I actually do like that they named Lucifer the champion during episode 4, mostly because it gives Christie more to do, gives Lucifer and Dream a direct confrontation that demonstrates their rivalry through action, and makes the humiliation of the loss directly on Lucifer. Plus the characterisation of Lucifer being unwilling to destroy hope during the game because they so not want to give up hope of returning to heaven is much more interesting characterisation than just Coronzon just not being able to think of something, because it recontextualises the "dream of heaven" line as more of a direct jab at Lucifer than just a general threat.
Exactly. Also I think I read Neil's answer on Lucifer's pronouns somewhere. Lucifer when speaking about self says 'we' and 'us' and Dream speaking of or to Lucifer always says 'Lord Lucifer'.
I think humanizing Despair was a smart move. I absolutely understand the comics interpretation, where she is depicted as a horrific monstrosity. Because that very much IS a legitimate interpretation of despair. But despair is also something that is familiar and relatable, and which we can sometimes see and not even notice (in others, or even in ourselves).
Yeah, and the same time when she cassually stabs her cheek with her hook is more jarring and skin-crawling. Self harm looks worse, when we see it on someone that looks like real person than some cave troll lady
Making her look like a frumpy version of Fat Bastard from Austin Powers but just wearing crocs was dumb. So despair is having a glandular weight issue, donning a sweater and sporting comfortable footwear? Uh, no.
Someone noted that Despair is wearing Crocs. Yep, depressed millennial who hasn't left her apartment in months and has tucked herself into her most comfortable clothing.
Exactly. Also did you notice how when she is talking to Desire in the show she is hurting herself, cutting her cheek as a symbol of relief/excitation. I think the point is, in the comic they went with a monstrous undefined horrific metaphor for Despair and in the show they went with a psychological, unstable, ill and sad take for Despair.
Between Good Omens and Sandman, neil gaiman quickly is gaining a reputation as someone who is a really good person to adapt his own work to other mediums
@@TheAndando American Gods was amazing, albeit, only for the first season. Then the season 1 showrunners left the show, then the quality totally went down hill.
@@Blue_Lunacy I don't know if you stuck around for season 3, but Gaiman actually got into the project directly and the season feels a lot like the first one again. I really hope they get to make a movie to finish this version of this story, if anything it deserves to be finished
@@daniellins4114 I did watched season 3. Personally, it was better than season 2 but not up to season 1 level. The hotel arc was nice. But the message of POC enduring felt rather patronising, especially after Anansi rousing speeches in both seasons. I dislike how Djinn break from Salim. But the extensive queer contents were nice. I still wonder what could have happen if the Fuller and Green were able to stay.
I think the reason they went for Lucifer battling Dream directly is to save budget with the lower demon since he might be CGI or need a better makeup if they would do close-ups on his face, as well as give Lucifer more screen time so the audience can be familiar with them since it's a single episode and half of it is Dream going through Hell. It's a pretty valid criticism, but I think it still fits the character, just emphasing one aspect of them.
I agree and whether it was for budget or not, it would be pointless to add in another new character just for that, when existing characters can fill the role.
While I can say that it makes the ending of the Hell trip more jarring, frankly I was MUCH happier getting more of Satan's actor than I would have been if they'd kept more faithful. Especially with the medium change to tv/film, and how they played up the Game.
Having Lucifer fight Morpheus made it seem like the whole thing was a trap from the get go, which to me succeeded in getting across Lucifer's wiliness and untrustworthiness. I mean, here they are, being perfectly polite to Dream, all the while planning for the showdown.
I loved it. Jenna Coleman gave me way more genuine Constantine vibes than either of the two male live action Constantines ever did. I think the Lucifer change is simply, well, if you have Gwendoline Christie playing Lucifer you're going to use her as much as possible.
I really liked the Lucifer duel because you get a lot of character stuff from it, and the power imbalance/ defeat I think is framed within the rules of the fight as being indicative of how the deities are bound by rules. Also the characterisation of Lucifer was really interesting - they’re clever, calculating, and almost goading Dream into these larger scenarios throughout the duel to kill him. Gwendoline Christie is so good in the role, she absolutely steals the scenes :)
Gwendolyn Cristie was absolutely amazing as Lucifer. Probably my favourite portrayal. Also we got to see her in armor again and that made me so damn happy!
I was also a skeptic, and it took a comic panel discussion to pique my interest, and even then, it took me a little bit longer to start watching the series. And while I was bracing myself for some of the more gory stories, I was pleasantly surprised and found that I wanted to watch more of it. I have not completely finished season one, but I plan to, soon. Skeptic no more, but cautiously taking in the adaptation while maintaining the original as a separate work of art. It’s a beautiful dance indeed!
This is a great analysis of the show. I actually prefer the Lucifer change, mostly because I like that they amp up the antagonism between Lucifer and Dream. I remember reading the comics and getting to Season of Mists and suddenly being an issue going to Hell because of Dream humiliating Lucifer and my reaction was "huh?". So I went back and read it and it was pretty much the line at the end, the " Why should we let you leave?" and then Lucifer swearing to destroy him. In my opinion, it plays better in the show. The champion switcharoo comes off from the beginning as a plan, a ploy to get Dream.
21:53 you forgot, he also killed his crow right in front of him, while the crow was trying its very best to free Dream. it was.... really shocking and unforgivable
I suspect the rationale for naming Lucifer as champion was as mundane as giving Gwendolyn Christie more to do. It didn't bother me but your critique makes sense.
Also as a fan of the lucifer show and not knowing the comic but that it was a loose adaption of this lucifer makes it to see them as a truely evil presence. I saw more potential foreshadowing of how Lucifer's heart isn't into and thier close to leaving Helland that's why they lost.
I would also add that I think it's a consequence of hell no longer being a triumvirate (which makes sense within the context of contemporaneous DC comics, but would be weird to explain in the show). When Choronzon was Beelzebub's vassal, Lucifer had no direct duty to them. Now that Choronzon is a direct servitor of the Morningstar, that would also hit a bit different. And reaction videos from people who didn't read the comic have been fairly consistent in concluding that Lucifer set the whole trade up with the purpose of forcing the confrontation and trying to take the dreaming. Fobbing the competition off to an underling probably *wouldn't* have felt right to them.
I actually liked the change with Lucifer for a few reasons. 1. First of all, I'll get the cynical one out of the way: if they had cast a bigger name as Choronzon, they probably would've kept it. 2. I like the impact of the ending conversation, I feel like it hits harder because it was a direct confrontation with Lucifer ("What power have Dreams in Hell?" "What would Hell be without those who dream of Heaven?" or whatever the line is: because Lucifer is probably the biggest dreamer in Hell) 3. Like the scene with Nada (from the comic), & the closing scene of the finale (created for the show), I feel like it was another (albeit more subtle) way of teasing the next big arc (if they get a second season): Season of Mists
I would add one more thing. Location. In the comics there is a sudden change of location... a slam poetry bar. A location change, like that is a budget increase. Also it would've been looked tacky on screen. Another reason I liked the change to the original. In the original "hope" was a step that Dream knew he will close the game with. In the inner monologue he states that he already knows how Choronzon makes his moves and he suspects the endgame. This makes the HOPE answer as something Dream of the Endless doesn't really care about. In the show it was more a needed reveal and a character development step for the future events. And this loss for Lucifer makes their next step, "something I've never done before" a way better reason. I think.
Neil Gaiman answered a couple of the adaption questions over on Tumblr and he talked specifically about the Alex change. He said they filmed it both ways and tested it and found by the time they got to the end of Alex’s story, no one wanted to watch the time it took for the endless waking. So that’s why they adapted and made it the endless dreaming. I think it was a smart change very cognizant of how the medium changes reception.
This show has really made me appreciate what goes into adapting a story to a different medium. What works in comics doesn't necessarily work on screen, and vice versa. A comic can tell an entire story in a couple of panels that would take half an episode, or spend an entire issue on what amounts to a 10 minute scene. Comics also have more leeway in telling a fragmented story while a tv show benefits from a more straightforward narrative. While you can pause and rewind an episode it's not quite the same as flipping back a few pages to remind you of what happened or a character's name or their relations for example. Gaiman having written for both comics, books, tv and film is obviously aware of that.
I really liked the portrayal of Lucifer. It's been a long while since I've seen the comics, I didn't own them at that time. Only after watching the series (twice) that I recalled that the battle hadn't been with Choronzon. But Lucifer's acting was so stellar, it really sold the character as being all that angelical appearance and all the dark just beneath the patina. It made the character all the more powerful. And though you do have a point, in that it changed the meaning of the scene's ending, for me at least it made things more powerful, not weaker. Because, while Choronzon would have lost because he was just not as capable, I could see in Lucifer's face that they knew a possible answer, but they'd be loathe to play *that* card. Maybe, deep down, they can't give up hope, really, and the rage was that much greater because of that.
I remember being low-key disappointed with the casting of Lucifer, simply for the superficial reason that I *really* love the David Bowie-esque aesthetic the comics had for the character and was sad they were leaning away from it. ...then the show came out and Gwendoline Christie's INCREDIBLE performance made me feel bad for my initial reaction :D
I feel like Neil Gaiman has always been really good at changing up the story when any of his work is being adapted. In the earlier adaptations of his stories the changes were a bit smaller or not always his choices, but I feel like he always wants some things to be changed so that those who have read the originals have something to be surprised by. Having a writer who is so open to changes, or even encouraging them, is really refreshing!
When John saved Rosemary, they managed to execute this change without undermining his character motivations or the next episode with that simple, yet effective, line saying that it would mean that she would never need to lie again.
I have trouble recalling a more loving adaptation than this one. It's been over 20 years since I read the comics, so I didn't remember the details of every story, but I found it beautiful, not just visually but in word and theme. I have the same favorite episode as you. Death was freaking perfect. She brought the same joy and compassion I saw in the comics, and she looked forking perfect as well. The Endless aren't even really meant to be any one race or even species (Dream of a Thousand Cats???), so I find it absolutely ridiculous that anyone with real understanding of the source material could have a problem with this casting decision.
It's not perfect but for me it's about as close as it can get, so I agree with your assessment. The Sound Of Her Wings was the story that caught my attention in the bookstore, with Hope In Hell being the story that hooked me in and showed me this was something really special. Yet even though I knew who we were watching (Death) and what was going to happen, I still found myself getting pulled in and quite emotional about it. I have wondered how people who didn't know the source material reacted to that story. That moment when realisation sets in and then the gut punch of the baby. Also, never mind the cats, we see Dream change 'race' when he sees Nada. Their appearance depends on the viewer. The graphic novel Death is my Death and this Death is my Death. As for the last part of your comment, those people lack any understanding of anything, not just the source material. The majority of them were that certain part of Twitter jumping on the bandwagon of all that 'woke, anti-woke' crap. Frankly, they're really pathetic.
@@misterdoctor9693 Wasn't it wonderful? The odd thing is, I remember Neil saying there were 11 episodes and that Dream Of A Thousand Cats was being adapted. When only 10 episodes dropped I thought it was odd, figured I was wrong and completely forgot about the cats story.
John's exploits in the Diner always read to me as this: the ruby makes dreams come true. When John is speaking to Rosemary, he says that everybody is primarily selfish. He does not dream of an honest world, he dreams of a selfish one, albeit an honestly selfish one. This is classic: liars assume everybody lies, cheaters that everybody cheats. Selfish people assume that everybody would be selfish, if they were being honest with themselves. John is an overgrown child who has had few experiences with selflessness, and we see a little bit when he's speaking to Rosemary that maybe if he'd had that perspective more, he might dream differently. But it's not near enough, and his experiences with his past/mother wins out.
The only thing that shook me when I watched this adaptation was how much I liked the Corinthian. It was so easy to hate him in the comics, but here I am all “why, yes, let’s make heart eyes at this nightmare.” 😂
As a die-hard fan of the comics, I also watched this with excitement/trepidation. It only took one episode for me to start gushing over it. Every faithful sendup and artful deviation had me squealing with glee. The casting was fantastic! Please, Netflix, give us another season. One more, at least!
While aware of the source material, I've never read it. I hadn't heard any buzz on the show at all and just took a shot in the dark in watching it. I loved it, for many of the reasons you stated here. It was also nice for you to share glimpses into the source material and compare....then tell us what that live adaptation did really well. This show was well done. Sadly enough, I don't think there will be any more, but I'd gladly watch this over and over and over again because there would be so many new things to pick up on upon each viewing! Thanks for an awesome video!
I watched Sandman with my wife. She's read the comics, I haven't yet. (I made a conscious choice not to when I heard about the release of this. It had been recommended to me and I decided this time to come at this with fresh eyes.) We both loved it. I was a little taken aback by the shift after 24/7. I didn't realize they were adapting two volumes, and that it would feel like two distinctive stories in one season. At first I had a hard time with that, and I would have had a much harder time with this issue if the Corinthian hadn't been a through-line. So from that perspective, without reading the comics, I'd say that was a smart change. I really enjoyed John Dee as a villain. His understated presentation contrasted with his lack of ability to grasp how the real world works. The portrayal of Death as a compassionate woman struck me as beautiful. It called to mind Death from Incarnations of Immortality (Yes, I know that Piers Anthony is a problematic person; no, that doesn't mean I hate everything he ever wrote. I just won't by his books anywhere but a secondhand shop) which introduced a Death that had compassion at the core. Desire had one hell of a screen presence. I could go on and on. I loved it. I probably will read the comics now. I don't know that I want to really wait until a second season comes out.
I felt the change in the battle Lucifer also probably had to do, in part, with Gwendoline being a bigger name and expanding her part. Also in part, that, if we get future seasons, there is more with Lucifer. Choronzon isn't really necessary for future seasons. My biggest qualm with Lucifer (because, like all geeks, I'm a pedant), was them using "I" instead of "we" several times. I don't think Lucifer talked in the singular until Season of Mists, after abdicating. And Dream remarks upon it when he notices he.
I’m reading the comics now and they are a totally different experience, because they are a different medium, and I love both!! I think the show really stands on its own. Everyone please keep streaming the show so we can have a season 2.🙏🏽 #renewsandman
While I agree with you about Lucifer coming off as a bit of a sore loser, I don't know about making them seem weaker. They called upon and embodied the anti-life, which is something very few beings can do in the comics without going mad, so the fact that they casually did it without breaking a sweat is op as fuck. But you do have to be a DC fan and know about the anti-life to be impressed so yeah lol Also, Lucifer referred to themselves as "we" so they/them are the right pronouns I think :)
I do love the change to John Dee because in the comics its hard to empathise with him because he's a supervillain and a murderer and a creepy little zombie-man with some form of a messiah complex. But in the show he appears as just a sad old man so changing the reason he does what he does from him being a murderous sadist to being someone with clear mental health problems. If he looked the way he did in the comics they could get away with him being a monster but they didn't. Also I think the reason they changed Despairs design is since they changed Dreams design and they didn't want Despair to be the only inhuman member of the Endless since Destiny, Death, Desire and the rest have always just looked like humans. And the reason Funland got off easy in the comics is because though what he does is evil he himself isn't evil because he's clearly mentally ill and doesn't understand what he does is wrong. And later on in the book after Morpheus unmakes the Corinthian, he takes away the fantasy that the collectors are the heroes of their own story and so when Funland wakes he will understand the atrocities he's committed.
Johanna Constantine gave me really strong Clara vibes (especially the moment when she says "What is the point of you?" to Morpheus). I like Clara, though, so I enjoyed the similar performance that Jenna Coleman gave.
To me, she seemed like Clara when she was playing as the Doctor in "Flatline" when the Doctor was in the shrunken TARDIS. Except this time it was 'real'.
One thing to bear in mind, that I've heard but not confirmed, is that if Netflix decides not to continue at any point (not just now), it's in the contracts that Neil can take the work and let someone else continue it. Hopefully it's budget doesn't make it a no go area for the future, either at Netflix or anywhere else.
I really hope / wish that had been in the agreement when it came to American Gods. My understanding is the adaptation was extremely well received and performing exceptionally well for the channel, but they were banking on it drawing people to extend their cable plans and increase the channel's overall viewership/audience which was a poor idea. They originally released a statement saying they were postponing the next season (for a lot of Neil Gaiman fans including myself, that was actually the first that anybody had heard that the show existed - which also illustrates poor advertising on their part) and then finally admitted that they were not going to continue the project. This may in fact be why he has that clause *now.*
Also considering the fact that people are still making references to Good Omens that have never read the book, I'm sure Prime would snatch that up instantly.
@@searchingfororion Yeah that was a real pity about American Gods, especially as (based on the graphic novel) there didn't seem to be much left to do. If only someone else could have taken it to finish it, just like with Lucifer as that worked out really well for them. Not that it makes up for it but at least we're getting a Good Omens season 2 and Anansi Boys is in the works.
@@Elwaves2925 I did not know that he did a version of American Gods in graphic novel. That's really intriguing because in the book he is intentionally very vague about the old gods and you really have to know your mythology to identify which Pantheon and entities Shadow is working with. As a fan of Ananzi Boys (it's kind of amazing how many people I've told about this that have been mind blown that he did a sequel) I'm trying to understand how you could do it without completing AG. Once again the novel itself does technically stand on its own but you miss **a lot** if you don't have the subtleties and the establishment from the first.
I thought that casting Kirby as Death was a great move, because they chose someone with such a friendly and compassionate face. It subverts expectations because Dream looks more like what you would expect Death to look like, which is demonstrated by Roderick Burgess thinking he had succeeded. When Dream tells Death that it was her that Roderick was looking for, I imaged how it might play out if he had actually summoned Death.
I made the mistake of watching this show with my dad. Neither of us knew anything about it going in and it was definitely too dark for him in places. The bits that got him the most (spoiler free) were the diner and cereal.
I think it's kind of cosmically funny that a lot of people made a big stink about Death in this show, and then episode 6 happens and basically everyone agrees it's an amazing episode. Kirby Howell-Baptiste absolutely killed it as Death.
This show was brilliant! I feel like some of the changes were due to Neil Gaiman being a more experienced writer than he was in the 80s/90s and maturing the work a bit more since he had the chance. I really hope they can do the rest of the story, as the cast and everything was perfect. I do agree about having Lucifer fight Dream instead of the demon was a bit off, but the fight itself and the visuals were really cool and a well done adaptation rather than having set at a comedy club which really wouldn't work.
Personally the change from choronzon to lucifer in the oldest game grew on me, mostly because it creates a more straight line from the events in preludes and nocturnes to seasons of mist. Lucifer gaining hope in this manner would make his role/action in season of mist a bit more personal for them. I think at least
I haven't had the chance for review the Sandman comics, but I was bored after work one night and decided to watch the first episode.... And I was absolutely entranced, enthralled and mesmerised by what I watched, and what I witnessed on my TV screen. The music, cinematography and visuals, the actors (especially Toms) absolute dedication to their characters. Before I knew it I had watched the entire series in one sitting. I now need to watch it again and pace myself to fully take it in even more
Why especially Tom's? He's a terrible casting of Morpheus, too young looking, not tall enough and is forcing this weird posh voice to somehow try to adapt the dark inverted speech bubbles in the comics which just strains the dialogue... It's a shame Morpheus was a intimidating and foreboding Gothic presence who was quite cold and menacing at first, the narrative has to develop quite far to make him more relatable and for him to start relating to others. What we have here is an emo pretty boy, not a dark and weathered goth icon. It's a shame frankly, they cast him to have generic appeal as a protagonist like the young dude from Dr Who after David Tennant or something which is a shame and a cope out given everything else is very well done enough that it would definitely carry a more nuanced and difficult to establish protagonist very well.
@@ericritchie6783 I mean fair enough that's your opinion, everyones got their own opinions and thoughts on the show of which i am respectful. But who would you have cast? If you've seen his interviews then you'll see how much of a fan he is of the comic series and, personally I feel how he invisioned and portrayed Morpheus came across well.
@@AjarofNatella For me it would be someone who looks and comes across like the singer Mark Lanegan basically. That guy came so close to how I had Morpheus in my head, or perhaps he was just such an interesting guy that they met the same place in my head. Just died this year very sadly. No its totally fair enough if you like Tom and I suppose there's a reason why they cast an actor that would have some kind of broad appeal, however I think it bares mentioning that in doing so they have created a somewhat different character and there's a slight bit of awkwardness, in my view, between what Tom's trying to do to portray the character he's a fan of himself and the reason he was actually cast. Then a slight bit of mis direction by whoever was working with him I feel. They were getting better at framing him to look cool as the series went on, but he just didn't seem to settle on a solid way to deliver his dialogue I don't think. Seems to slip back and forth between what he's trying to "do" and a more natural voice/accent. Would be better if they made him look and sound more ethereal also, like not always but sometimes should have had the pitch black eyes with stars inside and pale skin, then he could look more like himself other times in scenes where his just blending in. In the comics his silhouette and face were always slightly changing anyway "morphing" and occasionally depending on who was looking at him he just completely changes, sometimes into non humanoid forms ect. So yeah they could have at least had some effects on his eyes and voice sometimes in some scenes I think.
One pretty odd consequence of moving the story to 2022, which they never really acknowledge, is that Unity Kincaid is now presumably around 120 years old. Which, you know, isn't impossible, but still feels pretty unlikely to not at least get a line or two acknowledging it.
Because she spent her dream life with Desire, and simply being near an Endless has many benefits including slower aging. That’s the same reason why Alex and Paul don’t look 100+.
I've waited for your video on this ever since that tweet when Neil answered ;) Glad you enjoyed it, i did too! Here's to hoping for another season (especially after we got the nice extra surprise)...
Maybe it's the catholic school education but Lucifer being defeated by hope hit like a brick for me. I actually really loved that extra undeniable oomph to the final exchange. It really mirrors Lucifer's war with God and now ruling hell as the losing side. Corazon was relatively forgettable as a demon. He's got pizzazz in the comics, but giving that feeling to his character without abusing cgi horrifically would have been hard and was pretty unneeded done this way. I did love how they changed Despair's appearance as well because it matches the more human look of Dream as well as the points you made. It also left Desire as the least human compliant looking which is interesting when you think about how often desires are fantasies. It's an interesting parallel to the personal feelings each of the Endless so far show about the humans their realms serve. Otherwise I think I agreed about almost every point you made.
Honestly I agree with...pretty much all you said. I love love LOVE the Sandman adaptation. I never read the comics since I'm not big on horror, but I did get the audiobook (since the same crew had adapted Neverwhere which is my favourite Adioplay maybe ever). And I never fully got through it. Especially because some things - that they deliberately adapted for today's audiences and the format - just really threw me off. The very explicit violence against women etc. And the pure self-indulgence in the 24/7 sequence, which with Doctor Destiny to me always felt like they made it fucked up just to be fucked up and nothing more. This toned down the violence significantly and gave John Dee so much more humanity and motivation. I was fully prepared to leave the show after episode 5 and instead it only pulled me in further. Also can we just aknowledge how perfect Tom Sturridge is as Dream?
First vid of yours I've seen. Loved it! Also my first thoughts on seeing you were, "Who are they? Is she single?" then you started analyzing the series. 10/10, would uhaul. :)
I was unfamiliar with the comic but i was fully in from episode one cus the imagery was so so so on point!!!! Stunning lighting and i love the characters, hoping for more seasons
That's a fair concern for an adaptation, I think. ~ I've seen the show, and enjoyed it, but not read the comics, didn't know they were a thing until after I saw the show. I honestly doubt I'll get a chance to experience them in the next year or two, so I'm unconcerned that way. ~ You would make a fantastic Desire. ;) ~ I loved seeing Gwendolyn Christie as Lucifer, so I didn't mind seeing her in the dual, but it did seem a bit odd to me, so thank you for that explanation. I rather fell in love with this show, and I love seeing/hearing about the changes made. And yes, I understood right away that Dream, the Endless, etc were not human, so I was totally unbothered by gender/race/etc as portrayed by them. I was even mostly unsurprised when Dream became a black man while dealing with (I can't remember her name), it makes sense to me that his personification would be perceived as the same race by whomever interacted with him. (Logistically that would be hell to do in human-based visual media, though.)
Oh I'm so glad to hear this. I've had Sandman recommended to me several times over the years, but the visual novel format doesn't work well for me (I can never parse what's going on - when I see videos analyzing scenes from them, I am constantly surprised by the things that people mention being implied by the framing and position of text bubbles and so on that I just completely do not get. I've read some good visual novels, and good manga and just bounced off them entirely because I miss half the subtext.) And sadly so many adaptations fall flat, at least in western media. (Anime tends to do a pretty solid job of adapting manga, up until the point when it runs out of story because the anime releases faster than the manga does and suddenly veers off into filler, but western media is far more likely to miss the mark.) Glad to hear this one is an exception!
It was so bad I'm now embarrassed to tell people that I like Sandman, because they'll think I'm the kind of person who obsesses over campy sanctimonious mid-range Netflix fantasy series
I've seen the show and am making my way through the comics. I'm only on the first arch still. Everyone was saying the Dream is a bigger asshole in the comics and maybe he is later but so far, I think he's a little bit nicer? Except for what he did to Alex. That's the only exception. He seems more compassionate towards the dreamers he's looking after. He saves Constantine from the the falling dream, he gets that league of justice guy out of his missing name nightmare and wishes him luck finding it, he sits down and has a full conversation with Dee to try appeal to him for longer then in the show, he seems more distraught by all the nightmares going on in 24 hours, he doesn't even do anything unspeakably horrible to Dee. He actually treats Dee with a lot of patience and kindness and personally escorts him back to Arkem. That's not a small list of nice things. It's interesting that Nada's story comes at the time it does in the comic as it aaaaah..... implies some really dark stuff. Like they way we interpret myths in a modern sense (combined with the way the comic invites us to image how the women would tell the story) implies that Nada may not have consented to the sex they had. That was my impression anyway. This is the only other example of true asshole-ery that comic-dream out does show-dream. But the comic also heavily implies that the version told isn't the real story. Maybe the women's side is a sweeping and grande romance rather then a tragedy. The thing he does to Alex is definitely a dick move, as the kids say. I think they made Alex's punishment more reasonable because they didn't want their protagonist to do something so cruel in the first episode. Save the cat and all that. Edit: I have more to say about Nada. I really liked that chapter of the comic. Seeing her in hell for the first time, comic and show, naturally makes you wonder what she did to deserve it. I think the Corinthian says something to Lucienne that the wayward dreams only came back out of fear of what Dream would do to them of they didn't. That colored my take on Nadas begging. It made me feel she was just saying anything to try and escape. That is not to say AT ALL that I think she deserves the punishment she got. I think any reasonable person would agree she didn't do anything wrong. Dream on the other hand did everything wrong. At least they way the comic tells it. I'm making a list. Things Dream did right: -went for a walk -???? Things Dream did wrong: -didnt respect Nada's withdrawal of interest. Like she said no dude. No means NO! -stalked her -made her go to increasingly desperate lengths to GET AWAY FROM HIM to the point of mutilating herself. -do I need to keep going -yes I do -Nada didn't give him permission to touch her -still didn't take no for an answer even after she was freaking dead -blamed Nada for his hurt feely-weelies -had her sent to hell for 10,000 years + Like I said above I'm very suspicious of this story but holly shit dude. Ha ha. I'm guessing this will probably come up again. This is all in contrast to the Calliope story which I've only seen the show version of. Dream was quite respectful there. Very odd. Can't wait to read more. Edit edit: I have even more to say. This chapter is rotting my brain. There are parts of the story that imply the chase was a dream like Nada being able to transform into a deer when she otherwise has no magic. And Dream healing her body though this hasn't been shown as a thing he can do before (couldn't save Rachel from the sand for example). But the city distraction did apparently happen in the waking world as the glass in the desert shows there was something there. The heart shaped piece definitely means Desire was involved. One last thing, Nada couldn't have really consented to marrying Dream with the threat of hell hanging over her so if she had said yes it would be meaningless. And she still refused. Like what a Queen 👑💖👑💖 she's way too good for Dream. Anyway, I think that's all my thoughts out. Thanks for reading.
I think it's a bit of a shame that they decided not to put in Alex's punishment of eternal waking. To me it shows dream at his most unforgiving and vengeful, which really helps us to feel how that reactive fury changes in him, by degrees, over time in the comics. Then, when Alex is only freed when dream himself is reincarnated into a completely cleansed self Alex is at last released almost accidentally as part of that wider shift, which I think has a lot of weight as a completion of dream's maturation and re-imagining of himself, his role and his relationships.
Can’t believe I didn’t find your channel until recently. It’s so good! Thank you for all the awesome content! I also really liked the way the series updated some of the things from the comics that maybe didn’t age well. The Sandman always struck me as a very progressive story, and as our ideas of how to be progressive/inclusive have evolved, it’s exciting that the story has been updated to reflect those evolutions.
Though I have not read the comics myself, from the comparisons you made to the character of Despair, I like the choices they made for the show. To me, the way Despair looks, they way they move, the way they talk, to me, came off as someone who has lost hope and has fallen into despair (which could have been a way for Lucifer to beat Dream in their game). Heck, from my perspective, I could see that version of Despair as someone who once had hope and slowly lost it. So, that compared to the few depictions of Despair you showed from the comics, the show one looks much better. At least to me.
I thought overall the show was great. Really solid. But 'She spreads her wings' might be the best episode of TV I've seen this year. An absolutely stellar standout.
I said this to my friends on Discord, but I was quite happy/delighted by this series, though I have little attachment to the comics (I might've seen bits and pieces but never properly read Gaiman's Sandman). Much as I love Matt Ryan's version from the Constantine series (and subsequently "Arrowverse" shows), I quite appreciated this version of Constantine (the "proper" pronunciation of the name bugs me a bit, but that's just because of what I'm used to and I don't begrudge them that), same with the different Lucifer. One of my biggest issues with the series is a minor format issue: the episode with Death & Hob is very obviously 2 separate stories smashed into one episode. I feel they'd've been better off actually splitting the episodes into 2 short ones rather than 1 normal length, but it's fairly minor (and quite immaterial for those who are binging the series, I suppose). I typed that before I saw your discussion about the episode, but I maintain my stance on it: I still think it should be two episodes, just back-to-back (which would be such a minor change to the way the episode works). Oddly enough, I didn't have the same issue with the bonus episode, but I think that's partly because the cats story works as a strong allegorical opening of a different style, very well divided by the opening title, which is slightly earlier than the transition between stories in the other episode.
I’ve never read the comics, and the previews to this also turned me off. It was only coz a housemate invited me to watch that I did. Absolutely loved it. I adored Dream’s micro expressions, his development over episodes, and his growing softer treatment of his subjects. The cinematography was beautiful, and there are particular shots and angles I saw and thought “I bet that is straight from the comic. I want to read the comic and see if I can find it”. I adored The Corinthian. His ongoing sinister presence connecting story did a lot to keep me engaged… and very worried about who he was interacting with. Death was beautiful, and I would like to Cosplay her. I didn’t know characters like John D, Matthew, Hector and Lyra or even John Constantine were crossover characters, and it makes sense that changes would have to be made. With Joanna Constantine I found it odd how her last name was pronounced, but thought it may be a British vs USA thing? Dream and Hob’s episode was my favourite. So many warm and fuzzy feelings by the end of that. It made me so happy. Gault’s transformation and the introduction of Goldie (and the absorption of Gregory) made me cry. The Cerial convention was hilarious to me as a concept. After watching Mindhunter and how in conversation with a serial killer it is mentioned that there was hundreds if not thousands of them in USA, a yearly convention under everyone’s noses, where they discuss methods made me giggle. I am looking forward ti more of this show, and to reading the comics.
About fun land, I didn't think that he was supposed to be "freed from responsibility" in some way in the comics. I thought that his dream scene was supposed to show his perspective, yeah, but that that's *supposed* to be disturbing and disgusting. But I'm happy with what they did in the tv adaptation. I think that if the massage wasn't clear enough in the comics, maybe the perspective gimmick wasn't worth it.
For the Eternal Waking/Sleeping thing, I also thought it was going too far in the moment it was happening in the comics. But then Dream goes to his sister Death and talks to her about it, saying he killed the son because he wanted vengeance (and the person who wanted vengeance on wasn't in reach anymore because he was dead) but he feels kinda bad about it. I thought this was an important characterization of Dream - he can be impulsive and even cruel, but he does care about people and is capable of turning around, of feeling guilty about his behavior. Considering he spends most of his confrontation with John Dee begging him to consider the consequences his abuse of Dream's ruby is having on humans, and his confrontation with Desire about humans not being the Eternals' playthings, the big climaxes of the stories tend to involve him caring, but we don't see the cruelty all that much. Which makes his behavior toward Queen Nada pretty jarring, where he dragged her to Hell because she rejected him even though the Gods literally gave her no choice... until you remember the Eternal Waking and realize, yeah, he does do this kind of stuff. But also, eventually Death calls him out on this particular injustice and he admits she's right that he went to far and goes to free Nada.
I only now stumbled across this video as it was recommended after viewing your excellent videos about the allegations against Gaiman and the podcast that made them known. I apologise as this is going to be a long comment, but honestly, I don't feel that to date there has been a forum that feels right to share all my thoughts, and this for the reasons above does for me. I've been a huge fan of the books for over twenty years now and while I enjoyed the series, I also felt very frustrated by it. More so as time has gone by and I've begun to think about the work not just as an adaptation, but also as an insight into Gaiman himself. It feels filtered and homogenised in a way that I couldn't put my finger on at first, but now, it is clearer to me that certain things were removed from the story because of how they reflect on Gaiman's own words and behaviours. I had some issues with the casting, though none to do with race or gender, and more to do with how the characters are portrayed in the larger cosmology of the series and how some members of the cast felt like calculated attempts to address critiques made of Gaiman's work in other mediums. I think the casting of Dream, Death, Desire, Roderick Burgess, and John Dee are all wonderful, but really disliked how Lucifer, John Constantine, and especially Matthew the Raven are depicted/translated into the series. Without going into it in detail, a lot of it had to do with the power dynamics in the books, with character agency, and with how certain groups of characters interacted with each other on page versus on screen. Most of those changes felt unnecessary and seemed occur either for rights reasons (apparently John Constantine couldn't be used and neither could some of the other Vertigo characters that appeared in other titles) or because Gaiman didn't think they would "resonate with current audiences". Likewise, while there are some nice moments that feel faithfully pulled from the book, there is a lot that is altered in terms of aesthetics, characterisation, and narrative that makes the series feel very tonally inconsistent for me in a way that the books brilliantly avoid. Instead of feeling like a masterful exploration of genre as the books do, it feels a bit like a muddled mess, where you don't have all these gorgeous colours and tones coming together and subtly transition from one hue to the next, but where they're all mixed into the same muddy grey. Additionally, as someone who was alive then and loved the comics, films, and music of the era, I found that by updating the setting from the '80s and '90s to the 2020s, the series strips away a lot of the thematic depth and aesthetic darkness that I love about the books and kind of renders the gothic modern fantasy setting banal and textureless. It also cuts some of the most tragic incidents of what the world without Dream is like in all the intervening years of atrocities and you lose so much of that historical flavour. Those historical sequences are compressed and they fail to capture the distinct zeitgeist of the periods they depict in the way that the books do and this makes the whole series feel less epic as a result. Lastly, I think the more haunting and disturbing parts of the narrative that make it so memorable have also been watered down... and in light of the allegations against Gaiman, I kind of wish they hadn't. Thematically, his work keeps exploring cults and religion, generational trauma, unreliable narrators and the tampering of memories distorting identity, people being in a constant state of transformation and not being who they at first appear, questions about control versus consent, and of course the role of the storyteller in the story they themselves are telling. In hindsight, these recurring themes are far more autobiographical than I think any of us as readers were aware at the time, and maybe even more autobiographical than even Gaiman himself intended. I do think downplaying much of this is to a degree a form of sanitisation at Gaiman's behest because he knew that the recent allegations were going to come out and that people would be rereading his work in light of them from a different context.
I just finished watching the series and came here to watch your video. I have never read the comics so I had no expectations, and it’s fun to hear you point out the adaptive choices. I had the exact reaction you mention at the end of, I think episode 4 when John gives Rosemary the amulet and just lets her go, and I just felt sorry for John and all he went through. Then I was horrified and morbidly fascinated by 24/7, and then it gets followed by The Sound of Her Wings, which was my favorite. I really enjoyed the series and really hope it gets a second season. I really liked the actor playing Morpheus, didn’t think I would at first, but he conveys a lot with little facial expression and that’s not easy. Glad to see you enjoyed this so much, it’s fun when something exceeds your expectations.
I read up to volume 9 of the comics about 8 years ago, and I don't remember much, but I wanna say a couple of things: 1) I loved how Gaiman portrayed Death in the comics, and I adore how she was adapted to the small screen. I cried then, and I cried now. She's the most human of her siblings, not because she wanted to, but because she had to be. She's a cool chick, and I hope that I get ferried away in a similar fashion when my time comes. 2) You didn't mention these in your review, but the last episode chronicling the short side stories of "Dream of a thousand cats" and "Calliope" were a treat to have at the end of the episode list. A thousand cats was beautifully animated, reminiscent of the comic's visual style, and Calliope helps flesh out that Dream did, at one point, desire more than his position. Calliope humanizes him, and creates another facet for us as the viewer to latch on to. 3) As you noted in the review, some characters were genderswapped for reasons. This has produced some really awesome queer representation, and it's wonderful to see it on screen and not swept to the side. These characters have full arcs under them, and I'm living for it. 4) Can we please take a moment to admire the cinematography in this show? Honestly, the use of light and shadows and artistic positioning are downright stunning. The first episode with Dream locked in his glass cage? Beautiful.
Agreed with everything you presented in this video. I absolutely reviled the marketing for this Netflix adaptation and kept my distance from it initially. Thankfully, I have a couple of close friends who immediately urged me to give the series a try, both of whom are not familiar with the original graphic novels. Watching it myself, I was swept up and reminded why I cherished Gaiman's Sandman. The show absolutely nailed the tone, themes and character portrayals. Changes made were smart and deliberate to better the story. Found myself constantly nodding along to all of your points and opinions during the video; great review.
I wasn't familiar with the Sandman more than few names I picked up. I've watched the Lucifer series (I liked it) but this I love! Since I didn't know anything about these characters they were all perfect casting wise, but hearing you talk about them vs the comics and changes made, I agree. It was a very clever adaptation. I loved the pacing, the british accents and the way every word was articulated, lighting, colors. I pray this won't be another Tales from the loop, I want more. The sound of her wings killed me. In a good way.
Excellent video! I agree with your assessment of Lucifer vs Morpheus. I also wonder if the decision regarding Constantine had a lot to do with the fact that he appears in the Arrow series as well as two series of his own. I think there was a danger of the character being overused in television and movie franchises. I also loved the way the Corinthian was woven throughout the story lines, making him an integral part of the overall arc rather than an isolated "also ran" arc of his own. And finally, I found it masterful how the Cereal Convention participants, who just wandered off as a small army of sad characters disabused of their self-images in the comics, suffered much lass ambiguous fates. That ties off that arc very nicely.
Stopping your review until I've finished the season. Just hearing that you enjoyed it and that it's faithful to those comics I grew up with is enough for me right now. Thank you so much!
Just finished the season last night, although I still need to watch the bonus episode. I agree with your praises. As for changing the duel to include Lucifer directly… for now, I’m fine with it. I really liked Christie’s performance, so I enjoyed seeing her get a more active role in the confrontation. Does it diminish her as a threat? Hmmm…maybe, but I’m going to withhold judgement on that until I see how they adapt “Season of Mists” next season (fingers-crossed).
I think they introduced the change with Lucifer in order to have a direct confrontation, this intellectual and spiritual duel between the two deities, Dream and Lucifer, directly. It makes the duel more exciting and dangerous than a duel with a lower demon, it allows to expand the character and the presence of Lucifer in the series, and it sets up the rivalry between the two deities and kingdoms. At the same time, it did not make me feel that Lucifer is any less dangerous. In particular because after the defeat Lucifer looks as if they did not just have a duel but rather had a spa day. Lucifer does not really beak a sweat. For them this duel seems like just a drop in the ocean of many other victories and losses over millennia. And that makes the character even more grandios and terrifying for me. But I do agree that, at the same time, it may come across as petty, as being a sore loser
I think Eve's limited role in the comics was co-opted by the new Lucien. She is Matthew's confidante and other person besides Dream that Matthew considers a superior.
Ill be honest, it was tumblrs rambling about and gifs of Lucifer that made me finally watch the show So probably a smart choice (aside from the actual good analysis others dropped in the comments)
I really enjoyed watching Sandman but I've never read the comics, so it's really interesting to hear about what they changed/whats the same and how well adapted it actually is, what a great video!!
Sandman was one of the first graphic novels I ever read and the first one I faithfully collected. I was so so nervous before the series, as well. lol I'm very happy, too.
Good analysis! I was also disappointed by the Hell episode, but mostly because they didn't seem to have the budget to really sell it. The comics had a field full of strange, grotesque demons, where the show had like a stadium full of an indistinct mass of people. It felt a lot less impressive. Still, I overall loved the show too, and thought they did a great job adapting and modernizing it. Hoping for an S2 as well! Season of Mists was a great book, and A Game of You could 100% do with the same modernizing attention.
I think visual appearance matter. Some characters can't be changed without consequences. Death's image in the source material is iconic af. Now I can't fully buy into her.
While I read the comic years ago, I remembered very little about them and adored the show. I cry every time I watch Death's scenes. They truly picked the best actress for the role, and she exudes the kindness and compassion that is integral to Death of the Endless and she looked great doing it. The John scenes were the tensest for me, even though he didn't kill Rosemary. I had no idea the entire time if he would, but knowing that he so easily could AND could justify it as a moral act was enough to have me on edge. It also made 24/7 hit harder, as I had to pause that episode several times just due to the tension. On Lucifer, I think it was done for Dream to have a stronger adversary than just some demon, and to show Dream's ultimate strength. The scene just feels bigger when it's him against the ruler of Hell, imo.
Absolutely on point with the theme of this video, I clicked on this video prepared to be bored and not liking your content and I wound up loving your insight and discussion. Well done! New subscriber.
While I didn't mind the change in the duel being with Lucifer, I hated Mathew's little pep talk before the end. In the comics Dream directs the game in the direction he does to take advantage of a blind spot in his opponent that he deduced several turns before it happened.
I also love being skeptical, and being wrong. I had not read the comic books, so it was all new to me. Actually, kind of glad I had no preconceived ideas about what it would be, but I can see the fun in comparing and contrasting the comic books with the series. I also hope there is a second season!
I am a long time watcher and I always enjoy your insight. I agree 100% with your opinions on THE SANDMAN as far as it being a master class of adapation. I loved it all. I will disagree with you on the Lucifer point though. I am thinking the creative team said, "We got Gwendolyn Christie as Lucifer. Lets use her more." Plus if you haven't read the comics and you are a casual viewer, you may wonder to yourself why they didn't use her/him in that scene. Why did they leave something so epic as that battle to DREAM and a random Demon instead of the Devil? Plus, it drives home the point that Dream embarrassed Lucifer on their own turf by winning that battle which sets up Lucifer's revenge in hopefully season 2 adapation of SEASONS OF MISTS...crosses fingers for season 2.
the hector and lyta stuff was interesting for a number of reasons. Lyta did lose Hector in the comics, he was murdered by a reincarnation of the priest who killed his parents and his body was used as the vessel for a super villain. at the end of Infinity inc, she finds out that he has replaced Jack Kirby's Sandman in the dreaming and joins him there, likely because her mother Wonder Woman had been rebooted as had she. In this, they have to drop the complicated backstory and condense it to a couple of days. I respect that.
I am very sad, Vera! As a person who only met the Sandman universe through the series, I was perfectly happy with everything, but then you talked about that gripe with Lucifer and now I too am questioning that choice very much. I'm so glad this series was made, because I am not too much of a comics person and would have probably never known this fantastic story of many stories otherwise.
I'm Generation X. Although I LOVED the series, there's this tiny corner or my heart that belongs to the original Death. I've decided to think of her as "Gen X" Death and keep it moving. LOOOOVE this explanation. You're awesome. Keep that up.
Amazing essay, love your insight as a Sandman buff! The hell fight gave me very much Disney's Sword in the Stone;o) Mme Mim: "Did I say anything about purple dragons?" What I found odd about it is, that one usually sends their subordinates to do their bidding? Think it was for effect, like how they changed how Morpheus was freed... The wink by Alex Burgess' partner though? I usually like reimaginations (like intendants do with opera) more than reboots since there's still the original that doesn't need an update... Did you like Heather's the series after the cult classic and it's musical adaptation? What about genre mixes like Pride & Prejudice & Zombies?;o) Nutflux' great adaptation of (some of) Mark Millars work? And Gaiman's "Books of Magic" with more Constantine/Rose, Cain and Abel etc. High hopes for season 2, as long as they don't switch prod. like with American Gods!°° Cheers!
Regarding Alex’s punishment, Neil said they had filmed it and test audiences didn’t care and just wanted to see Morpheus go home. So either his punishment really is different or it’s the same thing and they just changed the wording so it wouldn’t need as much explanation. Also, regarding the fight with Lucifer, I think they changed it so his line about “what power would hell have if those imprisoned here could not dream of heaven?” would be a direct dig at Lucifer subconsciously wanting to return to the Silver City. And finally, I’d love to see your thoughts on the changes made to Calliope!
The only problem I had was with Constantine, not the fact that is was gender swapped, thats fine, no problem with that. The problem I have is with the accent, its London, Constantine is from Liverpool. Admittedly Matt Ryan in the TV series had his natural Welsh accent, but did a great job and deserved more than 1 season. As for Death the only thing I wanted was that they didn't gender swap that character, I felt it was important it was still a woman, still Morpheus' sister.
Thank you for this! I haven’t read the comics and just discovered your channel, so this video was a real treat. I get (intellectually) what you are saying about Lucifer, but I came to that episode for Gwendolyn Christie, and she delivered! So personally, I loved it the way it was and wouldn’t have changed a thing. (But again, o haven’t read the comics, so…)
I'd never read the comics but I loved the show. It was really truely amazing. I was particularly impressed with how well it balanced empathy and distain for both its heroes and villains. As for the Lucifer fight, I personally didn't feel like it diminished them all that much. It felt very much like weathering a storm. Just because you outsmarted a force of nature this once, doesn't mean it won't get you eventually. Also, I think it made Lucifer a little more of a sympathetic character. It's easiest to love a villain when they lose. In their struggle, they are the most like us.
Having not read the comics, my take on the Lucifer change is that coranzon (sorry if I mess up the spelling) is that its more of an "oh crap" moment for the audience because that was my reaction. If it was just some rando demon I'd be like oh well this will be an easy fight etc. However based on what your reasoning was for disliking the change I kind of agree. But overall I'm kinda neutral on knowing that was a change. Great video though. Learned a lot of interesting things about what they changed. My personal favourite episode was 24/7 mostly because of that change, that I obviously didn't know was a change, to the rosemary situation. And also I love a good one location episode. I also loved the ep with death of course. Anyway I now have to get around to listening to the audiobooks of vol. 1 and 2 because I've had them for quite a while but haven't listened to them yet.
There's an interview with Gaiman where he talks about Sandman and the wider DC Universe. He always intended his Sandman to be set in the DCU but found when he was trying to include characters like the Joker he couldn't because other writers were doing other things with them so he deliberately stopped using the (then) current roster of DC characters. When he wanted to bring in characters from the DCU and have them interact with Morpheus he would choose obscure golden- or silver-age characters who nobody else was using and therefore nobody else could step on his toes. As for the wholesale changes to characters like Constantine and Lucifer I think I agree that rights were somewhere in the back of that. A bit like how the MCU films have to dance around Mary-Jane and Aunt May because they don't have the rights to use the characters as conceieved by Lee and Ditko, so they can create broadly analagous characters who fill the same role in the story but aren't technically ever called Mary-Jane Watson or May Parker. I suspect that Netflix bought the rights to Sandman and Sandman-related characters and ONLY them. Cain and Abel (who predate Sandman and originally appeared in House of Secrets and House of Mystery) are there, but possibly because they're based on the biblical characters so DC can't actually trademark them.
I stopped reading Sandman with issue 5. It just wasn’t working for me, although some of that may have been Sam Keith’s art. But the series really took off, and the buzz just increased exponentially. I picked up a Sandman trade paperback - the ONLY Sandman tpb (helpfully titled “The Sandman”), which you can still buy under the name The Doll’s House. That book began with “The Sound of Her Wings,” and I was enchanted immediately. I have all the trade collections. I have the Audible adaptations. It’s fair to say I’ve come around since dropping the title way back when. I feel a slight bit of disappointment not seeing Mister Miracle & Martian Manhunter & other DC flourishes. Then again, seeing young Jed in a Garret Sandford Sandman outfit tickled me. By and large, this show is making smart choices. Kirby Baptiste-Howell proved that she could bring the essence of Death. I know the Internet went nuts , but those folks should have waited to see her bring the goods. The cast is for real.
I thought Netflix’s The Sandman was a surprisingly good adaptation. I still prefer the source material, the Audiobook from Audible and “DC Showcase: Death”, but still it was good as a show and as an adaptation. It was faithful for the most part (Considering the fact that Gaiman was part of this), the cinematography was beautiful, the soundtrack was pretty good, some special effects were pretty good (Others were really bad imo) and the majority of the actors did a nice job. My only big complaint is the camera format of the show. It looked too square for me. I don’t know how to explain this 😅 I’m kinda sad that this wasn’t a animated series instead tho. After watching that incredible Death animated short film (Which is amazing btw go check it out), it made me imagine how the entire story of The Sandman would’ve looked like if it was animated. That would’ve been super cool. Either way, i’m glad that we got this and i can’t wait for season 2 to come out 😊
I've never read the comics. I couldn't afford them. Naming Lucifer as the champion made perfect sense to me. It elevated the tension in an unexpected way and it absolutely escalated the rivalry between them. It was obvious Lucifer already hated Dream and this just cemented that such a trespass will not go unpunished. Who cares if he defeats a demon? Big deal. I've never heard of these demons. But Lucifer. I've heard of Lucifer. Dream defeats Lucifer, the former favorite angel and someone known for scheming, one of the most powerful being in the universe, quite publicly. It also showed great character growth for Dream as he had been coldly dismissive of Matthew the raven and it was Matthew's suggestion that gave him the answer to the riddle. It was a good scene.
I really enjoyed this adaptation. My biggest gripe is that visually the entirety looks too 'clean'. To illustrate what I mean look at Morpheus himself. In the comic he is a goodlooking person, but also a very creepy one at times: Unnaturally pale, eyeglow in certain panels, the ways the shadows fall. In the series he's... Quintessential Tumblr Sexyman basically. That's not a slam against the casting, which was excellent. But with the right lighting he could still have had that unnatural vibe. My favorite episode by far was 24/7. I'll watch anything with David Thewlis in it (and he tends to be the voice in my head when I'm reading), and he has this fantastic way of just being physically offputting and unsettling without looking physically intimidating.
Interesting that you focus on the greater prominence of Ethel Cripps. I'd all but overlooked the extra filling out of her, taking far greater note of how we got a full humanizing back story for Alex, and a more nuanced and human John D, whose evil now feels a lot less classic comic villain and a lot more complicated, if terrifyingly destructive, human being. One mechanical reason for greater focus on Ethel is that an entire side character is cut out of the story of Borges's cult and The Corinthian and Ethel expand to fill his necessary narrative functions. In the comics, Ethel leave Borges for Bill Sikes, who displaces much of Borges's power over The Order of Ancient Mysteries for a time until it dissolves into in-fighting. Knowing that Borges will take magic revenge, it is Sikes in this telling who steals dream's tools first, exchanging the helm for the eye necklace of protection from a demon. Then Ehel Leaves Sikes taking the magical items including the protective eye necklace. After losing it, Sikes explodes from the effects of all the accumulated curses Borges had tried to cast on him over the years. I rather like the realistic feel of the implosion of the Order including this power-necking between high-powered men, both of whom attach themselves to the beautiful political climber Ethel and both of whom abuse her until she outwits everyone swiping everything from the sidelines and getting out of a growing human mess. But there are so many interesting iterations of this abuse, imprisonment and escape theme that I guess the movie decided it couldn't get them all in.
If you listen to interviews with Gaiman (I think I heard it in the interviews for the tv show lucifer) he talks about how his imagine for lucifer is based on an androgenous person - David Bowie in his early years. I don't remember where I saw it but there was a video of Gwendoline Christie playing David Bowie and Gaiman really loved her interpretation, she was even considered to play lucifer in the tv show but they instead went for a more masculine dark haired actor for that (I am guessing to catch a larger viewing audience). Gwendoline Christie was kind of a shoo in for sandman.
I understand why they made Lucifer do the oldest game, though I agree it damaged the characterisation a little bit. I think it was basically to make the character more prominent and be part of the action a little more. But I think it was the wrong choice. I totally agree with you about the adaptation choices, as a fan of the graphic novels, all those choice were really great. And yeah, I think the Death episode was the best episode of the bunch.
I think at least a part of why they had Dream battle Lucifer instead of Choronzon, is so that, after establishing how powerful Lucifer is during the journey TO them, now Dream's success is called into question. People just watching this without comic-context, I don't think would worry. I mean, "who is THIS asshole who thinks he can stand a chance against Morpheus?" But against Lucifer.... NOW the fight is interesting; now his victory isn't certain. Edit: Also, if Lucifer is going to be a recurring character going forward, why would they set aside a chance for further characterization of them, to flesh out a character we'll never see again?
![[Live] : ONE 169 วันนี้!! "อนาโตลี vs อูมาร์"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/IK3YZVWuFJg/mqdefault.jpg)
I actually do like that they named Lucifer the champion during episode 4, mostly because it gives Christie more to do, gives Lucifer and Dream a direct confrontation that demonstrates their rivalry through action, and makes the humiliation of the loss directly on Lucifer. Plus the characterisation of Lucifer being unwilling to destroy hope during the game because they so not want to give up hope of returning to heaven is much more interesting characterisation than just Coronzon just not being able to think of something, because it recontextualises the "dream of heaven" line as more of a direct jab at Lucifer than just a general threat.
Exactly.
Also I think I read Neil's answer on Lucifer's pronouns somewhere. Lucifer when speaking about self says 'we' and 'us' and Dream speaking of or to Lucifer always says 'Lord Lucifer'.
@@katarinajanoskova I think I saw that as well, Neil was saying Lucifer used the "royal we", like a royalty.
I think humanizing Despair was a smart move. I absolutely understand the comics interpretation, where she is depicted as a horrific monstrosity. Because that very much IS a legitimate interpretation of despair. But despair is also something that is familiar and relatable, and which we can sometimes see and not even notice (in others, or even in ourselves).
Yeah, and the same time when she cassually stabs her cheek with her hook is more jarring and skin-crawling. Self harm looks worse, when we see it on someone that looks like real person than some cave troll lady
Making her look like a frumpy version of Fat Bastard from Austin Powers but just wearing crocs was dumb. So despair is having a glandular weight issue, donning a sweater and sporting comfortable footwear? Uh, no.
Someone noted that Despair is wearing Crocs. Yep, depressed millennial who hasn't left her apartment in months and has tucked herself into her most comfortable clothing.
Exactly. Also did you notice how when she is talking to Desire in the show she is hurting herself, cutting her cheek as a symbol of relief/excitation. I think the point is, in the comic they went with a monstrous undefined horrific metaphor for Despair and in the show they went with a psychological, unstable, ill and sad take for Despair.
Ja ich weiß es ist noch nicht ganz so weit weg von der 6vtfjchyRchgcjgcgs
Between Good Omens and Sandman, neil gaiman quickly is gaining a reputation as someone who is a really good person to adapt his own work to other mediums
Totally and they say that also American Goods Is an incredible adaptation
@@TheAndando American Gods was amazing, albeit, only for the first season. Then the season 1 showrunners left the show, then the quality totally went down hill.
@@Blue_Lunacy I don't know if you stuck around for season 3, but Gaiman actually got into the project directly and the season feels a lot like the first one again. I really hope they get to make a movie to finish this version of this story, if anything it deserves to be finished
@@daniellins4114 I did watched season 3. Personally, it was better than season 2 but not up to season 1 level. The hotel arc was nice. But the message of POC enduring felt rather patronising, especially after Anansi rousing speeches in both seasons. I dislike how Djinn break from Salim. But the extensive queer contents were nice.
I still wonder what could have happen if the Fuller and Green were able to stay.
I think the reason they went for Lucifer battling Dream directly is to save budget with the lower demon since he might be CGI or need a better makeup if they would do close-ups on his face, as well as give Lucifer more screen time so the audience can be familiar with them since it's a single episode and half of it is Dream going through Hell. It's a pretty valid criticism, but I think it still fits the character, just emphasing one aspect of them.
I agree and whether it was for budget or not, it would be pointless to add in another new character just for that, when existing characters can fill the role.
While I can say that it makes the ending of the Hell trip more jarring, frankly I was MUCH happier getting more of Satan's actor than I would have been if they'd kept more faithful. Especially with the medium change to tv/film, and how they played up the Game.
@@Farrindor Gwendoline Christie is really good.
It was most likely to give Gwendolyn more screentime
@@exquisitecorpse__ That's what Gaiman stated on his tumblr
Having Lucifer fight Morpheus made it seem like the whole thing was a trap from the get go, which to me succeeded in getting across Lucifer's wiliness and untrustworthiness. I mean, here they are, being perfectly polite to Dream, all the while planning for the showdown.
I loved it.
Jenna Coleman gave me way more genuine Constantine vibes than either of the two male live action Constantines ever did.
I think the Lucifer change is simply, well, if you have Gwendoline Christie playing Lucifer you're going to use her as much as possible.
I really liked the Lucifer duel because you get a lot of character stuff from it, and the power imbalance/ defeat I think is framed within the rules of the fight as being indicative of how the deities are bound by rules.
Also the characterisation of Lucifer was really interesting - they’re clever, calculating, and almost goading Dream into these larger scenarios throughout the duel to kill him.
Gwendoline Christie is so good in the role, she absolutely steals the scenes :)
Gwendolyn Cristie was absolutely amazing as Lucifer. Probably my favourite portrayal. Also we got to see her in armor again and that made me so damn happy!
I was also a skeptic, and it took a comic panel discussion to pique my interest, and even then, it took me a little bit longer to start watching the series. And while I was bracing myself for some of the more gory stories, I was pleasantly surprised and found that I wanted to watch more of it. I have not completely finished season one, but I plan to, soon. Skeptic no more, but cautiously taking in the adaptation while maintaining the original as a separate work of art. It’s a beautiful dance indeed!
This is a great analysis of the show. I actually prefer the Lucifer change, mostly because I like that they amp up the antagonism between Lucifer and Dream. I remember reading the comics and getting to Season of Mists and suddenly being an issue going to Hell because of Dream humiliating Lucifer and my reaction was "huh?". So I went back and read it and it was pretty much the line at the end, the " Why should we let you leave?" and then Lucifer swearing to destroy him. In my opinion, it plays better in the show. The champion switcharoo comes off from the beginning as a plan, a ploy to get Dream.
21:53 you forgot, he also killed his crow right in front of him, while the crow was trying its very best to free Dream. it was.... really shocking and unforgivable
I suspect the rationale for naming Lucifer as champion was as mundane as giving Gwendolyn Christie more to do. It didn't bother me but your critique makes sense.
This is my theory as well
Also as a fan of the lucifer show and not knowing the comic but that it was a loose adaption of this lucifer makes it to see them as a truely evil presence.
I saw more potential foreshadowing of how Lucifer's heart isn't into and thier close to leaving Helland that's why they lost.
I would also add that I think it's a consequence of hell no longer being a triumvirate (which makes sense within the context of contemporaneous DC comics, but would be weird to explain in the show).
When Choronzon was Beelzebub's vassal, Lucifer had no direct duty to them. Now that Choronzon is a direct servitor of the Morningstar, that would also hit a bit different.
And reaction videos from people who didn't read the comic have been fairly consistent in concluding that Lucifer set the whole trade up with the purpose of forcing the confrontation and trying to take the dreaming. Fobbing the competition off to an underling probably *wouldn't* have felt right to them.
My guess was just "who in hell would be expected to be good at a storytelling game if not the serpent-tongued ruler"
I actually liked the change with Lucifer for a few reasons.
1. First of all, I'll get the cynical one out of the way: if they had cast a bigger name as Choronzon, they probably would've kept it.
2. I like the impact of the ending conversation, I feel like it hits harder because it was a direct confrontation with Lucifer ("What power have Dreams in Hell?" "What would Hell be without those who dream of Heaven?" or whatever the line is: because Lucifer is probably the biggest dreamer in Hell)
3. Like the scene with Nada (from the comic), & the closing scene of the finale (created for the show), I feel like it was another (albeit more subtle) way of teasing the next big arc (if they get a second season): Season of Mists
I feel it did the necessary character work to lead into Season of Mists, which is definately coming.
I would add one more thing. Location. In the comics there is a sudden change of location... a slam poetry bar. A location change, like that is a budget increase. Also it would've been looked tacky on screen.
Another reason I liked the change to the original. In the original "hope" was a step that Dream knew he will close the game with. In the inner monologue he states that he already knows how Choronzon makes his moves and he suspects the endgame. This makes the HOPE answer as something Dream of the Endless doesn't really care about. In the show it was more a needed reveal and a character development step for the future events. And this loss for Lucifer makes their next step, "something I've never done before" a way better reason. I think.
Neil Gaiman answered a couple of the adaption questions over on Tumblr and he talked specifically about the Alex change. He said they filmed it both ways and tested it and found by the time they got to the end of Alex’s story, no one wanted to watch the time it took for the endless waking. So that’s why they adapted and made it the endless dreaming. I think it was a smart change very cognizant of how the medium changes reception.
This show has really made me appreciate what goes into adapting a story to a different medium. What works in comics doesn't necessarily work on screen, and vice versa. A comic can tell an entire story in a couple of panels that would take half an episode, or spend an entire issue on what amounts to a 10 minute scene.
Comics also have more leeway in telling a fragmented story while a tv show benefits from a more straightforward narrative. While you can pause and rewind an episode it's not quite the same as flipping back a few pages to remind you of what happened or a character's name or their relations for example.
Gaiman having written for both comics, books, tv and film is obviously aware of that.
I really liked the portrayal of Lucifer. It's been a long while since I've seen the comics, I didn't own them at that time. Only after watching the series (twice) that I recalled that the battle hadn't been with Choronzon. But Lucifer's acting was so stellar, it really sold the character as being all that angelical appearance and all the dark just beneath the patina. It made the character all the more powerful. And though you do have a point, in that it changed the meaning of the scene's ending, for me at least it made things more powerful, not weaker. Because, while Choronzon would have lost because he was just not as capable, I could see in Lucifer's face that they knew a possible answer, but they'd be loathe to play *that* card. Maybe, deep down, they can't give up hope, really, and the rage was that much greater because of that.
I remember being low-key disappointed with the casting of Lucifer, simply for the superficial reason that I *really* love the David Bowie-esque aesthetic the comics had for the character and was sad they were leaning away from it.
...then the show came out and Gwendoline Christie's INCREDIBLE performance made me feel bad for my initial reaction :D
I feel like Neil Gaiman has always been really good at changing up the story when any of his work is being adapted. In the earlier adaptations of his stories the changes were a bit smaller or not always his choices, but I feel like he always wants some things to be changed so that those who have read the originals have something to be surprised by. Having a writer who is so open to changes, or even encouraging them, is really refreshing!
I totally agree with you
Niel Gaiman is the anti-Alan Moore. 😂🤣
When John saved Rosemary, they managed to execute this change without undermining his character motivations or the next episode with that simple, yet effective, line saying that it would mean that she would never need to lie again.
I have trouble recalling a more loving adaptation than this one. It's been over 20 years since I read the comics, so I didn't remember the details of every story, but I found it beautiful, not just visually but in word and theme. I have the same favorite episode as you. Death was freaking perfect. She brought the same joy and compassion I saw in the comics, and she looked forking perfect as well. The Endless aren't even really meant to be any one race or even species (Dream of a Thousand Cats???), so I find it absolutely ridiculous that anyone with real understanding of the source material could have a problem with this casting decision.
It's not perfect but for me it's about as close as it can get, so I agree with your assessment.
The Sound Of Her Wings was the story that caught my attention in the bookstore, with Hope In Hell being the story that hooked me in and showed me this was something really special. Yet even though I knew who we were watching (Death) and what was going to happen, I still found myself getting pulled in and quite emotional about it. I have wondered how people who didn't know the source material reacted to that story. That moment when realisation sets in and then the gut punch of the baby. Also, never mind the cats, we see Dream change 'race' when he sees Nada. Their appearance depends on the viewer. The graphic novel Death is my Death and this Death is my Death.
As for the last part of your comment, those people lack any understanding of anything, not just the source material. The majority of them were that certain part of Twitter jumping on the bandwagon of all that 'woke, anti-woke' crap. Frankly, they're really pathetic.
Speaking of Dream of a Thousand Cats, did you see what Netflix released since then?
@@misterdoctor9693 Wasn't it wonderful?
The odd thing is, I remember Neil saying there were 11 episodes and that Dream Of A Thousand Cats was being adapted. When only 10 episodes dropped I thought it was odd, figured I was wrong and completely forgot about the cats story.
@@misterdoctor9693 Calliope?
I completely agree, Death was perfect casting and I couldn’t be happier
John's exploits in the Diner always read to me as this:
the ruby makes dreams come true. When John is speaking to Rosemary, he says that everybody is primarily selfish. He does not dream of an honest world, he dreams of a selfish one, albeit an honestly selfish one.
This is classic: liars assume everybody lies, cheaters that everybody cheats. Selfish people assume that everybody would be selfish, if they were being honest with themselves. John is an overgrown child who has had few experiences with selflessness, and we see a little bit when he's speaking to Rosemary that maybe if he'd had that perspective more, he might dream differently. But it's not near enough, and his experiences with his past/mother wins out.
The only thing that shook me when I watched this adaptation was how much I liked the Corinthian. It was so easy to hate him in the comics, but here I am all “why, yes, let’s make heart eyes at this nightmare.” 😂
Oh it was so uncomfortable how attractive he was 😂
As a die-hard fan of the comics, I also watched this with excitement/trepidation. It only took one episode for me to start gushing over it. Every faithful sendup and artful deviation had me squealing with glee. The casting was fantastic! Please, Netflix, give us another season. One more, at least!
While aware of the source material, I've never read it. I hadn't heard any buzz on the show at all and just took a shot in the dark in watching it. I loved it, for many of the reasons you stated here. It was also nice for you to share glimpses into the source material and compare....then tell us what that live adaptation did really well. This show was well done. Sadly enough, I don't think there will be any more, but I'd gladly watch this over and over and over again because there would be so many new things to pick up on upon each viewing! Thanks for an awesome video!
I watched Sandman with my wife. She's read the comics, I haven't yet. (I made a conscious choice not to when I heard about the release of this. It had been recommended to me and I decided this time to come at this with fresh eyes.)
We both loved it.
I was a little taken aback by the shift after 24/7. I didn't realize they were adapting two volumes, and that it would feel like two distinctive stories in one season. At first I had a hard time with that, and I would have had a much harder time with this issue if the Corinthian hadn't been a through-line. So from that perspective, without reading the comics, I'd say that was a smart change. I really enjoyed John Dee as a villain. His understated presentation contrasted with his lack of ability to grasp how the real world works. The portrayal of Death as a compassionate woman struck me as beautiful. It called to mind Death from Incarnations of Immortality (Yes, I know that Piers Anthony is a problematic person; no, that doesn't mean I hate everything he ever wrote. I just won't by his books anywhere but a secondhand shop) which introduced a Death that had compassion at the core. Desire had one hell of a screen presence. I could go on and on. I loved it.
I probably will read the comics now. I don't know that I want to really wait until a second season comes out.
Man Jenna Coleman looks so badass as Constantine. Makes me wanna see her in action like that, she'd be great I think
She's done so much variety already that I think she could play any role well.
There’s a ton of people wanting a Johanna spin-off…
@@benwalmisley5755 I'd watch her in anything so I'd be down for that.
@@benwalmisley5755 I’m one of them 😂
I felt the change in the battle Lucifer also probably had to do, in part, with Gwendoline being a bigger name and expanding her part. Also in part, that, if we get future seasons, there is more with Lucifer. Choronzon isn't really necessary for future seasons. My biggest qualm with Lucifer (because, like all geeks, I'm a pedant), was them using "I" instead of "we" several times. I don't think Lucifer talked in the singular until Season of Mists, after abdicating. And Dream remarks upon it when he notices he.
I’m reading the comics now and they are a totally different experience, because they are a different medium, and I love both!! I think the show really stands on its own. Everyone please keep streaming the show so we can have a season 2.🙏🏽 #renewsandman
While I agree with you about Lucifer coming off as a bit of a sore loser, I don't know about making them seem weaker. They called upon and embodied the anti-life, which is something very few beings can do in the comics without going mad, so the fact that they casually did it without breaking a sweat is op as fuck. But you do have to be a DC fan and know about the anti-life to be impressed so yeah lol
Also, Lucifer referred to themselves as "we" so they/them are the right pronouns I think :)
Then again, there’s also the ‘Royal We’ that Kings and Queens used all the time in place of gendered pronouns.
oh shit, taking into account that its DC, antilife just took on a whole new meaning
I do love the change to John Dee because in the comics its hard to empathise with him because he's a supervillain and a murderer and a creepy little zombie-man with some form of a messiah complex. But in the show he appears as just a sad old man so changing the reason he does what he does from him being a murderous sadist to being someone with clear mental health problems. If he looked the way he did in the comics they could get away with him being a monster but they didn't.
Also I think the reason they changed Despairs design is since they changed Dreams design and they didn't want Despair to be the only inhuman member of the Endless since Destiny, Death, Desire and the rest have always just looked like humans.
And the reason Funland got off easy in the comics is because though what he does is evil he himself isn't evil because he's clearly mentally ill and doesn't understand what he does is wrong. And later on in the book after Morpheus unmakes the Corinthian, he takes away the fantasy that the collectors are the heroes of their own story and so when Funland wakes he will understand the atrocities he's committed.
As for period piece. I don't think it would have been an adaptation issue, but it would have raised the budget even further.
Johanna Constantine gave me really strong Clara vibes (especially the moment when she says "What is the point of you?" to Morpheus). I like Clara, though, so I enjoyed the similar performance that Jenna Coleman gave.
especially with the aspect of the earlier constantine, it was extremely reminiscent of clara and her multiple incarnations
To me, she seemed like Clara when she was playing as the Doctor in "Flatline" when the Doctor was in the shrunken TARDIS. Except this time it was 'real'.
One thing to bear in mind, that I've heard but not confirmed, is that if Netflix decides not to continue at any point (not just now), it's in the contracts that Neil can take the work and let someone else continue it. Hopefully it's budget doesn't make it a no go area for the future, either at Netflix or anywhere else.
I really hope / wish that had been in the agreement when it came to American Gods.
My understanding is the adaptation was extremely well received and performing exceptionally well for the channel, but they were banking on it drawing people to extend their cable plans and increase the channel's overall viewership/audience which was a poor idea.
They originally released a statement saying they were postponing the next season (for a lot of Neil Gaiman fans including myself, that was actually the first that anybody had heard that the show existed - which also illustrates poor advertising on their part) and then finally admitted that they were not going to continue the project.
This may in fact be why he has that clause *now.*
Also considering the fact that people are still making references to Good Omens that have never read the book, I'm sure Prime would snatch that up instantly.
@@searchingfororion Yeah that was a real pity about American Gods, especially as (based on the graphic novel) there didn't seem to be much left to do. If only someone else could have taken it to finish it, just like with Lucifer as that worked out really well for them.
Not that it makes up for it but at least we're getting a Good Omens season 2 and Anansi Boys is in the works.
@@Elwaves2925 I did not know that he did a version of American Gods in graphic novel. That's really intriguing because in the book he is intentionally very vague about the old gods and you really have to know your mythology to identify which Pantheon and entities Shadow is working with.
As a fan of Ananzi Boys (it's kind of amazing how many people I've told about this that have been mind blown that he did a sequel) I'm trying to understand how you could do it without completing AG. Once again the novel itself does technically stand on its own but you miss **a lot** if you don't have the subtleties and the establishment from the first.
I thought that casting Kirby as Death was a great move, because they chose someone with such a friendly and compassionate face. It subverts expectations because Dream looks more like what you would expect Death to look like, which is demonstrated by Roderick Burgess thinking he had succeeded. When Dream tells Death that it was her that Roderick was looking for, I imaged how it might play out if he had actually summoned Death.
I made the mistake of watching this show with my dad. Neither of us knew anything about it going in and it was definitely too dark for him in places. The bits that got him the most (spoiler free) were the diner and cereal.
Reading the comics the diner scene made me feel uneasy I stopped reading them for a while. Was dreading seeing that episode
I think it's kind of cosmically funny that a lot of people made a big stink about Death in this show, and then episode 6 happens and basically everyone agrees it's an amazing episode. Kirby Howell-Baptiste absolutely killed it as Death.
This show was brilliant! I feel like some of the changes were due to Neil Gaiman being a more experienced writer than he was in the 80s/90s and maturing the work a bit more since he had the chance. I really hope they can do the rest of the story, as the cast and everything was perfect. I do agree about having Lucifer fight Dream instead of the demon was a bit off, but the fight itself and the visuals were really cool and a well done adaptation rather than having set at a comedy club which really wouldn't work.
Personally the change from choronzon to lucifer in the oldest game grew on me, mostly because it creates a more straight line from the events in preludes and nocturnes to seasons of mist. Lucifer gaining hope in this manner would make his role/action in season of mist a bit more personal for them. I think at least
I haven't had the chance for review the Sandman comics, but I was bored after work one night and decided to watch the first episode....
And I was absolutely entranced, enthralled and mesmerised by what I watched, and what I witnessed on my TV screen. The music, cinematography and visuals, the actors (especially Toms) absolute dedication to their characters.
Before I knew it I had watched the entire series in one sitting.
I now need to watch it again and pace myself to fully take it in even more
Why especially Tom's? He's a terrible casting of Morpheus, too young looking, not tall enough and is forcing this weird posh voice to somehow try to adapt the dark inverted speech bubbles in the comics which just strains the dialogue...
It's a shame Morpheus was a intimidating and foreboding Gothic presence who was quite cold and menacing at first, the narrative has to develop quite far to make him more relatable and for him to start relating to others.
What we have here is an emo pretty boy, not a dark and weathered goth icon. It's a shame frankly, they cast him to have generic appeal as a protagonist like the young dude from Dr Who after David Tennant or something which is a shame and a cope out given everything else is very well done enough that it would definitely carry a more nuanced and difficult to establish protagonist very well.
@@ericritchie6783
I mean fair enough that's your opinion, everyones got their own opinions and thoughts on the show of which i am respectful. But who would you have cast?
If you've seen his interviews then you'll see how much of a fan he is of the comic series and, personally I feel how he invisioned and portrayed Morpheus came across well.
@@AjarofNatella For me it would be someone who looks and comes across like the singer Mark Lanegan basically. That guy came so close to how I had Morpheus in my head, or perhaps he was just such an interesting guy that they met the same place in my head. Just died this year very sadly.
No its totally fair enough if you like Tom and I suppose there's a reason why they cast an actor that would have some kind of broad appeal, however I think it bares mentioning that in doing so they have created a somewhat different character and there's a slight bit of awkwardness, in my view, between what Tom's trying to do to portray the character he's a fan of himself and the reason he was actually cast. Then a slight bit of mis direction by whoever was working with him I feel.
They were getting better at framing him to look cool as the series went on, but he just didn't seem to settle on a solid way to deliver his dialogue I don't think. Seems to slip back and forth between what he's trying to "do" and a more natural voice/accent.
Would be better if they made him look and sound more ethereal also, like not always but sometimes should have had the pitch black eyes with stars inside and pale skin, then he could look more like himself other times in scenes where his just blending in. In the comics his silhouette and face were always slightly changing anyway "morphing" and occasionally depending on who was looking at him he just completely changes, sometimes into non humanoid forms ect. So yeah they could have at least had some effects on his eyes and voice sometimes in some scenes I think.
One pretty odd consequence of moving the story to 2022, which they never really acknowledge, is that Unity Kincaid is now presumably around 120 years old. Which, you know, isn't impossible, but still feels pretty unlikely to not at least get a line or two acknowledging it.
I didn't even think about Unity, but I was very confused about this with Alex and his husband, he looked about 10ish to me when Dream got captured.
I got the impression that her sleep slowed her aging, and that's how I rationalized it in my mind.
it's because she was desire's lover, being near the endless slows people's aging
Because she spent her dream life with Desire, and simply being near an Endless has many benefits including slower aging. That’s the same reason why Alex and Paul don’t look 100+.
@@luisab3079 in the show canon being near the endless or their tools increases mortals' lifespan
I've waited for your video on this ever since that tweet when Neil answered ;)
Glad you enjoyed it, i did too! Here's to hoping for another season (especially after we got the nice extra surprise)...
Maybe it's the catholic school education but Lucifer being defeated by hope hit like a brick for me. I actually really loved that extra undeniable oomph to the final exchange. It really mirrors Lucifer's war with God and now ruling hell as the losing side. Corazon was relatively forgettable as a demon. He's got pizzazz in the comics, but giving that feeling to his character without abusing cgi horrifically would have been hard and was pretty unneeded done this way.
I did love how they changed Despair's appearance as well because it matches the more human look of Dream as well as the points you made. It also left Desire as the least human compliant looking which is interesting when you think about how often desires are fantasies. It's an interesting parallel to the personal feelings each of the Endless so far show about the humans their realms serve. Otherwise I think I agreed about almost every point you made.
Loved this show, hope it gets a second season
Honestly I agree with...pretty much all you said. I love love LOVE the Sandman adaptation. I never read the comics since I'm not big on horror, but I did get the audiobook (since the same crew had adapted Neverwhere which is my favourite Adioplay maybe ever). And I never fully got through it. Especially because some things - that they deliberately adapted for today's audiences and the format - just really threw me off. The very explicit violence against women etc. And the pure self-indulgence in the 24/7 sequence, which with Doctor Destiny to me always felt like they made it fucked up just to be fucked up and nothing more. This toned down the violence significantly and gave John Dee so much more humanity and motivation. I was fully prepared to leave the show after episode 5 and instead it only pulled me in further. Also can we just aknowledge how perfect Tom Sturridge is as Dream?
First vid of yours I've seen. Loved it! Also my first thoughts on seeing you were, "Who are they? Is she single?" then you started analyzing the series. 10/10, would uhaul. :)
I was unfamiliar with the comic but i was fully in from episode one cus the imagery was so so so on point!!!! Stunning lighting and i love the characters, hoping for more seasons
That's a fair concern for an adaptation, I think. ~ I've seen the show, and enjoyed it, but not read the comics, didn't know they were a thing until after I saw the show. I honestly doubt I'll get a chance to experience them in the next year or two, so I'm unconcerned that way. ~ You would make a fantastic Desire. ;) ~ I loved seeing Gwendolyn Christie as Lucifer, so I didn't mind seeing her in the dual, but it did seem a bit odd to me, so thank you for that explanation. I rather fell in love with this show, and I love seeing/hearing about the changes made. And yes, I understood right away that Dream, the Endless, etc were not human, so I was totally unbothered by gender/race/etc as portrayed by them. I was even mostly unsurprised when Dream became a black man while dealing with (I can't remember her name), it makes sense to me that his personification would be perceived as the same race by whomever interacted with him. (Logistically that would be hell to do in human-based visual media, though.)
Oh I'm so glad to hear this. I've had Sandman recommended to me several times over the years, but the visual novel format doesn't work well for me (I can never parse what's going on - when I see videos analyzing scenes from them, I am constantly surprised by the things that people mention being implied by the framing and position of text bubbles and so on that I just completely do not get. I've read some good visual novels, and good manga and just bounced off them entirely because I miss half the subtext.)
And sadly so many adaptations fall flat, at least in western media. (Anime tends to do a pretty solid job of adapting manga, up until the point when it runs out of story because the anime releases faster than the manga does and suddenly veers off into filler, but western media is far more likely to miss the mark.) Glad to hear this one is an exception!
It was so bad I'm now embarrassed to tell people that I like Sandman, because they'll think I'm the kind of person who obsesses over campy sanctimonious mid-range Netflix fantasy series
I've seen the show and am making my way through the comics. I'm only on the first arch still. Everyone was saying the Dream is a bigger asshole in the comics and maybe he is later but so far, I think he's a little bit nicer? Except for what he did to Alex. That's the only exception. He seems more compassionate towards the dreamers he's looking after. He saves Constantine from the the falling dream, he gets that league of justice guy out of his missing name nightmare and wishes him luck finding it, he sits down and has a full conversation with Dee to try appeal to him for longer then in the show, he seems more distraught by all the nightmares going on in 24 hours, he doesn't even do anything unspeakably horrible to Dee. He actually treats Dee with a lot of patience and kindness and personally escorts him back to Arkem. That's not a small list of nice things.
It's interesting that Nada's story comes at the time it does in the comic as it aaaaah..... implies some really dark stuff. Like they way we interpret myths in a modern sense (combined with the way the comic invites us to image how the women would tell the story) implies that Nada may not have consented to the sex they had. That was my impression anyway. This is the only other example of true asshole-ery that comic-dream out does show-dream. But the comic also heavily implies that the version told isn't the real story. Maybe the women's side is a sweeping and grande romance rather then a tragedy.
The thing he does to Alex is definitely a dick move, as the kids say. I think they made Alex's punishment more reasonable because they didn't want their protagonist to do something so cruel in the first episode. Save the cat and all that.
Edit: I have more to say about Nada. I really liked that chapter of the comic. Seeing her in hell for the first time, comic and show, naturally makes you wonder what she did to deserve it. I think the Corinthian says something to Lucienne that the wayward dreams only came back out of fear of what Dream would do to them of they didn't. That colored my take on Nadas begging. It made me feel she was just saying anything to try and escape. That is not to say AT ALL that I think she deserves the punishment she got. I think any reasonable person would agree she didn't do anything wrong. Dream on the other hand did everything wrong. At least they way the comic tells it. I'm making a list.
Things Dream did right:
-went for a walk
-????
Things Dream did wrong:
-didnt respect Nada's withdrawal of interest. Like she said no dude. No means NO!
-stalked her
-made her go to increasingly desperate lengths to GET AWAY FROM HIM to the point of mutilating herself.
-do I need to keep going
-yes I do
-Nada didn't give him permission to touch her
-still didn't take no for an answer even after she was freaking dead
-blamed Nada for his hurt feely-weelies
-had her sent to hell for 10,000 years +
Like I said above I'm very suspicious of this story but holly shit dude. Ha ha. I'm guessing this will probably come up again. This is all in contrast to the Calliope story which I've only seen the show version of. Dream was quite respectful there. Very odd. Can't wait to read more.
Edit edit: I have even more to say. This chapter is rotting my brain. There are parts of the story that imply the chase was a dream like Nada being able to transform into a deer when she otherwise has no magic. And Dream healing her body though this hasn't been shown as a thing he can do before (couldn't save Rachel from the sand for example). But the city distraction did apparently happen in the waking world as the glass in the desert shows there was something there. The heart shaped piece definitely means Desire was involved.
One last thing, Nada couldn't have really consented to marrying Dream with the threat of hell hanging over her so if she had said yes it would be meaningless. And she still refused. Like what a Queen 👑💖👑💖 she's way too good for Dream. Anyway, I think that's all my thoughts out. Thanks for reading.
I think it's a bit of a shame that they decided not to put in Alex's punishment of eternal waking. To me it shows dream at his most unforgiving and vengeful, which really helps us to feel how that reactive fury changes in him, by degrees, over time in the comics. Then, when Alex is only freed when dream himself is reincarnated into a completely cleansed self Alex is at last released almost accidentally as part of that wider shift, which I think has a lot of weight as a completion of dream's maturation and re-imagining of himself, his role and his relationships.
Can’t believe I didn’t find your channel until recently. It’s so good! Thank you for all the awesome content!
I also really liked the way the series updated some of the things from the comics that maybe didn’t age well. The Sandman always struck me as a very progressive story, and as our ideas of how to be progressive/inclusive have evolved, it’s exciting that the story has been updated to reflect those evolutions.
Ironically I just finished watching Episode 10 of this series. It's so good 👍
Make sure to catch the bonus episode, unless you saw that first. It features two (more) fantastic stories.
Though I have not read the comics myself, from the comparisons you made to the character of Despair, I like the choices they made for the show. To me, the way Despair looks, they way they move, the way they talk, to me, came off as someone who has lost hope and has fallen into despair (which could have been a way for Lucifer to beat Dream in their game). Heck, from my perspective, I could see that version of Despair as someone who once had hope and slowly lost it. So, that compared to the few depictions of Despair you showed from the comics, the show one looks much better. At least to me.
I thought overall the show was great. Really solid. But 'She spreads her wings' might be the best episode of TV I've seen this year. An absolutely stellar standout.
I said this to my friends on Discord, but I was quite happy/delighted by this series, though I have little attachment to the comics (I might've seen bits and pieces but never properly read Gaiman's Sandman). Much as I love Matt Ryan's version from the Constantine series (and subsequently "Arrowverse" shows), I quite appreciated this version of Constantine (the "proper" pronunciation of the name bugs me a bit, but that's just because of what I'm used to and I don't begrudge them that), same with the different Lucifer.
One of my biggest issues with the series is a minor format issue: the episode with Death & Hob is very obviously 2 separate stories smashed into one episode. I feel they'd've been better off actually splitting the episodes into 2 short ones rather than 1 normal length, but it's fairly minor (and quite immaterial for those who are binging the series, I suppose). I typed that before I saw your discussion about the episode, but I maintain my stance on it: I still think it should be two episodes, just back-to-back (which would be such a minor change to the way the episode works). Oddly enough, I didn't have the same issue with the bonus episode, but I think that's partly because the cats story works as a strong allegorical opening of a different style, very well divided by the opening title, which is slightly earlier than the transition between stories in the other episode.
I’ve never read the comics, and the previews to this also turned me off. It was only coz a housemate invited me to watch that I did. Absolutely loved it. I adored Dream’s micro expressions, his development over episodes, and his growing softer treatment of his subjects. The cinematography was beautiful, and there are particular shots and angles I saw and thought “I bet that is straight from the comic. I want to read the comic and see if I can find it”. I adored The Corinthian. His ongoing sinister presence connecting story did a lot to keep me engaged… and very worried about who he was interacting with. Death was beautiful, and I would like to Cosplay her. I didn’t know characters like John D, Matthew, Hector and Lyra or even John Constantine were crossover characters, and it makes sense that changes would have to be made. With Joanna Constantine I found it odd how her last name was pronounced, but thought it may be a British vs USA thing?
Dream and Hob’s episode was my favourite. So many warm and fuzzy feelings by the end of that. It made me so happy.
Gault’s transformation and the introduction of Goldie (and the absorption of Gregory) made me cry.
The Cerial convention was hilarious to me as a concept. After watching Mindhunter and how in conversation with a serial killer it is mentioned that there was hundreds if not thousands of them in USA, a yearly convention under everyone’s noses, where they discuss methods made me giggle.
I am looking forward ti more of this show, and to reading the comics.
About fun land, I didn't think that he was supposed to be "freed from responsibility" in some way in the comics. I thought that his dream scene was supposed to show his perspective, yeah, but that that's *supposed* to be disturbing and disgusting. But I'm happy with what they did in the tv adaptation. I think that if the massage wasn't clear enough in the comics, maybe the perspective gimmick wasn't worth it.
Also, I think that the changes with Lucifer were to make them look *less* petty in the last episode
For the Eternal Waking/Sleeping thing, I also thought it was going too far in the moment it was happening in the comics. But then Dream goes to his sister Death and talks to her about it, saying he killed the son because he wanted vengeance (and the person who wanted vengeance on wasn't in reach anymore because he was dead) but he feels kinda bad about it. I thought this was an important characterization of Dream - he can be impulsive and even cruel, but he does care about people and is capable of turning around, of feeling guilty about his behavior. Considering he spends most of his confrontation with John Dee begging him to consider the consequences his abuse of Dream's ruby is having on humans, and his confrontation with Desire about humans not being the Eternals' playthings, the big climaxes of the stories tend to involve him caring, but we don't see the cruelty all that much.
Which makes his behavior toward Queen Nada pretty jarring, where he dragged her to Hell because she rejected him even though the Gods literally gave her no choice... until you remember the Eternal Waking and realize, yeah, he does do this kind of stuff. But also, eventually Death calls him out on this particular injustice and he admits she's right that he went to far and goes to free Nada.
I only now stumbled across this video as it was recommended after viewing your excellent videos about the allegations against Gaiman and the podcast that made them known. I apologise as this is going to be a long comment, but honestly, I don't feel that to date there has been a forum that feels right to share all my thoughts, and this for the reasons above does for me. I've been a huge fan of the books for over twenty years now and while I enjoyed the series, I also felt very frustrated by it. More so as time has gone by and I've begun to think about the work not just as an adaptation, but also as an insight into Gaiman himself. It feels filtered and homogenised in a way that I couldn't put my finger on at first, but now, it is clearer to me that certain things were removed from the story because of how they reflect on Gaiman's own words and behaviours.
I had some issues with the casting, though none to do with race or gender, and more to do with how the characters are portrayed in the larger cosmology of the series and how some members of the cast felt like calculated attempts to address critiques made of Gaiman's work in other mediums. I think the casting of Dream, Death, Desire, Roderick Burgess, and John Dee are all wonderful, but really disliked how Lucifer, John Constantine, and especially Matthew the Raven are depicted/translated into the series. Without going into it in detail, a lot of it had to do with the power dynamics in the books, with character agency, and with how certain groups of characters interacted with each other on page versus on screen. Most of those changes felt unnecessary and seemed occur either for rights reasons (apparently John Constantine couldn't be used and neither could some of the other Vertigo characters that appeared in other titles) or because Gaiman didn't think they would "resonate with current audiences".
Likewise, while there are some nice moments that feel faithfully pulled from the book, there is a lot that is altered in terms of aesthetics, characterisation, and narrative that makes the series feel very tonally inconsistent for me in a way that the books brilliantly avoid. Instead of feeling like a masterful exploration of genre as the books do, it feels a bit like a muddled mess, where you don't have all these gorgeous colours and tones coming together and subtly transition from one hue to the next, but where they're all mixed into the same muddy grey. Additionally, as someone who was alive then and loved the comics, films, and music of the era, I found that by updating the setting from the '80s and '90s to the 2020s, the series strips away a lot of the thematic depth and aesthetic darkness that I love about the books and kind of renders the gothic modern fantasy setting banal and textureless. It also cuts some of the most tragic incidents of what the world without Dream is like in all the intervening years of atrocities and you lose so much of that historical flavour. Those historical sequences are compressed and they fail to capture the distinct zeitgeist of the periods they depict in the way that the books do and this makes the whole series feel less epic as a result.
Lastly, I think the more haunting and disturbing parts of the narrative that make it so memorable have also been watered down... and in light of the allegations against Gaiman, I kind of wish they hadn't. Thematically, his work keeps exploring cults and religion, generational trauma, unreliable narrators and the tampering of memories distorting identity, people being in a constant state of transformation and not being who they at first appear, questions about control versus consent, and of course the role of the storyteller in the story they themselves are telling. In hindsight, these recurring themes are far more autobiographical than I think any of us as readers were aware at the time, and maybe even more autobiographical than even Gaiman himself intended. I do think downplaying much of this is to a degree a form of sanitisation at Gaiman's behest because he knew that the recent allegations were going to come out and that people would be rereading his work in light of them from a different context.
I just finished watching the series and came here to watch your video. I have never read the comics so I had no expectations, and it’s fun to hear you point out the adaptive choices. I had the exact reaction you mention at the end of, I think episode 4 when John gives Rosemary the amulet and just lets her go, and I just felt sorry for John and all he went through. Then I was horrified and morbidly fascinated by 24/7, and then it gets followed by The Sound of Her Wings, which was my favorite. I really enjoyed the series and really hope it gets a second season. I really liked the actor playing Morpheus, didn’t think I would at first, but he conveys a lot with little facial expression and that’s not easy. Glad to see you enjoyed this so much, it’s fun when something exceeds your expectations.
I read up to volume 9 of the comics about 8 years ago, and I don't remember much, but I wanna say a couple of things:
1) I loved how Gaiman portrayed Death in the comics, and I adore how she was adapted to the small screen. I cried then, and I cried now. She's the most human of her siblings, not because she wanted to, but because she had to be. She's a cool chick, and I hope that I get ferried away in a similar fashion when my time comes.
2) You didn't mention these in your review, but the last episode chronicling the short side stories of "Dream of a thousand cats" and "Calliope" were a treat to have at the end of the episode list. A thousand cats was beautifully animated, reminiscent of the comic's visual style, and Calliope helps flesh out that Dream did, at one point, desire more than his position. Calliope humanizes him, and creates another facet for us as the viewer to latch on to.
3) As you noted in the review, some characters were genderswapped for reasons. This has produced some really awesome queer representation, and it's wonderful to see it on screen and not swept to the side. These characters have full arcs under them, and I'm living for it.
4) Can we please take a moment to admire the cinematography in this show? Honestly, the use of light and shadows and artistic positioning are downright stunning. The first episode with Dream locked in his glass cage? Beautiful.
Agreed with everything you presented in this video. I absolutely reviled the marketing for this Netflix adaptation and kept my distance from it initially. Thankfully, I have a couple of close friends who immediately urged me to give the series a try, both of whom are not familiar with the original graphic novels. Watching it myself, I was swept up and reminded why I cherished Gaiman's Sandman. The show absolutely nailed the tone, themes and character portrayals. Changes made were smart and deliberate to better the story. Found myself constantly nodding along to all of your points and opinions during the video; great review.
I wasn't familiar with the Sandman more than few names I picked up. I've watched the Lucifer series (I liked it) but this I love! Since I didn't know anything about these characters they were all perfect casting wise, but hearing you talk about them vs the comics and changes made, I agree. It was a very clever adaptation. I loved the pacing, the british accents and the way every word was articulated, lighting, colors. I pray this won't be another Tales from the loop, I want more. The sound of her wings killed me. In a good way.
Excellent video! I agree with your assessment of Lucifer vs Morpheus. I also wonder if the decision regarding Constantine had a lot to do with the fact that he appears in the Arrow series as well as two series of his own. I think there was a danger of the character being overused in television and movie franchises. I also loved the way the Corinthian was woven throughout the story lines, making him an integral part of the overall arc rather than an isolated "also ran" arc of his own. And finally, I found it masterful how the Cereal Convention participants, who just wandered off as a small army of sad characters disabused of their self-images in the comics, suffered much lass ambiguous fates. That ties off that arc very nicely.
Stopping your review until I've finished the season. Just hearing that you enjoyed it and that it's faithful to those comics I grew up with is enough for me right now. Thank you so much!
Just finished the season last night, although I still need to watch the bonus episode. I agree with your praises. As for changing the duel to include Lucifer directly… for now, I’m fine with it. I really liked Christie’s performance, so I enjoyed seeing her get a more active role in the confrontation. Does it diminish her as a threat? Hmmm…maybe, but I’m going to withhold judgement on that until I see how they adapt “Season of Mists” next season (fingers-crossed).
I think they introduced the change with Lucifer in order to have a direct confrontation, this intellectual and spiritual duel between the two deities, Dream and Lucifer, directly. It makes the duel more exciting and dangerous than a duel with a lower demon, it allows to expand the character and the presence of Lucifer in the series, and it sets up the rivalry between the two deities and kingdoms. At the same time, it did not make me feel that Lucifer is any less dangerous. In particular because after the defeat Lucifer looks as if they did not just have a duel but rather had a spa day. Lucifer does not really beak a sweat. For them this duel seems like just a drop in the ocean of many other victories and losses over millennia. And that makes the character even more grandios and terrifying for me. But I do agree that, at the same time, it may come across as petty, as being a sore loser
I think Eve's limited role in the comics was co-opted by the new Lucien. She is Matthew's confidante and other person besides Dream that Matthew considers a superior.
Ill be honest, it was tumblrs rambling about and gifs of Lucifer that made me finally watch the show
So probably a smart choice (aside from the actual good analysis others dropped in the comments)
I really enjoyed watching Sandman but I've never read the comics, so it's really interesting to hear about what they changed/whats the same and how well adapted it actually is, what a great video!!
Sandman was one of the first graphic novels I ever read and the first one I faithfully collected. I was so so nervous before the series, as well. lol I'm very happy, too.
Good analysis! I was also disappointed by the Hell episode, but mostly because they didn't seem to have the budget to really sell it. The comics had a field full of strange, grotesque demons, where the show had like a stadium full of an indistinct mass of people. It felt a lot less impressive. Still, I overall loved the show too, and thought they did a great job adapting and modernizing it. Hoping for an S2 as well! Season of Mists was a great book, and A Game of You could 100% do with the same modernizing attention.
I loved the adaptation! Thanks for this analysis of the changes and what worked/didn't for you. Now I've got to see if you've reacted to Good Omens!
Same here, I am looking for a video talking about Good Omens
@@TheAndando it exists already! th-cam.com/video/H0sHUk-92pY/w-d-xo.html
I think visual appearance matter. Some characters can't be changed without consequences. Death's image in the source material is iconic af. Now I can't fully buy into her.
While I read the comic years ago, I remembered very little about them and adored the show.
I cry every time I watch Death's scenes. They truly picked the best actress for the role, and she exudes the kindness and compassion that is integral to Death of the Endless and she looked great doing it.
The John scenes were the tensest for me, even though he didn't kill Rosemary. I had no idea the entire time if he would, but knowing that he so easily could AND could justify it as a moral act was enough to have me on edge. It also made 24/7 hit harder, as I had to pause that episode several times just due to the tension.
On Lucifer, I think it was done for Dream to have a stronger adversary than just some demon, and to show Dream's ultimate strength. The scene just feels bigger when it's him against the ruler of Hell, imo.
Absolutely on point with the theme of this video, I clicked on this video prepared to be bored and not liking your content and I wound up loving your insight and discussion. Well done! New subscriber.
While I didn't mind the change in the duel being with Lucifer, I hated Mathew's little pep talk before the end. In the comics Dream directs the game in the direction he does to take advantage of a blind spot in his opponent that he deduced several turns before it happened.
I also love being skeptical, and being wrong.
I had not read the comic books, so it was all new to me. Actually, kind of glad I had no preconceived ideas about what it would be, but I can see the fun in comparing and contrasting the comic books with the series. I also hope there is a second season!
I am a long time watcher and I always enjoy your insight. I agree 100% with your opinions on THE SANDMAN as far as it being a master class of adapation. I loved it all. I will disagree with you on the Lucifer point though. I am thinking the creative team said, "We got Gwendolyn Christie as Lucifer. Lets use her more." Plus if you haven't read the comics and you are a casual viewer, you may wonder to yourself why they didn't use her/him in that scene. Why did they leave something so epic as that battle to DREAM and a random Demon instead of the Devil? Plus, it drives home the point that Dream embarrassed Lucifer on their own turf by winning that battle which sets up Lucifer's revenge in hopefully season 2 adapation of SEASONS OF MISTS...crosses fingers for season 2.
Exactly! The Sandman was just beautiful, Neil Is awesome adapting his work! I hope someday we can see a video of yours talking about Good Omens
the hector and lyta stuff was interesting for a number of reasons. Lyta did lose Hector in the comics, he was murdered by a reincarnation of the priest who killed his parents and his body was used as the vessel for a super villain. at the end of Infinity inc, she finds out that he has replaced Jack Kirby's Sandman in the dreaming and joins him there, likely because her mother Wonder Woman had been rebooted as had she. In this, they have to drop the complicated backstory and condense it to a couple of days. I respect that.
This show was amazing! I hope Netflix pulls their heads out of their asses and greenlights season 2. Gaiman is a master!
I am very sad, Vera! As a person who only met the Sandman universe through the series, I was perfectly happy with everything, but then you talked about that gripe with Lucifer and now I too am questioning that choice very much. I'm so glad this series was made, because I am not too much of a comics person and would have probably never known this fantastic story of many stories otherwise.
I'm Generation X. Although I LOVED the series, there's this tiny corner or my heart that belongs to the original Death. I've decided to think of her as "Gen X" Death and keep it moving. LOOOOVE this explanation. You're awesome. Keep that up.
Amazing essay, love your insight as a Sandman buff!
The hell fight gave me very much Disney's Sword in the Stone;o) Mme Mim: "Did I say anything about purple dragons?" What I found odd about it is, that one usually sends their subordinates to do their bidding? Think it was for effect, like how they changed how Morpheus was freed... The wink by Alex Burgess' partner though?
I usually like reimaginations (like intendants do with opera) more than reboots since there's still the original that doesn't need an update... Did you like Heather's the series after the cult classic and it's musical adaptation? What about genre mixes like Pride & Prejudice & Zombies?;o) Nutflux' great adaptation of (some of) Mark Millars work? And Gaiman's "Books of Magic" with more Constantine/Rose, Cain and Abel etc.
High hopes for season 2, as long as they don't switch prod. like with American Gods!°° Cheers!
Regarding Alex’s punishment, Neil said they had filmed it and test audiences didn’t care and just wanted to see Morpheus go home. So either his punishment really is different or it’s the same thing and they just changed the wording so it wouldn’t need as much explanation.
Also, regarding the fight with Lucifer, I think they changed it so his line about “what power would hell have if those imprisoned here could not dream of heaven?” would be a direct dig at Lucifer subconsciously wanting to return to the Silver City.
And finally, I’d love to see your thoughts on the changes made to Calliope!
The only problem I had was with Constantine, not the fact that is was gender swapped, thats fine, no problem with that. The problem I have is with the accent, its London, Constantine is from Liverpool. Admittedly Matt Ryan in the TV series had his natural Welsh accent, but did a great job and deserved more than 1 season. As for Death the only thing I wanted was that they didn't gender swap that character, I felt it was important it was still a woman, still Morpheus' sister.
Thank you for this! I haven’t read the comics and just discovered your channel, so this video was a real treat.
I get (intellectually) what you are saying about Lucifer, but I came to that episode for Gwendolyn Christie, and she delivered! So personally, I loved it the way it was and wouldn’t have changed a thing. (But again, o haven’t read the comics, so…)
You have a really good point about Lucifer. It's nice to see from your perspective
I'd never read the comics but I loved the show. It was really truely amazing. I was particularly impressed with how well it balanced empathy and distain for both its heroes and villains.
As for the Lucifer fight, I personally didn't feel like it diminished them all that much. It felt very much like weathering a storm. Just because you outsmarted a force of nature this once, doesn't mean it won't get you eventually. Also, I think it made Lucifer a little more of a sympathetic character. It's easiest to love a villain when they lose. In their struggle, they are the most like us.
Having not read the comics, my take on the Lucifer change is that coranzon (sorry if I mess up the spelling) is that its more of an "oh crap" moment for the audience because that was my reaction. If it was just some rando demon I'd be like oh well this will be an easy fight etc. However based on what your reasoning was for disliking the change I kind of agree. But overall I'm kinda neutral on knowing that was a change. Great video though. Learned a lot of interesting things about what they changed. My personal favourite episode was 24/7 mostly because of that change, that I obviously didn't know was a change, to the rosemary situation. And also I love a good one location episode. I also loved the ep with death of course. Anyway I now have to get around to listening to the audiobooks of vol. 1 and 2 because I've had them for quite a while but haven't listened to them yet.
There's an interview with Gaiman where he talks about Sandman and the wider DC Universe. He always intended his Sandman to be set in the DCU but found when he was trying to include characters like the Joker he couldn't because other writers were doing other things with them so he deliberately stopped using the (then) current roster of DC characters. When he wanted to bring in characters from the DCU and have them interact with Morpheus he would choose obscure golden- or silver-age characters who nobody else was using and therefore nobody else could step on his toes.
As for the wholesale changes to characters like Constantine and Lucifer I think I agree that rights were somewhere in the back of that. A bit like how the MCU films have to dance around Mary-Jane and Aunt May because they don't have the rights to use the characters as conceieved by Lee and Ditko, so they can create broadly analagous characters who fill the same role in the story but aren't technically ever called Mary-Jane Watson or May Parker. I suspect that Netflix bought the rights to Sandman and Sandman-related characters and ONLY them. Cain and Abel (who predate Sandman and originally appeared in House of Secrets and House of Mystery) are there, but possibly because they're based on the biblical characters so DC can't actually trademark them.
I stopped reading Sandman with issue 5. It just wasn’t working for me, although some of that may have been Sam Keith’s art. But the series really took off, and the buzz just increased exponentially. I picked up a Sandman trade paperback - the ONLY Sandman tpb (helpfully titled “The Sandman”), which you can still buy under the name The Doll’s House. That book began with “The Sound of Her Wings,” and I was enchanted immediately. I have all the trade collections. I have the Audible adaptations. It’s fair to say I’ve come around since dropping the title way back when. I feel a slight bit of disappointment not seeing Mister Miracle & Martian Manhunter & other DC flourishes. Then again, seeing young Jed in a Garret Sandford Sandman outfit tickled me. By and large, this show is making smart choices. Kirby Baptiste-Howell proved that she could bring the essence of Death. I know the Internet went nuts , but those folks should have waited to see her bring the goods. The cast is for real.
I thought Netflix’s The Sandman was a surprisingly good adaptation. I still prefer the source material, the Audiobook from Audible and “DC Showcase: Death”, but still it was good as a show and as an adaptation.
It was faithful for the most part (Considering the fact that Gaiman was part of this), the cinematography was beautiful, the soundtrack was pretty good, some special effects were pretty good (Others were really bad imo) and the majority of the actors did a nice job. My only big complaint is the camera format of the show. It looked too square for me. I don’t know how to explain this 😅
I’m kinda sad that this wasn’t a animated series instead tho. After watching that incredible Death animated short film (Which is amazing btw go check it out), it made me imagine how the entire story of The Sandman would’ve looked like if it was animated. That would’ve been super cool.
Either way, i’m glad that we got this and i can’t wait for season 2 to come out 😊
I've never read the comics. I couldn't afford them. Naming Lucifer as the champion made perfect sense to me. It elevated the tension in an unexpected way and it absolutely escalated the rivalry between them. It was obvious Lucifer already hated Dream and this just cemented that such a trespass will not go unpunished. Who cares if he defeats a demon? Big deal. I've never heard of these demons. But Lucifer. I've heard of Lucifer. Dream defeats Lucifer, the former favorite angel and someone known for scheming, one of the most powerful being in the universe, quite publicly. It also showed great character growth for Dream as he had been coldly dismissive of Matthew the raven and it was Matthew's suggestion that gave him the answer to the riddle. It was a good scene.
I really enjoyed this adaptation. My biggest gripe is that visually the entirety looks too 'clean'. To illustrate what I mean look at Morpheus himself. In the comic he is a goodlooking person, but also a very creepy one at times: Unnaturally pale, eyeglow in certain panels, the ways the shadows fall. In the series he's... Quintessential Tumblr Sexyman basically. That's not a slam against the casting, which was excellent. But with the right lighting he could still have had that unnatural vibe.
My favorite episode by far was 24/7. I'll watch anything with David Thewlis in it (and he tends to be the voice in my head when I'm reading), and he has this fantastic way of just being physically offputting and unsettling without looking physically intimidating.
I loved the Hob episode very much.
Interesting that you focus on the greater prominence of Ethel Cripps. I'd all but overlooked the extra filling out of her, taking far greater note of how we got a full humanizing back story for Alex, and a more nuanced and human John D, whose evil now feels a lot less classic comic villain and a lot more complicated, if terrifyingly destructive, human being. One mechanical reason for greater focus on Ethel is that an entire side character is cut out of the story of Borges's cult and The Corinthian and Ethel expand to fill his necessary narrative functions. In the comics, Ethel leave Borges for Bill Sikes, who displaces much of Borges's power over The Order of Ancient Mysteries for a time until it dissolves into in-fighting. Knowing that Borges will take magic revenge, it is Sikes in this telling who steals dream's tools first, exchanging the helm for the eye necklace of protection from a demon. Then Ehel Leaves Sikes taking the magical items including the protective eye necklace. After losing it, Sikes explodes from the effects of all the accumulated curses Borges had tried to cast on him over the years. I rather like the realistic feel of the implosion of the Order including this power-necking between high-powered men, both of whom attach themselves to the beautiful political climber Ethel and both of whom abuse her until she outwits everyone swiping everything from the sidelines and getting out of a growing human mess. But there are so many interesting iterations of this abuse, imprisonment and escape theme that I guess the movie decided it couldn't get them all in.
If you listen to interviews with Gaiman (I think I heard it in the interviews for the tv show lucifer) he talks about how his imagine for lucifer is based on an androgenous person - David Bowie in his early years. I don't remember where I saw it but there was a video of Gwendoline Christie playing David Bowie and Gaiman really loved her interpretation, she was even considered to play lucifer in the tv show but they instead went for a more masculine dark haired actor for that (I am guessing to catch a larger viewing audience). Gwendoline Christie was kind of a shoo in for sandman.
I understand why they made Lucifer do the oldest game, though I agree it damaged the characterisation a little bit.
I think it was basically to make the character more prominent and be part of the action a little more. But I think it was the wrong choice.
I totally agree with you about the adaptation choices, as a fan of the graphic novels, all those choice were really great. And yeah, I think the Death episode was the best episode of the bunch.
I don't yet know your channel. Instantly subscribed. Everything you pointed out is sensibly explained and perfectly agreeable.
I think at least a part of why they had Dream battle Lucifer instead of Choronzon, is so that, after establishing how powerful Lucifer is during the journey TO them, now Dream's success is called into question. People just watching this without comic-context, I don't think would worry. I mean, "who is THIS asshole who thinks he can stand a chance against Morpheus?" But against Lucifer.... NOW the fight is interesting; now his victory isn't certain.
Edit: Also, if Lucifer is going to be a recurring character going forward, why would they set aside a chance for further characterization of them, to flesh out a character we'll never see again?