Frankenstein Chronicles - Series 1 Episode 1 - Reaction Post
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I've finally got access to Netflix, mainly because I want to watch Season 2 of Snowpiercer which starts tomorrow, but in the meantime, I'm having a look at the Frankenstein Chronicles.
I'm liking the music here, it's quite unusual though I can't pick out exactly what it is about it. I notice this is set in ?1827? and it's quite strange because Sean is obviously a lot older than he was in Sharpe but he's back in more or less the same time period.
Sean does not have any Producer credits on 1.01. Nope, that's wrong - he comes up as Co-Producer in the end credits.
Is this the bit of foreshore he keeps coming back to in his dreams? (supposed to be Wapping). If so, is it a metaphor for how he preferred the river police, or loves the river, or what?
Why doesn't he wear this rather splendid cloak in future episodes? Is it part of his river police uniform?
Since starting to watch Sharpe in December 2020 I've also watched the whole of Extremely Dangerous and the first two episodes of Legends. In neither of those did Sean Bean look or sound anything like Sharpe, but at
3:56 he shouts "What are you waiting for?" and he suddenly sounds so like Sharpe that I expect him to follow up with "...cavalry? I've shit 'em."
4:44 Jesus Fuck, I was not expecting that. Though maybe I should have been. I haven't read much about this programme but there do seem to be hints of undead stuff. Anyway, Sean Bean's character reaches out to touch the hand of the dead girl at the edge of the water and it grabs him...
8:55 It's a bit odd that, although Sean Bean is definitely the star here - and his name is the only one above the titles - so far he's not coming over as the star. In fact his character is being either pushed around or disrespected by just about everyone so far.
10:05 Hmm, now he's going undercover. And he's ordered by the Home Secretary to move to a different office and different accommodation. This sounds like he's being cut off from everyone and everything he knows. I'm honestly not sure if I'm going to enjoy this show or not - I normally choose not to watch or read Gothic Horror type stuff. But you know, Sean Bean.
10:27 This is a really grim-looking place he's moving into. Very bleak and lonely looking.
I've just noticed that the building his room is in is actually perfectly decent. He's just got the basement room at the bottom of the area steps.
10:39 OMG he's got a box with a sword and a pistol in it. I'm getting flashbacks. Both weapons look old and uncared for - perhaps Marlott was at Waterloo. Actually, given that Sean Bean was 56 in 2015 when he made this, that makes Marlott around 56 in 1827, ie born 1771, which makes him 6 years older than Sharpe, and thus 44 at the time of Waterloo.
11:36 Now he's getting a couple of small locket portraits out of a small box, and a gold ring. And flashbacks to standing next to a stream in better clothes and looking younger. All part of building the character I guess, and I need to guard against being too impatient to go along with it properly. And now he's lit a candle in front of the photos, just to rub in the fact that whoever these people are, they're dead. Which I'd worked out.
10:25 Timing shit again. That's very short for a sword - is that the Baker rifle bayonet? And yup, now I see the Waterloo medal. Not sure how I didn't recognise the jacket first time round, but I was only putting the screen brightness up to zero then, but it really needs to be about +10.
If the second locket is for the baby, I think there's no actual picture in it - no time to have one done - and she had very long thick hair for a 3-month-old baby...
12:45 Not sure what the other guy is saying here: "...prices [of bodies for teaching anatomy] have dropped since talking of bringing the workhouse ?stiffs? (sounds more like "diffs) our way."
16:05 This lad who becomes his informant looks remarkably like Esther's little boy, just a few years older.
17:20 Hold on, this is supposed to be 1827 but that Tide Table he's got is for March 1826.
17:25 I certainly don't know the whole of the Thames but this certainly doesn't look like any bit I do know (yes, I know it wasn't actually filmed by the Thames, though I would have thought this scene could have been filmed at London Apprentice. Too many boats going past nowadays, I suppose.)
18:42 So he's chucked a dead pig in the river at a known state of the tide, and now he's watching it floating down river. (Not sure why I'm assuming it's down river when I have no idea which bank he's supposed to be standing on, but if this actually were London Apprentice then it would be going down river.)
I can't help wondering why Sean does all these little local television things. Doesn't anyone want him for big film roles? I mean, the man is an excellent actor but he doesn't seem to often get parts that actually need a good actor. I'd like to see him in some huge, stunning role in a huge stunning film and win Oscars. Perhaps it's because - as he says himself - he doesn't audition very well, so he gets offered things that people want him for rather than going for auditions nowadays? I just feel he's underrated and would love to see him lauded as a really top actor rather than just as one who's famous for a few long-ago parts. He hasn't actually done a film since The Martian in 2015.
Dammit, I wanted to upload a new Sean icon, but LJ is telling me I'm using "40 out of 15" and it won't let me upload any more. That was the entire reason for having a paid account ffs. Maybe that's gone wrong somewhere.
Continuing next day:
25:20 Hold on, he's just introduced himself as Inspector "Marlowe". Did I miss him pronouncing Marlott without the T at the end, or has he had to change his name as well as everything else linking him to his normal life?
27:45 I wonder if Sean Bean was getting flashbacks, standing in a room with a whole rack of guns on the wall.
29:30 So Marlott has syphilis, and "passed it on unknowingly". I'm going to guess for now that he got it in the Army - not at all unusual at the time - and that it was his wife he passed it onto. The fact that his wife was much younger than him (born 1799 from her headstone) and that their only known child was born at the end of 1822 suggests that he didn't marry until 1822, maybe after completing 21 years with the colours.
"Hear my prayer, oh Lord,
And let my cry come unto thee.
For my days are consumed like smoke
And my bones are burnt."
Edited extract from Psalm 102, King James version.
Marlott has a limp, and Mr Wilford uses a cane. I know Sean Bean injured his leg very badly as a child, but we saw Sharpe running, jumping, climbing mountains, and we saw Neil Byrne running, jumping, climbing balconies and rooves, so I'm guessing this is not Sean himself but something he chooses for some characters. It certainly fits with my guess that Marlott was in the Army. I know I haven't seen much of Sean's work yet, just the above and a few clips of Boromir and Ned Stark as well as Simon/Tracie in The Accused, but Marlott is closer to Sharpe than any of his other characters I've seen so far.
32:25 Has Marlott's little informant been got by "the monster"?
32:50 Aaand someone's whistling "O'er the hills and far away". Love it.
33:25 This fresh body just collected from the Fortune of War pub looks likely to be the informant.
34:50 I didn't know mercury treatment for syphilis caused bad dreams, though it's certainly (a) a useful plot device to show us what Marlott is thinking/dreaming about and (b) an excellent way to allow Sean Bean to showcase his expertise at playing trauma.
35:00 The darling man has a bit of a belly on him now. The ravages of time come even to the most beautiful.
36:50 The takes of Sean running are definitely shorter than they were in 1999. See above comment.
37.35 Marlott is hijacked and taken to A Bad Guy, who says to his underling "Sharp work, Jack."
37:40 Bad Guy notices that Marlott's pistol is bronze plated. "Bow Street!" he says, to which Marlott answers, "Soldier."
37:45 Bad Guy asks "What Regiment" and Marlott answers to my utter delight and honestly not much surprise "95th Rifles". And he even goes on to state "2nd Light Battalion". I am so happy for this.
Apparently the chest that he opens earlier in the episode has a Rifles green jacket in it - an officer's one - complete with Waterloo badge. And someone said that's Cavalry boots he's wearing. [ETA having watched the "Making of" on the Sharpe's Challenge DVD I think they could very well be Sharpe's boots. I don't know specifically whether Sean kept them, but he does like to keep things from shoots, and it was in his contract that he got to keep the jacket and the sword, so why not the boots as well.
I've finally got access to Netflix, mainly because I want to watch Season 2 of Snowpiercer which starts tomorrow, but in the meantime, I'm having a look at the Frankenstein Chronicles.
I'm liking the music here, it's quite unusual though I can't pick out exactly what it is about it. I notice this is set in ?1827? and it's quite strange because Sean is obviously a lot older than he was in Sharpe but he's back in more or less the same time period.
Sean does not have any Producer credits on 1.01. Nope, that's wrong - he comes up as Co-Producer in the end credits.
Is this the bit of foreshore he keeps coming back to in his dreams? (supposed to be Wapping). If so, is it a metaphor for how he preferred the river police, or loves the river, or what?
Why doesn't he wear this rather splendid cloak in future episodes? Is it part of his river police uniform?
Since starting to watch Sharpe in December 2020 I've also watched the whole of Extremely Dangerous and the first two episodes of Legends. In neither of those did Sean Bean look or sound anything like Sharpe, but at
3:56 he shouts "What are you waiting for?" and he suddenly sounds so like Sharpe that I expect him to follow up with "...cavalry? I've shit 'em."
4:44 Jesus Fuck, I was not expecting that. Though maybe I should have been. I haven't read much about this programme but there do seem to be hints of undead stuff. Anyway, Sean Bean's character reaches out to touch the hand of the dead girl at the edge of the water and it grabs him...
8:55 It's a bit odd that, although Sean Bean is definitely the star here - and his name is the only one above the titles - so far he's not coming over as the star. In fact his character is being either pushed around or disrespected by just about everyone so far.
10:05 Hmm, now he's going undercover. And he's ordered by the Home Secretary to move to a different office and different accommodation. This sounds like he's being cut off from everyone and everything he knows. I'm honestly not sure if I'm going to enjoy this show or not - I normally choose not to watch or read Gothic Horror type stuff. But you know, Sean Bean.
10:27 This is a really grim-looking place he's moving into. Very bleak and lonely looking.
I've just noticed that the building his room is in is actually perfectly decent. He's just got the basement room at the bottom of the area steps.
10:39 OMG he's got a box with a sword and a pistol in it. I'm getting flashbacks. Both weapons look old and uncared for - perhaps Marlott was at Waterloo. Actually, given that Sean Bean was 56 in 2015 when he made this, that makes Marlott around 56 in 1827, ie born 1771, which makes him 6 years older than Sharpe, and thus 44 at the time of Waterloo.
11:36 Now he's getting a couple of small locket portraits out of a small box, and a gold ring. And flashbacks to standing next to a stream in better clothes and looking younger. All part of building the character I guess, and I need to guard against being too impatient to go along with it properly. And now he's lit a candle in front of the photos, just to rub in the fact that whoever these people are, they're dead. Which I'd worked out.
10:25 Timing shit again. That's very short for a sword - is that the Baker rifle bayonet? And yup, now I see the Waterloo medal. Not sure how I didn't recognise the jacket first time round, but I was only putting the screen brightness up to zero then, but it really needs to be about +10.
If the second locket is for the baby, I think there's no actual picture in it - no time to have one done - and she had very long thick hair for a 3-month-old baby...
12:45 Not sure what the other guy is saying here: "...prices [of bodies for teaching anatomy] have dropped since talking of bringing the workhouse ?stiffs? (sounds more like "diffs) our way."
16:05 This lad who becomes his informant looks remarkably like Esther's little boy, just a few years older.
17:20 Hold on, this is supposed to be 1827 but that Tide Table he's got is for March 1826.
17:25 I certainly don't know the whole of the Thames but this certainly doesn't look like any bit I do know (yes, I know it wasn't actually filmed by the Thames, though I would have thought this scene could have been filmed at London Apprentice. Too many boats going past nowadays, I suppose.)
18:42 So he's chucked a dead pig in the river at a known state of the tide, and now he's watching it floating down river. (Not sure why I'm assuming it's down river when I have no idea which bank he's supposed to be standing on, but if this actually were London Apprentice then it would be going down river.)
I can't help wondering why Sean does all these little local television things. Doesn't anyone want him for big film roles? I mean, the man is an excellent actor but he doesn't seem to often get parts that actually need a good actor. I'd like to see him in some huge, stunning role in a huge stunning film and win Oscars. Perhaps it's because - as he says himself - he doesn't audition very well, so he gets offered things that people want him for rather than going for auditions nowadays? I just feel he's underrated and would love to see him lauded as a really top actor rather than just as one who's famous for a few long-ago parts. He hasn't actually done a film since The Martian in 2015.
Dammit, I wanted to upload a new Sean icon, but LJ is telling me I'm using "40 out of 15" and it won't let me upload any more. That was the entire reason for having a paid account ffs. Maybe that's gone wrong somewhere.
Continuing next day:
25:20 Hold on, he's just introduced himself as Inspector "Marlowe". Did I miss him pronouncing Marlott without the T at the end, or has he had to change his name as well as everything else linking him to his normal life?
27:45 I wonder if Sean Bean was getting flashbacks, standing in a room with a whole rack of guns on the wall.
29:30 So Marlott has syphilis, and "passed it on unknowingly". I'm going to guess for now that he got it in the Army - not at all unusual at the time - and that it was his wife he passed it onto. The fact that his wife was much younger than him (born 1799 from her headstone) and that their only known child was born at the end of 1822 suggests that he didn't marry until 1822, maybe after completing 21 years with the colours.
"Hear my prayer, oh Lord,
And let my cry come unto thee.
For my days are consumed like smoke
And my bones are burnt."
Edited extract from Psalm 102, King James version.
Marlott has a limp, and Mr Wilford uses a cane. I know Sean Bean injured his leg very badly as a child, but we saw Sharpe running, jumping, climbing mountains, and we saw Neil Byrne running, jumping, climbing balconies and rooves, so I'm guessing this is not Sean himself but something he chooses for some characters. It certainly fits with my guess that Marlott was in the Army. I know I haven't seen much of Sean's work yet, just the above and a few clips of Boromir and Ned Stark as well as Simon/Tracie in The Accused, but Marlott is closer to Sharpe than any of his other characters I've seen so far.
32:25 Has Marlott's little informant been got by "the monster"?
32:50 Aaand someone's whistling "O'er the hills and far away". Love it.
33:25 This fresh body just collected from the Fortune of War pub looks likely to be the informant.
34:50 I didn't know mercury treatment for syphilis caused bad dreams, though it's certainly (a) a useful plot device to show us what Marlott is thinking/dreaming about and (b) an excellent way to allow Sean Bean to showcase his expertise at playing trauma.
35:00 The darling man has a bit of a belly on him now. The ravages of time come even to the most beautiful.
36:50 The takes of Sean running are definitely shorter than they were in 1999. See above comment.
37.35 Marlott is hijacked and taken to A Bad Guy, who says to his underling "Sharp work, Jack."
37:40 Bad Guy notices that Marlott's pistol is bronze plated. "Bow Street!" he says, to which Marlott answers, "Soldier."
37:45 Bad Guy asks "What Regiment" and Marlott answers to my utter delight and honestly not much surprise "95th Rifles". And he even goes on to state "2nd Light Battalion". I am so happy for this.
Apparently the chest that he opens earlier in the episode has a Rifles green jacket in it - an officer's one - complete with Waterloo badge. And someone said that's Cavalry boots he's wearing. [ETA having watched the "Making of" on the Sharpe's Challenge DVD I think they could very well be Sharpe's boots. I don't know specifically whether Sean kept them, but he does like to keep things from shoots, and it was in his contract that he got to keep the jacket and the sword, so why not the boots as well.