Jonathan Strange anticipation thread

[lucysnowe]

Thought I would start one as have just watched the full trailer here. Am so very exciting now!! Anyone else??

[Igneococcus]

dd was reading some forum where they discussed casting (this discussion might have been posted before the broadcast) and some poster there suggested Tilda Swinton as the Gentleman. The more I think about it the more I like the idea, she would have been great.

[boldlygoingsomewhere]

I was racking my brains trying to think who it could be but I've just seen who it is on Tumblr. Very interesting choice in light of his book ending- death as a transformed state...

[lucysnowe]

You'll never guess who's death (or maybe you will :))

Nice articles on the book too:

www.dailygrail.com/Guest-Articles/2015/6/Strange-Norrell-I-The-Language-Birds

[boldlygoingsomewhere]

They look great...and Childermass as the Magician! I suspect Vinculus would be the Hanged Man and the Gentleman the Devil. The Tower should also be an obvious one. :)

[lucysnowe]

Check out these gorgeous tarot cards!

erebusodora.tumblr.com/post/123145868856/so-the-star-the-magician-the-king-the-hermit

Love that Strange is the fool :)

[hackmum]

Finally caught up with the last episodes. Thought it was incredibly well done - amazing performances from the two leads. And the quality of the photography was something else.

I love the idea that we are all at heart either Strange-ites or Norrellites.

Also have to admit that I got a bit lost with the plot especially towards the end - think I'm getting stupider as I get older.

[lucysnowe]

Hey apparently there was an radio adaptation of Mrs Mabb from The Ladies of Grace Adieu and it's now available to listen! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b009fwpk

[UptoapointLordCopper]

I think he was off somewhere having fun and just popped back to have a look to see how his spell (ie the two magicians) were doing, the slacker.

[Clawdy]

What actually happened to the Raven King?

[UptoapointLordCopper]

Yes, and Jonathan Strange rolled his eyes.

But I'm slightly worried that I understand them.

[Thurlow]

That's a good point, I think you're right about it acknowledging him rather than giving it as a gift.

I am very sad they didn't manage to keep in one of my favourite moments, which is when Norrell and Strange are both in the Tower of Black, and Norrell leaves the room to go and get water for their spell, and the Tower jumps and follows him and they realise that the spell has only named 'the English Magician' rather than Jonathan Strange. And Norrell says "if nothing else, this shows the need for precision in magic"

[UptoapointLordCopper]

I thought in the book they only ask all the magic to acknowledge the king, not channel it all into one person and then the whole place was without magic. I was quite annoyed with that. But yes, all is forgiven on account of Norrell's wig.

I hid behind the sofa a bit at Lascelles's end. The book ending is also quite nasty, but in a different way.

[Thurlow]

The book ending was slightly better, but I can see the cost of having whole hills and buildings landing themselves on the Gentleman might have been a little off-putting for the CGI people!

Plus I'll forgive them a hell of a lot for Norrell's wig in the final episode.

Oh, and the Gentleman's line "Stephen, why are you in a very small room?"

The one benefit it did have for me over the book is that they could run all the events alongside each other and tighten the timeline. So while I knew from the books that S&N put all of English magic in Stephen, when you see it happening visually it's even clearer.

I'm going to miss Childermass's awesomeness a lot

[Igneococcus]

I wish they would have stuck closer to the book ending. They were so good all throughout the first 6 episodes but somewhat dropped the ball in the last in my opinion. Still, best thing I have seen in a very long time and I have a whole host of new favourite actors, not only the main characters but some of the smaller roles too.
I wish Lascelles would have got the ending from the book, it's a lot nastier.

[UptoapointLordCopper]

I've just watched the final episode. I like the book ending better. But it's not bad. Not bad at all.

What will we do now!?

[WineCheeseSleep]

I loved this show so much. I'm harbouring quite the crush on Bertie Carval too, I think he could be the next Benedict Cumberbatch...

[DandyDan]

The whole thing was bliss. But esp. Bertie Carvel and Eddie Marsan; and Childermass of course!

[Clawdy]

Sorry it has finished, loved it, thought the acting was brilliant, especially the two leads. Is the book ending the same? Yes, I know I must read it...

[Trills]

It was great to see Lady Pole being a real person wth real agency. She had motivation and determination and drive.

[Nagasaki]

Bertie Carvel is am.az.ing

[Thurlow]

"That is not the Raven King, that is Sir.Walter Pole's butler!"

Oh, that was BLISS.

[Trills]

"I have had enough of you gentlemen taking what you want of me"

"You will have to make do with me instead"

[lucysnowe]

Thurlow yes that is very interesting! The French Revolution as well and Wordsworth versus Shelley etc. I think it is a time when people were suddenly considering themselves modern, or wondering what modernity was about, while at the same time suddenly getting interested in old things (Walter Scott). You can easily imagine the Aureates etc being a bit forgotten until Norrell came along.

I really loved this episode by the way, it brought everything together and finally Stephen had something to do. I missed the pineapples and candles in people's heads though. I loved the meeting between the Gentleman and Jonathan with the former being completely nonplussed.

I haven't minded the changed but I hope the ending remains the same, esp with regards to Jonathan and Arabella. And can't wait to see you-know-who :)

[Fiderer]

Thanks all. I wasn't sure how much was Norrell wanting to assert himself as the only magician and how much was genuine concern about the danger to others. Or a bit of both.

Thurlow The Enlightenment/Romantic aspect is really interesting.

I'm going to have to buy the book aren't I?

[Thurlow]

I was having a conversation with a colleague about this the other day and it occurred to us how important it is that it's set in the early 19th century. I had always thought that Clarke had set it there because it's a fun period with the war, and the story just works better historically. But actually the first few decades of the 19th century are such a period of change, of the clash of the Enlightenment against Romanticism, of Voltaire against Byron - so the period becomes an intrinsic part of the story, with the 'Enlightenment' Norrell against the 'Romantic' Strange. It's a huge raft of English history rewritten as being between two magicians.