User Reviews

First of all, I have to start by saying, how utterly wonderful to see Richard Wilson here, seeing him appear here literally made me smile.

Part 1.....it looks good, even though it feels as though candles were used to light it, but the costumes and sets were terrific.

I found myself at a loss to see how on Earth they are going to stretch this out over eight episodes, I worry that pacing will continue to be the stumbling block.

David Tennant is fantastic, but then when is he not, he looks the part, and elevates the scenes he appears in.

Visually it hits the spot, sadly it isn't thrilling or exciting, if you're familiar with the books, you'll know the pages of that text are alive.

6/10.

I'll attempt to look at this in the most neutral way possible and come to a fair conclusion.

First off, superficial elements. The music is really well made especially the main theme; the rest is just good enough. They do reuse a song too much as the "sad" song.

Lighting is pretty god-awful. Another review described it as "candles," which is really true.

Costume design and Set design were all really good. -Philease's home looked stunning.

Camera work here looks really good. Nothing overtly impressive, but just good. Editing ruins many of the good shots. The editing does not follow the motion of the previous shot, making it very dull and sudden.

Now to the characters.

Phileas is perfectly acted by David Tenant. He isn't really the Phileas from the book, but more like the completely unprepared anime protaganist who eventually becomes stronger. Phileas knows he will fail, yet he feels desperate to prove himself. Phileas is so desperate and it goes perfectly with David's peformance.

Passepartout is charming. He really lightens everything up. I don't know who the actor is, but he really is doing a good job. I hope more depth is added to the character as his whole struggles are generic and bland. The worst thing is his struggle with the brother. It's so bad.

Fix is nothing like the book's version at all. In the book he was a police (something like that) trying to chase down Phileas. Here its a snarky reporter who has been undermined by sexism. The book's Fix added tention, this one is just here to add more characters in the base team. Her struggles are very by the book and nothing revolutionary. She just follows along ignoring what anyone asks. I hope she has a character arc instead of us just accepting her like this. She's not awful, but is only "likeable" because of how she is mistreated.

The plot is where the episode is bad at most. It starts off promising, and I liked all the Phileas in Paris stuff; but all the crap with Passepartout and Fix in the protest is unbearable. All of it is just so bad and generic. Especially anything with Passepartout and his brother.

(IMDB I don't know why this review was originally removed. I was not offensive)

This version looks to be inspired by the works of Jules Verne rather than be a direct adaptation.

At eight parts. It threatens to feel like 80 days.

David Tennant plays Jules Verne. A clubbish gentleman who seems to know little about the world and life.

So he seems the wrong sort to travel the world as he has not really been anywhere.

Maybe his Passepartout will be the right valet. He seems to be more streetwise and well travelled. In Paris, Passepartout's backstory is examined.

Also along for the ride is 'Fix' Fortescue the female journalist who is covering the adventure for the readers of the Daily Telegraph.

It starts off briskly, Verne just sets off with no planning whatsoever. At one pint I thought Tennant was going to regenerate.

It looks great but I fear pacing might be an issue.

The beginning is an excellent setup for the wager and Fogg's foolish task. He meets Passepartout, who actually engages him. Fogg is a ninny for the most part and loses all his possessions in France but gains a true spirit of adventure. Miss Fix, who will be accompanying them, is a character foisted on the plot, a real women's rights journalist. Anyway, if you've read the book, forget it and treat it as an adventure film.

I've never read the book and don't recall the details of the 1956 film so I've gone into this with an open mind. This episode introduces us to the 3 main characters and the reason why Fogg decides to embark on this trip. Tennant is the epitome of Fogg - great acting, and the other 2 fit their roles well also. They make it to Paris where the backstory of Passepartout is shown.

I'm giving it another episode or two, but this first episode was a real grind. Just not that interesting, and no fun at all. Trite dialog, terrible pacing, and nothing about it was engaging--not the story, not the characters. Tenant, whom I generally like, brings a grimness to the role that is seriously off-putting. May not have started off well for me someone was served Eton Mess, which if I'm not mistaken, wasn't first mentioned until the 1890s, about 20 years after 80 Days takes place. It didn't get better after that.

Moral of this episode is don't go to France. Let's face it a majority of 19 and early 20th century we're white male orientated and so having - mix is ok, but it seems that we are not content with jules vernes' story, we have to add extra bits to it because the producers and directors are better story writers than jules. The arrogance of these people, either it's jules vernes or it isn't. And this clearly isn't. If you are so clearly better thanks jules, write your own bloody story and stop standing on the shoulders of the greats. We shall see if it improves, but with 1D characters, flat is the name of the game.

Season 1 Episode 1 got off to a good start, the atmosphere was definitely Victorian & the performers conveyed the time period fairly well, but I gave up the ghost while they were still, for some reason, flailing around in Paris.

The entire point of the book (& earlier film adaptations) was to provide a feel for the frantic efforts to overcome obstacles at each stage of the journey. When the narrative in this production began to plod, I knew the signs were not promising. Alas, I stuck with it for as long as I could.