Sunday, November 14, 2004
Neverwhere and Neverwhere
Last Thursday I finished reading Neverwhere (the American eBook) and finished watching Neverwhere (the BBC miniseries on DVD). I quite enjoyed both.
Neverwhere is a 6-part 3-hours-total BBC miniseries that Neil Gaiman wrote some years back, taken from an idea by UK comedian Lenny Henry. I first saw Neverwhere some years back when a friend lent me an nth generation bootleg copy from some rich American PBS station. I remember enjoying some aspects and disliking some aspects.
There were some things that Neil Gaiman wrote that couldn't be filmed, sometimes for practical reasons, sometimes because of bad timing, sometimes because they didn't look like they would work on the screen. As Gaiman said in a 1999 interview, every time something would get cut
The novel and miniseries are quite different; I started by watching the first half of the miniseries (one episode per night with my friend Matt who I was rooming with at the NASAGA 2004 conference), then I decided to switch to the novel, so my perceptions wouldn't be totally colored by the miniseries. There was a bit of an adjustment; the miniseries is very fast-paced, whereas the novel takes more time to ruminate on things.
(to be continued...)
Neverwhere is a 6-part 3-hours-total BBC miniseries that Neil Gaiman wrote some years back, taken from an idea by UK comedian Lenny Henry. I first saw Neverwhere some years back when a friend lent me an nth generation bootleg copy from some rich American PBS station. I remember enjoying some aspects and disliking some aspects.
There were some things that Neil Gaiman wrote that couldn't be filmed, sometimes for practical reasons, sometimes because of bad timing, sometimes because they didn't look like they would work on the screen. As Gaiman said in a 1999 interview, every time something would get cut
…I would say, "It's okay, I'll put it back in the novel." The novel, for me, was my way of asserting control. Saying, "No, this is what I meant." Suddenly I had control over the costumes again. Control over the things that I didn't have any control over on the TV screen. On the one hand, you'd spent a few years writing the story. On the rother hand, what's being made is not entirely the thing in your head. You've lost the power that you have writing novels or writing comics. Which is the power of "Because I Say So." You know, why is the character doing that? Because I say so.
The novel and miniseries are quite different; I started by watching the first half of the miniseries (one episode per night with my friend Matt who I was rooming with at the NASAGA 2004 conference), then I decided to switch to the novel, so my perceptions wouldn't be totally colored by the miniseries. There was a bit of an adjustment; the miniseries is very fast-paced, whereas the novel takes more time to ruminate on things.
(to be continued...)
