Ah, spring and
summer series. There was a time when viewing series in the summer months was
limited to weekly returns of the recent Fall series. Not anymore. Now, you can
push a button on your remote and find new series all year round on almost all
of the cable and the major network channels.
For
die-hard fantasy fans there are more new and interesting horror , science
fiction, and historical based fantasies series like Penney Dreadful, Salem, Dominion, The Last Ship, and The Musketeers to fulfill
everyone's adventurous nature. On Netflix you can drown yourself in an entire
season of a series during a weekend, and the diversities of the series are more
interesting as well., such as returning series Hemlock Grove (July 11th). While
CBS has Extant starting tomorrow night, FX will soon air The Strain (July
13th), and BBC America will return with Doctor Who to be followed by their new
series, Intruders (August 23rd).
Showtime's new
horror series Penny Dreadful, which
premiered this spring is a prime example.
To fans of the old class horror stories and those familiar with the
penny dreadfuls published in England, these fans know that in some upper
classes of that country the penny dreadful of the 1800s was considered lurid and distasteful serialized fiction
laced with dark romance and harrowing tales of terror and generally cost as little
as a penny to buy. Yet, the common populate of England love them, and so
writers kept writing them. My personal
favorite are The Monk, The Vampyre, Varney the Vampire, and a little known
fact, Sherlock Holmes and Dracula.
Showtime's Penny Dreadful is a fitting name for the
collection of episodes in the series that has brought together the fictional lives of classic
monsters and monster makers, such as the beautiful amoral and immortal Dorian
Gray (Reeve Carney); Victor Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway), the young doctor
trapped between his desire to defeat death and his fear and repulsion of his
first creation; Frankenstein's monster - alias Caliban (Rory Kinnear), a sad
but compassionate creature, abandon at birth, lonely and bitterly angry with
his creator; and Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett), a werewolf and American wild west actor who's
dark and deadly past that once revealed to his new companions might cause them
to view Ethan as a threat they must put down later in the series.
Then there are
the new characters who add a wicket
twist to the old tales. There is Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton) a
womanizing explorer who until the disappearance of his daughter, Mina Harker,
has spent much of his time in the jungles of Africa. Vanessa Ives (Eva Green) a
guilt ridden, emotionally and sexually stunted woman. Her inner demon appears to gain delight in
tormenting her whenever she experiences happiness. She has psychic abilities,
which allows spirits to possess her. Finally, there is Brona Croft a prostitute
wanting nothing more than the freedom of death
from the Consumption (Tuberculosis) that razes her lungs. Yet, she is
lucky to have found love in Ethan Chandler. However, death shall find worst
horrors for Brona than the disease that eat away her body, and finally the
mysterious Sembene, a loyal companion and voice of reason for Sir Malcolm.
Another
character worth mentioning is Proteus (Alex Price), Frankenstein's second
creature. Proteus is a testament to Frankenstein's belief that death does not
have to be the end. Proteus is the gentle and childlike embodiment of humans
that when nurtured right, even a monster can learn and become lovable.
These characters
and their supporting characters have made Penny
Dreadful the most fascinating and scary series of the year. The series is well worth a second look and
will return in spring of 2015 on Showtime.