# New Emma on MT **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 25, 2010, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-emma-on-mt/526360 "2010-01-25T14:45:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-emma-on-mt/526360/1 "2010-01-25T14:45:48Z")
Anyone watch? Big Austen fan here, but I was not thrilled. Really didn’t care for the actress in the title role. Thought her facial expressions and mannerisms entirely out of place on a 19th century English gentlewoman. And the actor who plays her dad is apparently making a career out of playing useless fathers… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-emma-on-mt/526360/2 "2010-01-25T15:12:31Z")
I liked it so far, I don’t mind the actress although she can make some pretty interesting faces. I liked the beginning intro, showing Frank Churchhill and Jane Fairfax being moved away. Mr. Elton is my biggest disappointment, but I like that Mrs. Weston is fairly young herself, as she would be (I would think just under or just thirty). I also like that there is more John & Isabella and the highlighting of what Emma’s life might turn out to be if she really did stick to her course of not marrying. And I LOVE that Sick Boy is playing Mr. Knightley. Or Woodrow Call. Take your pick- it just adds a whole new dimension to it for me :). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-emma-on-mt/526360/3 "2010-01-25T15:36:53Z")
It seems I’ve seen a few zillion versions of _Emma_ (the Kate Beckinsale one was, what, just two or three years ago? :dubious: ), and I have to say I’m enjoying this one. I like both of the two leads. Their teasing back-and-forth over whether a gentleman should arrive at a party in a carriage, was a lot of fun. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-emma-on-mt/526360/4 "2010-01-25T15:40:08Z")
The actress who plays Emma looks like a combination of Katee Sackoff and Drew Barrymore. It is amazing how striking the resemblance to both of them is at times. I like this production though. The colors are beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![stargazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@stargazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazer)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-emma-on-mt/526360/5 "2010-01-25T19:11:48Z")
I’m enjoying it a lot. I am less familiar with Emma than with Jane Austen’s other works, so it’s fun to see - I don’t really remember what happens. I think the actress playing Emma looks like she could be Laura Linney’s daughter/sister/niece. I think it’s something about the smile. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-emma-on-mt/526360/6 "2010-01-25T20:00:42Z")
Well shit! How is it I didn’t know this was going to be on? I hope they’ll be replaying the episodes… I’m going now to check the DVR! ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-emma-on-mt/526360/7 "2010-01-25T20:07:00Z")
OK, good – first ep is playing again tomorrow so I can DVR it and catch up before the 2nd ep next Sunday. Whew! ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-emma-on-mt/526360/8 "2010-01-25T20:11:45Z")
> [@stargazer](#): > > I am less familiar with Emma than with Jane Austen’s other works, so it’s fun to see - I don’t really remember what happens. This is the one in which the protagonist gets sick and dies and none of the main characters end up married to each other… 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-emma-on-mt/526360/9 "2010-01-25T20:19:44Z")
> [@SkeptiJess](#): > > OK, good – first ep is playing again tomorrow so I can DVR it and catch up before the 2nd ep next Sunday. Whew! Me too! And I see that they’re going to show the two latest Richard Sharpe movies in March and April, which is cool because Netflix doesn’t have the newest one yet. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-emma-on-mt/526360/10 "2010-01-25T21:18:33Z")
Clue me in - what’s “MT”? I’d like to see this. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-emma-on-mt/526360/11 "2010-01-25T21:22:08Z")
MT is Masterpiece Theater", or as it’s now called Masterpiece Classic. On US public television, don’t know where you are. There’s also Masterpiece Mystery and Masterpiece Contemporary, the catch-all PBS home for British import dramas. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-emma-on-mt/526360/12 "2010-01-25T21:23:33Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > This is the one in which the protagonist gets sick and dies and none of the main characters end up married to each other… 🆒 You left out the meteor hitting England. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-emma-on-mt/526360/13 "2010-01-25T21:42:07Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > You left out the meteor hitting England. For the love of god, man, use spoiler tags! ---
**Author:** ![StoutHearted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@StoutHearted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StoutHearted)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-emma-on-mt/526360/14 "2010-01-25T21:48:11Z")
I’ve watched it on youtube, and found it really trying hard for a modern feel. I’m OK with it, but it’s not my favorite version. ---
**Author:** ![RachelChristine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RachelChristine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RachelChristine)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-emma-on-mt/526360/15 "2010-02-13T02:31:59Z")
Ooh – Northanger Abbey will be on next. I saw it last year and quite liked the version – which got me to go out and buy all the Austen books I didn’t own. Due to my job and other books I want to read, I’m now done with them all but Mansfield Park. (Finished reading and watching Emma today!) ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-emma-on-mt/526360/16 "2010-02-13T14:14:22Z")
Honestly, I haven’t seen any version of “Emma” that has grabbed me like the A&E version of “Pride & Prejudice” (with Colin Ferth and Jennifer Ehle). This version of “Emma” was quite good, but had some flaws. On the plus side, I was glad that it was a mini-series so that they could flesh out the characters more and better develop the storyline, but the huge miss is that I didn’t feel any chemistry at all between Emma and her Mr. Knightley. And without that chemistry, the whole thing fell apart. For instance, when Mr. Knightley chastised her (“Badly done, Emma.”) I didn’t feel Emma’s devastation the way I’d have liked. Sulking isn’t the same as being devastated. I liked how this version gave more of a back story so that you could understand their relative positions in life – e.g. how Jane Fairfax and Frank Churchill were Emma’s equal in birth but not circumstances. How Miss Bates was a bit like Jane Austen herself – lost in society without a husband. And how Miss Smith was a step below them on the social ladder, while Mr. Martin was blue-collar but an appropriate and honorable match for her. And how Emma and Mr. Knightley’s relationship had existed forever and so their romantic feelings for each other were very slow to bloom. Another plus is that it fleshed out the relationship with Frank Churchill more than other versions, so that you understood that while his attentions were definitely inappropriate, Emma was truly ambivalent about him. It’s hard not to compare this version with the Gwyneth Paltrow version. I really enjoyed that version with the glaring exception that I didn’t care for Gwyneth Paltrow in the title role. The actress simply doesn’t possess the joie de vivre and wide-eyed cluelessness that I associate with Emma. I also hated how it was compressed into a 2 hour movie and that just isn’t sufficient time to do the story justice. But the other actors in that version were awesome. Jeremy Northam as Mr. Knightley was delicious. I also thought that Alan Cumming’s portrayal of Mr. Elton was awesome, though he added more to the character than existed in the book. He was supposed to be a handsome man, for example, but not as lecherous as Cumming’s portrayed him. The MT version of Mr. Elton was probably more true to the book, but I didn’t enjoy it as much. I did enjoy how horrible Mrs. Elton was in the MT version. I thought it odd that the actress portraying the MT Miss Bates used similar characteristics to Sophie Thompson’s in her version, right down to the mumbling between words. Anyway, though I did enjoy this version, I have to say that I’ve never quite seen them get the right Emma. And she is the key, no?