The LXG Cinematic Universe

Ok, this one will be something of a "broad strokes" approach, as The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is already a bricolage of other works loosely held together with narrative, so it doesn't really need any help in that regard. Since writing about both the divisive Sean Connery film and and the cult Alan Moore comics on this blog, I have been surprised to learn just how devoted some fans are to the film and how genuine the regret that it never spawned a sequel is. Whilst I'm not enthused to the same level as some, I do regard the LXG film in a more positive light than most and perfectly understand the desire for that bit more of a media that you love, so here's my short list of suggestions to get you going in that direction. For the sake of brevity, I'll be looking at film and television that features the main cast of LXG, rather than branching out into the broader world presented by the comics, but by all means check out some classic Fireball XL5 or The Avengers (the British television version) if you are so inclined.

So we're all pretty much agreed that the 1992 Bram Stoker's Dracula is about the best film version of the story, right? Yes both versions of Nosferatu are also excellent, but as far as a straight adaptation goes, Francis Ford Coppola got it bang on, with the right amount of sex and gore to slide into LXG with minimal effort. Personally, I have fond memories of the 1997 Mini-Series of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea starring Michael Caine as Captain Nemo, but that could be down to a particular scene in which Caine beats Brian Brown savagely. Certainly, Caine bears little resemblance to an exiled Indian prince, but most adaptations of the original text have this issue. In the 1980s, Richard Chamberlain did a couple of Alan Quartermain films that are about as good as one may expect, but still lean heavily on Colonial assumptions and can be a little uncomfortable to watch in these, somewhat more enlightened, times. '90s Kids will remember Jonathan Taylor Thomas, well he did a Mark Twain adaptation entitled Tom and Huck, which I haven't seen, but honestly looks pretty pedestrian. 

Ok, who's left? Well, Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde have been adapted only less frequently than Sherlock Holmes and Dracula, but there hasn't really been a good modern version, and the 1931 film tends to still be the best option, if it is a little hokey by today's standards. Similarly, Claude Rains  is about as good an Invisible Man that you're likely to find in the correct cultural milieu, even if the character isn't quite the same. There is a 2009 film, Dorian Grey which is, honestly, a train wreck, but I feel that suits the tone of the version presented in LXG? Shall we not bother with Moriarty? I mean, for tone the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes series is appropriate, but he's such a non-entity in LXG that I bet you can't even remember who kills him in the finale. Alright, enough of this nonsense, on to the regular nonsense we concern ourselves with around here.