story

I like how Merv Pumpkinhead has a slight, presumably intentional, claymation look to his movement, it's awesome.

Jay G.

Nothing really got "shorted." In the original comic run, the first issue was 40 pages, and then issues 2-8, which make up the first volume, are 24 pages . The show uses those to make up the first 6 episodes, often combining multiple issues into one episode. So if it was true to the book, you'd have one 50-60 minute premiere and mostly 25-30 minute episodes.

The breakdown is, roughly:
Episode 1 - Issue 1
Episode 2 - Issue 2
Episode 3 - Issue 3 (plus new Ethel/John Dee material, expanded from Issues 2 & 5)
Episode 4 - Issues 4 & 5
Episode 5 - Issues 6 & 7
Episode 6 - Issues 8 & 13

That's all I've watched up to so far.

So as you can see, the only significantly short episode, episode 2, only covers one issue, while the rest either add in new material, or combine issues. So they're letting the material have room to breath, but the somewhat irregularity of the original source material's stories is playing a role.

Giantrobo

Yeah I guess, fair enough.

As mentioned..The short ep reminded me of other series that do this. So the criticism wasn't all about Sandman or even a major critique.

Mike86

Watched the first episode of this last night with my fiancée. Thought it was pretty good overall. She’s read a chunk of the stories and has some of the trades.

I had always heard it was a good series but never got around to reading it. I read the first chapter of volume one last night and felt the episode was pretty faithful but had some changes.

Probably will keep on reading through the trades and watching the show.

Troy Stiffler

This was a hit for me. Some of the plot was goofy. The meandering philosophical discussions and situations made me feel and were the highlight.

Dr. DVD

I watched a little bit of this on Saturday night and the Sandman did his job. I was asleep within minutes.

The Antipodean

Loving this so far but it seems to be generating little “buzz” - look at this dead thread! - which is a worry as I really hope for a season 2. It’s astoundingly faithful to the comics but not in the way that the 2009 Watchmen movie was which drained a lot of the life out of it and felt like a cover song version.

I wish Netflix would stop the stupid drop all episodes model, I think week by week is a far better way to generate momentum. But I’m old.

tasha99

I thought this would be terrible, but I loved it and ended up binging the last 5 episodes all at once. Looking forward to season 2.

TomOpus

Hopefully there will be a Season 2. It was sitting at #1 on Netflix's Top 10 TV Shows until it got bumped to #2. Plus S1 was expensive.

joeblow69

I'm torn. I binged the first 6 episodes yesterday, and while I really liked the first 4, the diner episode REALLY dragged around, and now the plot seems to just be meandering about. Feels like the show completely lost momentum.

Plus I'm not really a fan of the lead actor, or his anime haircut.

Giantrobo

Yeah that's a drawback on them releasing all eps at once. Not saying that's the only reason buzz is dead, but it's a big one.

I've been listening to Sandman Series related Podcasts discussions to get me through it since hardly anyone here is talking about it.

The Antipodean

Episode 6 was probably the best episode of tv I’ve watched this year, managing to adapt two of my favourite Sandman comics of all time flawlessly.

csant

Never having read the comics. I'm liking this a lot so far 3 episodes in and I will probably finish it today (after the Mets game).

Whoever is playing Constantine is very damn pretty. Don't think I've seen her anywhere else. I want more of her... =)

Crocker Jarmen

I'm very impressed by the look and cast of the show, I'm just nervous about it not going forward and covering the entire comic book series the same way Game Of Thrones (until they ran out) covered all the novels. While there were absolute fantastic issues like "The Sound Of Her Wings" and Hob Gadling's story, the first year or so of The Sandman comic is very rough, like Season 1 of Seinfeld rough. I'd be really bummed out if they got this incredible team together who can make this fantastic show, but them never getting to make Seasons of Mist or Brief Lives ect..

I've never wanted a series to continue on more than this.

Jay G.

I finished the season, and I was very happy with the back half. While I understand the talk about the comic itself being a bit rough and taking its time to find its feet. I think the show streamlined the narrative and polished off the rough edges, while being faithful to the core story and what made it work in the comics. I think anyone who's read the comics should be very satisfied with the adaptation, but I think newcomers will like it too.

That's Jenna Coleman. She's in several seasons of Dr. Who, and the titular star of the show Victoria.

story

I think if they can keep up the momentum, and I hope they do, seasons would break down like this:

Season 1: Preludes & Nocturnes, The Doll's House
​​Season 2: Doll's House Prologue (Nada), Seasons of Mist, A Game of You, some Dream Country (Shakespeare)
Season 3: Brief Lives, some Fables and Reflections (Orpheus)
Season 4: The Kindly Ones and a shortened version of The Wake

I'd be surprised if we see all of Dreak Country, all of Fables and Reflections, or even any of World's End. Maybe one episode with truncated tales leading to the last scene of the last issue foreshadowing The Wake, but otherwise this would be four seasons, maybe five, and I'll take whatever they have for us.

Alternative five season version:
Season 1: Preludes & Nocturnes, The Doll's House
​​Season 2: Doll's House prolonged (Nada), Seasons of Mist, Dream Country (Shakespeare)
Season 3: A Game of You, some Fables and Reflections (Orpheus)
Season 4: Brief Lives, some World's End
Season 5: The Kindly Ones and a shortened version of The Wake

csant

Thanks, She is very pretty and I enjoyed her screen time. lol

Josh-da-man

I wouldn't be surprised if they jettisoned most of the short stories from "Dream Country" and "Fables and Reflections." Most of them are side stories, except for "Thermidoor," which pays off Dream's relationship with Johanna Constantine, and "The Song of Orpheus," which reveals the prodigal brother ties into "Brief Lives." And then there are two Shakespeare stories, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "The Tempest," which were alluded to in Dream's meeting with Shakespeare in episode six. We probably don't need the shorts about Augustus, Marco Polo, or that werewolf. "The Parliament of Rooks," where Cain, Abel, and Eve tell baby Daniel stories would be a nice inclusion, though.

I think they could pull this off in four seasons quite easily.

Seaon One: Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll's House.

Season Two: A Season of Mists (with "Tales from the Sand" folded into it) and A Game of You. And they could, possibly, use "A Midsummer Night's Dream" as a midseason breather the way "The Sound of Her Wings" and "Men of Good Fortune" was used in season one. Could probably get a ten episode season out of it -- 5-1-4.

Season Three: Brief Lives (with "Thermidoor" and "The Song of Orpheus" folded into it) and World's End. Since the latter book is about a disparate group of travelers stranded in an inn during a storm, some of the shorts from Dream Country and Fables & Reflections could be included in the stories the travelers tell if they so choose. Brief Lives is a long road trip story, and including two extra shorts in it would likely balloon the time, but they could probably do 6-4 or 7-3, depending on how many shorts they want to include in World's End. They could do two shorts per episode; the Prez one probably wouldn't be included since it's DC-centric, and only one of the short stories from World's End is really germane to the greater story.

Season Four: The Kindly Ones and The Wake, with "The Tempest" serving as an epilogue. This could probably go 6-3-1, or 7-2-1 since The Kindly Ones is an even longer arc than Brief Lives.

I suppose they could do an animated spin-off series in the vein of Love Death + Robots that would make short films out of certain short stories from Dream Country and Fables and Reflections, like "Dream of a Thousand Cats" and "Ramadan." Those two stories, in particular, would be budget busters if done in live action. "Parliament of Rooks" would work well as an animated entry, too.

csant

Death is fine too... Loving the casting on this so far.

Jay G.

Kirby Howell-Baptiste, who's a co-lead in the comedy film Queenpins, and has had notable roles in shows Veronica Mars, The Good Place, Barry, Why Women Kill, and first season of Killing Eve.

Queenpins is quite fun:

Holydoc

Sounds like I am at the same exact spot as you are in the series. It was going along great until the diner episode. I am with you in feeling that the momentum got lost. I will finish off the last 4 episodes, but if it does not pick back up, I am going to have to pass on Season 2.

Neil M.

I thought the diner sequence was fantastic.

joeblow69

The last 5 minutes was cool ... problem was it seemed like it took an hour and a half to get there.

Jay G.

So, for anyone watching the show that hasn't read the comics, episodes 1-5 are one major story arc, episode 6 is a sort of denouement/standalone/break between major arcs, and episodes 7-10 are another story arc. The second story arc is faster paced and a bit more focused, so if you stopped at episode 6 because you thought the show was slow/unfocused, give the final episodes a shot.

cultshock

I finally finished the series and really enjoyed it. I was a huge fan of the comic (I started buying the monthly floppies in 1990 starting with Season of Mists) and have reread the whole thing countless times. I bumped into some of the character and storyline changes a bit, but understand how most of it was necessary. It honestly turned out better than I could have expected, I can't wait for season two as Season of Mists is one of my favorites (along with Brief Lives) but am worried that it won't happen if this doesn't do as well for Netflix as they were hoping. I really need to see Destiny, Delirium and the prodigal (I still remember reading the letter columns in the comics where readers were trying to predict who that would be, lots of "D" names were being thrown around ).