Van Helsing: The London Assignment is an Animated “Diamond in the Rough”
While researching for my Van Helsing Mixes Monsters for Movie Magic post I found out that there was a cartoon short released in conjunction with the major motion picture. Van Helsing: The London Assignment tells the story of what Van Helsing is doing in the days leading up to the start of the film.
Van Helsing
Van Helsing is on the trail of a vicious London-based murderer who not only kills his lovely female victims, but leaves their bodies twisted and mummified. But even after this string of heinous crimes, the order to which Van Helsing belongs demands that he try to capture the fiend and save his soul from damnation.
Hyde on train
He soon meets the monster, none other than the giant Mr. Hyde who helps Hugh Jackman open the live-action movie. In an interesting twist, Dr. Jekyll is every bit as evil (or even eviler) than his alter ego, but he is doing all in the name of love.
Years earlier his eyes met those of the young and beautiful Queen Victoria and he believes to that day that she fell in love with him in the same instance. Jekyll uses a potion concocted of the souls of his victims to grant her a new lease on life and with the help of his hellish minions he absconds with her to his fiery layer deep below the city. How will Van Helsing (and Carl the monk, of course) rescue the queen and save the day?
I called this 30 minute short a “diamond in the rough” because a lot of the animation is jerky and reminiscent of Hanna Barbara cartoons (no offense Scooby Doo!) with intermittent flashes of brilliance. The action sequences clearly got more love (or maybe just a bigger budget) than other scenes, which is to be expected, but it was kind of distractingly lopsided. That being said, it is a fun story that made me alternatingly chuckle and say “whoa!” It really felt like a noir comic book come to life, which was cool to see.
There is a nice documentary in the special features about the making of the live-action movie which is really cool. I learned that both Kate Beckingsale and Hugh Jackman did most if not all of their own amazing stunts.
You can watch the full cartoon through youtube below!
Steampunk Meets the Surreal in Dark Portals: The Chronicles of Vidocq
Poster for Vidoqc (French version of Dark Portals: Chronicles of Vidoqc)
Vidoqc and the Alchemist
Dark Portals: The Chronicles of Vidoqc is the English title of a French film called simply Vidoqc. Gerard Depardieu plays the title role of Eugene Francois Vidoqc (the father of criminology and a real-life French figure of note), who is an occult detective on the grimy streets of Paris in 1830. He is on the trail of a masked serial killer, the Alchemist, but falls to his supernatural enemy within the first minutes of the film. Amidst the tumult of the outbreak of the Second French Revolution (also known as the July Revolution), Vidoqc’s biographer Etienne (played by French heartthrob Guillaume Canet) tracks down witnesses to fill in the blanks in Vidoqc’s investigation and mysterious disappearance. Meanwhile the Alchemist is still on the prowl and no one is safe from his mysterious powers.
Paris in Vidoqc
This is a very stylized and disturbing movie, but I would definitely recommend it to fans of the Steampunk gestalt. If you are willing to deal with the subtitles, the special effects and unrepentant window into poverty make for a stunning and surreal adventure which definitely earns it’s R rating.
While watching it I was struck by how foreign it felt, which shouldn’t really surprise me seeing as how it is a foreign film, but it definitely is not a Hollywood movie. First off, the hero is a middle-aged man with a bulbous nose and a thick middle (though he still kicks some serious Alchemist ass when they meet in the flashbacks that make up Etienne’s investigation). The extreme camera angles highlight derelict victims of the streets (think Les Miserables with more underage workers and filth) which is enhanced by jerky motion and makes the enclosed spaces like the glassworks feel downright suffocating. The interior spaces all feel as though they are lit by gaslight, which makes the occasional burst of color really stand out.
Peter Pan Gets a Steamy Makeover in Neverland (2011)
Neverland poster
Charlie Rowe as Peter Pan
My favorite Peter Pan has to be the one who has been terrorizing the citizens of Storybrooke on Once Upon a Time this season, but I think as a whole the 2011 mini-series Neverland is the most interesting (re)interpretation of J. M. Barrie’s classic story that I have come across. Or rather, this story is of what came before Wendy and the Darling boys made their sojourn to the third star on the right.
Jimmy and the Lost Boys
In this two-part miniseries, Peter and the Lost Boys are pickpockets on the tough streets of London. Their convivial though crooked caretaker, Jimmy Hook, has rescued the orphans from a life on the the street and his protege, Peter (played by Charlie Rowe, whom I recognized as Billy Costa in The Golden Compass) feels a deep gratitude for the life they now lead. So it is no surprise that when Jimmy tells the boys about a potentially lucrative burglary Peter jumps at the chance to prove himself to his mentor. In the end, Jimmy says it is too dangerous for the band of boys to help him with the caper and tells Peter to forget the whole thing, but Peter is in such a hurry to grow up and take his place as Jimmy’s equal he lies to the other boys and tells them they are supposed to commit the crime without Jimmy to guide them.
Upon discovering their empty beds, Jimmy heads to the antique shop and catches them in the act. The jewels are all well and good, but there is something far more valuable and mysterious waiting for them and it was this artifact that Jimmy was hired to retrieve. While Peter is in the other room looking for something to use to pick a lock, the object is triggered and seemingly disintegrates Peter’s whole crew, leaving a glowing orb behind. As Peter soon learns, the orb is a gateway to another planet: Neverland.
Peter follows his comrades to Neverland, a place of surreal and wintry beauty. The cast of characters you expect are all there, pirates, Indians, and giant crocodiles, but this looks nothing like the Disney movie. For one thing, the crocodiles have 8 legs. But, my favorite twist is that the dreaded captain of the Jolly Roger is a beautiful woman so the character of Captain Hook is more or less split between Captain Bonny and Jimmy. (Or perhaps more accurately Bonny is the shape of things to come in Hook’s life)
When Peter arrives Cpt. Bonny has taken Jimmy and the Lost Boys captive, though Jimmy is less of a prisoner and more of a willing participant in the cruel beauty’s schemes. Peter attempts a rescue but Jimmy’s hesitation leads to the death of one of the boys at the hands of a trigger happy pirate. The boys become allied to the Indians (whose motifs loosely resemble Pacific Northwest tribes rather than the iconic plains folk) and must help them to protect their mountain stronghold and the “tree spirits” (ie fairies) who take refuge there from the dastardly pirates. The fairies control a mineral that has volatile but intriguing set of side effects, including the ability to fly. Peter and the chief’s daughter, Tiger Lily, set off in search of a way home and stumble upon an alchemist who reveals the secret of the mysterious orb that transported them and the unique position of Neverland in the universe that keeps time standing still.
The shape of the universe
You can check out the trailer below.
Steampunk Book Review: The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack
Book cover
I recently moved to a small town, but I had high hopes for the public library because there are two colleges nearby. I had not yet compiled my Steampunk book list, so I went in mostly in search of classic science fiction to get me started on exploring the genre from its roots. But, as I combed the shelves Mark Hodder‘s The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack jumped out at me. I had never heard of the author or Spring Heeled Jack, but calling it a “strange affair,” plus the font on the spine told me I was probably looking at the right time period. I have never realized how much a font could draw me in before and I am so glad I pulled it off the shelf!
The first thing I did before I started to read was look up Spring Heeled Jack. There is a long article about the whole history of sightings here, but basically he was a figure that popped in and out of the public eye during much of the 19th century and into the 20th. He was spotted all over England and eventually made his way to the United States as well. What Mark Hodder does is take all of the historical facts, including names and dates, and builds a new narrative to bring the whole saga together.
In addition to Jack, Hodder also co-opts several of the “Great Victorians” as heroes and villains. The protagonists are Sir Richard Francis Burton and Algernon Charles Swinburne. I was familiar with Burton and his involvement in the debate over the true source of the Nile, but my knowledge ended there. Swinburne was a Victoria-era poet with a taste for the bottle and the teachings of the Marquis de Sade. They seem an unlikely duo but they make an excellent team in this action-packed mystery.
The year is 1861, but the world is filled with things that should not yet have come to pass. Flying armchairs (called rotochairs) help the populace get around and the postal system is composed of foul-mouthed parakeets that have been genetically designed to deliver messages. Queen Victoria was a but a brief blip on the historical radar because she was assassinated only 3 years after becoming queen, leaving the Libertines (who debate whether murder is the ultimate act of individual expression) and Technologists (whose experiments with genetics are way beyond the pale) to vie for social power.
Burton has just finished a night of heavy drinking with some pals and is accosted by a strange man with blue flames framing a devilish face with glowing red eyes. The apparition gives Burton a savage beating all the while warning him to leave the red-eyed man alone. The encounter starts Burton on an adventure that will challenge his mind, body and very sense of self.
I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Steampunk stories. I will definitely be using examples from this novel to help explain the genre to others because there are several re-imagined technologies and “punked” figures from history making appearances. The writing style is engaging and the plot was compelling, so I was very happy to find out there are more books starring this daring duo. You can find a full list with descriptions here.
Next on my reading list: Morlock Night by K. W. Jeter.
Sir Reginald’s Marvellous Organ
Another winner from Sir Reginald.
For Whom the Gear Turns 