A&E's [B]The Lost World[/B]

Cafe Society
1

I’m a big fan of The Lost World and of Doyle, so I had to watch their adaptation of TLW. I have mixed feelings about the A&E adaptations – loved a lot of the Hornblower stuff, hated other parts of the Hornblower adaptations. On the other hand, nobody has done a straightforward adaptation of TLW (although the 1925 silent version arguably came closest).
My thoughts thus far (haven’t seen the second half yet):

1.) Why the hell did they change the beginning? Challenger should be more volatile and pompous. He’s supposed to hate newspapermen. Where did these missionaries come from?

2.) I suppose I can live with introducing a woman into the team – every other version has done that little twist.

3.) The dinosaurs look great!

4.) This is the first version I’ve seen that actually has the pursued-by-the-megalodon-into-the-pit sequence (and even uses it as a cliffhanger). I’ll bet they don’t follow it up the way the book did, though. (Note: It’s not a T. Rex in the book. I don’t think the T. Rex had become public knowledge when Doyle was writing TLW.)

5.) We’ll see if they screw up the rest of the book tonight.

2

I watched part one last night and would give it about **
I’m in for the conclusion this evening. Not too bad so far.

3

Okay, so now I’ve seen the rest of it.

1.) It followed the general story, but with departures I still don’t understand – they seemed to have changed some things for the mere sake of changing them. On the other hand, in other ways, they hewed closer to the book than anyone else ever has.

2.) In the book, the ape-men spared challenger because, with his heavy beard, he looked like one of them. In the movie, the Indians spare him because he looks like a Portuguese priest, and they treat him like a god. A pretty hoary cliche. And what was the priest’s picture doing in his book?

3.) I can understand the sparing of the ape-men. In Doyle’s story, the Challenger party joins the Indians in wiping out the ape men, believing they are helping relive a bit of evolutionary drama. It feels uncomfortably like a metaphor for colonialism, today, though. Not to mention going heavily against our modern ideas of conservation. So the ape-men get to live, despite the threat they represent.

4.) The Megalosaur invasion of the camp adds excitement and nifty FX to the end of the story on the Plateau, and gives a few chances for haracter revealing action. I can live with it.

5.) What happened to the whole diamonds subplot?

6.) The pterosaur at the end was well done, gorgeous to look at, and Canonical. They get a Big Hand for that one. Using the pterosaur’s flight home to end it was very good, too.

7.) Challenger’s recantation was so completely wrong and out of character that it really grated.

8.) Roxton’s staying on the Plateau is a change, but it seems in character.

Overall, a seven or eight out of ten. Really great effects, overall faithfulness a bit below that of the Hornblower books, with a few outrageous differences. Certainly not boring.

4

I really enjoyed it. Watched it with my dad and sis and we all agreed that the FX were really good - and some were downright great.

Overall, I don’t feel like I totally wasted 4 hours of my life. It was fun to watch, a good story, great characters and a movie that I could watch with my 81 yr old father and not worry about anything like language, sex or over the top violence.

I’d say 8 out of 10 and I’m considering buying the DVD, just because.

5

Part 2, the conclusion was well received at my house. Overall grade *** out of *****