(no subject)

[chelseagirl]

I thought I'd see some commentary on the network tv Dracula when I logged on, but none found yet; me doing fandom wrong, as usual, I guess. ;-)

My opinion: it was hilarious. <"lj-user=glvalentine"> did a wonderful post on the pilot costumes before it aired, and she was dead on. The men's, not too bad. The women's range from 80s prom dresses to vaguely Edwardian to one of Mina's outfits being a rather fetching approximation of Dior's New Look. And all those women running around the 19th century with their hair down? Did Not Happen, people, please stop.

And the rest of it was hilarious, too. Spoilers ahead: Dracula somehow supporting steampunk sustainable energy, somehow in opposition to the evil Order of the Dragon who support the use of fossil fuels? And his surprising ally, who is also Mina's med school professor? And blonde Lady Whatserface with the feather necklace, who cannot seem to wear her hair up, likes to make out with Dracula, and clearly has a serious case of Buffy Envy. And look: Guy who played Sir Anthony Strallan on Downton Abbey is one of the Big Oil dudes. Jack Davenport plays Second Choice Guy once again. Jonathan Rhys Myers looks on the shattered remnants of his career.

Don't get me wrong -- I thoroughly enjoyed it, and will be watching at least a few more times. M. used to call The Vampire Diaries my Bad Vampire Show, but now that I've given that up, at least he'll be able to keep using the name -- and this time, it's a bit more accurate.

Comments

[arathesane.livejournal.com]

I actually forgot it was on last night but I set my DVR two months ago with all the premiere days for shows I either watch or for new ones I want to try this season. I noticed it was taping last night when I was flipping through the channels. The minute I watched of it was pretty terrible but I think it will be good, campy fun for a bit. And the costumes look cool.

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

The men's costumes are cool. The women's costumes are hilariously bad, like someone wanted to suggest the Victorian era from things they were told about but hadn't actually bothered to research, or things they could pick up at a thrift shop.

I find that "so bad it's good" rarely applies, usually things that are bad are bad. But in this case, I think it really will be fun.

[ibshafer.livejournal.com]

Oh, wah! I didn't realize it was on! And I looked at last night's line-up, too, but I wasn't expecting anything to be on, so didn't look too hard.

I'll have to wait until it shows up On Demand, later tonight.

I think Jonathan Rhys Myers is well cast as Dracula - he pulled off that air of predatory menace so well on The Tudors. Just wish he got to keep his accent. From the trailer I saw, he seemed to be playing American...

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

JRM is definitely hampered by the American accent -- there is a reasonable plot motivation for it. But it's . . . not good. It doesn't defy expectations like Sleepy Hollow does, by being actually good. It may, however, be tremendous fun. So far, I'm going for that.

[studiesinlight.livejournal.com]

I don't get that channel over the air with my antenna -- it's the only one I can never get, but I have 6+ PBS stations, so can't complain -- so I'll have the check it out (along with the return of Grimm!) from the network's site someday soon. (Hopefully, my Chromecast will work for this purpose with my work Mac laptop, even though it doesn't work with my home PC.)

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

Wow; I thought all the major networks were still accessible over-the-air in all the major markets.

It's fun. It's not remotely *good.* In her blog, Cherie Priest suggested if they hadn't called it Dracula and insisted on sticking character names on very different characters, it might have been better. I think she's onto something.

[studiesinlight.livejournal.com]

Regarding limited over-the-air access, this isn't related to the digital conversion. :-) The local affiliate had a dispute with NBC. Long story short, the previously-an-NBC-affiliate now broadcasts as an independent and can be seen easily all over the greater Bay Area, while the new NBC station has extremely limited range.

(I imagine that NBC figured that everyone with a Nielsen box has cable?)

Luckily, NBC puts their shows up on their website very promptly, and this is the other reason that I purchased a Chromecast. :-)

[mortalwombat731.livejournal.com]

I'll watch it eventually, but I am, as always, prepared to be... not precisely disappointed, maybe bemused?

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

Bemused works.

Cherie Priest, in her blog, suggested if they'd made this story and not insisted on calling the characters Dracula, Mina, Jonathan, etc., it might have been an interesting story. But by transforming them all so completely, you alienate your fanbase who understand these characters to be fairly consistent through the various adaptations . . . well, that's all I'll say since you haven't seen it. Meanwhile I, of course, am bemused at Lovelorn Alice and the rampaging invasion of other Disney characters into Wonderland. Bored, and bemused.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Funnily enough, I'm watching it right this very minute. I watched Grimm live last night but then switched over to Haven. I have no strong feelings one way or the other so far, though I did like the lightbulbs, LOL! And JRM looked nice flipping through the air in slo-mo a minute ago. I'll certainly keep watching, because if nothing else it's pretty.

[chelseagirl.livejournal.com]

It's entertaining. It's not good. I may watch it in the same way you watch those SyFy movies on Saturdays. ;-) (M and I can't even sit through those; we've tried.)