New Zealand Adventure/Secret Series

Discuss the television and film adaptations of Enid Blyton's stories.
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Re: Adventure Series on DVD

Post by Fiona1986 »

Tony Summerfield wrote: I must disagree with you Chrissie, as The Woods of Adventure was a completely new story and not based on 'Castle' at all. It was also possibly the weakest of the 8.
Edit: Whoops, Anita beat me to it.
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Re: New Zealand Adventure/Secret Series

Post by Dinah Cunningham »

I have found the Adventure-Series in 6 or 8 parts on youtube and on msn-videos. It's not a video but at least you can watch them there...

I haven't found the Secret Series and while I don't like them as I do the Adventure-Series I would love to be able to watch them. Does anybody have any ideas?
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Re: New Zealand Adventure/Secret Series

Post by Wolfgang »

Both the Secret series and Adventure series are available in German now (again), e.g. Amazon.de, and you should be able to order the English versions as well.
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Re: New Zealand Adventure/Secret Series

Post by Wolfgang »

Received my English Secret Series DVD-set yesterday, and I was disappointed by the quality of the recording - I took a short look at "Secret Island", and the screen was flickering as if you watched a VHS-tape, and at the bottom you also have a fading quality, a familiar effect when recording tapes. It's a pity Umbrella entertainemnt didn't use a better source. The quality of the German Starmedia DVDs seems to be a bit better. At least I can enjoy (or try) the series in English now.
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Re: New Zealand Adventure/Secret Series

Post by fozzy »

I'm in Australia and have recently got both the Adventure Series and the Secret Series on DVD.

There are several crossovers between them:
1. They are both filmed in New Zealand, in fact the same house is used as Ally Mannering's in the Adventure series and the Arnolds' in the Secret series (there's quite a good behind the scenes documentary with the Adventure DVD series and it actually shows them bringing the entire house to the location on the back of a truck!)
2. The same actress (Jennyfer Jewell) plays Lucy-Ann in the Adventure series and then also plays Peggy in the Secret series (to be fair, she acts both parts pretty well).
3. Kiki the parrot also makes an appearance in the Secret Mountain!

Both series been "modernised" a lot. Neither are good but to me the Adventure series worked a bit better. For a start most of the stories at least bear some resemblance to the books. The stories in the Secret series have been butchered horribly from the books. There are different characters too (Dimmy is replaced by Ruby, a thoroughly modern nanny and Mrs Arnold is replaced by an Australian reporter called Charlie who, perhaps inevitably, ends up falling in love with Mr Arnold). Plus they have renamed Nora as Laura for some reason. I actually found the new characters worked OK but the totally different plots grated on me a lot. Having said that, I always did think the plots in the Secret series were the most unlikely of all the Blyton books (and that's saying something!) so they would be almost impossible to dramatise with any credibility. Secret Mountain (which I am watching as I type this) is the worst so far - it's painful to watch it's so bad!

So in summary, as someone wrote further back in this thread - they are most definitely not for the purists but they still have their moments.
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Re: New Zealand Adventure/Secret Series

Post by fozzy »

By the way in case anyone in the UK wants to be sure, both official DVD boxes (released by Umbrella entertainment) say they are not region coded.
Adventure series (light blue colour box) has 4 discs, Secret series (red colour box) has 3 discs.
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Re: New Zealand Adventure/Secret Series: the books.

Post by MJE »

     I haven't seen the D.V.D. versions of these, and I'm not in the least interested, either. (Enid Blyton to me is books - not films or T.V. programs or D.V.D.s.) But I did recently read "The Circus of Adventure" in the version based on the New Zealand series (as against Enid Blyton's original book). It was set in Britain, though, not New Zealand.
     It was a pale version of Enid Blyton's original novel, although I suppose I won't say it was entirely without merit. The story was, in a broad sense, much the same, although drastically simplified and the details completely reworked. I found irritating that the children seemed to constantly depend on computers and televisions and mobile phones for their every entertainment or communication need.
     There were many pointless changes: Fank become Frank, and his bears (pining away because their master was ill) became lions; and Philip was called in to pacify them, but he must have finally met his match in the animal world because he refused upon seeing them, saying he wouldn't go near them, clearly recognizing they were a danger - but in the end he didn't have to anyway, because Frank was now getting well again. And *why* is Bill's wife constantly referred to as "Alison", instead of Aunt Allie, or (when appropriate) Mrs. Cunningham?
     The circus itself was almost a side issue in this book, despite its title: even in Enid Blyton's original version, it was maybe slightly less prominent than you'd expect in a book with "Circus" in the title, but prominent enough - I suppose. But here it is sidelined quite thoroughly, and not even described with any detail or sense of atmosphere.
     So all sort of watered down in ways like this. And the daring flying trapeze rescue was entirely omitted, and the rescue of the prisoners from Borken Castle was completely reworked.
     I think the King played a more active role, however - but it's been a while since I read the *real* "Circus of Adventure", so my memory of how prominent he is in the book is not entirely clear now.
     I guess I'm a completist with Blyton-related books, so these books are ones I want to have (I have about six of them so far); but, at least with this one book, I would recommend Enid Blyton's original every time.
     Is it true that "The Woods of Adventure" is a totally ridiculous story, with a plot completely lacking in credibility? I haven't read it yet.
     And are there book versions of the T.V. "Secret" series, too? What are those like? Easy to find?

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Re: New Zealand Adventure/Secret Series

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

There are book versions of all the episodes, Michael, but I believe they had a short shelf-life so might not be easy to find. I've read three of the Adventure/Secret novelisations based on the New Zealand TV series, and in each case I found the style horribly fast-paced and snappy and devoid of little details such as the jolly banter between the children or observations about wildlife which characterise Enid Blyton's writing. The books didn't feel Blyton-like at all. Seeing the action on TV is one thing, and the stories and characters are quite interesting to watch in their own right despite departing from Blyton's originals (though I'm not fond of The Woods of Adventure or The Secret of Moon Castle, which have ludicrous plots - and there are ridiculous bits in The Ship of Adventure, The Circus of Adventure, The Secret Mountain and The Secret of Killimooin too in my opinion). Reading the books is quite another thing as the novelisations describe the action without putting any life or colour in it. They also follow the TV versions in jumping rapidly from scene to scene, which I find confusing as a reader. So to me the New Zealand adaptations are watchable but not readable, the Adventure series being rather more Blytonian than the Secret series.
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Re: New Zealand Adventure/Secret Series

Post by MJE »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:There are book versions of all the episodes, Michael, but I believe they had a short shelf-life so might not be easy to find.
     That's for the Secret series, too, is it - or just the Adventure series?
     Well, I might look out for them, but they are probably not the highest priority for me.
Anita Bensoussane wrote:I've read three of the Adventure/Secret novelisations based on the New Zealand TV series, and in each case I found the style horribly fast-paced and snappy and devoid of little details such as the jolly banter between the children or observations about wildlife which characterise Enid Blyton's writing.
     Yes, I suppose I found that with "The Circus of Adventure". Maybe I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but the book seemed to be lacking in quite a few ways. Sort of grinding through all the required motions, but without any sense of atmosphere.
Anita Bensoussane wrote:The books didn't feel Blyton-like at all.
     No, this didn't. More like the Hardy Boys perhaps. (And why did Lucy-Ann lose her red hair and become a blonde? It may seem unimportant - but totally unnecessary changes like this sort of grate, somehow.)
Anita Bensoussane wrote:[...] novelisations describe the action without putting any life or colour in it.
     So do the novelizations follow the story and dialogue in the T.V. versions quite accurately?
Anita Bensoussane wrote:They also follow the TV versions in jumping rapidly from scene to scene, which I find confusing as a reader.
     I don't quite recall finding that particular problem. I mean, it may have changed scenes at times, but I don't consider that always inappropriate in a story.
Anita Bensoussane wrote:So to me the New Zealand adaptations are watchable but not readable, the Adventure series being rather more Blytonian than the Secret series.
     In that case, I don't like to think what the Secret series is like, then.
     I guess "The Circus of Adventure" was readable enough, and kept me distracted for a couple of hours at a time when my concentration is not the best; but it just lacks the meat that Blyton's own version would have had. Another thing is that I don't much like seeing modernisms and recent topic or pop-culture references in books that are supposed to be "by" Enid Blyton. If the novelizers thought older references such as Blyton would have used were inappropriate, I would find it better to keep such references of a more vague, generic character than to put in specific and modern ones. Come to think of it, sometimes Enid Blyton herself resorts to generic instead of specific references, presumably to help the books weather better as time goes by, and stop them dating quite so rapidly.

Regards, Michael.
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Re: New Zealand Adventure/Secret Series

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

MJE wrote:
Anita Bensoussane wrote:There are book versions of all the episodes, Michael...
That's for the Secret series, too, is it - or just the Adventure series?
The Secret series was "novelised" too. If I remember correctly, I've only ever read the New Zealand versions of The Secret Island, The Woods of Adventure and The Valley of Adventure.
MJE wrote:And why did Lucy-Ann lose her red hair and become a blonde?
The girl who played Lucy-Ann in the TV series had blonde hair, and the New Zealand novels were based on the TV series.
MJE wrote:So do the novelizations follow the story and dialogue in the T.V. versions quite accurately?
Yes, and I think that's why they don't read well. They're an attempt to capture the TV series on paper.
MJE wrote:
Anita Bensoussane wrote:They also follow the TV versions in jumping rapidly from scene to scene, which I find confusing as a reader.
I don't quite recall finding that particular problem. I mean, it may have changed scenes at times, but I don't consider that always inappropriate in a story.
What I mean is that the style and structure seem "jumpy" rather than flowing. Scene changes come about regularly and abruptly, as in the TV series, instead of being handled more subtly as they often are in genuine novels.
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Re: New Zealand Adventure/Secret Series

Post by Wolfgang »

I was able to buy all 13 novels. It wasn't that hard (I bought them about 2 years ago). It's quite funny that the book "Mountain of adventure" contains scenes that aren't part of the DVD (missing scenes).
Actually they published audioplays from the adventure series, and they took the dialogues from the TV-series, making the dubber of Bill narrator. To promote the series they published a book (Island of adventure )which gives a short summary of all things that goes on. It includes many pictures from the film.
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Re: New Zealand Adventure/Secret Series

Post by Dinah Cunningham »

I haven't bought any novelisation book, but I intend to buy the one of "The Sea of Adventure".

I have seen the films on you-tube. If you want to see it once or see and decide if you want to buy the books/films you can watch them there and then have a better idea if you like them or not. I have only found the Adventure-Series.

As said Wood of Adventure is completely strange, the only thing that is the same, is that a Castle is involved...

Some films stay closer to the books than others. I will try to give you an idea about them if you wish, but as I'm at work now, it will have to wait.
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Re: New Zealand Adventure/Secret Series

Post by Dinah Cunningham »

As promised I will give you my thoughts about the fims of the Adventure-Series films (I haven't seen the Secret ones)

All the films are different than the books but in some cases I find them to be good or at least ok, while others are quite strange.

In Island of Adventure the kids don't like Bill at all, they believe him to be the criminal. Allie lives in Craggy Tops with Uncle Joss and the kids (no Aunt Polly anywhere...). Jo-jo becomes Joe who helps Allie and the kids think of him as a friend. I think that they had to write it this way as every child now learns not to talk (and trust) in strangers and the kids did this in the book. The films shows how kids today would likely react to Bill. The criminals are still printing money in the mine of the island and the kids took Joes boat to go there. While there are changes I believe them to be minimal (especially if you look at some of the other films) and I liked the film.

As said before and by others: Wood of Adventure is very strange and has no connection with the book with the exeption that a Castle is involved. The kids go to a Castle and are scared by a man dressed in black. Kiki flies to the castle and is captured. The criminals use some underground pool for radioactifity. This is by far the least likley film and is not good.

The Valley of Adventure is again very similar. The kids fly away in the wrong plane with two criminals (The boss and Boris who have Otto as a prisoner). There are not as many caves as in the book and no elerly couple looking after the treasure. Boris uncle is also coming and when all are in the cave with the treasure the boss and Otto take the rest prisoners. While it is not the same it is simiar.

Next, if going in order is Sea of Adventure: While there are things we recognise there is also a lot different. Personnaly I like it (I like the book more but I also like the film). They go on holiday to New Zealand where they meet another agent who wants Bill's help. The boys see a man they believe wants to shoot Bill and it turns out, that it is Horace listening to birds. After a car accident (it wasn't an accident) with Bill, the other agent and the kids Bill goes out with a boat and the kids. The enemy can plan a tracking device and take Bill when after putting the kids on a island goes fishing. The kids take Horace's boat (without putting him in a hole) and follow the enemy and get Bill out. The enemy is working with treasure and want's to feed Bill to the shark.

The Mountain of Adventure is again similar. The Mountain is in Germany and (I don't remember the book in this instance) the king is strange but not bad, it's the two helpers who were bad. There aren't as many dogs as it was in the book and Bill manages to rescue all the children with the helicopter. While doing this he brings people in to arrest the criminals. As I didn't like the book that much, I don't like the Mountain that much...

Let's go to Ship of Adventure: There are some similaritys but not that much. As in the book the kids and Allie go on a cruise and Lucy-Ann buys a ship in a bottle for Philip. The criminals Bill is after, are after that ship and he goes on board as a rich man with his son. The son needs to get close to the kids and gives Jack for his birthday a watch with a tracking divice. They aren't on a unpopulated island and see Bill when he is after the criminal and the kids. It's not my favourite...

Now on to Circus of Adventure. As some have already written about it, I won't be too long. The plot is similar and I like that Gussy is more courageous then in the book. Jack get's help from a circus or should I say from it's owner. He is also the one helping Jack freeing his friends. That Philip is afraid of the lions is also the opposite way he is in the books. I do like the part of Ronald.

Last but not least: The River of Adventure: The plot begins similar. They are on holiday and Bill has to look at Raya Uma. He is seen by some man at the hotel who saw that his reactions are trained and not those of a simple family father. Philip has a spider, not a snake and the spider looks like this poisenous cousin... Raya Uma isn't after treasure but has a deadly liquid called „zero-one“. He kidnapps Bill and Allie and the children have to follow. There is no Tala but Oola is in it. While the plot is not the same, I like the film.

Island, Sea and Valley are my top three films while Woods has the last spot. 5th would be River and Ship and Mountain have the 6th and 7th place but I can't say which...

I hope I'm not too long...
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Re: New Zealand Adventure/Secret Series

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

It's very interesting to read your thoughts on the TV films of the Adventure series, Dinah. I think I like Sea best, followed by Island, so my top choices are quite close to yours. And I agree that Woods is the worst. Having only seen the series once, I wouldn't be able to rank the other episodes without watching them again. I quite like Mountain though, as I feel it has a lot of tension and atmosphere.
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Re: New Zealand Adventure/Secret Series

Post by Dinah Cunningham »

Thanks Anita
I already liked Sea best as the book and while the plot isn't the same, I like it as well as the children rescue Bill.

I found the plot in Mountain already strange and too much Sci-Fi in the book, so I had already my reservation towards the film.

For those who want to see the Adventure-Film but not buy it, you can find them on youtube. They are in 6-8 parts but it's no problem to watch them. I haven't found the Secret Series there so I believe that you would need to buy them.

I have a question for those who have bought all the Adventure-Series DVD's. Is there some material that isn't in the films? If you have the films would you still buy the DVD's? Thanks!
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