''The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne'' is a Canadian science fiction television series that first aired in June 2000 on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

in Canada. The series first ran in the United States on cable on The Sci-Fi Channel (now

Syfy Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

), and lasted for one season. The show is a fictionalized telling of the life of French author

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

, placing him into the settings of the stories he wrote such as '' Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' and ''

Around the World in Eighty Days ''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (french: link=no, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employe ...

''.

Plot

The show features a fictionalized portrayal of French author

(

Chris Demetral Christopher Peter Demetral (born November 14, 1976) is an American former actor best known as Jeremy Tupper, the son of newly divorced New York book editor Martin Tupper (played by Brian Benben) on the HBO series '' Dream On'' and also Jack in ...

), along with portrayals of the characters Jean Passepartout (

Michel Courtemanche Michel Courtemanche (; born December 11, 1964) is a Canadian comedian and actor from Quebec, performing in Quebec, France, Belgium and Switzerland. Career His debut one-man show, ''A New Comic is Born'', ran for more than five hundred perfo ...

) and Phileas Fogg ( Michael Praed), both originating from Verne's 1873 work ''

''. A new character is also created for the show: Phileas Fogg's cousin Rebecca (Francesca Hunt). The show's premise is of a young Verne being placed into scenarios similar to those of his stories prior to his having written them. Many of the show's settings are portrayed via special effects and computer-generated imagery. Publicity for the show described its imagery as being

steampunk Steampunk is a subgenre of science fiction that incorporates retrofuturistic technology and aesthetics inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery. Steampunk works are often set in an alternative history of the Victorian era or ...

Production

The show was filmed in Montreal, Quebec at an estimated cost of $30,000,000 CAD. According to the '' Montreal Gazette'', it was the most expensive television series ever shot in the city. English screenwriter Gavin Scott, who created the series, worked with producer Michael Mullally and production company Talisman Films to create the show. Executive producer Pierre de Lespinois chose to film in Montreal due to the city's architecture. ''The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne'' was the first television series to be filmed entirely in

high-definition video High-definition video (HD video) is video of higher resolution and quality than standard-definition. While there is no standardized meaning for ''high-definition'', generally any video image with considerably more than 480 vertical scan lines (No ...

; specifically, it used the HDCAM, a digital camera manufactured by Sony.

Broadcast history

The show first aired on

in Canada in 1999, and was then broadcast in the United States on the Sci-Fi Channel (now

) in 2001.

Critical reception

An uncredited review in the '' Times-Picayune'' rated the show 2.5 out of 4 stars, stating that "With its dark humor, odd machines of the Industrial Revolution, campy derring-do and attractive stars, ''The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne'' holds promise." Tom Shales of '' The Washington Post'' was less favorable, describing the show's premise as "silly" while also criticizing the directing, script, and characterization of Verne.

Episodes

Soundtrack

The series' main theme and incidental music was composed by Nick Glennie-Smith. In April 2011, Perseverance Records released a 2-CD soundtrack of the series' music. The soundtrack included the main theme, closing theme, "bumpers" (played at commercial breaks), and suites from every episode of the series apart from "The Book of Knowledge", for which the composer and the recording studio were unable to locate the original tapes.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Secret Adventures of Jules Verne Science fiction Westerns 2000s Canadian science fiction television series Steampunk television series Television shows based on works by Jules Verne CBC Television original programming 2000 Canadian television series debuts 2000 Canadian television series endings Television shows based on Around the World in Eighty Days Works based on Journey to the Center of the Earth Television shows based on Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea