Paul Carpenter and Sophie Pettingel are lowly, put-upon interns who begin working at the mysterious London firm J.W. Wells & Co., and become increasingly aware that their employers are anything but conventional. Charismatic villains Humphrey Wells, the CEO of the company, and middle manager Dennis Tanner are disrupting the world of magic by bringing modern corporate strategy to ancient magical practices, and Paul and Sophie discover the vast corporation's true agenda. [1] Cast [ edit ] The Portable Door follows Paul Carpenter, a young, unremarkable graduate who finds himself working at the London firm J.W. Wells and Co., a magical corporation responsible for engineering coincidences and chance encounters. The company is led by the caustic, sharp-eyed Dennis Tanner and CEO Humphrey Wells, who are in the course of revolutionizing the magical world by introducing modern corporate practices. Behind the company’s whimsical appearance, the ambitious capitalist Wells aims to use the company’s “influence”-peddling to sinister ends. That library consists of a mix of worldwide and foreign sales rights to 58 films released between 2005 to 2019, which earned more than 500 million at the global box office. Notable titles include “ Just Friends” starring Ryan Reynolds, Amy Smart and Anna Faris; “ The Grey” starring Liam Neeson; “ Killing Them Softly” starring Brad Pitt; “ Hachi: A Dog’s Tale” starring Richard Gere; “ Freelancers” starring Robert DeNiro; “ Jobs” starring Ashton Kutcher; “ The Host” starring Saoirse Ronan; “ Maggie” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger; “ The Women” starring Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, and Eva Mendes; and “ Kill Your Darlings” with Daniel Radcliffe and Michael C. Hall. Book #3 Earth, Air, Fire and Custard: There are four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. The Professor invents the fifth element, custard, which helps in the development of Custardspace, which is at right angles to normal space. Paul and Sophie keep getting trapped in it. In addition to the Emmy-nominated sci-fi drama Farscape and its follow-up miniseries Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, the multi-year distribution deal provides Shout! Factory and its streaming service Shout! Factory TV with all worldwide rights — across broadcast, streaming, on-demand, home entertainment, and non-theatrical arenas — to Henson’s Emmy-winning fantasy anthology The Storyteller and subsequent miniseries The Storyteller: Greek Myths, as well as such classics as Jim Henson’s World of Puppetry, Monster Maker, Lighthouse Island, Living with Dinosaurs, Dog City and Ghost of Faffner Hall, along with later productions like The Fearing Mind, Mopatop’s Shop and Brats of the Lost Nebula.

This book is quite good fun, fun enough that I read the next one in the series as well, but I think with these books where the everyday world collides with the strange have a bit of a diminishing return. Initially there's an interesting tension between the mundane and the weird and unexplained, but the more it becomes dominated by ever more explicitly supernatural stuff, the less interesting it gets. It's a bit like watching True Blood, which was set up as an intriguing conflict between humans and vampires in a version of modern America; but as it piles on the maenads and werewolves and fairies, that basic connection to a recognisable everyday reality gets lost, and with it much of the dramatic tension. Paul keeps dying, and Mr Dao, the Bank Manager at Bank of the Dead, is getting tired of seeing him. Holt's works include mythopoeic novels which parody or take as their theme various aspects of mythology, history or literature and develop them in new and often humorous ways. He has also produced a number of "straight" historical novels writing as Thomas Holt and fantasy novels writing as K.J. Parker. Tom Holt (Thomas Charles Louis Holt) is a British novelist. Arclight Films previously sold the North American rights to Gravitas Ventures, who released “ Queen Bees” in theatres and on demand in June in the U.S. and Canada.Phipps, Keith (4 April 2023). "What to Watch in April: 'Air: Courting a Legend,' 'Beef,' and 'Tiny Beautiful Things' ". Rolling Stone . Retrieved 11 April 2023. I found the story came together very well, with lots of very strange things happening near the beginning all being explained at the end. More than one of the revelations that occurred made me smile and say out loud 'Of course!', which I'd say was the mark of a good book. When all hope seemed lost, Paul did something that John didn’t think he was capable of: he found a door that led them outside the Nether. John was elated, and he told him that he was much more than a normal diviner, though he didn’t tell him exactly what he was. As soon as John arrived on the premises, the workers who didn’t have the courage to speak against Humphrey got motivated. We got to know that Rosie, the receptionist, was actually Dennis’ mother and that Arthur was her husband, who had gone missing with John. A nerdy-sounding name like Paul Carpenter? In a fantasy novel? Well ... yes. This is fantasy, but it is not just comic fantasy; it is also rather oddball. Don't expect Terry Pratchett's variety of humorous fantasy, despite the fact that Tom Holt's name often seems to be coupled with his. Tom Holt's writing has its own separate and unique weirdness. There are no mythic lands peopled with magical creatures here. This novel is firmly rooted in the drudgery of ordinary life on planet Earth. There is magic, yes - and fairies - and goblins - but they are all to be found in a rather boring, mundane office environment, popping up disguised as ... well that would be telling, wouldn't it? Yes there were funny bits, but it seemed to be trying too hard sometimes. Jokes and "funny" comments seemed to be crammed in wherever possible. Sometimes less is more.

Charismatic villains Humphrey Wells (Christoph Waltz), the CEO of the company, and middle manager Dennis Tanner (Sam Neill) are disrupting the world of magic by bringing modern corporate strategy to ancient magical practices, and Paul and Sophie discover the true agenda of the vast corporation where they work. A Sky Cinema synopsis for The Portable Door reads: "Paul Carpenter and Sophie Pettingel are the lowly, put-upon interns who begin working at the mysterious London firm J.W. Wells & Co. and become steadily aware that their employers are anything but conventional. My main criticism is with the pacing of the book. The first half of it went fairly slowly, as befits the unfolding of a mystery, but the last third was breathlessly fast and tied up very neatly.The other thing that was Very Hitchhiker's Guide to me was the hapless protagonist. There's a bizarre world, long unknown to the protagonist, and we see him explore it in the context of this new job in a seemingly dull office job for a firm no one has the nerve to try to understand or ask is the nature of its services. Complex, Valerie (7 February 2023). " 'The Portable Door' Starring Christoph Waltz And Sam Neill To Get Exclusive Release On MGM+ In April". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved 12 February 2023. Paul finds a JWW Portable Door in his desk drawer. It takes him wherever he wants to go. Paul and Sophie are introduced to the JWW Valentine Express, a love philtre. Anyone who drinks some falls asleep for 20 minutes, and when they wake up, they fall permanently in love with the first person they see. Almost as dangerous as the Portable Door. To start with, I want to make the point that I did enjoy this book. It was mostly entertaining, the plot was interesting, there were funny bits, and the narrator was pretty good at narrating. Professor Van Spee is an old man with white hair around his ears and a white goatee. He is a professor of witchcraft and works with spacetime.