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Post by Dr Strange on Dec 10, 2018 16:19:46 GMT
Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat are also working on a TV adaptation of Dracula, with the title role being taken by Danish actor Claes Bang.
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Dec 10, 2018 18:01:52 GMT
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Post by andydecker on Dec 10, 2018 21:34:38 GMT
Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat are also working on a TV adaptation of Dracula, with the title role being taken by Danish actor Claes Bang. After the disaster of Rhy Meyers as Dracula I am not so sure that Gatiss and Moffat can repeat their success of Sherlock. It would be nice, though.
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Post by Dr Strange on Dec 11, 2018 12:27:04 GMT
After the disaster of Rhy Meyers as Dracula I am not so sure that Gatiss and Moffat can repeat their success of Sherlock. It would be nice, though. Given their past records, I'm hoping they just aren't capable of screwing it up completely. Apparently it will be three 90 minute episodes, so it seems like they are taking it pretty seriously - but not dragging it out to the point that people just lose interest. They've already said it will be set in 1897 and that it's definitely not a Sherlock style "updating", which is also reassuring, I think. I was never really convinced by Sherlock - it was entertaining enough, as long as you didn't think about it too much, but the attempts to update the plots for a modern setting were mostly ridiculous.
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Post by helrunar on Dec 11, 2018 13:30:34 GMT
I'm just wondering whether the Mofftiss Dracula will achieve the impossible of receiving even more catcalls and outraged howls from viewers and critics than did the infamous Marc Warren film did some years back. I actually enjoyed the Warren film for what it was. From the way it was promoted, it was pretty clear to me well in advance of broadcast that it was going to be something along the lines of Monty Python's Flying Transylvanians, considerably more remote from the book even than the Hammer dish-ups (which, I'll admit, we adore here).
I enjoyed the first couple of years of Sherlock. I was unable to make it through series 3 and after that, I simply stopped paying it any mind at all.
cheers, H. ("If you don't have anything nice to say, come sit next to me, dearie")
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Post by andydecker on Dec 11, 2018 19:19:10 GMT
I'm just wondering whether the Mofftiss Dracula will achieve the impossible of receiving even more catcalls and outraged howls from viewers and critics than did the infamous Marc Warren film did some years back. I actually enjoyed the Warren film for what it was. I enjoyed the first couple of years of Sherlock. I was unable to make it through series 3 and after that, I simply stopped paying it any mind at all. I also thought this version of Dracula pretty ridiculous. And I love most things Dracula.
With Sherlock I am pretty much like you. Enjoyed the first ones. I think the meh-feeling began with the Baskerville episode, which was pretty disappointing. Then the episodes got ever more self-indulging. I didn't see the last seasons.
That their Dracula will be a period piece is a surprise.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Dec 12, 2018 13:01:53 GMT
I'm just wondering whether the Mofftiss Dracula will achieve the impossible of receiving even more catcalls and outraged howls from viewers and critics than did the infamous Marc Warren film did some years back. I actually enjoyed the Warren film for what it was. I enjoyed the first couple of years of Sherlock. I was unable to make it through series 3 and after that, I simply stopped paying it any mind at all. I also thought this version of Dracula pretty ridiculous. And I love most things Dracula. With Sherlock I am pretty much like you. Enjoyed the first ones. I think the meh-feeling began with the Baskerville episode, which was pretty disappointing. Then the episodes got ever more self-indulging. I didn't see the last seasons. That their Dracula will be a period piece is a surprise.
I think it's best to keep it in the right time period. However, it will have to be very good to match or surpass BBC2's 1977 version with Louis Jourdan and Frank Finlay, which is available as a DVD.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Dec 13, 2018 13:52:53 GMT
Here is Jeremy Brett as Dracula in 1978, having just come down the chimbley apparently.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Dec 18, 2018 13:12:14 GMT
About The Haunting of M.R. James, so far the adaptations have been intelligent reductions of the original stories. However, a half-hour time slot would have been better. I suspect that Saturday's play about M.R. James will be some sort of culmination of the adaptations. It's what I would do.
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Post by ropardoe on Dec 18, 2018 14:13:22 GMT
About The Haunting of M.R. James, so far the adaptations have been intelligent reductions of the original stories. However, a half-hour time slot would have been better. I suspect that Saturday's play about M.R. James will be some sort of culmination of the adaptations. It's what I would do. You reckon? So far I haven't either hated or loved them, but I can't see how the change to the ending of "Casting the Runes" was in any way intelligent.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Dec 18, 2018 14:20:48 GMT
About The Haunting of M.R. James, so far the adaptations have been intelligent reductions of the original stories. However, a half-hour time slot would have been better. I suspect that Saturday's play about M.R. James will be some sort of culmination of the adaptations. It's what I would do. You reckon? So far I haven't either hated or loved them, but I can't see how the change to the ending of "Casting the Runes" was in any way intelligent. Even though I know changes have been made and scenes are missing, they stand up as being complete on their own.
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Dec 18, 2018 15:01:59 GMT
About The Haunting of M.R. James, so far the adaptations have been intelligent reductions of the original stories. However, a half-hour time slot would have been better. I suspect that Saturday's play about M.R. James will be some sort of culmination of the adaptations. It's what I would do. You reckon? So far I haven't either hated or loved them, but I can't see how the change to the ending of "Casting the Runes" was in any way intelligent. I thought the end worked nicely for radio. I liked the way that it mirrored Harrington's fate, and brought audible hints of the 'dog' ('or what?) the porter from the original story mentions. I've been enjoying these. Yes, I would also prefer longer adaptations, but understand the practicalities of the slot it's in. I'm looking forward to Saturday's omnibus edition on BBC Radio 4 Extra before the new play on BBC Radio 4, but, then, I've always fancied an M.R. James anthology drama. The changes have made sense dramatically, as far as I'm concerned, for the medium. I liked the way The Mezzotint was opened out beyond being a series of exchanges in a variety of rooms, as the change in acoustics adds something - strange to say for radio, but it has the feel of 'show, don't tell'.
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Dec 18, 2018 16:56:29 GMT
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Post by helrunar on Dec 19, 2018 0:27:25 GMT
I've heard The Mezzotint and Casting the Runes and liked the latter a smidgeon more. But neither felt really Jamesian to me, for what that's worth.
H.
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Dec 19, 2018 17:42:04 GMT
I thought the end worked nicely for radio. By chance, after writing that post I was listening to The Red Room radio series again and got to the version of Casting the Runes in that series, and Karswell goes missing at sea here, rather than as the original. So I began to wonder if any adaptation stuck to M.R. James's ending... and I don't believe I've seen or heard one that does. The vintage radio version for Escape ends on railway lines, as does Night of the Demon, of course, and the 1979 Yorkshire TV version takes us into air travel. So Neil Brand's version is the first I've known to actually get Karswell to St Wulfram's. (Though I suppose Robert Lloyd Parry's recital counts as an adaptation, in certain respects, and he substitutes the falling stone for a gargoyle - a substitution I had also, coincidentally, made when referring to the Abbey's former occupant's demise when writing Ex Libris: Lufford - which doesn't strictly contradict the original, as a stone gargoyle is still a stone.)
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