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Post by JTB on Jul 30, 2009 12:12:28 GMT -5
In light of the recent "Great Re-Read", I decided to reread the series for myself, even though I'm far too late. I will participate in TPP and TE, though. Here are my notes on The Bad Beginning, straight from my commonplace book. The notes don't cover every secret we've discovered; they cover some interesting tidbits I thought would do well. I'll post The Reptile Room notes immediately after, in another thread. Beginning Illustration Olaf's Tower is visible in the right-center of the illustration. Also, the firefighters' helmets have a "?" on the front. Great Unknown relation? Pg. 23 Stuffed lion's head - V.F.D. lion? Bowl of apple cores - poison antidote apples? Could the bowl be the sugar bowl? Doubtfully, seeing as Olaf has been looking for it. Perhaps he lost it after the events of TBB. Pg. 107 Tower is confirmed to be 30 feet. Pg. 108 Quietest, sneakiest assistant; my suspects: Large Man or Female or one of the White-Faced Women. I've come to the conclusion that the former is too large to have carried out such a sneaky task. Pg. 118 Grappling hook used "usually for a nefarious use". Could this signal the beginning of the Baudelaire's descent from nobility? Pgs. 124-125 Olaf's plans (on which he illegibly scrawled) are placed on top of Nupital Law, meaning plans were drawn up that day. Olaf is at least smart enough to come up with backup plans in case The Marvelous Marriage failed. Pg. 126 "Yes, boss, of course I understand she's yours." I have a nasty feeling as to what that is implying. Pg. 133 Olaf owns the theatre? Why is he not rich after profits? (see: last note) Pg. 153 Certain island & forbidden fruit = Castaways' Island End illustration Olaf's theatre is in bad condition, i.e. letters are falling off, cracked glass, etc. No wonder the income is low. That concludes JTB's Bad Beginning notes. Next up: The Reptile Room notes.
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Post by Dante on Jul 30, 2009 13:21:49 GMT -5
Thanks for joining in. Beginning Illustration Olaf's Tower is visible in the right-center of the illustration. Also, the firefighters' helmets have a "?" on the front. Great Unknown relation? Helquist did a repaint of the illustration several years later which lacked the supposed "question mark"; I'm pretty sure that it's just the shading on the edge of a half-visible shield emblem as present on some fire-fighters' helmets. The BBRE notes support this. I doubt Olaf could have visited the island and snuck off with any apples that recently, and in any case, they've been eaten, and in any case, he wouldn't need them - Medusoid Mycelium is believed by Olaf to have been eradicated until the time of TGG. Sugar bowls are usually extremely small and likely to contain sugar; a bowl large enough to contain several apples would by no conceivable means qualify as a sugar bowl. This habit of declaring any bowl that appears in the series a potential sugar bowl, even long before the idea was probably thought of, is a most baffling tendency. Hal's bowl of fruit - grab it, Bauds, it's the sugar bowl! The bowls Count Olaf serves oatmeal in - there's the sugar bowl again! Phil's bowls of soup in TGG - oh sugar bowl, you do get around! I think just about any of them besides the enormous creature would be a better candidate for quietest and sneakiest. The enormous creature probably makes the floorboards creak in buildings which don't even have any. Bit early for that, don't you think? I recall us discussing in the TWW thread the related matter of the Baudelaires stealing a boat, something which, if it had occurred later in the series, our heroes would have angsted about for chapters and chapters on end. Or possibly he reviewed his plans after snatching Nuptial Law from Klaus? While the book does describe it as "Count Olaf's theatre," it's offhand enough a reference that I'd feel free to ignore it. When Mr. Poe first mentions Count Olaf, he doesn't even describe him as head of a theatre troupe, and says that he travels the world. The state of his affairs and his finances don't really tend towards theatre ownership, and lots of actors are also working there who aren't privy to his wicked schemes. I'd attempt to read it as "the theatre which Count Olaf had chosen in which to perform his plays" - perhaps for its cheap costs?
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Post by Hermes on Jul 30, 2009 15:45:51 GMT -5
I doubt Olaf could have visited the island and snuck off with any apples that recently, and in any case, they've been eaten, and in any case, he wouldn't need them - Medusoid Mycelium is believed by Olaf to have been eradicated until the time of TGG. One might add that there's no particular need for poison diluting apples on the mainland, where horseradish is readily avialable. The point of creating them on the island was to provide a permanent supply of an antidote, given that they couldn't assume they would always have horseradish. (But I'll come back to this on TRR.) The movie does seem to see Olaf as the owner, since it puts the theatre in his garden. My own theory, though, is that the wart-faced man is the owner/manager of the theatre, and Olaf has an arrangment with him (which also explains how he was able to take over a VFD production in TUA).
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Post by Dante on Jul 31, 2009 4:47:55 GMT -5
The theatre in the movie struck me as a distinctly makeshift affair, and there's no guaranteeing that the theatre in TBB is the Ned H. Rirger - but I like that explanation, so I'll adopt it. It also helps explain the mysterious disappearance of the wart-faced man, a character I'm more interested in than most recurring characters.
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corn22
Bewildered Beginner
Posts: 2
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Post by corn22 on Jun 2, 2010 9:54:44 GMT -5
Beginning Illustration Olaf's Tower is visible in the right-center of the illustration. Also, the firefighters' helmets have a "?" on the front. Great Unknown relation? The tower can't be so high, as you suggest it is 30 feet tall. Besides, I think that the '?' on the helmet is only a misty emblem. Pg. 23 Stuffed lion's head - V.F.D. lion? Bowl of apple cores - poison antidote apples? Could the bowl be the sugar bowl? Doubtfully, seeing as Olaf has been looking for it. Perhaps he lost it after the events of TBB. I think the stuffed lion head is a V.F.D. lion. However, I do not think that the apple core is the poison antidote apples. Why Count Olaf will eat them without having any Medusoid Mycelium fungus? Pg. 108 Quietest, sneakiest assistant; my suspects: Large Man or Female or one of the White-Faced Women. I've come to the conclusion that the former is too large to have carried out such a sneaky task. It cannot be the large man or female because his/her body size is too big and will make a lot of voice. I think that it should be one of the white-faced women or the man with hooks, because the man guards the tower, suggesting that it is him who captured Sunny. Pg. 118 Grappling hook used "usually for a nefarious use". Could this signal the beginning of the Baudelaire's descent from nobility? I do not think so. This idea is first mentioned in TSS, but not as early as the first few books. Pgs. 124-125 Olaf's plans (on which he illegibly scrawled) are placed on top of Nuptial Law, meaning plans were drawn up that day. Olaf is at least smart enough to come up with backup plans in case The Marvelous Marriage failed. Count Olaf may have changed some of his plan recently. He has a whole day to correct his plan. Pg. 126 "Yes, boss, of course I understand she's yours." I have a nasty feeling as to what that is implying. This is hardly to say. I think he means that Violet is a way to get the fortune and Count Olaf is his boss, so Violet is for Count Olaf. Pg. 133 Olaf owns the theatre? Why is he not rich after profits? (see: last note) He may owns it because it is as messy and dirty as his house. He had enough money to build ( I think that it is not bought because the tower is tilted. This is an example of bad buildings ) his house. Then he can easily build a theatre himself. Pg. 153 Certain island & forbidden fruit = Castaways' Island It is possible, but there is not any laws on the island. End illustration Olaf's theatre is in bad condition, i.e. letters are falling off, cracked glass, etc. No wonder the income is low. This is because Count Olaf like old, dirty, messy, broken... buildings.
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Post by Dante on Jun 4, 2010 8:38:25 GMT -5
Pg. 153 Certain island & forbidden fruit = Castaways' Island It is possible, but there is not any laws on the island. I think this is probably a case of Handler's plans evolving over the intervening eleven books. There are allusions to singular, specific islands in TEE and TPP; I think Handler always knew they were headed for an island, just not necessarily the precise details.
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