Doctor Who & Captain Picard in Halmet

[Mal]

Sci-fi's own Patrick Stewart and David Tennant come together in a new Fantasy production: Hamlet. It's an oldie but a goldie. The good Doctor is literally haunted by the ghost of his dead father, played by the man behind The Picard. Hilarious hijinks ensue, leaving everyone rolling on the floor!

Have you seen it? It's online, and it's free!

I would have preferred a few choice musical cues from the Doctor Who serials, but alas, the rest is silence.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Yes we've discussed this in the Doctor Who Forum...outstanding stuff. I really like the modern take on it. Patrick Stewart is going to be doing "Macbeth" next year I believe as well so I'm looking forward to that as well.

 

[Christopher]

This was the second time Stewart played Claudius opposite a Time Lord; in 1980 he was in a BBC production of Hamlet opposite Derek Jacobi in the lead role (plus three other once, current, or future Time Lords: Lalla Ward as Ophelia, Claire Bloom as Gertrude, and Geoffrey Beevers as the Third Player). And he was a million times better in the 2009 production than the 1980 one. I reviewed them both on my blog:

http://christopherlbennett.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/hamlet-with-time-lords-and-picard-version-1/

http://christopherlbennett.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/hamlet-with-time-lords-and-picard-version-2/

 

[Anwar]

I knew they were in Hamlet together, but this "Halmet" is something new altogether .

 

[WillsBabe]

Have you seen it?

On stage in Stratford a couple of years back. Magic! I cannot wait for Macbeth to come to dvd. I saw that 3 or 4 years ago in the West End. It blew me away.

 

[diankra]

Yes we've discussed this in the Doctor Who Forum...outstanding stuff. I really like the modern take on it. Patrick Stewart is going to be doing "Macbeth" next year I believe as well so I'm looking forward to that as well.

Didn't Patrick Stewart do MacBeth about five years back? Oh well, no reason why he shouldn't do it again, though you'd think that he might be in line to have a go at Lear next...

 

[Kibbin]

Can't wait to see him in Macbeth, really enjoyed Hamlet, alas Macbeth is coming too later for my course it seems but ah well

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

Reminds me, I still have to watch this after I taped it on the TV.

At Christmas

 

[Count Zero]

It's been out on DVD in Europe for a while and I've seen it a few times since. Really great.

 

[Forbin]

What kind of halmet were they wearing?

 

[FormerLurker]

I knew they were in Hamlet together, but this "Halmet" is something new altogether .

Indeed. Is "Halmet" some kind of hat?

 

[Christopher]

I think that, for symmetry, the title of the Judge Dredd thread elsewhere in this forum should be revised to contain the word "hemlet."

 

[Mal]

What kind of halmet were they wearing?

ah, good times.

 

[Owain Taggart]

It's probably my favourite production of Hamlet. Patrick Stewart talks Shakespeare like it's a natural language to him.

 

[Captain Dago]

It's a good production on dvd and worth seeing but not as solid as Branagh's version. There are some peculiar directorial choices, like the CCTV conceit which isn't well integrated, and the cast is not a strong throughout. Tennant and Stewart are outstanding, though. I'm betting that young David will be Sir David before his career is over.

 

[Christopher]

Not a fan of Branagh's Hamlet. I hated his approach to the soliloquies. He didn't interpret their meaning, didn't deliver them as a person expressing his thoughts and feelings, he just recited them in a monotone.

On the other hand, the Tennant version actually edited the soliloquies, which is blasphemy. Of the ones I've seen, I'd recommend the 1980 Derek Jacobi version. It's a complete, unabridged adaptation, and Jacobi does a fine job bringing real substance and emotion to the soliloquies (except for "How all occasions do inform against me," which I think he mishandled).

 

[selina]

The video is not available in my region. Bummer .

Personally I liked Mel Gibsons Hamlet a lot.

 

[Forbin]

It's probably my favourite production of Hamlet. Patrick Stewart talks Shakespeare like it's a natural language to him.

I haven't seen it yet, but it'd be hard pressed to be better than Derek Jacobi's 1970s PBS version. Jacobi defined whole new levels of brilliance in that one.

 

[Christopher]

^1980 BBC version, actually.

 

[Mal]

It's a good production on dvd and worth seeing but not as solid as Branagh's version. There are some peculiar directorial choices, like the CCTV conceit which isn't well integrated, and the cast is not a strong throughout.

I agree. Horatio was a little disappointing. But Guildenstern was hilarious!