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From Hollywood Reporter
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/sandman-tv-series-neil-gaiman-david-goyer-a-go-at-netflix-1220761

'Sandman' TV Series From Neil Gaiman, David Goyer — With Huge Price Tag — a Go at Netflix

The drama, from Warner Bros. TV, landed at the streamer with what sources describe as a massive financial commitment and DC Entertainment's most-expensive TV foray ever.

Neil Gaiman's beloved Vertigo comic Sandman is finally coming to the screen.

More than three years after New Line's failed attempt to turn the graphic novel into a feature film, Netflix has signed what sources describe as a massive financial deal with Warner Bros. Television to adapt the best-seller into a live-action TV series. Sources familiar with the pact note it is the most expensive TV series that DC Entertainment has ever done. The drama has officially been picked up with an 11-episode order.

Allan Heinberg (Wonder Woman, ABC's The Catch, Grey's Anatomy) is set to write and serve as showrunner on the straight-to-series drama. Gaiman, who created the ongoing monthly comic, will executive produce alongside David Goyer. Gaiman and Goyer were both attached to New Line's most recent attempts to adapt Sandman for the big screen. Gaiman, Goyer and Heinberg will co-write the premiere.

 

 

 

 

Edited by no3Ljm
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Ironically, given how much of Mr. Gaiman’s work I’ve read over the years, I’m watching the series with no knowledge of the original comic. So far so good a couple episodes in for me.

Oh, it was fun hearing the joy in his voice during the linked Vanity Fair interview above, even though the references were going over my head.

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Finished the series over the weekend. Love it! All the changes they did story-wise works well in this series. :good: 

My wife liked it as well. She's familiar with Gaiman and the comics it was based on but didn't read it. Funny that she even asked me if it's like that in the comic book that there's too much sex scenes going on. :lol:  I told her yes and no. Some are there and some are more of a mention and it was spread out all across the comics. But after hearing that from her, it kinda felt like there's too much for this season compared to the first 2 books that it was based on. We agreed that Corinthian should have sex scenes with other gender as well since he's a 'nightmare', it shouldn't have gender preference just to get things done. ;) 

Lastly, I do have minor gripes when it comes to the diverse cast. There wasn't enough East Asian actors playing key roles. There was one however in episode '24/7'. And I'm proud to find out that she's Filipina. :wub: 

Hopefully Season 2 will feature more diverse cast. Looking forward to 'Dream Country' and 'Season of Mists' storyline. ^_^

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2 minutes ago, Thom said:

Liking this series a lot! Never heard about it before, but it is real interesting with a lot of in-depth characters. The diner saddened me.

Yeah. That episode is so twisted. You should read the actual issue it's based from. It's more horror. That's coming from me, someone who doesn't like horror stuff. ;) 

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5 hours ago, jvmacross said:

I couldn't get past the first couple of episodes....does it get better?

Honestly, it takes a while to get going. The same thing is true of the comic - the first few issues are decent if slightly aimless gothic horror, and then it begins to find itself around the diner chapter, I think six issues in or so. IIRC, that number corresponds to the same episode of the TV show, which is also the point in the show that it starts to find its identity.

Finished this last week-ish. Overall I enjoyed it, and I was surprised that they managed a decently successful transition from the comics; Sandman to me felt the most ill-suited to an adaptation, more so than other constant namedrops like Watchmen. I'm most interested in seeing non-fans' reactions to it, and I'm glad to see it's pretty positive.

Me, I think it could have stood to be a less literal adaptation at times. It drags in some parts, the music is overly grandiose sometimes, and some of the acting/directing decisions aren't how I imagined they would be. Dream isn't pale enough for my tastes. The narrator being his voice took me off-guard for some reason. There are points in the comic where he's clearly the one narrating, but even then... I dunno, something about it struck me as odd.

Some of the special effects are remarkably cheap, like the low-res green screen of Rose and Gilbert in the car. Some of the scene compositions are remarkably cheap, like John Dee and Rosemary... in the car. That bit got particularly boring, with what felt like ten whole minutes spent just switching back and forth between two static camera angles. As mentioned above, the diner episode mirrors the diner chapter in the comic, being a major highlight and the beginning of the Sandman truly coming into its own... but it dragged a bit between major turns of events. It also omitted some of the more extreme content of the comic, which, while I complained about it being too literal before, I felt did it a disservice.

That all said, it's still a far more competent adaptation than I ever expected. It's literal enough, it's non-literal enough, it's creative enough that I had a good time with it. I would still highly recommend the comics above the show, but the show serves as a good introduction to them and/or if the show is the only way you get to experience the Sandman, it's a good enough experience on its own.

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Recently finished watching the show and enjoyed it. I actually think it's a more polished version of the comic in many ways. I bet Neil Gaiman noted some of the weaknesses in the book over the years and seized upon the opportunity to refine it.

Spoiler

I like how Roderick Burgess' motivation for capturing Morpheus changed from a simple power grab to an attempt to bring back his deceased son. Surely, power was a secondary reason, but his son was the driving force behind it. And I also like how there was actually an attempt to free Morpheus. In the comic, apparently nobody could be bothered to help.

I also like how the show did away with Brute and Glob. Again, a simple power grab from them was pretty unimaginative. Replacing them with Gault, who genuinely disagreed with the role Morpheus assigned to her and tried to do some good was refreshing.

Naturally, some of the changes I didn't like.

Spoiler

Making Unity Kincaid 100+ years old was hard to swallow, especially when she looked way younger. If the sleeping sickness somehow slowed down people's ages, the world would be filled amazingly healthy centenarians, but the show just neglected to address any of this. I think it would've been better if the sleeping sickness occurred during World War II; then Roderick Burgess' son still could've died during a war and Unity could still plausibly be alive.

This isn't really a complaint, but it's interesting that there's several instances in the show where Morpheus is open to change, even pleasantly surprised with himself at times. Quite different from the comic where he openly refuses change, even when it's necessary. And even when he does, it's minimal and grudingly at best. Maybe Gaiman will add a new twist to the comic's original ending?

Overall, I feel the positive changes significantly outweighed the questionable ones. The casting was also excellent for the most part; Tom Sturridge did a superb job as Morpheus. There were only a few that were ok at best, but no one was flat out miscast IMO. Like noel mentioned above, there's surprisingly few Asians in a show that's meant to be inclusive. Hopefully this will be addressed in season 2.

Speaking of season 2, I'm a little worried it won't happen. Netflix spent a ton of money on the show (even if the VFX was mediocre in a couple of spots). Given Netflix's recent financial troubles, hopefully the show can manage to pull in Stranger Things and Squid Game ratings to secure its future.

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I liked it. Not a Gaiman fan, so my only real knowledge of him is the movie Stardust and this, so obviously I haven't read the comic. Didn't know there was one,

Overall, good plot and story. Great acting for the most part and imaginative. Happy Land from the 'Cereal' Conference freaked me out a bit.

Dislike-ish...

Spoiler

Too quick resolutions that were too anti-climactic. The Corinthian went out with a whimper, and Unity suddenly being in the Dream realm and giving Rose an 'out' was too convenient. Not to say it didn't follow the story with Unity being the original Vortex, but her sudden appearance in the Dream realm was too abrupt. The Librarian didn't even blink an eye at her presence there, whereas Dream did those times Rose happened to show up.

Would have also liked to have known more of Desire's motivations. Why is he so intent on causing trouble for Dream?

I'd watch a season 2.

Edited by Thom
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1 hour ago, Thom said:

 

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Too quick resolutions that were too anti-climactic. The Corinthian went out with a whimper, and Unity suddenly being in the Dream realm and giving Rose an 'out' was too convenient. Not to say it didn't follow the story with Unity being the original Vortex, but her sudden appearance in the Dream realm was too abrupt. The Librarian didn't even blink an eye at her presence there, whereas Dream did those times Rose happened to show up.

Would have also liked to have known more of Desire's motivations. Why is he so intent on causing trouble for Dream?

I'd watch a season 2.

 

Spoiler

For now the simple answer I can give, since you haven’t read the comic is that Desire as how some of the sibling does is basically the meddlesome one. And Dream, as one of the eldest, is not fond of that. So he is always picked on by Desire. And also, Dream didn’t like the trick that Desire did to him regarding some personal affairs some 10000 years ago.

 

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1 hour ago, no3Ljm said:

 

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For now the simple answer I can give, since you haven’t read the comic is that Desire as how some of the sibling does is basically the meddlesome one. And Dream, as one of the eldest, is not fond of that. So he is always picked on by Desire. And also, Dream didn’t like the trick that Desire did to him regarding some personal affairs some 10000 years ago.

Spoiler

That have to do with that woman in Hell's prison?

 

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On 8/20/2022 at 5:34 PM, Thom said:

I liked it. Not a Gaiman fan, so my only real knowledge of him is the movie Stardust and this, so obviously I haven't read the comic. Didn't know there was one,

Overall, good plot and story. Great acting for the most part and imaginative. Happy Land from the 'Cereal' Conference freaked me out a bit.

Thanks for your input, it's always good to hear from someone who hasn't read the book.

And if anyone isn't aware, two bonus episodes have been released. The 2D animation in the first episode was jerky at times, but they were otherwise good and faithful to the source material.

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Just finished watching it. Overall, I liked it very much. While there were obvious changes from the comic, it still retained that right feeling.

The cast is good, not just the main characters, but the guest stars as well. No one seemed like they were phoning it in, they all seemed like they wanted to bring those characters to life and they succeeded very well.

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