Mr. Darcy and the Space-time Continuum

This is the beginning of Mr. Darcy's journey in space, R.I. One
The year is 1813 A.D. -- the place ... Kent, England . . . .

“You could not have made your offer of marriage to me in any possible way that could have tempted me to accept you, Mr. Darcy.”

How those words stung Darcy, and as his ardor began to rise, he looked intently into Elizabeth Bennet’s eyes to demand the respect he considered his due.

However, as his gaze deepened, Elizabeth noticed an alteration of his countenance. What was once indignation became instead a look of wonder. For Darcy himself, what he was seeing was reason enough for this alteration.

The glimmer in Elizabeth’s eye that had caught his attention was growing in intensity. He knew not what to attribute it to, and kept his steady gaze upon it. The gentle sparkle, becoming gradually brighter, soon overspread her face, and then the brightness was all there was, causing him to raise his hand and cover his eyes, while simultaneously closing them tight with discomfort.

In a snap, there was every indication that the light was gone, and slowly opening his eyes to confirm it, he began to lower his hands from his face. What now presented itself before him caused him to close his eyes again and run his hands across his face, as if he was trying to rouse himself from slumber!

This second opening of his eyes verified what his first had revealed. He found himself in an extraordinary place, with men and women in strange attire. He heard one man authoritatively say to another, “Mr. ShooLoo, has there been an unauthorized transport within the ship? Or have our sensors detected another vessel nearby?”

“No, Captain Kurt, no transport has registered and there are no vessels detected in the vicinity.”

The captain asked, “Do you agree, Knotty? What can you tell from the engine room?” From nowhere, Darcy heard another voice saying, “Affirmative, Captain, no transport and no vessels to be seen.”

“Mr. Spot, what do you make of this?”

“Unsure at this moment, Captain; with insufficient data, any hypothesis would be useless. But as we can all see, the stranger appears to be a humanoid life form.”

“Do you concur, Dr. McCrete? What do you make of him, Stones?”

“I’d say Mr. Spot is right on the spot, Josh.”

Captain Joshua T. Kurt now addressed the stranger, “How did you get on my bridge? Who are you -- do you have a name?”

Stay tuned to find out what Mr. Darcy’s reaction is . . .
Look on the right sidebar for links to more installments

Noe

copyright ©2013

Pride and Prejudice movie characters, part 5

Continuing our discussion of the various characters
Colonel Fitzwilliam

"Colonel Fitzwilliam ... was about thirty, not handsome, but in person and address, most truly the gentleman." Who doesn't like this cousin of Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice? But which of the various movies we've been discussing has the best Colonel Fitz?

We have to choose the perfect Colonel from either the 1980 mini series or the 1995 A&E/BBC version, because basically, these are the only ones that take the time to show much of him. For instance, the 1940 version with Greer Garson has the colonel giggle like a silly girl and clap when Elizabeth is finished playing the piano for Lady Catherine and that's about it; whereas, the 2005 P&P with Keira Knightley has a good actor playing the part, but has him informing Elizabeth about Darcy in church, so the conversation must take place in whispers, which is a very poor choice.

Anthony Calf, who plays the part of the colonel in the BBC version, does a great job, of course, but we always thought he was too handsome for the part and should instead have been chosen to play George Wickham, who is described as having all the best part of beauty, a fine countenance, a good figure, and very pleasing address. Calf's manners as the colonel, though, also make the perfect Fitz.

With the book's description of the colonel in mind, however, you should see Desmond Adams from the 1980 version playing this part. I like this version for many of its aspects, one being that it has more of the conversations between Elizabeth and the colonel that are in the book than the others do, and Adams more closely resembles this character.

In particular, there is one conversation where they are walking the grounds of Rosings and Lizzy remarks that 'Darcy likes to have his own way', to which Fitz responds, “He likes to have his own way very well, but so we all do. It is only that he has better means of having it than many others, because he is rich, and many others are poor. I speak feelingly. A younger son, you know, must be inured to self-denial and dependence.” Lizzy gives her opinion that the younger son of an earl can know very little of either. The colonel informs her, his point is that he cannot marry just anybody, making her wonder if he said that so she would not get her hopes up about him. It's a really nice scene.

The 1995 series just has the colonel tell Elizabeth about Darcy saving a friend from a most imprudent marriage, which is the only significant part of their conversation. But for people who love P&P, more is better!

So, even though I have taken the long way to get there, I must say I prefer seeing Desmond Adams playing the part as Colonel Fitzwilliam. Thankfully, whoever is responsible for deciding what scenes to have in their movie wisely chose to have more of what is in the book about the colonel, making it the best choice for me.

1940 1980 -- best Col. Fitz

    1995                                2005