I watched all episodes of "The Onedin Line" with my parents when I was a girl. When it started, I was only seven. It made a very strong impression on me then. So strong, that I can still remember many of the scenes after 40 years! It is an odd feeling to watch it again now, alone in front of the computer, after so many years. It is a pure nostalgia trip! At the moment, I have watched the first season and half of the second.
I must say, that I am not WHOLLY as impressed as I was as a child - which is nothing odd, of course. Because now I have watched so many other TV series and movies throughout the years, and have much more to compare with. I find it "simpler" now. I do not think the series is so well-planned and well-rounded as I thought then. For example: some story lines and new characters are obviously just thrown in for trial, and when the audience has not liked them they have removed them again.
One example of this is Anne Onedin's former suitor, who was never mentioned before he suddenly turned up. This was a little stupid, as the whole issue with Anne's and James' marriage was that it was a marriage of convenience. That no one else had wanted to marry Anne, and that she was beginning to become an old spinster, when James married her for her father's ship.
There are also many things that are too obvious in a story about a sailing ship - they just "have" to be in each and every novel, movie, series on the subject (castaways, stowaways, coffin ships, mystic cargoes, strange storms and strange calms...).
And other things are a bit immature. For example all these young and very beautiful, mystical and immensely rich women with exotic names (such as "Indigo"), big breasts and generous cleavages, that just happen to get in James Onedin's and Captain Baines' way everywhere in the world... This is more like adolescent fantasies that would fit in an adventure series for teenage boys, than suitable in a series intended for an adult audience.
Another thing that I was not aware of 35-40 years ago, is that this is so obviously a studio production. Sometimes it becomes embarrassingly obvious that the background is just a painted backdrop... Or that the actors are not on a ship at all, but just standing behind a wheel in a studio. It becomes more like theatre then - as viewers we have to take part in the pretending! But it is still a very good show! As a period drama - Victorian England - it is just perfect still. I like the insights into both the seamen's lives, and the boardroom decisions, and the fine ladies' saloons, and the poor people's struggle. I like all the wonderful clothes, from a time when men were allowed to be men, and women women...
I also like that there are story lines more for women in it, despite of the main subject of the shipping business. Such as relations, love, jealousy, the fear of becoming a spinster or childless, marriage, divorce and the problems of fending for yourself without a husband, adultery, pregnancies, child-birth, babies, motherhood... These issues have been more or less the same for women in all cultures and all ages, and they are forever interesting! :-)
I also like most of the actors very much. The main actors are all so good in their parts, that it is seems impossible that the parts could have been played by someone else. Especially I like Peter Gilmore. This was also something that I did not, of course, notice when I was seven: how very handsome and virile and desirable he is. It shines through the computer screen..! :-)
*******
October 21, 2012
I have now watched through all the eight series, and I have to add a few words. I think the last season was so bad, that I wish it had never been made (and ideally not the last but one either). The events became too "grande" - I suppose the producers believed it would kindle new interest to have James involved in revolutions and royal affairs in foreign countries. But instead it made the show only into a boys' adventure story - especially as the cabin boy Tom got much too great a part in a production for adults. The original idea, with a man starting from nothing and building up a shipping line, was exciting enough - at the same time as it was still probable!
The story with the stolen neck-lace was like something out of a cheap detective story from a magazine... James' new wife - a young South American woman - was completely wrong for him... James Onedin's daughter could never in reality have been a music-hall artist, as these were looked upon almost as whores at this time... And the new set of sisters-in-law for the "ladies' world" of the series, was too much to get used to in such a short time. But worst of all was the fact, that the characters we had come to love and like, suddenly behaved completely out of character.
Now I am going to try to forget about series 8, and instead let James Onedin, Captain Baines, Anne, Elizabeth, and Captain Fogarty stay in my heart for ever. Where they have in fact been for 40 years already..! :-)
I must say, that I am not WHOLLY as impressed as I was as a child - which is nothing odd, of course. Because now I have watched so many other TV series and movies throughout the years, and have much more to compare with. I find it "simpler" now. I do not think the series is so well-planned and well-rounded as I thought then. For example: some story lines and new characters are obviously just thrown in for trial, and when the audience has not liked them they have removed them again.
One example of this is Anne Onedin's former suitor, who was never mentioned before he suddenly turned up. This was a little stupid, as the whole issue with Anne's and James' marriage was that it was a marriage of convenience. That no one else had wanted to marry Anne, and that she was beginning to become an old spinster, when James married her for her father's ship.
There are also many things that are too obvious in a story about a sailing ship - they just "have" to be in each and every novel, movie, series on the subject (castaways, stowaways, coffin ships, mystic cargoes, strange storms and strange calms...).
And other things are a bit immature. For example all these young and very beautiful, mystical and immensely rich women with exotic names (such as "Indigo"), big breasts and generous cleavages, that just happen to get in James Onedin's and Captain Baines' way everywhere in the world... This is more like adolescent fantasies that would fit in an adventure series for teenage boys, than suitable in a series intended for an adult audience.
Another thing that I was not aware of 35-40 years ago, is that this is so obviously a studio production. Sometimes it becomes embarrassingly obvious that the background is just a painted backdrop... Or that the actors are not on a ship at all, but just standing behind a wheel in a studio. It becomes more like theatre then - as viewers we have to take part in the pretending! But it is still a very good show! As a period drama - Victorian England - it is just perfect still. I like the insights into both the seamen's lives, and the boardroom decisions, and the fine ladies' saloons, and the poor people's struggle. I like all the wonderful clothes, from a time when men were allowed to be men, and women women...
I also like that there are story lines more for women in it, despite of the main subject of the shipping business. Such as relations, love, jealousy, the fear of becoming a spinster or childless, marriage, divorce and the problems of fending for yourself without a husband, adultery, pregnancies, child-birth, babies, motherhood... These issues have been more or less the same for women in all cultures and all ages, and they are forever interesting! :-)
I also like most of the actors very much. The main actors are all so good in their parts, that it is seems impossible that the parts could have been played by someone else. Especially I like Peter Gilmore. This was also something that I did not, of course, notice when I was seven: how very handsome and virile and desirable he is. It shines through the computer screen..! :-)
*******
October 21, 2012
I have now watched through all the eight series, and I have to add a few words. I think the last season was so bad, that I wish it had never been made (and ideally not the last but one either). The events became too "grande" - I suppose the producers believed it would kindle new interest to have James involved in revolutions and royal affairs in foreign countries. But instead it made the show only into a boys' adventure story - especially as the cabin boy Tom got much too great a part in a production for adults. The original idea, with a man starting from nothing and building up a shipping line, was exciting enough - at the same time as it was still probable!
The story with the stolen neck-lace was like something out of a cheap detective story from a magazine... James' new wife - a young South American woman - was completely wrong for him... James Onedin's daughter could never in reality have been a music-hall artist, as these were looked upon almost as whores at this time... And the new set of sisters-in-law for the "ladies' world" of the series, was too much to get used to in such a short time. But worst of all was the fact, that the characters we had come to love and like, suddenly behaved completely out of character.
Now I am going to try to forget about series 8, and instead let James Onedin, Captain Baines, Anne, Elizabeth, and Captain Fogarty stay in my heart for ever. Where they have in fact been for 40 years already..! :-)