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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bob Aberton" data-source="post: 1188359" data-attributes="member: 1518">I think part of the reason that the Aubrey part of Aubrey/Maturin is getting all the attention is because Aubrey's played by Russell Crowe, an established Big Name, whereas Maturin is played by what's-his-name ( I honestly don't remember the name; could anyone satisfy my curiosity?), the relatively unknown newcomer.  It's much better press to say "Master & Commander, starring Russell Crowe" than it is to say "Master & Commander, starring What's-His-Name, the obscure newcomer."I'd advise those worried about the integrity of the novel's timeline should keep their shirts on; the way I've heard (and seen) it, the only part of Master & Commander that "Master & Commander" uses is the title, more or less.  The plot, I've heard, is pretty much straight-up "The Far Side of the World," with the American antagonists changed to the French.My feelings?  I think that if well made (and it looks to be so far), this movie will have the same effect as LotR; it will please the vast majority of movei-goers and casual readers of O'Brian and it will absolutely infuriate a vocal minority of die-hard O'Brian purists.Personally, I like O'Brian's attention to detail in every respect of his novels, not just the nautical bits.  His characterization is fairly good, but I don't particularly like his writing style.Give me some Horatio Hornblower any day...As an aside, the other thing that makes me think the "Master & Commander" plot won't enter much into this movie is that, unless I'm mistaken, Aubrey commands a 14 gun brig, HM SLOOP SOPHIE(?) in the first book, while in Far Side of the World, he commands the 28 gun frigate (ship-rigged) HMS SURPRISE; and I know for sure that the vessel in the advertisements is a ship-rigged frigate, not a brig-rigged sloop of war.  Not that that probably makes much difference to Hollywood, but this is a movie that seems to pride itself on historical accuracy, therefore I don't think they'd commit such a gross error as confusing basic sailing-ship rigs in the star (ship) of the movie.</blockquote>

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