Steven Moffat Archives | Otaku No Culture

The Stakes were Never Big in Netflix’s Dracula

Image result for bbc dracula poster By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Just how many reimaginings of Bram Stoker’s Dracula do we need? Let me count the works from this century: there’s at least a dozen—Untold, Dark Prince, and Reborn are perhaps the closest they can get to the book’s lore. The rest sticks around even after being “killed” so he remains a threat to humanity.

Mark Gatiss (Sherlock) and Steven Moffat (Doctor Who) developed this latest take and it’s a curious mix of period drama and Hammer style horror. This three-part series has each episode nearly movie length. Like the novel, it begins conveniently enough with Jonathan Harker (John Heffernan) visiting the Count (Claes Bang) and Mina (Morfydd Clark) swearing her eternal love. The nobleman has other plans and his lust for both the male and female gender goes nowhere fast. Either he’s too decrepit to get off, or those tones brought down for Netflix’s broadcasting standards.

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A Commentary on “Deep Breath.” Is Doctor Who Alive Yet?

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

doctor-who-1-460x683 The energy is not quite there in the Ben Wheatley directed premiere of Doctor Who featuring Peter Capaldi as the new Doctor. Either he is having trouble keeping up with the manic persona that Capaldi is playing up or he has no idea in what to do in a steampunk tale where robots are stealing human body organs to insure their survival. This director handles the drama and tension well, but the story just does not work.

The episode written by Steven Moffat is dull and muddled. It can not decide how much time should be spent between the two lead characters figuring out what’s going on or with the Paternoster Gang who does. This trio of characters — Madame Vastra, Jenny Flint, and Strax — are always a hoot to watch, and to see them return as potential regulars is fantastic.

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Is John Hurt the Eighth Doctor?

Doctorwho We are just over a month away from the Doctor Who 50th anniversary and Steven Moffat, lead writer and executive producer, has given us a whooper of a problem. He’s hinted that fans have miscalculated the regenerations of the good Doctor and that means he has not used his 12 lives.

On October 13th Moffat confirmed in the Radio Times, “He can only regenerate 12 times”, which leaves us with the question, just who is John Hurt portraying and what is his place in the Doctor Who canon?

It appears my brother John came up with a simple solution this morning, that so far, few have voiced. John Hurt is playing the part of the eighth Doctor. You may ask how is this possible and my he gives a few reasons (backed with my own observations):

1. Hurt is attired in what appears to be the ninth Doctor’s leather jacket.

2. Hurt is wearing a vest similar in style to that worn by the eighth Doctor. Included is what is a chain to perhaps a pocket watch used by both the seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and the eighth regeneration (Paul McGann).

3. We never did see visually at what age the eighth Doctor regenerated into his ninth life.

Take it with a grain of salt Whovians but I’m backing my brother on his opinion. So what is yours?

Source(s): Radio Times.

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Round Up!

I’ve still got the memo from [original producer] Verity Lambert outlining what she wanted for the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, so I’ve gone with that …

608 So, just what do fans know so far about the coming Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special? On Nov 23, Matt Smith, John Hurt and David Tennant will be the Doctor. Jenna Coleman, Billie Piper, Joanna Page are amongst the first billed, but as for returning cameos from the classic series, BBC is still keeping mum. The likelihood of anyone appearing from the original 1964-1989 run is slim. Well, the exception may well simply lay with Nicholas Briggs.