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With a little help from my friends
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naraht and some other people for this, I'll have you know. Also, the following is written with affection for all parties involved, so kindly avoid bashing any of the showrunners in question in your comments. (Making fun of same, otoh, is part of the purpose of this little exercise.)
So, recent conversations withnaraht caused me me to wonder how various tv writers would handle biopics dealing with anyone from the i>Beatles and their circle - whom they'd pick, how they'd narrate the subject, what they would emphasize, and so forth. Here are my highly scientific conclusions.
1.) Russel T. Davies: writes the long overdue Brian Epstein biopic. In which there's unrequited and/or uneven m/m love several times over (Brian loves John Lennon more than John loves him, but on the other hand, Peter Brown loves Brian far more than Brian loves him), and various intense sex scenes, but the emotional core relationship is the platonic one between Brian Epstein and singer Alma Cogan. (Who also has a brief fling with John Lennon.) This causes part of the fandom to accuse RTD of selling out to the heteronormative majority and being a secret self loathing homophobe while also being a character torturing sadist, and that's before Brian actually dies in the third episode of the miniseries. To everyone's surprise, the breakout 'ship of the miniseries is neither Brian/John nor Brian/Alma, though both have their followers, but Brian/Peter.
2.) Stephen Moffat: writes The Ballad of Yoko and John, also a three parter, centered around Yoko Ono, narrated in a non-linear flashion with flashbacks and flash forwards. At first, there is much delight at his depiction of Yoko Ono as a strong, morally ambiguous (i.e. neither saint nor demon) and charismatic woman not taking crap from anyone (though this also causes hostility and accusations of smugness in another part of the fandom), but later on part of the initial hooray fades as accusations are raised that Yoko is just too obsessed with John and seems to have no life unrelated to him. Also, the fact that the subplot about the abduction of Yoko's daughter Kyoko by her second husband after a strong start has no emotional follow up whatsoever until Kyoko shows up again in the last flash forward after John's death comes in for strong criticism while the May Pang subplot (i.e. Yoko setting her up asa sexual babysitter John's mistress, then getting rid of her again) gets Moffat accused of vile sexism and the ruination of a strong female character.
3.) Joss Whedon: tackles the Beatles themselves. At first, there is much delight in fandom as it seems a perfect match - the one liners and quips fly, so do the puns, the somewhat dysfunctional family is formed, and as opposed to every other pic, this one actually uses the songs to convey something characterisation relevant. Then as relationships between our gang turn increasingly messed up, alienated and sour while romances end in tears and lovable sidekicks like Mal Evans are killed off, fandom concludes Joss is up to his old tricks. The man just can't stand permanent happiness, I tell you. The death of Brian Epstein in rude service of the plot to drive the Beatles apart loses him part of his following in the gay comunity, and the way he acts out his parent issues by not allowing anyone a complete set of nice parents (other than George, and his hardly show up!), even adding evil authority figures like manager Allen Klein (totally stereotype!) is seen as typical Whedonism.
4.) Ronald D. Moore: Ron Moore laughs at biopics or bio-miniseries and goes for a re-imagining of Yellow Submarine as a gritty war story tv series instead. The Blue Meanies are there. And they have a plan. As well as plenty of sex with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band while torching Pepperland. At first, this is greeted with much applause especially among people who considered the original film as way too cloying and cheesy, but they turn against Ron when it's increasingly obvious that the Walrus is behind everything and the Head!Eggmen are real.
Feel free to add your opinion on other showrunners and their Beatles related unfilmed oeuvres.
naraht and some other people for this, I'll have you know. Also, the following is written with affection for all parties involved, so kindly avoid bashing any of the showrunners in question in your comments. (Making fun of same, otoh, is part of the purpose of this little exercise.)So, recent conversations with
naraht caused me me to wonder how various tv writers would handle biopics dealing with anyone from the i>Beatles and their circle - whom they'd pick, how they'd narrate the subject, what they would emphasize, and so forth. Here are my highly scientific conclusions.1.) Russel T. Davies: writes the long overdue Brian Epstein biopic. In which there's unrequited and/or uneven m/m love several times over (Brian loves John Lennon more than John loves him, but on the other hand, Peter Brown loves Brian far more than Brian loves him), and various intense sex scenes, but the emotional core relationship is the platonic one between Brian Epstein and singer Alma Cogan. (Who also has a brief fling with John Lennon.) This causes part of the fandom to accuse RTD of selling out to the heteronormative majority and being a secret self loathing homophobe while also being a character torturing sadist, and that's before Brian actually dies in the third episode of the miniseries. To everyone's surprise, the breakout 'ship of the miniseries is neither Brian/John nor Brian/Alma, though both have their followers, but Brian/Peter.
2.) Stephen Moffat: writes The Ballad of Yoko and John, also a three parter, centered around Yoko Ono, narrated in a non-linear flashion with flashbacks and flash forwards. At first, there is much delight at his depiction of Yoko Ono as a strong, morally ambiguous (i.e. neither saint nor demon) and charismatic woman not taking crap from anyone (though this also causes hostility and accusations of smugness in another part of the fandom), but later on part of the initial hooray fades as accusations are raised that Yoko is just too obsessed with John and seems to have no life unrelated to him. Also, the fact that the subplot about the abduction of Yoko's daughter Kyoko by her second husband after a strong start has no emotional follow up whatsoever until Kyoko shows up again in the last flash forward after John's death comes in for strong criticism while the May Pang subplot (i.e. Yoko setting her up as
3.) Joss Whedon: tackles the Beatles themselves. At first, there is much delight in fandom as it seems a perfect match - the one liners and quips fly, so do the puns, the somewhat dysfunctional family is formed, and as opposed to every other pic, this one actually uses the songs to convey something characterisation relevant. Then as relationships between our gang turn increasingly messed up, alienated and sour while romances end in tears and lovable sidekicks like Mal Evans are killed off, fandom concludes Joss is up to his old tricks. The man just can't stand permanent happiness, I tell you. The death of Brian Epstein in rude service of the plot to drive the Beatles apart loses him part of his following in the gay comunity, and the way he acts out his parent issues by not allowing anyone a complete set of nice parents (other than George, and his hardly show up!), even adding evil authority figures like manager Allen Klein (totally stereotype!) is seen as typical Whedonism.
4.) Ronald D. Moore: Ron Moore laughs at biopics or bio-miniseries and goes for a re-imagining of Yellow Submarine as a gritty war story tv series instead. The Blue Meanies are there. And they have a plan. As well as plenty of sex with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band while torching Pepperland. At first, this is greeted with much applause especially among people who considered the original film as way too cloying and cheesy, but they turn against Ron when it's increasingly obvious that the Walrus is behind everything and the Head!Eggmen are real.
Feel free to add your opinion on other showrunners and their Beatles related unfilmed oeuvres.
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Heeee!
Ridley Scott: Filmed a critically acclaimed movie about the break-up of the Beatles back in 1979 (It was called, simply, "Beatle" and focused on Ringo Starr, which came as a genuine surprise to audiences in 1979, who went into the movie expecting one of the other, more famous, Beatles to be the point of view character). After the success of 'Beatle', Scott hinted for years about making another film about the group, possibly a prequel. In 2012, he announces that he's working on a film that isn't a prequel and isn't about the Beatles, but just happens to be about an iconic four-man pop group from Liverpool. Internet speculation explodes when the teaser trailer is released and includes a brief but clearly recognisable few seconds of Love Me Do.
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Their show is called "George Martin", and GM is indeed their main character, though conflated with young engineer Geoff Emerick to be the same age as the Beatles. GM's producer magic makes it all possible, and his dynamic with Paul is the center of the show. When John suddenly goes evil at the start of the third season, there are many complaints, though in retrospect there were signs.
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