Suvudu Universe

Caitriona Balfe (as Claire Randall)

The 'Outlander' books are finally coming to the small screen this year and it looks super cheesy. It's being marketed as a SciFi/fantasy, but I smell soap. Author Diana Gabaldon debuted the first novel in 1986 as a romance series for goodness sake. So I'm on the fence about this one, as it's a love story. I don't like love stories, especially a cheesy one. Admittedly, I have a soft spot for 'Pride and Prejudice,' but that's it! I don't go to the movies on Valentine's Day. Yawn. But the timey wimey aspect of 'Outlander' interests me.

'Outlander' is about Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe), a 1940's nurse who finds herself magically transported to 1743 Scotland. She is already married in 1945 to Jack Randall (Tobias Menzies), but when she is transported to 1743 she is forced to marry a chivalrous Scottish warrior Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) and is torn between her two lovers. Yeah, whatever. Seriously burn your romance novels. 

I don't know about you, but in my opinion, living in the 18th century would really suck. There are a lot of aspects of modern life that I could do without. I could live without television, the Internet, cars, grocery stores, etc. But I draw the line at running water, electricity, modern dentistry, painkillers, and doctors who wash their hands. Those are all necessities for me.

Lest we forget, women regularly died in childbirth until the start of the 20th century. This may tick off some of the natural birth advocates, but at the beginning of 1900, the maternal death rate was 1 in 100. In 2008 it was 24 per 100,000. I may tick off the anti-vaxers, but the child mortality rate back then was even worse. Vaccinations have saved millions of lives. In the "middle of the 1800's, a quarter of all babies born in many European countries died before their first birthday." And let's be honest being a woman in those days was no fun. So no, I don't find the prospect of living in the year 1743 to be all that romantic. Unless of course it's with Daniel Day Lewis in 'Last of the Mohicans.' Then all bets are off. 

Perhaps I'm being a curmudgeon. I don't know. It could be interesting? Right? Ron Moore, former producer of 'Battlestar Galactica' and current producer of 'Helix,' is also producing 'Outlander,' which is concerning. You can see my review of 'Helix' below. 'Outlander' will debut on the Starz Channel this summer. Starz has ordered 16 episodes thus far. Ron Moore said that 'Game of Thrones' was an influence for 'Outlander.' Game of Thrones' is a high bar to set. We shall see. See trailer below.