[TV] Neil Gaiman's The Sandman

[Skildar]

I've just finished the show yesterday and it was a really fine watch. It's been a while since I've enjoyed some netflix tv show. The main theme is really well done, the visuals are not consistent.

For the acting it's kind of hard to say, I didn't enjoy the character of Lucienne, I enjoyed the acting of Morpheus but his character lacks originality. One trait I did enjoy is how narration really helped having the right portrayal for Morpheus.

Anyway, solid show that I recommended to my friends, and I'm definitely going to read the comics now.

[Theangryone]

Iirc, they couldn’t use John Constantine because the character is being developed by another entity which is also why they had to kill him off on that god awful Legends show.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

I don't think the complaints about the John/Johanna swap have much merit. The complaints she's not as "grubby" as John fall short, because she's Johanna; she's not a gender swap, she's an actual character unto herself from the comics, they just let her not age so she could be around in the modern era.

Johanna Constantine is not the same Character as Lady Johanna. They're just both played by Jenna Coleman.

https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a...man-explained/

If you believed Johanna Constantine had stumbled on the elixir of life then you're barking up the wrong tree. While it's a plausible assumption, Coleman has confirmed it to be incorrect.

During an interview with Digital Spy she said: "No." Point blank – simple. She elaborated further, saying, "I think this is where Neil and Allan [Heinberg] came up with the idea, because obviously we have Lady Joanna Constantine, who had played this series as well. So it's the idea being: why don't we have the direct ancestor? Hence Johanna Constantine."

When explaining his decision for the character shake-up, Gaiman told Slashfilm:

"When we looked at what we were going to do in this whole series, we knew that we were going to have Lady Johanna Constantine meeting Dream in a pub.

"If we're going to do that and we want a really classy actress to portray her, then we're going to have to give that actress more to do than just meet him once in a pub.

"Given that there really weren't many women in the beginning, the idea that we could find one person and have them do both, just seemed nice and straightforward."

- - - Updated - - -

Iirc, they couldn’t use John Constantine because the character is being developed by another entity which is also why they had to kill him off on that god awful Legends show.

Except they didn't really "kill him off" on Legends. He died, sure...but he got better.

Constantine being developed for HBO MAX may have created issues for Netflix to use the character...but it wouldn't be the same situation for the CW...since both both HBO MAX and The CW are under the Discovery warner umbrella. The CW and DCEU already have different versions of the same characters already... Like the Flash...so they could have done it again if they wanted.

[Gabriel]

100%. The whole thing with DC superpowers that's here and there in the comic would feel REALLY out of place.

It would be hilarious to watch the powerlevel wank online tho.

[Biomega]

that god awful Legends show.

YOU TAKE THAT BACK!

Legends is precious.

It's the only fun thing the CW has produced out of their DC stuff.

[Zenfoldor]

Just wanted to pop in here and comment. I can't read the comments, because I truly love this show so much I can't stand to see it broken down, lol.

So, many years ago, I read the full Sandman collection and Preacher by Garth Ennis and the Swamp Thing collection by Alan Moore back to back. One of the best times in my life, lol.

I read on yahoo several articles talking about how boring the Sandman TV series ended up and they almost talked me out of watching it. I screened the first episode alone so if it was bad I wouldn't subject my family to it.

Let me tell you this, I watched that episode 3 times back to back, adding people each time. It was EXCELLENT, particularly because of the acting by Charles Dance and the scene with the crow(which I don't believe was in the comics, was it?)

Since then I have watched about an episode a day and I have been blown away with how awesome the show is, how accurate it is to the comics in a certain way, and how much I relate to some of the charters.

This show made me dream again, and it's been a long time. I absolutely LOVE it, so just fyi. Carry on, thanks all. Would love to talk more but this is a show I recommend going into spoiler free. Would also love to talk about the tie-ins to other works, but again, I would take no chance of taking this show's twists away from anyone. The show is a wild and fun ride with only a modicum of shots that overstay their welcome. Good, good tv.

[Fallen Angel]

Episode 6 is by far my favorite so far. Nothing but exposition, but man was it done so well

[caractacus]

I've been watching this show, had not even heard of the comics before and went into it pretty much blind. I just finished episode 6, I've enjoyed parts of it and it definitely has some good things going for it but overall I haven't really been that impressed or am overly excited to carry on watching. My main problem is the tone of the show, I can't really tell what it's trying to be be, sometimes it feels like a children's show and others it's like a dark thriller and you end up with something like The Teletubbies directed by David Fincher. Some people might be able to look past this but for me, for example, you get to bits where the characters swear and it just feels awkward and cringe. Michael Fassbender can get away with it in X-men apocalypse because it's shocking and fits the moment and hey it's Michael Fassbender. If anyone has seen the episode of extras where Daniel Radcliffe sends himself up by trying to act all adult - that is the overall feeling I get from The Sandman.

[Endus]

I've been watching this show, had not even heard of the comics before and went into it pretty much blind. I just finished episode 6, I've enjoyed parts of it and it definitely has some good things going for it but overall I haven't really been that impressed or am overly excited to carry on watching. My main problem is the tone of the show, I can't really tell what it's trying to be be, sometimes it feels like a children's show and others it's like a dark thriller and you end up with something like The Teletubbies directed by David Fincher. Some people might be able to look past this but for me, for example, you get to bits where the characters swear and it just feels awkward and cringe. Michael Fassbender can get away with it in X-men apocalypse because it's shocking and fits the moment and hey it's Michael Fassbender. If anyone has seen the episode of extras where Daniel Radcliffe sends himself up by trying to act all adult - that is the overall feeling I get from The Sandman.

Sandman is not in any way aimed at children. Not any of the stories in it. Even the ones with childlike aesthetics are dealing with really deep themes that would fly over most kids' heads. You seem to be missing the very significant levels of trauma behind most of the stuff that feels kind of "kiddie"

[Makabreska]

Great show, but didn't like sudden story change halfway there. They could easily extend Dream recovery for entire season and leave the next plot for another. Also, didn't read the comic beyond first two issues, but serial killers convention was darn ridiculous, and somewhat killed the serious mood for me.

[Rocksteady 87]

Great show, but didn't like sudden story change halfway there. They could easily extend Dream recovery for entire season and leave the next plot for another.

They could have, but it was completely unnecessary, and the pacing was damn near perfect in that regard. Recovering his tools was just a minor obstacle, and it would have been boring as fuck if it took 8 episodes instead of 3.

Also, didn't read the comic beyond first two issues, but serial killers convention was darn ridiculous, and somewhat killed the serious mood for me.

Yeah, someone missed the entire point of the convention. Here's a hint: It was the result of the Corinthian running rampant on Earth for 105 years. It was specifically and intentionally not believable or realistic. It was a massive nightmare made manifest by his machinations.

Spoiler tags can die in a fire, btw. I give up trying to figure them out.

[Moonrage]

I'm halfway through and enjoying it so far. I'm not a fan of Dream's wardrobe, it's very dark and edgy hipster circa 2016, especially the skinny jeans. They should've gone with something more timeless.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

I'm halfway through and enjoying it so far. I'm not a fan of Dream's wardrobe, it's very dark and edgy hipster circa 2016, especially the skinny jeans. They should've gone with something more timeless.

Dream was wearing skinny jeans before they were cool.

[infinitemeridian]

I've been watching this show, had not even heard of the comics before and went into it pretty much blind. I just finished episode 6, I've enjoyed parts of it and it definitely has some good things going for it but overall I haven't really been that impressed or am overly excited to carry on watching. My main problem is the tone of the show, I can't really tell what it's trying to be be, sometimes it feels like a children's show and others it's like a dark thriller and you end up with something like The Teletubbies directed by David Fincher. Some people might be able to look past this but for me, for example, you get to bits where the characters swear and it just feels awkward and cringe. Michael Fassbender can get away with it in X-men apocalypse because it's shocking and fits the moment and hey it's Michael Fassbender. If anyone has seen the episode of extras where Daniel Radcliffe sends himself up by trying to act all adult - that is the overall feeling I get from The Sandman.

The tone is definitely all over the place, but that's par the course for Gaiman. I just don't think his stuff translates well to visual mediums.

[RobertoCarlos]

Damn this show was a lot better than I thought it would be.

Im sick to death of superhero stuff, but this feels way more mythological/religious in a way. And the concept of dreams gives a lot of creative freedom they utilize well

[Kathandira]

I enjoyed the show. I knew nothing about the comic series, so I went in completely blind. So as a stand alone show, I loved it.

[Skizzit]

So Netflix just went and released a bonus episode outa the blue. Two parts, each stand alone stories. Have not watched it yet but what a surprise.

[NightZero88]

Episode 11 was pretty cool. The cat one was interesting but the second part was really good. Gave a lot of good insight into the Sandman.

[Celvira]

The first episode's CGI is really, really good, but I loathed the Hell episode. I felt they tried too hard to make Hell "relatable" (really weird statement, I know, but that was my impression). I also understand why they changed the first game, but man, I was super disappointed when the seedy Hellfire Club never appeared and the whole affair was turned into a more grimdark moment over the juxtaposition of dread and subtle comedy like the comics.

[Biomega]

Huh the bonus episode was kind of unexpected.

The first story was... okay, I guess. I'm not big into rotoscoping, but I guess it did make this a VERY comic-y snippet, which was in line with the story it told. That's a good fit, at least, even though it was a bit banal overall.

The second story was pretty great, though. Fits the rest of the series very well, and is an interesting look into some extra mythology and world-building. A nice, self-contained narrative that works pretty well, I found. Very satisfying to watch.