The Baudelaire children. Violet, Klaus and Sunny. Inventor, reader and biter. Heirs to a vast fortune left to them after their parents die in a fire, a fire whose origins are never fully explained in the thirteen wonderfully penned books by Daniel Handler aka Lemony Snicket. Marketed for children, the series touches upon fantasy elements but it remains, for the most part, submerged in dark humour, violence and gothic elements. As a result the books are a cult classic, critically acclaimed and a personal favourite of mine, though it did often lead me to be depressed due to the plight of the three orphans.
The 2004 Dreamworks take on the series was for the most snubbed by the masses; It didn’t have robots, guns or Tom Cruise in it. As a result only die hard fans, and people bored out of their minds, went to go watch it. Many walked away feeling disappointed at what could have been a great movie. I personally loved it. Jim Carrey’s impersonations of a demented chicken will forever make me chuckle, and Jude Law didn’t do a bad job portraying the narrator: Lemony Snicket.
The movie encompassed the first 3 books of the series, as a result sequels were promised and I eagerly awaited them. Alas, no such sequel came and adaptations of the books to the screen, small or large, were mostly forgotten, only to be brought up in during book club meetings by way of lengthy reminiscing. Thus, when Netflix announced that it had an adaptation of the series in the works and that it would be released some time in 2016, the reaction was akin to thunderbolt hurled into the hearts of fans everywhere. I myself jumped out of my seat when I scrolled read about it and promptly decided to reread the series at the earliest convenience.
An alleged teaser trailer (since confirmed to be fake) for the series was posted yesterday onto the YouTube account registered to an Eleanora Poe, the editor for the fictitious newspaper called The Daily Punctilio, who fires Lemony Snicket for writing a bad review for a play created by one of the series antagonists. It should be noted that even though Netflix has stated that it had nothing to do with the trailer (as I woefully hoped otherwise!) fans should still be excited. The fan made trailer have easter eggs pop up with a frequency normally associated with copulating rabbits, hinting at the scope Netflix intends for the series. Maggots crawling over dishes coated in pasta is a nod towards the Baudelaire children being forced to make pasta puttanesca for Count Olaf in the first book, The Bad Beginning. A leech thrashing about in a jar sends shivers down my spine as I visualise a certain scene from the third book, The Wide Widow. A stuffed crow points to the seventh book, The Vile Village whilst Mushroom Minutiae is a definite call out to the eleventh book, The Grim Grotto. The recurring eye symbol, the mark associated with the mysterious V.F.D, an organisation many of the supporting characters were once a part of also makes its appearance.
The sight of so many hints and nudges prompted me to rewatch the fan made trailer six times, to ensure I’d absorbed everything it had to offer. The trailer ends with a typewriter with the Netflix logo on a piece of paper. This geek is going to have a hard time concentrating on anything until the release date is announced. As for who the show is intended for, in the words of Daniel Handler:
A family with children of assorted ages ranging from first grade to graduate school. They make popcorn and pull out the sofa bed and lounge around watching something interesting on television. They have some flecks of Japanese seaweed that they sprinkle on their popcorn.
This article has been updated to reflect that Netflix had nothing to do with the trailer. 12:03 07/07/15.
