Well, I've been left feeling warm and fuzzy, and completely in love with Darcy. This was nice, it made me smile. It didn't try to be clever or groundbreaking, it was just enjoyable tv.
I liked that they left everyone happy, I liked that Jane and Bingley could be together, I liked that Elizabeth was happy in the 21st century. I liked that Wickham was a good guy after all (I always suspected I'd have fallen for him and it's a relief to discover he's not a total cad).
Favourite moment, when Mrs Bennett stood up to Lady Catherine, prompting the ailing Mr Bennett to sit up and exclaim "Tally ho, Wife!"
I'm still not convinced by Jemima Rooper as the main character, I rather wish they'd cast her as Elizabeth and Gemma Arterton as Amanda. I'm not sure how satisfied I am with the "everyone's happy now" ending. That may be to provide an opening for series two; how would she adapt to life in Austen and could she pop back to her own time to clean her teeth?
Each episode of this was an improvement on the last and I am left feeling good by it.
Showing posts with label Lost in Austen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lost in Austen. Show all posts
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
As if!
There's a bit of a kerfuffle going on, including a letter to the Radio Times (who have apparently received lots of letters about the same thing - one of my greatest fears is that I become the sort of person that complains about a TV programme to the Radio Times) that Lost in Austen is a blatant copy of the Thursday Next novels.
I find this ludicrous. The only similarity is that the action takes place within a book.
Jasper Fforde says (in the Radio Times):
"Although I was - until recently - the most current purveyor of the bookjumping concept, I was not the first. I thought the idea was wholly original until someone pointed out that Woody Allen, Luigi Pirandello and Alan Moore had written something along similar lines. More recently Cornelia Funke has joined the club with her Inkworld trilogy, and there are manga comics that also use the idea. Fantasy is the greatest genre ever, but it can be frustrating: you think you've found bold new territory, and then discover it's covered in footprints."
The Thursday Next books all carry a complex plot of which the bookjumping is a part, involved with other goings on which together form a clever, witty, fantastical story set in an entirely imagined world. I consider Jasper Fforde to be a genius for the way he constructs his tales.
Lost in Austen is a fairly straightforward story in which the character finds herself within a very well known book. That is the entire plot. It does not explain the mechanism, nor does it explain why, nor does it have literary allusions throughout. That's not to say it's not entirely watchable TV, but it is a simple story set in a world that has been long since imagined in great familiar detail. The final episode may explain many things as to how and why the switch was able to happen, but I doubt that is where they are going with it. That's no failing on the part of the writers, it's not that kind of story.
As far as I am concerned, anyone that says Lost in Austen is a copy of Thursday Next is unfamiliar with one or both and are speaking from an uninformed opinion. I would hazard a guess that these complaints have been formulated by those who would not consider watching Lost in Austen and who are therefore rather petty to complain about it. Sadly, I guess this is probably true for 99% of complaints about television programmes.
I find this ludicrous. The only similarity is that the action takes place within a book.
Jasper Fforde says (in the Radio Times):
"Although I was - until recently - the most current purveyor of the bookjumping concept, I was not the first. I thought the idea was wholly original until someone pointed out that Woody Allen, Luigi Pirandello and Alan Moore had written something along similar lines. More recently Cornelia Funke has joined the club with her Inkworld trilogy, and there are manga comics that also use the idea. Fantasy is the greatest genre ever, but it can be frustrating: you think you've found bold new territory, and then discover it's covered in footprints."
The Thursday Next books all carry a complex plot of which the bookjumping is a part, involved with other goings on which together form a clever, witty, fantastical story set in an entirely imagined world. I consider Jasper Fforde to be a genius for the way he constructs his tales.
Lost in Austen is a fairly straightforward story in which the character finds herself within a very well known book. That is the entire plot. It does not explain the mechanism, nor does it explain why, nor does it have literary allusions throughout. That's not to say it's not entirely watchable TV, but it is a simple story set in a world that has been long since imagined in great familiar detail. The final episode may explain many things as to how and why the switch was able to happen, but I doubt that is where they are going with it. That's no failing on the part of the writers, it's not that kind of story.
As far as I am concerned, anyone that says Lost in Austen is a copy of Thursday Next is unfamiliar with one or both and are speaking from an uninformed opinion. I would hazard a guess that these complaints have been formulated by those who would not consider watching Lost in Austen and who are therefore rather petty to complain about it. Sadly, I guess this is probably true for 99% of complaints about television programmes.
Wednesday, 17 September 2008
Lost in Austen episode 3
I am starting to really like this, even though I still don't like the main character. The story is taking off nicely and the characters are being less Austen and more new story. Tonight's episode saw Darcy and Wickham being most lovely to Amanda (don't they mind her hair?) and her landing herself in strife again because of her blabbermouth.
I'm actually intrigued as to where they take this in the last episode next week and am surprised at how much I am looking forward to the finale.
I need to stop getting swept up in the romantic world of Austen. It's not real. It's not real. Men were probably never like that.
I'm actually intrigued as to where they take this in the last episode next week and am surprised at how much I am looking forward to the finale.
I need to stop getting swept up in the romantic world of Austen. It's not real. It's not real. Men were probably never like that.
Thursday, 11 September 2008
Tonight on the tellybox
Well, this evening's tv got off to a remarkable start with Scotland winning against Iceland. It's not often you can put the words "Scotland" and "winning" together, so that's marvellous. Marred somewhat by England also winning, but you can't have everything.
I then watched part II of Lost in Austen, which I liked much more than part I, but I still cannot abide the main character, I'm with Darcy on that one. Naturally I've got lost in the whole romanticism of Austen and wandered into a dream world that quite probably never actually existed, so that helps a lot. It's a bit hard to ignore all the "that's not possible" moments, although I may start to carry all manner of mod cons on my person at all times just in case I get transported into the past. I'm still undecided, I like it, but I'm not impressed by it. Alex Kingston was good this week - no annoying, which was jolly nice of her.
I did intend to then watch last night's Maestro finale, but I didn't get round to it, partly because I know the result. Grr.
I then watched part II of Lost in Austen, which I liked much more than part I, but I still cannot abide the main character, I'm with Darcy on that one. Naturally I've got lost in the whole romanticism of Austen and wandered into a dream world that quite probably never actually existed, so that helps a lot. It's a bit hard to ignore all the "that's not possible" moments, although I may start to carry all manner of mod cons on my person at all times just in case I get transported into the past. I'm still undecided, I like it, but I'm not impressed by it. Alex Kingston was good this week - no annoying, which was jolly nice of her.
I did intend to then watch last night's Maestro finale, but I didn't get round to it, partly because I know the result. Grr.
Friday, 5 September 2008
Lost in Austen
I watched this a day late, saying as how I was actually out and come out in hives if I have to sit through an ad break anyway. I was looking forward to this, the Radio Times promised great things and opinions seemed to be positive.
Well.
I cannot stand the heroine, played by Jemima Rooper. She acts perfectly well, she's just playing a thoroughly dislikeable character. Nothing she did was the action of a realistic person and this spoilt the whole thing for me. Alex Kingston, who does manage to annoy me a lot in most things she does, annoyed me. Hugh Bonneville was his usual affable self, and the rest of the cast were mostly aesthetic.
This was touted as being "different". Yes, Bridget Jones meets Pride and Prejudice. Marvellous, both totally underused.
Aside about the fact that Bridget Jones (the book and the character) is meant to be a parody by an intelligent author, yet became a role model for people and an entire genre of book, demonstrating just how thick the two planks that the general public are akin to are.
Back to Lost in Austen, I will watch episode two, based on the premise that the second episode is nearly always an improvement on the scene setting of episode one. I may have to throw eggs at the tv though and I still won't watch it "live".
Well.
I cannot stand the heroine, played by Jemima Rooper. She acts perfectly well, she's just playing a thoroughly dislikeable character. Nothing she did was the action of a realistic person and this spoilt the whole thing for me. Alex Kingston, who does manage to annoy me a lot in most things she does, annoyed me. Hugh Bonneville was his usual affable self, and the rest of the cast were mostly aesthetic.
This was touted as being "different". Yes, Bridget Jones meets Pride and Prejudice. Marvellous, both totally underused.
Aside about the fact that Bridget Jones (the book and the character) is meant to be a parody by an intelligent author, yet became a role model for people and an entire genre of book, demonstrating just how thick the two planks that the general public are akin to are.
Back to Lost in Austen, I will watch episode two, based on the premise that the second episode is nearly always an improvement on the scene setting of episode one. I may have to throw eggs at the tv though and I still won't watch it "live".
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