Are there bits missing?

[fred45667]

Hi

When I read the Famous Five, Five Run Away Together book I really enjoyed it however. When I watched the 70s TV series of Five Run Away Together. I relised that the book of it is diffrent to the TV episode for example the whole of the event in the book of Jenifer the genrals daughter being kidnapped and rescued and found by the Famouse Five is not even in the 70s TV episode. It has the event of some strange escaped convict instead which I don't remember from the book. However when I watched the 90s series TV episode the whole event of Jenifer being kidnapped is included in that episode. But I did notice a few other little bits from the book which were not included in the 90s series but I suppose because its a film those little bits don't matter. Why is the 70s TV series different from the book? or am I wrong was their anything in the book that said about an escaped convict that I forgot about? and do you think bits are missing from the 90s series as well?

[Anita Bensoussane]

Details of stories are often altered for TV versions. There are various reasons such as cost, available locations, wanting to make the most of a certain actor's talents, needing to structure the story differently to make a dramatic impact on screen, maximising pace and tension, etc. So it's usual for some elements to be expanded while others are missed out. In the case of the 1970s TV adaptation of Five Run Away Together, you're right that the plot is completely different from that of the book. I've no idea why the producers altered it so much. Perhaps they felt that too many of the Famous Five stories involved kidnappings, so decided to vary things by having an escaped convict instead of a kidnapped girl?

[Zar Quon]

And of course in the case of the two Famous Five series, chopping down a book of (randomly picks Billycock Hill off the shelf) 182 pages to fit a 25 minute slot is guarantee to loose a wedge of stuff.

[fred45667]

Yes I agree I pretty much knew that already that in order to make a book fit into a 25 min TV episode some events have to be missed out in the episode. It still is quite puzzeling (going back into five run away together)why they skipped nearly the main part of the story out of the episode of five run away together in the 70s tv series. Maybe their was some mistake made when they made the episode.

[Moonraker]

Maybe there was some mistake made when they made the episode.

I wouldn't have thought so! It isn't uncommon for stories to be changed considerably. Many of Agatha Christie's tv adaptations have been altered beyond belief. The recent Marple series on ITV have had Jane Marple dropping into books she didn't even appear in! Even the Margaret Rutherford films had her solving a mystery that Hercule Poirot solved in the book. There have even been adaptations where the murderer is a different person.

I have said before, Enid wrote books and if you want a faithful version, you must buy an original (or pre-70s in general) copy. Television and film have different needs to the written word, and cannot normally follow the script word for word. As has been said above, to fit a book that might take 8 hours to read out aloud (a much slower process than reading silently) into a 22 minute production needs great skill in editing. If the story has to change to suit the time scale, so be it. Having said this, it still puzzles me when the whole plot is altered. Look on it this way, Five Run Away Together (70s series) gives you a new Famous Five story to enjoy!

[Tony Summerfield]

I saw an author being interviewed about his books about two days ago. He was asked about his books being turned into films and did he mind that large chunks were left out or altered. He replied that he didn't mind at all and was simply flattered that his books were considered worthy of being turned into films. He added that if one of his books was filmed in its entirety it would be well over five hours and some bits would look pretty dull on screen and these two things combined would make it completely unacceptable for an audience in the cinema.

[fred45667]

Yes their is a new Famouse Five strory to watch

I watched The sea of adventure by the Adventure series last night and although they had changed things in the film it still was a really great film and filmed in New Zealand to