Penny Dreadfulis a wartime Universal Monster Mash for the premium cable generation.
Even Kenneth Branaghs poor attempt to realize Mary ShelleysFrankensteinwith a movie entitled (what else?
And Frankenstein is likely the best representation of this.
The consequences of a fever dream during a stormy and idyllic summer near Lake Geneva several years prior.
Walton, finishes transcribing Victors ramblings.
But, unlike Milton, the only creator in Shelleys story is a man devoid of divinity.
It is they who inspired Victor to seek the workings behind things.
ButPenny Dreadfulavoids nearly all of these trappings, even downplaying the Creatures deformity more than in the book.
Conversely, Caliban is removed from most of the cosmetic disfigurements that have become ubiquitous withFrankenstein.
The untaught peasant beheld the elements around him and was acquainted with their practical uses.
The most learned philosopher knew little more.
He isnt insane; hes just young and arrogant enough to believe he knows better than everybody else.
The callowness with which Shelley depicts Victor and his enraptured transcriptionist Capt.
Walton as products of gentle and feminine fosterage is even a dangling plot thread onPenny Dreadful.
But in the novel, Victors notation of electricity is a simple passing interest in lightning striking a tree.
If Shelleys Frankenstein ever met Stokers Van Helsing, they might have cured death itself.
From your penciled notations, I learned that you favored Wordsworth and the old romantics.
No wonder you fled from me.
The only name missing from Calibans lips is Percy Shelley.
After all, Shelley insures that the Creature is as well-versed in free-thinking as any enlightened soul around Victor.
How else could he speak so eloquently about the plight of Native Americans or the cruelties of mans history?
These wonderful narrations inspired me with strange feelings.
Were the Janus mask; inseparable.
The scientists damnable blindness to their duality and shared fate is the true monster.
For a time, it appeared to be the direction the show was heading in as well.
But it would appear the good doctor has no interest in appealing to his Creations desires.
In many ways, it is fitting that the Creature found a home in the Grand Guignol.
Not that anyone should have an issue with Karloff.
This article was originally published on June 20, 2014.