DJariya

Decided to do a fresh thread for actual discussion of the show.

10 episodes are dropping Friday. Please use spoiler tags since not everyone here will be watching this on the same schedule.

And if you want to have actual engaged discussion, please detail what episode your talking about before putting blind spoiler tags.

Josh-da-man

I'd like to get started on this right now, but the Mrs. and I are going to make this a Harlan Ellison-style movie crawl either tonight or tomorrow night.

Already have our boxes of candy (Mike & Ikes and Peanut M&Ms) and our bottles of soda and cans of energy drink waiting to be dropped into an ice-filled Yeti cooler. When the sun begins to set, we'll send out for a supreme pizza, a meat lovers pizza, an order of burning hot buffalo wings, and an order of barbecue wings. Then we'll turn off the lights, shut ourselves in our home theater with our goodies, and spend the next ten hours in sheer movie bliss.

Giantrobo

Ive decided im going to do my best to not binge this. I think i may stretch it and watch 1-2 a week til done.

Deftones

Reviews are pretty good: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/the_sandman

Why So Blu?

Sounds awesome!

OldBoy

so much great stuff to watch this weekend on the services. From this to Prey and Thirteen Lives. Need more hours. should get to all though.

Shannon Nutt

Haven't seen this yet, but Robert Meyer Burnett is on Twitter screaming about how crushed the blacks are. I believe he has an OLED, so it can't be his set (and he claims to have watched it on multiple screens).

Josh-da-man

I have had similar experiences with Netflix in the past. I thought The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina looked absolutely terrible. I've also thought some dark shots in Stranger Things looked a little iffy, too, but not nearly as bad as Sabrina.

I've not seen Sandman yet either, but I suspect that if it does have crushed blacks it has more to do with Netflix over-compressing dark shows than it has to do with covering up with dodgy CGI as RMB suggests.

story

I want to savor this, but I am simply enjoying it way too much. This is delightful. I'm a big Sandman fan and this is really working for me. I'm curious if it will work for newcomers but so far, four episodes in, this is incredible.

TomOpus

I think it's absolutely gorgeous and I find it hard to stop watching. I'm up to Ep 5.

About 20 years ago, on a whim, I bought the first 7 or 8 issues. I still have them in storage, never opened. So, in essence, I'm a newcomer.

Osiris3657

Is this friendly for people who aren't familiar with the source material, or am I going to be confused as hell?

TomOpus

I've been fine but I don't think it would be good if it was on as background. I would pay attention. There's a lot of dialogue. And funny you should mention hell.

maxfisher

My wife and I watched the first four episodes last night and we both loved it. She’s never read any of the books, while I finally just got around to reading the full original run over the past month, so we’re on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of being familiar with the source material.

Eric F

Really enjoying the show so far. I'm on episode 3 but I really can't see anyone other than Matt Ryan as John Constantine now. Every time Johana speaks my mind keeps putting Matt Ryan in her place. What was the point of making the character a woman? It's exactly the same character otherwise.

story

I think likely two reasons:
1. Distance this series from the DC Universe.
2. A spoiler for what's to come,



Eric F

If they really wanted to distance the show from the DCU they should have changed the name completely.

As for the spoiler, I'm aware of it. I think people know by now I'm quite well versed in the 90's run of most DC/Vertigo titles, that's when I collected. Sandman wasn't one of the books I collected but Hellblazer and Books of Magic we're. I read all of Sandman later on.

I was hoping HBO Max would adapt more Vertigo titles (Animal Man in particular) for their service but what with what is going on there that doesn't seem likely.

story

I skipped ahead a little to the second half of episode six because I've played the Audible Sandman issue #13 "Men of Good Fortune" for my kids twice on a road trip and they loved it. I showed them this and they were floored that they not only actually made this into a show, but that it was good.

I agree, it was amazing to witness and it really worked. I even think the slight adjustment to the ending works. I'll offer that while I've appreciated how much dialogue is lifted right from the comics, it isn't necessary to me. Still, one line was blatantly missing, and while he admits he made mistakes and learned from them I wish they'd left in the critical line:


I think acknowledging that would be good. I've always loved that part of the story.

This issue in particular changed everything for me about comic books whe I was a teenager. And here's the thing: if it was movie, they wouldve cut this out. If it was a lesser show ten or twenty years ago, they would've messed it up or it would've aged as well as anything else from the 1995-2005 era of WB/CW, which is to say not all that well unless you're a die-hard fan.

This show is well-done overall, and I can't believe this show exists and to this degree of quality!

story

Preludes & Nocturnes review (episodes 1-5):
This was very good. I haven't read the comic in years because it's the one TPB I loaned out to someone a long while ago and havent replaced (it was signed and personalized, too, not sure where it is now). It is true to what I remember and deviations made sense. The production value is top notch and the acting works for me.

I was not looking forward to episode five and it was hard to get through. It's definitely a tough read as a comic book and was excrutiating to listen to in the Audible productiom from last year. This was hard to watch, too. I'm not a fan of torture and watching Dee torture was torture for me, too.

The Sound of Her Wings / Men of Good Fortune review (episode 6):
I've never looked more forward to a particular hour of television in my life. Thirty years of buildup and I'm blown away. Incredible.

Looking forward to The Doll's House (episodes 7-10)!

OldBoy

I saw first episode. Never knowing anything about comic or what about. I am definitely intrigued.

Troy Stiffler

That looked like such a long and tedious hike through hell. LOTR level hiking. So much hiking.

This show is a hit. Very entertaining. Good worldbuilding.

Eric F

It’s been so long since I’ve read the books, I totally forgot that John “D” was supposed to be in mainstream DC Comics at the time.


For however good the show is, the books are better. If you haven't read Neil Gaiman’s works, I highly recommend it.

Troy Stiffler

Just got through the diner and 100 year friend episodes. Top tier Netflix.

RichC2

I assume the budget was nuts on this. It definitely shows on the screen.

TomOpus

I thought I heard or read $10 million per episode.

Giantrobo

Welp...that plan was ruined. This has been really good. Made it to ep7 and I think ill finish this weekend. One thing i was feeling was this show definitely has a Netflix Feel. I feel like if it had been an HBOMax series it would have a very different vibe to it. Oh well...

Pros:
-Death. 😍 I love her so much. She is very likeable and down to Earth. Her scenes where she is doing her job were heartbreaking, beautiful, comforting, etc. The actress was well cast and has done an amazing job. She is also gorgeous. 😍
-Morpheous Actor is doing an amazing job. He has made the role his.
-Lucifer...yesss. scary and snarky.
-The show hitting various Sandman story points

Cons:
-None really thus far other than the episodes lengths seeming to be all over the place. I feel streaming series that aren't 25-30min length should all be a solid 50-60min. This stuff were a series has 40-50min eps with 37min and other weird lengths mixed is annoying. Especially in a series like Sandman were there is so much that needs to able to breath and not get shorted. But that's just me...