Review Gormenghast (2000)

Doctor Omega

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Your thoughts on this show.....

The story follows the inhabitants of Castle Gormenghast, a sprawling, decaying, gothic-like structure with a raft of characters including House of Groan heir Titus, scheming kitchen boy Steerpike and twin sisters Cora and Clarice.



 
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Doctor Omega

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Gaiman & Goldsman Adapt “Gormenghast”


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Neil Gaiman and Akiva Goldsman are reportedly teaming up on a TV adaptation of Mervyn Peake’s sprawling five-novel series “Gormenghast” which FremantleMedia North America has secured the rights to.

The story follows the inhabitants of Castle Gormenghast, a sprawling, decaying, gothic-like structure with a raft of characters including Titus, the heir to the throne of the House of Groan, scheming kitchen boy Steerpike and twin sisters Cora and Clarice.

The project will mark the first television adaptation of the books since the BBC turned the first two books into a four-part series in 2000 starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Christopher Lee. FremantleMedia is behind the Starz adaptation of his fantasy novel “American Gods”.

Barry Spikings (“The Deer Hunter”) and David Stern (“Howards End”) are also set to executive produce with a showrunner to be selected shortly.



 
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Doctor Omega

Member: Rank 10
Have never actually sat down and watched the 2000 series. Was perhaps put off by it's failure, which is a silly reason for not watching it, I admit, particularly as I have always loved the idea of this huge, HUGE sprawling Tardis like gothic castle, with it's endless corridors and rooms.

I will make up by finally watching the 2000 version and look forward to the new version of the show.

On a trivial note, I did play one of the characters in a stage version at the Lincoln Theatre Royal once many decades ago and was praised in a review for my "burning in a library" death scene. Sadly I continued to die on stage as an actor. And not always in a praiseworthy way! :emoji_confused:

The books are so sprawling and changeable in tone that a tv series is still probably the best way to go with these books.

And Gormenghast is definitely on my shortlist of Universes that I wouldn't mind escaping to on days when this reality gets a bit tedious.....


Fictional Universe... Where Would You Go?


https://www.imdforums.com/threads/fictional-universe-where-would-you-go.4352/
 

Doctor Omega

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Gormenghast
/ˈɡɔːrmənˌɡɑːst/ is a fantasy series by British author Mervyn Peake, about the inhabitants of Castle Gormenghast, a sprawling, decaying, gothic-like structure. Originally conceived as a single on-going novel, the series was ended by Peake's death and comprises three novels, Titus Groan (1946), Gormenghast (1950), Titus Alone (1959) and a novella, Boy in Darkness (1956), whose canonical status is debated.

Peake was writing a fourth novel, Titus Awakes at the time of his death, which was later completed and released by Peake's widow in 2009.

Although the first two installments do not contain any overtly fantastical elements, Gormenghast is almost unanimously categorized as fantasy because of the atmosphere and pseudo-medieval setting.[2][3] The series has received widespread acclaim from the speculative fiction community and mainstream literary critics — Harold Bloom argues that it is a more accomplished work than the contemporary and better-known The Lord of the Rings.

The series has been included in Fantasy: The 100 Best Books, Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels and 100 Must Read Fantasy Novels as one of the greatest fantasy works of the twentieth century. Literary critic Harold Bloom has praised the series as the best fantasy novels of the twentieth century and one of the greatest sequences in modern world literature.[4] Gormenghast is often credited as the first fantasy of manners novel.

The books have been translated into over twenty languages.
 

Doctor Omega

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Whithouse, Gaiman, Goldsman Plan “Gormenghast”


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“Being Human” creator and “Doctor Who” writer Toby Whithouse is set to pen and executive produce a new adaptation of fantasy drama “Gormenghast” for Fremantle Media.

“American Gods” author Neil Gaiman and “Fringe” producer Akiva Goldsman will team with Whithouse on the project as executive producers alongside Barry Spikings (“The Deer Hunter”) and David A. Stern (“Howards End”).

Fremantle won a hotly contested battle in April to option the five books in the series penned by British author Mervyn Peake. The story follows the inhabitants of Castle Gormenghast, a sprawling, decaying, gothic-like structure with a raft of characters including House of Groan heir Titus, scheming kitchen boy Steerpike and twin sisters Cora and Clarice.

The first two books were previously adapted into a four-part BBC series in 2000 with Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Christopher Lee.
 
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