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Outlander (Tv show)


AncalagonTheBlack

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Majority do. Look no further than GoT.

Agreed. Sometimes it can cause problems when there's no way to visualize what's in someone's mind, but 95% of the time, it's not an issue at all. I'd rather lose that 5% than have voiceover.

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Majority do. Look no further than GoT.

Honestly, I have a problem with a lot of the adaptation of GOT but that has to do with their choices when it comes to characterization, not so much "events".

I don't know if that will be a problem with this adaptation yet because I have only seen the one episode.

I do feel that the voice over detracts from the characterization, not enhances it. So, hopefully, they will use it less and less as time goes on.

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It could be worse, Dexter had voice over, imaginary friends, and flashbacks.



Finding ways to give your audience exposition organically is always a challenge. Game of Thrones has a lot of talky scenes to provide backstory.



But with Outlander, the narration seemed superfluous.


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Dexter used the voiceover in a completely different way - as often as it was trustworthy exposition or characterization, it was as a biased, unreliable-narrator, counterpoint device to what was actually happening. The show lived and breathed somewhere in that tension. Outlander, so far at least, doesn't seem to have anything of that. It's just a crutch.


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I really enjoyed the first episode. As a fan of the books, it was really nice to see that they really stuck to the source material and even used much of the dialogue. I initially found the voiceover jarring, I wasn't expecting it. I don't think it has to be all or nothing though. I think it's okay to use, but just not so much. I really liked the way they depicted her time travel and the use of the voiceover and the car accident there. It worked in that moment. But it was too much in other moments.



But I have to say overall I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the rest of the season. I was honestly very doubtful of the actor they cast as Jaime, but he did indeed surprise me and did a good job in just the little bit we saw him. And Tobias Menzies was so wonderful and I can't wait to see more of him as both Frank and Black Jack, but I really enjoyed him on GOT as well. Great casting for Claire as well.



I enjoyed the music and it's obviously really beautiful to watch, the scene with the druids dancing was mesmerizing.


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Having not read the books and knowing very little about them (and, being a man, probably not being part of the core target audience), I thought it was... okay. The beginning was far too slow although I can see why the length of it was necessary and there was something just a little bit dry about much of the dialogue, but so far the acting works (the lead actress seems a great fit for the role), it looks gorgeous, and there's just enough there for me to give it a bit of time to see where it's going. It's obviously gonna be a high quality production, even if maybe not for me.


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Having not read the books and knowing very little about them (and, being a man, probably not being part of the core target audience), I thought it was... okay. The beginning was far too slow although I can see why the length of it was necessary and there was something just a little bit dry about much of the dialogue, but so far the acting works (the lead actress seems a great fit for the role), it looks gorgeous, and there's just enough there for me to give it a bit of time to see where it's going. It's obviously gonna be a high quality production, even if maybe not for me.

You know, a surprising amount of men I know like the books, including my father. They all seem to enjoy the story even though it is told in the first person with a female protagonist. Maybe it's because they aren't straight up romance novels.

The books had a bit of a slow start as far as action was concerned but Claire was so intriguing, I didn't care. Obviously, that isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea. Things should be picking up soon.

Do we want to have a separate thread for people who want to discuss the show and the books together or do we want to rely on everyone using spoiler tags?

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Dexter used the voiceover in a completely different way - as often as it was trustworthy exposition or characterization, it was as a biased, unreliable-narrator, counterpoint device to what was actually happening. The show lived and breathed somewhere in that tension. Outlander, so far at least, doesn't seem to have anything of that. It's just a crutch.

I think the need for a voiceover here is the fact that Claire won't exactly be able to talk to people in the past about her time-traveling. So while it felt like a little much to me in the pilot, I thought of it as establishing it in the series for a more useful role later on. But I have no idea if that is actually going to happen!

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I just watched the premiere episode of this, and I loved it. That should have assured me that I would come to the thread about it here only to see people crapping on it.



First of all, the writing is incredible. I am not just talking about plot, but the dialogue and narration are full of beautiful prose. The only time this beautiful language seemed to stop was when equally beautiful footage of the countryside was shown. This might just be the best shots of Scotland since Braveheart was filmed.



I also really liked the slow build up and firmly establishing the relationship between Claire and Frank. It firmly established what the conflict will be in the series and gave me something to long to see returned.



I am hooked after one episode.


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I just watched the premiere episode of this, and I loved it. That should have assured me that I would come to the thread about it here only to see people crapping on it.

First of all, the writing is incredible. I am not just talking about plot, but the dialogue and narration are full of beautiful prose. The only time this beautiful language seemed to stop was when equally beautiful footage of the countryside was shown. This might just be the best shots of Scotland since Braveheart was filmed.

I also really liked the slow build up and firmly establishing the relationship between Claire and Frank. It firmly established what the conflict will be in the series and gave me something to long to see returned.

I am hooked after one episode.

I agree with everything you said, except for the excessive use of the voice over. It jarred me and brought me out of the enjoyment of watching Frank and Claire.

The cinematography was incrediable. The costuming and sets were very good also.

The actors I think are going to do very well although it can be hard to tell after one episode.

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I agree with everything you said, except for the excessive use of the voice over. It jarred me and brought me out of the enjoyment of watching Frank and Claire.

The cinematography was incrediable. The costuming and sets were very good also.

The actors I think are going to do very well although it can be hard to tell after one episode.

I would have understood this if the narration would have been bad. It was not in any way though. It was beautifully written and flowed like good prose. I actually remarked to myself while watching that this was a great example of narration being done right and I wish that more shows could do things with it like this.

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I haven't read the books, but Claire and Frank wasn't the draw for me, that seemed rather stiff upper lip. Rather, Claire and the hottie Scot. Jamie, I think his name is...

Team Frank! :leaving:

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