• Somewhat OT

    From Torx@21:1/5 to All on Wed Jan 5 18:22:04 2022
    We watched a couple of episodes of a new BBC series called "Around The
    World in 80 Days" Didn't a bloke called Jules Verne write a book with
    the same name and a similar but different story/plot? They used the
    same character names and changed the sex of one of the more important
    ones, gave him/her a different career thus changing an important element
    of the story?

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  • From Roderick Stewart@21:1/5 to Torx on Wed Jan 5 22:59:31 2022
    On Wed, 5 Jan 2022 18:22:04 +0000, Torx <torx@torx.org> wrote:

    We watched a couple of episodes of a new BBC series called "Around The >World in 80 Days" Didn't a bloke called Jules Verne write a book with
    the same name and a similar but different story/plot? They used the
    same character names and changed the sex of one of the more important
    ones, gave him/her a different career thus changing an important element
    of the story?

    From what I've read about this I decided not to bother watching it.

    There's also a series in the afternoon called "Father Brown", by
    coincidence the same as the name of the central character in some
    stories I remember reading by G K Chesterton, but I don't think
    Chesterton would recognise any of it.

    Rod.

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  • From John Hall@21:1/5 to Stewart on Thu Jan 6 09:46:14 2022
    In message <4c8ctg1uobl0hg4ffqf3khub67ffp2pa48@4ax.com>, Roderick
    Stewart <rjfs@escapetime.myzen.co.uk> writes
    On Wed, 5 Jan 2022 18:22:04 +0000, Torx <torx@torx.org> wrote:

    We watched a couple of episodes of a new BBC series called "Around The >>World in 80 Days" Didn't a bloke called Jules Verne write a book with
    the same name and a similar but different story/plot? They used the
    same character names and changed the sex of one of the more important
    ones, gave him/her a different career thus changing an important element
    of the story?

    From what I've read about this I decided not to bother watching it.

    I've never read the book or even seen the David Niven film, but I've
    been enjoying the new series. Yes, it's nonsense, but entertaining
    nonsense. Incidentally, though it's being shown on the BBC, it seems to
    be a co-production from a number of European broadcasters, in which the
    BBC played only a minor part.


    There's also a series in the afternoon called "Father Brown", by
    coincidence the same as the name of the central character in some
    stories I remember reading by G K Chesterton, but I don't think
    Chesterton would recognise any of it.

    I watched the first few episodes in the first series, before giving up.
    As you say, the plots and setting bear no relation to Chesterton's
    ingenious short stories. It's a pity, as I thought Mark Williams was
    excellent as Father Brown.
    --
    John Hall
    "Home is heaven and orgies are vile,
    But you *need* an orgy, once in a while."
    Ogden Nash (1902-1971)

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  • From Roderick Stewart@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jan 6 10:36:51 2022
    On Thu, 6 Jan 2022 09:46:14 +0000, John Hall <john_nospam@jhall.co.uk>
    wrote:

    In message <4c8ctg1uobl0hg4ffqf3khub67ffp2pa48@4ax.com>, Roderick
    Stewart <rjfs@escapetime.myzen.co.uk> writes
    On Wed, 5 Jan 2022 18:22:04 +0000, Torx <torx@torx.org> wrote:

    We watched a couple of episodes of a new BBC series called "Around The >>>World in 80 Days" Didn't a bloke called Jules Verne write a book with >>>the same name and a similar but different story/plot? They used the
    same character names and changed the sex of one of the more important >>>ones, gave him/her a different career thus changing an important element >>>of the story?

    From what I've read about this I decided not to bother watching it.

    I've never read the book or even seen the David Niven film, but I've
    been enjoying the new series. Yes, it's nonsense, but entertaining
    nonsense. Incidentally, though it's being shown on the BBC, it seems to
    be a co-production from a number of European broadcasters, in which the
    BBC played only a minor part.


    There's also a series in the afternoon called "Father Brown", by >>coincidence the same as the name of the central character in some
    stories I remember reading by G K Chesterton, but I don't think
    Chesterton would recognise any of it.

    I watched the first few episodes in the first series, before giving up.
    As you say, the plots and setting bear no relation to Chesterton's
    ingenious short stories. It's a pity, as I thought Mark Williams was >excellent as Father Brown.

    Yes. It's well acted and well presented, and an enjoyably anodyne
    afternoon drama series in its own right, with some gorgeous shooting
    locations. But nothing about it resembles Chesterton's original in any
    way, except the name. They could simply have chosen a different name
    and then it would have been an original drama itself.

    Rod.

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  • From NY@21:1/5 to John Hall on Thu Jan 6 10:50:48 2022
    "John Hall" <john_nospam@jhall.co.uk> wrote in message news:uwHgclFmpr1hFwAi@jhall_nospamxx.co.uk...
    In message <4c8ctg1uobl0hg4ffqf3khub67ffp2pa48@4ax.com>, Roderick Stewart <rjfs@escapetime.myzen.co.uk> writes
    On Wed, 5 Jan 2022 18:22:04 +0000, Torx <torx@torx.org> wrote:

    We watched a couple of episodes of a new BBC series called "Around The >>>World in 80 Days" Didn't a bloke called Jules Verne write a book with >>>the same name and a similar but different story/plot? They used the
    same character names and changed the sex of one of the more important >>>ones, gave him/her a different career thus changing an important element >>>of the story?

    From what I've read about this I decided not to bother watching it.

    I've never read the book or even seen the David Niven film, but I've been enjoying the new series. Yes, it's nonsense, but entertaining nonsense. Incidentally, though it's being shown on the BBC, it seems to be a co-production from a number of European broadcasters, in which the BBC
    played only a minor part.

    The plot does differ in places from Jules Verne's book. I believe the scenes where everything flammable was burnt to make steam was on a trans-Atlantic
    (or trans-Pacific) liner, rather than on a steam train that needed to get a
    boy to hospital, but it still worked well.

    I think making Fix female and a newspaper reporter works and adds a
    dimension that was missing in the book - a potential relationship between
    Fix and Passepartout.

    I've only seen the first two episodes so far. I need to watch the two from
    last Sunday before this Sunday's episode.

    I need to read (or listen to on Audible) the book again to remind me of the differences.

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  • From Jim Lesurf@21:1/5 to rjfs@escapetime.myzen.co.uk on Thu Jan 6 11:10:07 2022
    In article <4c8ctg1uobl0hg4ffqf3khub67ffp2pa48@4ax.com>, Roderick Stewart <rjfs@escapetime.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
    On Wed, 5 Jan 2022 18:22:04 +0000, Torx <torx@torx.org> wrote:

    We watched a couple of episodes of a new BBC series called "Around
    The World in 80 Days" Didn't a bloke called Jules Verne write a book
    with the same name and a similar but different story/plot? They used
    the same character names and changed the sex of one of the more
    important ones, gave him/her a different career thus changing an
    important element of the story?

    From what I've read about this I decided not to bother watching it.

    There's also a series in the afternoon called "Father Brown", by
    coincidence the same as the name of the central character in some
    stories I remember reading by G K Chesterton, but I don't think
    Chesterton would recognise any of it.

    He'd have recognised some of the plots and basic characters in the early episodes. However I can't say that it bothers me that the TV 'version'
    isn't the same as the stories. I've found them entertaining. Can't be
    bothered if they fail to be perfect replicas of the books, because I can
    read them anyway! :-)

    Not watched the 'roung the world' yet so no idea if I'll like it or not at
    this point. But not too bothered if they've 'changed it'. I did read that
    many years ago in translation, but can't recall how well the film followed
    the book. Suspect that diverged as well. Seems usual for films and TV progs
    to vary from the 'book'.

    It's (meant to be) entertainment, not a 'set text' followed by an exam! :-)

    Jim

    --
    Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me. Electronics https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/intro/electron.htm
    biog http://jcgl.orpheusweb.co.uk/history/ups_and_downs.html
    Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

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  • From JNugent@21:1/5 to Torx on Thu Jan 6 14:46:24 2022
    On 05/01/2022 06:22 pm, Torx wrote:

    We  watched a couple of episodes of a new BBC series called "Around  The World in 80 Days"  Didn't a bloke called Jules Verne write a book with
    the same name and a similar but different story/plot?  They used the
    same character names and changed the sex of one of the more important
    ones, gave him/her a different career thus changing an important element
    of the story?

    Something similar was recently done with an HG Wells book called "The
    War of The Worlds".

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  • From John Hall@21:1/5 to jennings&co@fastmail.fm on Thu Jan 6 16:58:29 2022
    In message <j3odlvFr1prU2@mid.individual.net>, JNugent <jennings&co@fastmail.fm> writes
    On 05/01/2022 06:22 pm, Torx wrote:

    We  watched a couple of episodes of a new BBC series called "Around 
    The World in 80 Days"  Didn't a bloke called Jules Verne write a book
    with the same name and a similar but different story/plot?  They used
    the same character names and changed the sex of one of the more
    important ones, gave him/her a different career thus changing an
    important element of the story?

    Something similar was recently done with an HG Wells book called "The
    War of The Worlds".


    The big difference being that what they've done with Around the World
    has the virtue of being entertaining, whilst their War of the World's
    was profoundly depressing. OK, given the context of an alien invasion it
    was never going to be a bundle of laughs, but it didn't need to be quite
    so unremittingly bleak.
    --
    John Hall
    "Home is heaven and orgies are vile,
    But you *need* an orgy, once in a while."
    Ogden Nash (1902-1971)

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  • From Indy Jess John@21:1/5 to John Hall on Thu Jan 6 23:39:08 2022
    On 06/01/2022 16:58, John Hall wrote:
    In message<j3odlvFr1prU2@mid.individual.net>, JNugent <jennings&co@fastmail.fm> writes
    On 05/01/2022 06:22 pm, Torx wrote:

    We watched a couple of episodes of a new BBC series called "Around
    The World in 80 Days" Didn't a bloke called Jules Verne write a book
    with the same name and a similar but different story/plot? They used
    the same character names and changed the sex of one of the more
    important ones, gave him/her a different career thus changing an
    important element of the story?

    Something similar was recently done with an HG Wells book called "The
    War of The Worlds".


    The big difference being that what they've done with Around the World
    has the virtue of being entertaining, whilst their War of the World's
    was profoundly depressing. OK, given the context of an alien invasion it
    was never going to be a bundle of laughs, but it didn't need to be quite
    so unremittingly bleak.

    I read the book by John Wyndham "The Day Of The Triffids". As a set of
    words to spark the imagination it was a well written gripping story.

    When it was made into a film, what had been my imagination had turned
    into a visual experience with dialogue and sound. It still made a
    reasonable attempt to portray the events in the book, but the choice of
    scenery and sound effects accidentally turned the gripping story into a hilarious film. When the entire cinema audience laughed at what in the
    book had created tension, the screen writers had very clearly got it wrong.

    Jim

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  • From Java Jive@21:1/5 to Indy Jess John on Fri Jan 7 00:44:07 2022
    On 06/01/2022 23:39, Indy Jess John wrote:

    I read the book by John Wyndham "The Day Of The Triffids".  As a set of words to spark the imagination it was a well written gripping story.

    When it was made into a film, what had been my imagination had turned
    into a visual experience with dialogue and sound.  It still made a reasonable attempt to portray the events in the book, but the choice of scenery and sound effects accidentally turned the gripping story into a hilarious film.  When the entire cinema audience laughed at what in the
    book had created tension, the screen writers had very clearly got it wrong.

    Yes, the book was quite good, the film dire.

    Ditto the Hornblower film starring, IMS, Gregory Peck, and I wasn't too
    keen on the recent dramatisations either. They made the absurd mistake
    of introducing personal vendettas, which hadn't been in the book, into
    the episode I watched, so he wasn't just fighting the enemy but watching
    his back against fellow officers as well, utterly absurd; the episode
    was based on 'Mr Midshipman Hornblower', in which in fact he does fight
    a duel at the beginning of that book with a fellow midshipman, but then
    leaves that ship to join another and that character never features again
    in that or any other book. Also they too obviously felt that they had
    to introduce feminine interest for a modern audience, but, with the
    exception of Maria in Lieutenant Hornblower (or was it the next one chronologically, 'Hornblower And The Hotspur'?), and Lady Barbara
    Wellesley in 'The Happy Return', the end of 'Flying Colours' when she
    becomes his second wife, and various mentions later, mostly in
    'Hornblower In The West Indies', there is virtually no feminine interest
    in the books, yet they're very readable.

    Another film that made a mess of a book was 'A Town Like Alice', which
    missed out literally half of Nevil Shute's original story! Also to a
    lesser extent another based on another of his novels which explored the phenomenon of metal fatigue; IMS the book was called 'No Highway' but
    the film was given another name and starred James Stewart.

    The BBC's serialisation of 'North & South' also seemed to miss out huge
    chunks of the original novel by Elizabeth Gaskell, despite being a serialisation rather than a film, and their serialisation of Charles
    Dickens' 'Bleak House' was just plain terrible, with silly
    video-game-like sound effects every time a scene changed. It was so
    tiresomely puerile that I switched it off within about 10 minutes of
    beginning the first episode and downloaded the book instead.

    I would nearly always recommend people to read books rather than watch dramatisations. The pictures (in your own head) tend to be so much
    better, and at least you are guaranteed to stick to the original
    storyline! There are exceptions, there's a scene in the book of Jane
    Austen's 'Sense And Sensibility' that just doesn't work for me, where
    the baddie Willoughby comes to the house where Marianne is lying, it is
    feared, at death's door, and has an awkwardly unlikely conversation with Elinor, who, in real life, would certainly either have refused him entry
    or else have bawled him out before she sent him packing. Wisely, in my opinion, Emma Thompson, who wrote the screenplay for the film version in
    which she played Elinor, left it out.

    --

    Fake news kills!

    I may be contacted via the contact address given on my website:
    www.macfh.co.uk

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  • From Robin@21:1/5 to Java Jive on Fri Jan 7 08:12:15 2022
    On 07/01/2022 00:44, Java Jive wrote:
    <snip>

    Also they too obviously felt that they had
    to introduce feminine interest for a modern audience, but, with the
    exception of Maria in Lieutenant Hornblower (or was it the next one chronologically, 'Hornblower And The Hotspur'?), and Lady Barbara
    Wellesley in 'The Happy Return', the end of 'Flying Colours' when she
    becomes his second wife, and various mentions later, mostly in
    'Hornblower In The West Indies', there is virtually no feminine interest
    in the books, yet they're very readable.

    He had an affair with the widowed Vicomtesse de Gracay in Flying Colours
    and renewed it in Lord Hornblower (when he was thinking about leaving
    his wife to live with her in France).

    --
    Robin
    reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

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  • From Brian Gaff (Sofa)@21:1/5 to Roderick Stewart on Fri Jan 7 09:38:12 2022
    No Father Brown is quite funny though. I'm not sure about basing things on famous writers creations. What do you make of Endeavour for example. Some
    are good yarns but to be honest nothing clicks about they young Morse
    character with me, and just like with the Original Morse series they take a couple of hours telling a story that would fit into 1.
    Vera is perhaps better in this respect. Brian

    --

    This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
    The Sofa of Brian Gaff...
    briang1@blueyonder.co.uk
    Blind user, so no pictures please
    Note this Signature is meaningless.!
    "Roderick Stewart" <rjfs@escapetime.myzen.co.uk> wrote in message news:4c8ctg1uobl0hg4ffqf3khub67ffp2pa48@4ax.com...
    On Wed, 5 Jan 2022 18:22:04 +0000, Torx <torx@torx.org> wrote:

    We watched a couple of episodes of a new BBC series called "Around The >>World in 80 Days" Didn't a bloke called Jules Verne write a book with
    the same name and a similar but different story/plot? They used the
    same character names and changed the sex of one of the more important
    ones, gave him/her a different career thus changing an important element
    of the story?

    From what I've read about this I decided not to bother watching it.

    There's also a series in the afternoon called "Father Brown", by
    coincidence the same as the name of the central character in some
    stories I remember reading by G K Chesterton, but I don't think
    Chesterton would recognise any of it.

    Rod.

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  • From Java Jive@21:1/5 to Robin on Fri Jan 7 10:39:44 2022
    On 07/01/2022 08:12, Robin wrote:

    On 07/01/2022 00:44, Java Jive wrote:
    <snip>

    Also they too obviously felt that they had to introduce feminine
    interest for a modern audience, but, with the exception of Maria in
    Lieutenant Hornblower (or was it the next one chronologically,
    'Hornblower And The Hotspur'?), and Lady Barbara Wellesley in 'The
    Happy Return', the end of 'Flying Colours' when she becomes his second
    wife, and various mentions later, mostly in 'Hornblower In The West
    Indies', there is virtually no feminine interest in the books, yet
    they're very readable.

    He had an affair with the widowed Vicomtesse de Gracay in Flying Colours
    and renewed it in Lord Hornblower (when he was thinking about leaving
    his wife to live with her in France).

    That's not my recollection of either book, but it was many years ago
    since I last read them. My recollection is that in 'Flying Colours' he
    had feelings for a woman called Marie, a daughter of the aristocratic
    family that had taken them in after their boat went over a waterfall,
    but he didn't allow anything much to happen; I don't recall that she was
    a widow, but she might have been. In Lord Hornblower, I don't remember
    him wishing to leave his wife, by then Lady Barbara Wellesley, but I do remember that in one of the books of that period in his fictional life,
    he dines at a Russian banquet, and was put under the 'guidance' of a
    Russian duchess. The scene that I remember is that they go into a vast
    room where there are all sorts of victuals on offer, he eats his fill,
    turns to his companion and says: "I have dined exceedingly well!", she
    gives him a funny look, and then they go into another vast hall where
    the dining tables are laid out. He'd bloated himself up on the starters!

    --

    Fake news kills!

    I may be contacted via the contact address given on my website:
    www.macfh.co.uk

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  • From Robin@21:1/5 to Java Jive on Fri Jan 7 13:23:44 2022
    On 07/01/2022 10:39, Java Jive wrote:
    On 07/01/2022 08:12, Robin wrote:

    On 07/01/2022 00:44, Java Jive wrote:
    <snip>

    Also they too obviously felt that they had to introduce feminine
    interest for a modern audience, but, with the exception of Maria in
    Lieutenant Hornblower (or was it the next one chronologically,
    'Hornblower And The Hotspur'?), and Lady Barbara Wellesley in 'The
    Happy Return', the end of 'Flying Colours' when she becomes his
    second wife, and various mentions later, mostly in 'Hornblower In The
    West Indies', there is virtually no feminine interest in the books,
    yet they're very readable.

    He had an affair with the widowed Vicomtesse de Gracay in Flying
    Colours and renewed it in Lord Hornblower (when he was thinking about
    leaving his wife to live with her in France).

    That's not my recollection of either book, but it was many years ago
    since I last read them.  My recollection is that in 'Flying Colours' he
    had feelings for a woman called Marie, a daughter of the aristocratic
    family that had taken them in after their boat went over a waterfall,
    but he didn't allow anything much to happen; I don't recall that she was
    a widow, but she might have been.  In Lord Hornblower, I don't remember
    him wishing to leave his wife, by then Lady Barbara Wellesley, but I do remember that in one of the books of that period in his fictional life,
    he dines at a Russian banquet, and was put under the 'guidance' of a
    Russian duchess.  The scene that I remember is that they go into a vast
    room where there are all sorts of victuals on offer, he eats his fill,
    turns to his companion and says: "I have dined exceedingly well!", she
    gives him a funny look, and then they go into another vast hall where
    the dining tables are laid out.  He'd bloated himself up on the starters!


    Vicomtesse de Graçay = Marie Ladon

    https://hornblower.fandom.com/wiki/Marie_Ladon


    --
    Robin
    reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

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  • From JNugent@21:1/5 to Java Jive on Fri Jan 7 14:26:32 2022
    On 07/01/2022 12:44 am, Java Jive wrote:

    On 06/01/2022 23:39, Indy Jess John wrote:

    I read the book by John Wyndham "The Day Of The Triffids".  As a set
    of words to spark the imagination it was a well written gripping story.

    When it was made into a film, what had been my imagination had turned
    into a visual experience with dialogue and sound.  It still made a
    reasonable attempt to portray the events in the book, but the choice
    of scenery and sound effects accidentally turned the gripping story
    into a hilarious film.  When the entire cinema audience laughed at
    what in the book had created tension, the screen writers had very
    clearly got it wrong.

    Yes, the book was quite good, the film dire.

    The BBC made a better version (as a 6-part serial, IIRC) in about 1981.
    John Duttine and Emma Relph (whatever happened to her?).

    It was set in the then-present-day rather than the 1950s but that didn't
    hamper the story.

    [ ... ]

    Another film that made a mess of a book was 'A Town Like Alice', which
    missed out literally half of Nevil Shute's original story!

    Agreed. As well-acted as this fragment may have been, the foreshortening
    of the story even made the title irrelevant. The parts set in "Alice"
    weren't dealt with.

    There was a more recent television version (well, forty years ago) which encompassed the whole story. It was much better for it.

    <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081949/>

      Also to a
    lesser extent another based on another of his novels which explored the phenomenon of metal fatigue; IMS the book was called 'No Highway' but
    the film was given another name and starred James Stewart.

    "No Highway In The Sky". Presumably to tell potential audiences that it
    was about air-travel. At that time, UK films often featured an American
    lead actor. They wanted to sell them in the USA too! Marlene Dietrich
    also took part.

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  • From JNugent@21:1/5 to Indy Jess John on Fri Jan 7 14:17:30 2022
    On 06/01/2022 11:39 pm, Indy Jess John wrote:
    On 06/01/2022 16:58, John Hall wrote:
    In message<j3odlvFr1prU2@mid.individual.net>, JNugent
    <jennings&co@fastmail.fm>  writes
    On 05/01/2022 06:22 pm, Torx wrote:

    We  watched a couple of episodes of a new BBC series called "Around
    The  World in 80 Days"  Didn't a bloke called Jules Verne write a book >>>> with  the same name and a similar but different story/plot?  They used >>>> the  same character names and changed the sex of one of the more
    important  ones, gave him/her a different career thus changing an
    important element  of the story?

    Something similar was recently done with an HG Wells book called "The
    War of The Worlds".


    The big difference being that what they've done with Around the World
    has the virtue of being entertaining, whilst their War of the World's
    was profoundly depressing. OK, given the context of an alien invasion it
    was never going to be a bundle of laughs, but it didn't need to be quite
    so unremittingly bleak.

    I read the book by John Wyndham "The Day Of The Triffids".  As a set of words to spark the imagination it was a well written gripping story.

    When it was made into a film, what had been my imagination had turned
    into a visual experience with dialogue and sound.  It still made a reasonable attempt to portray the events in the book, but the choice of scenery and sound effects accidentally turned the gripping story into a hilarious film.  When the entire cinema audience laughed at what in the
    book had created tension, the screen writers had very clearly got it wrong.

    The 1960s film with Howard Keel was amusingly far from the book.

    What was the French escapade about? In the book all action takes place
    in England.

    And the ice-cream van with the irritating chimes recording (played on a guitar)?

    Let's not even mention the lighthouse and its eventual "Wizard of Oz" fire-bucket moment...

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  • From Jim Lesurf@21:1/5 to Robin on Fri Jan 7 14:51:05 2022
    In article <32aaabef-8b29-73c3-5088-1fcc5548d500@outlook.com>,
    Robin <rbw@outlook.com> wrote:
    Also they too obviously felt that they had to introduce feminine
    interest for a modern audience, but, with the exception of Maria in
    Lieutenant Hornblower (or was it the next one chronologically,
    'Hornblower And The Hotspur'?), and Lady Barbara Wellesley in 'The
    Happy Return', the end of 'Flying Colours' when she becomes his
    second wife, and various mentions later, mostly in 'Hornblower In The
    West Indies', there is virtually no feminine interest in the books,
    yet they're very readable.

    I must read the Hornblower books again. Been ages since I did.

    More recently I have read the 'Honor Harrington' books which, in a way, are based on them, and are also excellent in a different way.

    Jim

    --
    Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me. Electronics https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/intro/electron.htm
    biog http://jcgl.orpheusweb.co.uk/history/ups_and_downs.html
    Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

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  • From John Hall@21:1/5 to java@evij.com.invalid on Fri Jan 7 18:25:00 2022
    In message <sr82cq$b9e$1@dont-email.me>, Java Jive
    <java@evij.com.invalid> writes
    <big snip>
    I would nearly always recommend people to read books rather than watch >dramatisations. The pictures (in your own head) tend to be so much
    better,

    The pictures in one's head can be very good with radio dramatisations
    too. I listened to the radio version of Douglas Adams' "Highthiker's
    Guide to the Galaxy" - which of course preceded all the other versions -
    and the pictures were far better than in the BBC's subsequent TV
    version. Bizarrely, they were so proud of Zaphod Beeblebrox's second
    head, made out of rubber or some such material, that ISTR it was even
    featured on "Tomorrow's Word". It was terrible, hanging limply on the
    actor's shoulder and easily distinguishable from his real head.

    Back in the 1970s, BBC Radio also did a superb dramatisation of "Lord of
    the Rings", IIRC in 13 one-hour parts. The pictures were better than in
    Peter Jackson's films, even though he had a much bigger budget to work
    with than BBC TV had had for Hitchhiker. And it was much more faithful
    to the books than the films had been, even retaining a lot of the poetry
    and songs.

    and at least you are guaranteed to stick to the original storyline!

    I think the big mistake may be to read a book before watching the film,
    when one might have enjoyed the film a lot more if one had done it the
    other way round.
    --
    John Hall
    "Home is heaven and orgies are vile,
    But you *need* an orgy, once in a while."
    Ogden Nash (1902-1971)

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  • From Vir Campestris@21:1/5 to Torx on Fri Jan 7 21:49:07 2022
    On 05/01/2022 18:22, Torx wrote:
    We  watched a couple of episodes of a new BBC series called "Around  The World in 80 Days"  Didn't a bloke called Jules Verne write a book with
    the same name and a similar but different story/plot?  They used the
    same character names and changed the sex of one of the more important
    ones, gave him/her a different career thus changing an important element
    of the story?


    You watched a couple?

    We managed one. My wife has more patience than me, I'd have stopped
    before the end of it.

    Andy

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  • From Roderick Stewart@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jan 8 10:14:10 2022
    On Fri, 7 Jan 2022 18:25:00 +0000, John Hall <john_nospam@jhall.co.uk>
    wrote:

    <big snip>
    I would nearly always recommend people to read books rather than watch >>dramatisations. The pictures (in your own head) tend to be so much
    better,

    The pictures in one's head can be very good with radio dramatisations
    too. I listened to the radio version of Douglas Adams' "Highthiker's
    Guide to the Galaxy" - which of course preceded all the other versions -
    and the pictures were far better than in the BBC's subsequent TV
    version. Bizarrely, they were so proud of Zaphod Beeblebrox's second
    head, made out of rubber or some such material, that ISTR it was even >featured on "Tomorrow's Word". It was terrible, hanging limply on the
    actor's shoulder and easily distinguishable from his real head.

    Agreed, though I think the BBC visualisation of Marvin the paranoid
    android was far better then the one in the movie. I suppose the movie
    makers felt obliged to do something different to avoid accusations of plagiarism, but the TV dramatisation had the advantage of being first,
    and having got it exactly right, their effort couldn't really be
    improved upon.

    Rod.

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  • From Jim Lesurf@21:1/5 to john_nospam@jhall.co.uk on Sat Jan 8 10:42:10 2022
    In article <9mkZM4E8VI2hFwqo@jhall_nospamxx.co.uk>, John Hall <john_nospam@jhall.co.uk> wrote:

    Back in the 1970s, BBC Radio also did a superb dramatisation of "Lord of
    the Rings", IIRC in 13 one-hour parts. The pictures were better than in
    Peter Jackson's films, even though he had a much bigger budget to work
    with than BBC TV had had for Hitchhiker. And it was much more faithful
    to the books than the films had been, even retaining a lot of the poetry
    and songs.

    You've reminded me that I have that series on tape! I enjoyed it. But i
    also enjoyed the films, particularly the special edition versions, etc.
    Given the sheer level of detail and incident in all Tolkien's books it
    would be practically impossible to get it into films. He essentially
    created a world with its own mythologies, languages, etc.

    Jim

    --
    Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me. Electronics https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scots_Guide/intro/electron.htm
    biog http://jcgl.orpheusweb.co.uk/history/ups_and_downs.html
    Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

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  • From Max Demian@21:1/5 to Roderick Stewart on Sat Jan 8 17:49:32 2022
    On 08/01/2022 10:14, Roderick Stewart wrote:
    On Fri, 7 Jan 2022 18:25:00 +0000, John Hall <john_nospam@jhall.co.uk>
    wrote:

    <big snip>
    I would nearly always recommend people to read books rather than watch
    dramatisations. The pictures (in your own head) tend to be so much
    better,

    The pictures in one's head can be very good with radio dramatisations
    too. I listened to the radio version of Douglas Adams' "Highthiker's
    Guide to the Galaxy" - which of course preceded all the other versions -
    and the pictures were far better than in the BBC's subsequent TV
    version. Bizarrely, they were so proud of Zaphod Beeblebrox's second
    head, made out of rubber or some such material, that ISTR it was even
    featured on "Tomorrow's Word". It was terrible, hanging limply on the
    actor's shoulder and easily distinguishable from his real head.

    Agreed, though I think the BBC visualisation of Marvin the paranoid
    android was far better then the one in the movie. I suppose the movie
    makers felt obliged to do something different to avoid accusations of plagiarism, but the TV dramatisation had the advantage of being first,
    and having got it exactly right, their effort couldn't really be
    improved upon.

    I agree. Thought the TV Marvin did appear in the film as a subsidiary
    robot in one scene. Maybe they made it but decided they couldn't use it
    for some reason, perhaps legal.

    --
    Max Demian

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