Outlander

[The Bluestocking]

Perhaps a daft question, but is the Outlander TV series family-friendly - or have they sexed it up for the screen?

They haven't sexed it up - the sex scenes they show were already in the original books.

There's plenty of violence and sadistic torture and sexual assault too.

So no - not family-friendly.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Oh, okay - I'm not far into the first book so I wasn't sure what to expect from the TV series.

 

[REBerg]

Perhaps a daft question, but is the Outlander TV series family-friendly - or have they sexed it up for the screen?

Definitely not family friendly.

 

[Alexa]

But the book is worth reading, so keep going Brian !

 

[Brian G Turner]

Ah, okay - I got to around 30% of the book - and for the next 10% it's pretty much all just Claire and Jamie having sex.

 

[REBerg]

Ah, okay - I got to around 30% of the book - and for the next 10% it's pretty much all just Claire and Jamie having sex.

Claire and Jamie are a sweet, time-crossed couple. It's the perverted sexual appetite of Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall which makes Outlander an adults only series.

 

[Alexa]

Ah, okay - I got to around 30% of the book - and for the next 10% it's pretty much all just Claire and Jamie having sex.

Quite normal for a young married couple.

 

[Brian G Turner]

It's the perverted sexual appetite of Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall which makes Outlander an adults only series.

Oh, dear - I'm starting to dread reading more of it. These days I normally refuse to read anything with sexual violence in it.

 

[REBerg]

I've been told that the books are even darker than the series.
I am not an extremely sensitive person, but I found the end of the first season very difficult to watch. I can't imagine what the books contain to top what was presented on screen.

 

[Alexa]

I read all the books and I can tell you the series are much darker.

 

[REBerg]

I read all the books and I can tell you the series are much darker.

Hmm. I was amazed when I when the books were judged as darker than the series, as I had just finished the first season and was still appalled. I guess it's a subjective thing.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Ok, it sounds like rape is a big part of this series: why are people saying Outlander is a rape... — Outlander Q&A so I'm going to bow out.

I got to about halfway, and it was okay, though the historical aspect never felt strong - the Highlanders came across as caricatures, and the landscape around here is so stunning that its complete absence is very noticeable. Black Jack Randall just came across as a cardboard villain, existing for the sole reason that the writer wanted someone dastardly.

 

[Connavar]

Perhaps a daft question, but is the Outlander TV series family-friendly - or have they sexed it up for the screen?

Its more cable sexy times in season 1, there are dark use of sex in late season 1 but usually its a quality historical series more about scottish history in S2, highland culture, British Empire battles than too much cable sex. Its not for kids but S2, S3 are more serious, historical fiction, time travel romance when your lover is 250 years behind you in Scottish history.

 

[Judderman]

So my wife and I have just binged through the first and most of the second season of this. I wouldn't recommend watching it so quickly as some of the flaws become more apparent. My wife likes it, partly due to the costumes and settings. Perhaps partly due to the male lead. Whereas the female lead is plainer (relatively). I somewhat enjoy it but it varies episode to episode. The content and type of story varies so much throughout the series. Sometimes romantic drama, sex and arguments, sometimes battles or raids, sometimes brutality. I suppose that is a good thing in that you don't know what you are going to get.

I watch quite a lot of Horror Movies and as a result have seen some graphic stuff at times. I think though this series is the most graphic, mainstream drama TV series I have seen. Although less so in season 2 than 1. Spartacus now looks modest in comparison. I thought it was a series with a bit of time travelling, a lot of romance and some fighting and politics thrown in. The first six episodes seem to follow that. A bit of intrigue and some developing romance. Then episode 7 is stocked with sex. I haven't read Mills and Boon but that episode is what I imagine for the genre. But then it just keeps on going and gets more extreme. So there is female rape, male rape and then briefly in season 2 even child rape. There is torture and hanging. There seems to be a rule that the main character has her breasts showing for much of season 1. Just another show with the desire to shock.

I don't suppose there is much realism here in terms of the greater story and how life is depicted. Everyone looks so clean. I also don't get why Jamie lives in a relatively small place with apparently few staff in Scotland yet seems to have so much influence. Then his Uncle in France was fabulously wealthy and they can turn up with all manner of fine clothes. Then the way the main characters get connected with royalty is dubious. Then this stuff about the legend of the White Lady (witch) which just conveniently pops up. You can at least say something is always happening. Clair jumps between in shock, to in control of those around her, to being able to act in all sorts of roles. Jamie, some of his close family, and his follower/adopted father seem to be the only "good" people in the show. Clair jumps between wanting to change the future and not changing the future. She calls Jamie's uncle selfish but she sometimes seems to be the most selfish person on the show. Though she always has the healer angle to fall back on

I did enjoy some of the humour. Some of the scenes with the head of the clans etc. Some of the battle scenes. Also the early parts where they have the mythology and religion around the standing stones. There is definitely some good stuff in there.

 

[Judderman]

I just watched s2 e11 and 12. They were amongst the best episodes. Still some extremely convenient coincidences occurring but overall it was great Historical Fiction.

 

[Judderman]

Well, I blasted through the 3rd series. Other than the first episode and one or two others it was mostly packed with action and all sorts of goings on. Good fun mostly. The 3rd series still has sex/titillation scenes that are mostly well shot, but much less of them than the first series. Much less brutality too. I though the story in the first half of the series was pretty good, but the second half is really a true Fantasy series. I think Fantasy is a more accurate classification than Historical Fiction. There is adventure on ships, desert islands, voodoo/pagan rituals, fighting with "Hercules" etc. Could be Indian Jones . Diana Gabbadon has some great ideas for adventures but the way they are strung together is sometimes utterly ridiculous. She just throws things together. And the coincidences seen in the first and second series are raised to epic levels. They are travelling across the ocean and still the same surrounding cast all pop up again and again as if the world population is so small. It seems once someone appears and says more than a few lines they are destined to appear again on the show until dead. It is just one of those shows you can't take seriously, but try and enjoy the adventures and drama that is shoved together almost at random. Is each following season still going to have Jamie in trouble for something new and arrested repeatedly? Probably partly caused by his wife's curiosity again.

I mean what can you say about:

Spoiler: s3 spoilers

having someone escape a ship and drifting to a desert island, meet an insane priest, then their love's ship crashes on the same island, then they go to Jamaica and meet an old friend who is the governor, and another key character is a landowner whose treasure the main characters have stolen, and various other past characters have turned up at the same time. Plus the incident with the ship turning up to Silkie Island when young Ian is there despite apparently people never going there. Or the pointless coincidence about the skull.

 

[olive]

I haven't read the books, I don't think I will. I just have finished it a few days ago. To me, it was a kind of series you can't just look away after started and then at some point you get fed with it and drop. I tried to finish but couldn't reach the end of the 4th season. And apparently there are 8 books.

 

[olive]

I found out what bugged me about this series. Too many things are happening to the protagonists while they don't change enough according to what happens to them, but then they can't change that much and follow their path. So while the story is playing to the hard facts, the nature of the changing times -which gets more basic but more difficult and wild at the same time- the main characters become some sort of 'mythic creatures' fighting with all that with a never wavering iron will and strength and it feels like they lose their realism. It doesn't feel natural. I think that's why I was overwhelmed but also hypnotised by the 'oh my, what is going to happen next' feeling. And it felt exhausting.

Are books the same? Is it a good, loyal adaptation in that sense?

 

[BAYLOR]

A great book series and tv series.