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Title: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: jgsugden on June 23, 2015, 03:25:11 PM
Anyone watching?  I just had a dozen people rave to me about this BBC show and I had not heard more than a whisper about it - good, bad?  The only reference on f13 I saw was in Uselss conversation:

The Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell BBC Adaptation is actually quite good thus far, two parts in.

Not good enough for, you know, it's own thread or anything, since I ended up hating the book, but it's good.




Title: Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: Khaldun on June 23, 2015, 05:22:10 PM
I liked the book and I think this is fairly decent, though I think it doesn't quite capture the slow, discursive, markedly 19th C. tone of the book. Which I liked and Ironwood didn't.


Title: Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: Ironwood on June 24, 2015, 04:50:37 AM
To be honest, it was less the tone of the book and the utter shittastic ending after making you slog all that way that bothered me.

The TV series is brilliant, but I wonder if I'm going to watch the 7th episode and then say 'Fuck' like I did with the book.

Probably.


Title: Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: Yegolev on June 24, 2015, 06:11:43 AM
I think I watched five or seven minutes of this and unfortunately it reminded me of a Thief 3 level where everything is blue/grey, with the added flavor of british mumbling and wigs on emotionless farts.  Maybe I need to start from the beginning?  Currently it looks like Rumpole of the Wizards: Extra Dim Edition.


Title: Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: Ironwood on June 24, 2015, 07:25:30 AM
If you can't stand Brit Period Drama, then there's really no point in tuning in.  Sure, there's magic and talking statues and psychotic fairies and hangings, but there's also so much fucking Downton Abbey that you'll get annoyed.


Title: Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: Yegolev on June 24, 2015, 07:26:30 AM
Add another beer to the tally.


Title: Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: HaemishM on June 24, 2015, 09:08:02 AM
I've got the first 2 episodes on my DVR but haven't started watching it yet.


Title: Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: Khaldun on June 24, 2015, 09:14:37 AM
To be honest, it was less the tone of the book and the utter shittastic ending after making you slog all that way that bothered me.

The TV series is brilliant, but I wonder if I'm going to watch the 7th episode and then say 'Fuck' like I did with the book.

Probably.


Yeah, I agree the ending is pretty wank. Series seems to be pretty loyal to the book, so they'll probably do the same ending.


Title: Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: tazelbain on June 24, 2015, 12:11:31 PM
I don't remember ending being so bad. Some thing like: Magic is dangerous shit. No matter how clever you think you are, you are going to need backup. For JS and GN, that's each other.


Title: Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: Mattemeo on June 25, 2015, 10:54:09 AM
This is pretty much the best thing on TV since Channel 4 cancelled Utopia. I loved the book, and wouldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams that a 7 hour TV adaptation could do that level of super dense historical fantasy  justice. It's just so, so good. Perfectly cast, every important plot point has made it in (I doubted they'd do Venice, or at least re-work it to make things cheaper/easier; I was wrong), the costumes/sets/effects are BBC at their absolute finest. If any production crew were to re-do Neverwhere, I'd want it to be this one (though I still love the original Neverwhere).


Title: Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: Signe on June 25, 2015, 11:32:02 AM
I agree with Matt.  I liked it a lot (and Utopia, too!) and thought the sets and costumes were wonderful.  I would recommend this to everyone.  :)


Title: Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: Ironwood on June 29, 2015, 02:21:27 PM
Quote
Why are you firing walnuts at me?

Now watched it all and I'm bloody glad I did.  It truly made a substantial improvement on the book.  Perfect casting, great acting, the last 3 episodes truly building to some good drama.  I particularly liked the bit at the end where they summoned Bruce Wayne.   :why_so_serious:

Also, changing the MANNER of the ending made it worthwhile, which the book failed at spectacularly.

Bravo.  My usual cynicism out the window.

Well done.


Title: Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: HaemishM on July 05, 2015, 02:01:59 PM
I'm watching this now and have gotten through the 4th episode (the latest they've shown in the States). The first episode was very slow and I was tired while watching it so kept falling asleep and having to rewind it. By the end of episode 2, I was hooked.


Title: Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: Samwise on September 21, 2016, 01:31:12 PM
This is on Netflix now so I binge-watched it over the course of a weekend.  Fuckin' great.  I read the book a while back and I don't remember liking it as much as I liked this series.


Title: Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: RhyssaFireheart on September 21, 2016, 06:03:43 PM
This is on Netflix now so I binge-watched it over the course of a weekend.  Fuckin' great.  I read the book a while back and I don't remember liking it as much as I liked this series.

ORLY?

Hmm, guess I know what I'm going to be doing this weekend. 


Title: Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: grebo on September 23, 2016, 07:29:11 AM
Yep.  Good stuff.  Liked it better than the book as well.


Title: Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: RhyssaFireheart on September 25, 2016, 06:40:39 PM
And that was pretty much my whole Saturday.  A day well spent, IMO.

I really loved everything about it.  I want to reread the book now to refresh myself on some of the changes made, but I can't think of anything off hand that was a bad change at all.


Title: Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Post by: Lakov_Sanite on September 26, 2016, 12:57:28 PM
Re: The ending.

How did it go down in the books? I just watched this on netflix and absolutely love it so I'm curious about what was changed vs. what I watched.