This is a story about three orphans named Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire who, after having escaped Count Olaf from stealing their family fortune, are separated from three freaks from the Caligari Carnival. Violet and Klaus rolling down a steep slope in a caravan, and Sunny in Count Olaf's car. The children have to wait to get their fortune back before they can reunite with their family.
The Original Series and the films were the beginnings of The Lemony Snicket series. The Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events now refers to the television series and the 2007 film, which was based on the first book of the series, The Austere Academy. The story of these books takes place in a strange land called the "Snicketverse", which is the domain of an evil genius named Count Olaf, who attempts to get the children's inheritance from their parents (who have become orphans after they die). However, the children manage to defeat the evil Count Olaf in the second book, The Bad Beginning, and in the third book, The Reptile Room. The films also portray a host of other characters, such as the Coonish Baudelaire orphans' neighbors Klaus' Uncle Monty and Aunt Josephine, Captain Sham, and the Valets.
The TV series was originally broadcast on Cartoon Network in 2004, and was produced by Studio B Productions, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and produced by Jim Miller. The series ran for three seasons and 23 episodes, concluding in 2006. The first and second seasons featured Jim Carrey voicing Count Olaf, and Jim Parsons voicing V.F.D. (Volunteers for the Preservation of Family and Culture) member Jean-Michel (later also known as Man B) Vandegrift, a high-society man who is impersonating a servant in order to pose as a Count Olaf double. As this character was based on Count Olaf, the character was modified slightly for The Bad Beginning to make him slightly less horrid. The two actors were not replaced for The Reptile Room, as it is mostly told from the perspective of Violet and Klaus and their life in Olaf's mansion.
The series was adapted into an eight-part theatrical movie released on February 19, 2007, a year before the TV series was originally set to end. This film is also different from the TV series. It introduces a new lead antagonist, Count Olaf, who is the founder of V.F.D., an organization dedicated to uncovering and hiding the things in society that children find strange or unsettling.
Rather than developing characters over the course of the TV series, as was the case with most other shows that premiered in the late 2000s, The Bad Beginning was dedicated to introducing characters and developing the relationships between them. As a result, all of the main characters of the TV series made cameo appearances during the movie.
Funimation Entertainment licensed the first two seasons for streaming on their website in North America, as well as an abridged DVD set which included four special featurettes, including interviews with the show's creators and writers, concept art, episode guides, and an extensive set tour, giving an in-depth look at the set design and props featured in the series. Funimation also made the complete series available on their DVD release of the TV series on October 7, 2011.
Following the first two seasons, the series was produced as a feature-length film, The Reptile Room, released on February 5, 2013.
The second film, The Wide Window, featured a character named Esmé Squalor, but this character was removed from subsequent adaptations of the books, so her role in the first film was her only role in the entire franchise.
On September 25, 2018, Netflix began streaming an eight-episode third film, The Carnivorous Carnival, in its entirety. It was directed by Daniel Handler, and featured a cameo from Lemony Snicket.
CHARACTERS
COUNT OLAF, MAIN ANTAGONIST
Count Olaf (a.k.a. Count Olaf the Fourth, in some translations, in the French and Italian-dubbed versions, and also as a "bloodsucking vulture" in the American TV series) is a wicked and greedy character and the main antagonist of the series. Count Olaf's real name is Olaf I, Count of Lede. He is the eldest son of Eric the Elder and Helga, an overweight blonde woman with crooked teeth. After the death of his father, Olaf inherited the "Vole House", a mansion in the town of Ensemble in the Netherlands that is rumored to be cursed. There he founded the Vole Hunting Society (a.k.a. V.F.D.) for the express purpose of hunting, capturing, and devouring the Vole-possessed children.
In his first appearance in the pilot episode of the TV series, Olaf was seen living as a servant in a castle in Ensemble. Olaf wants to get a beautiful young girl named Gretchen over to the castle for his use. He makes his way to New York, where he arrives in a rickety old carriage, without a passport or even a change of clothes. He is helped by the people he encounters along the way, including a giant bird (played by the Count's pet chicken), a few orphans, and a kindly vagrant. It was here that he first meets the Baudelaire orphans and their guardian, Mr. Poe, in a Manhattan restaurant, and claims to be a British actor. In reality, Olaf is a notorious fraudster and is in search of his long-lost sister, Beatrice. Before his arrival in New York, he has spent several years traveling from country to country, impersonating other people, to try to win her hand in marriage. Olaf comes to a significant stand-off with the Baudelaires, but after failing to discover Beatrice, he sets his sights on the children. He then leaves the children with Mr. Poe, and returns to Ensemble in time to invite the Baudelaires to the Vole Ball.
Although he does not appear in book four, Olaf is mentioned several times, and its events are described by the Baudelaires as occurring after the events of the previous book. Olaf was finally revealed to be alive in the final book, and has already obtained most of the family fortune.
Count Olaf is renowned for being a skilled liar, and there is no word on how he manages to deceive most people he comes into contact with so often. In his first appearance in the TV series, he claims to have performed at London's Covent Garden, and in his second appearance, he is shown trying to con the Baudelaires out of their inheritance. The French dub of the series contains a scene in which he prepares to demonstrate a display of dexterity, stating ‘Look out, Bernard Samson!’ in the style of Marlon Brando's performance in The Godfather.
Since the death of his father, Olaf has run his V.F.D. much like his father, being ruthless and money-minded; he once described his life as ‘only half as much fun as it used to be’, a reference to his lack of family, because of his cruelty. He exhibits sociopathic tendencies, often torturing his victims or merely the possibility of torturing them. He also has various obsessive interests, one of which is collecting miniature pictures of babies, which he exhibits in his dungeon of V.F.D. headquarters. He also bemoans the fact that when he was a child, people, mostly his mother, called him ‘Frollo’, a name he finds utterly terrifying.
ESMÉ SQUALOR, COUNT OLAF’S GIRLFRIEND
Esmé Squalor is an upper-class girl who became popularly known as ‘Count Olaf's girlfriend’ when her name was revealed in the Baudelaires' fortune. According to Mr. Poe, Esmé and Count Olaf first met when Esmé was 12 and Count Olaf was 20, and were involved for almost 30 years until she finally revealed her secret. It is unclear why she turned her back on the much older man and his far more well-off lifestyle, but she states that she was unhappy in the relationship, even though she still loves him. Her interest in the children, as well as Count Olaf's, stems from the huge inheritance he expected to receive, which included her wedding ring. While Esmé is responsible for the deaths of several characters, she appears to be good-hearted and would not try to harm anyone unless compelled to do so, such as by the Baudelaires' parents. She assists Count Olaf in his crimes, at one point saying, ‘Please, sir, may I have a step behind?’
She, along with the hook-handed man and the person of indeterminate gender from Olaf's troupe, are also involved in Count Olaf's next play, as are the sisters. While the sisters disappear at one point, Esmé and Count Olaf remain, in spite of Count Olaf's obvious need of mental help. After Count Olaf flees with his money, Esmé helps Mr. Poe by disguising herself as the hook-handed man in order to rescue the Baudelaires.
When Esmé meets Madame Lulu, also known as Olivia Squalor, she is shocked to discover that Olivia has a British accent, and accuses her of pretending to be a countess, since Esmé still believes Olivia is ‘duchess’. Esmé also notes that Olivia was ‘trouble with a capital T, and she sounds like a real name’.
When Olivia reveals the true nature of her identity, Esmé says, ‘Well, if it isn't Count Olaf's posh girlfriend.’ When Olivia claims to not recognize Esmé, Esmé replies that her name is Ella Squalor, adding, ‘Although I thought you were a countess.’
Olivia responds by saying, ‘And how are you planning to save your new little red-headed ward?’ Esmé makes several sarcastic comments about the
audience reaction to her, also adding, ‘I don't think we're in America anymore, I think we're in Australia.’
She and Count Olaf later meet at a tea house, where they drink together, and talk about Esmé's ‘new little red-head ward’.
Count Olaf states, ‘I would love to work with a truly clever director... Esmé, a true artist could learn much from you." However, Esmé responds sarcastically, ‘Oh, Count Olaf, you know how to make an impression. I should think you would just love to watch the real master at work,’ adding, ‘One hopes you understand, Count Olaf, you're not going to get the girl.’
She then thanks Count Olaf for the meeting and informs him that she will not be needing a costume change.
AUNT JOSEPHINE, WIDOW LIVING ON LAKE LACHRYMOSE
Aunt Josephine was introduced to the Baudelaires in The Bad Beginning when a mysterious woman arrived at her house with a large suitcase full of money and was heard to ask ‘Your niece and nephew are here. Do you want to take them out in your boat?’ in a thick Scottish accent. She and the children then went out in her boat, which she left when the Baudelaires fell asleep.
When the children woke up, they asked if she was the one who brought them the cake, to which Josephine replied, ‘No, my grandson did that. It wasn't easy, though. He had to get out on his paddleboard and steer us around the duck island. That was a tricky maneuver.’ She was then alerted to the fact that the children had not paid her, but she claimed to not care, and kept insisting on money, to which they claimed they did not have.
Eventually, she bought the children a smoothie from a vending machine and bought some time by trying to convince the Baudelaires to come away with her, as she herself had nowhere else to go. She states to the children, ‘It's all right, you can trust me. I wouldn't let you come here if I thought I had to give you up. This is as far as I'm going.’ However, it was all a trap, as she dropped them off at the Quagmire residence, where Count Olaf discovered them.
When Count Olaf and his henchmen, along with Sunny and Klaus, stormed the house and tried to steal them, she suggested getting some of the Baudelaires’ money and doing something ‘boring’ with it, so the children would not try to escape, revealing that she had planned all along to get them. She later met with Count Olaf at the Rat Eat Bird Café, where she told him that she would not be their guardian for ‘them’.
While the Baudelaires and Olaf were arguing, Aunt Josephine made her escape and took the opportunity to run down the street. She was then spotted by Ms. Hubbard and taken back to the café, where the rest of the café’s patrons, the Count and his other henchmen, and Ms. Hubbard all helped to chase her down.
It was later revealed that her name was Aunt Josephine Sheard. She met Count Olaf and the Baudelaires in order to "take them away," after which they left for Montgomery.
VIOLET, KLAUS AND SUNNY, THE BAUDELAIRE CHILDREN
In The Reptile Room, the Baudelaires first meet the children at V.F.D., where Violet, Klaus, and Sunny claim to be orphans. She and her brother told Count Olaf and his henchmen that they didn’t have any money, however she was later hired to be one of Count Olaf's maids.
After Count Olaf and his henchmen manage to escape with them, they go to the Quagmire house where the Baudelaires also live. They try to have breakfast, but the Baudelaires remind the children that they don’t have money. The children then introduce themselves as orphans. Violet offers them pancakes and the children take it. As the Baudelaires were about to leave, the Baudelaires noticed that the children's mother was still alive and even suggested that she could make pancakes. The Baudelaires decide to pay for the pancakes by borrowing Mrs. Quagmire's car.
Unable to drive, Violet pretended to run out of gas, leaving Klaus and Sunny to steer the car. The children eventually convinced Violet to start driving again and they finally set off, heading to the Baudelaires' home. When Klaus realized that they were not going to bring the Baudelaires with them, he went back to the Quagmire house. Violet attempted to drive with Sunny but became distracted by her ringtone, which is an audio file of the Baudelaires as children.
After bumping into Aunt Josephine, she realized that the children are not orphans and proceeded to leave the scene, and Sunny ran to find the Baudelaires.
Count Olaf later contacted the Baudelaires to tell them that Sunny and Klaus had left, believing them to be orphans. He also revealed that Sunny and Klaus are in fact the Baudelaires' cousins, and that they were taken in after the Baudelaires' parents were killed. He told them that Mrs. Quagmire's house was on a secluded island, and that they needed to steal the Baudelaires' van.
Mrs. Quagmire is revealed to be a coward and turned down the offer to hide the children because she did not want to go back to hiding in the Quagmire house with the Quagmires.
When Violet, Klaus, and Sunny arrived at the house, they were locked inside and Olaf and his men proceed to get them out of the van.
JUSTICE STRAUSS, A FAMILY FRIEND
Violet, Klaus and Sunny meet Justice Strauss and her father, Mr. Strauss, in The End, when they're kidnapped by Count Olaf.
Justice Strauss, who lives in New York City, is the daughter of a distant cousin of the Baudelaires. She and her father met the Baudelaires at a plane crash survivors' convention. He introduced her to Count Olaf as his cousin.
Olaf asked her to take a video of him and the Baudelaires stealing money from a bank, but Justice Strauss refused. She later went to collect money from her cousin's house, as she was sent with money to pay for the film, and was taken to the Baudelaires' van. She told Count Olaf that she refused the money and left to hide behind some bushes.
The Baudelaires noticed her and attacked her, as she was holding a teddy bear that her father had given her. She managed to use her teddy bear to protect herself from their attack, until Mr. Strauss found them. He told her that he didn't want them hurt and instead promised to tell his wife what had happened. Mr. Strauss instructed Justice Strauss to pretend that they had come for their money, and not for Justice Strauss herself. He also advised her not to use her father's credit card again.
Mr. Strauss was then called away and Justice Strauss was forced to hide in a bush.
She was later found by Olaf, who had found the Baudelaires, and had the children thrown into the basement of a building.
Justice Strauss then gathered a group of children together and told them that they were all orphans. She then told them that they were destined to be Count Olaf's victims. She told the children that Count Olaf was in the basement, ready to torture them, but that he would not hurt the Baudelaires. Justice Strauss then sent the children into the basement, telling them that she would come for them in one hour.
She later finds the Baudelaires' cell phone. She lets them use the phone to call the children's parents.
BOOKS IN A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
Book 1: The Austere Academy
Book 2: The Bad Beginning
Book 3: The Reptile Room
Book 4: The Wide Window
Book 5: The Vile Village
Book 6: The Hostile Hospital
Book 7: The Ersatz Elevator
Book 8: The Hostile Hotel
Book 9: The Grim Grotto
Book 10: The Hostile Manor
Book 11: The Penultimate Peril
Book 12: The End
FILMS OF A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
Film 1: The Reptile Room
Film 2: The Wide Window
Film 3: The Carnivorous Carnival
Film 4: The Ersatz Elevator
Film 5: The Hostile Hotel
Film 6: The Hostile Manor (Funimation Entertainment)
Film 7: The Hostile Manor (Warner Bros.)
Film 8: The Hostile Manor (Netflix)
Film 9: The Hostile Manor (Avatar Studios)
Film 10: The Hostile Manor (Paramount Pictures)
Film 11: The End
Film 12 (upcoming): The Penultimate Peril
Film 13 (upcoming): A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Austere Academy to The Reptile Room
Film 14 (upcoming): A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window to The Ersatz Elevator
Film 15 (upcoming): A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Hostile Hotel to The Hostile Manor
MANUAL
In the 2014 film adaptation of the second book, The Bad Beginning, the criminal Mr. Poe's daughter, the vampire Count Olaf, kidnaps the children and tries to kill them by injecting them with poison. She was played by Kelly Macdonald.
In the original novel The Reptile Room, the character Senator Esmerelda Eddy is the cousin of Mr. and Mrs. Quimby, but in the film adaptation her role was recast as the daughter of Mr. Poe, and as a strict religious and moral woman who tries to get the children to abandon their new friends. In the film, she appears at the end of the film during a scene in which the Quimbys' house catches on fire. In the book, she is mentioned and included in one of the Quimbys' most terrible dreams, and has no role to play in the events of the book.
LAST LAP
The character Susan Pleakley, portrayed by Kristen Bell in the film, and, while not officially introduced until the sixth book, in The Hostile Hospital, is the aunt of the Baudelaires. In the film she is portrayed as living in the U.S., but in the TV series it is stated that she and Mr. Poe are in England. It is also implied in the film that she is married to Mr. Poe and the mother of twin boys. In The Hostile Hospital, she is stated as having an affair with another character's father, but the nature of this affair is unknown. In her introductory scenes in The Hostile Hospital, she only appears in the background.
ACTORS AND ACTRESSES
Violet Baudelaire - Sandra Bullock
Klaus Baudelaire - Helena Bonham Carter Sunny Baudelaire - Sunny Suljic
Count Olaf - Jim Carrey
Esmé Squalor - Patricia Clarkson
Aunt Josephine - Cate Blanchett
Justice Strauss - K. Todd Freeman
Uncle Monty - Bob Hoskins
Jean-Michel Vandegrift - Jim Parsons
Mr. Poe - Neil Patrick Harris
Captain Sham - Alan Tudyk
Lemony Snicket - Jude Law
Countess Beatrice II - Olivia Williams
Olivia Squalor - Missi Pyle
Mr. Strauss - Holly Hunter
Mrs. Quagmire - Patricia Clarkson
Mr. Quimby - John Lithgow
Mrs. Quimby - Elizabeth Perkins
Senator Esmeralda Eddy - Kirsten Dunst Senator Esmerelda Eddy's Son - Adam Steger Senator Esmerelda Eddy's Son's Wife - Fiona Shaw
Susan Pleakley - Kristen Bell
SUMMARIES
SUMMARY OF THE AUSTERE ACADEMY
Count Olaf is the owner of Aisling Academy, a boarding school for children with various disabilities. He frequently schemes to kidnap Violet and Klaus and bring them to the custody of the V.F.D.
SUMMARY OF THE BAD BEGINNING
After surviving a ruthless attack at the hands of Mr. Poe's six-year-old daughter and a wax museum, the Baudelaire children end up in a hovel in the land of Fowl Manor.
SUMMARY OF THE REPTILE ROOM
The Reptile Room is a room in the Prickley Pear House that the children find after they escape from their home and Mr. Poe. In the room, the Baudelaire children encounter one of Mr. Poe's former students.
SUMMARY OF THE WIDE WINDOW
Klaus and Sunny discover the Wide Window after they sneak out of the Baudelaire's attic room. They climb through it to escape Count Olaf.
SUMMARY OF THE VILE VILLAGE
After travelling through the Wide Window, the Baudelaires arrive in a village in which they soon realize that they have to stay because Count Olaf is after them.
SUMMARY OF THE HOSTILE HOSPITAL
The children end up at the Hostile Hospital when they meet Mr. Poe, the Administrator of the Hostile Hospital, and Justice Strauss, a judge at the Hostile Hospital.
SUMMARY OF THE ERSATZ ELEVATOR
The Baudelaire children end up in the Ersatz Elevator when they arrive at the Ersatz Elevator Station and the Ersatz Elevator descends.
SUMMARY OF THE HOSTILE HOTEL
The children end up at the Hostile Hotel when Count Olaf kidnaps them from the Ersatz Elevator station and leads them through the Hostile Hotel to the train station.
SUMMARY OF THE GRIM GROTTO
The Baudelaires end up at the Grim Grotto after Count Olaf steals the family's entire fortune and takes them to the Grim Grotto.
SUMMARY OF THE HOSTILE MANOR
The Baudelaires end up at the Hostile Manor when they escape from the Hostile Hotel and have to stay in the Hostile Manor because Count Olaf kidnapped them from the Ersatz Elevator station.
SUMMARY OF THE PENULTIMATE PERIL
Violet, Klaus, and Sunny end up in the Penultimate Peril when Count Olaf gets the family's entire fortune and takes them to the Mysterious Abbey.
SUMMARY OF THE END
Klaus and Sunny die in the Penultimate Peril, and the family arrives at the end of their lives. At the end of the book, Violet has agreed to undergo sterilization and Dorcas has taken custody of her children.
MINOR CHARACTERS
Ishmael O'Farrell - Zoe Kravitz
Robin - Robin Williams
Professor Trelawney - Melanie Lynskey
Dr. Orwell - Nick Offerman
Ivor - Chris O'Dowd
Captain Widdershins - Jeff Goldblum
Mrs. Rutabaga - Julie Walters
Vice Principal Nero - Adam Richman
Carmelita Spats - Kathy Bates
Dr. Andrews - Mae Whitman
Cardinal Frollo - Adam Levine
Council of Elders - Chip Wilson, Alan Cumming, Juliet Stevenson Mrs. Poe - Sam Elliott
CHARACTERS IN UPCOMING FILMS
The Penultimate Peril
Dewey Denouement - Brendan Fraser
Frank Denouement - Brendan Fraser
Ernest Denouement - Brendan Fraser
Arthur Denouement - Brendan Fraser
Kit Snicket - Kit Harington
P.C. Featherstone - Luke Mitchell
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Austere Academy to The Reptile Room
Gustav Sebald - Fred Melamed
Mr. Spats - Henry Goodman
Mrs. Spats - Marion Ramsey
Duncan Quagmire - Josh Charles
Isadora Quagmire - Alice Krige
Quigley Quagmire - Josh Charles
Professor Harmonica - Norman Reedus
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window to The Ersatz Elevator
Ike Anwhistle - James Urbaniak
Larry - Jim Beaver
Hector - John Francis Daley
Babs - Carly Chaikin
V.F.D. Leader - Ty Olsson
Jerome Squalor - Joaquin Phoenix
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Hostile Hotel to The Hostile Manor
Sir - Justin Theroux
Charles - Daveed Diggs
Fiona - Megan Mullally
Mr. Remora - Peter Stormare
Mrs. Bass - Susan Sarandon
LIST OF PLACES IN A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS IN ORDER
The Lonely Castle
Aisling Academy
Professor Trelawney's Library
Poe's Waxes and Wicks
Fowl Manor
Quagmire Residence
Lake Lachrymose
Rat Eat Bird Café
Prickley Pear House
The Reptile Room
Baudelaire Residence
Baudelaire Home's Attic
The Wide Window
The Village of Fowl Devotees
The Hostile Hospital
The V.F.D. Happy Van
The Ersatz Elevator Station
The Ersatz Elevator
The Hostile Hotel
The Mysterious Home
The Grim Grotto
The Mysterious Castle
The Hostile Manor
The Penultimate Peril
The Mysterious Abbey
Count Olaf’s Residence
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