About
The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne is a 22-episode science fiction television series in the steampunk genre that first aired in June 2000 on CBC Television in Canada and in syndication in the United States. The plot concept is predicated on a vast fictional conspiracy beginning with the revelation that Jules Verne did not merely write the stories behind his famous science fiction classic books Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth or Around the World in Eighty Days — but actually experienced these adventures personally. A television technological historic footnote, this work was the first hour-long series filmed entirely in HDTV format.
Cast
Chris Demetral
as Jules Verne
Michael Praed
as
Michel Courtemanche
as
Seasons
Episodes
Season 1
In the Beginning
The adventure begins. In Paris, Jules Verne, a student with the ambition of becoming a great novelist and playwright, unwittingly attracts the attentions of the League of Darkness and its leader, Count Gregory, with his visions of fantastic machines and ideas for the future. The League, hoping to use Jules' ideas for their own nefarious purposes, kidnaps Verne and tries to steal the images directly from his imagination. He is saved by British secret agent Rebecca Fogg who had been sent to Paris to find the very machine being used to extract the images from Jules. Meanwhile in London, Rebecca's distant cousin, former secret agent Phileas Fogg, has embarked on a life of gambling after the death of his father, Sir Boniface Fogg, former head of the British Secret Service. Unaware of the greater plan, Phileas "wins" the airship Aurora and her navigator, Passepartout, during a game of cards.
Queen Victoria and the Giant Mole
Using an idea stolen from Jules Verne (from In the Beginning), the League of Darkness construct a giant underground tunneling machine, the "Mole." The League first kills a diplomat to get papers giving their own agent access to Queen Victoria, whom they plan to kill. While Rebecca goes to investigate the sewers where the Mole is, Phileas first believes that Jules was involved since one of his drawings was found in connection with the Mole. After a bit of slapping around, he eventually believes Jules and recruits him to help track down the Mole. Jules creates a series of tracking devices, but is then kidnapped by the Mole's female commander. They still want him to assist them, and torture him when he doesn't. Rebecca has figured out who the League's agent is at the Queen's meeting, and goes after him with the tracking device the League uses to guide the Mole to its victims. The agent is skewered on the Mole's bore, and with the aid of a giant magnet created by Passepartout, Phileas pulls up the Mole and punches out the Commander. Jules gets the gratitude of the Queen and the four decided to stay together.
Rockets of the Dead
When Rebecca investigates the murder of a British envoy in London, she must go undercover as an actress to attract Angelo Rimini, Duke of Carpathia and the prime suspect. He becomes infatuated with her and seemingly vice versa, and spirits her off to Carpathia. Phileas is none to thrilled with the Secret Service endangering her and pursues. The three of them evade vampires and Phileas and Jules make it to the castle and see Rebecca falling under Rimini's sway. Meanwhile, vampires take the Aurora and Passepartout fakes his death. Rebecca learns of Rimini's plan to take over the world with an army of rocket-powered vampires. She teams up with the others and manage to sabotage the jetpacks. As Rimini looks on, a regretful Rebecca departs with the others as his vampire army crashes and burns.
The Cardinal's Design
Rebecca has a friend of hers trying to decipher a secret code, behind the back of her superior. She is threatened with a scorpion in her bed, which she manages to kill. Phileas offers to help, but the codebreaker is killed under his protection by the mysterious Cavois. Cavois makes another attempt on Rebecca's life, which is thwarted by a bulletproof corset. Phileas tries to confront Cavois but is thwarted: Cavois leaves him for later. Meanwhile, Jules is meeting with his old friend Alexandre Dumas. It turns out he was a spy at one time, and created the code and hid the transcription code in his novel The Three Musketeers. Dumas is up to his ears in debt, in part because he is trying to build a machine, the Phoenix, based on designs by Cardinal Richelieu from 200 years earlier. The others meet up with Jules, and are forced to flee before Dumas' debtors. Passepartout inadvertently activates the time machine, and the four go back 200 years. As they step out to investigate, Passepartout inadvertently activates the time machine again, leaving the other three stranded. Worse, Rebecca is mistaken for an assassin and taken before Richelieu, who wants her to kill the king...
The Cardinal's Revenge
Stilled trapped in the time of the Three Musketeers, Rebecca is mistaken for Madame D'Urfe, an assassin hired to kill King Louis XIII. Jules and Phileas must persuade the Three Musketeers to reunite to rescue Rebecca, and save the King by defeating Richelieu. Of the Musketeers, Athos is dead and the other two are relucant, but are swayed to join. Porthos is a dead-ringer for Dumas in the 19th century. Adding further confusion, Richelieu is a twin for Fogg, Louis XIII for Jules, and D'Urfe for Rebecca. Apparently they have not just traveled in time, but into a parallel dimension of some sort. Rebecca plays along with the Cardinal, who is forced to kill the real Madame D'Urfe when she shows up so as to cover his tracks. Meanwhile, Passepartout works to discover the secret to the Phoenix to return all to their rightful place and time, aided by his own counterpart, a scientific genius. Rebecca fails to kill the King, and Richelieu hauls her away, then tries to have the King killed. Fogg, Jules, and the Musketeers break into the prison and a fight ensues. They rescue Louis, but Passepartout arrives, freezing time for everyone except his friends, who escape back to the 19th century. In the "present", they have the code. Fogg confronts the assassin Cavois, and they have a duel of "Russian Roulette" which Fogg wins.
The Eyes of Lazarus
The evil spirit of a dead mad anarchist, Lazarus, takes possession of Passepartout at a seance for Passepartout's recently-deceased Aunt Louisa. Lazarus, who died at the hands of Phileas, is intent on returning the favor. When Passepartout is thought mad and committed to an asylum, the spirit of Lazarus passes to Rebecca. With the help of the spirit of Aunt Louisa, Lazarus is banished before his evil plan is accomplished.
Lord of Air and Darkness
While investiging a country priest's murder, Jules is lured to a secret base of the League of Darkness, where they are creating a flying ship called the Prometheus. Jules accepts a commission at the behest of the ship's beautiful commander, unaware of the League's true purpose. The others come to investigate, and the Aurora is taken captive. Rebecca discovers that the League plans to use both ships to help the Confederacy win the Civil War. While Phileas confronts the League's leader, the centuries-old "cybernetic" Count Gregory, Jules turns against the League. Phileas and Passepartout recover the Aurora, while Jules is forced to choose between the commander and Rebecca. He goes with Rebecca, and the two manage to escape. The episode ends with the Aurora giving chase to the Prometheus as it heads west to the United States.
Southern Comfort
Hoping to shift the balance of power in the United States' Civil War, the League of Darkness heads across the Atlantic in the Prometheus while being pursued by the crew of the Aurora. When the Aurora crashes, Phileas, Rebecca, Jules, and Passepartout are welcomed into the home of a true Southern belle, Saratoga Browne, with whom Phileas falls in love. Passepartout and Rebecca join forces with the Union to try and defeat the Prometheus, while Phileas and Jules go after the airship when Count Gregory kidnaps Saratoga to force Phileas' hand. Jules manages to distract the airship's crew while Phileas rescues Saratoga. Count Gregory uses the power of the ship to reassemble his component parts into an indestructible cyborg, but a gunshot from the Union cannons knocks him out. Phileas and Saratoga escape by parachute, but a final gunshot from Gregory kills Saratoga just as Phileas proposes marriage to her. The Prometheus is brought down, leaving a despondent Phileas.
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