Hi Terry and all
Post by Terry PearsonThat was very interesting. I have never added anything to a Wikipaedia
page, but there are some elements I would like to see such as some of
the merchandise that has been mentioned recently on the list, and a
couple of more obscure items I have that don't feature in this list
which are interesting in their own way.
I've added quite a bit of information myself to the article, though I
haven't added much recently (I did, however, either create or expand most of
the articles on the individual novels). I keep expecting the article to be
reduced in size considerably because some Wikipedians have developed a
fetish that every single statement has to be not only cited with a source,
but some editors think if it's not a scholarly journal, the Encyclopedia
Brittanica or the New York Times, it shouldn't count. For example, fan sites
are usually disqualified as sources.
Even as a contributor the article has been handy to me, though, as it's
helped me keep track of when Titan reprints are coming out (someone else
keeps that list updated).
Post by Terry PearsonOne is an adaptation of the novel Modesty Blaise for school-age
children. It is a Hutchinson Bulls-Eye paperback with the story adapted
by Jean Nobes in 1981 with a cover illustration from the original strip
(I assume since it is reprinted with permission of the London Evening
Standard) but garishly colourised. Each chapter of the original book is
covered in about two pages of largish print, with a lot of the more
explicit stuff excised or tactfully rephrased. When Chaldier is on the
scooter, instead of: 'The b*stard's wedding-tackle must be
case-hardened' we have: 'The spirits of salt were burning into his
flesh.' Apparently the code word Jacqueline was considered too obscure
or difficult for English school-children because it is changed to
Jackie. Also of course, a lot of the subtleties and lovely lines are
missing. The 'splitting the infinitive' line, which was mentioned in
the memorable quotes thread, is missing - Fraser simply says: "I
suppose, sir, it will be hard for us to get Modesty Blaise for this job'
and instead of 'Bravely after a frozen moment, Fraser put the glass down
and wrinkled his nose non-committally' we have the unimaginative 'He
looked surprised that the brandy was so good.'
I used to have this book and in fact it was the very FIRST MB novel I ever
read. What I remember most was being surprise that an adaptation for young
readers would still include the sequence where MB throws the guy off the
bridge after which Willie knifes a disarmed opponent -- somewhat
out-of-character killings for the two that I liken to filmmakers having Sean
Connery's James Bond murder Dr. Dent in the Dr. No movie, despite Ian
Fleming's Bond never being shown doing such a thing in the books.
Post by Terry PearsonThe other is a reproduction of the unabridged version of the novel
reprinted in very poor quality magazine dedicated to the reprinting of
bestsellers. I think it is in fact called Bestsellers and I think it
contains the full text but I am relying on memory as I cannot find my
copy just at this exact moment. It was memorable because of the
extraordinarily poor quality of the accompanying line drawn
illustrations, which I considered mightily ironic considering the origin
of the character as a comic strip. Again I am going from memory, but I
believe there may have been an accompanying crossword based on things
from the book. I will try to find it and see if I can confirm this.
Speaking of Bond, I have the Bestsellers version of Casino Royale, which
also includes an ad for the MB issue. I haven't come across one of these in
years.
Cheers!
Alex