Gormenghast

I've read Mervyn Peake's books over and over again. To me, the story of Titus Groan, 77'th earl of Gormenghast, is one that can actually compete with Tolkien's "The Lord Of The Rings".

So what do I think about the mini series? Well, obviously no one would dare do what Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema did with the aforementioned movie, so I guess a four part mini series was the next best thing. (Although I would have loved to see this in a cinema!) Good actors and an excitingly stylistic production makes this a worthwhile four hours. Some has been left out, of course, but there's still plenty of material left to build the characters of the story.

This is not a fantasy movie. It has no or few classic fantasy elements at all in it. I would rather see it as a fantastic movie, where the laws of the "normal" world aren't broken - just a little bent out of shape...

Gormenghast will provide a glimpse into our own world, and even though it's not always pretty, it's always done in beautiful colors.

This looks like being the year of big budget gothic adventure (all featuring Christopher Lee) with Sleepy Hollow packing them in at multiplexes around Britain and The Lord of the Rings trilogy currently shooting in New Zealand - not to mention this lavish mini-series which is one of the biggest fantasy productions ever staged on British TV.

Gormenghast spent five years in production and it seems like all the hard work was worth the wait.

With an impressive cast including Celia Imrie, John Sessions, Warren Mitchell and Jonathan Rhys Myers, the BBC have ensured that Mervyn Peake's classic tale of murder, seduction and tragic events striking the family of a crumbling castle is a faithful version of a literary classic.

At one point, Sting owned the rights to the books and was planning to star in a movie version - he settled for playing Steerpike in an adaptation from 1984.

It's perhaps best that this ended up as a TV drama: The plot and scale of the original material is far too dense to do justice in a two hour movie.

The casting is excellent, the special effects are fine and direction by Andy Wilson is assured.

Well worth a look.

Nothing has divided the critics more than this lavish fantasy drama.

The broadsheets loved it while Terry Wogan went to bed after two minutes scratching his head in confusion.

The purists may be moaning that it's not as good as Mervyn Peake's original novels but there's no denying that this has been an entertaining production perhaps best viewed as a Gothic version of Dallas or Coronation Street.

Okay, the opener was a lot to take in with so many eccentric characters, some gorgeous sets and costumes, not to mention that wealth of names from Steerpike and Barquentine to Flay and Swelter. But for those patient enough to bear with it, the series paid off handsomely.

Part two was a feast for the eyes as Steerpike (Jonathan Rhys Myers) continued his malevolent attempt to seize power, Lord Groan (Ian Richardson) re-enacted a scene from The Birds and Fiona Shaw threatened to steal the show as Irma Prunesquallor.

This week we said goodbye to the rambling, crumbling walls of Gormenghast; to the deliciously batty Clarice (Zoe Wanamaker) and Cora (Lynsey Baxter), the duplicitous Steerpike and the cat-loving Lady Gertrude.

TV is a poorer medium without it.

We may never see its like again.

to a fan and repeat reader of the books, this was a very disappointing production. it really had none of the atmosphere, depth of characters, sense of age, menace or drama of the books. instead it was bright and comical, clumsy and light-weight - really inappropriate and even amateurish. the cast had incredible potential, but they were given nothing to work with.

i only hope that peter jackson might take this on one day and do these books the justice they deserve.

to a die-hard Gormenghast fan, i'd say see it by all means, but be prepared for a pretty big let-down!!

This BBC mini-series is actually a combination of the books Titus Groan and Gormenghast. In 4 - 1 hour parts, being from the BBC they're really close to a whole hour as opposed to the usual 45 minute network episodes.

Gormenghast is an ancient kingdom that must be located somewhere in Europe, since it is populated with Europeans. More specifically, it is populated with really odd Europeans, which sounds more like Great Britain. In fact it is a fictional location in which Mervyn Peake has created an extremely ossified culture, technologically stagnant, that indulges itself in numerous obscure rituals that cover almost all routine events, written down in huge books and applied as if their lives depended on it.

The story centers around the Groans, who's male heirs rule as Earls. Titus is set to become the 77th Earl of Groan, and as he matures he sees it as his doom rather than his destiny, and comes to despise Gormenghast.

At first, however, he's just a baby and the story centers on his father and the odd ducks that are his family and servants. Into this mix is added Steerpike, a kitchen boy of huge ambition that finds ways to ingratiate, titillate and extort his way to a much higher position, hardly killing anyone at all to get there. The Groans and Gormenghast in general are so dense and caught up in the minutiae of their lives it takes them years to realize that there's a raccoon in the chicken house, so there's plenty of story to take up a 4 hour mini-series.

I read these two books once upon a time and hardly remember them. I believe the BBC series plays Steerpike a bit more sympathetic than the books did. The trilogy has been compared to LOTR and the Thomas Covenant trilogy, both of which I liked more than Gormenghast. Gormenghast is fiction not fantasy, there are no dragons, orcs or hobbits. The kingdom appears to be mostly medieval with some touches of modernity here and there. The closest thing to monsters are the huge Death Owls.

What makes the mini-series work is a very talented cast that bring their characters to life. They make it a pleasure to watch, if only once. 8/10

The 2 DVD set has a Making Of, Cast interviews, a few unrelated trailers. It is all shot in a peculiar not-quite 4:3 or 16:9 format, at least the way my hardware decoded it to the screen. Video and audio are strictly TV quality, with video colorful if a bit smeared and audio all upfront mono as far as I could tell. The DVDs get a 6/10 for getting it on my screen but not much else.