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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

The Kingdom

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

14:01 / 12.05.04

Just thought I should start a new thread for this (I'm rewatching it at the mo, and loving it, and wonder what you guys would have to say about it) because all the comment on it on here at the moment is in the Kingdom Hospital thread (and I haven't seen any of that yet, so wish to avoid spoilage).

I HAVE seen it before, but don't remember a great deal... yesterday and today I watched the first two episodes, and they're ace.

Dr Krogshoj is DA MAN... although I think they may be overdoing Helmer's nastiness... constantly retiring to the roof to shout "Bloody Danes!" is kind of marking someone out as a wanker by lazy means. Not that the other ways of doing it are lacking... it's just, Lars, I hate the fucker already. Stop rubbing it in.

Mogge is truly wonderful- if ever there were a Danish Herbert West movie, he'd be the first guy they'd call, or there's no justice in the world.

Anyway... on the strength of the first two (I intend watching the second DVD either today or tomorrow) that's my coupla euros.

And yes... it IS damn spooky.

My favourite dialogue thus far is the Mongoloid cleaner guy...

Children cry when things are sad
Grown-ups cry when things are sorrowful
But when a building cries, what then?

14:44 / 12.05.04

See, I don't really hate Helmer. He's inept, yeh, and he hates Danes, but everyone hates him because he's Swedish. He's also trying really hard, with that sticker scheme and stuff. And his car gets ruined all the time. He's just a man confronted with a system he doesn't understand and that actively rejects him.

On the other hand, Krogshoj kinda pissed me off. It's only towards the end of the series, when he starts going in to how he keeps the hospital running that I really just wanted to hit him. True, the Masonic cult hate him and he's all Yeh! I'm fighting the bureaucracy! which Helmer obviously embodies but... he's just too much a part of the system, and too much in love with it, to really pull off any rebellion. He's like a prisoner who squirrels away food to pay for favours.

Now that janitor... I like the janitor. Is he Mogge? He's everything Krogshoj wasn't, but seemed to be.

Did anyone think it managed to pull off the whole modern technology vs. pagan ritual and death thing? Outside of Helmer, nothing really seemed that foreign, new or modern. The masonic cult was old and anachronistic and the hospital was shit, frankly.

14:52 / 12.05.04

I'm not sure how much of this series I actually saw (it was a VHS tape I chanced across at the library a few years ago...well, *two* VHS tapes, equalling about six hours), but what I did see I loved. Curiously, even though I like a lot of King's stuff (his prose stuff, anyhow), I found in watching his version that the parts I liked best were the verbatim remakes of scenes from the original. (Of course, I could only get through three episodes of King's series and am waiting for the inevitable disc to see the rest...on American TV, at least, the show was so crammed with commercials that I literally could not follow it, and each hour-long episode seemed to really be about twenty-five minutes.) At any rate -- trying to avoid spoilers for those who haven't seen it -- are there more episodes after the birth and the trip to Haiti? 'Cause that's where I left off, and I sure would like to know what happens next....

14:57 / 12.05.04

Series One ends with the birth. From series two I can remember hazy things: the baby, Little One, growing to an enermous size in a large metal frame; the summoning of a demon; and, now that you mention it, a trip to Haiti. I think I might remember something post that about zombies, but the zombies may have gone before the trip. All that said, I can't find these things on DVD.

15:01 / 12.05.04

Actually, I now realise I was mixing Helmer and a character called Moesgaard. Becasue I am stupid. I can barely even remember Helmer, then.

One day, i'll actually remember this show.

16:24 / 12.05.04

Yeah, there are a few (five or six?) episodes in series 2 – they showed them at the NFT, and then late at night on BBC2, about two and a bit years ago.

The baby storyline’s pretty strange, and Helmer (when he’s not talking down the toilet) continues to have car problems, and there’s a quite neatly developed plotline about people racing the ‘ghost ambulance’ which escalates to a pretty creepy ending (even if the bearded chap does remind me ever so slightly of the UK TV presenter Jack Hargreaves), and the end of the second series is pretty big-scale drama, too.

I gather the actors who played Helmer and Mrs Drusse (?spelling?) have both died in recent years, though, and I think LvT doesn’t fancy doing any more of the show, which I can understand

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

20:43 / 12.05.04

Now that janitor... I like the janitor. Is he Mogge? He's everything Krogshoj wasn't, but seemed to be.

Nah, Mogge's the lovesick stalker guy.. with the severed head an ting... I think you're thinking of Mrs Drusse's son, who is, you're right, a top geezer. (Bear in mind I'm only 2 episodes in, so I could be wrong).

Did the second series ever get a video/DVD release?

And as far as I remember from the VHS versions (and, I'm told, the telly) each episode had a ludicrous LvT commentary at the end... doesn't seem to be there on the DVD.

And I'm gonna hate Helmer until he gives me a reason to do otherwise.

09:50 / 13.05.04

Yep, LvT would turn up in suit and bowtie at the end of each episode and speak cryptically. Didn’t really illuminate plotlines or anything, but was quite amusing. I think they’re on my tapes, but not 100% sure.

As far as I know, Series 2 hasn’t been DVDed or VHSed. But I’m often wrong.

Mister Six, whom all the girls

13:07 / 13.05.04

Season Two WAS released on a Japanese DVD, I think. My girlfriend has it and has been trying to sell it on ebay.

Mister Six, whom all the girls

13:08 / 13.05.04

Season Two WAS released on a Japanese DVD, I think. My girlfriend has it and has been trying to sell it on ebay.

It's pretty amazing but the translation is inferior and there are no subtitles over the end credit Lars speeches, which I love.

Cannot stand the KH US series. Very very drawn out and dull.