Around the World in 80 Days Review: Season 1 Episode 1

By the time Around the World in 80 Days has established its main characters and premise, we already know of a several major changes: a Black Passepartout, a female Fix- who is a journalist instead of a detective- and an initial course set for France instead of Egypt.

Getting into the meat of the adventure proves what these alterations indicate, namely that this is a story for a new generation, adding depth and emotional impact to what could otherwise be a somewhat frivolous tale of world travel, albeit one with 20,000 pounds hanging in the balance.

In this first installment, those qualities come largely from Passepartout, taking on the role of Fogg’s valet as a guise after attacking a man (who, to be fair, had it coming.) He’s reluctant to go to Paris, explaining to Fix that his father was killed there during the revolution.

He and Fix them run into his brother, who holds some resentment of Passepartout’s flight from the country, but forgives him enough to embroil him in a plot to assassinate the president. This goes predicably, with Passepartout forced to watch his brother’s eventual suicide-by-cop.

By this point, loyal fans of the original novel may be turned off, wondering if this is an adaptation in name only. It certainly isn’t necessary to add all of these plot changes, especially via brutal and sudden character death. But a purpose is being served here.

Most screen retellings of this novel have been condensed down to a couple hours at most. That’s plenty of time to simply take a journey in which a few people fly around in a globe in order to win a bet. With a multi-hour miniseries, those principals change.

We have a lot more time to spend with these characters, who, in the modern world of fandom, will also likely stand beyond the episodes to come. They need to say and do more as we get to know them, and complex backstories are a part of that.

The changes also show that the writers are taking both historical accuracy and present-day relevance into account. The turmoil in which Passepartout loses his father and brother was very real, as is our modern understanding of standing against tyranny.  

Still, it could be argued that there is too much of this upheaval in too short a space. Though Passepartout’s initial horror and grief watching his brother die is deeply felt, by the end of the episode a short time later, it seems almost forgotten. Fogg doesn’t even know.

Priorities must me taken into account: the trio are in the process of being chased down by the police and are in desperate need of an unconventional escape. Also, we have plenty of time to let him process what he’s endured in later episodes. Still, in this moment, this loss gets less than the impact it deserves.

It is also worth asking that question from before: does this version have anything in common with what Jules Verne wrote beyond the most basic premise? Well, yes: it has a balloon. I’m being serious here.

There’s good reason Around the World in Eighty Days the novel has been adapted so many times and inspired many real-life travelers to circumnavigate the globe. It is perhaps the single greatest fictional source of our thirst for adventure and longing to experience more than the settings we know.

If you have any doubts that the creators of this series understand this or won’t be able to fully showcase that impact, they could vanish as our heroes take to the skies in a time when flight itself was largely a fantasy yet to be realized.

The final shots soar above the clouds and evoke the sentiment of wonder that Verne gave to the world. We are, of course, in a time where travel options are still being affected by the pandemic. What we can do is watch from home to understand why so many dream of seeing the world.

 

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Around the World in 80 Days airs Sundays at 8/7c on PBS.

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