Dracula - BBC 1 & Netflix.

Mousewar

That summed up the sherlock series in microcosm.
Ep 1: The promising beginning that explores the original story and stays mostly true to the spirit of it.
Ep 2: The bloated middle where the story starts to get lost amidst the unwieldy ambitions of the writers.
Ep 3: Total disappearance of the writers up their own arse as they try desperately and bafflingly to be edgy.

Shame.

kerplun k

Ah lads. Last episode was shocking. What happened.

Sir Oxman

Hmm.
The switch to modern days didn't do it for me.
The girl, gay guy and young doctor absolutely useless.
Even Dolly Wells modern character was awful.

I'll take eps 1 and 2 and the performances of Bang and Wells as 3 hours of great entertainment but that last 1.5 hours was awful.

I'd watch a Sister Agatha series set in the late 1800s in middle Europe no problem!

mickdoocey

i thought the first episode was really good until Dracula shows up at the nunnery
from there on the episode's quality was dreadful. really silly and comical.
episode 2 and 3 quality dropped further
real shame

lawred2

Didn't mind it really.. happy enough with it overall. It was entertaining.

Young doctor was a nothing character though

IAMAMORON

Claes Bang is great. Last episode was very bbc but i still enjoyed it.

There is definitely scope for a vampire movie set in the depths of deepest transylvania. Nice and dark and deep and everlasting .....

I loved the labyryinth castle , more please.

OldRio

To paraphrase the great Mr. L. Cohen. RIP.
I want it darker.

fryup

IAMAMORON wrote: »

Claes Bang is great.
.

he'd make a great Bond villain or dare i say it maybe new 007 ??

Man Vs ManUre

fryup wrote: »

he'd make a great Bond villain or dare i say it maybe new 007 ??

Can’t see him as Bond, he is more suited to the villain role.
I would like to see a radical change in Bond. I don’t think a female Bond will work, leave them to the little women type films. Instead I think Bond should go up against some of the superhero villains like Joker or Penguin. Or maybe an animation film.

micks_address

Missed this as it aired on bbc when is it going to be available on Netflix?
Thanks,
Mick

Man Vs ManUre

micks_address wrote: »

Missed this as it aired on bbc when is it going to be available on Netflix?
Thanks,
Mick

Person made a mistake putting Netflix in the title. Nobody knows when/if it will be put there.

Agent Coulson

micks_address wrote: »

Missed this as it aired on bbc when is it going to be available on Netflix?
Thanks,
Mick

It's released all over the world today on Netflix except Ireland and the UK.

Martin Tyler AgueroooOO

Watched the first episode on Netflix this morning and enjoyed but reading reviews it goes down hill fast in episodes 2 and 3 not sure I want to stick with it for another 3 hours if it gets that bad.

Sir Oxman

Martin Tyler AgueroooOO wrote: »

Watched the first episode on Netflix this morning and enjoyed but reading reviews it goes down hill fast in episodes 2 and 3 not sure I want to stick with it for another 3 hours if it gets that bad.

Episode 2 is very good (IMO)
Episode 3...well, watch it to finish it off but...

sydthebeat

Yeah same, the first two episodes based on gothic horror are quite entertaining.

The third episode is complete muck.

The lustre has firmly come off the writers work. I think they world be better as screenplay writers working on someone's else's base vision, cos when they have to be original in their story it falls apart

Sir Oxman

Sir Oxman wrote: »

Episode 2 is very good (IMO)
Episode 3...well, watch it to finish it off but...

sydthebeat wrote: »

Yeah same, the first two episodes based on gothic horror are quite entertaining.

The third episode is complete muck.

The lustre has firmly come off the writers work. I think they world be better as screenplay writers working on someone's else's base vision, cos when they have to be original in their story it falls apart

typical really as from the same team that did Sherlock - started off strong but fairly quickly went to sh1t

cml387

If you like the kind of thing Moffat and Gatiss get up to (and I do) it was enjoyable, and some laugh out loud moments in the last episode as well as shocks. Also some Easter eggs for fans of Dr Who and the League of Gentlemen.

Martin Tyler AgueroooOO

Right I watched both episode 2 and 3 and now I am quite angry that I wasted a Saturday afternoon on that muck. I can just see the writers in the writers room with smug smiles on their faces coming up with that self indulgent load of crap in that final episode.

Man Vs ManUre

Martin Tyler AgueroooOO wrote: »

Right I watched both episode 2 and 3 and now I am quite angry that I wasted a Saturday afternoon on that muck. I can just see the writers in the writers room with smug smiles on their faces coming up with that self indulgent load of crap in that final episode.

Agree the final episode was awful. The modern London setting just didn’t work, too much stupid social media type crap, the science was too much like the later awful Blade movies, and the Lucy character was terrible so vain and pointless. It’s opening 10mins was ok, the scenes on the beach and in the house were good, everything after that was awful.
But I thought the 2nd episode was brilliant along with the 1st.

Seamai

Sir Oxman wrote: »

Hmm.
The switch to modern days didn't do it for me.
The girl, gay guy and young doctor absolutely useless.
Even Dolly Wells modern character was awful.

I'll take eps 1 and 2 and the performances of Bang and Wells as 3 hours of great entertainment but that last 1.5 hours was awful.

I'd watch a Sister Agatha series set in the late 1800s in middle Europe no problem!

Episode 1 was definitely the best, Sr Agatha had some brilliant lines but the gothic creepiness ran out of steam and the last episode was more like Silence of the Lambs.

tommy2bad

Enjoyed it, didn't spoil the last ep in the trailer which makes a change. I did think it was Torchwood revisited a bit, tbh I got a huge Captain Jack Harkness vibe from the Count, never mind the thematic similarities. Face of Bo thing going on a bit. But this is Moffat and Gatiss so....
Ep1 was exelent, all gothic and with enough modern angles to keep it interisting.
Ep2 Ok as a stand alone story, could have been anyone, didn't realy expand the overall story apart from, that ending!
Ep3 Better,it tiped it's hat to all the later hammer films and managed in the end to make a coherent whole of what was a bit episodic.
OK Neither Moffat or Gattis have an original idea in their heads but they do have a style and if it works for you then you enjoyed it.If not then this isn't for you. They seem to be having a conversation with themselves at this stage. I'm happy to evesdrop but I can see it won't be to everyones taste.

fritzelly

Thought the third episode was alright if a somewhat anticlimactic finish

Snake Plisken

Agree with most on here total waste of time! That's why I gave up on Sherlock because of these writers!
The First episode was tolerable. The way they ended the third episode was so anticlimatic and out of character that went against what we had seen in the previous episodes it just makes me angry I bothered wasting 4.5 hours watching it. Let's hope there is no Season 2!

IAMAMORON

fryup wrote: »

he'd make a great Bond villain or dare i say it maybe new 007 ??

There is a smidgen of George Lazenby about him. The bookies have stopped taking bets.

Snake Plisken

I think this tweet summed the series up nicely

https://twitter.com/georgia_cwood/status/1213227589617229825?s=19

Seamai

Snake Plisken wrote: »

I think this tweet summed the series up nicely

https://twitter.com/georgia_cwood/status/1213227589617229825?s=19

That is spot on.

icdg

Agent Coulson wrote: »

It's released all over the world today on Netflix except Ireland and the UK.

A bit odd that. Ireland is up there with China and North Korea (ie the countries Netflix doesn’t do business in) as the only countries you can’t steam this series legally in. We can’t get on Netflix, but we aren’t allowed watch it on the iPlayer either.

(In fairness, it will apparently be on Netflix here at an unspecified later date).

fritzelly

icdg wrote: »

A bit odd that. Ireland is up there with China and North Korea (ie the countries Netflix doesn’t do business in) as the only countries you can’t steam this series legally in. We can’t get on Netflix, but we aren’t allowed watch it on the iPlayer either.

(In fairness, it will apparently be on Netflix here at an unspecified later date).

Possibly RTE have got the rights for a showing in the future?
Only reason I can think of - not sure how Netflix licencing works for shows but would guess not the same as terrestrial TV where audience numbers etc come into play regarding the price

The White Wolf

Snake Plisken wrote: »

I think this tweet summed the series up nicely

https://twitter.com/georgia_cwood/status/1213227589617229825?s=19

Yes I was bitterly disappointed by that twist and episode 3. I love the whole mythos of Dracula and was digging some of the artistic licences they were taking, mainly enjoying the dynamic between him and Van Helsing.

But that 3rd episode was so jarring it soured me completely. I'm just thankful that they didn't pull that **** from the beginning and got two solid episodes out of it.

Agent Coulson

icdg wrote: »

A bit odd that. Ireland is up there with China and North Korea (ie the countries Netflix doesn’t do business in) as the only countries you can’t steam this series legally in. We can’t get on Netflix, but we aren’t allowed watch it on the iPlayer either.

(In fairness, it will apparently be on Netflix here at an unspecified later date).

It's Netflix UK & Ireland people seem to forget it's not Netflix Ireland and the rights between the islands is complicated so I imagine Netflix just lumps Ireland into the UK with the exception of a handful of shows that one or the other countries already have rights to.

Also the BBC probably have some control over what gets shown in Ireland due to the fact it is available here in Sky and they would look the rights to it already been shown in Ireland on that platform.

This seems to happen with all BBC shows they come to Netflix UK & Ireland down the line.

peteeeed

Utter rubbish, had promise for the first 10 mins, it was like a carry on movie at times, the WiFi code in ep3 ��.

I actually didn't think the concept of the last episode was too bad..

What actually annoyed me were the retarded chess game conversations between the two..
A cheap film making trope that added nothing really, apart from trying to make it edgy..

I really think the heart of filmmaking is being lost at times...

The White Wolf

peteeeed wrote: »

Utter rubbish, had promise for the first 10 mins, it was like a carry on movie at times, the WiFi code in ep3 ��.

Episode 3 was a shambles on so many levels, capped off at Dracula being such a tech whizz that he knew how to work tablets, apps and tech security. Then again I did miss what that woman's occupation was at the start of episode 3....probably IT. :rolleyes:

frosty123

The White Wolf wrote: »

Episode 3 was a shambles on so many levels, capped off at Dracula being such a tech whizz that he knew how to work tablets, apps and tech security.

He has a high IQ like Hannibal Lector, I quite enjoyed that aspect having Dracula in modern times

fritzelly

The White Wolf wrote: »

Episode 3 was a shambles on so many levels, capped off at Dracula being such a tech whizz that he knew how to work tablets, apps and tech security. Then again I did miss what that woman's occupation was at the start of episode 3....probably IT. :rolleyes:

That was quite clearly pointed out - anyone he fed on he had access to their memories

The White Wolf

fritzelly wrote: »

That was quite clearly pointed out - anyone he fed on he had access to their memories

Yes I know....so she was IT? I missed that due to my annoyance of what they ended up doing.

There's other stuff like Dracula knowing what a camera was....was there cameras in 1897?

SPDUB

The White Wolf wrote: »

Yes I know....so she was IT? I missed that due to my annoyance of what they ended up doing.

There's other stuff like Dracula knowing what a camera was....was there cameras in 1897?

She was a modern person who know how to use a phone and tablets therefore he then know how to operate them plus he's intelligent .

The first known photograph was taken in 1826/27 .

Photography was fairly well established by the mid 1840's though it minutes of exposure to take a picture .

Wibbs

I have to say I liked it. Yeah it was clunky at times, but I didn't mind the modern era part. I certainly found it significantly better than the recent BBC Dickens adaptation and leagues ahead of their War of the Worlds adaptation which was an utter shambles of a thing.

is_that_so

Have only watched the first one, a struggle at that. As they are recorded was unaware of how incredibly long they are. Not 1.5 hours of material in Part 1 anyway and there were times I felt I was watching Dr Who set-ups. Too many sidesteps away from telling the actual story. Hope to get back to the rest but not with enthusiasm.

is_that_so

Wibbs wrote: »

I have to say I liked it. Yeah it was clunky at times, but I didn't mind the modern era part. I certainly found it significantly better than the recent BBC Dickens adaptation and leagues ahead of their War of the Worlds adaptation which was an utter shambles of a thing.

These are very low bars to compare it to! Not having finished I'm betting too long will work for me.

loyatemu

Enjoyable enough overall but got progressively worse as it went on. Anticlimactic ending.

El_Duderino 09

I enjoyed it. It was by no means a classic but I had a good time watching it. The twist at the ending was good. I won't watch it again but I'm happy with it.

ollkiller

Watched the first episode. No tension created whatsoever. A terrible adaptation.

duridian

On the subject of the IT stuff, despite the overall weakness of episode 3, two things in the ep had me genuinely LOLling.

1) Dracula’s reply when Dr. Helsing looked around and said:”You’re online??? You shouldn’t be online!?! Who gave him the WiFi key???”
“Oh it was my name.”

2) Drac: “Pffft! Nobody has rights!”
Helsing: “Everyone has rights now, you know like in a civilisation.”
.... Few minutes later...
Renfield: “Hello, I represent Count Dracula. It appears you have been detaining him against his will in breach of his rights....”

loyatemu

duridian wrote: »

On the subject of the IT stuff, despite the overall weakness of episode 3, two things in the ep had me genuinely LOLling.

1) Dracula’s reply when Dr. Helsing looked around and said:”You’re online??? You shouldn’t be online!?! Who gave him the WiFi key???”
“Oh it was my name.”

2) Drac: “Pffft! Nobody has rights!”
Helsing: “People have rights now, you know like in a civilisation.”
.... Few minutes later...
Renfield: “Hello, I represent Count Dracula. It appears you have been detaining him against his will in breach of his rights....”

I was disappointed we didn't see more of Renfield

though given the choice between releasing him and just opening the sunroof and melting him on the spot it was inexplicable that they wouldn't choose the latter.

bennyineire

Anybody know when it will be on Netflix over here ?

duridian

loyatemu wrote: »

Ithough given the choice between releasing him and just opening the sunroof and melting him on the spot it was inexplicable that they wouldn't choose the latter.

Probably because, as Drac himself put it, “I see a mercenary over there... in my experience, people who can afford mercenaries aren’t interested in just doing scientific research...”

I think that indicates that the Jonathan Harker Foundation may have been involved in the arms industry, not trying to kill off Dracula, and maybe had plans to use what they learned from studying Dracula in that way. Super-soldiers, bio weapons from vampires etc. is a common enough trope in modern vampire fiction.

duridian

Dr. Jack Seward's home decor, seen in episode 3, seems to be inspired by the carpet in The Shining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N3ME6vQOnQ

duridian

bennyineire wrote: »

Anybody know when it will be on Netflix over here ?

Probably from roughly the start of February.

BBC iPlayer will be allowing streaming of the series until then.
Episodes 1,2, & 3 are available there for another 25, 26, & 27 days respectively. Therefore I'd say most likely the 3rd of February before it goes on Netflix here.

As BBC will almost certainly have secured exclusive rights to stream it on iPlayer in United Kingdom for that duration, it is unlikely to appear on Irish Netflix until the date I mentioned, because Netflix UK & Ireland would be contractually restricted by the iPlayer deal.

Man Vs ManUre

bennyineire wrote: »

Anybody know when it will be on Netflix over here ?

In 123 years from now.