The Second Adaptees Awards Ceremony

Remember when I did that anniversary post that was like an awards ceremony for characterizations in all the movies/miniseries/plays the blog had covered thus far? Wasn’t that fun? Well, I thought it was fun, and since I probably won’t do the blog that much longer, I wanted to do it again. Let’s go over some rules.

This is just for things the blog has covered since the first ceremony. Otherwise, a number of winners would be the same and that’d be boring. Also, this is only for actors/characters from things that have been the main subjects of blog posts, not ones I just mentioned in passing. For example, I’ve mentioned that I love Fiddler on the Roof (1971) and Sleeping Beauty (1959), but I haven’t done any posts specifically analyzing either of them. That’s why neither is represented here.

I’m excluding any actors/characters from the Faerie Tale Theatre episodes I’ve reviewed for the same reason I excluded any from The Storyteller last time. However, since I’ve now reviewed feature-length Peanuts cartoons, characters from them are finally eligible.

This was harder than the first Adaptees because there were more characters who fit into multiple categories. For example, Cyrano de Bergerac could easily have won in the antihero category and in the woobie category.^[1]I ultimately put him in neither. I decided that each fictional figure could only win in one category even if it’s an oversimplification of them. There is one exception I made which I’ll explain in a footnote when I get to it.

I deregistered the best female woobie category since I just haven’t blogged about many such characters since the last Adaptees^[2]The only ones I could come up with were Amanda Ryan’s Agnes Wickfield and Michelle Stacy’s Penny. and I came close to doing the same for tragic (male) villains for the same reason.^[3]Willoughby from Sense and Sensibility is a pretty great character but the only adaptation this blog has covered in depth fumbled his characterization. On the other hand, I’ve also added a new category solely so that I could include more great character portrayals, and I’ve expanded the possible number of runners up from two to three for the same reason.

With no further ado…

Best Purely Heroic Heroes: Vincent Martella’s Phineas Flynn and Thomas Brodie-Sangster’s Ferb Fletcher^[4]I know it’s cheating to give the award to both, but neither character would work as well without the other and it’s in their characters to want to share it.

Runners Up: Dee Bradley Baker’s Perry the Platypus, Ben Barnes’s Caspian X^[5]You could argue this character isn’t quite pure enough for the role, but I did give the award to a version of Nicholas Nickleby last time in spite of his faults. Of course, there’s a good … Continue reading

Best Antihero: Anthony Calf’s Pip

Runners Up: Jeremy Irvine’s Pip, Will Poulter’s Eustace Scrubb

Best Hero That’s Hard to Classify: Peter Dinklage’s Cyrano de Bergerac

Runners Up: Dev Patel’s David Copperfield, Skandar Keynes’s Edmund Pevensie^[6]In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, he was an antihero but in Prince Caspian, he’s more purely heroic, so I thought this was the best category for him. I freely admit the writing and … Continue reading

Best Purely Heroic Heroine: Susan Franklyn’s Biddy^[7]I know, I know, she’s more of a supporting character but I prefer the character so much to any of the candidates who really are the heroines that I had to give her the award.

Runners Up: Rosalind Eleazer’s Agnes Wickfield, Georgie Henley’s Lucy Pevensie^[8]See my comments about Caspian arguably not being pure enough for this category and about Edmund not being as great in the third Narnia movie as in the first two.

Best Antiheroine: Kim Thomson’s Estella

Runner Up: Ashley Tisdale’s Candace Flynn, Beatrice Schneider’s Imogene Herdman

Best Heroine That’s Hard to Classify: Anna Popplewell’s Susan Pevensie

Runners Up: Joanna Page’s Dora Spenlow^[9]I’m more of a fan of the literary character of Dora than I am of the literary character of Susan. But in the miniseries, Dora isn’t quite as rounded as in the book, I wanted someone from … Continue reading, Judy Greer’s Grace Bradley

Best Villain You Love to Hate: Nicholas Lyndhurst’s Uriah Heep^[10]Roland Young’s Uriah Heep is more what I imagine reading the book and Ben Whishaw’s has a nice layer of tragedy. But this Uriah gives me the most creeps.

Runners Up: Trevor Eve’s Edward Murdstone, Sergio Castellitto’s Miraz, Damian Alcazar’s Sopespian

Best Tragic Villain: Oliver Milburn’s James Steerforth

Runners Up: Chris Pine’s Prince, Dan Povenmire’s Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz^[11]OK, I know he’s far too ridiculous to count as a tragic villain and, anyway, he gets a happy ending eventually. But he really is kind of tragic in his farcical way.

Best Villainess You Love to Hate: Bernadette Peters’s Stepmother^[12]By which I mean Cinderella’s stepmother as portrayed by Bernadette Peters.

Runners Up: Zoe Wanamaker’s Jane Murdstone, Tilda Swinton’s White Witch, Jean Marsh’s Mombi

Best Tragic Villainess: Jean Simmons’s Miss Havisham

Runners Up: Helena Bonham Carter’s Miss Havisham, Cherie Lunghi’s Mrs. Steerforth, Clare Holman’s Rosa Dartle

Best Woobie (Male or Female): Pete Robbins’s Charlie Brown

Runners Up: Daniel Radcliffe’s David Copperfield^[13]Here’s that exception. I’m placing a version of the character as a child in the woobie category because his character basically exists for us to feel sorry for him and a version of him as … Continue reading Noah Schnapp’s Charlie Brown

Best Mentor Figure (Male or Female): Maggie Smith’s Betsey Trotwood

Runners Up: Annette Crosbie’s Fairy Godmother^[14]By which I mean Cinderella’s fairy godmother as portrayed…oh, you know., Edie Adams’s Fairy Godmother

Best Comedic Supporting Character (Male): Bill Melendez’s Snoopy

Runners Up: Bob Hoskins’s Wilkins Micawber, Glenn Gilger’s Linus Van Pelt, Hugh Laurie’s Mr. Dick

Best Comedic Supporting Character (Female): Imelda Staunton’s Emma Micawber

Runners Up: Dawn French’s Mrs. Crupp^[15]Part of me wants to give her the award since she’s funnier than Mrs. Micawber but Mrs. Micawber is more developed and interesting as a character., Carole Shelley’s Lady Kluck

Best Heroic Supporting Character (Male or Female): John Rhys-Davies’s Joe Gargery

Runners Up: James Thorton’s Ham Peggotty, Alun Armstrong’s Daniel Peggotty, Ken Stott’s Trufflehunter

Well, in the immortal words of Porky Pig, “That’s all, folks!” Hope you enjoyed the ceremony. Sorry you’ll have to throw your own afterparty.