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Author Topic: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell  (Read 3739 times)
jgsugden
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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.



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Khaldun
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Reply #1 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.
Ironwood
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Reply #2 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.

"Mr Soft Owl has Seen Some Shit." - Sun Tzu
Yegolev
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2/10 WOULD NOT INGEST


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Reply #3 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.

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Ironwood
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Reply #4 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.

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Yegolev
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Reply #5 on: June 24, 2015, 07:26:30 AM

Add another beer to the tally.

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HaemishM
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Reply #6 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.

Khaldun
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Reply #7 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.
tazelbain
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Reply #8 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.

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Mattemeo
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Reply #9 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).

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Signe
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Reply #10 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.  :)

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Ironwood
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Reply #11 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.

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HaemishM
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Reply #12 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.

Samwise
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Reply #13 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.

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RhyssaFireheart
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Reply #14 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. 

grebo
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Reply #15 on: September 23, 2016, 07:29:11 AM

Yep.  Good stuff.  Liked it better than the book as well.

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RhyssaFireheart
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Reply #16 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.

Lakov_Sanite
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Reply #17 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.

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