So here is my THING with the Outlander miniseries (SP through VOYAGER)

84Lauren · September 2013

I WANT to be excited about this. And I was, until they started announcing casting. It's not that I hate anyone they've casted, it's just that it's made me realize there is no way, no matter HOW good this is, that it will meet my expectations.

For most books, even my all-time favorites (ahem, HP), I'm perfectly fine with that, no matter how much I might bitch about the movie/tv/whatever. But not Outlander. Jamie is the PERFECT MAN in my head. Like, perfect. The whole story is perfect. And I don't want anything to influence my whole little Outlander world in my head.

AND: how are they going to make these actors 20 years older? Or will we just never get that far (they stretch the first two books over multiple seasons), which depresses me even more?

mrsvedo · September 2013

I certainly understand the expectations piece. It will really be hard to live up to the magic DG has given us in these characters, their relationships, and their world.

As far as the aging goes, I'm not terribly concerned. The Tudors is a good example of how this can be done. Here's Jonathan Rhys Meyers at the beginning of the series:

And at the end:

Jenandtonica · September 2013

I'm SO with you, @84Lauren. I pretty much ignored all talk till they started casting, then I couldn't ignore it anymore. I still have my qualms about watching the series. It's enough that Davina Porter rules my Outlander world, now I'm supposed to invite actors? I just don't know. I don't want them to change my favorite characters. Like Dumbledore 2.0. ALL WRONG.

84Lauren · September 2013

Jenandtonica said:

I'm SO with you, @84Lauren. I pretty much ignored all talk till they started casting, then I couldn't ignore it anymore. I still have my qualms about watching the series. It's enough that Davina Porter rules my Outlander world, now I'm supposed to invite actors? I just don't know. I don't want them to change my favorite characters. Like Dumbledore 2.0. ALL WRONG.

This is EXACTLY it, @Jenandtonica! My love for Outlander is so personal it's embarrassing. Even though I know thousands of fans out there feel the same way, letting actors into the mix somehow de-personalizes it. When there isn't a "movie" out there that we all share, I can pretend that the Outlander in my head is mine and for reals.

#psycho

EliStar · September 2013

I totally understand this. Here is the thing. I still want to see it. I'm convinced that there is no way that the series is even going to come close to the magic of reading this series. And to Jamie. This guy will always just be "that guy they cast as Jamie" because in my head, Jamie is such a REAL LIVING BREATHING character that no one could come close. Period. So this is just... like... people... acting out my favorite story ever.

RevJen · September 2013

I have faith that the powers that be are going to stick close to the storyline. From what I've heard, it's going to be one book per season. The first season has 16 episodes, I think? I think they'll manage to get in all the important stuff. The director wants to do it right and give us a visual adaptation of what we've read. I'm going to be positive for a change.

MrsJenE · September 2013

I totally get what you're saying, Lauren. I'm really nervous because I have this image in my head of the characters and places that I don't want tainted, especially Jamie. If they mess this up for me, I'll be a raging crazy person. It won't stop me from watching the first few episodes but if it's bad, I'll stop watching because I don't want to be further tainted.

SnShne322 · September 2013

I think I'm a little weird with this, but I'm kind of looking forward to seeing another POV of Outlander. No one can take away my image of it, but their visuals have the possibility to be better than what I was thinking.

kayash · September 2013

SnShne322 said:

I think I'm a little weird with this, but I'm kind of looking forward to seeing another POV of Outlander. No one can take away my image of it, but their visuals have the possibility to be better than what I was thinking.

This. Like I totally get what you're saying Lauren (and others) but I think in a way the fact that I love the books so much is helping me realize that there's no way they can make this series look exactly like how I picture it in my head so instead I'm just excited to see how they picture everything. There's been enough discussion here over the years for me to realize that we all picture differences in the characters/settings/etc- even with a fantastic written description. If we were all talented artists and could draw our version of Jamie I imagine there would be at least small differences between them. And that's basically what this is I think.

So I'm trying to just remember that this is a show and like Eli said it's just people telling one of my favorite stories.

And I'm not worried about aging the characters - the makeup techniques are so good anymore that I think it'll be totally fine.

jkfranklin · September 2013

Am I the only one that even though its 20 years later they still look the same to me?

kayash · September 2013

jkfranklin said:

Am I the only one that even though its 20 years later they still look the same to me?

I'm guilty of this too! Actually I just reread Voyager and at one point it dawned on me that I should be imagining them older and I'm totally not, whoops.

kaylynne · September 2013

I had forgotten how much Frank was supposed to look like Randall until I saw they had the same guy cast in both roles on imdb. It's been a while since I read the book (and I only read the first 2)... are they really supposed to look that much alike? Cause that would suck for pretty much everyone involved. I remember feeling kind of sorry for Frank, but if Randall looks that much like him, it makes everything 3x worse for Claire.

mrsvedo · September 2013

kaylynne said:

I had forgotten how much Frank was supposed to look like Randall until I saw they had the same guy cast in both roles on imdb. It's been a while since I read the book (and I only read the first 2)... are they really supposed to look that much alike? Cause that would suck for pretty much everyone involved. I remember feeling kind of sorry for Frank, but if Randall looks that much like him, it makes everything 3x worse for Claire.

Yeah, they're supposed to be almost identical except with small differences based on the era they live in. This is why Claire does a double take (or 3) when she comes across him the first time. There are parts, if I remember correctly, where Claire talks about how she feels sympathetic towards Jack based on nothing more than how strikingly similar he is to Frank until he reminds her again of how much of an asshole he is.

kaylynne · September 2013

mrsvedo said:

kaylynne said:

I had forgotten how much Frank was supposed to look like Randall until I saw they had the same guy cast in both roles on imdb. It's been a while since I read the book (and I only read the first 2)... are they really supposed to look that much alike? Cause that would suck for pretty much everyone involved. I remember feeling kind of sorry for Frank, but if Randall looks that much like him, it makes everything 3x worse for Claire.

Yeah, they're supposed to be almost identical except with small differences based on the era they live in. This is why Claire does a double take (or 3) when she comes across him the first time. There are parts, if I remember correctly, where Claire talks about how she feels sympathetic towards Jack based on nothing more than how strikingly similar he is to Frank until he reminds her again of how much of an asshole he is.

Ok, that makes sense. I was thinking it was meant to be a strong family resemblance, but not, like... twins.

lizabethann6 · September 2013

EliStar said:
I totally understand this. Here is the thing. I still want to see it. I'm convinced that there is no way that the series is even going to come close to the magic of reading this series. And to Jamie. This guy will always just be "that guy they cast as Jamie" because in my head, Jamie is such a REAL LIVING BREATHING character that no one could come close. Period. So this is just... like... people... acting out my favorite story ever.

This is how I am viewing it too.

I'm excited and nervous about it.

CeeCeeSugaPie · September 2013

I feel the same way. I cherish the Outlander version in my head. I don't want anyone screwing with it. I have seriously debated not watching it. I hate when this happens because when I do rereads, it makes it harder for me to keep that original picture of the story in my head. Instead it starts to get replaced with the actors, not how I imagined them to start with.

I hope this makes sense. I feel like I am rambling.

NicoleAnne416 · September 2013

I may not even watch it actually. I like it all in my head and I will have to add channels to even get Stars.

So here is my THING with the Outlander miniseries (SP through VOYAGER)

Re: So here is my THING with the Outlander miniseries (SP through VOYAGER)

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