Poldark

2 watchers

Valyrian Plastic Jun 2017 10:04pm, 25 Jun 2017 5,801 posts	0 Valyrian Plastic Any thoughts on the new series?
Sharkie Jun 2017 10:11pm, 25 Jun 2017 11,641 posts	0 Sharkie I don't really rate Debbie Horsfield as a writer, a lot of it is v.corny. I know it's all Sunday night escapism and I still enjoy the prettiness of it all: easy on the eye cast, gorgeously set up scenes, Cornwall looking Cornwally... what's not to like on those counts. But I can't engage with it, too predictable ... I always though the books got duller anyway. And the same with the first telly adaptation.
Sharkie Jun 2017 10:14pm, 25 Jun 2017 11,642 posts	0 Sharkie And Ross bopping all those Frenchmen without even mussing his carefully tousled curls.... as Raffo said, 'How does he maintain that perfect level of just unshaven.'
Sharkie Jun 2017 10:16pm, 25 Jun 2017 11,643 posts	0 Sharkie And has Eleanor Tomlinson had a boob job? She was refreshingly flat chested in series 1 and 2!
Velociraptor Jun 2017 10:20pm, 25 Jun 2017 36,392 posts	0 Velociraptor I'm very much enjoying it. There are bits I don't like, such as having George Warleggan as an out and out pantomime villain rather than the rather more complex character from the books, but other bits that outdo the books, like the way Aunt Agatha features as a credible character rather than a batty old crone. I thought the books lost their edge eventually, but only the last one was truly dreadful. The 5th, 6th and 7th remained very good.
Valyrian Plastic Jun 2017 10:26pm, 25 Jun 2017 5,802 posts	0 Valyrian Plastic They've definitely gone overboard with the lens flares, but other than that I can't really fault the look of it. As I said on my blog, it's on a par with many modern films. I did find myself wishing they'd hired a director who can competently shoot action. (He didn't even "bop" that last guy.)
Dvorak Jul 2017 1:58pm, 9 Jul 2017 13,851 posts	0 Dvorak I hadn't looked at this thread before, as I had series two recorded and for some reason had never watched it. The third series being trailed prompted me to get viewing and I've now caught up. Hmm. It's been a long time since I read any of the books (I never read the final book (book 10?) meaning to reread all in sequence), and even longer since the original series, but ... whilst I am still enjoying it I am perhaps not being quite as thrilled in this series. Whilst inevitably a lot of nuance will be lost in the translation to Sunday night serial, the broad brush seems to be swiping particularly broadly. For example, in the books I seem to remember that there was much more about George's devious financial machinations. Now, the minutiae of Cornish banking wars may not transfer that well to the screen, but it seems to have boiled down to: George: "I think I shall open a bank". George opens bank. George is even more ostentatiously wealthy than before. I don't think the whole thing is that well served by being turned into "Poldarkman vs Warlegganman: League Of Justice".
Valyrian Plastic Jul 2017 11:36am, 10 Jul 2017 5,948 posts	0 Valyrian Plastic Dvorak, I think Warleggan's schemings are just a consequence of having to get an hour's worth of content out of each episode, and having subplots that are established and concluded in the span of that hour. They've taken a lot of liberties with the characters but the events have been playing out more or less parallel to the books up till now. In that sense, they've gotten one over on the 70s version, which (among other things) had a "who's the daddy?" storyline that wound up in the same place as the books anyway. Just a big waste of time, basically.
Velociraptor Jul 2017 11:54am, 10 Jul 2017 36,457 posts	0 Velociraptor There's a tremendous amount of very detailed and presumably extensively researched stuff in the early books that doesn't translate well to the screen. They've given Whitworth the pantomime treatment too. I didn't think it would be possible to outdo Christopher Biggins in that regard, but I was wrong. I'm almost yelling, "Eeeeugh!" whenever he appears.
Dvorak Jul 2017 3:23pm, 16 Jul 2017 13,886 posts	0 Dvorak Whitworth certainly combines the slythy tove with the mimsy borogove. Outbiggining Biggins indeed. I was quite thrilled by last week's endeavours and had the feeling an enormous poke in the eye for George was being set up. The mission itself had credulity twanging like a highly-strung banjo, mind. Sharkie's point on Demelza's boobage: she is currently a nursing mother. So I imagine Wardrobe (rather than surgery) to have been involved in that.