New Year's Eve was impossible for those of us who are not made of confetti and sequins, so I opted for good cinema. The choice, one that does not fail: Master and Commander. The farthest coast in the worldby Peter Weir (2003). The perfect naval adventure from a perfect literary series.

By the way, I made another resolution for this recently released 2017: to reread my favorite titles from this magnificent series. Written by Patrick O'Brian forty years after his first novel, The Adventures of Captain Jack Aubrey and the Spanish-Irish doctor and spy Stephen Maturin consist of essential for every good lover of the genre. This was my love story with them.

I remember seeing the books and staying looking at the nice illustrations on the covers. They already sounded to me at the same time I found out that Peter Weir was going to take to the movies those covers. I didn't have time to start read, collect and marvel at a saga of naval adventures unparalleled and impossible to beat. So yes, I admit it and I don't care at all: thanks to that news I discovered them.

But also this genre —Both literary and cinematographic— It has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. Also, I have had the opportunity (and luck) to sail and know what life can be like at sea

The expectations were unbeatable. Nails fascinating adventures with Historical background that ranges from the French Revolution until the end of the Napoleonic Empireand an complex language for lay readers of the marine slang in general, but so engaging and as attractive to use and listen to. And ones unforgettable characters.

About Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, the protagonists, or the rest of the characters that accompany them, almost everything has already been written. But leaving aside the universally recognizable features of its construction, the perception what can be had of them is as different as the reader himself. Only they had to turn their faces into flesh and blood.

That is the magic of cinema, regardless of the images that each reader can put. That magic could not be better or more successful in the excellent film adaptation made by Australian director Peter Weir of The farthest coast in the world.

Except those cambios what were done in the script -the original North American ship from the book became French because how could the Yankees be the bad guys in the movie—, the result was spectacular. Although perhaps one word is enough: beauty. The light, the color, the music of each scene in the imagination and those that are recreated on the screen are exactly the same. And just as beautiful.

For the less amateur or anyone who does not feel capable of putting on those 20 action packed novels, intrigue, espionage, shipwrecks, exotic settings, unparalleled naval battles you can go directly to the images. You will surely want to read them. And if you are a lover of this literary genre, this series is forced and deserving of the best place on the preferred shelf.

The actors lent the exact gestures and souls to the literary characters. I didn't see any of them then. They were just the mr allen (the boatswain), the efficient and courageous Captain Pullings, the ineffable and endearing killick, the veteran and superstitious sailor Joe plaice, the willing mr mowett… And of course the two main characters, one of the literary couples of more contrast, better avenues and extraordinary.

On the one hand, my admired and complex Dr. Maturin, half Catalan half Irish spy as well as an excellent doctor and musician. Rational, precise, austere and at the same time reserved, idealistic and passionate.

On the other, Jack. Forgiveness, Captain Jack Aubrey The fortunate. So full of bonhomie, A peculiar humor and its thunderous laugh. With their passions and excesses as with alcohol, with your cunning pirate look behind the prey, his sense of honor, duty and sacrifice, command but also respect. And that sensitivity so inner and contained but so evident in his love for music, his boat, that wonderful frigate Surprise, and his men.

Paul Bettany and Russell Crowe just disappeared in them. They could only be given one but: they exchanged the height of the literary characters, a nuance only appreciable for readers of the novels. For the rest, all were perfect.

Neither then nor now can I be objective and I don't feel like it either. For me it is best naval adventure series of all times. And I wanted to start this new year by repeating such a glorious journey. I invite everyone to also embark on one of their titles.

Aubrey and Maturin Series

1. Captain of sea and war
2. Captain
3. The frigate Surprise
4. Operation Mauritius
5. Desolation Island
6. Episodes of a war
7. The surgeon's assistant
8. Mission in Ionia
9. The port of betrayal
10. The farthest coast in the world
11. The other side of the picture
12. The patent of marque
13. Thirteen salutes of honor
14. The schooner Nutmeg
15. Clarissa Oakes, stowaway aboard
16. A dark sea like port
17. Commodore
18. Admiral ashore
19. The hundred days
20. Blue in the mizzen
21. The Final Unfinished Voyage of Jack Aubrey, not published in Spanish