After watching the
1931 ‘Dracula’ I decided to watch the latest BBC adaptation of Bram Stokers ‘Dracula’.
Given how ‘Sherlock’ had progressed, starting well, with a few minor missteps (e.g.
This is a three patch problem, instead of a three pipe problem, which just
seemed like being modern for being modern sake) and then went downhill, with the
final session (and it’s preceding special) plumping new depths of being shite,
I did have a few reservations.
Like ‘Sherlock’ ‘Dracula’
starts off well, such as when Dracula feeds off a victim over a length of time,
it makes himself younger and his victim older and older, as they are drained of
more and more blood and Sister Agatha Van Helsing, who kicks ass while dropping
bon mots (very much like a Warren Ellis character, as if Jenny Sparks had been
born without powers and decided to become a nun). The first episode does have a
few clangers, at times Dracula speaks very much like someone born in the 21st
century, rather than someone born in the 16th century, but it is a
very solid 8/10.
The second episode
dips a little, but the great and good moments (such as drinking someone’s blood
passes on their memories and knowledge) vastly outweigh the bad (Sister Agatha
is been feed on by Dracula, but she doesn’t age like Jonathan Harker did in episode
one) and it has a nice reference to Mr Gatiss’ former colleagues show, ‘Inside Number 9’.
And the third episode
really dives headfirst into being total shite, with practically every scene being
a stinker, especially when Gatiss turns up as Dracula’s lawyer. It’s a nice
touch that a foundation has been set up in Jonathan Harker’s name and it’s the Jonathan
Harker Foundation that captures Dracula as he emerges onto Whitby beach, after resting
dormant in his coffin under the sea. But why hasn’t he aged, he’s had no blood
for something like 123 years! Why did the Foundation let Dracula have Skye? Why
did they let his lawyer in? Why not deny that he is there? Where does Dracula
get his money from? Why doesn’t the Foundation do something to stop Dracula?
And then there’s the conclusion, where Dr Zoe Van Helsing, a relative of Sister
Agatha’s, explains that the only reason Dracula fears the cross/Jesus/the
Church, holy water, sunlight, etc. and has to be invited in, is that he is
afraid of death and these things that he is afraid of, only affect him because
he has conditioned himself to be affected by them. Confronted with this he decides
to kill himself, now no longer afraid of death. The end. Which is drivel.
Bullshit. Very poor. 8/10 for episode one, 7/10 for episode two and minus
infinity/10 for episode three, which reactively lowers the score for the other
episodes.
…and I did today’s
G2 Crossword:
…which ends the week on an okay note, with only having to
cheat on an eighth of the clues (three out of 23). A bit annoyed that I went
for ‘hobo’ as the answer to ‘tramp’, when it was ‘plod’ and that I didn’t get
‘ulterior’ from ‘intentionally hidden’, but I did learn that ‘expiate’ means to
‘atone for’. After a few upsets, it looks like the little grey cells are back
in the crossword game, roll on next week’s grids…
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