A great article about a great show. My wife and I stumbled into it at the weekend and have become slightly obsessed. I feel like the comments about the lead are slightly wide of the mark. I don’t think you are meant to love The Sandman per-se but I have to disagree and say that the performance is as magnetic as an anti-hero can be, a brilliant piece of casting. The appearance of one known or well loved actor after another is also a thrill and there is a sense that every one of them is properly invested in the show. Very impressive. More like this please, Netflix.
Scuba Cat
1 year ago
I loved it. I was expecting to be disappointed. I was disappointed in American Gods because of the deviations from the original story. I saw the casting for Sandman and was prepared for a bunch of preachy, woke diatribes that weren’t in the original text. But the series was surprisingly faithful to the text. Those gender and race swapped characters are the same characters, they just look a little different. Plus, the show is beautiful to look at. We binge watched the whole thing in a weekend. I’d be surprised if anyone who was a fan of the original books didn’t like this.
Andrew McDonald
1 year ago
Crikey. Tried to watch one episode of this following the media barrage, but it was really, really extraordinarily bad. I mean awful, even for the adolescent audience it’s presumably aimed at. I don’t normally criticise work that is obviously not aimed at me, but this is so – bad – I feel I should warn even the adventurous UnHerd readership to save their time. Leaden script, hilariously on-message casting and vocabulary, neon-sign plot signalling, grimly apocalyptic CGI, all delivered by the Shakespeare of the children’s comic book. And I mean that as an insult. Horrors. It’s too bad to be so bad it’s good.
My husband dashed out of his studio yesterday, excited to tell me about the show. I said I had just seen the trailer: “God, no.” He shrugged and went back to his easel and Season One of “Stranger Things”.
So very Doctor Who. No doubt the woke crowd who watch that will watch this. But is there a woke minority character or lifestyle that won’t be fitted in? Whatever good ideas may be in there, my general perception is, Dr Who like, I’m being “educated” in an alternative life style. Not for me.
Allison Barrows
1 year ago
If the lame adaptation of Good Omens” and the unrecognizable mockery made of “Lucifer” are anything to go by, I’ll give this a very big miss. “Johanna” Constantine? Yeeeeeah. I’ll re-read the books instead.
Raymond Inauen
1 year ago
Considering all the garbage that has been produced over the years, it’s hard to tell if Sandman is a real gem or just a dream that will fade away. I’ve watched a few episodes, and sometimes I get the impression that it comes across naturally, and other times it seems like it’s forced acting. Compared to some of the best series like GOT, it’s less then half way there. Better than many other series, but still not even close. Since GOT was made, the standard has dropped. I’m not sure if it’s the actors, the writing, or the story, but very few productions have characters you can truly hate and still end up missing because they matter as characters with flaws. The Boys comes a little closer to that, but it’s not enough. I’m not convinced that this series is so good that I’ll remember it in a few years. Maybe I’m wrong, or maybe I’m just too critical. But what is life if you lower your expectations, because with low expectations you pay more and get much less each time.
I think it’s because GoT was the last series to be made that kept the cast as true as possible to the book. The Shannara Chronicles, the Wheel of Time, and now Lord of the Rings have all been revised to broadcast the propaganda of the state. In the past it was left up to the reader/viewer to make up their own mind about events and characters. now we are told what is right and wrong. In my experience when you start telling adults how to act or think no matter how good the cause, they will do the complete opposite. Inject it into their entertainment and they will simply abandon it to make up their own..
What do you mean the “cast was kept as true as possible to he book?” have you *read* the books? There are so many plotlines that have been chopped/condensed/re-jigged and multiple characters merged into one! The lack of resemblance is jarring. Far more so than in the case of LotR or WoT
I think Julian is pointing out that the characters are accurate in the sense that they were not race, sex or sexuality swapped. I’ve read the books and I agree with this – the post season 3 mess is mostly down to running out of material to adapt.
The Rings of Power series is Lord of the Rings in name only.
I agree with you, but I’m not so sure it’s just the “message”. In general, there’ s a overall shift in quality: Second best is good enough. That seems to have trickled down to everything, including the film industry. I’m not interested in hearing excuses for this trend, as raising standards has always been a struggle, but the results speak for themselves in the products delivered. I had a very interesting conversation with someone from a younger generation who pointed out that grammar and spelling are no longer a prerequisite in the workplace they will be entering in a few years. This surprised me to say the least, because it came from their teacher. When teachers say something like this, you can imagine what their level will be in the years to come. My counter argument is that if you lower your standards here, you lower your standards everywhere and end up settling for second best or even less. The message is one thing, but lowering standards is another. I think something is very wrong here overall, and it’s not just the culture wars and the WOKE movement that are driving this. These movements come and go, but this trend of lowering standards is a much worse proposition for generations to come. What is even worse is the money, lots of money wasted on movie productions that get worse the more money involved, just take the last THOR movie, you can’t get more junk than that.
Last edited 1 year ago by Raymond Inauen
Linda Hutchinson
1 year ago
I’ve not got Netflix so I can’t comment on the show except to say that those that I know who have watched it are split over how good/bad it is. What I can comment on is the comic books which I read many, many years ago (I still have copies of them), and I was impressed by both the story telling and the art. I suppose I always hope that when a film or TV series is made from a favourite book (or in this case comic) that it will be good, unfortunately I have been disappointed more often than pleased – perhaps it’s a good thing that I shall not be able to see this adaption.
Richard Knight
1 year ago
Wokey wokey wokey – the pinnacle of Netflix execs enforcing their world vision and sod the story arc. Ben and Jerrys ice cream anyone?
polidori redux
1 year ago
I’m sure that it is just prejudice on my part, but I cannot take comic books seriously. I categorise them with soap operas and pop songs: The more profound they try to be, the more they fail.
A great article about a great show. My wife and I stumbled into it at the weekend and have become slightly obsessed. I feel like the comments about the lead are slightly wide of the mark. I don’t think you are meant to love The Sandman per-se but I have to disagree and say that the performance is as magnetic as an anti-hero can be, a brilliant piece of casting. The appearance of one known or well loved actor after another is also a thrill and there is a sense that every one of them is properly invested in the show. Very impressive. More like this please, Netflix.
I loved it. I was expecting to be disappointed. I was disappointed in American Gods because of the deviations from the original story. I saw the casting for Sandman and was prepared for a bunch of preachy, woke diatribes that weren’t in the original text. But the series was surprisingly faithful to the text. Those gender and race swapped characters are the same characters, they just look a little different. Plus, the show is beautiful to look at. We binge watched the whole thing in a weekend. I’d be surprised if anyone who was a fan of the original books didn’t like this.
Crikey. Tried to watch one episode of this following the media barrage, but it was really, really extraordinarily bad. I mean awful, even for the adolescent audience it’s presumably aimed at. I don’t normally criticise work that is obviously not aimed at me, but this is so – bad – I feel I should warn even the adventurous UnHerd readership to save their time. Leaden script, hilariously on-message casting and vocabulary, neon-sign plot signalling, grimly apocalyptic CGI, all delivered by the Shakespeare of the children’s comic book. And I mean that as an insult. Horrors. It’s too bad to be so bad it’s good.
My husband dashed out of his studio yesterday, excited to tell me about the show. I said I had just seen the trailer: “God, no.” He shrugged and went back to his easel and Season One of “Stranger Things”.
So very Doctor Who. No doubt the woke crowd who watch that will watch this. But is there a woke minority character or lifestyle that won’t be fitted in? Whatever good ideas may be in there, my general perception is, Dr Who like, I’m being “educated” in an alternative life style. Not for me.
If the lame adaptation of Good Omens” and the unrecognizable mockery made of “Lucifer” are anything to go by, I’ll give this a very big miss. “Johanna” Constantine? Yeeeeeah. I’ll re-read the books instead.
Considering all the garbage that has been produced over the years, it’s hard to tell if Sandman is a real gem or just a dream that will fade away. I’ve watched a few episodes, and sometimes I get the impression that it comes across naturally, and other times it seems like it’s forced acting. Compared to some of the best series like GOT, it’s less then half way there. Better than many other series, but still not even close. Since GOT was made, the standard has dropped. I’m not sure if it’s the actors, the writing, or the story, but very few productions have characters you can truly hate and still end up missing because they matter as characters with flaws. The Boys comes a little closer to that, but it’s not enough. I’m not convinced that this series is so good that I’ll remember it in a few years. Maybe I’m wrong, or maybe I’m just too critical. But what is life if you lower your expectations, because with low expectations you pay more and get much less each time.
I think it’s because GoT was the last series to be made that kept the cast as true as possible to the book. The Shannara Chronicles, the Wheel of Time, and now Lord of the Rings have all been revised to broadcast the propaganda of the state. In the past it was left up to the reader/viewer to make up their own mind about events and characters. now we are told what is right and wrong. In my experience when you start telling adults how to act or think no matter how good the cause, they will do the complete opposite. Inject it into their entertainment and they will simply abandon it to make up their own..
What do you mean the “cast was kept as true as possible to he book?” have you *read* the books? There are so many plotlines that have been chopped/condensed/re-jigged and multiple characters merged into one! The lack of resemblance is jarring. Far more so than in the case of LotR or WoT
I think Julian is pointing out that the characters are accurate in the sense that they were not race, sex or sexuality swapped. I’ve read the books and I agree with this – the post season 3 mess is mostly down to running out of material to adapt.
The Rings of Power series is Lord of the Rings in name only.
I agree with you, but I’m not so sure it’s just the “message”. In general, there’ s a overall shift in quality: Second best is good enough. That seems to have trickled down to everything, including the film industry. I’m not interested in hearing excuses for this trend, as raising standards has always been a struggle, but the results speak for themselves in the products delivered. I had a very interesting conversation with someone from a younger generation who pointed out that grammar and spelling are no longer a prerequisite in the workplace they will be entering in a few years. This surprised me to say the least, because it came from their teacher. When teachers say something like this, you can imagine what their level will be in the years to come. My counter argument is that if you lower your standards here, you lower your standards everywhere and end up settling for second best or even less. The message is one thing, but lowering standards is another. I think something is very wrong here overall, and it’s not just the culture wars and the WOKE movement that are driving this. These movements come and go, but this trend of lowering standards is a much worse proposition for generations to come. What is even worse is the money, lots of money wasted on movie productions that get worse the more money involved, just take the last THOR movie, you can’t get more junk than that.
I’ve not got Netflix so I can’t comment on the show except to say that those that I know who have watched it are split over how good/bad it is. What I can comment on is the comic books which I read many, many years ago (I still have copies of them), and I was impressed by both the story telling and the art. I suppose I always hope that when a film or TV series is made from a favourite book (or in this case comic) that it will be good, unfortunately I have been disappointed more often than pleased – perhaps it’s a good thing that I shall not be able to see this adaption.
Wokey wokey wokey – the pinnacle of Netflix execs enforcing their world vision and sod the story arc. Ben and Jerrys ice cream anyone?
I’m sure that it is just prejudice on my part, but I cannot take comic books seriously. I categorise them with soap operas and pop songs: The more profound they try to be, the more they fail.
How many have you actually read?
You don’t read comic books – That’s the point