What Else Is Everyone Watching At The Moment?

[fenris]

Young Dracula, episodes #3.1 'Hide and Seek' and #3.2 'The Enemy'.

It's been three years since Young Dracula was cancelled. The children who watched the show back then are teenagers now, and the revived Young Dracula has grown up with them. Based on the first two episodes, the new third season is considerably darker and more complex than what came before. There's also no concession made for any newcomers to the show, as opening episode 'Hide and Seek' throws us straight into the action - literally, with a lengthy sequence including a foot pursuit, CGI knives flying at the camera, a couple of brief physical altercations and a car chase, which all would have seemed totally out-of-place if they'd occurred in either of the previous seasons. But it perfectly captures the new tone of the show and can be seen as a statement of intent by the producers.

While there are still some occasional pratfalls and running gags for the younger end of the audience spectrum, practically everything about the series is now more stark, brutal and immediate. Previously, vampire slayers (usually Eric van Helsing and his son Johnno) were treated as comic relief, but the slayers encountered in 'Hide and Seek' look & behave like battle-hardened mercenaries who have just wandered out of a war zone. And whereas before Ingrid routinely braved daylight without coming to any harm due to use of sunglasses and an umbrella, we'd now had scenes of her and Vlad forced to run unprotected through patches of sunlight, shrieking in pain as smoke erupts from their skin.

This new, darker approach is especially illustrated by the multi-layered and morally complicated storylines attached to the characters debuting this season: Erin is introduced in 'Hide and Seek' as a newly bitten half-tooth, but by episode's end has been revealed to the audience (but not the other characters) as a breather whose slayer brother has been bitten and turned by Ingrid. She's infiltrated the Dracula household with the intention of wiping out the entire bloodline - only to discover, once successfully in place, that she lacks any killer instinct and just can't bring herself to slay anyone.
And the other main debutee, Betrand, who first appears in 'The Enemy', is an undead religious fanatic (a welcome and pleasingly topical touch) who believes that as 'The Chosen One', it's Vlad's duty and destiny to lead the vampire race in a triumphant war against mankind. And he won't take 'no' for an answer.

There's also crossover appeal, as the Draculas now own and live at Garside Grange, a private school 'in the middle of nowhere' that Vlad also attends as a pupil. The sight of the students milling around the corridors and main stairwell is very reminiscent of Medenham.

So. Young Dracula. No longer for kids.

[fenris]

Young Dracula episode #3.3: 'Faustian Slip'.

A fun episode, mainly due to Donna Grant making a welcome return guest-appearance as Magda (Vlad & Ingrid's mother), and vamping about magnificently. A number of subplots are also quietly being developed: after he failed to hypnotize her in the previous episode, it's confirmed that the Count has taken a fancy to Garside Grange's headteacher Miss McCauley (it was established in Young Dracula's second season that vampires cannot use their mental powers on people they find attractive). And although the series is clearly concentrating on Vlad and Erin's budding relationship, there was an intriguing, nicely underplayed scene in which the blonde infiltrator and Ingrid have a matter-of-fact conversation about an article in Fang! magazine. Although they're currently far from becoming gal pals, Ingrid appears to have accepted the younger girl's presence.

The best moments of the episode were the Count reading the first Twilight novel and finding it hilarious, and the audacious manner with which the writers sneaked in a swear-word reference: presented with a two-way radio by Betrand as part of his training, Vlad responds "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!"

[fenris]

Young Dracula episode #3.4: 'Fangs for the Memories'

There was a very noticeable increase in production values between Young Dracula's first and second seasons, and the latter's level of quality has been maintained in the revived series, despite the fact that the cash-strapped BBC now has considerably less money to throw around than it did back in 2008, when Young Dracula was cancelled. However, 'Fangs for the Memories' shows how the budget has been stretched: as hinted by it's title this instalment is a clip show, with at least half it's running time consisting of footage from not only the previous two seasons, but the three immediately preceding episodes from the current season (!!). However, this is not as lame or unimaginative as it sounds. The narrative reason for the multiple flashbacks is quite clever - Erin asks Vlad about life as a vampire, and he (believing her to be a newly minted half-fang) thinks she wants to know what her future holds. In reality, she's anxious about her recently bitten brother, who's placed himself in self-imposed exile.

Flashbacks aside, there's an amusing scene in which the Count discovers that his interest in Miss McCauley is reciprocated, as his enhanced senses notice that her heart-rate increases in his presense. The unspoken attraction between the two of them is swiftly becoming one of the highlights of the new season. And there's a very entertaining opening dream sequence with a caped Vlad heroically swooping down to rescue Erin from the rising sun, the joke being capped by a nearby 'No Smoking' sign.

[fenris]

Young Dracula episode #3.5: 'Carpathian Feast'

In order to stop The Count feeding on the school's Eastern European cleaner ("It's been years since I had a taste of the Old Country"), Vlad unleashes his Chosen One powers against his father for the first time, hurling the elder vampire down the length of a corridor. There can't be many children's TV shows that depict a child committing violence against a parent. It's a truly surprising moment and the aftermath is skillfully directed and also well performed by the regular cast, successfully conveying the shock and embarrassment of the situation.

The episode impressively portrays with a minimum of dialogue how the balance of power within the family has been abruptly and uneasily upturned. Vlad's subsequent attempt to repair his relationship with his humiliated father has unforeseen consequences, resulting in him spending most of the episode trying to find a way to prevent Erin being ritually flung in a fiery pit. Post-Buffy, we're used to seeing strong female characters in genre shows (Young Dracula's Ingrid being a prime example) so the sight of Erin locked in a cage and reacting to her plight by continuously crying, whimpering and half-heartedly trying to force the lock on the door in desperation, is both refreshing and realistic: she's a failed slayer who is in way over her head, extremely scared, and hours away from a very nasty end. She has no reason to maintain a brave front.

And if this episode wasn't eventful enough, there's a major development in one of the season's main ongoing story arcs, as - due to mischievous misdirection from Ingrid - Vlad and Erin share a tender, lengthy kiss (another indication of how far from a kiddie show Young Dracula now is), which blows her cover as Vlad realises that her lips are warm. His eventual saving her from immolation by taking advantage of vampiric red tape is this instalment's only disappointing aspect, because it's a resolution that (ironically) smacks a little too much of 'children's TV'.

Ingrid has always been Young Dracula's most intriguing character, and that's particularly well illustrated here. One minute she's inviting Erin on a girls' night out ("Let's find and bite a couple of boys"), the next she's plotting to ensure the blonde girl perishes in the flames, as she perceives her to be a potential rival for the position of alpha female in the Dracula household. Later still, she shows patience and kindness to her infant half-brother Wolfie, by teaching him the correct table manners for the feast being held in The Count's honour.

Other highlights included a disagreement about Admiral Nelson's last words being settled by Betrand having actually been there, and Vlad walking in on The Count using a class of hypnotised children as the pieces in a giant chess game.

[fenris]

Young Dracula episode #3.6: 'Blood Thief'

A slightly disappointing episode. Puzzled that Vlad's training in mastering his powers - and resulting elevation to full-blown Chosen One status - is increasingly behind schedule, Betrand and The Count realise that if there's one thing certain to distract a teenage boy - even if he's the future leader of the vampire race - it's having a pretty, shapely, blonde teenage girl hanging about. So they scheme to murder Erin while framing Ingrid for the deed. And although their plot fails - due to some selfless heroics from Vlad - they succeed in ensuring that Ingrid gets the blame.

To be honest, there isn't much to dislike about this instalment, except that Ingrid has been portrayed in previous seasons as being far too smart & savvy to fall for the blatant manipulations that Betrand uses here. One of my pet peeves is when scriptwriters on soaps and other TV shows make long-established characters suddenly behave like complete idiots, or undergo abrupt personality changes, in order to forward a storyline.

A more successful aspect is the focus on the swiftly blossoming romance between Vlad and Erin. Apart from the blisteringly performed & genuinely bleak scenes featuring Erin and her recently-bitten brother, Sydney Rae White's performance seemed somewhat underpowered in the first few episodes of this season, but the Vlad/Erin story arc is really enabling her to shine. She and Gerran Howell also have a natural, unshowy chemistry that works well.

[fenris]

Young Dracula episodes #3.7 'Bad to the Bone' and #3.8 'Bad Vlad'

Note: I hadn't included Spoiler Warnings on my previous reviews of Young Dracula, as I've been posting at least a week or more after the episodes in question had been initially broadcast on CBBC - not to mention the repeat screenings on weekends and their availability on BBC iplayer. But the good example set by orokiah while reviewing Misfits and The Secret Circle has reminded me that I can't simply assume anyone who wants to watch Young Dracula has had the time and opportunity to do so before they happen to read this thread. So;

Spoiler warning.

Already an enjoyable and admirable show, Young Dracula raises itself to a whole new level with this epic two-parter, in which Vlad is possessed by his evil mirror-self.
(To explain: one of the most original & entertaining aspects of Young Dracula's take on vampire mythology is that those who born vampires - as opposed to 'half-fangs', who have been bitten - are normal humans until they turn sixteen, whereupon their reflection - actually their evil/vampire self - steps out of a mirror and merges with them, usually taking over their body and completely submerging their original personality in the process. Hence the reason vampires don't have reflections.)

When commenting on earlier episode 'Carpathian Feast', I remarked that there can't be many 'children's shows' in which a child commits an act of violence against a parent. Having now seen this two-parter, I'm pretty certain there are even fewer kids' TV series where the main protagonist tortures his father and leaves him to die in wailing agony, followed by a sequence depicting said protagonist and his sibling trying to murder each other (!!). Speaking of which, Ingrid's attack on Vlad was stunningly conceived & directed.

Equally impressive is the fact that while all this grim mayhem is taking place, the writers manage to successfully juggle a genuinely amusing subplot about the school simultaneously undergoing an OFSTEAD inspection, complete with a resolution that actually made me laugh out loud.
I also enjoying seeing Erin and Zoltan finally sharing a scene together, and Erin saving Ingrid's life for a second time (a quick search on-line reveals a growing amount of femslash about those two).

If you're a fan of Hex and Demons (and since you're visiting this forum, presumably you are), I urge you to give the current season of Young Dracula a try. Hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised.

[fenris]

Clare Thomas, who plays Ingrid in Young Dracula, has stated on her official website that a fourth series of the show will be filmed in the summer of 2012. Both Gerran Howell (Vlad) and Sydney Rae White (Erin) have apparently also confirmed the news on Twitter, which hopefully means that all three if them will be returning.

[fenris]

Young Dracula episode #3.9: 'Therapy'

Spoiler warning.

'Therapy' is another money-saving clip show, the second this season. With Vlad having left Garside Grange at the end of the previous episode and still AWOL, this instalment focuses on Ingrid, who's always been the show's most intriguing character (it also means it's the first episode of Young Dracula in which Gerran Howell doesn't appear, apart from in the numerous flashbacks).

Left dejected and utterly despondent by both her close brush with death (in 'Bad Vlad') and the realisation that as the Chosen One, her brother is substantially more powerful than she'd anticipated, at Miss McCauley's suggestion Ingrid attends a therapy session with Dr. Seward ('wink'). Cue oodles of footage from previous seasons, illustrating precisely why Ingrid is so bitter, calculating, and constantly plotting against her own family: she's saddled with an openly misogamist father, who's never shown her any love, affection or even interest; a dismissive, self-obsessed, frequently absent mother; and - to add insult to injury - an ungrateful brat of a younger brother, who's spent his entire life being given on a plate everything that Ingrid's ever wanted, only to endlessly whine and complain that he doesn't want any of it.

Particularly inspired is how Seward interprets Ingrid's brutally honest answers as merely being the melodramatic, navel-gazing mumblings of a typical, emo-core teenager;
Seward: "What do you see, when you look in the mirror?"
Ingrid: "Nothing."
However, the best line is a newly-confident and grateful Ingrid's goodbye to the doctor;
"When I am Queen of Darkness," she promises the therapist, warmly shaking her hand, "you will be spared."

[fenris]

Young Dracula episodes #3.10: 'The Return', #3.11: 'Hit Chicks' and #3.12: 'Blood Loyalties'

Spoiler warning

Three plot-heavy, incident-filled instalments as the season speeds towards it's finale. 'The Return' sees Vlad return (natch) to Garside Grange, newly confident and very much his own man, but smart enough to let his father and Betrand believe that he's still dancing to their tune. But the major development in this episode is the re-appearance of Jonno and Mina Van Helsing. previously comic relief and a minor supporting character respectively, now both re-imagined as highly efficient slayers (Jonno's father Eric has been killed off between seasons - either actor Terence Maynard was unavailable, or perhaps the producers thought Eric was too broadly comic a character to be successfully re-integrated into the new, darker version of the show). With the Draculas wanting to determine whether the Van Helsings are still permanently mind-wiped, the majority of 'The Return' is an elaborate game of bluff and double bluff, which finally results in Erin's situation becoming even more conflicted as she agrees to be a triple agent.

'Hit Chicks' focuses almost entirely on Ingrid and Erin, with the scenes of the latter feeding the Praedictum Impaver (the ancient, bone-bound book containing powerful magic that has been the season's key MacGuffin) with her own blood being quietly creepy. By episode's end, her secret status as both a breather and slayer has been revealed to all and sundry. Meanwhile, Ingrid turns an entire visiting netball team and sends them off to assassinate Vlad. This storyline is promptly played for laughs (perhaps in a deliberate attempt to downplay or even nullify the sapphic implications?) as their ham-fisted attempts result in several of the newly-minted vampires accidentally dusting themselves in true Wile E. Coyote fashion.

Everything comes to a head in 'Blood Loyalties'. Erin finally aligns herself to Vlad and his cause, enabling the Chosen One and the Count to carry out a commando raid on the Slayer Guild's headquarters and destroy their superweapon - an ultraviolet generator. Vlad and Erin's exit from the building, him taking her in his arms and the two of them flying off faster than the eye can see, is rather sweet and cements the fact that they are now most definitely a couple. Erin is also reunited with her brother Ryan, only to discover he's now a full vampire and loyal to his sire, Ingrid. In an amusing subplot, The Count decides to turn Miss McCauley, until a chance remark by Ingrid gives him second thoughts as to the consequences (cue the actress who plays Miss McCauley giving a spot-on impersonation of Donna Grant's Magda). The episode closes with Ingrid's duplicity being revealed, but the subsequent stare-down between her and Vlad ends with nether side backing down. Instead, after dismissing her brother and his naivety with contempt, Ingrid and her followers (who come across as surprisingly menacing and formidable, considering their status as a running joke just one episode before) take their leave.
On the minus side, the last-second cliffhanger is somewhat underwhelming, and there's a horribly mis-judged scene bizarrely parodying Britney Spears (!!). But otherwise 'Blood Loyalties' effectively sets up events for the season finale.

Crossover appeal: in Hex, the Book of Orokiah was written by the first Anointed One. It's revealed in 'Hit Chicks' that the Praedictum Impaver is the scribblings of the original vampire - 'the destroyer of worlds.'

[fenris]

Young Dracula episode #3.13: 'All For One'

Spoiler Warning

Sadly, the season finale turns out to be quite a disappointment. Sethius - the original vampire - is freed from the Praedictum Impaver, and is revealed as a genocidal lunatic who intends to have the undead wipe out Mankind and then turn on each other for food (Hence the reason his fellow vampires trapped him in the book, long ago. One wonders why they simply didn't just kill him?). Unfortunately, despite dispatching some of Betrand's allies and three of Ingrid's vampirettes by either hurling fireballs or utilizing a boomerang-like weapon made of bone, Sethius never comes across as the pantwettingly scary, apocalyptic-level threat that he's supposed to be. The possessed-by-evil Vlad of earlier episode 'Bad Vlad' was considerably more intimidating.

The climax has Vlad persuading Ingrid, Betrand, even Mina and Jonno, that they must all work together to defeat Sethius. However, it transpires that 'working together' actually means 'just standing about, watching' as Vlad and the Count destroy the original vampire with underwhelming ease, using a beam of sunlight re-directed from a well-placed mirror. Ho hum.
This is followed by a brief codo where Vlad, Ingrid and the Slayers' Guild (represented by the Van Helsings) settle their various differences and agree to a truce. You can see what the show's producers are trying to do: they ended the second season with a cliffhanger, and were caught out when Young Dracula was cancelled. So this time they've attempted to tie up all the loose ends and give the series a satisfactory resolution. Sadly, the 'happy ending' they came up with is simply too rushed, too abrupt, and too neat & tidy (a fourth season has recently been greenlit, but there's no way the show's makers could have known that with any certainty during production).

Despite the shortcomings of this climatic instalment, the third season of Young Dracula has been a remarkable triumph. What was previously a well-produced and watchable childrens' series has been transformed into an eye-openingly dark, complex and surprisingly violent show that could easily fill the Saturday family slot usually occupied by the likes of Merlin and New Who. It deserves to be discovered by a much larger audience.

[fenris]

The SFX website has revealed the results of it's second Fifty Greatest Vampires Poll (the first was a couple of years ago), and in 17th place is this new entry;

Vlad Dracula (Young Dracula) played by Gerran Howell.
Now here’s a surprise in this list. Young Dracula is a CBBC show which had been on for two series when our last Vampire Poll took place, at which point young Vlad received a total of zilch votes. A couple of years on, and our voters have suddenly woken up to something their kids realised ages ago: Young Dracula is a great little show. Along with MI High and The Sarah Jane Adventures it proves some of the best telefantasy being produced in the UK at the moment airs when most of us are at work. What may also have helped the show is the fact that there was a three-year gap and a bit of a format change between series two and three, with Gerran Howell returning as a bit of a teenage heartthrob for proto-goths.

Source

Hmm. Despite the above praise, so far Young Dracula has never had even a single mention in SFX magazine itself. The show also doesn't receive any coverage in SFX's latest Vampire Special, which is available at newsagents from 25/01/12.

[fenris]

Did anyone else happen to see The Cricklewood Greats on BBC Four last night (05/02/12)? It was a spoof documentary presented, written and directed by Peter Capaldi, dedicated to the fictitious Cricklewood Studios, from it's early days making silent comedies, it's WWII homefront morale boosters, and onto it's Sixties heyday, when it was responsible for the Thumbs Up series of comedies (sample titles Thumbs Up Matron, Thumbs Up Marie Antoinette, the sci-fi Thumbs Up Uranus and the prison-set Thumbs Up Her Majesty's Pleasure), and also became home to the horror production company Acton Films.
Capaldi told Cricklewood's story by focusing on the lives & careers of four key performers from the studio's various eras: the facility's founder, silent comedian Arthur Simm; music hall star and wartime nation's favourite Florrie Fontaine; classically-trained horror icon Lionel Crisp; and B movie starlet Jenny Driscoll.

The re-creation of archive material (excerpts from Cricklewood films, newsreels, behind-the-scenes footage, the stars' home movies, paparazzi photos and publicity stills) was stunningly accurate and probably would have been utterly convincing to anyone unaware that this was a mockumentary. Expensive too: Capaldi has confessed in an interview with Total TV Guide magazine that he ran out of money, didn't have an ending, and Terry Gilliam rode to his rescue, agreeing to appear in an inexpensive closing sequence in which Capaldi interviews him about how Cricklewood was forced into bankruptcy and closure in the mid-Eighties by the numerous delays & accidents that befell the production of his unfinished epic Professor Hypochondria's Magical Odyssey, starring Marlon Brando. Gilliam sends himself up mercilessly, and is clearly enjoying every second.

The Cricklewood Greats was riddled with in-jokes for movie buffs, and Capaldi also pokes fun at the art documentary format itself, especially in a scene where he and the president of the Cricklewood Studios Appreciation Society visit the site of the facility, now a Wickes superstore, and wander down aisles of kitchen tiles and plyboard, speaking in hushed, respectful tones while bemused shop staff and customers walk around them.
Amongst the comedy, Capaldi also makes some serious observations about the fickle & fleeting nature of fame and the dark side of showbusiness: the story of Jenny Driscoll's descent into porn, obscurity and suicide is told almost entirely straight.

[fenris]

Aug 16, 2011 23:09:25 GMT fenris said:

Roz is being written out of Emmerdale this week, which is a shame as I've always liked her. To be honest though, despite being in the show for about a year, she hasn't really done anything, other than performing a perfunctionary role in Holly Barton's heroin addiction storyline, then becoming part of the Greek chorus in the sweet factory.

Nice to see Roz again (Emmerdale episode screened 24/02/12), attending John's funeral, although it was clearly a one-off appearance, underlined by her telling Holly that she's moving to London.

Emmerdale has form when it comes to funerals. The show seems to have an unofficial policy that when a character is killed off, at least one or two friends or family who have moved away (sometimes several years earlier) return for the burial, with the original actors reprising their roles. I believe that Emmerdale is unique amongst soaps in doing this.

[fenris]

Dec 17, 2011 16:18:00 GMT fenris said:

The third season of Young Dracula has been a remarkable triumph. What was previously a well-produced and watchable childrens' series has been transformed into an eye-openingly dark, complex and surprisingly violent show that could easily fill the Saturday family slot usually occupied by the likes of Merlin and New Who.

Having debuted on the CBBC channel last year, swiftly followed by a repeat run on the BBC HD channel, the third season of Young Dracula is finally coming to BBC1. It's being shown on Thursdays at 16:30, starting on 12th April 2012.

[fenris]

Jul 8, 2007 16:24:30 GMT fenris said:

Was watching the pre-race coverage for the British Formula 1 Grand Prix earlier today, with ITV1's pundit (and former F1 driver) Martin Brundle talking to various celebrities who were hanging about on the gird. There was a wonderful moment when he was interviewing three members of Girls Aloud, and standing just behind them was one of the grid girls (models who have to wilt under the blazing sun for an hour or so before the race begins, holding up signs identifying each driver's place on the starting grid) who was staring daggers at them. Clearly not a fan.

Now that the BBC is sharing the broadcasting rights for Formula 1 with Sky, half the fun when watching the Beeb's coverage of their reporter interviewing various drivers and team personnel before & after each race, is spotting Sky presenter Natalie Pinkham hanging about in the background, doing the exact same job.