The Famous Five

[Rosemary]

What Are They Doing To The Famous Five? By Belle Taylor.


I know it's not SFF but I'm sure many of you read these books!


'Enid Blyton wrote about the famous five, a group of ‘toffee-nosed kids’, roaming British countryside on their ‘hols’ from boarding school. Sometimes catching a smuggler or two with little more than a couple of ham rolls and lashings of ginger beer! How I loved to follow their adventures when I was just a young un!
Now, the company who owns the rights to Enid Blyton stories has teamed with The Disney Channel to create a remake of The Famous Five.
Gone will be Dick, Julian, Anne, George and Timmy the dog. In their place will be Cole, Joe, Dylan, Alice and Timmy II.
The original Famous Five who enjoyed life in simpler times. They had pocket knives instead of mobile phones, caves and coastlines instead of shopping centres. And George was a tomboy instead of a pre-adolescent grappling with her sexual identify.
The next piece of bad news is that the production company has outlined plans for a series on adult Famous Five.'


I wonder how many hours I sat and read all of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, enjoying their adventures? I don’t think I will be watching the movie – I enjoy my childhood memories far too much!

 

[Overread]

I think I might get film related depression if I start to hear more stories like this

 

[Pyan]

Oh dear.....I wonder if they realise how many people they'll upset.....

 

[Overread]

sometimes I think it is there intention to hurt as many as possible

 

[nixie]

You can't mess with the famous five I wanted to be George

 

[Dave]

I never read the Famous Five except to my son and daughter. It did seem dreadfully dated but they still enjoyed them anyway. On the other hand, that doesn't mean that I agree with 'modernizing' them. They are a product of their time and do not need to be brought up to date.

This is how I felt about the new TV version of 'Battlestar Galactica'. I hasten to add that I was not one of the fervent anti-BSG fanatics, I just thought that (while the new series is excellent) it was not Battlestar Galactica, and if it wasn't then why call it that.

All they are doing is playing on the name. Since the name is so well known, the series will sell better, it matters not that it is totally and completely different in character

 

[Overread]

I agree with Dave - especially on the Battlestar Galactica front.
It seems to me that today Hollywood is afraid to appoach any new ideas and instead wants to rehash other peoples works to get the free advertising out

 

[Stenevor]

I never read any famous five books though some of the first books I read when I learned to read were by Enid Blyton. I find the continuous efforts to update things because they are not modern, cool and fashionable enough really depressing.

 

[Talysia]

You can't mess with the famous five

Hear, hear. I remember reading the books when I was young, and the thought that they're changing it like that makes me sad.

 

[manephelien]

English is my third language and some of the first books I read in English were Blyton's Famous Five books. At 12 I was probably a bit old for reading them, and I what I remember most about them now, over 20 years later, is how annoyed I was at the boys bossing the girls all the time. I suppose that was normal for the time of writing, but hardly acceptable these days, I would have thought.

 

[Overread]

does that mean I am no longer allowed to boss my sister around?

 

[tangaloomababe]

I read numerous Famous Five adventures as a child, loved them. I am thinking things could go either way here. You could make something that follows the original books and sure your older audience would love it, relating to the old five characters, however by introducing new characters, who have their mobile phones and technology you appeal to a new audience. I am not saying this is right but I can see where Disney would be coming from.

Its funny I related so well to George and her need to be just one of the boys.........

 

[Overread]

but in the end its not The Famous Five, if four different kids, one different dog in a different world - its not the same thing, so it should not bear the same name. It should wear a different title and accept the fact that it is a clone of another idea. I flet much the same about the new battlestar galactica - so many changes that it was a different story - had they gone with a different title and nameing, it would have been labeld a very good idea snatcher, rather than a rewriting

 

[Dave]

That was my point too, and I can't see any other way of looking at it. You couldn't even suggest that it would make more children read the original books, because if they did they would find it to be so totally different that they might be put off completely.

I think a re-imaging can work in some cases - West Side Story, for instance, as Romeo and Juliet in 1950's New York, so I'm not totally against doing such a thing - but they didn't call it 'Romeo and Juliet'.

Also, there are certain subtleties to the story that will be lost. It is all set around the Poole, Dorset area and the islands in Poole Harbour. (No doubt it will now be set in some tropical paradise!) And wasn't there some mystery to the father's occupation as a government scientist which will be lost if it is not set close to the Second World War?

 

[Overread]

oh powers! they might turn it into some pre WW3 story - preparing for the next war - constant terror threats - at least one member of the group winding up being an expert bomb defuser - I can see it now - -

 

[Nesacat]

I wish they'd not keep doing this. I read the Famous Five growing up and like Nixie wanted very much to be George. In some ways I still do hence I read the books every so often still. I've been buying them along with the Secret Seven books for my cousins to read. I can' imagine them or their world any other way.

Go ahead and make a movie with kids and a pet if you wish but don't go overhaul something that is fine just the way it is.

I agree with Overread. Reimagine it and rename it. Make it something for the kids of this time. Don't tout it as an updated version of something that does not need any kind of updating at all.

 

[ray gower]

I confess to having read the whole Famous Five series, but preferred Adventurous Four and Swallows and Amazons. The later even without re-imaging the film never really came over well in film. I suspect whatever Disney do with Five, it will miss the mark by far to far.

And wasn't there some mystery to the father's occupation as a government scientist which will be lost if it is not set close to the Second World War?

So he now works in Area 51 dismantling aliens, no great problem, except possibly finding treasure in the dungeons of Kirrin Island?

Why don't they just finish trashing Scooby Doo?

 

[Overread]

oh, yah I forgot about that part - it won't even be set in the UK will it, it will be in an area of america
and in my opinion Disney has been going down hill for a while now = lion king was there last animation of any worth and toy story there last real production (at least I think D were still involved with that production). However, they are responcible for the release of Ghibli in the west - so we can't hate them totally, just 99% of the time

 

[Briareus Delta]

As said previously, I agree there is no point changing the entire concept and still calling it the Famous Five.

But personally, I hated the Famous Five books. I think I read two of them when I was about nine years old but, as a working class kid growing up in dire poverty, I couldn't really relate to any of the characters. Nobody spoke like that where I lived - what exactly are 'lashings' of ginger beer anyway?!
The British class system strikes again, I suppose.

 

[daisybee]

I loved the Famous Five- I also wanted to be George-just so I could go to Kirren Island and live on apples. Sigh. Uncle Quentin was also cool. And Timmy the dog-and the fact that they were left alone by adults for practically every school holiday -despite getting in trouble every time! I read them at about seven-and thought every one else lived that way! Doh.

Leave them alone! Why not just run this new idea as something else?Why mess with the Famous Five at all? BOO!!