Thoughts before Sandman is released on TV

[andrewducker]

I first encountered Sandman with, I think, issues 8-12 in a cardboard box in a second-hand bookshop in Medway somewhere. I don't remember which bookshop it was, as it wasn't one I was in often. It was the summer of 1990, and I then set about buying all of the back issues and the several issues which had been produced since, as collections weren't something that was reliably produced for comics, and even when they were they were frequently released out of order. Comics, at that point, rarely produced a single coherent story for many issues, and it wasn perfectly normal to just fine to dip in and out of things, and be able to read things in whatever order you fancied.

All of which is to say that I've been a massive fan for 32 years now.

There have been fan-casting discussions since I first discussed comics online (first on the Monochrome bulletin board, and then on the Rec.Arts.Comics hierarchy), although I never took part in them myself. I did keep tabs on various terrible attempts to make it in the past (in 1998 there was a script which made Morpheus into Lucifer's brother. There was a producer who tried to insist on a fight with a giant mechanical spider, which then ended up in Wild Wild West.) It seemed unlikely, to me, that there could be a *good* adaptation of Sandman into a movie. And, frankly, given the levels of CGI at the time, I think I was right. Also, the chances of any writer compressing 75 issues of comic book into a movie seemed rather unlikely to me. I'm glad none of those got made.

But now they're making a TV series of it. And the level of CGI available today is frankly amazing. And they're putting 18 episodes of the comic into the first series, which means four seasons if they want to get through all of the main story, which feels about right. And Neil Gaiman is heavily involved. There's clearly no barrier to making the best possible Sandman adaptation.

So why am I nervous?

I'm nervous because I'm not actually sure that a great comic book translates into a great TV show, or a great movie, or a great novel, or a great computer album, or a great roleplaying game, any other medium. Things are what they are, and dialogue that works for one may sound awful in another. What works in imagination may not work well when you see it, and vice versa. This is why I've not enjoyed any adaptations of Terry Pratchett, with the exception of Troll Bridge, which doesn't feel like any of the other adaptations.

And so I'm worried not that they'll do a bad job, but that the best possible job will still not produce something great, and that I will be disappointed and left flat by it. I really hope I'm not.

Comments

[danieldwilliam]

I have enjoyed the Umbrella Academy adapation on Netflix but I have never read the comics on which it is based so I've no idea how faithful / good / direct an adaptation they are.

I also sort of enjoyed the Sin City films which were IIRC a frame by frame adaptation of the comics - and very deliberatly so.

The less said about 300 which is the only other comic adapation I'm aware of as film adapted from a comic the better.

I think most of the Marvel and DC films and series are inspired by rather than adapations of the comics.

[channelpenguin]

I recall I liked Sandman as a comic. I didn't like the series trailer at all. I'm not terribly tempted.

I liked the book "American Gods" but not so much the series. So the Gaiman hit-rate isn't looking so great ... except that the Good Omens series was GREAT... hmmm...

I loved Watchmen as a comic - and I thought the film was a pretty decent effort. V for Vendetta I didn't much like the film (it wasn't dreadful) , loved the comic. Sin City I didn't like either comic or the film (the 15-20 mins of it that I watched). Though my BF likes the film versions of both V for Vendetta AND Sin City.

I loved Tank Girl as a comic, as I recall not the film. Liked Judge Dredd as comic, did not like any film attempts (though again, the BF likes the most recent film).

It seems mixed / personal?

[simont]

What works in imagination may not work well when you see it

Mmmm. The classic phenomenon is that when a text-only book is adapted to TV, you had already formed your own mental images of the characters / locations / spaceships / whatever, and are disappointed when the ones on screen don't look like yours (unless they manage to be even cooler). And this is more or less unavoidable, because everyone will have formed different mental images, and the single visual representation in the TV version can't match everybody's.

But with a story that was already graphical, we'll all be starting from basically the same idea of what everything in it looks like. So at least we'll all agree on whether it's the same or not.

(On the other hand, since we know at least one character is going to look completely different, there will still be plenty of scope for debate over whether the different parts are better or worse...)

[f4f3]

The first place I start with adaptions is the reply given by (probably) James M Cain when asked if he wasn't angry about what Hollywood had done to his novels - apparently he pointed at his bookshelf and said "Hollywood has done nothing to my novels - there they are on the shelf, same as ever".

So I'll try to remember whenever something about the Sandman adaption annoys me that I still have the story there on my shelves. Absolutely, actually.

There are two movie adaptions of comics that I enjoyed totally, without finding enough small twinges to amount to a paid. The first Michael Keaton "Batman", the first Avengers movie (with the caveat that it wasn't a direct adaption, more a smooshing up of the Ultimate comics and existing MCU continuity). Both left me dancing out of the cinema with the feeling that they'd done it right. There are other comic book movies I've enjoyed more, but none that I thought were more faithful.

I am looking forward to Sandman (I have a link to watch the first episode early, on my laptop, but I don't think I"ll use it). I'll try to adopt, as far as I can, the inscription on Lady Constantine's grave, lifted from Mathew Prior by Mr Gaiman: “Be to her virtues very kind, Be to her faults a little blind.”

[mellowtigger]

I quite enjoyed the 3 seasons of American Gods. (I wish, though, they had managed to keep the same actors and staff throughout for consistency. And that they properly closed off the story instead of merely being canceled.) I suspect Sandman will be good too.

[radiantfracture]

Oo, this is a great idea -- if I may emulate your idea, I think I'll also post my Sandman history, preparatory to Friday.

[mme_n_b]

I can't wait for Sandman because I never read the comics. I read every book by Gaiman multiple times in different editions, but comics? Too difficult for me. I read the Norse Myths and the Ballads and the Stardust graphic novel but that's as much graphic as I can take. By every sign I know Sandman should be a thing I'd love and the way it's written is just Chaucer to me, which is very frustrating. I'm going to binge out for all those years I kept trying to read it and just. could. not.

[i_kender]

Well, I share your deep love and fannishness for the original material (although I think I started a little later than 1990 by a year or three, and caught up) but not your trepidation. Everything I've seen and heard so far sounds promising. It may well be a bit different, yes... any adaptation from one medium to another has to be, slavish adaptations don't usually work well... but I'm excited and hopeful that it will be good, compelling, and watchable.

I actually went along to peek at the premiere crowds on Wednesday and stood outside the BFI to catch glimpses (and photos) of the cast and crew.

Also, early reviews are dropping already. Here's the Guardian's: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/aug/05/the-sandman-review-neil-gaiman-has-created-2022s-single-greatest-hour-of-tv-drama