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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 20, 2022 13:52:16 GMT -5
I'm glad Dream of a Thousand Cats was animated instead of featuring CGI animals.
As for Calliope... Wow. The best episode to date. This series has a very promising future if season 1 is any indication; one that may bring the property even greater mainstream appeal than it already has. I could see it becoming as big a thing as Game of Thrones.
With a better ending, as it's already wtitten!
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 21, 2022 0:37:39 GMT -5
Haven't been able to watch the bonus yet; but, I finished the season set. Overall I am very pleased with the adaptation and my earlier reservations were largely knee-jerk reactions to clips out of context. Sturridge grew on me, especially as he became more natural and less affected. The heart of the material is there, which is something I worried about, going back to when I first heard that Sandman had been optioned for film, a long time ago. I had trouble seeing Hollywood doing Gaiman justice (such as what Stardust turned into, compared to the book). I still lament that visually it can't compare to the comics; but, then again, they are different media. Comics allow you to linger and absorb; film and television have to hit you with an image and move on to the next, never stopping long enough for things to catch up.
Vivienne Acheampong was given more in those last couple of episodes and improved my view of Lucienne, as a character. The only real issue is not with the material, but my familiarity with it. The series can't really surprise me, with the narrative; but, the performances capture the flavor, which makes it a delight.
The "Cereal Convention" was just as sickening and disturbing as in the comics, though it belies the fact that serial killers are predominantly male, as they try to have representation in the drama. Of course, it is a story where they get their just desserts, at the end. Still, the idea of a collective of them and even fans reminds me far too much of the people who frequented the True Crime section, at B&N. We had far too many books that seemed to treat serial killers and vicious criminals as celebrities and not monsters and even at best, it seemed like a voyeurism.
I was hoping to watch "A Dream of a Thousand Cats" tonight, with my fur-bearin' critters by my side; but, circumstances prevent it, just now. We'll try tomorrow. Thought, these guys pretty much rule their world.
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 21, 2022 0:56:38 GMT -5
ps I only just now realized I had been watching Tom Sturridge on Irma Vep!
I've been doing a lot of "Where have I seen them before?" and being surprised when I find the answers. For instance, the actor who played Barnaby, Jed's foster father. I knew I had seen the eyes and face before. Turns out it was New Tricks, playing Alun Armstrong's son. Nimrod was another, which turned out to be in Sharpe's Rifles. Mr Holdaway, Unity Kincaid's solicitor, I knew the face but couldn't place it. It was The Bank Job.
I was glancing at the cast and see that many of the cat voices are comedians, who have appeared on things like QI and The Last Leg.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2022 1:35:57 GMT -5
I'm glad Dream of a Thousand Cats was animated instead of featuring CGI animals. As for Calliope... Wow. The best episode to date. This series has a very promising future if season 1 is any indication; one that may bring the property even greater mainstream appeal than it already has. I could see it becoming as big a thing as Game of Thrones. With a better ending, as it's already wtitten! Gaiman has stated that Netflix has not given any indication yet they are interested in a season 2, as the series is incredibly expensive to make, and even with all the success it has had on initial release it might not be enough to justify to Netflix suits to greenlight a season 2. They are looking at not how many people watched the initial episodes, but how many have watched the entire thing and how many rewatches it is getting to gauge ongoing interest not just curiosity look in. -M |
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Post by Dizzy D on Aug 21, 2022 2:50:36 GMT -5
Between Netflix tendency to cancel things after either 1 or 3 seasons, Amazon recent cancellation of a program, because while the viewing numbers were good, those viewers were not buying enough on Amazon and HBO/Discovery just outright removing a lot of their material, I'm very depressed on streaming services and our limited ability to influence them. I was glad that we were able to give some feedback to this series at least.
To add to mrp: On another forum I visit (Penny Arcade), one of the members works for Netflix and he has stated the viewing figures so far have not been amazing so I hope those pick up.
I've been rereading Overture by the way (mostly because the rest of the series I've reread often so I remember those clearly, while Overture I could hardly remember) and a few pages in and I see that several of the scenes and dialogue in that have been directly used in the Netflix adaption.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 21, 2022 7:24:47 GMT -5
I'm glad Dream of a Thousand Cats was animated instead of featuring CGI animals. As for Calliope... Wow. The best episode to date. This series has a very promising future if season 1 is any indication; one that may bring the property even greater mainstream appeal than it already has. I could see it becoming as big a thing as Game of Thrones. With a better ending, as it's already wtitten! Gaiman has stated that Netflix has not given any indication yet they are interested in a season 2, as the series is incredibly expensive to make, and even with all the success it has had on initial release it might not be enough to justify to Netflix suits to greenlight a season 2. They are looking at not how many people watched the initial episodes, but how many have watched the entire thing and how many rewatches it is getting to gauge ongoing interest not just curiosity look in. -M That's a shame. Netflix really needs more A-list material like this. I'd be sorry to see the service confine itself to the role of street corner video store with five cassettes of known films and a ton of knock-offs produced by The Asylum. (Because while a good part of Netflix' original catalog is all right, very little of it is must-see TV). Here's hoping the eventual numbers help convince it that it's got gold on its hands. |
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Post by commond on Aug 21, 2022 8:25:26 GMT -5
I like the show, but I think it has some serious flaws as a TV series. If I were a casual viewer, I would be confused as heck by the structure of the show. First, it seems like The Corinthian is going to be the main antagonist, then the focus shifts to the Thewlis character, then a whole host of new characters are introduced with the Doll House arc. If this were a weekly TV show and you missed an episode or two, you'd be confused at heck. The main character isn't an active protagonist and is in the background much of the time, and he's not only unrelatable, he's actually kind of an asshole. I wonder if they made a mistake trying to adapt two trade paperbacks into a single series. I understand that it might have been difficult to stretch Preludes & Nocturnes into an entire season, and their aim was to adapt the series in its entirety, which would require being greenlit for more series than Netflix is willing to produce, but perhaps it would have been better to have been less faithful with the adaptation. I can't recall any successful Netflix shows where a story finishes halfway through the season and another storyline begins. I don't think the cliffhangers are strong enough, either. The entire reason people binge watch Netflix shows is because the cliffhangers leave them wanting to see the next episode. I don't get a strong urge to immediately watch the next episode. I did really like the way they adapted the Hob story. That may have been the highlight of the show so far.
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Post by The Captain on Aug 21, 2022 18:31:06 GMT -5
If this were a weekly TV show and you missed an episode or two, you'd be confused at heck. I understand the sentiment, but is this really a valid concern in 2022? Between On-Demand Streaming and DVRs, is there any way to “miss an episode” and not be able to watch it before moving forward? My daughters are mid-teens and have NO concept of television watching without being able to record, pause, rewind, or watch whenever they want as many times as they want. Case in point. My younger daughter watches every D+ Marvel show the day it drops with us as a family, and then she rewatches it the next day with subtitles on to catch any dialogue she missed. She doesn’t know anything but that kind of accessibility and flexibility to her viewing. |
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Post by commond on Aug 21, 2022 19:42:06 GMT -5
It may be less of an issue in the streaming age, especially with the content dumps that Netflix does, but not everyone finishes a series within a week. I'm constantly receiving e-mails from Netflix reminding me to finish a series. There could, theoretically, be a large number of people who started The Sandman but haven't finished it. I suppose rather than missing an episode or two, these people haven't watched the show for a few weeks and may have forgotten the plot details. I'm not sure that The Sandman is the most plot friendly show around. Modern TV audiences are used to ensemble dramas where each character has their own season storyline. A typical episode of the show will cut between the main storyline and each of the subplots. The Sandman kind of does this, but it introduces a lot of characters who are only featured in a single episode, and has stretches where characters don't appear. It also has an odd structure adapted from the comic book where The Sandman isn't the central protagonist but rather an observer or a bystander. In the Doll House arc, Rose Walker is the central protagonist and Dream is a secondary character with his own subplot. Characters like Lucifer, Death and Hob only appear once. Other characters like Cain and Abel don't serve much of a purpose. I doubt that's a problem for fans of the comic, or viewers who don't need a rigidly imposed structure to enjoy television shows, but I'm thinking more along the lines of the average viewer.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 21, 2022 20:19:28 GMT -5
I get what you're saying, but I don't think that's how people consume media anymore. The majority of people DO finish the series in a week, or less. My kids would never, ever even consider doing anything but watching a show from beginning to end.. never out of order or a random episode, and very often finishing one they don't like just in case it gets good. or at least the season. Nor do they watch more than one show at a time very often.
It sounds like you watch different things on different days, as in the 'old' days where you had to do so because there was no other choice.. I think VERY few people do that these days.
In fact, I think that's why movies are struggling these days... I mean, how different is a movie to a netflix series that drops all at once? It might be a bit longer (or not).. the movies might have a bigger budget (or not).. but there's not a huge difference.. he 'series' just has more content, and feels more 'meaningful'. A normal movie not connected to something like the MCU feels like it doesn't count.
It would be a real shame if they don't at least get to do season of mists.
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Post by commond on Aug 21, 2022 21:00:49 GMT -5
I generally watch an episode a day of whatever show I'm watching, but there are a bunch of shows I watch infrequently. I guess it's an indicator of how much I enjoy a show, but I very rarely binge watch. Perhaps that's a sign of my age, but I feel like I'm not the only one who watches shows at their own pace. My co-worker and I were constantly having to keep Stranger Things and Better Call Saul spoilers from each other because we were watching it at different paces. He would stay up late watching back-to-back episodes of Stranger Things, but wouldn't watch the latest episode of Better Call Saul for days because his partner wasn't interested in it. The real question, though, is whether The Sandman does enough to make people want to watch the next episode, and ultimately, finish the series.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2022 17:16:19 GMT -5
 -M |
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Post by codystarbuck on Aug 22, 2022 21:16:55 GMT -5
-M This cartoon appeared in Comics Scene, , back in the early 90s.....  |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Aug 22, 2022 21:41:09 GMT -5
finished up the last 3 episodes... good stuff.. I very nicely done adaptation. My wife (who is a big Gaiman fan, but not much of a comic fan) liked it alot and wants to see more, but had no interest in the comic... take that for what you will.
I actually think the story could be just as good without the high budget special effects.. I'd rather see that then them not continuing the story.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Aug 23, 2022 6:04:55 GMT -5
finished up the last 3 episodes... good stuff.. I very nicely done adaptation. My wife (who is a big Gaiman fan, but not much of a comic fan) liked it alot and wants to see more, but had no interest in the comic... take that for what you will. I actually think the story could be just as good without the high budget special effects.. I'd rather see that then them not continuing the story. Agreed. My favourite episode was Calliope, which was also pretty light on special effects. (Or at least it seemed to be. For all I know it was all shot in front of a green screen!) |
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