The Sandman – Spoiler Thread

Topic

Ok so I have seen the first episode.

The thread title warns of spoilers but I expect most have read Sandman (apart from Jon maybe) and this is pretty faithful to issue one of the comic – which I skim read again on DC Infinite to compare. There are a few minor changes but a lot is lifted straight from the page with some panel recreations like the image of the captured Sandman from the original splash page, this works well as they don’t slavishly follow it but grab bits that work.

This is definitely a show where they have taken a lot of care, unlike Jupiter’s Legacy it doesn’t look at all cheap. It’s very stylishly directed and shot. The casting is very good albeit a lot of the characters featured in this one, like Charles Dance, won’t come back.

There is an element of ‘tell don’t show’ to early Vertigo and that means there are little bits of clunkiness to it being adapted, they do use voiceover although fairly limited. My suspicion is, since the adaptation is pretty faithful, this’ll come and go depending on the story being told.

For viewers coming in cold they won’t get bored, there’s a lot of story for the running time (unlike JL again which moved at a snail’s pace) but I do wonder if the lack of a consistent POV character could be a problem. Admittedly it never did the books any harm and they still sell by the bucketload but it is unusual for a TV show.

Anyway I enjoyed it and will be watching the next one when it drop officially on Netflix tomorrow.

Replies

Oh, it absolutely is. It’s maybe the one episode in which they significantly added to the story, compared to the books. This is the kind of thing they should’ve done in general, expanding on the story and taking more time to tell it.

Jon wrote:

Can’t see how the diner episode ain’t better than the comicbook as well, because that episode was REALLY good.

It’s different, the comic emphasises the horror and does a better job in getting across how long they’ve been there (it’s called 24 Hours), each hour being counted and them deteriorating gradually.

The thing the TV episode does better is flesh each individual character out first so you care more about what happens to them specifically rather than just the overall terror of Dee messing with them sadistically.

Also whoever came up with the bit where he just gets the tub of ice cream and sits at the counter was very clever. It’s a great mix of the mundane and what he’s doing.

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Chris-S

https://deadline.com/2022/09/the-sandman-storms-nielsen-streaming-chart-uncharted-rises-netflix-1235112012/

Ending a stretch of almost three months when Stranger Things was No. 1 or No. 2, The Sandman knocked it down to third place for the week of August 8 to 14. Nielsen said the fantasy drama series won the week with almost 1.4 billion minutes of viewing.

After finishing No. 4 in the previous week, The Sandman added about 300 million minutes of watching.

Nielsen’s rankings count viewing only via a TV screen for HBO Max, Apple TV+, Disney+, Netflix, Hulu and Prime Video. Results are delivered after about one month’s delay.

I don’t know if that means anything, but generally speaking, Sandman seems to have had good viewership numbers. It doesn’t feel like it’s become the kind of phenomenon that Stranger Things is, but hopefully it’s doing solidly enough that we’ll get another season.

Speaking of which: if there’s another season, I’d hope they restrict it to doing Seasons of Mist and the rest of Dream Country, and not put two major storylines together again.

Hm… this is fun. Here’s what I would put into another Sandman season:

Ep 1: Start off with Facade (from Dream Country) – tell that story in one episode, then use the second half of it for prologue (the meeting of The Endless that starts Seasons of Mist).

Ep 2: The first issue of SoM. There’s a lot going on in that issue, including Morpheus visiting Lyta. You can extend scenes depicting everyday life in hell as well as the dreaming, showing the characters of that world some more before and after getting the news that Morpheus is going away again and possibly not coming back. Then you have Cain’s interaction with Lucifer, which should be great, and Lucifer preparing for Morpheus’ visit. Should easily fill an entire episode really.

Ep 3: Second issue of SoM. Now this is just Morpheus and Lucifer waxing philosophical in hell, but again I think it works best if the episode ends with the twist of Lucifer giving Dream the key to hell. There’s a lot of opportunities to expand here, though – bringing back Chorizon for example. Have Dream travel through hell a bit more.

Ep 4: Again, the 3rd issue should be a whole episode. This one is easy to expand because it introduces all of the gods, demons and other creatures coming to the Dreaming. This has to be its own episode, and a long one, in which all those beings are properly characterised.

Ep 5: I’d use issue 5 for this one – in the book, this is where the Dead Boy Detectives interlude comes, but I’d push that back a little. This one is where things really take off, with the gods showing Morpheus what they’re willing to offer and all that, and it ends with Morpheus having to make his decision.

Ep 6: Now this is where you do the Dead Boy Detectives interlude. They get an episode to themselves, obviously.

Ep 7: This is issue 6. Again, quite a lot happens in this issue – it’s Morpheus just giving the key away and everything that comes with that. Should easily be a whole episode, flesh out the conflict (especially between those petty gods, maybe have some fights and slaughter between them) before Dream solves the whole issue in the most unexpected way.

Ep 8: The Epilogue. Wrapping everything up should also make for an entire episode. There’s the new status quo in hell, Morpheus making up with Nada, Nuala handed over, Lucifer on Earth… lots of stuff, is what I’m saying.

Ep 9: Thermidor. This is from Fables & Reflections, the one with Joanna Constantine. Because it’s time we see Coleman again (as long as people remember her), and also because it’s a jolly exciting story by itself. Make it a spy caper, give it an entire episode, too.

Ep 10: Midsummer Night’s Dream (from Dream Country). Shakespeare was already introduced, so this should be in season 2, as well. And it’s a nice playful episode to end the season on. Also one that should be its own episode, but it should probably end on a stinger for the next season – Martin Tenbones entering the waking world, is what I would do. And Lucien observing it worriedly.
(Alternatively, combine Midsummer Night’s Dream with The Hunt (the Roma story) as one episode in Ep9 and end the whole thing on Thermidor as Ep10, and put the stinger for Game of You there.)

Christian wrote:

Ep 10: Midsummer Night’s Dream

This is probably the story I’m most keen to see, if they get a second season.

The have not used the story from issue 9 yet. I guess that is quite important ans will be told before Dream goes to hell.

(The one about how Dream and Nada met and fell in love etc.)

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Christian

Yes they did skip it. I would assume so Season of Mists flows better without having to remember a story from the previous TV season.

If they get the chance Gaiman has said in his ideal vision the various short stories in things like the Death minis and Endless Nights would be slotted in where they would work best rather than in the publication order.

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Christian

Season 2 is greenlit!

https://deadline.com/2022/11/the-sandman-season-two-netflix-dc-comics-1235161722/

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Ben, Tobias Radesäter, Chris D, Christian, Todd, Uncle Retrospective, lorcan_nagle, Dave, garjones

Very glad we’ll at least get to Season of Mists adapted. Looking forward to seeing Delirium pop up. I have pretty high hopes for season 2.

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Ben, Sean Robinson

I really enjoyed the adaptation, I think most (but not all) of Gaiman’s little changes were narrative improvements.

I think the problem is that having re-read the series a year or so back the genius of it is in the whole. That from issue/ episode 2 they are foreshadowing what happens right at the end of the story and it fits together better than you thought.

I want a Bezos with money to burn to commit to run it to the end.

In the absence of that I’d actually be fine if that meant they compromised on all the physical sets they built and used the cheaper LED wall tech instead. I know people deep into this stuff obsess that a pot plant in the corner of a scene in Obi-Wan reveals they were using digital backgrounds but I don’t really notice or care.

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Chris D, Ben

Chris D wrote:

Very glad we’ll at least get to Season of Mists adapted

I wonder if season 2 will already go to Game of You. If they keep up the speed, it should, but I’d rather they spread it out a little more now, do more of the one-shots and fill the season with Seasons of Mist, which is a story of great scope after all. But we will see, I suppose.

Happy to see it continue, I really liked – and loved parts of – season 1 and hopefully they’ll have learned from season 1 and make this one even stronger.

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Dave, Ben

Yep. Hoping for more stories like the mid-season episodes (and the bonus episode) and less like the first couple and last four eps of S1.

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Christian

I wonder if they’ll do facade. It’s maybe my favourite story from that period of Sandman, but you’d have to do a hell of a lot of setup to explain who the central character is, and it doesn’t really make sense without a superhero background, which the show hasn’t been doing.

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Dave