A Series of Unfortunate Events
By: Connor Lenahan
I think at one point or another everyone in my age range (Think 18-21) has read one of the books in A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket. If this isn’t true there’s a zero percent chance they’ve never heard of the series. I remember becoming obsessed with the stories and the series when I was a kid about a decade ago. These were really intricate stories for kids. I have always had a place in my heart for stories like this: Thomas the Tank Engine for example tells real stories – Dora repeatedly asks if you can see something before pausing to let me respond with the most offensive insult I can conjure.
It has been years now since I followed the stories of Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire in their efforts to escape Count Olaf. The fact that I only needed to look up the name of the baby and the proper spelling of the last name speaks to how well these stories have stuck with me. The thought of all the vivid imagery and intriguing scenarios to be placed in from each of the 13 books leads anyone to think that this story is built to be on screen in one way or another. This came to life in a 2004 movie starring Jim Carrey (and way more people than I remembered. Seriously, Meryl Streep and Jude Law are in this and the list is far from over.) The truth is that each book of the series could credibly be turned into their own stand alone film just fine. The 2004 movie placed the first three in one narrative. I hadn’t realized as a ten year old that this movie was well reviewed. Elementary School Connor was not entirely a fan.
I hadn’t had the stories come across my mind in years until today. I was reading Deadline when I found that Netflix, of all companies, plans to turn them into a series. Seriously. I never anticipated that the series would reenter my life as it had finished when I was in 6th grade. Yet now we are facing an intriguing premise. The series tells an extremely long story that routinely calls back to the other entries. Unless the studio behind the original movie was committing to a 5 movie deal akin to Marvel’s Iron Man films then they were never going to truly finish the series on screen. Now Netflix gets to try and they control the fate entirely. They do not work under the same rules of television cancelation that shows on network and cable television do. They can commit to ending the series properly after they begin. Suddenly I want to go back and read the series again in preparation of the series premiere. Given that House of Cards is one of my favorite watches of recent memory I have Netflix in my good graces (I have not watched Orange is the New Black yet).
This was unexpected, but I would be lying if I claimed I wasn’t excited. I’ll be patiently waiting until this delightful story comes back to my life soon.