PBS has started it's months long Complete Jane Austen last night with a sub-par adaptation of Persuasion. I thought it was horrible. The book was compressed so much into the 90 minutes that none of the secondary characters were explored at all and the main characters were barely explored. I thought neither actor in the roles of Anne or Captain Wentworth were well cast, not to mention that the actor in the role of Captain Wentworth didn't look old enough, and he didn't look like he was a navy captain. Overall I am very disappointed with this entry in the Masterpiece Classic. I think that the Northanger Abbey and Sense and Sensibility adaptations will be much better solely on the fact that Andrew Davies, who did the wonderful adaptation of Pride and Prejudice in 1995 with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, is adapting those two novels. I can't say that I am surprised about the cutting down of Persuasion. I was very unimpressed with the recent PBS adaptation of Jane Eyre, specifically in the cutting and the casting. The movie was almost four hours long, so I felt they could explore more of the books. I didn't like the casting of Mr. Rochester; again I thought the actor was too young. Mom, Rachel, and I agreed that maybe PBS is trying to appeal to a wider audience. And this seems to mean compressing and making the movie more modern (you know showing how the novel is still relevant rather than allowing the reader/audience to make those connections on his/her own). So I guess PBS is no longer trying to appeal to people who have read the book before seeing the movie.
HANK (reading): "The elf-lord Flyfandel knelt upon the bed of dandelions. 'Young wanderer,' quoth he, 'I have woven you a magic breastplate'"-- Ugh! Bobby, television!
CLEA: Surely as I am Clea and the Crystal of Kilmarian shines upon my brow, our forces shall rally and vanguish the goblin horde! What say ye, Hindbottom?
BOBBY: Aye, my fell axe thirsts for blood to avenge my father Borak, my swift brother Rigmor Tallenbeard, and --
HANK: Dangit, Bobby, no more elves at the table.
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