|
Post by violet on Dec 5, 2007 13:56:39 GMT -5
Anyone else agree that there should be a Quagmire Trilogy?There can be a book for each triplet,with notes by them and some things that happened to them,etc.Or they can be the Quagmire Commonplace Books.
|
|
|
Post by Dante on Dec 5, 2007 14:25:48 GMT -5
While I must admit it's less objectionable than a fuller "series" based on the Quagmires, I still think that Duncan and Isadora's journey, for example, is really boring - it'd just be repeated scenes from aSoUE, them sitting around bored in traps, and Olaf babbling exposition at them, which would feel pretty cheap. There's also the fact that it would illustrate some of the logical inconsistencies in Olaf's schemes with them - the pointlessness of TEE, how Olaf managed to install them in Fowl Fountain in the Village of Fowl Devotees probably before the Baudelaires had even decided they were going there... Granted, Handler could make up extra events for them - a temporary escape from imprisonment between TEE and TVV, say - but we already know how the story ends. And we already know that the story for Duncan and Isadora is identical, and all three of their stories end identically.
I can picture maybe something like the U.A. or TBL for all three of them - slotting together maps and random sheets of scribbling with diary entries and the odd narrated journey, maybe even a bonus confusing epilogue that only raises more questions - but essentially, I just don't see the point. I think fanfiction is a much better way to explore the events of the Quagmires' stories, because while the book would sell well enough, I can't see it actually having much purpose except to cater to fans who don't know what they're asking for, and I can't picture us really getting much out of it.
There's also the argument that because the Quagmires largely serve as parallel figures to the Baudelaires, with similar histories, enemies, and friends, then their story would necessarily just be entirely cloned from scenes in aSoUE. Proof of concept:
--- Of course, it didn’t make things any easier that they had lost their home as well, and all their possessions. As I’m sure you know, to be in one’s own room, in one’s own bed, can often make a bleak situation a little better, but the beds of the Quagmire orphans had been reduced to charred rubble. Esmé Squalor had taken them to the remains of the Quagmire mansion to see if anything had been unharmed, and it was terrible: Duncan’s typewriter had fused together in the heat of the fire, Isadora’s favourite pen had turned to ash, and even if Quigley had been alive to visit the ruins, all of his atlases had been burnt to a crisp. Here and there, the children could see traces of the enormous home they had loved: fragments of their harpsichord, an elegant bottle in which Mr. Quagmire kept wine, the scorched armchair where their mother liked to sit and read.
Their home destroyed, the Quagmires had to recuperate from their terrible loss in the Squalor household, which was not at all agreeable. Esmé Squalor was scarcely at home, because she was very busy attending to the Quagmire affairs and advising millionaires on how best to increase their fortunes, and when she was home she was often talking so much about what was in and what was out that she could barely have a conversation. Jerome Squalor, her husband, purchased clothing for the orphans that was apparently very in, but was very ugly and didn’t fit. And the apartment in which they lived was so big and empty that it was often difficult to find each other, let alone find anything to do to take their minds off their grief.
But even given the surroundings, the children had mixed feelings when, over a fashionable dinner of fried toast, fried chicken, and sautéed – the word “sautéed” here means “fried” – potatoes, Esmé Squalor announced that they were to leave her household the next morning.
“That’s good,” said Jerome, who was eating his fried food with a reluctant expression. “It can’t be very enjoyable for you two to spend all day alone in this apartment while we’re at work. Perhaps they’ll find you some better-fitting clothes, too. The ones I got for you may be in, but they aren’t the right size.”
“I’ve told you before not to argue about those clothes, Jerome,” Esmé said haughtily, eating her fried food with relish – a word which here means “eagerness” rather than “a delicious sauce, which was out at the time.” “Having things the right size is out, just like non-fried food.”
“Where will we go?” Isadora asked nervously.
Esmé Squalor opened her mouth to speak to them, but then ate the piece of fried toast she was holding instead. “I have made arrangements,” she said after finishing, “for you to attend a boarding school outside of town. Its name is Prufrock Preparatory School.”
Duncan and Isadora looked at one another, unsure of what to think. On one hand, they didn’t want to live with the Squalors any longer. On the other hand, they had never heard of Prufrock Preparatory School, and didn’t know whether they’d feel comfortable around other people their own age so soon after the fire that killed their parents and brother.
“Your parents’ will,” Esmé Squalor said, “instructs that you be raised in the most convenient way possible. I couldn’t find any relatives who wanted to care for you right now, so the most convenient place for me to put you is at a boarding school until something else comes up. Besides, schools are a bit like evening classes, which are in right now. I’ve been taking evening classes in acting for years now.”
Duncan thought this over for a minute as he choked down a dry piece of toast. “But our parents never mentioned Prufrock Preparatory School to us. What is it like, exactly?”
Esmé sighed and looked at Jerome, who had fingering his food distastefully. When he realised she was looking, he picked up another piece of toast and started chewing it without a word. “Well, I heard you children liked poetry and journalism. Unfortunately for you, journalism isn’t a job for children, and poetry’s been out for years. You’ll be learning note-taking, the metric system, and jogging, which are all very in for young children. A man named Nero also works there, and he is a renowned musician as well, so you’ll get to attend lots of his concerts – which are possibly even more in.”
“If this Nero is a renowned musician, and this school is so in,” Isadora said, “why didn’t our parents ever mention them?” She didn’t add, of course, that her parents had never bothered particularly with anything as silly as what was in and out, but she felt that her nervousness should be voiced in terms that Esmé Squalor would understand.
“Possibly because they were philistines,” Esmé sniffed. “Or they hadn’t heard of the school and Vice Principal Nero.”
“I thought he was a renowned musician,” Duncan said.
“He is both a renowned musician and the Vice Principal,” Esmé said. “Now, children, eating together as a family is out right now, and we aren’t a family anyway, so I’m cutting short our dinner. You children have to pack up your things, and I have to go out to my evening class. Like your new legal guardian, I enjoy the company of teachers myself.” ---
Edit: To clarify, I'm not entirely a killjoy infuriated by the very prospect of Snicket making money. I just think that it would be hard for him to write more supplements that didn't either sell out, or kill the meaning of The End. If he wants to contribute to the aSoUE universe again, I want something that we know next to nothing about and which isn't directly connected to the Baudelaire story, e.g. the backstory of TGG. Which is admittedly largely because I'm a big fan of TGG.
|
|
|
Post by kingofvfd on Mar 22, 2008 14:31:34 GMT -5
i think it would be a good idea "i" think they could be in the eyes of each character.at the end there could be notes likle for quagmire it would be a maping of the places and buildings they'v been.and isadora it could be poems.
|
|
|
Post by violet on Mar 25, 2008 10:24:41 GMT -5
That would be tedious if it took place jst after the fire- I meant when/after the Great Unknown swallowed them, if they're still alive. Yes, their pasts are very similar- until the Quagmires went on the hot air balloon and swallowed by the Great Unknown. Something like their commonplace books- well, I should've been clearer in my previous post. Wasn't thinking of all the flaws in the idea.
If Snicket went with the idea, some would think that he just wants more money- same with the idea that I've read recently about an eight book of Harry Potter.
That example was very good in showing the similarites to the Baudelaire's past situation- though I always wondered why Esme/ Olaf didn't just take the Quagmires out of the boarding school right when they were able too, being their finacial advisor- though Nero probaly didn't let them take them out of the school until the semester ended, and they wanted the Quagmires back as soon as possible for their fortune.
Yeah, Phil and Captain Widdershins just dissapered- there was no evidence at all, and it's close to impossible to sneak them out against their wil without some clue.
|
|
|
Post by Ernist on May 29, 2008 11:02:26 GMT -5
I would like it if they were selling copies of there. commonplace books
|
|
|
Post by notsoquiet on Jun 13, 2008 13:37:17 GMT -5
There should be. The Quagmires are friends of the Baudelaires, but they aren't mentioned much-which kind of sucky because they are really good characters and have a history I would like to know. Like they own parents and how Quigley met Jaquaes and things like that.
|
|