O Austen Season, see what thou has wrought
*sigh* Guess we’ll have to make a category for this, though every feeling revolts! Alert Janeite Elizabeth sent us a link with a little more information about the upcoming ITV program (not sure if it’s meant to be a one-off or a series), Lost In Austen.
ITV is to turn Pride and Prejudice into a time-travel saga. The broadcaster wants to emulate the success of the BBC One series Life on Mars, in which a detective is catapulted back in time, and build on the triumph of a run of Jane Austen adaptations, featuring stars such as Billie Piper.
In Lost in Austen, Amanda, a chardonnay-swigging West London girl, discovers a bonnet-wearing woman in her bathroom who introduces herself as Elizabeth Bennet. Through a series of accidents, Amanda is transported to Regency England, where she melts before Mr Darcy’s brooding glare. Miss Bennet, meanwhile, breathes life into the modern girl’s useless boyfriend.
It’s official. They’re filming fan fiction.
March 30th, 2007 at 2:32 am
Since we’re talking time travel, is there any way we can get our newest Friends of Jane T-Rex and his homeboy Utahraptor to stomp on this before it gets out of hand?
March 30th, 2007 at 7:01 am
No comments….
March 30th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
You should not bash fan fiction so much. May be one day somebody films “There must be Murder” (the next chapter of which I’m awaiting eagerly).
March 30th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Sylvia, I stand abashed. I certainly did not mean to bash fan fiction. I write it myself, as you pointed out. Let me restate, then: they’re filming bad fan fiction.
March 30th, 2007 at 4:37 pm
Gracious, hold on!—Is Andrew Davies secretly writing the screenplay? Else why would “Lizzy” show up in the bathroom?
No bathtubs, I pray you.
March 30th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
I just thought of something. Who’s going to play Lizzy and Darcy?
March 30th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
LOL Mags! I did not mean you (as in sigular) either.
March 30th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
That should read “singular”. My n is recalcitrant (?) at times.
March 30th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Oh my. This is terrible, and not just because of the ‘let’s see how far we can milk this Austenmania’aspect. It’s also toying with the ‘Life on Mars’ concept, which is a wonderful, brilliantly done series.
March 30th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
This is both rude to Pride and Prejudice and to Life on Mars, which is, as pointed out, a brilliant series. Talk about bandwagoning! This is ridiculous.
March 31st, 2007 at 12:08 am
LOVE Life on Mars. “Trust the Gene Genie.”
The potential for abject trainwreckiness here is just tremendous, which is, of course, why I snarked it. And after seeing the first two films of the “Jane Austen Season,” I hardly trust ITV to do something truly brilliant à la LoM. I expect something cheap and nasty, kind of like Isabella Thorpe. I harbor only a tiny hope of being pleasantly surprised.
And why does it always have to be P&P? Why can’t she go back in time and meet, I don’t know, Elinor Dashwood? Or Mary Musgrove? Or Miss Bates? Anybody but Lizzy and Darcy for crying out loud! A little originality here, people?
March 31st, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Please snark away, Mags. We - at least - I love it - AND understand it
I agree with you, this is just exploiting and milking the JA wave.
I wish BBC would take on anything to do with JA. ITV can’t handle it.
They *would* let it so that NA should be shot in Ireland!!
Any such further ’saving money’ tactics or such, might give us a fan fiction where Elizabeth is ‘LIZ’ to save paper/ink?? Ot Mr. Dar??
Wait - you don’t think they’ll get AD to write a script where the whole story is set in the bathroom/bath tub/ adjoining bedroom/????
April 6th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
My humblest apologies for arriving late to the party.
Erm, is this for real? Given the date it was posted here at the bosom of Jane Austen righteousness, I assumed it to be an April fool’s joke or somesuch. But the timesonline piece linked above is dated March 23rd.
What’s next? Pimp my carriage? Lady Catherine vs. Predator?