lesbiassparrow

So...yes, without Marguerite this is a thin and pale shadow of itself. Though there have been many disguises. So there's that. Though unaccountably he has not dressed up as an elderly woman yet. And there has been manwhoring! With Marguerite barely cold in her grave, too!

And the last episode has the most annoying heroine ever. Well, maybe she and The Girl from Transformers 3 would fight it out for people who I'd like to see shot into space. I think I am supposed to feel sympathy for her, but all I can think is that really the Pimpernel was not on his game when he saved her. She was born for the guillotine.

1. Revolutionary France had an almost unlimited supply of bad teeth and scarred prison officers. (The worse your teeth, the more they trusted you to chop peoples heads off or guard aristos.)

2. Despite all the straw on the floor, French jails did not get you grubby. Nor did your clothes get dirty. You were in perfect, finely coiffed shape for having your head chopped off.

3. Everything in France is a days gallop away from everything else.

Now I must go shake my fist at the TV as they've just killed Marguerite off. THE WARTS HAD BETTER MAKE UP FOR THIS.

ETA: So far in the second series the Pimpernell has dressed up as an old man (twice!) and as a spice merchant. But there is no old woman costume yet. What foolery is this? The Pimpernell should be in ratty skirts and knitting or he is no Pimpernel! Bring on the worsted stockings and warts and ratty skirts! The I the public demand it! Oh, and people sneaking out of jails look rather less well-turned out than they do in the first series.

Lo and behold my UK DVDs arrived and they actually play in my Blu-Ray. No idea why but I am not complaining. I am rewatching the first three episodes (where sadly Sir Percy does not ever put on one single wart. Or cackle while dressed as an old woman. This is very tragic.) in preparation for the second series which I have never seen. HE HAS DISGUISES IN THAT ONE. And warts. THERE HAD BETTER BE WARTS. Hairy ones.

I really like that Marguerite has clearly got a past in this series. I know it's not as in the books, but then no woman could possibly be like Marguerite in the books and I've yet to see an adaptation that points out that she primarily married Percy for his money and his devotion to her rather than for love. Sir Percy is Richard E. Grant who has magnificent cravats and plays the fop very well.

Anyway, I'm on the second episode, the one with the evil Madame Guillotine. She kills nuns! And priests! And anyone else she comes across! You have to admit that she's thorough, which is to be commended. And this episode has Gaius Baltar in it, only he's not Gauius, he's a royalist fighting in the woods with someone's fake daughter.

I just got this and so far it is cheesy good fun (though you can see *exactly* where Blackadder got its French Revolution episode ideas)* but...I know I'm not supposed to think this and the French Revolution ended with the Reign of Terror and lots of terrible things but I can't help but think how amazing it must have been to overthrow the Ancienne Regime and think you were forging a new world with new ideas about equality and rights. And tossing things at your former masters (I rarely feel much sympathy for the aristocrats. And non for the King and Queen. They were total twats).

ETA: Wow! They must have paid actresses well in France! Jane Seymour sure has a nice house. And Gandalf is her boyfriend! Well, before her taking up with Blakeney.

ETA 2: Gandalf is sort of hot. And Anthony Andrews is hilarious in all his disguises and as Blakeney. I also love the assembled crowd of cheering citizens at the guillotine. They really put their hearts into hating the aristocrats.

ETA 3: I love the little, blond dauphin. He is so grubby and oppressed and winsome. Quite delightful.

*Not helped by the fact that Le Pimpernel Scarlette's side-kick is the castaway from Top Secret.

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Entries tagged with scarlet pimpernel

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1998)

Things the Scarlet Pimpernel taught me

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1998)

The Scarlet Pimpernel

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August 2011

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