 Oh, that's a hot mug, guys! Hey guys, another video here for me. I know it's been a bit, I apologize. It's been very busy. I've gone back to film work and I've also still in the middle of my wedding season, but I actually did have a series that I blasted through. Not so much in terms of what normal binge watching is. I watched it probably over a week was the Sandman. Now, I was a little bit hesitant about this because just with Netflix's track record, but the thing that kept me going was the fact that Neil Gaiman was a part of it. And this is his baby. This is one of his major stories and he had some association with American Gods. And while I wasn't a big fan of the show, it went there with its like out there-ness and it did not hold back. So that's like a lot of what Neil's storytelling is. I do know the Sandman on part. I have read some of the comics, but I really got introduced to it when Audible did that, that audio story with James McAvoy and Tanner Edgerton and a bunch of different characters. And a lot of those stories from the first volume are in this one, particularly him being trapped in a prison for a hundred years and then having to regain his tools, his crafts from different means of the earth, including the devil and also a very, very crazy dude and a tiner. And then also getting to have some very interesting conversations, like one person being a guy who has been given kind of infinite life as a test to see whether he can, you know, handle every hundred years. And there's a very good episode with death and how that is just very noncited, very just matter of factly. And yeah, I'd actually have to say that this show did a really good job. The guy who plays Dream is dead on. He is exactly what I was imagining James McAvoy's voice to be as the Sandman. And even going into the comics, he looks pretty similar. Sure, his hair is a little bit of aged of, I don't know, something you'd find at an early 2000s, my chemical romance concert. But it still works. It still fits into the character and just how he comes across people, entities, everything is exactly who I thought dream to be. So it was really cool to see that come across on the screen and the stories. Neil Gaiman's story with the Sandman. It's not really a connective story. If anything, they actually kind of made that more so towards the end of the season, but a lot of it is based on the short stories that the first volume, at least from what I saw from the audible is based on. There's a lot of kind of like tiny little stories that have the infinitesimally small connection to them. At least the first four stories are kind of all connected to each other because they are all about him regaining freedom and having to rebuild his dream world by regaining his tools, his sand, his mask, and his ruby. And I have to say some of my favorite stories in this were portrayed incredibly well. The diner was great. Now, if there's only one thing I can maybe slightly complain about is seeing Professor Lupin be the crazy dude in this one. He's not as crazy as I kind of interpreted. He was a little bit, I don't know, subdued, I guess you'd say. He's kind of just fucking with people just to see it. Whereas in the book, and at least from when I got from the audible was that he's like fucking malicious and he just wants to see the world burn. But that was the light complaint. And then now I know that a lot of people were really new gaming being welcome, blah, blah, blah. I didn't care. I thought that all the casting was really well done. I thought everything was great, except for one. I didn't understand why he changed John Constantine to Joanna. I just, I was looking for a reason. I was looking for some kind of explanation as to why like I was looking for that story, the one that does associate with him, with her and this former love interest. Very same as the comic, because he's going back to an old love interest who's a drug addict who's basically been living off of his dream powder and is just stuck there and just dying away. But they didn't really change anything about it. They just kind of threw in a different story. And I felt that was a little bit presumptuous of him because John Constantine isn't his character as far as I know, correct me if I'm wrong and I apologize if I am. But John's a John been John for a long time. So I, like I said, I didn't get that change. I thought that was just, you know, whatever, just trying to something different. But that's my only kind of casting complaint is just, it just didn't make any sense to me. But other than that, I really liked all of the casting from everyone else. I liked what's her name from Game of Thrones who played Lucifer. I'll admit it was different to see, because Martin Sheen does the audio book, but her just being as tall as she is. And then the fight with the words, the battle of metaphors and literal versions coming to life was really cool to see. I enjoyed that. Now though, the big thing that's been kind of a complaint with some people is that this is not non-Sanman friendly. If you are not a fan of the show, you're really going to be out to fucking lunch. And that statement is kind of true. It is much more heavy handed towards fans, which, hey, you know what? We all fucking complain about different medias going for the broader audience, look at goddamn Halo for an example. So I'm not going to complain about Sandman not really catering towards people who don't know the series. It's made for fans of the books in mind. And yeah, I'm not going to complain about that. For those of you who are like, yeah, I guess that kind of sucks, but it wasn't made for you. Gaiman has said that. Gaiman was so attached to this project. I'll say that I was kind of a bit worried when I saw that David S. Goyer was originally the show creator for it. And they're like, oh God, because even Joseph Gordon Levitt was going to play Dream. And that was years ago. That was when they were still talking about this becoming a movie. And then it turned into a television series. And in the end, I'd have to say that I think that the show did a lot better than I thought it was going to do. I was pleasantly surprised. I liked the Corinthian character, which now if I'm wrong, I don't remember him popping up in the first volume of the Audible series. Again, I have not read as much of the comics as I should, but I really actually liked what his character became and his association with the story at the end. I thought that was really cool. I did like how they used the vortex character as a much more impactful. It's already a pretty impactful story in terms of the realm between reality and dreams, but it was much more cohesive to the narrative just with how they kind of you know, tie it in the last four episodes. Yeah, I would say that Sandman is definitely made for fans in mind. It is a very cool interpretation of the stories. I was pleasantly surprised with how it turned out. And I actually am quite excited to see the second season. I do admit, like I said, it is not a cohesive story. You kind of watch a few things once, and then maybe watch a few little stories. And you could watch this thing out of order, almost. And you wouldn't be any more out of like, except for the last four episodes and maybe a little bit of the first two or three, you wouldn't really be out to lunch in terms of Sandman fans. So in the end, I'm going to give the Sandman A5 out of seven. I actually would almost give it a six as a fan of the story, but I'm not going to be that generous. It does have a little bit of faults here and there in terms of its pacing for the first few episodes. There are a few times where it gets a little slow, but otherwise I feel that it's still a really cool story. I think that you guys should give it a chance. And especially if you're audible readers or listeners get the first volume, I'm meaning to get the second one. I'm waiting for my free credit to appear. But yeah, anyways, guys, that's all for me. I hope you enjoyed the review. Sorry, again, for the complete absence for the last little while. But I hope you enjoyed it. In the end, yeah, I hope you guys enjoyed and I hope you guys are doing well. Did you guys watch the show yet? Have you seen it? Tell me what you thought in the comments below and let me know. Otherwise, guys, that's all for me. Hope you enjoyed the video and I'll see you guys next time.