The Enneopus's Nine Eleventacles
Art Neuendorffer
___ Nautilus (From Wikipedia)
.
<<The Nautilus was double hulled, and was further separated
into water-tight compartments. Its top speed was 50 knots.
Its displacement was 1356.48 French freight tons immerged
(1507 submerged). In Captain Nemo's own words:
.
? "Here, M. Aronnax, are the several dimensions of the boat you are in.
It is an elongated cylinder with conical ends. It is very like a cigar
in shape, a shape already adopted in London in several constructions of
the same sort. The length of this cylinder, from stem to stern, is
exactly 70 meters, and its maximum breadth is eight meters. It is not
built on a ratio of ten to one like your long-voyage steamers, but its
lines are sufficiently long, and its curves prolonged enough, to allow
the water to slide off easily, and oppose no obstacle to its passage.
These two dimensions enable you to obtain by a simple calculation the
surface and cubic contents of the Nautilus. Its area measures 1011.45
square meters; and its contents 1,500.2 cubic meters; that is to say,
when completely immersed it displaces 1500.2 cubic meters of water,
or 1500.2 metric tons. ?
.
The Nautilus used floodable tanks in order to adjust buoyancy and so
control its depth. The pumps that evacuate these tanks of water were
so powerful that they produced large jets of water when the vessel
emerged rapidly from the surface of the water. This led many early
observers of the Nautilus to believe that the vessel was some
species of whale, or perhaps a sea monster not yet known to science.
When needed to submerge deeply in short time, Nautilus uses
a technique called Hydroplaning which makes the vessel dive
down in warped angles, as found from the talks of Captain Nemo.
.
The Nautilus supported a crew who gathered or farmed food from the
sea to eat. The Nautilus included a galley for preparing these foods,
which included a machine that makes drinking water from seawater
through distillation. The Nautilus was not able to refresh its air
supply except by surfacing and exchanging stale air for fresh. The
Nautilus was capable of extended voyages without refuelling or
otherwise restocking supplies. Maximum dive time was around 5 days.
.
Much of the ship was decorated to standards of luxury that were
unequalled in a seagoing vessel of the time. These included a
library with boxed collections of valuable oceanic specimens that
were unknown to science at the time, expensive paintings, and several
collections of jewels. The Nautilus also featured a lavish dining
room and even an organ that Captain Nemo used to entertain himself
in the evening. By comparison, Nemo's personal quarters were very
sparsely furnished, but did feature duplicates of the bridge
instruments, so that the captain could keep track of the vessel
without being present on the bridge. These amenities however,
were only available to Nemo, Professor Aronnax and his companions.
.
From her attacks on ships, using a ramming prow to puncture target
vessels below the waterline, the world thought it a sea monster,
but later identified it as an underwater vessel capable of great
destructive power, after the Abraham Lincoln was attacked and Ned
Land struck the metallic surface of the Nautilus with his harpoon.
.
Its parts were built to order in Le Creusot, London, Liverpool,
Glasgow, Paris, Prussia (Krupp), Motala (Sweden), New York, etc.
Then the pieces were assembled by Nemo's men on a deserted island.>>
.........................................................
Nautilus, But Nice by John Nowak
http://www.heliograph.com/trmgs/trmgs3/naut.shtml
.
<<In the 1860s, there were a series of inconclusive sightings of a large
and unknown sea creature. The fact it was capable of great speed became
clear when it was spotted twice, within three days, at positions 2100
miles apart. Assuming the two sightings were of the same object, this
would require its being able to swim at 27 knots; an almost unheard of
speed for contemporary vessels; even a speedy frigate like USS Abraham
Lincoln, was capable of only eighteen. It was suggested the sightings
were simply misidentifications of whales or other known phenomena.
.
On March 5, 1867, the Canadian passenger ship Moravian collided
with something in the middle of the Atlantic, cracking her keel
but not sinking her. She must have hit something very hard
and heavy, floating just under the surface.
.
On April 13, the Cunard liner Scotia was struck at 15 degrees longitude
and 46 degrees latitude. She was able to limp home to Liverpool.
Scotia had a sharply defined, triangular hole below her waterline. She
had been impaled by a sharp object which penetrated almost one and a
half inches of iron plate, which had then withdrawn itself. The physical
evidence was unimpeachable: Scotia had been hit by a self propelled ram.
.
Later, Captain Nemo would tell Professor Arronax the collision with
Scotia had been accidental, which seems reasonable: Nemo did not attempt
to finish off Scotia, and Nautilus was not equipped with a periscope or
sonar, making collisions a real risk while near the surface. Nemo never
explained the incident with Moravian, and it is possible the Canadian
ship's accident did not involve Nautilus at all.
.
After two collisions, the maritime powers became alarmed. The
possibility the monster was a hostile submersible vessel was
proposed and rejected. It seemed unlikely such a ship could be
constructed secretly, since no private individual had the resources
and no major power could do so without exciting the attention of
spies. The noted French marine biologist, M. Arronax, author
of the two volume Mysteries of the Great Submarine Grounds ,
suggested the monster was a giant narwhal: a "sea unicorn."
.
The frigate USS Abraham Lincoln was modified as a whaler and sent out to
kill the monster as a threat to navigation. The ship was fortunate to
have aboard M. Arronax, his servant Conseil, and the Canadian harpooner
Ned Land. After a long hunt, Abraham Lincoln found Captain Nemo's
Nautilus. Abraham Lincoln pursued the submarine. Nautilus matched her
speed, staying just a few miles distant for most of a day. Abraham
Lincoln was able to hit Nautilus with a nine pounder breechloader: the
light weapon was unable to penetrate the hull. At night, Nautilus came
to a stop. Abraham Lincoln came close enough for Ned Land to bounce a
harpoon off her. Nautilus used her ballast pumps to sweep Abraham
Lincoln's deck, knocking M. Arronax and presumably Ned Land into the
water. Conseil dove in after his patron. Nautilus counterattacked
Abraham Lincoln, contenting herself with taking out the frigate's
rudder. The ships disengaged, and Nautilus later rescued Arronax,
Conseil, and Ned Land. Nemo informs Arronax he has a right to execute
them after the attack by Abraham Lincoln (he obviously considers
Nautilus to be a warship at war), but instead keeps the three prisoner.
Nautilus' action against Abraham Lincoln is quite odd, given what we
later learn about the submarine. The high safe cruising speed of
Nautilus was nearly twice the flank speed of Abraham Lincoln , and
Nautilus did not attempt to escape by submerging for any extended period
of time, or by simply outrunning her on the surface. Perhaps Nautilus
was damaged, and unable to make more than 20 knots or submerge safely
for long. Since Nautilus had a body aboard at this time (a funeral takes
place before Arronax is introduced to Nemo) it seems reasonable to
suggest Abraham Lincoln stumbled across Nautilus shortly after her
quarry had been engaged in battle. While Nemo made no mention of this to
Arronax, it would be reasonable for him to conceal it from his guest;
Nautilus was a ship at war and warfare is deception. Nemo would rarely
tell Arronax what his plans were, and it would not be surprising for
such a high technology prototype to have gremlins aboard. It is possible
the somewhat erratic 60,000 mile journey of Arronax was punctuated by
mechanical failures and delays Arronax was never informed of.
.
"Whether this person was thirty five or fifty years of age I could not
say. He was tall, had a large forehead, straight nose, a clearly cut
mouth, beautiful teeth, with fine tape hands [Nemo] was certainly the
most admirable specimen I had ever seen." -M. Arronax.
.
In saying "My name is Nemo," the master of Nautilus is quoting Ulysses'
self introduction to Polyphemus: the word means "nobody." Even in 20,000
Leagues Under the Sea it is obvious "Nemo" is a nom de guerre and
probable the ubiquitous "N" insignias refer to the ship's name. Nemo
is an elusive character, and deliberately so. M. Arronax is a marine
biologist, so impressed with Nautilus as a technical accomplishment
it takes the rugged Ned Land to bring him back to reality.
Much of Nemo's personality is only hinted at, because
the narrator of the book barely notices it.>>
--------------------------------------------------
Nautilus
.
<<It has been claimed that modern nuclear submarines can outperform
Verne's fictional creation. This is a debatable point. Certainly
Verne's Nautilus is faster than and can dive much deeper than Los
Angeles class attack submarines, if one trusts published statistics.
Of course, modern subs are built for stealth first with speed & depth
coming in second. Silence was not a major concern for Nemo, working
in an era without hydrophones, sonar, or antisubmarine warfare.
.
Nautilus was a warship at war, and M. Arronax was at best a neutral
prisoner in that war. It is possible Nemo misled Arronax about
certain elements of Nautilus' design.>>
-----------------------------------------------------------
The mysterious character that attacks military bases and banks is
referred to as the "Fantom" who resembles the Phantom of the Opera or
French master villain Fantômas. Upon first hearing that their adversary
is known as the Fantom, Quatermain remarks, "How very operatic."
--------------------------------------------------------------
<<My 14-year-old is giving me trouble--the usual ersatz teenage angst.
He doesn't want to accept his occupation being already chosen for him.
I told him it was like the Phantom--the ghost who walks--& that it
was an honor to be born into a family with a 400-year old mission,
but he just sulks off & gets on the computer. I'm sure he'll come
around--we all do, eventually.
.
Well, that's about it for now. Brenda says to tell the family
"hi" & that we'll see you all in Stratford in April.>>
. - Major Tom Reedy
-----------------------------------------------------------
. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
.
<<Renowned adventurer Allan Quatermain (Connery) leads a team of
extraordinary figures with legendary powers to battle the technological
terror of a madman known as "The Fantom." This "League" comprises
seafarer/inventor Captain Nemo (Shah), vampiress Mina Harker (Wilson),
an invisible man named Rodney Skinner (Curran), American secret
service agent Tom Sawyer (West), the ageless and invincible
Dorian Gray (Townsend), and the dangerous split personality
of Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde (Flemyng).
.
In this extraordinary adventure, the Fantom is trying to start a World
War, and be at the head of it. The Fantom has highly superior weapons to
the normal weapons of that day, and he also has extreme cunning, as we
see by his tricking the countries into suspecting each other for
war-mongering. A supposed loyalist to her Majesty's Empire is sent to
fetch Allan Quatermain(Sean Connery) in an effort to track down the
group who is trying to start the war. In a private and secret meeting,
Quatermain meets who he is to be teaming up with on this mission. He is
accompanied by Captain Nemo (Naseeruddin Shah), Mina Harker (Peta
Wilson), Rodney Skinner (the Invisible Man, Tony Curran), Dorian Gray
(Stuart Townsend), Tom Sawyer (Shane West), and Dr. Henry Jekyll (Also
Mr. Edward Hyde, Jason Flemyng). Soon into their adventure they discover
that the Fantom is behind these attacks, but there is more to this war
than battle and cunning.>>
-----------------------------------------------------------
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film)
From Wikipedia,
Directed by Stephen Norrington
Produced by Trevor Albert
Rick Benattar
Sean Connery
Mark Gordon
Don Murphy
Michael Nelson
Written by Comic Book:
Alan Moore
Kevin O'Neill
Screenplay:
James Robinson
Starring Sean Connery
Naseeruddin Shah
Peta Wilson
Tony Curran
Stuart Townsend
Shane West
Jason Flemyng
Richard Roxburgh
Max Ryan
Music by Trevor Jones
.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a 2003 film adaption
of the comic book limited series. It was released on July 11, 2003
in the United States. It is an adventure film set late in the
19th century, featuring an assortment of literary characters
appropriate to the period.
----------------------------------------------------
Plot : The Beginning of a War
.
<<The film opens in 1899 with dramatic thefts taking place in both
London & Berlin. A Mark I tank , piloted by German soldiers, assaults
the Bank of England to steal a set of plans drawn up by Leonardo Da
Vinci for the foundations of Venice. Only one soldier out of the whole
unit assigned to protect the bank survives. In Berlin, German scientists
are abducted and a zeppelin hangar is seemingly destroyed by British
troops. The governments of each country threaten war. Behind both
crimes is a masked, scarred figure, The Fantom. An emissary of the
British government, Sanderson Reed, arrives in a gentlemen?s club in
Kenya to recruit the legendary, but now aged, hunter and adventurer
Allan Quatermain. However, Reed finds that Quatermain has no great
patriotic concerns and refuses to return to London. At this moment,
a group of armoured men armed with machine guns appear, killing
several club members. Quatermain defeats the attackers single-
handedly, and before he can interrogate the last survivor, the
assassain takes poison and dies, followed by the destruction of
the club by a bomb planted before the fighting began. Quatermain
agrees to return to England, deciding that a full scale war between
the nations of Europe will quickly spread to Africa and its colonies.
.
The League
Quatermain arrives in London, quipping that his voyage wasn?t as quick
as that of Phileas Fogg, and is taken into the bowels of an impressive
Whitehall building. There, [behind a Masonic door] in a darkened
underground meeting room, he meets the mysterious "M". M explains his
plan to recreate a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to combat the
threat of The Fantom and ensure world peace, by stopping him from
destroying Venice. "M" has his roster planned and we first meet the
legendary Captain Nemo, followed by the invisible gentleman thief
Rodney Skinner and finally Mrs. Mina Harker who is, we are told,
a chemist of some note. It is then stated that Skinner stole the
invisibility formula and is now helping the government so they will
search for an antidote. Before they can set off to save the world,
two more members must be rounded up, so they climb into Nemo?s
six-wheeled "automobile" driven by Nemo's first mate (?Call me Ishmael?)
and set off to London?s East End to the home of Dorian Gray.
.
Once inside Gray?s dockland home Quartermain points out that a painting
is conspicuously absent on one wall and we learn that Mina Harker and
Gray have some sexual history together and that Gray was chosen for his
"experience". Just as Gray turns down their request to join them in
their efforts, The Fantom and a dozen of his men show up from nowhere.
A momentary stand-off takes place, during which Quartermain notices one
of the henchmen giving him a look. The whole room erupts in a blazing
gunfight when the henchman shoots another of The Fantom's men. Nemo
utilizes a lightning fast form of martial arts to vanquish his foe.
Gray simply takes a burst of automatic weapons fire in the chest,
flamboyantly removes the straps holding his foes armor on, then stabs
him with a sword. As the dying foe grabs Gray's now-frayed shirt,
pulling it off while asking "What are you?" as Gray's wounds vanish in
grey ash, to which Gray responds in a bored manner ?I'm complicated?.
.
The Fantom escapes (for the first of many times) and the sequence ends
with Mina being held, knife at her throat, by the last remaining thug.
Out of the shadows steps the winking gunman, whom we learn is American
Secret Service Agent Sawyer, ready to come to her aid. Mina remarks that
she needs no help, which becomes obvious when her eyes suddenly turn
completely red and she rips the throat from her assailant and feeds from
his neck, while her rather stunned teammates look on. In a minor comic
moment, Sawyer indicates that she has a bit of blood on her lip and she
turns with suitable embarrassment to clean it off. Mina then explains
something of her background in the Dracula affair and reveals her
scarred neck. The previously reluctant Dorian agrees to join the
League when the other members suggest that
Agent Sawyer would be a good replacement for him.
.
At the nearby docks Nemo unveils his submarine ? the Nautilus. Looking
like a giant scimitar without a hilt as it rises from the depths; the
group is stunned by the extraordinary vessel. A panel opens, a plank is
lowered and Nemo?s first mate welcomes them aboard before they head off
to France to round-up the League?s last recruit. In the streets of Paris
at night where Quartermain and Sawyer are stalking a beast leaping from
building to building up on the rooftops overlooking the Rue Morgue. The
beast is knocked from a roof and dragged back to the Nautilus in a net,
where we find the huge beast is actually Mr. Hyde who quickly reverts to
the meek and haunted Dr. Jekyll. He is happy to help when he learns that
the Queen will allow his return to London if he does so.
.
Venice
The team is now complete, so the Nautilus sets off for Venice. Some
character development is injected along the way as Quatermain bonds with
young Sawyer while teaching him to shoot effectively rather than in "the
American style, all out gunfight" and we learn that Quatermain is
haunted by the loss of his son. Sawyer hits on Mina, but his clumsy
advance is quickly rebuffed by the very non-Victorian vampiress. Mina
and Dorian then reveal a bit of their past as the anxious Jekyll looks
on, taunted by the voice and image (visible to Jekyll in any reflective
surface) of Hyde all the while. Seeds of a traitor in their midst are
planted when flash powder is found in the wheel room of the Nautilus and
a vial of Jekyll?s serum is determined to be missing. Naturally, all
think that invisible thief Skinner is the culprit, but nothing can be
done about it since Skinner is nowhere to be found. I wonder why?
.
Later a carnival in the Piazza San Marco is fully underway as the
impossibly huge Nautilus sails up the narrow canals of Venice,
apparently with no trouble until it comes to a stop under a bridge where
it can go no further. We are shown that a series of bombs are somewhere
under the city, the League's members have no idea where, until they
start to detonate and begin toppling buildings in a domino effect, one
explosion after another. To stop the total destruction of Venice, they
decide that knocking one of the buildings out of the sequence is the
only way to stop the chain of explosions. To achieve this, Nemo has a
missile that can be fired from the Nautilus at the building in question,
but only if a beacon can be set in place. So, since Nemo can track his
"automobile", the League piles in with Sawyer at the wheel and go racing
along the streets of Venice (although primitive cars existed at this
period, they would not be as fast or as maneuverable as Nemo's car).
.
Dozens of The Fantom?s gunmen appear out of nowhere along the rooftops
and start firing on the speeding vehicle. Dorian drops out of the car to
fight the gunmen and disappears. Moments later, Mina too takes her leave
by flying into battle and becoming a swarm of bats, which provide cover
from the gun shots overhead.
.
Quatermain also bails from the vehicle to give chase to The Fantom on
foot. The two fight in a graveyard where Quatermain dislodges The
Fantom's mask who, before he makes his escape, is now revealed to be
none other than the mysterious "M". At the same time, we see Sawyer
crash the car into the target building, while firing a flare, which
signals Nemo to launch his missile. The building is destroyed, the chain
of explosions stops and Venice is saved. Meanwhile, back at the
Nautilus, the first mate is met by Dorian Gray and blames Skinner for
their troubles, but is quickly proven wrong when Gray shoots him.
.
The League regroups at the Nautilus, where Quatermain reveals that "M"
is behind the whole thing, when the near-dead Ishmael reveals that Gray
is the traitor, not Skinner. At that moment, a small submersible vessel
breaks from the Nautilus and Dorian makes good his escape with a smile
and wave to the assembled team.
.
Nemo sets the Nautilus in pursuit, but moments later, a record is found
and played on a gramophone. The voice of "M" floods the room, and we see
the recording session as black and white footage in flashback, while he
reveals the scope of his plans. Everything leading up to this moment is
revealed as a ruse so that "M" could steal elements from each of the
League members to construct an army of super-powered soldiers. He also
explains that he needed Quatermain only to capture Mr. Hyde. Dorian Gray
managed to photograph the Nautilus and to get a piece of invisible skin,
a bit of vampire blood and one of Jekyll's potions.
.
While the record plays on, Jekyll sees his Hyde persona reflected in a
porthole, the beast has his hands clamped over his ears and pleads with
Jekyll to stop the record, just as 'M' discloses that another track has
been playing on the record at a frequency outside human hearing which is
set to trigger the bombs planted by Gray. Nemo immediately smashes the
gramophone - but it is too late already, and bombs planted by Gray go
off in the bowels of the submarine.
.
Chaos ensues as lower decks flood, with Nemo?s crewman trapped by the
water. To release the water, Jekyll takes his formula and dives into the
flooded chamber. Transformed into Hyde, he uses his massive strength to
save the vessel by forcing open a set of vents that drain the water.
Once again in pursuit of Gray, a Morse code message is received from
Skinner,(beginning with "hello my freaky darlings", the crew guess who
its from because of that), who has stowed away on Gray?s escape vessel,
revealing the coordinates of M?s hideout somewhere in a remote and
frozen Mongolian sea.
.
The Nautilus breaks up from under the ice and our heroes travel across
the frozen wastes to a cave overlooking M?s flame and smoke industrial
fortress. Skinner appears and tells them that "M" has a number of
scientists and their families held as hostages and slave labor in his
munitions factory. The workers are constructing Nautiloi (from the Latin
plural of Nautilus) while the scientists are working on an army of
Hyde-like brutes, invisible spies and vampire assassins.
.
Splitting into teams or (in the case of Mina and Skinner) going single,
the League infiltrates the factory and battle against various threats.
Nemo and Hyde attempt to free the scientists and their families while
Sawyer and Quatermain go after "M", Mina goes for Dorian, while Skinner
sets off to plant some explosives.
.
Sawyer, thinking that he?s met up with the invisible Skinner, breaks
from Quatermain, only to discover that it is one of M?s men who has
become invisible (although not revealed in the movie, this man is
actually Sanderson Reed, who recruited Quatermain to M?s LXG at the
beginning of the movie.) To further complicate matters, an armored
soldier with a flamethrower also turns up and nearly fries the American
agent, but is saved by Skinner who stabs the soldiers gas tank. The
soldier spins, throwing flame, and Skinner is caught in the crossfire,
and runs, screaming in pain, his skin now raw and bleeding from the
scorching.
.
Meanwhile, Nemo and Hyde run up against M's right-hand man, Dante,
leading yet another group of armoured machine-gun wielding men. When the
gunmen are quickly beaten by Hyde and Nemo, Dante desperately downs a
full beaker of Jekyll's serum that quickly turns him into a massive and
powerful monster several times bigger than Hyde at which Hyde moans,
"Not the whole thing.". The heroes make their escape from the factory
moments before it explodes, the crash finally destroying the mad beast
that Dante had become. Simultaneously, Mina has her showdown with
Dorian, who decays before her eyes when she shows him his portrait.
.
Quatermain confronts M in his lair (he has now shaved off his moustache)
and reveals his deduction that "M" is none other than the supposedly
dead Professor James Moriarty, at which he declares himself the
"Napoleon of Crime", who did not perish at Reichenbach as the world
believed, and seeks to profit from a starting a world war by selling the
powers of the League to the highest bidding country. Quatermain, holding
Moriarty at gunpoint, sees in a reflection that an invisible man has
Sawyer held at knifepoint behind him; he turns and shoots Sanderson
Reed, the invisible villain, only to be stabbed in the back by Moriarty
just before making another escape and fleeing across the ice. This is
the point where Sawyer has to use what Quatermain had taught him and
shoot Moriarty before he can get into the submersible vessel with a
suitcase containing all he needs to rebuild his empire. In a similar way
that Quatermain shot a gunman at the beginning of the film, Sawyer kills
Moriarty with a bullet to the back of the head just before he reaches
the vessel. Moriarty's box containing the items Gray stole from the
League falls into the ocean.
.
Ending
The final sequence of the film takes place in Africa, where the group
has assembled to bury Quatermain. After the group departs a tribal witch
doctor appears and performs a ritual at the grave. Viewers paying
attention earlier in the film will recall that Quatermain had explained
Africa would not let him die because of a witch doctor?s blessing (for
the unattentive, Skinner throws this out as an idle remark during the
scene). After everyone leaves, the witch doctor grabs the dirt that was
over Quatermain's grave and begins a ritual chant which (according to
the DVD commentary) translates to "awaken, arise". The entire earth
shakes violently, making the rifle (that Sawyer had left on the grave)
shake. Lightning strikes Quatermain's grave right before the screen cuts
to black.
.
Characters
.
Allan Quatermain
Sean Connery as Allan Quatermain is the elephant hunter and African
explorer of H. Rider Haggard's 1885 novel King Solomon's Mines and its
various sequels and prequels. In the film, he is the leader of the
League and is not recovering from an opium addiction as he is in the
comic book. The character matches with his original storyline as we are
informed that he had two wives and a son. Although he does die in the
movie, the final sequence with the shaman indicates that Africa "won't
let him die," and that he is being resurrected. Allan describes himself
as "an old tiger sensing his end" who wants to "go down fighting".
.
Tom Sawyer
Shane West as Tom Sawyer taken from the novels by Mark Twain and was not
part of the comic book version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
The film anachronistically portrays Sawyer as a young man (although
Twain published a Tom Sawyer, Detective story in 1896, in which Sawyer
was 17 years old, the story was set in pre-Civil War 1840s). In the
film, Sawyer is an American Secret Service agent sent by Theodore
Roosevelt. Tom Sawyer is never directly mentioned by name in the film,
instead referring to himself as "Special Agent Sawyer", while the end
credits refer to him as "Tom". However in a deleted scene Dr. Jekyll
calls him Tom, and he mentions his childhood friend whom M killed. This
friend was, most likely, Finn. Tom Sawyer only makes a brief cameo in
the comic.
.
Wilhelmina Harker
Peta Wilson as Wilhelmina Harker is the character from Bram Stoker's
1897 novel Dracula, but this time a vampire. Here, Jonathan Harker has
been dead for years, although it's unknown if he was killed by his
wife's vampiric instincts. Unlike in the comic book, in which Jonathan
is alive but had divorced his wife, Mina Harker did not change her name
back to Murray after her husband's death and is not the leader, nor is
she identified as a vampire. Mina is a radically different breed of
vampire than Dracula, lacking many of the traditional strengths and
weaknesses. She can stand in the sun (something that Dracula could also
do, but resulted his powers being vastly diminished), cross the ocean
easily, is never shown to need to sleep in a coffin, and she freely
entered Moriarty's lair without invitation. Her powers include rapid
healing, immortality (she can survive being stabbed in the chest, though
she did say the attacker missed her heart, and says at another point
that it's possible she can't die), she can turn (completely or
partially) into a flock of bats, she can fly and cling to walls like a
bat, and she is strong enough to overpower one of Moriarty's men and
jump large heights and distances. She was once a lover of Dorian Gray's,
but claims that their love died. They briefly rekindle their affair
during the course of the film, which makes his later actions a very
personal betrayal.
.
Rodney Skinner
Tony Curran as Rodney Skinner. The filmmakers were unable to obtain the
rights to H. G. Wells' original Invisible Man character so they created
a new version of him known as Rodney Skinner, a thief who has stolen the
invisibility formula from the original Invisible Man, Griffin (in the
graphic novel, it is explained that the Invisible Man killed at the end
of The Invisible Man was actually a half-wit albino that Griffin made
invisible as a guinea pig). While Dr. Hawley Griffin from the comic is a
sociopath and a rapist, Rodney Skinner is merely mischievous, though for
a while he is believed to be a villain.
.
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Jason Flemyng as Dr. Henry Jekyll and/or Mr. Edward Hyde, from Robert
Louis Stevenson's 1886 short novel Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde appear in the film, but they are portrayed in a more favourable
light than they are in the novel or the comics. Differing from the
novel, Jekyll must still drink the potion to transform, and his
alternate side is shown to be a huge, hulking character, rather than the
smaller, evil man of the book. The film retains the comic's idea of
Hyde's size being proportionate to the amount of evil he has done.
.
Dorian Gray
Stuart Townsend as Dorian Gray is the main character from The Picture of
Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. He possesses an enchanted portrait of
himself that ages for him and absorbs all his injuries, rendering him
immortal. However, looking at the picture reverses the magic, causing
him to disintegrate as his actual age catches up with him. A mistake in
the reading of the cover of the collected edition of the original comic
led to his more resembling Sir Francis Varney in the film; the cover
depicted both the original portrait of Gray as depicted in Wilde's book,
and a portrait of Varney, which became the basis for the movie Gray's
character. Like Tom, Dorian only makes a cameo in the comic, and like
him, he does not play a big role in the comics.
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Other characters
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In a move reminiscent of the James Bond novels,
the League is recruited by a character known as "M".
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When Quatermain arrives in London he mentions
Jules Verne's Phileas Fogg.
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In the library where Quatermain meets M, Nemo, and Mina, there
are paintings meant to represent members of past generations of
the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Among those featured are
Zorro, Doctor Syn, Robin Hood, Natty Bumpo, and the Three Musketeers.
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Captain Nemo's first mate is named Ishmael, suggesting the protagonist
from Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. The character's first line of
dialogue is "Call me Ishmael," the first line of Melville's novel.
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The key villain is Professor James Moriarty, enemy of Sherlock Holmes.
After the battle in Gray's house, when Mina explains her power, she
mentions her husband Jonathan Harker and Abraham Van Helsing
from Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.
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Before entering Gray's house, Skinner mentions Jack the Ripper.
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In Paris, while hunting for Mr. Hyde, Quatermain makes the observation
that "this big monkey has terrorized the Rue Morgue for months."
This is a reference to Edgar Allan Poe's story "The Murders in the
Rue Morgue", in which an orangutan is responsible for a series of
grisly murders; the implication is that the so-called monkey
causing the deaths may really have been Mr. Hyde.
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In a scene deleted from the film (but can be viewed on the DVD),
Sawyer informs the rest of the League that he joined them because
the Fantom murdered his Secret Service partner -- his childhood
friend, Huckleberry Finn. This is also the only scene in which
anyone uses Sawyer's first name, identifying him as Tom Sawyer. >>
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Captain Nemo
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<<Naseeruddin Shah as Captain Nemo is the Indian submariner from
Jules Verne's 1870 novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The
Mysterious Island and Journey Through the Impossible. In the film, he
has a brutal array of martial arts skills, and shows an advanced level
of swordmanship. He shows no sign of feeling pain within the midst of
battle. His primary contribution to the League's mission is the use of
his ship and her crew. He is shown to be a worshiper of Kali, the Hindu
goddess of death. In a deleted scene, it is mentioned that he agreed
to join the League in return for the British considering giving India
independence. Nemo's feelings toward the other League members are
somewhat enigmatic, but he does appear to become at least somewhat close
with both Quatermain and Jekyll; it is also vaguely implied that he
respects both Sawyer and, at the end, Skinner. During the League's first
battle with the Fantom's men, Nemo's immediate reaction is to grab Mina
Harker and pull her to safety, suggesting that his moral code includes
at least some level of chivalry. He is very different from his
comic-book counterpart, who is portrayed as a snobbish, world-weary,
retired underwater terrorist with undertones of sexism, xenophobia and
misanthropy. In the comics he is also far more important to the League,
realizing before the rest that their superiors cannot be trusted, and
deducing both their identities and their plans. In the movie, the
Nautilus does not bear any resemblance to the comic version
(which has tentacles).>>
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Art Neuendorffer