Fuck It. Fuck Everyone. I'm Off To Timbuktu

[liadnan]

I often feel that way. But how is he going to afford the flight?

Did Miles' shite haircut* have something to do with what is required of Commodore Wossname? Because I can't think of any other reason for it.

*Quiet at the back there.

Comments

[helixaspersa.livejournal.com]

I thought perhaps it was concealing a disfiguring injury. I agree though that it was a) terrible and (worse) b) not in character.

Did you like it though, aside from the bad hair (Anna's was also v. unflattering, so at least they were equal on that score).

[liadnan]

Was it supposed to be "extremely expensive looking vaguely indie" I wonder? I'm not sure if he really was filming PotC III around the same time, I agree it was wrong anyway.

Overall, I did quite like it. Though as I said to Rhodri in the comments below, I thought it was a bit clunky at the beginning: it took a while before it began to come together. I wish I'd managed to rewatch the original more recently. And I really did think it was going to turn into Peter's Friends at one point.

I'm not sure I can really buy Egg managing to complete his novel.

Glad to see my speculations about which one had died (well that was obvious really) and the fate of Miles' marriage were accurate.

[helixaspersa.livejournal.com]

It made him look oddly quite like Dr Mac from 'Green Wing' which I don't suppose was intentional. I'm sure the Peter's Friends tease must have been meant though, since it's a film of such similar vintage and premise.

I did actually rewatch the whole thing on DVD just a couple of months ago; it made me realise how much all the fuss was really about series 2 rather than the (much shorter, edgier, rougher) first series which on rewatching I realised I didn't think I'd actually seen much of at all the first time round.

It has an odd kind of sentimental value for me because although at the time I wasn't in my 20s at all - actually about 17 and in my last year at school - Tony Garnett's (producer) son was a very close friend of mine and I spent a lot of time at his house. We used to watch the rushes of the upcoming episodes at his at weekends, which seemed very glamorous and exciting (to me anyway). I remember him saying to me, before I'd actually seen much of it at all, that Daniela Nardini was the only one who could actually really act, and I still think he's right about that, despite the success the other men have had.

Given that I am 26 I suppose *now* is actually my This Life moment, a scary thought given that I am still in my study in a deserted college at 1 am (I watched the program in the SCR, don't laugh . . .).

[white_hart]

I assumed it was expensively-vaguely-indie and also symbolic of Miles's new more informal lifestyle. I've only seen the first PotC film, but in that he definitely has short hair + wig.

[susumu.livejournal.com]

He's a lot more overgrown in the second one.

[tybalt-quin.livejournal.com]

:intrudes shamelessly:

Am I right in thinking that Amy Jenkins didn't have a lot of involvement in writing series 2? And am I bitchy for thinking that's why it was so good?

[tybalt-quin.livejournal.com]

I think Miles squirrelled money away in Swiss bank accounts for just such an eventuality.

:nods:

The hair was, I believe, a postmodern nod to Worzel Gummidge.

[helixaspersa.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think she only did the first 8 episodes or so, which is maybe not even all the whole first series (I forget how many there were in that); to be honest, I think she just had the good idea for the setting - a lot of the novelty and originality at the time as I remember was the camera-work and acting style associated with it (harder to see now because we've got used to it), and I suspect she didn't have a lot to do with it. Did you see the little 'making of' feature last night? wasn't she irritating?! I'm afraid her novels are very silly too.

[jen-c-w.livejournal.com]

6 or 8 of the first yes, which is why the second is so superior - the writing in some of the early episodes really was atrocious, less so last night but still a bit cringeworthy.
Sorry, as you were.

[tybalt-quin.livejournal.com]

I caught the end of the Making Of thing and she seemed rather ... self-congratulatory. I've heard that her novels aren't much cop and therefore never got around to reading them!

I didn't like her set up for This Life +10 v. much - thought it was v. artificial and the May Ling character bordered on a racial stereotype whilst Claire seemed like an Amy Jenkins self-insert. I was also annoyed because there was no mention of Egg's father who'd had literary success in the second series or Keira or the chambers blokey.

I think the idea behind This Life was v. original, but the style, whilst new to UK drama, seemed to me to owe a great deal to US dramas like NYPD Blue, which used the same techniques.

Incidentally - am wracking my brains trying to think who the person is in your icon. I'm guessing one of Henry VIII's wives (Catherine of Aragon, maybe?) but would love it if you could put me out of my misery. Please don't make me beg.

[helixaspersa.livejournal.com]

You are not far off actually. It is Lady Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII, very pious and very rich. She endowed several colleges, one of which I used to be at, though I'm not any longer, so I suppose it is getting a bit obscure.