One more thing
13 Mar 2014 05:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thisbluespiritI knew there was something else: and I bought (as a reward for doing hard stuff, including some money-saving/gaining things) the TV tie-in book of Enemy at the Door for 1p on Amazon. I was worried, because TV novelisations do tend to be a special kind of terrible. Anyway, it arrived today! And I will say more some other time (now, I have my parents up here - almost a rl again! Also I should answer comments), because it took a sudden lurch into making me wonder if it was being novelised by Ben Steed (and nobody wants that), but I got my money's worth by about p3 when the author had an go at describing Alfred Burke's face (as Major Richter):
"He [a random Police Inspector] sensed at once that Richter had a capacity to charm that might cloud a man's judgement... Richter was too quiet, too urbane, with a face of that ascetic cast which is acquired by saints, librarians and aristocratic confidence tricksters... Perhaps aware of this himself, Richter had grown a beard, but it did little to hide his saintly expression..."
Alfred Burke grew a beard to spare us all his face, because it was Too Much, trufax, people. Well, there's one mystery of life solved.
(It is very odd about this. It lovingly describes some of the characters as played by the particular actors, down to funny little quirks of how they played a scene and then others not, or he seems to have decided to make up his own version.)
Anyway, "saints, librarians and aristocratic confidence tricksters" :lol: :lol: :lol:. Gosh. I don't know why I went for being a librarian myself, then.
"He [a random Police Inspector] sensed at once that Richter had a capacity to charm that might cloud a man's judgement... Richter was too quiet, too urbane, with a face of that ascetic cast which is acquired by saints, librarians and aristocratic confidence tricksters... Perhaps aware of this himself, Richter had grown a beard, but it did little to hide his saintly expression..."
Alfred Burke grew a beard to spare us all his face, because it was Too Much, trufax, people. Well, there's one mystery of life solved.
(It is very odd about this. It lovingly describes some of the characters as played by the particular actors, down to funny little quirks of how they played a scene and then others not, or he seems to have decided to make up his own version.)
Anyway, "saints, librarians and aristocratic confidence tricksters" :lol: :lol: :lol:. Gosh. I don't know why I went for being a librarian myself, then.
no subject
Date: 14 Mar 2014 06:18 pm (UTC)He can't seem to make up his mind whether it's also possibly sly, but he comes down on saintly twice. In the same paragraph as being sly and foxy. So, er... :lol:
I'm glad you're enjoying your 1970's TV tie-in. I suppose it helps it's not set in the 1970's and thus avoiding collecting all your favourite racist, sexist & homophobic stereotypes(!).
No, no, it has completely unwanted and unwarranted surprise!sexism, especially in its version of Ep 1. It went so abruptly Ben-Steed like, I might need to make a further post sometime about the whole thing. So, I am amused at some stuff, and it did answer the questions I wanted answering, but I am not okay with the horrible sexist crap it went and threw in. urgh.
I don't need PE books for facial descriptions! PE has Roger Marshall who has characters tell Frank he has a soulful look, or the right sort of face for a priest, or that he looks like a funny old hen, pecking around. (Mind, there IS a book, but I kind of resent it for existing - I'd like to swap it for the actual episode it's based on instead. I don't think I trust anyone who isn't Roger Marshall or Michael Chapman to novelise PE. And, look what a mess this bloke made of Enemy at the Door, so I suspect I am right to be wary.)
TV novelisations are a very special category of disappointment vs occasional delight. But mostly disappointment. I knew that, though. I went in with my eyes open, in the hope they'd tell me exactly what Major Richter's subject was and if he is or isn't a doctor. And they did, among other things. Just with bonus horrible sexism that I could have lived without. *shakes head*
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Date: 15 Mar 2014 02:49 pm (UTC)Oh dear, keep flick reading. I might watch Ben Steed's Crown Court now or not.
TV novelisations suck you in by having a nice picture on the front so I'm afraid you will have to buy the book - Henry VII's monkey needs company(!). TV tie-ins can be quite interesting as the authors original work is described as avant-garde fic and TV ties aren't.
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Date: 15 Mar 2014 08:55 pm (UTC)No old TV tie-in has as nice a pic as Henry VII and the monkey! And that one was a nice little non-fiction book that made me happy. Mind, I was a little hard on this one about the sexism, because it did calm down a bit, but it was rather a shock, because I really wasn't expecting it in
:lol: No, don't watch the Ben Steed episode!! Save yourself now! Or, er, possibly, do, and then tell us whether it was as dreadful as his B7 eps, or he's better when he's not writing SF.
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Date: 16 Mar 2014 03:14 pm (UTC)I shall watch Ben Steed's CC as I feel I have a civic duty to see how terrible it is! Eventually! It does sound like it has the potential to be awful.
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Date: 16 Mar 2014 04:38 pm (UTC)The rest of us salute you from a safe distance...