Neverwhere

Technically this is not an adaptation, the Neverwhere tv show was the original, with the book and graphic novel coming after. Neverwhere is an ambitious urban fantasy series set in London – or more accurately London Above and London Below. London Above is the London that we know and London Below is sort of mirror image of that London, with magic, angels and supernatural beings of all kinds. Successful executive Richard Mayhew stumbles across a young woman in the street, Door, injured. He takes her in and after she leaves finds himself immersed in the world of London Below, the people of London Above are barely able to see him and even his best friend and fiancé don’t know who he is. Worst of all he has attracted the attention of Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemaar who are looking for Door. There had never been a show like Neverwhere, let alone one in the 90s on British television, it is a fascinating and thrilling show and while it does look dated it is still brilliant. It’s worth pointing the fantastic cast who many have gone on to great things like Laura Fraser (Door) in Breaking Bad, Peter Capaldi (Islington) The Thick Of It, Doctor Who, Clive Russell (Mr Vandemar) Game of Thrones. Speaking of Mr Vandemar, he and his partner Mr Croup deserve particular plaudits for just how menacing they are.

Stardust

Stardust is a sensational high-fantasy film starring Charlie Cox, Clare Danes and Michelle Pfeiffer. It is packed with stars like Robert De Niro and Peter O’Toole taking on small roles, as well as cult figures like Adam Buxton and Dexter Fletcher. Another work where there is the normal world and a fantastical world, after a star is knocked out of the heavens Tristan Thorne pledges to retrieve it for the love of his life, but as it has landed in the fantastical world his journey is not simple. To Tristan’s great surprise the star is a woman, Yvaine, and he intends to present her to his love and then help her home. But for various complicated reasons they are pursued by witches, princes and more. The film is actually very different to the source material, the book has less of a narrative, and more of a collection of a number of European fairy tales that are moulded into one story. The book has a somewhat less happy ending and throughout is darker in tone.

Coraline

Speaking of dark tones…Coraline is a fantastic animated children’s film that is one of the darkest, most nightmare-inducing things in existence. The film is about a girl called Coraline (Dakota Fanning), whose family move to a new house, she is bored, has no friends in the area and gets quite cross with her mother and annoyed with her father. Coraline finds a door to an alternate world where everything is more fun and magical – everyone has time for her, there are fantastical machines and lovely things happen. There are duplicates of the people around her, in particular, her Other Mother (Terri Hatcher), seemingly identical in appearance to her mother but with buttons for eyes. Suffice to say this other world is not the wonderful place it initially appears to be and is genuinely terrifying. I have read the book, many years ago, and so am less confident in talking about how successful it is adapting the book, but regardless, it is a great film.

The Sandman

As I have just written an article on The Sandman I refer you to that article.

Good Omens

Both the book and tv show Good Omens make a great case for the human race and the wonder of being alive. The TV show is concerned with the coming apocalypse when Heaven and Hell will fight it out for ultimate power. A demon named Crowley (David Tennant) is charged with bringing the antichrist to a hospital and swapping babies so the antichrist winds up in a prominent and powerful family. But due to some misunderstandings, the antichrist is taken by a pleasant and ordinary English family. It turns out that Crowley rather likes Earth, as does his angelic friend, Aziraphale (Michael Sheen), and they hatch a plan to prevent the apocalypse. Good Omens is a fantastic show and at times is exceptionally moving. It contains the greatest example of joy I have ever seen on film – that being Aziraphale dancing – and is bursting with ideas, from the prophetic witch Agnes Nutter who is unerringly accurate, and her descendant the wonderfully named Anathema Device, to the Witchfinder Sergeant Shadwell. Much is focused on the actual antichrist, Adam, as his powers begin to manifest as he plays with his friends. The book is by Neil Gaiman and the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett and is even more wonderful than the show.

How To Talk To Girls at Parties

An adaptation I haven’t seen based on a short story I haven’t read but was very badly received at the time and has made little cultural impact. The book was critically very successful and received several awards.

American Gods

Realistically it would take the whole article to do justice to the scope of American Gods, but as briefly as possible it is about a coming war between the old gods and the new gods. The olds are Odin, Zeus, Baba Yaga, old religions that few, if any, actually still believe in. As their belief has waned so has their power. They will fight the new gods, the gods of media, of cars, of technology, of government power, who are as personified as the old gods. The actual plot revolves around Shadow (Ricky Whittle), an ex-con who is recruited by Mr. Wednesday (Ian McShane), a small-time hustler and conman (and in fact is Odin), to act as bodyguard and general assistant. Shadow is slowly brought into this peculiar world and the coming war. As well as gods there’s an unstoppable undead woman, leprechauns and all manner of mythical, mystical and magic beings. Watching the Amazon Prime tv show I was struck by just how close they often stuck to the book as I had already drawn up a list of the weirder things that would be cut from a television show.

Anansi Boys

The filming for this show has finished but we still have some time to wait for Anansi Boys on Amazon Prime. The book focuses on two brothers Charlie Nancy and Spider, sons of the trickster spider god Anansi. Charlie leads a perfectly normal life, seemingly devoid of any powers, whereas Spider is a demi-god, the death of their father brings the brothers back together. Charlie is not really aware of his divine nature, burying details of his life in his unconscious so he can get on with life. Unfortunately, Anansi had powerful enemies and with the spider-god’s death, they come looking for revenge on his sons.

Also Read: The Sandman: The Unfilmmable Graphic Novel Comes To Netflix

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The Plot

The main character is Dream, one of the Endless (akin to gods), who has responsibility over dreams. A pale, dour and very gothic figure Dream travels to Earth from his own realm to hunt down a creature escaped from nightmares but whilst on Earth he is trapped by a magic ritual gone wrong. In Dream’s absence his realm goes to ruin and people become sick from his absence, being unable to sleep at all or never waking up. When Dream finally escapes he goes on a mission to rebuild his realm and reclaim the powerful items that were stolen from him.

Behind The Scenes

The driving force behind the show is the triumvirate of Neil Gaiman, David S. Goyer and showrunner Allen Heinberg. Obviously, Gaiman is the creator of the material as well as being the main writer and executive producer, Goyer another executive producer who seemed to do a lot of work getting the show made in the first place. Goyer’s most famous credit is probably as the screenwriter on Christopher Nolan‘s Dark Knight trilogy. Allen Heinberg has worked on numerous tv and film projects, most notably as the screenwriter for Wonder Woman.

In Front of the Camera

The Sandman has a big cast. Part of the specialness of the graphic novels was to make characters of great forces of nature and archetypical concepts and to have them be everywhere so there are many important characters who are only in the story for a short while. The graphic novels and show are bursting with mythical, religious, supernatural beings and unusual people.

The central character is clearly Dream played by Tom Sturridge who gives as brooding performance as possible, which is only right for one of the quintessential brooding characters. The graphic novels are said to have given inspiration to a generation of goths and dramatic displays of sadness.

The wonderful Boyd Holbrook plays The Corinthian, the nightmare who escaped from dreams and runs amok in the mortal world. The Corinthian is a clever, wily and manipulative creature, doing whatever he can to keep Dream from catching him and sending him back. Holbrook is best known for his role in Netflix drama Narcos and as one of the main villains in Logan.

Patton Oswalt was the first actor to join the show and was cast as the voice of Matthew the Raven, a companion to Dream. Patton Oswalt has been an extremely successful comedian and actor for many years as well as being one of the god-tier celebrity nerds (see his apparently adlibbed Marvel script rant in Parks and Recreation).

Then on top of these people, we have Charles Dance as Roderick Burgess, the magus who captures Dream, Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer Morningstar, Vivienne Acheampong as Lucienne, the librarian of Dream’s realm, and it goes on and on with great actors appearing only briefly.

Does It Work?

Since its release people have talked about adapting The Sandman and more than one person – including current showrunner Allan Heinberg – has said it was unfilmable. In numerous ways, it doesn’t follow a straightforward plot and is exceptionally weird. Fans of Neil Gaiman’s work will especially love this adaptation but it is a great, peculiar tv drama for anyone. As with all beloved books that are adapted not every fan will be on board, for some their love for the original will prevent them from taking to the new version. From others, there have been social media mutterings and complaints about “woke” casting choices for which Neil Gaiman has been mercilessly dismissive of.

The show has an unusual epic scale as much of its grandeur takes place in a world of dreams but nevertheless few programmes have dared work on this scale. This scale is apparent in the sets, the themes and the sheer number of characters who would be deserving of their own series, like Johanna Constantine, the tough exorcist and demon fighter.

The Sandman might not be for everyone. It is an unusual show and is taking some big swings and as such, there is a risk of things not working but for many, it is the show they have been waiting decades for.

Also Read: Netflix and The Science of Recommendations

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The post The Sandman: The Unfilmmable Graphic Novel Comes To Netflix appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.