Spoilers The Sandman grade and discussion
- Thread starter The Nth Doctor
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I thought they did a reasonable job with 'Season of Mists'. Some characters are cut, but that's to be expected, and I was impessed that they kept stuff like Shivering Jimmy and Cain and Abel's horrific magic show. I was happy they kept in Dream visitng Hobb's dream and Nuala's actress was good. But then it jumps to 'Brief Live's and maybe it's becauase I've read the comics, but even just watching the show alone it feels like they've skipped over a ton. And we go from that to the final arc! Totally loses the epic feel of the comics where the story takes place over years. It feels like a couple of weeks here.
Delirium's actress did well with what she was give but they tone the character down so much that it hurts the story a lot, for me. The moment where she makes her eyes appear the same colour and retains her sanity (with great personal struggle) SHOULD have been a big deal...but she barely seems any different than she did the rest of the time. It was like they were scared to show her as too crazy because it would look like they were making fun of the mentally ill or something. But if you take away Delirium's delirium then she's just a slightly quirky girl who talks about ice cream sometimes.
Was not impressed by Adrian Lester as Destiny at all, didn't have the gravitas I expected. Probably doesn't help that he looks much younger than his age (56.) Despair continues to be a complete waste: even more than Delirium they've taken everything that makes the character who she is away from her. She just feels like a sad lady in a dress.
Destruction was good though. Death was hardly in it, sadly, but I'm looking forward to her special episode after the rest is over.
I understand making Dream a bit more sympathetic to humanity, given that he's the main character, but unfortunately overall the Endless just feel like goths with super powers rather than the anthropomrophic representations of univeral conceps.
Leaving out Delirium driving the car with Matthew trying to instruct her is absolutely criminal.
Just doesn't feel like Netflix wanted to fully commit to the show being as weird and, well, dreamlike as it should have been.
Delirium's actress did well with what she was give but they tone the character down so much that it hurts the story a lot, for me. The moment where she makes her eyes appear the same colour and retains her sanity (with great personal struggle) SHOULD have been a big deal...but she barely seems any different than she did the rest of the time. It was like they were scared to show her as too crazy because it would look like they were making fun of the mentally ill or something. But if you take away Delirium's delirium then she's just a slightly quirky girl who talks about ice cream sometimes.
Was not impressed by Adrian Lester as Destiny at all, didn't have the gravitas I expected. Probably doesn't help that he looks much younger than his age (56.) Despair continues to be a complete waste: even more than Delirium they've taken everything that makes the character who she is away from her. She just feels like a sad lady in a dress.
Destruction was good though. Death was hardly in it, sadly, but I'm looking forward to her special episode after the rest is over.
I understand making Dream a bit more sympathetic to humanity, given that he's the main character, but unfortunately overall the Endless just feel like goths with super powers rather than the anthropomrophic representations of univeral conceps.
Leaving out Delirium driving the car with Matthew trying to instruct her is absolutely criminal.
Just doesn't feel like Netflix wanted to fully commit to the show being as weird and, well, dreamlike as it should have been.
Pretty good season overall, if not the series finale. Season 2 seemed much better than the first, and it's more character-driven, focusing on Morpheus' development, his relationship with his son Orpheus and later dealing with the consequences of ending his life, and his feelings for Nada. It was good to see all the Endless together and their relationship dynamics with one another. Lucienne, Nuala and other supporting characters wove together a nice tapestry of the Dreaming world.
One of the best episode was the one where the representatives from the different realms came to the Dreaming while Morpheus must decide who should get the key to Hell after Lucifer's departure. It shows how rich in myth and lore this series is. (I haven't read any of the comics except the Sandman Universe Books of Magic.)
One of the best episode was the one where the representatives from the different realms came to the Dreaming while Morpheus must decide who should get the key to Hell after Lucifer's departure. It shows how rich in myth and lore this series is. (I haven't read any of the comics except the Sandman Universe Books of Magic.)
I'm sure there were some budgetary considerations at play there but I'm also sure, no matter how much they deny it, Gaiman's legal and personal "issues" prompted them to cut things short and rush what could have been at least two seasons into a single wrap up one.
I'm a long time fan of the Sandman series. I even collected most of The Dreaming spin-off and some of the Sandman Presents books. Those were good, but they didn't do as well for me. I think Morpheus/Daniel's absence from most of the stories just took something away from them. I got rid of most of them recently. They started out with individual stories about the ancillary Sandman characters, and then went on to a longer storyline written by, I believe Alisa Kwitney and Paul Hogan. They're both really good writers. So that's my review in case anyone is interested.
As for the TV series, I'm almost done with it. Only have 3 or 4 episodes to go for season 2. In general, I really liked the series. It kept to most of the story beats of the comics/graphic novel with regard to Morpheus' central narrative. I didn't think they could pull off the whole story in 2 seasons, but I see what they did, they narrowed it down to Morpheus' story. Of course, as fans, we miss out on A Game of You, and the other stories, but, as a whole, it sounds like they hit the finish line.
There was stuff I didn't care for, though, mainly with characters and casting. First, I love Jenna Coleman from Doctor Who and Victoria but, I'm sorry, her Johanna Constantine taking the place of John Constantine just did not work at all for me. Gaiman said there was some legal issue about using the Constantine character, but whatever that was, I wish they would've solved it and hauled in Matt Ryan to do his thing as JC. I had no problem with Coleman playing Johanna Constatine in the past (except maybe she should've been blond).
Second, I know there was a lot of controversy over having Death played by a black actress and the like. I thought the actress did a great job with the character, but the thing is, having Destiny and Death black made them stand out from the rest of the Endless family. I think a solution might be if they had just given all the siblings some white makeup, as they are depicted in the comics as having very white skin. Of course, I imagine that would have raised a lot of issues, as it could be perceived as "white washing" in a way. Anyway, that was wasn't a big deal with me, as it's pretty superficial.
As far as the gender swaps, I was ok with Lucien being played by a woman, but having Lucifer played bya woman just didn't work well for me. Why not use the guy that played Loki? He kind of looked like Billy Idol or Bowie, who was the basis of the original character. Also didn't like Desire being played by a man. The character always looked to me like Peter Max's cover for Duran Duran's Rio. I think they should've gotten a woman to play Desire. Didn't care for that at all.
These are all pretty ticky-tacky things, though. I think the showrunners pulled it off. Kudos to them!
As for the TV series, I'm almost done with it. Only have 3 or 4 episodes to go for season 2. In general, I really liked the series. It kept to most of the story beats of the comics/graphic novel with regard to Morpheus' central narrative. I didn't think they could pull off the whole story in 2 seasons, but I see what they did, they narrowed it down to Morpheus' story. Of course, as fans, we miss out on A Game of You, and the other stories, but, as a whole, it sounds like they hit the finish line.
There was stuff I didn't care for, though, mainly with characters and casting. First, I love Jenna Coleman from Doctor Who and Victoria but, I'm sorry, her Johanna Constantine taking the place of John Constantine just did not work at all for me. Gaiman said there was some legal issue about using the Constantine character, but whatever that was, I wish they would've solved it and hauled in Matt Ryan to do his thing as JC. I had no problem with Coleman playing Johanna Constatine in the past (except maybe she should've been blond).
Second, I know there was a lot of controversy over having Death played by a black actress and the like. I thought the actress did a great job with the character, but the thing is, having Destiny and Death black made them stand out from the rest of the Endless family. I think a solution might be if they had just given all the siblings some white makeup, as they are depicted in the comics as having very white skin. Of course, I imagine that would have raised a lot of issues, as it could be perceived as "white washing" in a way. Anyway, that was wasn't a big deal with me, as it's pretty superficial.
As far as the gender swaps, I was ok with Lucien being played by a woman, but having Lucifer played bya woman just didn't work well for me. Why not use the guy that played Loki? He kind of looked like Billy Idol or Bowie, who was the basis of the original character. Also didn't like Desire being played by a man. The character always looked to me like Peter Max's cover for Duran Duran's Rio. I think they should've gotten a woman to play Desire. Didn't care for that at all.
These are all pretty ticky-tacky things, though. I think the showrunners pulled it off. Kudos to them!
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