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Starz announces "White Queen" adaptation (Phillipa Gregory)

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Madeleine
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Post by Madeleine » Fri May 17th, 2013, 8:23 am

[quote=""Vanessa""]Thanks for that, SPB. I'll look forward to watching it.

Madeleine, do you know when the re-run of The Tudors is starting? We started watching it and then got out of the habit. I would like to watch it again from the beginning right to the end![/quote]

Starts this Monday (20th), two eps a night but unfortunately it's on quite late, around 11.30 so probably one to record!
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Vanessa
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Post by Vanessa » Fri May 17th, 2013, 9:21 am

Thanks, Madeleine. Yes, I will record. Do you know which channel?
Last edited by Vanessa on Fri May 17th, 2013, 9:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Madeleine
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Post by Madeleine » Fri May 17th, 2013, 9:30 am

Sorry, forgot! BBC2.
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Vanessa
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Post by Vanessa » Sun May 19th, 2013, 1:02 pm

Thanks, Madeleine.
currently reading: My Books on Goodreads

Books are mirrors, you only see in them what you already have inside you ~ The Shadow of the Wind

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Madeleine
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Post by Madeleine » Sun May 19th, 2013, 4:44 pm

There's a new trailer out for TWQ which actually shows some of the men, it's better than the previous trailer.

I've also seen the trailer for The Musketeers, which looks visually stunning.
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Post by rebecca » Mon May 20th, 2013, 2:25 am

I'll probably have to wait until it is released on DVD.....Ackkk!

Bec :)

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Madeleine
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Post by Madeleine » Wed June 19th, 2013, 9:38 am

Watched TWQ last night and quite enjoyed it - very floaty and pretty (and that's just the men) but entertaining enough. Some of the dialogue was a bit cringeworthy, and I thought the female lead was a bit wet, but Janet McTeer is great as Jacquetta - and Melusine was only mentioned once!
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Mythica
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Post by Mythica » Wed June 19th, 2013, 2:35 pm

[quote=""Madeleine""]Watched TWQ last night and quite enjoyed it - very floaty and pretty (and that's just the men) but entertaining enough. Some of the dialogue was a bit cringeworthy, and I thought the female lead was a bit wet, but Janet McTeer is great as Jacquetta - and Melusine was only mentioned once![/quote]

Yeah, I thought the dialogue was a little ridiculous in places... I felt like people were saying things they never realistically would have said out loud - like Cecily Neville saying she'd disown Edward. She basically just admitted to adultry to people she considered enemies. I'm not sure if that was PG's dialogue from the book or whether the show just felt like they had to do stuff like that to make certain things the viewer might not know about clear.

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Post by Misfit » Wed June 19th, 2013, 6:12 pm

It looks like it has made it to YouTube, at least for now. I can't do YT at work, but will check the links I have when I get home and then post them here.

Edit: removed the link to the now removed YouTube video.
Last edited by Misfit on Thu June 20th, 2013, 11:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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sweetpotatoboy
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Post by sweetpotatoboy » Thu June 20th, 2013, 4:37 pm

It was pleasant and watchable enough, wasn't it? I haven't read the PG books they're based on and am unlikely to, so I have no idea how faithful an adaptation it is.

I think the exposition was pretty good, though I'd have to know nothing about the characters and period to judge on that. But my hunch was that, if you didn't know, it did a decent job at introducing you quite subtly to who was who and the rough context.

I'm not sold on either of the lead actors. They both seemed pretty enough, but not stunning or charismatic enough to be convincing. Apart from it being mentioned in the dialogue, I wouldn't have guessed she was quite some years older than him.

The main issue was that, as at least one reviewer has mentioned, the makers of the drama didn't seem to have any view on what Elizabeth's motivations, at least, were. Was she genuinely an innocent falling in love by chance with a king and getting swept along with it all? Or was there at least an element of ambition and scheming, not just on her mother's part but on her own? A biography does't have to decide, but a drama does - or at least indicate that she knows, even if the audience doesn't find out yet.

Nor did I buy Edward falling in love with her. If it was just frustrated lust that led him to marry her, then they needed to convey a much stronger undeniable sexual impulse than we actually saw. If he actually fell for her beyond lust, then that wasn't convincingly portrayed either. And clearly it wasn't a sham marriage (in this version), as her brother Anthony suggests at one point; otherwise he wouldn't have needed to own up to it publicly.

And as hard as Rebecca Ferguson tried to sound English, there was just a hint of foreignness about her accent. I'm not sure I'd have guessed her Swedish background if I hadn't known, but something wasn't quite spot on.

Motivations etc aside, it was beautifully (albeit unrealistically cleanly) shot throughout.

The main appeal was the quality of the supporting cast. Four words will suffice:

Janet McTeer
James Frain

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