around the world in 80 days david tennant

#AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS DAVID TENNANT SERIES#

Joining Fogg on his misadventures is female journalist Abigail. The story here is generally the same as the original tale, in the sense that Phileas Fogg makes a wager and tries to travel the globe in under 80 days, but the tone here is distinctly darker and more serious, with a lot more political and social messaging to boot. There’s nothing inherently awful about this adaptation (unless you’re expecting a faithful book adaptation, in which case run a mile!) but likewise, there’s nothing great either. It’s fitting then that BBC’s latest offering hits all three of these categories, eventually nestling itself somewhere in the realm of indifferent mediocrity. Over the years there have been a fair few adaptations that have been a mixed bag of the good, the bad and the ugly. Even if you’ve never read the original tale, the journey of Phileas Fogg circumnavigating the globe in 80 days is well-known.

#AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS DAVID TENNANT SERIES#

While Verne’s original novel’s primary form of female representation came in the form of Aouda, a young Indian woman rescued by Fogg during his travels and becoming his primary love interest, the series stars Leonie Benesch as Abigail Fix, a plucky young journalist who tags along on the journey to document it for readers of her father’s newspaper.Around the World in 80 Days is one of those quintessential adventure stories that everyone has heard of. Perfect for TV: The series, meanwhile, doesn’t push its characters too far into expressing modern judgment on British colonialism of the era, but the representation of people of color, including a Black Passepartout (Ibrahim Koma), and storylines focusing on how British rule across these colonies has a not-so-great an impact on the people who are being ruled.Īs opposed to film, television proves itself to be the ideal format for adapting Verne’s tale, given how each new location lends itself nimbly to a new episodic adventure, and the pace across the first season stays lively, the jump from location to location keeping the action and settings fresh while the character relationships get deeper and more developed. Not Exactly the Doctor: Adaptations of the Verne novel have featured many different interpretations of the gentleman adventurer, and this take leans heavily on the concept of Fogg as someone so innately sheltered by virtue of his class, gender, and race that when suddenly thrust into the complications of life in the real world, he struggles to adapt. Eighty days might sound like a lot of time, but when one’s primary means of transportation are ship, train, or camel, it’s a frightfully small amount of time - especially given that Fogg’s opponent in this bet is doing his best to sabotage the already difficult journey.

Set in 1872 (the same year that the original Jules Verne novel was published), 80 Days is an adventure inspired by a bet: specifically, the bet made by eccentric gentleman Phileas Fogg ( David Tennant) that he can circumnavigate the globe in the time period allotted.

But there’s one huge exception to this: Unlike Sherlock, which is a series that worships the concept of genius, 80 Days features a protagonist who’s far more often in over his head. The Pitch: In terms of literary adaptations, Around the World in 80 Days hits right in the sweet spot established by decades of Masterpiece programming in general and the BBC adaptation of Sherlock in particular.

Around the world in 80 days david tennant