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Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN adaptation for Netflix


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2 hours ago, RumHam said:

I watched the first three episodes and thought they were good. My only concern is each episode is an issue and there are apparently 75 issues, has netflix ever let a show run seven seasons? I suspect this needs to be Stranger Things popular to have a chance of finishing.

As others have said, the target is five seasons with two graphic novels per season. That will mean some compression - fitting the enormous arc of The Kindly Ones and The Wake into one season is going to be tough - but nothing too outrageous. There's also a lot of stand-alone comics which they can combine into single hours (Episode 6 combines two separate comics, Sound of Her Wings and Men of Good Fortune, so if they took that view across the whole series, they could easily make this a 37-38 episode show, so not even four seasons) or even ignore altogether.

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3 hours ago, mormont said:

I'd be curious to see the reactions of folks who haven't read the comics, actually.

I haven't read the comics and loved it. I am now curious about the comics.

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3 episodes in. Haven't read the comics or anything by Gaiman actually. The only other adaptation of his I watched is Stardust, which is a fun movie.

Are we supposed to watch this in VR or 3D? :P Some of the bendy imagery is interesting.

Right now I'm liking it, but not a great deal. Strong performances from the supporting cast. Jury is still out on the protagonist. The 1st episode was good enough to grab my interest, but the second episode, while also good, was awfully short. In the 3rd episode, I can't help but feel that they gender swapped John Constantine. Did they not have the rights to his character? But other than that it was still a good episode.

I am quite ok with how each episode has enough of a self-contained story that I don't feel the need to binge watch the whole thing in one weekend. It's nice to stretch the experience over say a week or two.

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22 hours ago, RumHam said:

I watched the first three episodes and thought they were good. My only concern is each episode is an issue and there are apparently 75 issues, has netflix ever let a show run seven seasons? I suspect this needs to be Stranger Things popular to have a chance of finishing.

They ran OitNB for 7 seasons, although the source material for that was only really a suggestion for most of it

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8 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

I can't help but feel that they gender swapped John Constantine. Did they not have the rights to his character?

 

The CW has the rights to show him on TV. They could probably have cut a deal but since they had to cast Johanna anyway- she's an ancestor of his in the comics, comes up a little later - they just went 'ah the modern day one is a Johanna too'. 

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39 minutes ago, Corvinus85 said:

3 episodes in. Haven't read the comics or anything by Gaiman actually. The only other adaptation of his I watched is Stardust, which is a fun movie.

Are we supposed to watch this in VR or 3D? :P Some of the bendy imagery is interesting.

Right now I'm liking it, but not a great deal. Strong performances from the supporting cast. Jury is still out on the protagonist. The 1st episode was good enough to grab my interest, but the second episode, while also good, was awfully short. In the 3rd episode, I can't help but feel that they gender swapped John Constantine. Did they not have the rights to his character? But other than that it was still a good episode.

I am quite ok with how each episode has enough of a self-contained story that I don't feel the need to binge watch the whole thing in one weekend. It's nice to stretch the experience over say a week or two.

Thank you, I will be rewatching Stardust after I finish this series. Somehow I always forget that Tristan is Daredevil.

I felt similarly regarding the casting of Dream, I think it was the constant use of the same whispery monotone voice. Then I realised that's probably intentional because he's, well, Dream. So I'm fine with it now even if I think thE supporting cast have been stronger. Naturally Davjd Thewlis was a particular standout.

I've just finished 24/7 which seemed like a natural conclusion to the first act of the season. Fantastic episode, as was the previous one (watched them straight through back to back). Very impressed with the series which I'm glad of given that Gaiman's last adaptation failed after lots of behind the camera shenanigans.

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4 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Very impressed with the series which I'm glad of given that Gaiman's last adaptation failed after lots of behind the camera shenanigans.

 

I assume you mean American Gods, coz Good Omens was by all accounts a roaring success (which I've yet to watch but the effectiveness of this puts it way up on my list). He was more involved in Sandman than AG I believe partly as a result of being so successful showrunning Good Omens (though he didn't quite do that on this). 

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I saw Sepinwall remark, accurately, that in a lot of ways Morpheus becomes more of the host of comic than the main protagonist. Not entirely true, especially towards the end, but it has a lot of truth to it. He is remote and aloof. Only Destiny outdoes him in that regard among his siblings.

Watched two episodes so far, and it is indeed very faithful, although some of the deviations are a little odd:

Spoiler

Why eternal sleep for Alex, rather than eternal waking? I suppose because the latter would require 30 seconds more of footage and VFX, but it feels oh-so-much nastier.

The second episode, I thought this change worked very well:

Spoiler

Having Gregory be the creation Morpheus absorbed adds a lot more feeling into the episode (as compared to the brothers' letters of commission), and in particular gives you a clearer image of Dream -- he says it's not fair, but does it anyways because his realm matters more. 

Goldie/Irving was very cute.

ETA: Having the Corinthian play a role this early is another deviation, but Boyd Holbrook's doing a smashing job bringing the character to life.

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7 minutes ago, Ran said:

Watched two episodes so far, and it is indeed very faithful, although some of the deviations are a little odd:

  Reveal hidden contents

Why eternal sleep for Alex, rather than eternal waking? I suppose because the latter would require 30 seconds more of footage and VFX, but it feels oh-so-much nastier.

 

 

I thought this change was gonna be about 
 

Spoiler

making Morpheus not seem quite as cruel right off the bat- especially since they'd made Alex a bit more sympathetic- but Gaiman explained on twitter that they did actually film and edit the eternal waking sequence, but it didn't pace well and test audiences complained it was too long. So it wasn't even cost-saving, they just didn't think it worked.


A lot of the changes are about starting to set up the final arcs of the season earlier than the original did, what with Gaiman not having decided where he was eventually going quite yet at the time. A few things in episodes 8 and 9 are gonna be very obvious to comic readers. 

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Ah, interesting. Makes sense.

Spoiler

Setting things for longer down the road... I was surprised the Three-in-One  have not received some of their other names. Especially one particular set that matters a lot...

 

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2 hours ago, polishgenius said:

 

I assume you mean American Gods, coz Good Omens was by all accounts a roaring success (which I've yet to watch but the effectiveness of this puts it way up on my list). He was more involved in Sandman than AG I believe partly as a result of being so successful showrunning Good Omens (though he didn't quite do that on this). 

Yes definitely AG, I loved Good Omens. AG started well and then behind the scenes switch ups and whatnot sent it spiralling, sadly.

Kirby Howell Baptiste, wow, what a treat she was. The "second act" of season one has set up really well and I think has set a perfect pace for the season.

I'm also curious about the budget for the show, because they don't seem to have skimped anywhere and everything looks very polished. I suppose they were willing to take a risk on this. 

Are the comics finished now or still being published?

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2 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

 

Are the comics finished now or still being published?

The comic series has been done for nearly 25 years now. There have been some spinoffs and other continuations or extensions of the world but the story is very complete. 

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Three episodes in and I do like it.  It's certainly something I'm going to finish. 

I haven't looked at any of the comics in 20 some odd years I think.  I certainly don't remember reading past the second or third collection, and I'm sorry to say not much of it stuck with me...other than some very broad strokes.  Reading some background info on arcs and characters to remind myself of things, I forgot how expansive and, in some ways, very detailed this corned of the DC Universe was (before and after Gaiman's take)...

HOWEVER, I'm mildly put off by certain appearances...and I know that it's a very silly thing because it's just me projecting...but Morpheus always makes me think I'm watching a Cure video...the Corinthian, I keep seeing Charlie Cox for some reason...stuff like that.  It absolutely silly, I know.

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1 hour ago, Jaxom 1974 said:

HOWEVER, I'm mildly put off by certain appearances...and I know that it's a very silly thing because it's just me projecting...but Morpheus always makes me think I'm watching a Cure video...the Corinthian, I keep seeing Charlie Cox for some reason...stuff like that.  It absolutely silly, I know.

The Corinthian makes me think of Charles Dance's character from Last Action Hero.

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Finished it now. Very good. The Doll's House arc had more changes to it than the first half, but pretty much all of them made sense.
 

(spoilers up to the show timeline here)

 

Spoiler

Having the Corinthian be more directly involved in finding Jed because he wanted Rose, rather than them all randomly stumbling across each other, made sense and made it all much more joined-up and one big arc, and replacing Glob and Brute with Gault was a good way to introduce the themes of personal change that will become strong in the series later- one of those that I think was linking back stuff set up before Gaiman had quite decided where he was going, or at least how he was going to get there, to later on.


(spoilers drawn from the comic here)

 

Spoiler

Like we see him changing already, but also struggling with it. I have seen some reviewers suggesting his arc is a bit lost in how he wavers, and comics readers will know what's going on but that might risk seeming inconsistent in the first instance to fresh viewers- but no real way around that on a first viewing without being too obvious tbh.

The one change I really didn't get was the scene with Lucifer at the end. I mean I get it, for commercial, hook-the-audience-for-season-2 purposes, but while knowing readers will hear that speech and realise it's a smart mislead and totally fits Season of Mists, it risks actually misleading fresh viewers and having them expect a very different show than what it's actually going to be. And that's a gamble. Obviously the comic did something a little similar, but it was between one issue and the next, not a year's wait between series. I've already seen at least some hype for season 2 where Hell is going to invade the Dreaming and like... that's gonna be a big swerve to accept with a year's anticipation. 

 

 

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16 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

In the 3rd episode, I can't help but feel that they gender swapped John Constantine. Did they not have the rights to his character?

I suspect it's more a matter of making it very clear that the Sandman isn't in the same continuity as other shows featuring Constantine (ditto for another significant character who shows up a little later).

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17 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

. In the 3rd episode, I can't help but feel that they gender swapped John Constantine. Did they not have the rights to his character? But other than that it was still a good episode.

 

 

54 minutes ago, felice said:

I suspect it's more a matter of making it very clear that the Sandman isn't in the same continuity as other shows featuring Constantine (ditto for another significant character who shows up a little later).

Corvinus is right, they don’t have the rights due to Constantine’s appearances in the Arrowverse shows.

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