Thanks, michael, for those thoughts.  Interesting speculation.  Body doubles have been used for a very long time in films and television so it may well be that you're right.

G.

Thanks for that, MB.  Fascinating.  Now I'm wishing you I had more of a memory of the scene in the 1991 pilot show where somebody is at the Blue Whale and Sam and Maggie are both there.  Am I remembering that right?  It's really vague.

I do remember why Maggie might have pulled the Death card as Carolyn was leaving in this version, however...

G.

For those who enjoy technical stuff (and who have seen the episode), this featurette reveals how some of the special effects and stunts in episode 2 were accomplished.  Eva Green is not only an extraordinary actress, she's physically also got great stamina and flexibility:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg5XaxTy1qs

G.

I also just watched episode 2 and it is all quite the bizarre concoction.  Art direction seems to wind up trumping performances and storyline; though set in the 1890s, it is very much an artifact of our times.

Simon Russell Beale is too delicious, though.  The scenes with Dr. F and friend were poignantly played but I found the denouement to be gratuitious and garish.  Still, this is what audiences expect.

I do hope to keep watching...

G.

I'm just back from a trip and just heard this heartbreaking news a few minutes ago from a friend.

My heart goes out to Danielle and all who loved Magoo.  I was privileged to meet Danielle and Magoo once.  They were an adorable couple and Magoo was such a sweet guy with a great heart and an unforgettable sense of humor.

Those who are remembered live on in our hearts and minds.  Wishing comfort and condolence to Danielle and those who remain.

G.

Doctor, I watched every episode and the main arc does reach a conclusion, though there are threads left for a continuation, had it been renewed, and the fate of a couple of characters is left unclear.

Since you're a Big Finish fan you might enjoy it because it is kind of a pastiche of some of the themes of the novel and the various films--in the same way that the Big Finish stories tend to have sometimes an oblique or speculative relationship to their source material, be it the DS stories or stuff they've done from other fandoms.  There is *a lot*, IMO, in this DRACULA that kind of nods to elements of various DS plotlines, as well.

G

I forgot to mention that I noticed a major gaffe in the script for Penny Dreadful, episode 1 (no spoiler involved)--a character refers in conversation to something like "a secret world, a demi-monde"--using the French expression demi-monde or half-world to refer to the supernatural and the occult.  In fact, in popular parlance of the period, "demi-monde" simply referred to the life of wealthy courtesans and "adventuresses," flamboyant women who flouted convention with multiple lovers and a highly visible, famous or infamous way of life (in some ways, the Victorian version of today's Kardashian women, except that demi-mondaines typically lacked their own independent income--though some had great amounts of wealth settled upon them through fully legal means by their male admirers). 

There's a Wikipedia entry on the demi-monde which is interesting to read.  I think it said that the term became popular after Dumas wrote a play with this title in the 1850s.

I noticed another, sartorial gaffe that I find inexplicable in the photos from episode 2, but I'll wait until that has been aired to note it.

G.

apparently most of the DS actors were not under any sort of contract at all.  I don't know how DCP got away with this... it may have been a common practice on soaps at the time.  I just don't know.  KLS admitted in the original edition of SCRAPBOOK MEMORIES that her original contract on the show had run out for many months before her final episode--which implies to me that if she was signed to a contract it might have been for three years.  Again, don't know.

G.