Gormenghast BBC series

[Jack]

Thank you all – Sorry I mentioned Earthsea ha ha! Hells that stank. But we should have Dark materials, stardust and I am Legend coming out soon (If you have seen them then not a word – Shhhh!). Quite looking forward to them, looks like a good year – I’ll let you all know what I think of Gormenghast – Cheers for the help.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Wyvern

I admit, I really liked the series, though compared to today's effects some of there's may seem a little clunky. Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Neve McIntosh are both excellent, but for me the star performer is Celia Imrie. Her Duchess was superb!

Ah, yes... She, too, brought some very nice subtleties to the role. Especially when she receives word about Fuchsia... and confronts Titus....

[Jack]

Ok, watched -
Watched, loved and hated but understood the changes and why they were made (I still don’t have to like it though). Gormenghast is probably my all time favourite Book, simply for the prose and writing style it wins most comparisons hands down. So I will be truthful with the BBC adaptation – 1. Always will be is the format – The book is nigh unfilmable. There is no way that the two books could be filmed in 4 hrs ever – Ever, ever, ever ever! Whilst keeping the prose, atmosphere and drama of the books. When mainstream and generally forgettable series can command six 1 hour episodes plus, and considering the amount of time and money involved, it is gobsmaking that the BBC would be so silly (starting to become the norm now) with its own production by hampering the writer and cast before it was even made. They had to make everything happen way too fast, so that it flashes by, so don’t blink or your miss it. So ‘many’ wonderful plot scenes and character stories and interactions are cut from the work to fit the time and size constraints!
2. Is in its handling of the most important character too me (and no its not Steerpike), and one of the few with whom I formed an emotional bond while reading the book - Fuschia. In the first book she is a 15 year old that lives inside her own imagination, she reminds me ‘heavily’ of my twin – The parallels are disturbing at times but then she thinks I’m a lot like Steerpike, don’t quite know how to feel about that one, and anyway what do we get? An actress in her twenties acting the scene of a child in an adult's body, causing the viewer to assume that she must be suffering from mental problems! Fuschia is one of the less barmy characters in the book, scared of her own shadow yes – Barmy no! They do do the scene with her and lord Groan in the garden really well though – But she is meant to be 15! My other favourite part is so changed in the second book that I nearly did not recognise it!
That said and the whinging over – The set is very well done, the actors really are top notch – Especially like the rendition of Steerpike and the Prunesqualler’s – Excellent! Cora and Clara were well done too – In fact they all were. So well done really – What they did, with what they had at hand is outstandingly good – But I still vastly prefer the book, is that fair?

[GOLLUM]

I haven't seen the TV series everyone is talking about here, I'm getting jealous now....

I simply must get the DVD, what's it called exactly??

[Tillane]

Here you go, Gollum. This is the listing at Amazon: Gormenghast

[j. d. worthington]

Yes, Jack... I'd say that's fair. I think it so impressed me because, quite frankly, I'd always sworn you couldn't even begin to capture the feel of the thing as a dramatic presentation... not with Peake's prose being such a large part of that. Yet... even with the things they had to cut, and the fact they had to use an older actress for Fuchsia (something they did try to compensate for via alterations in makeup, posture, mannerisms, etc.)... even so, they really did manage to capture the feel, the atmosphere of it all, as well as a surprising amount of the incidents and characters (including insights into... this is one that rewards rewatching, as even those brief flashes are often very carefully crafted and emotionally complex -- kudos to the entire cast on that aspect). Though by no means an unqualified success, it is a remarkable adaptation worthy of Peake in many, many ways, and an often richly textured and layered one.