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"One thing is clear - if you&amp;#039;re going to do Dracula, you damn better make sure you&amp;#039;re bringing something new to the table. Bram Stoker&amp;#039;s original novel has been adapted so many times in so many different ways that it&amp;#039;s impossible to even count the clich\u00E9s. Would this new take on the classic - a co-production between NBC and Sky Living - give us a fresh look on the tale that feels as old as time?  The answer is, well, sort of. Certainly, the show introduced some welcome departures, turning things on their heads by having Dracula and his traditional nemesis Van Helsing working together to bring down the shady Order of the Dragon. That&amp;#039;s a twist that could bring some interesting twists, and it&amp;#039;s by no means an easy alliance - best friends don&amp;#039;t tend to throttle each other. Other smaller touches worked reasonably well; beheading vampire victims becomes the reliable method of culling, rather than a stake through the heart, which presumably allows for extra gore. But not everything that has been changed about the story is so welcome. While it&amp;#039;s intriguing enough to have Dracula fighting the Order as a form of revenge - they murdered his wife - for some reason the writers believed that this would best be served by a battle over electricity.  Now, Dallas gets away with hokey science (&amp;quot;the hydrates&amp;quot;) and weird tussles over fossil fuels vs renewable energy, because it&amp;#039;s a soap and it does it with a wink and a nod and a hell of a lot of silliness. The problem with Dracula is that it seems to be taking its battle seriously. The premise is that Dracula and Van Helsing will prove the viability of geomagnetism as a power source, undoing the Order, who have put all their eggs in the oil basket. There&amp;#039;s nothing fun about this, though. This is Dracula, for goodness&amp;#039; sake. I want to see him ripping people&amp;#039;s throats open, not involved in supposedly tense discussions about whether or not he can buy a patent. It would be fine if this was in the background, but a substantial part of the opening moments are devoted to this, dragging down the otherwise marvellously produced ballroom scene. It really is stunning, with brilliantly choreographed background dancers and delightful costumes - I was particularly taken with Lucy&amp;#039;s blood red dress detail - and stirring music. And then you have Dracula - sorry, Alexander Grayson&amp;#039;s - first dramatic entrance, only for him to spend most of his time speaking with old men in suits about science.  Indeed, the moment in which he makes lightbulbs illuminate as if from nowhere is beautiful to watch, but I was still left wondering when all the vampire stuff was going to start. I&amp;#039;m not a particularly impatient person, and I get that exposition is necessary, especially in a first episode. But I watch Dracula for fangs and blood and sex. To be fair, I started to get more of that as the episode continued. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is deliciously hammy - at one point he genuinely flings his arms wide and laughs slightly manically - and there&amp;#039;s plenty of campy nonsense, which is really what I&amp;#039;m after. The fight scene on top of the roof, in which the producers suddenly decide to introduce slow-motion leaps, is comic book fun, ending with a delightful throat-slitting moment with blood dripping off the tiles. And while it couldn&amp;#039;t be more obvious, it&amp;#039;s hard not to enjoy the ridiculous, over-the-top opera scene, in which Dracula feasts on Lady Jayne&amp;#039;s cleavage while staring over at Mina and murmuring words like &amp;quot;insatiable&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;unquenchable&amp;quot;, all while the singer&amp;#039;s voice rings in the background.  Some things are a little too obvious - one member of the Order ripping open his trench coat to reveal various vampire-slaying implements, for example, or Dracula shying away from a beam of light - and it&amp;#039;s a shame that the writers feel the need to insult our intelligence by having the Order discussing the previous vampire outbreak, then mentioning Whitechapel. In case we didn&amp;#039;t get it, they then mention mutilated bodies and letters to the press. And just to make sure we really do know what they&amp;#039;re talking about, they basically get the man involved to throw up his hands and tut: &amp;quot;Jack the Ripper, eh?&amp;quot; Oh, sorry, now I know what you mean, everyone. Thanks. But while Dracula is flawed in many ways, it&amp;#039;s also kind of weirdly entertaining; yes, over-the-top and nonsensical, but also reasonably compelling. There&amp;#039;s something to be said about a vampire in a truly spectacular coat, and about a Lady who&amp;#039;s a dab hand with swords and keeps a vampire in her basement for practice, and about &amp;#039;sexy blood&amp;#039;. While the show certainly wasn&amp;#039;t all that I was hoping it would be, there&amp;#039;s something about it that means I won&amp;#039;t give up just yet.  Dracula Drama   The production values in this show really are nice - and might be what keeps me around - and even the effects are good (see: Dracula being awoken.)  I don&amp;#039;t even know what I&amp;#039;m supposed to be calling Dracula. Dracula? His real self Vlad? Or his fake American self Alexander Grayson?  I&amp;#039;ve always been a fan of Katie McGrath, so I was pleased that she shone as smirky Lucy in her - albeit limited - scenes.  Jonathan Rhys Meyers was shirtless in the bath in the first five minutes, so if that&amp;#039;s why you were watching the show you&amp;#039;d be satisfied.  I suppose the fact that I didn&amp;#039;t mention it in the main article means that I don&amp;#039;t care much for the mysterious fact that Mina looks just like Dracula&amp;#039;s dead wife, though I suppose that will become more important in the coming episodes. Poor Harker - though Lucy wasn&amp;#039;t wrong when she called him boring...  Lady Jayne is definitely one of the most interesting characters - a sexually adventurous, ass-kicking vampire hunter? Yes please.  The problems in the bizarre laboratory set up to service Alexander&amp;#039;s fancy lightbulb trick were amazing. How can you not laugh at someone screeching: &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m burning! I&amp;#039;m burning!&amp;quot; in the background?  &amp;quot;I reserved my own box.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Pity - I feel you&amp;#039;d enjoy the performance so much more in mine.&amp;quot; Oo-er, missus, etc.  As a &amp;#039;reporter&amp;#039;, loved Jonathan making notes during his interview with Alexander: &amp;quot;Visionary. Delusional. Egomaniac.&amp;quot; Good luck getting 2,000 words out of that, Jonathan.  I think I might grow to love Renfield.  What did you think of Dracula? Let us know below! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/dracula/news/a527911/dracula-series-premiere-recap-sex-slaughter-and-science/>