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Good Omens (BBC/Amazon co-production)

Started by Ferris, May 31, 2019, 10:59:48 AM

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Ferris

Anyone else looking forward to this? It was released today - me and Mrs Ferris are making a night of it. Set up the telly, get popcorn, might have a tin of beer: the works.

It looks great, though it does have Jack Whitehall in it according to Wikipedia, and Queen in the trailer which typically doesn't bode well.

I loved the book so hopefully this is alright.

Kalabi

One of my favourite books from when I was a young 'un, and one I've bought many times as I keep giving it to people to read. Down side is as such a rabid fan I'm probably going to be disapointed with the telly version, but hopefully it'll be good.

rasta-spouse

I read the book way back too and enjoyed it. I want this to be good (and not as narratively bad as the American Gods adaptation) as I'm into anything that mixes old myth with the present day.

Also the Deadwood movie comes out today. So a bumper weekend of content.

Kalabi

I liked the first season of American Gods, but I saw it before I read the book so that's probably a factor, I've heard nowt but bad things about season two so I'll likely give that a miss.
Is the Deadwood film on streaming stuff then?


rasta-spouse

Good Omens is a Pratchett/Gaiman collaboration now being made into a tv show which is released today.

QuoteI liked the first season of American Gods, but I saw it before I read the book so that's probably a factor, I've heard nowt but bad things about season two so I'll likely give that a miss.
Is the Deadwood film on streaming stuff then?

I thought S1 American Gods was visually strong, and had some other good things going for it...but story-wise a bit rough.

Not sure about the broadcast details of the Deadwood film - it should pop up on Sky Atlantic though very soon.

holyzombiejesus

Ah, I only managed about 3 episodes of American Gods then sacked it off. Just felt it was going to be one of those things that ran and ran before getting cancelled without any resolution. Is Deadwood being mentioned here because of the Ian McShane link? I wish they'd do a reboot of Lovejoy in the style of American Gods, that'd be ace. Especially if they gave Tinker Dill a smashing pair of tits.

rasta-spouse

Yeah, not enough to hold onto in American Gods. By the end of S1 I still had no idea what it was about. Which is why I hope Good Omens is narratively strong.

I mainly mentioned Deadwood because I'm excited about it, David Milch is bonkers. 

niat

Quote from: rasta-spouse on May 31, 2019, 12:27:56 PM
Not sure about the broadcast details of the Deadwood film - it should pop up on Sky Atlantic though very soon.

It's on tonight at 2AM and then at 9PM tomorrow.

Ferris

Quote from: rasta-spouse on May 31, 2019, 12:38:02 PM
Yeah, not enough to hold onto in American Gods. By the end of S1 I still had no idea what it was about. Which is why I hope Good Omens is narratively strong.

I mainly mentioned Deadwood because I'm excited about it, David Milch is bonkers.

I mean, presumably it just charts the story of the novel so it has a fixed endpoint to aim for?

American Gods was good but felt a bit aimless, didn't bother with the 2nd season.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on May 31, 2019, 01:33:21 PM
I mean, presumably it just charts the story of the novel so it has a fixed endpoint to aim for?

American Gods was good but felt a bit aimless, didn't bother with the 2nd season.

I didn't bother with American Gods either but despite all the problems behind the scenes and the poor critical reception it's managed to get a third season.

I've watched the first episode of Good Omens and quite liked it, it looks great and is well performed, but I find the narration a bit annoying and there's just something slightly off about it that I can't quite put my finger on. I was expecting it to be funnier too, but perhaps as it's only the first one and it's setting the plot up it'll improve on that front as the series goes on.

Rev+

Only seen the first one too, and yeah, the narration was a bit too much.  It supposedly calms down as the series goes on, though.

I think what's off about it is that it runs into an old problem: you always lose something when adapting a book that relies so much on phrasing for its comedy.  It feels a bit similar to the Hitchhiker's film in that sense, but not as woefully nuts-and-bolts, at least not on the evidence of one episode.  It's likeable enough.

olliebean

First one felt like a very straight adaptation, I'm assuming Gaiman kept in a load of Terry's expositionary passages verbatim in voiceover (and avoided changing anything else about it) out of reverence. Very well acted and produced, though (apart from the naff-looking popup caption cards).

Cerys

Very happy so far.  Not least because I don't want to kill Jack Whitehall.

Ferris

#14
Middle of the first ep now, it's great.

Edit: this watch is also great

https://www.devonworks.com/product-page/tread-1-a

MojoJojo

Only watched the first one. Yes, narration was a bit over the top, and it felt like they were aiming for a hitchhikers vibe. Perhaps following the book a bit too closely and could do with finding it's own voice.

Gaiman seems to be a big influence at amazon. They're keen on the Adams/Pratchett/Gaiman group anyway.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Cerys on June 01, 2019, 12:31:35 AM
Very happy so far.  Not least because I don't want to kill Jack Whitehall.

I had the same reaction, and even thought he was quite good as the 17th century Witchfinder General fella. I might have to take him off "the list" at this rate and I never thought that would happen.

beanheadmcginty

They've somehow managed to make Whitehall an acceptable presence by making him look like Marcus Brigstocke. How's that for miraculous?

olliebean

Michael McKean's accent is all over the place in this.

Rev+

Halfway in, and the narration problem has definitely been sorted.  It's full of unexpected cameos in a nice 'hey, let's put on a show' way, but the structure is a wee bit wonky.  It's been over 20 years since I read the book but I'm sure all of the Arsemans were introduced a bit earlier.  Also:  Opening titles at the 30 minute point?

king_tubby

I am pretty amazed by how they have completely hit the spot on this. Even Jack Whitehall isn't a cunt for once.

olliebean

McDormand and Cox are quite literally phoning it in, though...

Rev+

#22
What's the theme tune, by the way?  It'll be something massively well-known but I have huge gaps in my musical knowledge and this is all I can think of, as they have a common origin:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BkPHPn0YpM

mothman

So, in the end - like many things that would otherwise have been judged unfilmable - alright, I guess. They've amended the ending a bit which is probably an improvement, it always struck me as a bit cerebral.

SteveDave

I sighed when it started like Hitch-hikers Guide To The ZZzzzzz and then rolled my eyes so far back in my head at some of the dialogue that I could see my spine. I don't think it's for me.

olliebean

TBH I don't think Neil Gaiman was the right person to adapt this. He's too attached to the original text (despite not having written most of it), and frankly he's not as good a screenwriter as he's given credit for. The quality of direction and performance lifts it for the most part (although some of the effects look a little perfunctory), but there are a lot of poor decisions in the script.

olliebean

Just finished watching it. Good lord, the last half of that last episode dragged.

olliebean

Quote from: olliebean on June 02, 2019, 10:56:32 PM
McDormand and Cox are quite literally phoning it in, though...

And Bumbersnatch, as it turned out.

kalowski

Quote from: olliebean on June 03, 2019, 09:33:36 PM
Just finished watching it. Good lord, the last half of that last episode dragged.
An accurate adaptation of the book, then.

Rev+

Quote from: kalowski on June 03, 2019, 10:08:09 PM
An accurate adaptation of the book, then.

Yeah, I couldn't quite remember how the book ended - which is never a good sign - only that it was a bit drawn-out and underwhelming.

On the whole it worked for me, though, and the dreary Discworld adaptations had me fearing that Pratchett's stuff could only ever work on the page.  Would probably have been better as a tighter 4-parter, but we have what we have and it wasn't the complete misfire it could easily have been.