''The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne'' is a Canadian

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

television series that first aired in June 2000 on CBC Television in Canada. The series first ran in the United States on cable on The Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy), and lasted for one season. The show is a fictionalized telling of the life of French author Jules Verne, placing him into the settings of the stories he wrote such as ''

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' (french: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) is a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne. The novel was originally serialized from March 1869 through June 1870 in Pierre-J ...

'' and '' Around the World in Eighty Days''.

Plot

The show features a fictionalized portrayal of French author Jules Verne ( Chris Demetral), along with portrayals of the characters

Jean Passepartout Jean Passepartout () is a fictional character in Jules Verne's novel '' Around the World in Eighty Days'', published in 1873. He is the French valet of the novel's English main character, Phileas Fogg. His surname translates literally to "goe ...

( Michel Courtemanche) and

Phileas Fogg Phileas Fogg () is the protagonist in the 1872 Jules Verne novel ''Around the World in Eighty Days''. Inspirations for the character were the American entrepreneur George Francis Train and American writer and adventurer William Perry Fogg. ...

(

Michael Praed Michael Praed ( ; born 1 April 1960), birth name Michael David Prince, is a British actor and narrator, probably best remembered for his role as Robin of Loxley in the British television series ''Robin of Sherwood'', which attained cult status ...

), both originating from Verne's 1873 work '' Around the World in Eighty Days''. 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.

Production

The show was filmed in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

at an estimated cost of $30,000,000 CAD. According to the ''

Montreal Gazette The ''Montreal Gazette'', formerly titled ''The Gazette'', is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of th ...

'', it was the most expensive television series ever shot in the city. English screenwriter

Gavin Scott Gavin Duncan Scott (born 1950) is an English novelist, broadcaster and writer of the Emmy-winning mini-series ''The Mists of Avalon'', '' Small Soldiers'', ''The Borrowers'' and ''Legend of Earthsea''. He spent ten years making films for British ...

, 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; specifically, it used the

HDCAM HDCAM is a high-definition video digital recording videocassette version of Digital Betacam introduced in 1997 that uses an 8-bit discrete cosine transform (DCT) compressed 3:1:1 recording, in 1080i-compatible down-sampled resolution of 14 ...

, a digital camera manufactured by

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

Broadcast history

The show first aired on CBC Television in Canada in 1999, and was then broadcast in the United States on the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) in 2001.

Critical reception

An uncredited review in the ''

Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of th ...

'' 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 ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' 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 Nickolas Glennie-Smith is an English film score composer, conductor, and musician who is a frequent collaborator with Hans Zimmer, contributing to scores including '' The Rock'' (nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound), the 2006 histori ...

. In April 2011,

Perseverance Records Perseverance Records is a record label which releases film scores on CD and online. Releases are usually accompanied by extensive booklets. Extras, such as audio interviews with composers, are also sometimes included. Discography * *''No Pass ...

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