Hornblower (TV series): Difference between revisions

''Hornblower'' is the umbrella title of a series of television drama programmes based on C. S. Forester's novels about the fictional character Horatio Hornblower, a Royal Naval officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The series stars [[Ioan Gruffudd]] in the title role and is produced by the British broadcaster Meridian Television, and shown on ITV in the UK and A&E Television Networks in the US. The series consists of eight made-for-television movies, which are notable for their high production values. In the US, the series was retitled ''Horatio Hornblower'', and some of the episodes were known by different titles. The eight movies cover the events of just three novels (Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, Lieutenant Hornblower, and Hornblower and the Hotspur), and various alterations and additions are made to the source material.

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* [[Ascended Extra]]: In the books, Matthews and Stiles are named in a short scene with little relevance to the rest of the story, in the series they're major characters that are with Hornblower his entire career.

** Archie Kennedy as well, who didn't even have a first name in the books. It results mostly from his being a [[Composite Character]].

* [[Break the Cutie]]: Kennedy and Wellard.

** {{spoiler|Becomes [[Kill the Cutie]] in both cases after Retribution.}}

* [[Card Games]]: Hornblower is himself a great fan of the game of Whist, and will often play it to pass the time.

** In ''The Even Chance/The Duel'', Hornblower finds an opportunity to challenge his [[The Bully|tormentor]] to a duel when the latter angrily implies that Hornblower is cheating (in front of officers from another ship) and then pointedly refuses to apologize. {{spoiler|the first time they are to duel, Hornblower receives a [[Tap on the Head]] by a friend, who fights the duel and is killed in his place. They end up in a duel later over a separate matter, Hornblower dismisses his opponent as [[Not Worth Killing]], and the other guy is shot dead by [[The Captain]] when he tries to stab Hornblower in the back}}... which isn't what happened in the books at all.

* [[Catapult Nightmare]]: Archie in "The Duchess and the Devil," with accompanying gasp of "Simpson!"

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: In "The Duchess and the Devil," Kennedy speaks briefly of being put in a hole in the ground with no room to stand up or lie down as punishment for attempting to escape. Naturally, later on, Horatio spends some time in this hole when he takes the blame for a poorly-executed escape attempt by a subordinate.

* [[Drowning My Sorrows]]: According to Simpson, in the first episode, Clayton is a fan of this. Though considering he has to live with Simpson, this isn't at all surprising.

* [[Dying Moment of Awesome]]: {{spoiler|Archie Kennedy, whose final act is to falsely confess to mutiny to save Horatio's life.}}

* [[Enemy Eats Your Lunch]]: Simpson in his first scene.

* [[Establishing Character Moment]]: Horatio's is probably during the Inquisition scene, when he proves he's not one to go down that easily.

* [[Everything Sounds Sexier in French]]: From ''The Frogs and the Lobsters'', Mariette the school teacher. Might also double as a [[Composite Character]] for Maria, the daughter of Horatio's landlady {{spoiler|and first wife}} and Marie Ladon, {{spoiler|daughter-in-law of the nobleman who sheltered Hornblower and his men when they escaped captivity, and with whom he had an affair}}.

* [[Executive Meddling]]: The Forrester estate would only let ''Mutiny'' and ''Retribution'' film if Archie Kennedy was written out. (Not unreasonably, since his friendship with Horatio was changing Horatio's characterization too drastically from the source.) The writers convinced them to at least {{spoiler|let him die on screen. They then pulled a fast one and had Archie perform a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save Horatio.}} And the estate couldn't do anything about it.

* [[Forgotten Fallen Friend]]: {{spoiler|Clayton}} is a semi-aversion: his sacrifice clearly has an impact on Horatio and even threatens his reputation when he first joins the Indefatigable, as Pellew notes that he does not think much of men who let others fight their battles for them, but Archie, who had been serving with the former for far longer, looks sad for all of two seconds before getting distracted by the excitement over going to war.

** {{spoiler|Archie himself}} is never mentioned again after his [[Heroic Sacrifice|death]], but this is more justifiable as considerable time appears to have passed before the beginning of Series Three.

* [[Gentleman Snarker]]: Edrington.

* [[Go Out with a Smile]]: {{spoiler|Archie, albeit a somewhat tearful-looking one.}}

* [[Gory Discretion Shot]]: Oh-so-averted. Maritime medical care in the 19th-century means blood is spurting everywhere; a boat of men gets blown to pieces with chunks flying in all directions; and a man shoots himself in the temple on-screen. Surprisingly gory for something that has pretensions towards respectability -- it's no wonder that multiple characters throw up, yes, on-screen. Not recommended for the squeamish.

* [[Grey and Gray Morality]]: The Royalist French forces and the Republican {{spoiler|civilians}} in ''The Frogs And The Lobsters''. The plot deliberately skips back and forth on whom to sympathize with. For instance, in one scene we see the Comte to return to his old residence to find it looted and used as a storage and a ruin, as well as his priceless art collection used as firewood. The next moment he is on the town square, haply executing town officials and residents, who were all former peasants who were finally granted a social upgrade through republicanism.

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Matthews and Styles. Horatio and Kennedy. Horatio and Bush.

{{quote|'''Matthews:''' ''(While Styles dangles precariously off the side of the ship)'' Why is it I can never find you when I need you?}}

* [[Hidden Depths]]: [[Badass Adorable|Archie]] apparently has a great love of theatre, particularly Shakespeare, and is able to recognise a Drury Lane actress while {{spoiler|suffering the effects of trying to starve himself to death.}}

* [[Honour Before Reason]]: In "The Duchess and the Devil" Horatio convinces the prison commandant to let him and his men rescue the survivors of the wrecked Almeria, by giving his word that they will all return to prison if they survive. When the rescue is successful (mostly) and the rescue party and survivors are picked up by the Indy, Horatio nonetheless insists on leaving the ship because he gave his word that he would return. His men agree to go with him even when offered the chance to stay on the Indefatigable, in order to honour the word he gave on their behalf.

* [[Improbable Aiming Skills]]: In the Even Chance, Captain Pellew manages to expertly shoot a running man in the chest about one hundred metres away with a weapon that is accurate to thirty metres. Mr Bracegirdle asks for permission to compliment him about it. [[Lampshade Hanging|It is granted]].

** Archie demonstrates incredible skill in "Retribution", when he shoots a man off a tower at what looks like a few hundred metres with a flintlock pistol.

* [[Incurable Cough of Death]]: {{spoiler|Finch}} in "The Fire Ships." Doesn't take him long to go from coughing to dead, but that is also because of being on half-rations, which can't have helped his health.

* [[Inelegant Blubbering]]: Horatio at the end of "The Wrong War / The Frogs And The Lobsters."

* [[In-Series Nickname]]: Dreadnought Foster, Black Charlie Hammond. Also the Duchess invariably calls Horatio "Mister Haitch."

* [[Killed Off for Real]]: Among the main characters, {{spoiler|Archie, who had interfered too much with canon to be allowed to live.}}

* [[Last-Second Word Swap]]: You can't really swear at a Captain's nephew.

* [[More Expendable Than You]]: More on trope page.

* [[Motor Mouth]]: Archie's first scene consists of him talking Horatio's ear off, conveniently getting in some important bits of plot exposition as well. This makes it all the more noticeable when he goes completely silent the moment Simpson arrives.

* [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]]: Simpson inflicts this on Horatio after the Inquisition.

* [[Not So Stoic]]: Horatio's usual composure is shattered a couple of times over the course of the series, but the two worst are probably {{spoiler|in "The Duchess and the Devil" when he realises that Archie's been slowly killing himself and he hadn't even noticed}} and {{spoiler|in "The Wrong War" when Mariette is shot while they try to escape}}.

* [[The Obi-Wan]]: Captain Pellew, with the interesting twist that he sometimes pretends to be furious with Horatio just to mess with him. It takes Horatio some time to figure out when Pellew is joking.

* [[Oblivious to Love]]: Horatio in Series Three. Maria is very evidently crazy about him, but he continually refers to her as a friend and treats her as such. {{spoiler|They do get married eventually, but it's clearly out of a sense of duty and friendship on his part.}}

* [[Off with His Head]]: Moncoutant and his personal guillotine.

* [[Outrun the Fireball]]: Wellard does this in ''Retribution.''

* [[Plucky Middie]]: This is used and averted in the two midshipmen shown in Series Three. Orrock is competent, brave, knows his signals, and generally has it together. Hammond is inept and panicky and only seems to be there because his uncle is influential enough.

* [[Pretty Boy]]: Archie Kennedy's innocent blue eyes, fluffy ginger hair and fine facial features would certainly make him qualify. He has quite a few fans.

* [[Put on a Bus]]: Oldroyd after the first series.

* [[Secret Stab Wound]]: {{spoiler|Archie in ''Retribution''.}}

* [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]]: Captain Sawyer is erratic, violent, paranoid, and believes his lieutenants are conspiring against him. Because of this behavior, his lieutenants...begin conspiring against him.

* [[Shout-Out]]: In "The Duel", to "Hamlet":

{{quote|Clayton: Damned unsporting of the Everlasting to have fixed his canon 'gainst self-slaughter, if you ask me. }}

* [[Soft Water]]: "It's only water, you won't break anything!" This as our [[Power Trio|heroes]] are about to jump off a very tall cliff.

** [[Justified]], as staying up on the cliff means they'll break ''everything'' when the Spanish Fort [[Stuff Blowing Up|explodes]].

* [[Subtext]]/RapeAsBackstory: It's implied, though not explicitly stated, that Jack Simpson sexually abused Archie Kennedy before Horatio ever came on board. It ''is'' explicitly stated that Simpson is the cause of Kennedy's epilepsy.

* [[Sugar and Ice Personality]]: Horatio is reserved and formal with most people, even beyond the point required by naval hierarchy. However, there are a handful of people with whom he shows a warmer side, including Archie and occasionally Bush, but with the latter he switches between the two. The scene where he asks Bush to be his first lieutenant is a good example of his more open side.

* [[Sympathy for the Devil]]: Horatio expresses sympathy towards Captain Sawyer, even while acknowledging that if he stayed in command of the ship, the result would be bad for everyone concerned. He says as much in "Retribution."

{{quote|Horatio (about Sawyer): I believe he has paid the price for that bravery ... and is paying for it right now. }}

* [[War Was Beginning]]: The titlecards inform us that a revolution is breaking out in France, while the British are still asleep at their anchorage in Spithead. Archie and Hornblower (well, [[Motor Mouth|mostly Archie]]) discuss this revolution and the implications of them arresting King Louis XVI.

{{quote|''[[Dramatic Irony|What do you think they'll do with him?]] [[Tempting Fate|You can't kill a king!]]'' }}

* [[Would Hurt a Child]]: Colonel le Marquis de Moncoutant would shoot a child for singing the Marseillaise, if Horatio wasn't there to stop him.

* [[You Did Everything You Could]]: Archie says this almost word-for-word to Horatio after {{spoiler|Mariette's death and the failure of the Muzillac mission}}.

* [[Zipping Up the Bodybag]]: [[Wooden Ships and Iron Men|Given the setting]], it's no surprise that this is done by sewing the deceased sailors' up in their hammocks with needle and thread.

[[Category:Horatio Hornblower]]

[[Category:TV Series]]