Adventures in DVDs

[osprey_archer]

I’ve never owned my own TV before, but one of my friends had an extra which became mine when I moved into the Hummingbird Cottage. A Target gift card had just come into my possession as a housewarming gift, so I traipsed off to Target for a DVD player.

“I didn’t know we sold those anymore,” the bemused clerk informed me. (Target does, however, have a large record selection. Also WiFi enabled record players. What a time to be alive.)

Undeterred, I made my purchase, and drove home happily dreaming of all the new movies and shows I would watch.

I did in fact manage to watch a couple of new movies: Studio Ghibli’s The Red Turtle, a wordless movie about a man marooned on an island who ends up marrying a turtle who turns into a woman (as turtles are wont to do), and Werner Herzog’s Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, which is a fascinating documentary about trappers in the taiga, although it does keep saying things like “These trappers are almost untouched by modern civilization” as the trappers zoom off in their snow mobiles. I mean. Maybe a little touched by modern civilization?

However, what I’ve mostly been doing is rewatching old favorites. I rewatched the Romola Garai Emma and the pre-Raphaelite miniseries Desperate Romantics (both of which I own), and contemplated borrowing the 2006 Jane Eyre and 2008 Sense and Sensibility miniseries from the library before deciding that no, it was better to wait till I could find them used somewhere, and therefore enjoy the thrill of the hunt.

(I have not yet found either of those miniseries, but on my last visit to Half Price Books I DID find a copy of the 1981 Brideshead Revisited miniseries for a mere $10!!! which was instantly stolen by a friend who hasn’t seen it yet. Which is fair enough I guess.)

I did get the first two seasons of The Vicar of Dibley from the library, and have now started in on their Poirot collection, and was disconcerted to discover that with Poirot in particular I have barely any memory of the show. Things like the bit where Miss Lemon says “Poirot looked middle-aged even as a baby,” yes. The solutions to the mysteries? No. Gone. Might as well have never watched the show. Which is convenient for a rewatch, admittedly.

As much as I’m enjoying my rewatches, however (season one of Downton Abbey next?), I would like to stir a few new-to-me things into the mix as well.

1. I’ve started the 1981 sitcom A Fine Romance, because (a) it stars Judi Dench, and (b) the episodes are half an hour long. (I’m a sucker for shows with half hour episodes.) It’s cute, but I’m not totally sold yet. Will give it a few more episodes and see how I feel.

2. On the topic of half hour shows (actually 22-minute shows), I’ve heard Abbott Elementary is fantastic. Yes? No? Maybe so?

3. Given my love of Poirot, I was looking thoughtfully at the Miss Marple adaptations. But alas they’re all two hours long, and I turn into a pumpkin at about 60 minutes.

4. Has anyone seen Flambards? Would you recommend it? I’m considering it because it’s on the shelf at the library and I have a vague memory of someone, somewhere, gushing about it, except maybe they were gushing about the book that it’s based on and not the show.

5. I attempted to watch a Vanity Fair miniseries, by which I mean that I got a copy out of the library and then never even put it in the DVD player because the thought of watching Becky Sharp be mean to people while smiling sweetly was too stressful. Strongly suspect I would feel the same way about the classic 1979 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy miniseries, which is unfortunate as it would be the perfect capper for my George Smiley readings.

6. However, as a general rule, I do enjoy book to miniseries adaptations, especially if they’re period pieces and the episodes are less than an hour long. So please let me know if you have recs!

Comments

[lirazel]

This is such fun to read about! Enjoy your DVD adventures!

I definitely watched Flambards as a kid, whether when they reaired it on PBS or when my mom got the series from the library, I cannot recall. But I could not possibly tell you whether it was good or not.

[osprey_archer]

The problem with shows one watched as a child... much too long ago to remember if they were good!

[lirazel]

There are so many like that!

[sartorias]

Anthony AndreWs' the scarlet pimpernel. The hair is relentlessly eighties big, but in spite of that, it's such fun.

[osprey_archer]

I love Anthony Andrews' Scarlet Pimpernel! Such a good movie.

[kore]

"WiFi enabled record players"

Huh. I am kind of boggled.

I absolutely love the TTSS show -- Alec Guinness gives the performance of a lifetime, and they really capture that postwar squalor and the dreadful suspense le Carre somehow wrings out of someone stealing a file. But seeing it "really" happen does add even more grimness.

[osprey_archer]

I must admit that I didn't look into the record players in any great detail, so I may have the details wrong, but they were definitely enabled with SOMETHING that I don't usually associate with record players.

Perhaps I will save TTSS to watch with friends... or I may succumb and try to watch it on my own after all. We shall see.

[asakiyume]

although it does keep saying things like “These trappers are almost untouched by modern civilization” as the trappers zoom off in their snow mobiles. I mean. Maybe a little touched by modern civilization? --Silently laughing to myself at my desk. I can hear the line said in Werner Herzog's voice.

[osprey_archer]

I'm assuming this is a Werner Herzog theme.

[aurumcalendula]

Have you seen The Bletchley Circle and its spin-off The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco? iirc they have ~45 minute episodes and are available on DVD.

The series follow a group of women who worked at Bletchley Park as they end up investigating mysteries in the 1950s. Objectively, the first season is the strongest, but I enjoyed all of them.

[osprey_archer]

I did see the first season of The Bletchley Circle, but alas I didn't particularly like it, so I never went on.

[raven]

The BBC miniseries of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and A Suitable Boy were both very good!

[osprey_archer]

I want to see them both but I want to read the books first and I still haven't gotten around to it. :') However, littlerhymes and I do have Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell on our long (very long) buddy read list, so maybe someday...

[snickfic]

“I didn’t know we sold those anymore,” the bemused clerk informed me. (Target does, however, have a large record selection. Also WiFi enabled record players. What a time to be alive.)

I went looking for a CD for a new album I liked a couple of months ago, and found that the artist had released it on vinyl but not CD. Alas I do not have a record player in my car, and I DO have a CD player! What a time to be alive, indeed.

[osprey_archer]

Oh nooooo. So inconvenient.

I was so annoyed when I bought a new car a few years ago and discovered that cars no longer came with CD players. All my music was on CDs! What was I supposed to do? Be browbeaten into getting a different media-playing device, that's what. In the end I did it, but only with great annoyance.

[phantomtomato]

I’ve watched most of Abbott Elementary—I’m not caught up on the entirety of the most recent season. I can vouch for it being very cute, heartwarming, and funny. If you’re looking for a series with many episodes, it’s a good choice.

[osprey_archer]

Many episodes is sometimes overwhelming, but if they're many GOOD episodes it might be worth it...

[skygiants]

If you've not seen the Miss Fishers you might enjoy the Miss Fishers? (book-to-mystery-series rather than book-to-miniseries, but.)

[osprey_archer]

I've seen all the Miss Fishers! I love the Miss Fishers! I even saw the movie and the spin-off series about Miss Fisher's niece (? can't remember the exact relation) in the 1960s, which were not as good but we persevered through the whole first season... there is apparently a second season now but, again, the spin-off was not nearly as good, so probably I won't see it.

[regshoe]

Aww, I love The Vicar of Dibley :D

The Raffles TV series from the 1970s is pretty good fun and has ~50 minute episodes—I think it's available on DVD!

[osprey_archer]

I love the 1970s Raffles! That's also on my DVD treasure hunt list, although I may eventually break down and buy that one on the internet, as I'm not sure how likely it is to show up in a secondhand shop in the US. It may depend whether I'm completely swamped with the desire for a rewatch before I find it on my own.

[regshoe]

Oh good! Well, good luck finding it, whether serendipitously in a shop or online :D

[silverusagi]

I wrote up a thing on the different adaptations of Vanity Fair a while ago.
https://silverusagi.dreamwidth.org/996247.html

I really do need to get around to the book...

And I ADORE the Romola Garai Emma.

[osprey_archer]

Thank you for your valiant service in watching Vanity Fairs! Someday I'll swing back around to the show... perhaps about the same time you get around to the book, haha.

The Romola Garai Emma is SO fun, and just visually beautiful to look at, too.