This is slightly offtopic, but the Gormenghast series is one that is bound to interest fantasy fans everywhere. I’ve had a lot of mail from UK viewers since mentioning that the BBC series is screening in the States now. It seems that opinions differ wildly. A good summing-up came from Aelinwen:
“This is in reply to the comment you got from on UK viewer on the Gormenghast production. I think that the BBC went for a very brave interpretation of the text as a black comedy, rather than a gloomy gothfest. As such, once devout readers got over the initial shock, it opened up new delights I had not previously seen in the text and, no doubt, worked better as television and brought new readers to its dense, complicated pages.”
A further comment from A. G. was also interesting:
“The British press, as on most fantasy and sci-fi, split right down the middle – either loving it or loathing it. One called it Gormenghastly, but MANY gave it 5-star reviews and it was pick of the day in many national papers.
It’s well worth a look, with some fine performances, and great looking sets. The narrative is FAR too fragmented, so the thing has no cohesion, but as with Terry Gilliam’s films, a cohesive plot is not what the Gilliamites go for.
It’s out on DVD in the UK, a DVD that recently won an award for it’s presentation…”
We know that Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) is in New Zealand, and thanks to Mr. Tadpole we know she’s been on set recently:
