A Series of Unfortunate Events or something

[Bob_McMillan]

Has anyone watched it? Did you like it?

I've been seeing ads for the show for WEEKS, I must have seen it literally hundreds of times. And bluntly, the trailers make the show look like garbage. But apparently it's getting a lot of praise.

As a child, the books and movies (?) really creeped me out, so I always avoided it. If someone gives a good enough recommendation, I might check it out.

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

I watched the 1st 5 episodes so far and I'm liking it quite a bit. The show has a really weird tone to it, but it so far works for me at least. I can easily see someone not liking it though. I haven't read the books or seen the movie so it's my first taste of the material. I haven't found it creepy in the least, I could see it being depressing though. It rides a very fine line with it's humor and unfortunate-ness, I guess, is about the best way to put it. And I can see the style of the dialog infuriating some people as well. I'd say give the 1st episode a try and see if you like it as it really doesn't change or get better, it keeps the same tone and style. The show is basically 4 episodes broken into 2 parts and thus equalling 8 episodes. The one cool thing so far is that you get a new setting every 2 episodes, which changes up the dynamics a bit along with the visuals obviously. Lastly, there's NPH!

 

[PsychicTaco115]

Wait, it's out already?

The series is my shit so I gotta get in on that

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I've never seen an actor successfully replace Jim Carrey in anything. You can do worse than NPH but I doubt he'll fare much better.

 

[Dalisclock]

I liked it, for the most part. I've read like half of the books and so far they've done a fairly good job at adapting them. The biggest distraction is the CGI, which is rather....not good. It's less noticeable when things are dark and dreary but by god does it stand out in the colorful scenes.

Also, have to admit, Patrick Walburton narrating works pretty well.

 

[Dalisclock]

I've never seen an actor successfully replace Jim Carrey in anything. You can do worse than NPH but I doubt he'll fare much better.

I liked Jim Carrey in that role too but apparently he's the big reason there wasn't another film. Not that I have anything to back this up with but I heard somewhere that he was so Obnoxious on set that nobody wants to work with him again.

And apparently the author did not like the film, judging on the fact he helped write/produce the series and there are quite a few digs at the film in the series.

 

[skywolfblue]

I rather like the TV show!

It does have a strange tone, it's dark, odd, and interspersed with silliness. I love it, but I could see how others might be put off.

I love the narration and the way they play with words.

I've never read the books. Some of my friends who had were upset by the TV show spoiling stuff, but it didn't bother me at all.

 

[Silvanus]

Finished the series last week, and although it didn't quite catch me at first, I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. Especially the 'Miserable Mill' episodes (the final two). Recommend it, as somebody who read the books, or most of them anyway.

I've never seen an actor successfully replace Jim Carrey in anything. You can do worse than NPH but I doubt he'll fare much better.

There are a lot of things I liked about the film-- the cinematography, most of the performances, the narration. Jim Carrey wasn't one of them. To my mind, he failed to capture the essentially threatening, sinister nature of the character, and focused solely on the humour. The performance undermined the tone of the story as far as I'm concerned, which should be bleak, if presented in an absurdist, darkly-humorous manner. Carrey's humour is not dark, and he felt like a clown well out of place.

Count Olaf is one of very few characters who should be simultaneously both pathetic and intimidating. It's a damn rare kind of character, and difficult to pull off. I don't really think Jim Carrey understood that about the character (or if he did, didn't take it in that direction).

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I've never seen an actor successfully replace Jim Carrey in anything. You can do worse than NPH but I doubt he'll fare much better.

I liked Jim Carrey in that role too but apparently he's the big reason there wasn't another film. Not that I have anything to back this up with but I heard somewhere that he was so Obnoxious on set that nobody wants to work with him again.

That seems to be the case with the great big comedians, they're egotists and a pain to work with. Brando recalls Chaplin humiliating his grown son on set every chance he got to the point of physical abuse. Bill Murray was such an insufferable asshole to Ramis on Groundhog Day that it ended a brilliant collaboration and effectively doomed Ghostbusters 3. Having said that Carrey's worked frequently with several directors, producers and actors so it's entirely possible he happened to clash with that one crew.

And apparently the author did not like the film, judging on the fact he helped write/produce the series and there are quite a few digs at the film in the series.

Eh, King didn't like The Shining, Burgess didn't like A Clockwork Orange, Kesey didn't like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the guy that wrote Forrest Gump didn't like Forrest Gump. At some point you learn that the author's opinion on the film they didn't direct doesn't matter very much.

 

[Hawki]

Count Olaf is one of very few characters who should be simultaneously both pathetic and intimidating. It's a damn rare kind of character, and difficult to pull off. I don't really think Jim Carrey understood that about the character (or if he did, didn't take it in that direction).

From what I've seen, neither the film nor the show (granted, that's only trailers for me) has understood Olaf's character.

Olaf isn't a nice person. He isn't even that funny a person. If he makes a joke, you're holding your breath, because he's liable to slit your throat as the punchline. There's a level of absurdity throughout all the books, but as rediculous as his disguises can get, Olaf is an intimidating figure who's willing to kill anyone to get his hands on the Baudelaire fortune. Even at the very end, while he does get some humanity revealed to him, he remains unrepentant.

 

[Silvanus]

Eh, King didn't like The Shining, Burgess didn't like A Clockwork Orange, Kesey didn't like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the guy that wrote Forrest Gump didn't like Forrest Gump. At some point you learn that the author's opinion on the film they didn't direct doesn't matter very much.

Well, King didn't like the adaptation of The Shining because it rather substantially changed the core of the story. A tale in which Jack is an essentially tragic figure, lost to alcoholism and possession, was not really shown in the film. The film lost many of the essential themes.

It's a fantastic horror film, but doesn't work quite as well as an adaptation. I can certainly understand and to an extent agree with King.

Similarly, Clockwork Orange lost the final chapter of the book, which is pretty essential to the story.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Follow up question then: should I read the books before watching the show?

 

[Hieronymusgoa]

I have to say the first episode seemed really different from the following ones and I can only encourage to watch the first two episodes to find out if you like it. Many friends have reported the same.

The show is really well done and unusal and sometimes funny, often awkward and everything in between. Still for me personally it only works in some parts. It seems NPH is the main reason to watch it, the humor overall is....crude and relies, for me, too often more on weirdness than on actual humor (if that makes sense). I do like it but I have no feelings whatsoever regarding "oh man I totally have to watch it all in one go" or even "I want to know what happens next". Still, I watch it. In comparison that thing happened immediately with "Crazyhead", to name another Netflix show which is recent. It is far less well done all in all than ASOUE, and lacks a great actor like NPH, but the dead pan in the face humor is much more up my alley.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Eh, King didn't like The Shining, Burgess didn't like A Clockwork Orange, Kesey didn't like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the guy that wrote Forrest Gump didn't like Forrest Gump. At some point you learn that the author's opinion on the film they didn't direct doesn't matter very much.

Well, King didn't like the adaptation of The Shining because it rather substantially changed the core of the story. A tale in which Jack is an essentially tragic figure, lost to alcoholism and possession, was not really shown in the film. The film lost many of the essential themes.

It's a fantastic horror film, but doesn't work quite as well as an adaptation. I can certainly understand and to an extent agree with King.

Similarly, Clockwork Orange lost the final chapter of the book, which is pretty essential to the story.

I understand why they didn't like the movie adaptations of their work, I just think the approval or disapproval of an author of a movie based on their work doesn't mean much. For that matter James Ellroy was very vocal about how good The Black Dahlia movie was, even though it sucks compared to the novel.

 

[davidmc1158_v1legacy]

From what I've seen of the show, it does a fantastic job. And breaking it down to two episodes for each book and continuing through to cover all thirteen books over three seasons seems like a good system for me.

As for the tone the show tries to set, I'll just put this season finale song right here:

 

[Drathnoxis]

That book series sucked. The first one was okay, but it was basically the same plot every time and the bad guy's plans didn't even make any sense at all. Like, there was no way that he could actually succeed in his goal by doing what he did. Also, I seem to remember that the narrator constantly explaining words got really annoying after a while.

 

[Dalisclock]

Follow up question then: should I read the books before watching the show?

You don't really need to. There's a couple in-jokes you'll catch if you have read the books but for the most part the show adheres pretty closely. The stuff they did change has more to do with them working more of the overall VFD storyline into the show(which wasn't really mentioned in the books until like book 5).

It did get me reading the books again. I'd stopped halfway through book 5 and I'm up to book 8 since watching the show.

 

[Benpasko]

From what I've seen, neither the film nor the show (granted, that's only trailers for me) has understood Olaf's character.

Olaf isn't a nice person. He isn't even that funny a person. If he makes a joke, you're holding your breath, because he's liable to slit your throat as the punchline. There's a level of absurdity throughout all the books, but as rediculous as his disguises can get, Olaf is an intimidating figure who's willing to kill anyone to get his hands on the Baudelaire fortune. Even at the very end, while he does get some humanity revealed to him, he remains unrepentant.

You should watch the show, I think they captured Olaf really well. He's definitely played less 'funny' than in the movie.

 

[WolfThomas]

Also, I seem to remember that the narrator constantly explaining words got really annoying after a while.

I've never read the books. My wife was a huge fan. I watched the show with her and mostly enjoyed it.

I could imagine how obnoxious that might be in a book setting. In the show it works somehow, Patrick Warburton's dry serious tone as he explains the words like the audience is a bunch of children is funny or at least not annoying.

In comparison that thing happened immediately with "Crazyhead", to name another Netflix show which is recent. It is far less well done all in all than ASOUE, and lacks a great actor like NPH, but the dead pan in the face humor is much more up my alley.

That's such a fun show. I know what you mean. The same sort of thing Misfits had going for it.