to think that Around the World in 80 Days if a vanity project for David Tennant?

[PyongyangKipperbang]

As someone who loves the book, and Jules Verne is a very good writer (although I think he was certainly on something when he wrote Journey to the Centre of the Earth!) , this TV series is shockingly bad!

It bears no resemblance to the story at all apart from the 80 day long trip and the names of some of the characters! There was no balloon trip, Mrs Auoda doesnt exist, Fogg is all silly and excitable and nothing like the regimented knowledgable character in the book.....he gets sea sickness ffs when in the book it becomes clear that he is an accomplished seaman.

And DT is executive producer.....coincidence?

Feels a bit like Doctor Who goes back in time in terms of how he is playing the character. Tortured but funny.....loving but repressed......blah blah....

I think ATWIED is one of those books, like Frankenstein or War of the Worlds where the core ideas are iconic but the actual book plot doesn't work well for TV/film, so it keeps getting "adapted" very freely.

I think the suttee plot in particular wouldn't go down well for Sunday night drama, and not having a balloon would be commercial suicide at this point, because it's so embedded in the property, it's like having Sherlock Holmes without the deerstalker.

I settled down to watch it with DD but it just didn't do it for us - they were setting up a rather leaden "here's a character, here's a hint about their back story and the issues they need to resolve, by episode 3 we will find out the details about their back story, in episode 5 they will have a setback in which their backstory issues will threaten to overcome them completely, and in episode 6 they will have an epiphany which leads to them finally resolving them and moving on". I think I just wasn't in the mood for what felt like quite by-the-numbers story telling. DD also found the script unsatisfactory.

Totally with you op.
No ballooning in the book - because the whole point was travel around the world by land and sea.
And since when was Detective Fix a female journalist?

An unbearable watch. Why not just write a story and call it something else. I hate it when screenwriters take a story title then completely alter the plot to suit their film/tv series. "Mallory Towers" and "Anne with an E" both illustrating my point!

@AngryApple

Well as a fan of the 80s cartoon, I’d say it definitely had a better theme tune. Also I believe there were frequent balloon rides?

Wasn’t Steve Coogan once Fogg too? I’m sure he was also in a balloon!

And we know Richard Branson definitely had balloons.

This thread is balloonist.

I have to say I'm not really enjoying it. It's all a bit dark for me. I was expecting something a bit more light hearted.

Well, virtually all modern adaptations have diverged wildly from the novel for fairly obvious reasons — bored rich white guy takes a lot of trains and boats, periodically meditating on imperialism and foreign ‘types’, and returns home exactly the same person he left, only with a conveniently English-educated rescued Indian princess on his arm.

Watching but finding it very disappointing and episode v4 was incredibly tedious.

We are all loving it. As an avid book reading child I disliked the book and never finished it so nearly didn't watch this. Glad I did.

@Simonjt

I’ve read the book, I’m also enjoying this version of the book.

Very very sad that someone thinks a black person or a woman being on TV is woke, genuinely can’t imagine being so racist or sexist.

And if you re-read what I wrote.....

My issue is the total rewriting to include things that were never in the book in order to make a point. Fix played by a woman? No problem. Fix as a journalist with Daddy issues as opposed to a slightly unhinged detective who is trying to catch Fogg for a crime he didnt commit.....not good.

Passepartout had a huge back story in the book that could easily have been used in the series, there was no need to invent this political story at all....again it felt like they were trying to make a point.

As the feminist mother of a black daughter there are many things I can be accused of but sexism and racism .....no.

@Wafflesnsniffles

Totally with you op. No ballooning in the book - because the whole point was travel around the world by land and sea. And since when was Detective Fix a female journalist?

An unbearable watch. Why not just write a story and call it something else. I hate it when screenwriters take a story title then completely alter the plot to suit their film/tv series. "Mallory Towers" and "Anne with an E" both illustrating my point!

Also The Watch and Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.

Havent bothered with The Watch after I read TP fan reviews. But YY to Dirk Gently, was an absolute travesty. The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul is an amazing book so I hope they leave that alone!

It's quite fun but DT reminds me of Basil Fawlty so that's spoiling it a tad for me!

I think the Fix character may be written as an homage to the (very real) American journalist Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) who starting in 1889 successfully completed the circumnavigation in 72 days, meeting Jules Verne on the journey.

Having a Scotland Yard Inspector played as a woman in this period would be hugely inaccurate and discordant in anything outside an alternative reality setting. Don't see why Passepartout shouldn't be black, though.

I haven’t seen it yet but I’m looking forward to it,

Books and adaptations are separate creative works. The most tedious adaptations are those that don’t recognise this and try to just act out a book scene by scene. A small ambition that satisfies small minds, but a waste of creative energy.

Switched it off and watched the David Niven version instead, which is 100 times better.

One quick question - does the series get to the end of the book? Really worried that it will leave us hanging.

My husband read that another series is happening. I said that they will probably do another adventure. Husband thought there was too much to get through to reach the end. I need to be right. Not because I always need to be right, but because I want this to be a complete story. I need some reassurance.

I haven't read the book but I remember the crisps

This! Which is why I thought there was a balloon in it, sure it was on the packet.

@knittingaddict

One quick question - does the series get to the end of the book? Really worried that it will leave us hanging.

My husband read that another series is happening. I said that they will probably do another adventure. Husband thought there was too much to get through to reach the end. I need to be right. Not because I always need to be right, but because I want this to be a complete story. I need some reassurance.

Yes it does, and if there is a second series I wonder if they continue with Jules Verne and do Journey to the Centre of the Earth.