn't gotten any less annoying. (Though I suppose she's never played a character a fraction as popular as Lizzie Bennett before.)
Marple: Endless Night: Another non-Miss Marple book that got turned into a Miss Marple by ITV, I think more successfully than some others. I wish I hadn't remembered that I'd read the book shortly after I started it, as the twist is pulled off pretty well here, and I have no complaints about the slight sympathetic element the book gave the killer being taken away. Also, seeing Ton Hughes and Joanna Vonderham as lovers was a bit of a mental "Say what?" to me, as they played siblings in Dancing on the Edge which was the first thing I saw him in.
Moonfleet: 2-part miniseries about a young smuggler, John (Aneurin Barnard, who I understand is one of the current Hot Young Things. He has nice curly angst!hair?) searching for a diamond reputedly hidden away by Blackbeard. Along the way he falls for Blackbeard's aristocratic great-great-something granddaughter, Grace (Sophie Cookson) whose father is, of course, the new magistrate who's determined to wipe out the local smugglers. Ray Winstone is also there as one of the mains as John's grizzled father-figure, Elzevir, the head of the local smuggling ring, whose son is killed by Grace's father in the first 5 minutes. The characters and relationships are incredibly unsubtle and parts of it feel like at least half an hour or so of important scenes that move some plotlines along and explain how characters come to certain points were cut out at the last minute (particularly when it came to Grace), but it was a very fun adventure story with a hint of the supernatural that may or may not have only existed in John's imagination.
Agatha Christie's Marple 6.1: "A Caribbean Mystery": Pretty good adaptation overall. Once I got used to the extreme liberties this series takes (my favorite in this one when it jut randomly introduces Ian Fleming in a bit role), it became pretty near and dear to me. I am a bit confused, though, as Nemesis, whose plot is largely dependent on the death of a character in a Caribbean Mystery, was adapted in an earlier episode of the series, back in the Geraldine McEwan days, and I'm pretty sure the McEwan and McKenzie episodes are still considered part of the same series. Oh well. On a superficial note, it took me about 20 minutes to realize that Charity Wakefield was playing Molly, as blonde hair makes her look very very different.
Agatha Christie's Marple 6.2 "Greenshaw's Folly": If I've read the short story this is based on, it's been changed enough that I don't recognize it. That said, aside from a few "No! Stop traumatizing the abused little boy!" moments, I liked this one a lot. Fiona Shaw! Julia Swalhala! Julia McKenzie! Judy Parfitt! And...other perfectly fine actors and actresses. The mysteries and twists were rather standard for Christie (and, admittedly, I shudder a bit to think of how many adaptations of her stuff I've watched at this point), but but I thought they worked well anyway.
Agatha Christie's Poirot 13.1 "Elephants Can Remember": I haven't read the book this is based on (I haven't read many Poirot books, actually. Much as I love him when it's David Suchet, he aggravates me in the books) and so can't comment on it as an adaptation, but I liked this a lot, and especially enjoyed all the gothic tropes, and found myself almost rooting for the killer due to motivations.
Beauty and the Beast 1.21-1.22: My childhood memories are vague, but i'm pretty sure elements of the last scene were genderswapped versions of the season 2 finale of the 80s series.
( spoilers )
Bomb Girls 2.7-2.12: GUYS. Rose O'Donnell guested as a character named Dottie. If you don't know why it made me figuratively bounce around with joy to have Rosie O'Donnell play a character named Dottie in a show about women taking on men's jobs during wartime, then either you haven't seen A League of Their Own, or it's been too long since you've watched it. Either way, it should be corrected.
Also, the series is cancelled, which is tragic beyond words.
( spoilers )
Continuum 2.5-2.8:
( spoilers )
Revolution 1.19-1.20: I rarely deliberately spoil myself before watching things, but I'm glad I did this time.
( spoilers )
I watched a little bit of the first episode of The White Queen, based on the Philippa Gregory novel, but didn't care for it. A pity, as I'd really been anticipating it. I also watched season 4 of Community. I didn't dislike it the way a lot seem to, though maybe that's because I"d heard that it was really bad, and so had lowered expectations? But while a lot of it felt off and sometimes characters felt like regressing (and they went even further with "Britta's a dumb blonde" than last season, which is saying something, and not something good), I'm pretty sure this is also the first time Troy and Shirley have had a plot for just the two of them, and there seemed to be more scenes of Annie, Britta and Shirley interacting than I remember there being in the second and third seasons.
Agatha Christie's Marple 6.2 "Greenshaw's Folly": If I've read the short story this is based on, it's been changed enough that I don't recognize it. That said, aside from a few "No! Stop traumatizing the abused little boy!" moments, I liked this one a lot. Fiona Shaw! Julia Swalhala! Julia McKenzie! Judy Parfitt! And...other perfectly fine actors and actresses. The mysteries and twists were rather standard for Christie (and, admittedly, I shudder a bit to think of how many adaptations of her stuff I've watched at this point), but but I thought they worked well anyway.
Agatha Christie's Poirot 13.1 "Elephants Can Remember": I haven't read the book this is based on (I haven't read many Poirot books, actually. Much as I love him when it's David Suchet, he aggravates me in the books) and so can't comment on it as an adaptation, but I liked this a lot, and especially enjoyed all the gothic tropes, and found myself almost rooting for the killer due to motivations.
Beauty and the Beast 1.21-1.22: My childhood memories are vague, but i'm pretty sure elements of the last scene were genderswapped versions of the season 2 finale of the 80s series.
( spoilers )
Bomb Girls 2.7-2.12: GUYS. Rose O'Donnell guested as a character named Dottie. If you don't know why it made me figuratively bounce around with joy to have Rosie O'Donnell play a character named Dottie in a show about women taking on men's jobs during wartime, then either you haven't seen A League of Their Own, or it's been too long since you've watched it. Either way, it should be corrected.
Also, the series is cancelled, which is tragic beyond words.
( spoilers )
Continuum 2.5-2.8:
( spoilers )
Revolution 1.19-1.20: I rarely deliberately spoil myself before watching things, but I'm glad I did this time.
( spoilers )
I watched a little bit of the first episode of The White Queen, based on the Philippa Gregory novel, but didn't care for it. A pity, as I'd really been anticipating it. I also watched season 4 of Community. I didn't dislike it the way a lot seem to, though maybe that's because I"d heard that it was really bad, and so had lowered expectations? But while a lot of it felt off and sometimes characters felt like regressing (and they went even further with "Britta's a dumb blonde" than last season, which is saying something, and not something good), I'm pretty sure this is also the first time Troy and Shirley have had a plot for just the two of them, and there seemed to be more scenes of Annie, Britta and Shirley interacting than I remember there being in the second and third seasons.
Marple: Series 4
Feb. 25th, 2010 07:13 pmThis is the first set of Marple mysteries with Julia McKenzie replacing Geraldine McEwan. It’s rather odd switching Marples with minimal breaks between, but the writers and actress thankfully don’t try to replicate McEwan’s take on the character. Joan Hickson played Marple as the sweet little old lady in the corner who you’d never guess was 10 times smarter than you, no matter who you were, until she suddenly explained everything you missed, while McEwan played her more as Evil Crafty Brains, and the Clever Young Things around her were scared of the evil brains (but respectfully so), but didn’t take her seriously because, really don’t all little old ladies think they’re clever? McKenzie is more motherly in the role, and much more direct, in a way that she doesn’t have the same disarming effect. You can’t really picture anyone dismissing her as a batty little old lady, or not taking any thoughts she has completely seriously. Which is actually a pretty refreshing take for female detectives in detective fiction, but very different. I like her (quite a bit) but it isn’t really what I associate with Marple.
Writing-wise, we seem to have reverted to series 1’s “more sex makes everything better” thought process. And it had improved so! Ah well, at least the writing in general seems to be better than the first series was.
Writing-wise, we seem to have reverted to series 1’s “more sex makes everything better” thought process. And it had improved so! Ah well, at least the writing in general seems to be better than the first series was.
Marple: Series 2-3
Dec. 5th, 2009 09:42 pmThis is one of the most strangely mixed series ever. The visuals are great and the actors are awesome, but it has some of the oddest and sometimes clunkiest rewrites ever. Some episodes actually feel like televised fanfic, especially when they start rewriting the romances (I get the impression Christie wasn’t big on romances, having them mostly in her standalones and sometimes as a subplot in the Miss Marples) or adapting non-Miss Marple stories to be Miss Marple stories. Those often feel like Miss Marple’s role is largely to voice what the original detective was likely thinking in the original version.
But Geraldine McEwan’s Miss Marple is awesome, though I suspect she isn’t quite like Agatha Christie wrote her. (I haven’t read the books and only have Joan Hickson to compare her to. And Hickson was awesome and, I’m told, exactly as imagined by Christie. Just a different awesome.) The writers also clearly think she’s the best thing ever (even having the majority of the men seeming to flirt with her, at some point) which goes a long way to helping with the writing. The writing also improves a lot in Series 3, so I could mostly giggle at the awkwardness there, instead of the earlier combination of giggling and growling.
The series also seems determined to have the entirety of BBC’s actors play a role in here at one point or another. I’ve watched a ton of BBC stuff the last year or so, and so there was a lot of “Oh! s/he was in X as Y!” I’m pretty sure half the cast of Bleak House has shown up at some point.
Series 4, I think, recasts Miss Marple, so I should wait a bit in between.
But Geraldine McEwan’s Miss Marple is awesome, though I suspect she isn’t quite like Agatha Christie wrote her. (I haven’t read the books and only have Joan Hickson to compare her to. And Hickson was awesome and, I’m told, exactly as imagined by Christie. Just a different awesome.) The writers also clearly think she’s the best thing ever (even having the majority of the men seeming to flirt with her, at some point) which goes a long way to helping with the writing. The writing also improves a lot in Series 3, so I could mostly giggle at the awkwardness there, instead of the earlier combination of giggling and growling.
The series also seems determined to have the entirety of BBC’s actors play a role in here at one point or another. I’ve watched a ton of BBC stuff the last year or so, and so there was a lot of “Oh! s/he was in X as Y!” I’m pretty sure half the cast of Bleak House has shown up at some point.
Series 4, I think, recasts Miss Marple, so I should wait a bit in between.
Marple: Sleeping Murder
Oct. 19th, 2009 10:26 pmSo, I just the recent version of the "Miss Marple" mystery Sleeping Murder, which is my favorite of the Hickson adaptations, and...wow. I've grown to rather like Geraldine McEwan as Jane Marple (I've seen some people say that she plays the role as too openly clever, but I think it often serves the character well) but not even the addition of Sophia Miles and Anna-Louise Plowman could save that mess.
The original plot is rather awesome in that it's essentially a gothic where a brilliant little old lady sorts everything out before the innocent young woman ends up being chased up the stairs by the killer. This was...an absolute mess, really, and the plot was completely gutted to where all that was left was Gwenda's dreams and the dead parents, and most of the focus was on characters they created.
Also, this version seems to have a terrible habit of taking the plots that have perfectly decent, non-intrusive romances and replacing those with new pairings (conveniently hooking the female half up with a male character they created for the adaptation) that ends up rather clunky, and distracts from the plot.
The original plot is rather awesome in that it's essentially a gothic where a brilliant little old lady sorts everything out before the innocent young woman ends up being chased up the stairs by the killer. This was...an absolute mess, really, and the plot was completely gutted to where all that was left was Gwenda's dreams and the dead parents, and most of the focus was on characters they created.
Also, this version seems to have a terrible habit of taking the plots that have perfectly decent, non-intrusive romances and replacing those with new pairings (conveniently hooking the female half up with a male character they created for the adaptation) that ends up rather clunky, and distracts from the plot.
Marple: Series 1
Jun. 2nd, 2009 01:49 amI’ve been watching the recent Marple series (based on the Agatha Christie novels, which I haven’t read yet) over the last few weeks. Aside from my irrational irritation that it’s changed from Miss Marple to Marple (most likely to give the series a different title from the Joan Hickson version) it was difficult to adjust to the idea of anyone other than Hickson playing Marple. (Yes, I know she isn’t the only one to ever play Miss Marple before.) Once I got used to the idea, however, I decided that I quite liked Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple. And really, the acting overall is excellent, which is what I expected.
But there are…odd changes. I mean, I haven’t read the books, so I don’t know which adaptation is closer to the original, but this series seems to be trying for being “edgier,” but not with great results. One story, for example, changes the killer to…well…evil lesbians. Changing the killer, however, makes the motivation more difficult to understand. Another creates a new character so that it can turn a fairly straightforward romance into a love triangle that…doesn’t really add anything except for John Hannah. And it’s John Hannah, so that’s a good thing, but…
It’s hard to tell, though, how much is weak writing, and how much is trying to set it apart from past versions with ideas that don’t quite work as well as they should. And, of course, for me, there’s the constant comparing to a comfort viewing that I can’t really turn off. Regardless, though, the acting and production (not to mention the setting) still make for good viewing.
But there are…odd changes. I mean, I haven’t read the books, so I don’t know which adaptation is closer to the original, but this series seems to be trying for being “edgier,” but not with great results. One story, for example, changes the killer to…well…evil lesbians. Changing the killer, however, makes the motivation more difficult to understand. Another creates a new character so that it can turn a fairly straightforward romance into a love triangle that…doesn’t really add anything except for John Hannah. And it’s John Hannah, so that’s a good thing, but…
It’s hard to tell, though, how much is weak writing, and how much is trying to set it apart from past versions with ideas that don’t quite work as well as they should. And, of course, for me, there’s the constant comparing to a comfort viewing that I can’t really turn off. Regardless, though, the acting and production (not to mention the setting) still make for good viewing.
