"Outlander" from a HISTORICAL perspective.....

[Jock Scot]

--------- "but what do the female Highlanders think about it?"---------

To quote Mrs Jock after the first episode when asked if she wanted to see the second:

" I don't think I could endure another second of that drivel."

I could not have put it any better myself.

[Michael A]

I take it that the gents here have actually seen Caitriona Balfe disrobe in this series? For that, all else is forgiven.

[llyd]

Fifty Shades of Plaid...

I just got some very strange looks from the office crowd or busting up laughing.

But I am used to that.

I actually enjoy the show....but I also enjoy picking apart the details. "Counting bullets," if you will. My fiancee is incensed at the giant freisians....she wants scrubby looking fell ponies....
I understand the Plaid brooches are a few years too late as well....pretty tho.

[Michael A]

In the first two books there are also references to kilt buckles (likely non-existent before the 1770s) and clan tartans (even describing the current Seaforth Highlander/MacKenzie tartan as hanging up in “Leoch” Castle).

But I think we all realise it’s more entertainment than documentary and just enjoy it for what it is, clichés and all.

[Dollander]

I take it that the gents here have actually seen Caitriona Balfe disrobe in this series? For that, all else is forgiven.

To that, I say "meh". Not since my 20s have I found myself so enamored with a specific actress that I'd go out of my way to watch something just because she has a nude scene. There are far more efficient means of seeing women disrobe than the brief gratuitous nude scenes in an otherwise non-erotic drama. While I realize he's being true to the books, I can't help but wonder if Ron Moore is making up for all the nudity that SyFy's broadcast standards wouldn't allow in Battlestar Galactica.

I suppose I should go on record saying that, while I am defending the show's historical inaccuracy for the sake of entertainment value, I'm not a huge fan. I bought the season 1 DVDs, I watched them and enjoyed them, but I'm in no rush to go out and buy season 2. Nor is it something I'd watch over and over...unlike BSG.

[Michael A]

I was just being lighthearted.

[Damion]

It's a shame that the character Claire speaks more French than Gaelic in the show, assuming she ever spoke any Gaelic.

I disagree with the part of it being entertainment so suck up the poor costuming. Huge effort is put into historic costumes in these shows and others with the exception of groups like Highlanders who are routinely bastardised as being generic barbarians.
The main male character wears a jacket on a couple of occasions with his plaid, a long coat! They didn't even bother to trim a stock jacket to make it passable as a short coat. Most of the time he got around in a shirt which was simply a big no no back then. It would be like showing up to work in a corporate office today wearing a t-shirt.

I was hoping that the costuming would improve, at least for the Culloden part of the story but it actually got worse with bare chests and mud.

So put it in the basket of pretty hopeless but maybe it'll inspire interest in the culture and history of the Highlands.

[Michael A]

http://www.frockflicks.com/the-real-...nder-costumes/

[jthk]

http://www.frockflicks.com/the-real-...nder-costumes/

I've read that article before and have found it insightful. Thanks for the link.