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…”
