Quote:
Originally Posted by Dagney
Just finished the British run of Being Human - MUCH better than the US version!
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Missed this post!
The original
Being Human was brilliant. Especially the first three series. The story arc of the original four. But, the new characters were also good, and I wish they'd been given another series to explore that new story.
I also liked the SyFy reimagining of it. It had a lot going for it; though it lacked the narrative oomph of the original - having so few episodes meant there wasn't much time/need to go off in lots of directions, it was much tighter. Each series had a clear narrative with a beginning, a middle and an end, and the first three series in particular had an overall arc that held together.
The remake was a little rangier - had time to go off and explore lots of different aspects of the world and expand the mythology, but didn't have the same sense of focus and direction. I also thought that. whilst it did the comedy side of things well, it didn't quite manage to shift between comedy and drama half as well - the original was able to turn on a dime between comedy and drama and the second series in particular went very, very dark.
That said, there were some standout moments in that series that have stayed with me: Sally's dream sequence, fantasising about Aidan taking vengeance on her former fiance (and murderer), and Aidan in the grave when he was buried by the head vampire.
I loved the musical direction in the original - and though they did it with almost no budget and it shows, their use of camera angles, lighting and the way scenes are placed was really original and worked well - the scene when Nina finds the Box Tunnel Massacre scrapbook and informs on Mitchell was beautifully done.
I also liked a lot of the musical direction on the original (sally's dream sequence was a real highlight of that) - but I hated the way they undercut the scenes with a dropping comedy tone. It got really annoying and I wanted a little more subtlety in some places.
Loved Herrick and Bishop, but despite the original not being able to do more than black the eyes and give them fangs, and generally painting them a lot smaller than the vamps in the remake, I found Herrick much scarier. Maybe that's because, for me, Bishop is foreign and Herrick really could just be a respected police officer in my town. Maybe it's the other way around for American viewers.
I thought the writing was cleverer on the original - more naturalistic, less formulaic. And there was a rawness to it. Again, probably because it was done for so little money.
The remake did well in taking that original idea and making it into something different. More time to explore some stuff that was really interesting. And, I liked the main characters. On its own terms it was good. I really enjoyed watching it.