Initial Sandman Review (up to Epsidoe 7)
Aug. 7th, 2022 11:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatWatching The Sandman on Netflix and loving it.
The casting is for the most part spot-on. I'm admittedly on the fence about Lucifer - I'd have liked a little more of David Bowie. Gwen Christie is not quite slim enough, and Lucifer comes across to me as kind of slim and ethereal in the comics and more androgynous. Christie is almost too feminine for the role. (Should probably mention that Michael Sheen is cast as Lucifer in the audio-book version.) But, Gaiman picked her - so, what do I know? Also Lucifer is hardly a lead.
Tom Sturridge is spot-on for Dream, he's perfect casting. I don't see how they could have done better. He is actually far better than James McAvoy who did the audio book.
Death, and the others also all work rather well. Jenna Coleman's take on Constantine works rather well for me. And I'm actually glad they did the gender flip.
I've been re-reading the comics and listening to the audio book - so
I can see where they made the changes, and surprisingly enough, they all work. Some kind of fix issues I had with the comics. Also, I was rather surprised by what they kept in the series. I'd have taken out the Will Shakespeare bit.
The major changes or alterations between the comics and the television series so far are:
1. Dream is captured while he's tracking down a rogue nightmare, The Corsican. In the comics, he's captured, then much later goes after the nightmare. The significance of this - is he's more vulnerable - because he's left his realm. They didn't grab him from his own realm. Also, he was in the process of removing a nightmare from the waking world - when they snatched him - so that nightmare has been able to roam free in the waking world for a very long time (approximately eighty-hundred years). And the nightmare is the one who told them what to do to keep Dream captive - so we are told what they did and why - by the Nightmare's conversation with Burgess. (Great way of handling exposition without voice-over narrative).
Also explains how they figured it out so quickly - which was explained by a page in a book in the comics.
2. Alex Burgess, Rodrick's son, is nastier in the comics, and weaker. He doesn't kill anyone, he just threatens Dream like his father did, and asks him for power in exchange for freedom. Here - we see him abused more by his father, and he shoots Dream's raven, Jessame, who is also his cloak or clothing. He doesn't kill the raven in the comics. And he does it - only at his father's abusive persuading. Also, he asks Dream's forgiveness and agrees to let him go - but only if he agrees not to harm him. At the end, it seems almost deliberate that Paul, Alex's partner, drives the wheel chair over the circle's lines, breaking it. When it the comics, they didn't know they did it.
Plus, the television series takes away one of the most frightening things that appears in the comics. So disturbing, that it stuck with me, and was the only thing that stuck with me from when I read the comics in the 1980s.
In the comics, Dream punishes Alex Burgess with the gift of "eternal waking" or basically waking from one nightmare only to be in a new one.
But I think the writers decided it was either to hard to convey that quickly on screen or too cruel? And chose to have Dream inflict the gift of eternal sleep on Alex instead?
Dream is more merciful here than he is in the comics.
I'm on the fence about this change. I kind of was hoping to see how it would be conveyed on screen - it's an iconic moment in the comics. I'm not sure why they changed it - I asked, but I'll be surprised if he answers (I'm not on his radar).
The reason, I asked - is it kind of traumatized me when I read it in the 1980s. I really think that is the worst possible thing any writer has ever done to a character - condemned them to eternal waking. It was the one bit that I remembered from those comics.
3. They got rid of the whole Sykes/Burgess and Hathaway/Sykes fight. Sykes barely has a role in this series. And instead, Ethel just takes off with Dreams tools and trades them. She does so, because Burgess is abusing her and wanted her to abort their son, John Dee. It also provides Ethel was a bigger role.
I was not unhappy with this change. It actually works better than the original version. And far cleaner. Also, gives Ethel more agency.
Plus no exploding head. Although we do get exploding bodies...with Dee.
Why do an exploding head, when you can have exploding bodies? It's not gross - more comic booky.
4. Introduced Mathew the Raven faster than the books do. He doesn't appear until Dollhouse in the comics. It makes sense - since this works as a way to get rid of a lot of exposition and explain various bits to the audience, like who Lucifer is to Dream.
5. Dream's journey to hell to get his helm was changed - in the comics, there are three rulers not just Lucifer (which made no sense, because it changes much later in the comics to just Lucifer). Also, the demon Corsican fights Dream in the battle not Lucifer - which did not make sense in the comics, because Luicfer is humiliated in the comics - but why would he be? He wasn't the challenger. Why would he care what the Corsican did? But having Lucifer be the challenger and have him lose - works. Of course he'd be humiliated, and Lucifer's great flaw is his pride. So this works in the television series -it doens't as well in the comics.
6. Gender flip for John Constantine - which actually works, because it takes care of some of the sexism in the original. The original version had some sexist and gender issues, flipping the gender makes it work. Also, some of the cliche noir bits with John Constantine, aren't with Johanna.
It takes care of so many issues just by switching the genders (which they did for rights issues - DC was developing a separate series with John Constantine, so the character wasn't available.)
Funny bit. Someone on Twitter believes it is mispronounced and should be "Constant" "Teen" and Gaiman came back and said is was Constant - ine (like wine).
They also gender flip Lucien. But mainly it's the same.
**
I'm only up to episode 7. Episode 6 : The Sound of Her Wings - is a truly lovely meditation on death. And unique. I was rather impressed with it, and the casting for everyone is more or less spot on. (I would have traded the actor who plays Desire with the one who plays Lucifer, I honestly think that actor fits it more. I wish they'd gone with a non-binary actor for Lucifer - Gwen Christie isn't non-binary. On the other hand - the actor playing Desire is kind of perfect in the role - and a bigger role.)
The casting of Dream is perfect though. And so is everyone else. Charles Dance as Roderick Burgess is very well done. As is David Thewilis in the role of John Dee.
The production is spot on, and so is the writing.
Right now, my only real quibble is Netflix won't let me watch the end credit sequences. (It chops them off and takes you to the next episode immediately - which is nice, unless they create cool end credits.)
I actually think it's an improvement on the comics and audio book, altering some of the things that I'd had issues with in the original versions.
The casting is for the most part spot-on. I'm admittedly on the fence about Lucifer - I'd have liked a little more of David Bowie. Gwen Christie is not quite slim enough, and Lucifer comes across to me as kind of slim and ethereal in the comics and more androgynous. Christie is almost too feminine for the role. (Should probably mention that Michael Sheen is cast as Lucifer in the audio-book version.) But, Gaiman picked her - so, what do I know? Also Lucifer is hardly a lead.
Tom Sturridge is spot-on for Dream, he's perfect casting. I don't see how they could have done better. He is actually far better than James McAvoy who did the audio book.
Death, and the others also all work rather well. Jenna Coleman's take on Constantine works rather well for me. And I'm actually glad they did the gender flip.
I've been re-reading the comics and listening to the audio book - so
I can see where they made the changes, and surprisingly enough, they all work. Some kind of fix issues I had with the comics. Also, I was rather surprised by what they kept in the series. I'd have taken out the Will Shakespeare bit.
The major changes or alterations between the comics and the television series so far are:
1. Dream is captured while he's tracking down a rogue nightmare, The Corsican. In the comics, he's captured, then much later goes after the nightmare. The significance of this - is he's more vulnerable - because he's left his realm. They didn't grab him from his own realm. Also, he was in the process of removing a nightmare from the waking world - when they snatched him - so that nightmare has been able to roam free in the waking world for a very long time (approximately eighty-hundred years). And the nightmare is the one who told them what to do to keep Dream captive - so we are told what they did and why - by the Nightmare's conversation with Burgess. (Great way of handling exposition without voice-over narrative).
Also explains how they figured it out so quickly - which was explained by a page in a book in the comics.
2. Alex Burgess, Rodrick's son, is nastier in the comics, and weaker. He doesn't kill anyone, he just threatens Dream like his father did, and asks him for power in exchange for freedom. Here - we see him abused more by his father, and he shoots Dream's raven, Jessame, who is also his cloak or clothing. He doesn't kill the raven in the comics. And he does it - only at his father's abusive persuading. Also, he asks Dream's forgiveness and agrees to let him go - but only if he agrees not to harm him. At the end, it seems almost deliberate that Paul, Alex's partner, drives the wheel chair over the circle's lines, breaking it. When it the comics, they didn't know they did it.
Plus, the television series takes away one of the most frightening things that appears in the comics. So disturbing, that it stuck with me, and was the only thing that stuck with me from when I read the comics in the 1980s.
In the comics, Dream punishes Alex Burgess with the gift of "eternal waking" or basically waking from one nightmare only to be in a new one.
But I think the writers decided it was either to hard to convey that quickly on screen or too cruel? And chose to have Dream inflict the gift of eternal sleep on Alex instead?
Dream is more merciful here than he is in the comics.
I'm on the fence about this change. I kind of was hoping to see how it would be conveyed on screen - it's an iconic moment in the comics. I'm not sure why they changed it - I asked, but I'll be surprised if he answers (I'm not on his radar).
The reason, I asked - is it kind of traumatized me when I read it in the 1980s. I really think that is the worst possible thing any writer has ever done to a character - condemned them to eternal waking. It was the one bit that I remembered from those comics.
3. They got rid of the whole Sykes/Burgess and Hathaway/Sykes fight. Sykes barely has a role in this series. And instead, Ethel just takes off with Dreams tools and trades them. She does so, because Burgess is abusing her and wanted her to abort their son, John Dee. It also provides Ethel was a bigger role.
I was not unhappy with this change. It actually works better than the original version. And far cleaner. Also, gives Ethel more agency.
Plus no exploding head. Although we do get exploding bodies...with Dee.
Why do an exploding head, when you can have exploding bodies? It's not gross - more comic booky.
4. Introduced Mathew the Raven faster than the books do. He doesn't appear until Dollhouse in the comics. It makes sense - since this works as a way to get rid of a lot of exposition and explain various bits to the audience, like who Lucifer is to Dream.
5. Dream's journey to hell to get his helm was changed - in the comics, there are three rulers not just Lucifer (which made no sense, because it changes much later in the comics to just Lucifer). Also, the demon Corsican fights Dream in the battle not Lucifer - which did not make sense in the comics, because Luicfer is humiliated in the comics - but why would he be? He wasn't the challenger. Why would he care what the Corsican did? But having Lucifer be the challenger and have him lose - works. Of course he'd be humiliated, and Lucifer's great flaw is his pride. So this works in the television series -it doens't as well in the comics.
6. Gender flip for John Constantine - which actually works, because it takes care of some of the sexism in the original. The original version had some sexist and gender issues, flipping the gender makes it work. Also, some of the cliche noir bits with John Constantine, aren't with Johanna.
It takes care of so many issues just by switching the genders (which they did for rights issues - DC was developing a separate series with John Constantine, so the character wasn't available.)
Funny bit. Someone on Twitter believes it is mispronounced and should be "Constant" "Teen" and Gaiman came back and said is was Constant - ine (like wine).
They also gender flip Lucien. But mainly it's the same.
**
I'm only up to episode 7. Episode 6 : The Sound of Her Wings - is a truly lovely meditation on death. And unique. I was rather impressed with it, and the casting for everyone is more or less spot on. (I would have traded the actor who plays Desire with the one who plays Lucifer, I honestly think that actor fits it more. I wish they'd gone with a non-binary actor for Lucifer - Gwen Christie isn't non-binary. On the other hand - the actor playing Desire is kind of perfect in the role - and a bigger role.)
The casting of Dream is perfect though. And so is everyone else. Charles Dance as Roderick Burgess is very well done. As is David Thewilis in the role of John Dee.
The production is spot on, and so is the writing.
Right now, my only real quibble is Netflix won't let me watch the end credit sequences. (It chops them off and takes you to the next episode immediately - which is nice, unless they create cool end credits.)
I actually think it's an improvement on the comics and audio book, altering some of the things that I'd had issues with in the original versions.