I had accidentally subscribed to a channel posting Tales from the Crypt episodes on YouTube and yesterday or the day before they wound up posting an episode from a spin-off called Perversions of Science (even the theme song is trying to remind you it’s a spin-off of Tales from the Crypt), and I can see why people remember Tales from the Crypt today but nobody talks about Perversions of Science despite being able to get the likes of Jeffrey Combs and Ron Perlman.
This episode throws around more “fucks” than I do, it’s trying so hard to be edgy that I wouldn’t be surprised if this was written by a 16 year old who hangs out at comic book shops in a trench coat, and the ending is the stupidest goddamn load of shit (though, I assume somebody also saw The Frighteners and thought the same thing I did, which was, Jeffrey Combs probably could pull off playing Hitler).
Just watched the first episode of the Netflix Sandman adaptation. I really liked Sandman back when I read it like 12 years ago, so I’ve been cautiously anticipating this one… Thus far, every Gaiman TV adaptation I’ve seen has been god awful. I was worried that this new series would have that low-rent BBC fantasy energy of Good Omens, simultaneously chintzy and smarmy.
Luckily, so far Sandman avoids that tone entirely. It’s not smirking and it doesn’t look like the props were bought at Spirit Halloween. The art direction is adequate and the CGI is serviceable. I got some frisson from seeing the cool spinal cord helmet in live action.
They’ve made some intelligent choices to streamline Sandman’s rocky first arc. It looks like they’re going to avoid all the awkward DC comics tie-in stuff. I don’t think Dream is gonna go visit the Justice League this time around. They’ve introduced the Corinthian early and it looks like he’s gonna be the season’s main antagonist.
Yeah, I dunno, it’s hard to say how well they’ve channeled the comic’s vibe from just the first episode, but so far it has a sort of fun pop-occult fantasy energy that I’m down with. Like, that episode appropriately channels EC Comics horror energy a very slight bit (though far more mannered, to its detriment). I’m really looking forward to watching more.
I appreciate the summary. I had no hope at all that this would be any good, but I’ve been hearing positive things and I might have to borrow someone’s Netflix account to give it a try. It’s been ages since I last read the comics, and I hadn’t even considered the potential of them tying it in with superhero nonsense. Glad they steered clear of that.
OK, Sandman episode 3 took a sharp decline, spending much of the runtime on Dr. Who style cutesy immortal man + spunky mortal woman banter. They even cast a Dr. Who sidekick in that role! And then a lot of unearned melodrama that failed to land. And a quipping talking raven. Big BBC cornball energy, the exact thing I was hoping this series would avoid.
Show’s also ugly as sin. Real bad Netflix color grading and dodgy CGI.
The first two episodes were good enough, and admittedly this part of the source material was pretty uneven, so I’m going to stick with it for now.
it sure was a netflix show, every scene taking place in muted vague and blurry CGI world, even the settings that aren’t fantastical. patton oswalt delivers his lines with the style of a celebrity voiced pixar character. i did like how ol sandypants doesn’t show up til a bit into the rose walker arc, the show does give its supporting cast the opportunity to breathe and exist that is usually missing from these kinds of things
i will give them props for a good old fashioned queer coded villain. mason park looks like the only person who had any fun making this. they can toss that fatphobic Despair design back to the 90s tho, jesus christ
not enough shots of lucifer towering over dirtyboy either. the cherubic curls were cute tho, very Hot Romantic Era Oil Painting satan. how do you make a series with a 6’4 femme satan that i don’t get obsessed with come on netflix
at least they decided against including wanda mann
(disclaimer: i haven’t read the source material but my partner has and was giving me occasional commentary on the adaptation)
I visited a friend who has Netflix last night and watched the first two Sandman episodes. It could have been a lot worse, but it didn’t really sell me on watching the rest.
I barely remember the part of the comics that this is based on (as opposed to something like A Season of Mists or World’s End, which I read many times as a teenager), and this really didn’t draw me into the story’s world the way the comics used to. The effects were flashy but I found them unconvincing. Though I did like the way they made his eyes black with white dots in one scene, as they sometimes appear in the comics.
Sounds like episode 3 would almost certainly push my opinion from somewhat neutral to negative, so I should probably stop here.
The only other TV show I’ve been (very slowly) watching in recent months is The Knick. I’m almost at the end of the second season (of two) and I’ve been impressed.
got into Mr. Inbetween recently, the short 25m episodes are real efficient. really enjoying the dialogue for Ray meeting people who he’s about to kill/are going to try to kill him: hey hows it going? ::Ray, deadpan sincere:: mate yeah it’s good
