McGann: "An older white male Doctor would be wrong"

[burrunjor]

May 29, 2022 16:08:58 GMT rushy said:

I must say, I found it really humorous how there were two Christopher Lee Dracula movies where Christopher Lee didn't show up, but Peter Cushing did. It's like they filled in for one another.

The Cushing-only Draculas were also some of the most imaginative of that series. I feel like focusing on intellectual characters like Van Helsing/Frankenstein made for more interesting films than focusing on Dracula/the Monster (even if in theory Dracula should be intellectual, the Christopher Lee films usually treated him as a beastly character of few words).

I completely agree that I much preferred Cushing's Van Helsing to Lee's Dracula as a main character. Cushing's Van Helsing is endlessly fascinating to me. There was so much more that could have been explored with him. 

I do obviously love Lee's Dracula and he was the best enemy for him. I also think Lee's Dracula marked a change in how vampires were depicted. For me it's thanks to Lee that Vampires became more flamboyantly evil, sadistic monsters in popular culture. In old myths they killed just to survive and were often animals. 

In the old Universal movies meanwhile they were actually a bit more sympathetic. Lugosi's Dracula for instance only kills to survive, and whilst he isn't in love with them, he does view the women he chases and turns as special, and believes he is elevating them and preserving their beauty forever. 

Dracula's Daughter meanwhile is sympathetic. She is in love with the main character, hates being a vampire and wants to overcome her thirst. 

Lee's Dracula and indeed the other Hammer vampires like Baron Meinster and Count Mitterhouse were evil, sadistic monsters that enjoyed killing and torturing their victims. Lee's Dracula was dangerous to everyone and everything around him, his brides, his servants etc. 

This undoubtedly came about because of the fact that we were focusing on the vampire killer rather than the vampire now. In order to sympathise with Van Helsing we had to remove all ambiguity that killing vampires was wrong. Gradually as the vampire hunter became more popular, then vampires themselves became more monstrous in Blade, Buffy, Mr Vampire etc. 

Ironically the more recent wave of romantic vamps like those in True Blood were actually more of a return to the original style LOL. 

[rushy]

It was really sad to read about how Hammer blackmailed Lee to stay in the role, and never took his advice on how the movies should proceed. He clearly wanted to to do more than deliver the occasional ominous quote, and should've been allowed to. 

His Stoker ad-lib to Van Helsing in Dracula AD 1972 is so f*cking awesome. It alone makes that fight way better than their original 1958 one. I only wish they could've added flashbacks from that film when Dracula recognises the descendant Van Helsing. 



(EDIT: Whoever did the cinematography for 1972 AD deserves an award, that film looks ridiculously good for the campfest that it's trying to be)

[iank]

I think the "change" issue with New Poo is a bit like Trigger's broom.

[cyberhat]

If they love change so much, probably best to not bring back a bunch of old hacks that made the show years ago.

[rushy]

Jun 8, 2022 5:10:42 GMT cyberhat said:

If they love change so much, probably best to not bring back a bunch of old hacks that made the show years ago.

Is there that many left to bring back, lol?
Marc Platt and Andrew Smith are the only realistic choices to me, since they still regularly write Doctor Who and haven't gotten 'too big' like Cartmel, Gallagher and Aaronovitch, who basically lead their own careers now. 

Rona Munro did Eaters of Light in series 10, and it was rubbish. 

And the rest are probably either too old, or they're Eric Saward. 

[cyberhat]

I was talking about RTD and chums

[rushy]

Jun 11, 2022 3:36:46 GMT cyberhat said:

I was talking about RTD and chums

whoops, my bad

(still would be nice to see Platt again though)