So I received my copy of the newest edition of Pride & Prejudice on DVD in the mail this week and promptly sat down to watch it, while working on edits of my master’s thesis manuscript Saturday afternoon.I happened to glance up at the screen when Col. Fitzwilliam walks in and introduces himself and realized–HE’S WEARING A NAVAL OFFICER’S UNIFORM!

You see, because of my extensive research for my own regency-set novel (and, of course the director of the new P&P movie set it during the time when it was written, not when it was published), I know what the uniform of a Post Captain in the Royal Navy looks like… I’ve got so many pictures of my Captain Sir William Ransome (thanks to my template actor’s being in the Horatio Hornblower films) in his uniform on and surrounding my computer it’s not even funny. I haven’t yet listened to the commentary to see if there’s a reason why they put a Colonel (a rank that didn’t exist in the Royal Navy) into a Navy uniform, but it just drove home once again the importance of accurate research. The irony is, I didn’t even notice it until the third time I’d seen the movie…the time when I’m familiar enough with the main action and characters, I’m paying more attention to the secondary details.