If you haven’t been keeping up with the new, North American remake of Being Human that currently airs on the SyFy channel, then BEWAAAAARE of Spoooilerssss, booga booga. And secondly, shame on you. Canada goes to all that effort to remake and redo a popular series from across the globe, and you won’t even watch it? Bad fan! Bad! If you’re watching the show for the first time, and have never seen the UK show, then Ray the werewolf is a new experience for you, but for those of you who have already seen all this in the first series, then we want to know how you’re taking this. Because according to Tim Surette of TV.com, Ray is a racist homicidal maniac, who doesn’t come close to measuring up to the ‘depth’ of his UK counterpart, ‘Lee Tully’, who mostly just referred to himself as Tully…. in the third person:
“Last night on Being Human, it was Josh’s turn to meet one of his own kind. Werewolf Ray stalked Josh through the woods as he wolfed out, and after a bit of a rough start, the two lycanthropes became buddies as Ray showed Josh the ropes.
There was just one problem: Ray was a huge dick. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of room for jerks on my television screen. Heck, I love jerks on television. But give me a jerk with some depth, and make his progression to being a dick more realistic. Ray showed up on the scene talking some smack about vampires, but didn’t seem bothered by Aidan when they first met. Then, toward the end of the episode, he turned the corner and morphed into a homicidal, racist maniac.”
Yeah, okay, Ray was a dick, but Tully was a major cock too. I mean, he actually tried to molest the ghost in the house. Besides, he did actually supply some beneficial knowledge for Josh. The awkward werewolf now has an example of how not to be, and not only that, but he can give himself that inner pep-talk every time he’s on the downside of the day, and say inwardly “Hey, at least I resisted the temptation to be a complete jackass.” I really dig the new series, and honestly, I think the problem our reviewers are having, is not just remake-a-phobia, the standard inability to separate the remake from the original, –but, it’s an inability to separately appreciate two different television cultures. American = in your face, blatant; English/British = subtlety, wit. So, let’s try this again, huh?
Josh’s friend is going to cost all of them. From the way the story is going, Ray is not going to last long.
Huh, I think the American version is far more nuanced than the UK version. I mean the UK version actually dedicated a season to a theoretically intelligent doctor searching for the gene for “evil”. The amount of facepalming that results in requires a full face transplant.
Why would anyone want the exact same show? I enjoyed the Bristish version and like the North American version for different things than I did the original. I dont want the secondary characters to be the same either or else I might as well be watching a repeat of the British series. One thing I find interesting is the werewolf in the British one took a while to stop coming off kinda wimpy. In the North American version he also conflicted but is moving to learning more assertiveness and now aggression at a faster rate. Cultural difference? Maybe. In the end though we knew from the british version that the first “mentor” was going to become trouble, now we have to see how the characters deal with it.
Sadly I didn’t know about the BBC version until after I told my English fiance about the new Syfy version I was all stoked about, so I don’t really have the problem of separating the two. I think the problem probably does have something to do with “remake-a-phobia” — I know a lot of people who have trouble separating different versions of songs too (all they hear is how the new one doesn’t measure up), so it’s possible. I agree with Paul that it would be boring watching the same show again. I mean they could have just brought the BBC version over to Syfy for that, instead of spending all the money on a whole new show (we’ve seen their movies, we know they haven’t got a whole lot of cash to spread around).
I know he’s a douche, but the main problem I’m having with the appearance of Ray is that first scene where he’s watching Josh change, but he’s not changing…maybe he’s just more experienced and so it doesn’t affect him so strongly or so soon?
I love both the british and the american verisons for Being Human. I can’t wait for season 2 of the american and season 4 of the british. I’m really heart broken that George won’t be returning. After Mitchell death in season 3. I don’t think the show can go on with just Annie. She’ll have to befriend another werewolf and vampire!