My conscience is clear, as well

I really enjoyed it, and I'm not prone to liking visual adaptations of books, especially books I love.

True, the videotape thing threw me at first, but it was still loads of fun. And the interview with Neil after was a kick!

Not Always So

Well, technically you have it backwards. The Neverwhere novel is actually a novelization of the BBC series as Neverwhere was written for television originally. Neil began writing it during the filming of the series.

Ivory

Couldn't watch "Neverwhere". Just a few minutes of BBC ham stage acting was too much for me. Worked for "Dr. Who" in the 70's, but no longer.


It is coming...

Holy cow, I'm a huge longtime fan and I NEVER KNEW that Neverwhere was writen expressly for he BBC.

Well, I stand by my comments - still tons of fun, but not as good as what the book ended up being.

Not Always So

Just finished watching episode 2 and I must say that none of the characters are what I thought them to be, least of all the glimpse of Islington I caught at the end.

I imagined Islington as an ethereal being, with no real outstanding facial characteristics. Pretty much "light enbodied" or something of the such. I don't remember how Gaiman described Islington in the book, but I think it was something like it. Very white yet with a very dark personality and an echoing, deep voice.

Edit: Wrote 'of the such' twice in two sentences... hah!

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The girl who is a boy who wished he was a girl.

I, personally, think Neverwhere was a great series.

My only catch is what happened with Hunter from the t.v. series to the book. They're described very differently.

On another note, I always pronounced Islington as [ai-ling-t'n] and not like [iss-ling-t'n] as they do in the series I guess I was wrong

- - - -
The girl who is a boy who wished he was a girl.

I didn't know that the book came from the series. I've not been lucky to see it in the US but I really wish he would write a sequel book. That is a world I could get lost in.

Neil does plan to write a sequel eventually, currently called the 7 sisters. He's also writing a short story called How the Marquis got his coat back

I was lucky enough to have Neverwhere aired on our local Seattle/Tacoma PBS station. Holy shit did I love it. Yeah, it's cheesy, and yeah, it's more low budget than it deserves to be, but that's what you get from BBC sci-fi/fantasy (at least all of it that makes its way over here). I am very glad to have taped the entire series.

Croup, Vandemar, and de Carabas (spelling?) are all done with absolute, no holds barred perfection in the series. The rest are so-so, and (in my opinion) Hunter was done terribly. But maybe that's just me.

***"Well, seeing that today certainly is my day - why don't you call me Wednesday? Mister Wednesday. Although given the weather, it might as well be Jcizenman, eh?"***

quote:

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Originally posted by GMZoe:
He's also writing a short story called How the Marquis got his coat back

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I hope he follows through on that, I love the Marquis. Didn't know he was planning a novel,though.That is interesting news.

quote:

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Originally posted by Mana:
Just finished watching episode 2 and I must say that none of the characters are what I thought them to be, least of all the glimpse of Islington I caught at the end.

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What did he look like then? I'm curious as to how they did him.

do a search on google (I don't want to post images here for those who don't want to know. Or maybe I'm being lazy because I woke up 5 minutes ago and my eyes are still unfocused)

I love the BBC Neverwhere. I started watching it when I was babysitting a little monster, before I even knew of Neil Gaiman, and really enjoyed it. It was something completely different to anything that had been done on Brit TV before. A stand alone genuine fantasy with a definite beginning, middle and end. Several years later, after having discovered Sandman and becoming dangerously addicted, I found it on BBC video and bought. The book with the second prologue too.

Both items were lost in a spectaculary self destructive relationship with a London girl. Haven't spoken to her since, she probably still has them, she was a huge Gaiman fan. She better be enjoying them.

Found the video again, for eight brasses, hurrah! Never found that second prologue version again, though. I still feel it was better than the more common edition. Eating puppies!

Croupe and Vandemar were indeed perfect. They genuinely seemed like indestructible non-humans. And funny with it too. Marquis was great too, played by Joseph Patterson. Apparently he agreed to be in it on condition that he got to keep the cool leather trenchcoat his character wore. Wise man. I saw him as Tovald in a brilliant theatre production of 'A Doll's House' by Ibsen. (Shared Experience) He has the most wonderful smile. The chap playing Richard Mayhew was superb. He does a good reading for the BBC audio book too. I fell a little in love with Laura Fraser as Door and the actress who played Anastasia (or was it Anasthesia?) was very memorable. I cannot help but think of most of the charaters in the book as they were played by the actors. Only Serpentine and Hunter (not keen on her portrayal) differ. The Angel was very good, otherworldy in the budget constraints. The only thing that dissappointed me was the tightness of the budget on the Beast and the door opening into infinity at the end. If it had been shot on film with a bigger budget it would have been a landmark classic, I feel.

Oh, and that Dave McKean intro, eh? Cor! And look for Neil striding under the arch with the bag in it. A fact almost everybody knows.

I can't imagine them topping Clive Owen and Hwyell Bennet as Croup and Vandemar, by the way.

The Avatar is me as Mr Quimper, Halloween 2000

"If you can keep your head
While those about you lose...
Eek!
Ugh!
I spilt my ink!
Ugh! Ink on my paper!
Agh! Ink on my trousers!
My only hope! The window!
Aieeeeee!"
- Jonathan Nash

I loved the book so much but the TV series wasn't as good...it wasn't bad though.

I finally saw it too!!
I loved it -and i liked it the more BECAUSE of the low budget thing... You get so many big TV productions these days, they always try to make this super-scool effects with their buidgets but these are not as great as if they were doing a feature film, so they end up midway between cheap and expensive, usually hilarious.
Sometimes, when things are kept humble and traditional the end product is best, coz the focus is in the story and not in the visuals.
I liked the Beast -I'd rather see a living cow than a dead papier-maché monster with fireworks coming inside from it, or a poor digital animation.
Hunter was terrible and Richard kept reminding me of Paul McCartney (coz the actor played him either in Backbeat or a BBc Beatles-TV-film)...
I loved the Marquis -he didn't look like him, but he WAS him... And Islington was more than poor... at first I couldn't stop giggling coz he looked like one of the Monthy Python's with a wig and a dirty dress.

And I especially liked to see what different narrative techniques Neil used differently in the book and the series... like the intros to each chapter, the bit with the dream in the middle of each chapter... I like to ontice that kind of stuff, especially with a genius like Neil

Hmm... you know, I've got Neverwhere sitting beside my bed... but something made me pick up Smoke and Mirrors first, instead. Maybe I should've grabbed American Gods first, or re-read Good Omens.

Ah well. Neverwhere seems like it'll be a good read, then. I usually can't stand adaptations... but sometimes I can. We'll just have to see.

~Jae~
"So, what you're saying, essentially, is that we're all screwed."
"More or less."
"Then why did you bother giving me the Holy Sword?"
"I couldn't let you feel completely helpness, could I?"

I can't stand it when other people named "Jae" crop up. It really pisses me off and makes me think I should come up with a more original nickname. Like... Xoriax, or something dynamic with lots of X's.

well, how many adaptations do you read where someone is adapting their own work? It is a bit different from the standard movie adaptation by some random author

ok, i was going crazy trying to wait for the movie to come out-then i saw that it was already out and I MUST FIND IT! where is it? is it rentable? where can i buy it?!?!!!!!!

it'll be releasedin the US on DVD in september. Do not buy any DVD or video copies from ebay, they are all pirate copies (unless it's a UK PAL video, but those don't work in the US)

quote:

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Originally posted by Mistupid6:
ok, i was going crazy trying to wait for the movie to come out-then i saw that it was already out and I MUST FIND IT! where is it? is it rentable? where can i buy it?!?!!!!!!

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For the record, it is not a movie, but rather the BBC series that exists. I think there has been talk of a movie version, but AFAIK, it isn't going anywhere.

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"Come over here to where When lingers." JCBush