magm

The opening credits note "based on the stories by C. S. Forester". In the interest of fairness, it should say "very loosely based...". I happened across this on tonight and am appalled for Forester's sake. How A&E takes a well-written intelligent drama and turns it into such stupid melodrama that has only a faintly passing relationship to the actual story is beyond my comprehension. Spielberg once said to his crew in regard to a tv-movie he was making, "This is TV folks - Tender Vittles. We have to make it simple for them." Obviously the A&E folks studied at his school of pablum. Certainly this series is entertaining on some level, but don't for a minute think you know the Hornblower story based on seeing it. Call it something else and not Hornblower if they're going to change it so radically. For me, I'm angry, as I hoped to see Forester's great stories given a good treatment.

This was an awesome show. I guess I am one of the few who did see it, and, fortunately, taped 5 of the 6 episodes. "Jessie" was so well written, acted and edited I've watched it a number of times to just enjoy something done so well.

That episode was the first thing I saw Claudia Christian in, and have been a fan of hers ever since. Met her once (lucky me!) and got to tell her that also! She said she really enjoyed working on that and was quite proud of it.

Ditto for Helen Hunt, that's where she first came to my awareness too, and I followed her happily to "Mad About You".

My second favorite episode (close behind "Jessie") is "Fare on Park Avenue" -- SO well done. Like too many exceptional quality shows that don't fit a preconceived formula, it didn't get a chance to build an audience.

As a great fan of the Hornblower series (have read it completely through 3 times), I was somewhat disappointed in A&E's rendition of it. C. S. Forester's writing was "abso-fraggin'-lutely" outstanding. His characters, plotting, and historical accuracy and detail mark the books as classic reading and are thoroughly enjoyable.

I was looking forward to the miniseries with great anticipation. Hate to disagree with what seems the common praise -- the sets, the actors, the filming are all very well done -- but what's missing is the texture of the STORY!

As probably the worst example of this, Forester's chapter "The Even Chance" sets up the characters and situation that bring about the duel wonderfully. It's unique. He explains the inaccuracy of pistols of that time and how Hornblower sets the conditions of the duel because of it. In the tv version, this has been changed to something that has little to do with the story as Forrester wrote it. They make a series of a good book precisely because it's such a good story, and then feel compelled to change the story into a typical formula plot.

Enjoy the series for what it is, but read the books to get the story that made them classics in the first place.