Ian Rankin is my favorite author; has been ever since I cracked a copy of Dead Souls eight years ago and had a literary epiphany reading it. Since then, I’ve bought and read his complete works, even going so far as to travel to the UK just to complete my collection. An autographed copy of his Fleshmarket Close I bought on that trip occupies a vaunted spot above my desk. Needless to say, when I heard that there would be TV adaptations of Rankin’s Inspector Rebus series, I was beyond thrilled…until they rebooted the adaptations, recast the roles, and started over. Why mess with perfection?
Of course, I was angry, but not angry enough to keep from being curious. Acorn Media has released three sets of new Rebus mysteries (in 2006, 2007 and 2008), and have provided this Rankin devotee with the first two to dissect. If you have never heard of the award-winning greatness that is Ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus, you’re in for an eye-opening adventure.
The Show
The one thing that’s always baffled me about the Rebus adaptations is that they don’t go in anything resembling the order of the books. Not even close. Set 1 of Rebus contains “Fleshmarket Close” and “The Falls,” which were books 15 and 12 respectively, while Set 2 gives us “The Black Book,” “A Question of Blood,” “Strip Jack” and “Let It Bleed” (books 5, 14, 4 and 7). Since Rankin’s books have a strong continuity to them, I’ve always found this curious.
That said, I’ve always found the adaptations to be true to the original works, within reason, of course. I’ve never come away from a single one saying, “Well, that completely messed up the book.” There are elements which don’t make the cut, but that’s to be expected, especially when Rankin writes 400-500-plus page novels. (My hardcover copy of Resurrection Men once fell off the shelf and hit me square in the ribcage in its 560-page glory, taking the breath right out of me.) For the most part, I’ve been satisfied with the adaptations and these don’t disappoint me at all. Fans of the mystery genre, whether they’re familiar with Rankin or not, will enjoy these well-plotted cases which are on the level with series like Waking The Dead.
Where I quibble, however, is the actors. Ken Stott may better look the part, but doesn’t embody the qualities of John Rebus as well as John Hannah (Spartacus: Blood and Sand) did in the original set. Hannah (pictured left) completely immersed himself in the role, no doubt aided by the fact that he was a fan of the novels; to me, Stott just isn’t the same. I don’t feel the same soul that I did when Hannah had the role. He’s watchable, but I kept finding myself wondering what Hannah would have done in his place.
The show’s also recast the other two major roles, with Claire Price now playing Rebus’s loyal partner Siobhan Clarke, and Jennifer Black taking over as his boss and ex-lover Gill Templer. I actually prefer Price to original Siobhan Gayanne Potter; she has more acting experience and it shows, as opposed to Potter, who had a limited resume before and since. Sara Stewart outshines Black in the Templer role, however (and it’s interesting to note her Templer was a Detective Chief Inspector whereas Black’s has been promoted to Detective Chief Superintendent), so in terms of casting, there’s not much of a technical improvement. Regardless, the new set of actors can handle the material, just not as well as their predecessors.
The DVDs
No surprise here, but Set 2 has more in terms of content than Set 1; there are only two mysteries and minimal bonus features on Set 1, whereas Set 2 has double the episodes plus the featurette (see next section). That’s not surprising at all, as most series tend to improve their DVD box sets with each subsequent release.
The packaging is fairly standard, with a cardboard slipcover housing plastic cases, one for each particular episode. The outsides of the cases have summaries of the episodes, while inside is furnished an insert with a chapter index. Box and disc art are uniform throughout, as is the case with most Acorn releases.
Technical specs are 16:9 widescreen video with an English stereo track and closed captioning. No other languages are supported.
The Special Features
Both sets have trailers, a biography of Ian Rankin, and cast filmographies.
Set 2 has a “behind the scenes” featurette that has interviews with all the relevant personalities. It’s great that they include Rankin in this, for people who may not be familiar with his work. One of the things I’ve always enjoyed is that Rankin is so heavily involved in these adaptations, and it’s not just TV people coming in and butchering the books. The featurette is 90 minutes long, and incredibly thorough, which is a treat for those of us who are true fans of both the novels and the adaptations.
The Bottom Line
Strongly recommended to anyone who loves good mysteries. A reasonable cast handles solid adaptations of excellent source material. You can order both Set 1 and Set 2 from Amazon at discounted prices ($27.49 and $47.49); you can also get the John Hannah edition ($37.49), and most of Ian Rankin’s novels there as well.
