Jump to content

Outlander (Tv show)


AncalagonTheBlack

Recommended Posts

first episode available free and legal online in the US

http://www.starz.com/originals/outlander/

Thanks for the link.

I liked the episode a lot. It seemed incredibly faithful to the book, although I read it over a year and a half ago so my memory might be fuzzy. I like the actress who plays Claire, although from some angles she reminds me so much of Cate Blanchett (like so) and I would get distracted by it!

The first moment of bagpipes was very awesome.

Also, poor Frank. I always felt bad for him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just watched the first episode online.



My review (minor spoilers ahead, obviously)...I have not read the books, so this is a completely unbiased review:




So, it was a bit predictable. Distant marriage, prophecies (yeah, I kind of rolled my eyes at this one), pagan rituals, woman with fiery personality bossing around a bunch of gruff men, voiceover narration. Takes 30 minutes to finally get to the interesting part, which I thought was a bit too long. Also, how lucky that she happens to be a nurse and is interested in herbs for medicinal purposes...and her husband just happens to be a historian who knows all about the history of that area. TBH, I thought she figured out that she had gone back in time too easily and didn't seem as upset about it as she should have been.



I thought it was gorgeously shot, and once she falls through time, then the story picks up and it starts to get interesting. I would watch the next few episodes to see how they go, but tbh, I'm having a hard time seeing how this has universal appeal...it seems very aimed at women. And I say this as a woman. The men aren't nearly as interesting as the main female character. Obviously, this is just based on the first episode, but the male characters seem like they belong in the background. Hopefully they can fix that. Guess we'll see. We don't have Starz, and while I would like to see the next few episodes, I'm not sure if this was enough to make me order it. It really seems like a show that would work just as well on basic cable, because the nudity, cursing and graphic violence really don't stand out.



So, there's my very, very honest review.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, it was a bit predictable. Distant marriage, prophecies (yeah, I kind of rolled my eyes at this one), pagan rituals, woman with fiery personality bossing around a bunch of gruff men, voiceover narration. Takes 30 minutes to finally get to the interesting part, which I thought was a bit too long. Also, how lucky that she happens to be a nurse and is interested in herbs for medicinal purposes...and her husband just happens to be a historian who knows all about the history of that area. TBH, I thought she figured out that she had gone back in time too easily and didn't seem as upset about it as she should have been.

Ah, the prophecy, I agree that was horrible. I also agree that it was all very boring up until the moment she was thrown back in time. Though imo, the real crime in this series so far is the voiceover. Just so fucking annoying, it was all so terribly pretentious and stuck-up.

I thought it was gorgeously shot, and once she falls through time, then the story picks up and it starts to get interesting. I would watch the next few episodes to see how they go, but tbh, I'm having a hard time seeing how this has universal appeal...it seems very aimed at women. And I say this as a woman. The men aren't nearly as interesting as the main female character. Obviously, this is just based on the first episode, but the male characters seem like they belong in the background. Hopefully they can fix that. Guess we'll see. We don't have Starz, and while I would like to see the next few episodes, I'm not sure if this was enough to make me order it. It really seems like a show that would work just as well on basic cable, because the nudity, cursing and graphic violence really don't stand out.

So, there's my very, very honest review.

I to found the Scotish landscape beautiful (the real star of the show). I think I'll also stick around for the moment, I'm curious as to where it will go (totally cliche or will they surprise us?), though I do hope the next episodes will have a lot less voiceover.

Oh, and as a man I don't have any problems with the characterization so far. I hope they'll show us more characters and deepen them for us, but for a pilot it's okay. I like how the show has a female protagonist, that's still way to rare. I do hope they'll do something good with her, I don't want to see something like 'Rizolli and Isles in 17th century Scotland' :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ah, the prophecy, I agree that was horrible. I also agree that it was all very boring up until the moment she was thrown back in time. Though imo, the real crime in this series so far is the voiceover. Just so fucking annoying, it was all so terribly pretentious and stuck-up.

I to found the Scotish landscape beautiful (the real star of the show). I think I'll also stick around for the moment, I'm curious as to where it will go (totally cliche or will they surprise us?), though I do hope the next episodes will have a lot less voiceover.

Oh, and as a man I don't have any problems with the characterization so far. I hope they'll show us more characters and deepen them for us, but for a pilot it's okay. I like how the show has a female protagonist, that's still way to rare. I do hope they'll do something good with her, I don't want to see something like 'Rizolli and Isles in 17th century Scotland' :)

Nice to know what a guy thought about it :) I think part of my initial disappointment is that they have been hyping it as the next "GoT", an unpredictable genre-bending story...and it was anything but. Without that, I probably would have had a somewhat different initial reaction.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The books are nothing like ASOIAF.

Well, I haven't read the books, so I was just going by what people were saying about it. But yeah, I don't see the similarities at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Outlander gets compared to ASOIAF because - both are very long epic book series that are currently being written and published, both had their first books come out in the 1990s, both have authors that take a very long time (many years) between books, both series started out only intending to be a few books but have since extended to an unknown number in the series with no end in sigh, and both were strongest in the first three books and the later ones have been longer and less satisfactory to their readers. Also both series have many readers in common - I first learned about ASOIAF because a person who knew I ended the Outlander series recommended it to me.

I'd say Outlander is first and foremost historical fiction. It has some romance in it and some time travel/Dr. Who science fiction elements to it.

I rarely enjoy watching books I love in other mediums. I've avoided watching most of Game of Thrones episodes, for example. Because I really love Outlander I will probably avoid the tv show even if it gets glowing reviews from everyone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Scotland's scenery, brawny brave fellows in kilts and tartans. All lovely and interesting.



The story of the first novel was a good one, once the protagonist commits to her new life. The rest of the books were boring as heck. Or so I assumed as I could barely finish the second one, and the third was impossible.



The problem was integrating a life in the present with that one in the past, when it began to include family as time traveling. For that to work you kind of need a Charles Stross Merchant Families set-up, which is more sf than fantasy. Or is it alternate history?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just watched the first episode online.

My review (minor spoilers ahead, obviously)...I have not read the books, so this is a completely unbiased review:

So, it was a bit predictable. Distant marriage, prophecies (yeah, I kind of rolled my eyes at this one), pagan rituals, woman with fiery personality bossing around a bunch of gruff men, voiceover narration. Takes 30 minutes to finally get to the interesting part, which I thought was a bit too long. Also, how lucky that she happens to be a nurse and is interested in herbs for medicinal purposes...and her husband just happens to be a historian who knows all about the history of that area. TBH, I thought she figured out that she had gone back in time too easily and didn't seem as upset about it as she should have been.

I thought it was gorgeously shot, and once she falls through time, then the story picks up and it starts to get interesting. I would watch the next few episodes to see how they go, but tbh, I'm having a hard time seeing how this has universal appeal...it seems very aimed at women. And I say this as a woman. The men aren't nearly as interesting as the main female character. Obviously, this is just based on the first episode, but the male characters seem like they belong in the background. Hopefully they can fix that. Guess we'll see. We don't have Starz, and while I would like to see the next few episodes, I'm not sure if this was enough to make me order it. It really seems like a show that would work just as well on basic cable, because the nudity, cursing and graphic violence really don't stand out.

So, there's my very, very honest review.

I was almost the opposite - I was kind of getting into the story of this complex marriage - getting back together as older people after such a separation, the sort of imbalance of their war records, with her actually having the more action-y one but some nasty stuff lurking for him too, the way they seem to give each other so much space but being all over one another in bed, etc. There was quite a lot of character stuff there to be interested in, in short. Then the time travel and stuff, and the one-super-hot-guy in the middle of the ren fair stuff, and the incredibly convenient plotting, etc...I cared way less.

I remember the book feeling very feminine, or at least, very aimed at women. (going on the first 150 pages or so, which I think is roughly what the pilot covered, actually.) Not in the fact of a female protagonist, but more in the way it was kind of clearly playing to some romance tropes, and it being such a story of female-empowerment fantasy...I don't know if the slightly more distant perspective of a tv show vs. a book might make it more accessible to men (although the books seem to have plenty of male readers too, so maybe it's just stereotypes.) I don't think the story, or that kind of character arc, is inherently alienating to men, just that the way I recall the book being written felt like it had "STORY FOR CHICKS" written on it's forehead. :dunno:

It is gorgeously made - the landscapes, the wonderful greyness of the town, the edge of noir, with the 40s clothes and hats...but the narration is painfully lazy and irritating. They need to trust the storytelling and the audience enough to let us infer basically everything that was in the narration. Yes, the vase is a longing for stability and domesticity. We get it. The melancholy shot of the woman staring pensively as the vase is more than enough to tell us that, thank you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is gorgeously made - the landscapes, the wonderful greyness of the town, the edge of noir, with the 40s clothes and hats...but the narration is painfully lazy and irritating. They need to trust the storytelling and the audience enough to let us infer basically everything that was in the narration. Yes, the vase is a longing for stability and domesticity. We get it. The melancholy shot of the woman staring pensively as the vase is more than enough to tell us that, thank you.

I agree, the narration was aggressively offensive. Luckily, I have heard that it's used more sparringly in later episodes. The series is accumulating quite a bit of positive buzz, so I'm very curious about the next episodes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree, the narration was aggressively offensive. Luckily, I have heard that it's used more sparringly in later episodes. The series is accumulating quite a bit of positive buzz, so I'm very curious about the next episodes.

Just to add what I've noticed about the reviews...what annoys me is that a lot of the fans of the books are trying to justify the voiceover as 'necessary' to the audience who hasn't read the books. That offends me, because it makes it sound like those of us who haven't read the books wouldn't 'get' the story without being told everything that is happening onscreen. For one, if we need to be told, then the show is doing it wrong. They should be showing, not telling. And two, if they ARE showing, then we don't need to be told in the first place. Just because the books were written in first person doesn't mean we have to know everything that's passing through her mind.

Sorry, just a gripe about the completely biased reviews I've read. I hope they do cut down on the voiceover, but it would be better if they cut it out completely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just to add what I've noticed about the reviews...what annoys me is that a lot of the fans of the books are trying to justify the voiceover as 'necessary' to the audience who hasn't read the books. That offends me, because it makes it sound like those of us who haven't read the books wouldn't 'get' the story without being told everything that is happening onscreen. For one, if we need to be told, then the show is doing it wrong. They should be showing, not telling. And two, if they ARE showing, then we don't need to be told in the first place. Just because the books were written in first person doesn't mean we have to know everything that's passing through her mind.

Sorry, just a gripe about the completely biased reviews I've read. I hope they do cut down on the voiceover, but it would be better if they cut it out completely.

Book readers want their show adaptations to be exactly like there book counterparts.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Book readers want their show adaptations to be exactly like there show counterparts.

Yup. Even when it's clearly detrimental to the show, they want it exactly the same.

I'm sure the show will get high enough ratings to keep going, because the built-in fanbase is huge. I just don't know how wide of an audience it will garner beyond that if it doesn't appeal to those beyond the book audience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...