You could call it a total failure of self-control.

[dira]

But I like to think of it as a triumph in the legal acquisition of British TV on DVD.

The thing is, okay, I was all "Self, it is time you got some Classic Who on DVD" and "Oooh, Five is pretty" and "Hey, what about that Turlough" and "Oh look my local B&N has The Black Guardian Trilogy in stock and I have to go to the mall anyway to buy clothes and dot dot dot."

And, okay, look! I was good! I did not also pick up Logopolis and Castrovalva! I left those for another time!

...But somebody had stuck the box set of the Dorothy L. Sayers Mysteries in the middle of the Doctor Who and you know what movies the Internet Fairies really genuinely do not seem to be able to help me with? Yeah. Peter and Harriet, that's what.

Soooo I bought them both and now I have lots of lovely British people to watch on my telly this weekend.

Also, Moleskine now makes notebooks in a lovely dark red. I AM ONLY HUMAN OKAY.

Comments

[missmollyetc]

\o/ \o/ \o/ \o/ ::dances::

[dira]

...must not slash Peter and Charles just when Peter and Harriet are about to get together, must not slash Peter and Charles just when Peter and Harriet are about to get together, must not slash Peter and Charles just when Peter and Harriet are about to get together...

[missmollyetc]

Dude, it HAPPENS, okay? THERE IS ENOUGH LORD PETER WHIMSEY TO GO AROUND! I just think he's fab, though. (oh God, have you seen Have his Carcass yet? Watch Bunter's face when Lord Peter's giving an example of throat slitting to Harriet. PRICELESS. BUNTER, WHAT ARE YOU?)

[ex_gryphon136]

Right, because if you're going to slash anybody in that context, it should be Peter & Bunter. It makes Bunter's offering to resign in Strong Poison so much more poignant.... *EG*

[missmollyetc]

Oh, yes, Peter/Bunter forever, and then Peter/Bunter/Harriet! But I always thought Charles/Peter was fun to think about--gets a little weird when he marries Peter's sister but still...

[dira]

Pfff, obvious displacement. Just like Harry making out with Hermione Ginny because he (thinks he) can't have Ron!

[missmollyetc]

DUDE. ALL YOUR WORDS ARE TRUE! ::grins::

Peter/Charles is the buddy-crimefighting slash that never was! Or, well, was only in the one fic I found that I don't remember the link to.

[dira]

Well naturally I also ship Peter and Bunter.

[ex_gryphon136]

Of course you do!

[polarisnorth]

A++ best shopping trip EVER.

I am currently saving up to buy myself the complete Granada Sherlock Holmes. Someday I may try and acquire all of Doctor Who, but that day is far in the future.

(I've never watched the Peter Wimsey series, but I adore the books -- how do they compare?)

[ex_gryphon136]

Pretty good, actually. Better in some ways than the Ian Carmichael ones--Edward Pethebridge is the right age and build for Peter, for starters--and they don't mangle the story much at all.

Much better than the more recent Miss Marple adaptations, but since the Beeb saw fit to change the murderer in at least one of them, and some major plot points in others, that's not saying much.

[dira]

I've only watched Strong Poison so far, but I liked that one--I mean, it has the inevitable problems of a film production from a book, but it was still fun to get to see them, and what made it to the screen seemed very genuinely Peter and Harriet and Bunter and Parker and so on.

[ex_gryphon136]

I have 4 codes that never got used. People can send me a message with their email and I'll send 'em out. :)

[ellen_fremedon]

I have had the Petherbridge LPW adaptations strongly recommended to me, and I've been warned off them, and I've been told to watch the first two and stop, and I've been told to watch them all but stop Gaudy Night before the last scene. Where do you weigh in on this?

(Also, EEEEEEE FIVE AND TURLOUGH YAYS!!!)

[dira]

Well, I've only watched Strong Poison so far, but I rather liked that one (though they did dial down the ferocity of Harriet's initial rejection, alas). I'll see how the rest goes. :)

[missmollyetc]

I hope you don't mind me butting in, but if you're looking for recs, then I really do recommend the Petherbridge adaptions (not the least because I grew up watching them! ::grins::) I think they do an excellent job of putting the books onto the screen, and though there are bits that are left out, the stories told onscreen are a study in heartfelt, clever acting. There's a genuine affection for the text and for the characters. I love them a lot.

As for Gaudy Night, I can understand some people's reservations. Much of the story, like St. George or the part where they finish the sonnet together, isn't in there, but quite frankly, I don't think what works in a book always translates well to the screen. They were lovely parts of the book, but they weren't moments essential to the mystery and the mystery onscreen makes sense (the book did too! I'm not saying that it didn't.) and is still an intact love story.

[dira]

...She doesn't say placet and she doesn't say what she does say in the place she should have said it. So I can see where people get upset. I was being comfortably philosophical about the whole thing and that still took me quite aback.

Altogether it made for a rather pleasing eight hours of OH HARRIET AND PETER, but it ends on a bit of an off note when you're expecting precisely the thing you're expecting at the end and then you get something entirely different.

[ex_gryphon136]

The first two are my favorite of all the Petherbridge & Carmichael adaptations.

I think they did as well as could be expected for Gaudy Night, considering most of the vital bits of the book take place in Harriet's head. It's hard to show someone rethinking 5 years' worth of assumptions.

Also, there were so many subplots, and all linked in some way, that I suspect the episode would make no sense at all to someone who hadn't read the books, because taking out so many subplots just about had to substantially undercut the support for the main plot.

I think it'd be rather like a friend-of-a-friend's reaction to reading "Gaudy Night" as her first Wimsey: she got the impression Peter was a supercillious, condescending jerk, and I can't say it's an unreasonable interpretation given just what you see of him in Gaudy Night.

[iadorespike]

Awesome loot! Good for you, and I think that you showed admirable restraint. ;)

[dira]

Heeee, yes! \o/

[shihadchick]

Yaaaaaaay good tv acquisition! *grin*

And omg Dira do not tell me about red moleskines. *willpower issues*

[dira]

*Says not another word about pretty notebooks*

I am rather enjoying the TV acquisition...

[shihadchick]

As well you should!

Also, thank you kindly for inspiring me to get back to the Dorothy L. Sayers I was in the middle of a few weeks ago because ♥.

[dira]

And now I am also rereading. Round and round and round it goes... :)

[shihadchick]

We have such good personal habits! :D

[giglet]

Awesome loot!

I get vicarious pleasure from your shopping spree!

[dira]

Heeee, yay!