The Musketeers...bahhhh!

[pastafreak]

45 minutes in,and it bears no resemblance to the book....the beginning is totally different. Don't think I am going to bother watching after all.

Why can't they make a version true to the original?

[emmie]

they make it to be popular, not necessarily accurate. I don't like it when they do this, seeing as how one reads the book, and can visualise how it is, they muck about with story, characters, then its when i switch off

[emmie]

the only good thing would be Peter Capaldi, he does do evil well

[lozzer50]

I recorded this as i watched Selfrige.
I enjoyed it. Not a problem that it wasn't based on the book. I thought it was really good fun and the men were definately easy on the eye. I will definately be watching again.
I watched MrSelfrige but was unimpressed, nowhere near as good as last series.

[emmie]

I thought that Jeremy Pivens or whatever his name is was so ott gave me the heebee jeebies, and all that hair, he doesn't have much on the head going on the previous tv series he was in, so reckon it must be a syrup

[naomi24]

Sunday night dumbed down. Bring back Homeland and Sherlock.

[humbersloop]

loved it - buckle that swash lads!

[knowabit]

Is it OK for kids to watch, as it was on after 9pm?

[Ken4155]

The fact that it bears little or no resemblance to the book is, i believe, down to 'poetic licence'. Think Sherlock, think Merlin.

Prior to watching, i had read a couple of previews in which i learned that one of the Musketeers was an alcohoilc, one a gambler and the other a womaniser. So cue the opening stereotypical scenes; alcoholic plunges his banging head in bucket of ice cold water, gambler risks life and limb by cheating at cards and womaniser hangs outside lady's bedroom by his finger-tips. I half expected Sid James to walk in. Pathetic and juvenile and wouldn't be out of place on Ceebeebies.

[gingejbee]

Why would anyone expect it to have been anything like the book? It clearly stated (on screen) "based on the characters by"...big clue.

[quizzywig]

well said gingejbee. Great viewing for Sunday evening. Very easy on the eye for me. Mmmm

[jomifl]

Good fun, I thought 'my office now' was sooo period, just the wrong period.

[pastafreak]

emmie
Mark as Best Answer
they make it to be popular, not necessarily accurate. I don't like it when they do this, seeing as how one reads the book, and can visualise how it is, they muck about with story, characters, then its when i switch off

Well said. I have no problem with a bit of poetic licence,if it was more of a 'continuing adventures' sort of thing I'd find that acceptable. But to rewrite the whole opening...his fathers murder...why? That put me off completely. I did not expect such a liberal reworking.

[gingejbee]

pasta....have you read my answer. It wasn't even called The THREE Musketeers.

[emmie]

pasta, they ballsed up Merlin for me, not remotely like the legend of Arthur, book like the Mists of Avalon and Mallory's Morte D'Arthur would be good to follow. They don't though, everything is dumbed down, as though we can't follow somewhat more complicated plots, as to Sherlock, i actually love this, because it's a modern twist on the stories, it's not supposed to be a faithful Arthur Conan Doyle story, it's probably one of the few original programmes on TV, i would take Conan Doyle name out of it and just have Steven Moffat, Mark Gatiss writer, creators.

[emmie]

i have a copy someplace

The Three Musketeers (French: Les Trois Mousquetaires [le tʁwa muskətɛʁ]) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, first serialized in March–July 1844. Set in the 17th century, it recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to travel to Paris, to join the Musketeers of the Guard. D'Artagnan is not one of the musketeers of the title; those are his friends Athos, Porthos and Aramis, inseparable friends who live by the motto "all for one, one for all" ("tous pour un, un pour tous"), a motto which is first put forth by d'Artagnan.[1]

The story of d'Artagnan is continued in Twenty Years After and The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later. Those three novels by Dumas are together known as the d'Artagnan Romances.

The Three Musketeers was first published in serial form in the newspaper Le Siècle between March and July 1844.

[pastafreak]

@gingebee...yes I did read your answer...and I have said that I accept *some" poetic license. I'm sure if I'd not read the book it would not matter to me.

[pastafreak]

@emmie...I think Sherlock is acceptable because its a "how would he do it now" premise. Taking him put of the the late 19th c allows for more creativity in how the stories are interpreted.

[emmie]

i like Dickens, in fact he is my favourite author, has been for many years, however i hate it when they play fast and loose with the stories, if you want a faithful recreation of a couple of his books, look no further than the David Lean films, exquisite to look at, beautifully recreated - the only quibble would be the lead for Oliver Twist, he was too good looking and rather too well spoken, seeing as how he was in the workhouse for much of his early life... hardly going to be minding his p's and q's

[emmie]

agree about Sherlock, one of the few things i have enjoyed on tv in recent years, much is execrable schlock

[DTCwordfan]

As a Monsieur Dumas fan in my youth, this was what the French would say, 'une charge de couilles.'