The Web Video series is a Setting Update based on Jane Austen's last and unfinished novel Sanditon. Gigi Darcy takes the role of Charlotte Heywood, the novel's heroine.
Much of the drama consists of Mayor Tom Parker's efforts to turn Sanditon into a tourist favourite health spot. He forces Clara Breton, an owner of Sanditon's ice-cream shop, to turn her business into a juice bar. He's helped by his assistant, Edward Denham. These four characters are the only main characters who appeared on-screen for a long time. The Griffiths were added later in the webseries; they are a brother and sister who are rivals in trying to install their gym business in Sanditon. Welcome to Sanditon is also a multi-medium presentation: other characters contribute solely through Twitter, such as a trio of Tom Parker's siblings or his wife Mary.
Role-Playing and Audience Participation is another important aspect of the webseries. The creators asked their fans to create an online persona who can participate in the story, pretending to be either a resident of Sanditon or a visiting tourist. Usually every other part is a Breather Episode, and they include either Clara's recipes or compiled cuts made of fan submitted videos. This reflects the original novel, which focused on how Sanditon's reputation was created, in some cases whole-cloth, through word-of-mouth and (the era's version of) social networking, and drew attention to the differences between the real town and the one its residents believed they lived in. The trade-off is a rather slower pace.
Finally, as the original novel has No Ending, the creators wrote their own, wrapping up the story after 27 episodes.
Link
to the series.
Tropes:
- Adaptation Name Change: Minor one. Clara Brereton was shortened to Clara Breton.
- Alliterative Title:
- One episode is titled "Save Sanditon Scoops".
- Episode 13 is called "Sit and Spin and Cycle".
- One has a repetitive name "Business of Business".
- Berserk Button: Clara is bothered by prompting or advocating change for her shop. She doesn't seem too fond of Tom Parker's one-sided accounts about what the town must become.
- Big Brother Instinct:
- You can literally feel William's Big Brother Instinct and boss authority shaping every word Gigi can or cannot say in the first video.
- Beau and Letitia Griffiths are siblings who argue, but still care for each other. In episode 17, Beau talks like he really wouldn't like to see his sister hurt in romance drama. He tries to mess with Ed, but at the end it's true when he says he doesn't interfere in Griff's life.
- The Cameo: William Darcy from The Lizzie Bennet's Diaries is seen in "Packet Loss".
- Camera Abuse: Tom Parker has a habit of coming too close to the cam.
- Cerebus Syndrome: The first inkling of the central plot shows up in Episode 12. What was... Was that a ghost??
- Chocolate of Romance: Clara bakes nutella waffles for herself and her new boyfriend Ed in the episode "Nutella Waffles for Two".
- Composite Character: Edward Denham mentions that he has a pushy aunt, but Mayor Tom Parker appears to have traits of Book Mr Parker and Book Lady Denham. He's enthusiastic and unreasonable, and also pushy, sleazy and some of his schemes seem almost evil, though he's probably not conscious of it.
- Continuity Nod: Gigi Darcy used to swim. She stopped after an incident with a swimming coach from The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. In the final episode, she says she starts swimming again.
- Control Freak: Tom Parker, who has No Sympathy for those trying to resist and tries to become an Ultimate Authority Mayor.
- Deadpan Snarker:
- Clara proved to be one in her first apparition. She showed it in an amount of five seconds.
- Edward is too. For the matter, it might cause Birds of a Feather.Tom Parker: (@The Edward Denham) Has my twitter account been suspended?Edward Denham: (@Tom Pof Sanditon) Since you can send me that, I'm gonna say no.Tom Parker: (@The Edward Denham) Oh, good... Has yours?Edward Denham (@The Edward Denham) ... I love my job.
- Everyone Can See It: The Belligerent Sexual Tension between Ed and Clara switches to a friendlier version as they begin to bond over a shared love of Speculative Fiction. Meanwhile, Gigi uses their (two-hour-long) Domino call as an example of Domino's auto-editing AI malfunctioning: it cut the Slap-Slap part of the Slap-Slap-Kiss (and the Info Dumps) out, leaving only the chemistry. Gigi is really confused.
- Food Porn: Clara's recipes are usually something very sweet with her delicious ice-cream. For instance, she showed her viewers how to make chocolate brownie sandwiches with nuts, fudge and ice-cream filling.
- Food Slap: Edward gets hit by ice cream or a cone when he and Clara have an argument over her shop.
- Geek Reference Pool: The authors fished for standard sci-fi Shout Outs, but they also used some vintage and less known works.
- Genki Girl: Gigi. This is a great part of what makes what should be an ad for Domino with shameless town promotion so entertaining.
- The Ghost: The Parker siblings, Tom's wife or Missy Lambe appear only on Twitter.
- Good Versus Good: Apparently, a conflict opposes Clara and the inhabitants who want things to remain as they are, and the ones who want progress, lead by the Mayor. Gigi seems more amused than anything when realizing this, but the mayor had a definite angry Stepford Smiler moment when his views were contested, and Clara, the ice cream shop owner, is visibly hit on a potential Berserk Button.
- Greeting Gesture Confusion: In one instance Tom Parker, an older politician, didn't understand what younger Beau Griffith was doing with a bro fist and wound up shaking his fist.
- Handshake Substitute: Beau Griffith likes "fist bump".
- Intergenerational misunderstanding happens when young Beau tries to bump his fist with mayor Tom Parker. Tom Parker takes Beau's fist and shakes it. Can be seen here.
- Beau uses fist bump to end video phone conversation with Ed. Ed repeats the gesture, and adds the Vulcan salute for good measure, because he's a sci-fi geek.
- Intergenerational misunderstanding happens when young Beau tries to bump his fist with mayor Tom Parker. Tom Parker takes Beau's fist and shakes it. Can be seen here.
- Heartbreak and Ice Cream: When Ed doesn't protest too much and accepts to escort Ms Griffiths to the 4th July festival, Gigi is worried about Clara and suggests they watch bad movies and eat ice-cream together. Clara being an ice-shop owner, they settle just on movie night.
- I Choose to Stay: Gigi at the end of the series, though she didn't start out hating Sanditon so much as it was originally intended as a summer activity before going to grad school.
- In-Series Nickname: Letitia Griffith wants to be called "Griff".
- Jerkass: As of episode 7, Tom Parker. After being called out on the nonexistence of the town he's promoting, he responds by giving Gigi empty politician talk and sending Edward to try to force Clara to become a juice bar.
- Last-Minute Hookup: In the last episode, Gigi meets Sidney Parker who seems interested in her and vice versa.
- Maybe Ever After: Domino, a story-telling app that is also good for stalking or exposing your life for everyone, seems to choose Sidney Parker as a potential partner for Gigi. She does not dislike him when she sees him onscreen.
- Minimalist Cast: For a long run, only four official characters appeared on-screen: Gigi, Clara, Ed and Tom. Later the audience was surprised with a duo of siblings bringing to Sanditon a spinning programme.
- Motor Mouth: Tom Parker speaks super quickly.
- My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap That: Domino's recording of Clara and Edward's conversation cuts out "important" discussion of the shop's future and focuses on the two of them talking about films and TV shows. Gigi's explanation for this apparent glitch?Gigi: I know it's just an app, but Domino really likes the romantic drama.
- Ominous Visual Glitch: This is how The Friendly Ghost of Sanditon is presented. The ghost's apparition is shown as Clara Breton's image gradually changing into a classic bed sheet ghost. Is there really a ghost? This show is suddenly paranormal? Or is Domino messing with them? Was it an in-verse joke?
- Pair the Smart Ones: Clara and Edward are two smart cookies who eventually get together.
- Setting Update: The story is based on Jane Austen's last and unfinished novel Sanditon. Gigi Darcy takes the role of Charlotte Heywood.
- Shout-Out:
- "Blue pill" as a way of ending Domino application was a The Matrix reference, though a bit messed up. Blue pill was a way into the Matrix, not out of it. However, perhaps Edward meant he embraces the crazy Big Brother implications of Domino?
- Clara and Ed watch together The Day of the Triffids adaptations, and then Clara makes triffid flavoured ice-scream.
- Clara cited Star Wars in one episode, showing Ed's influence on her.
- Ed wants to take Clara on double-feature Steven Spielberg.
- Ed uses the Vulcan salute from Star Trek as a greeting at the end of his phone call with Beau Griffiths.
- Domino is frequently compared to Big Brother from George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. Ed says it's a creepy application in his first appearance, and Clara finally says she's going to solve her romantic problem privately in episode 17.
- Shipper on Deck:
- Gigi is one for Edward/Clara, but this isn't surprising given her master shiper status.
- Domino proves to be the software version of a Ridiculously Human Robot when it comes to this.
- Mayor Parker ships Ed and new addition Ms Griffiths, the spin centre owner.
- Shrinking Violet: Subverted with Clara. She is self-conscious and gracious like in the book, but the graciousness takes over the self-conscious part (which is only shown during her hesitations about filming).
- Textile Work Is Feminine: Ladies of Sanditon organize a craft night once a week, and the first thing they did when Gigi arrived was some weird knitted pot holder.
- They Really Do Love Each Other: Gigi decides to get to the bottom of why Griff and Beau are always fighting by giving them a questionnaire which she hopes will reveal whatever their deep-seated conflict is. Griff and Beau see through it instantly, and briefly troll her, before revealing there is no deep-seated conflict, they're just competitive with each other but both of them loves and respects the other one
- Through His Stomach: Clara and Ed enjoy Clara's ice-cream — they make Triffid-flavoured ice-cream, and when they get together, Clara makes nutella waffles for two, which is a rich meal that must be shared.
- Win Your Freedom: A big part of Clara's motivation in the ice cream affair/out-and-out-fight is resisting Mayor Parker's Control Freak tendencies, which she thinks she can achieve only via besting him.
