Spoilers The Sandman grade and discussion

Aa I understand it, it’s pronounced correctly in Sandman. IIRC Gaiman said that’s how Alan Moore (his creator) pronounced it.

 

One way to expand on Season of Mists, like they did with the first two arcs, would be to create some plot reason for the various delegates at the Dreaming to each share a story about Morpheus at some point, Canterbury Tales-style. So then Bast could share "A Dream of a Thousand Cats," the fairy representatives could share "A Midsummer Night's Dream," etc.

 

I am going to be taking this series slow--to savour it. The first episode was so well done. Visually it was fantastic, and the acting was great. I am so impressed by how faithful it is to the comic. I wish more movies/series were as faithful as this.

I really like the actor playing Morpheus. Throughout the episode, he is shot so we get a reflection of white dots in his eyes--and then at the end we get a full Sandman effect when he is sitting in the shadows. So nice.

As for incorporating the single stories and one-offs, I am now thinking that if the series continues we will get most of those in some fashion. The great thing about the story is how Morpheus is more often than not a side character in the different stories. He is present but the stories are really about other characters, and I feel that this will be the style of this series as well.

As for Midsummer Nights Dream, I am hoping that we will see a great version of that with some really great actors hired for the episode. For those who don't know, Shakespeare only wrote two plays that were entirely original stories. Those were Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest, which Gaiman incorporated so well into the series. Those plays were never plots that came from Shakespeare's own mind, they were simply contracted stories that humans just never knew.

 

It's always meant to be pronounced 'TINE', it's even flagged up in the comics when characters mispronounce it 'TEEN' as "rhymes with WINE". For whatever reason, all the other visual media incarnations, from the movie, to the TV & animated version have been pronouncing it wrong. Maybe because the movie made him a Yank because: Hollywood! But it's mostly just lazy research I think.

As for the transatlantic question since I see it often raised as some sort of justification (and I'm not directing this at anyone in particular); John Constatine is a British character, created by a British writer, featuring in stories most typically set in the UK. And here we have a version of him who is still indeed British, adapted from a comic written by another British writer, in a story (or stories) once again set in Britain. As much as I know the Yanks like to think they're they centre of the universe, in this instance their way of pronouncing the name is about as relevant as the Australian, Japanese, or South African ways of pronouncing it (whatever they may be), which is not relevant at all really, no?

Personally I prefer how 'TEEN' sounds, but that's probably just out of familiarity, and neither here nor there really.

 

I've been thinking on this. While I initially wasn't sure of his performance (despite being ecstatic about his casting), it grew on me in the end. I've continued my reread of The Sandman and I definitely could hear Patton's voice while reading Brief Lives, particularly when Matthew freaked out about Delirium's "good" driving."

I disagree entirely on Mark Hamil. I think his Merv has a wonderfully distinctive voice that's not that similar to the Joker.

Oh! I really like that idea. That would give an extra layer to their bargaining with Dream aside from "This nice thing/threat will convince you!" There really isn't much of a storyline to Season of Mists beyond Lucifer dumping his responsibilities on Dream and Dream brooding what to do. Plus there's already precedent with Worlds' End.

I still think Distant Mirrors could work as an extended anthology episode, although "Thermidor" could be merged with "The Song of Orpheus" as part of a prelude to Brief Lives.

 

That's always been a big part of Constatine's backstory. Including in his own TV show and Legends of Tomorrow.

Yeah, she's more like Lady Johanna than John in this. A bit more posh than Scouse,

More like a correction. IIRC in the Crisis crossover in the Arrowverse, Lucifer used Constan-tine as a dig at Constantine.

My thoughts. Overall a good adaptation of the source material. The changes made actually improved the story.

• Separating the Lyte/Hector plotline from the Jed plotline was a good way the excise some of the DCU material from the story without sacrificing the overall plot points and arcs. And seeing Jed in the Bronze Age Sandman costume was pretty cool.
• Gault was an improvement over Brute and Glob and transformed into a more sympathetic character that feeds into Morpheus's development arc. Ethel, Dee, and the Corinthian's were also given more to do and more depth which help tie the entire season together.

Casting was spot on for me.

• My Kirby Howell-Baptiste was a delight as Death and captured the character perfectly. "The Sound of Her Wings" was sad, moving and uplifiting in a large part to her performance and the writing
• Not sure what was in their heads when casting Razane Jammal, but she could play Wonder Woman.
• Asim Chaudhry looks like he stepped out of Joe Orlando comics panel. And Goldie was perfect.
  
• Tom Sturridge's was perfect casting for Morpheus, though they could have made the hair a little bigger. He captured the anger and arrogance of the character (Dream is a bit of a dick) but also the softer side.

 

Finished it last night and have to say I really enjoyed it. “The Sound Of Her Wings” was my favorite episode, and I liked how they executed the ep. While the traditionalist in me misses the striking comic look for Death, Kirby Howell-Baptiste knocked it out of the park and did a fantastic job as Death. Loved her performance, and she’s one of the reasons it’s my favorite ep. Given how the episode was executed, I thought it was an hour and a half because I was so engrossed in it.

Also, and I don’t think this is a spoiler, but I liked how the season ended. It was done in such a way as to point to the future, but could also work as an ending if it doesn’t get renewed. I really liked that and wish more shows would drop the tired cliffhanger bullshit. In this day and age, especially on Netflix, where popularity isn’t a guarantee for renewal, it’s good to not be left on a cliffhanger that may never get resolved.


The other thing I was reminded of watching the show, as I was all those years ago reading the comics: this is the closest we’ll ever get to seeing something close to an adaptation of Roger Zelazny’s Amber series (the first one). The gallery that the Endless use, and their sigils, are very similar to the trump cards of the Amberite royals tarot decks. The ability to use them to both communicate and travel to between locations is very similar. As is the bickering family of powerful beings, our hero being trapped on Earth, and our hero learning humility and how not to be a dick. I remember reading that Gaiman said that Zelazny was the writer who influenced him the most and it’s a shame that there’s no Amber adaptation being done in this age of fantasy tv.

 

My friend and played a little game between episodes trying to guess what the "Special Thanks" were for. Some were easy like Jack Kirby and Joe Simon for Jed and the Bronze Age Sandman, Or Joe Orlando for Cain and Able. Bernie Wrightson was giving us trouble until I sussed he and Len Wein created Matt Cable, Mathew the Raven's human life. Still not sure what Marv Wolfman's contribution was in the last episode,

 

Ok I'm half way through and this show sucks. Completely made me lose interest in the comics, which I own but haven't read. Probably going on ebay soon...

 

Co-creating Destiny perhaps, who was mentioned in the last episode.

 

Interesting. It's considered one of the most classic comic book runs ever. Near universal praise. The show is fairly faithful to the source, so yeah you might not like comics. You bought the entire run but never read it? I find that odd as well.
So what sucks about it?

 

Yep. It was the comic people who didn’t read comics read. And it was a refreshing change of pace from the super hero glutted shelves.

I do wonder what they were expecting. While I have bought an entire book series without reading it, that was pre-internet at a used bookstore at a couple bucks a book and there were four. There’s around 10 trades of Sandman, so that’s well over 100.00 for a blind buy.

 

I buy famous things, and it takes me many years to get to any of them.

The easy thing to complain about the show is the colors, everything looks like shit (yes, I fully understand its intentional. I don't have to like the choice). But also, it's not really a serious show. There is a bit of camp getting in there once in a while, and I can't abide that.

 

Well over $200. Now $325 on ebay. I have thousands of graphic novels that are a blind buy. Someone says they're good, I buy them.

 

Not serious? What does that mean? How is it not serious? What makes a show "serious"?
Camp???? Must be a meaning of camp I'm unfamiliar with. Hal/Dolly's show was pretty camp, though.

 

My friends wife fell asleep while we are watching it.

 

Seems on brand. Might be a vortex.

 

I thought this was pretty boring to be honest - maybe it's too faithful of an adaption in parts and what works in comics doesn't work the same way on screen.

 

Interestingly IMDB ratings for this one start to fall off a bit for the last 3...

 

Just finished episode 4. Really enjoying it (know nothing about the comics).

Charles Dance has the rubbish father role down to a fine art.

And Gregory. Boy, that tugged on the heartstrings and he was up onscreen for less than 5 minutes. Damn.

Great writing, superb cast, stunning visuals, intriguing story. Good to see critics and viewers on the same page with this one.