Hattaba
N years ago, Neil Gaiman was asked if he could tell in 25 English words what kind of story Sandman was.
Gaiman then tells a classic "nonsense literature": "The Lord of Dreams learns that one must change or die, and makes his decision." (When a person changes or dies, his choice is also known to the Lord of this dream.) ）
Gaiman constructed a fantasy world in which all creatures who dreamed would fall asleep into a world called dreams, where Morpheus, the master of dreams, would construct fears and fantasies in the depths of people's hearts.
Poster of "The Sleeping Devil"
In the 1980s, American comic giant DC invited a group of British writers to create scripts for its new comics, including the now-famous "V-Kills" and "Watchmen".
Among them, writer Neil Gaiman fused superhero stories with myths and legends to create "Sleeping Devil". The Sleeping Devil series has since won Neil Gaiman a World Fantasy Award, making him a fourth Hugo Award. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to call "Sleeping Devil" a "god work" in the history of comics.
Gaiman deified fate, death, dreams, destruction, desire, despair, madness, etc., and they arranged the elder and young in the order in which they appeared, known as "The Endless".
Cover of the Sleeping Devil comic
Gaiman is a writer who is particularly fond of drawing nourishment from the myths and legends of the West. Legend has it that when humans fall asleep, elves will sprinkle sand on them or in their eyes, bringing about a good night's dream. This is the origin of "Sandman" (literally translated as the man who makes sand), the sleeping demon.
Looking at the comic book "Sleeping Devil" alone, I don't think it is difficult to adapt the IP into a film and television drama, but "Sleep Devil" as one of the most popular works in the "DC Black Label" brand, the "scrutiny" from fans, will be "stressful" for any adaptation team. And the "original fans" are fierce, and the original author will also be sprayed correctly.
In the 1990s, the "Sleeping Devil" film project was launched. In 2001, the project fell into a development crisis, and after a series of accidents, Gaiman became very cautious about adapting "Sleeping Devil", and he was not sure whether "Sleeping Devil" could be adapted.
Neil Gaiman at the "Sleeper" theme exhibition
In 2007, Gaiman said, "I'd rather not see a Nightshade movie than a bad Sleeper movie." We need someone who is as obsessed with the original book as Peter Jackson to The Lord of the Rings or Sam Remy to Spider-Man. ”
Gaiman's request for an "original" adaptation, perhaps forgivable, said his favorite comic was Howard the Duck. As a teenager, he was particularly excited when he heard that George Lucas was going to make it into a movie. Then there was the dismal box office "Howard the Duck: A New Breed of Hero", which later won seven awards.
In 2013, Gaiman announced that he was working on the script for New Line Pictures, but the project ended in 2016.
The road of cinema seems to be hopeless, and streaming has become a new blue ocean. Now it seems that everything has to start with Netflix taking over the equally ill-fated "Lucifer" in 2018 - the comic "Lucifer" is exactly the sequel to "Sleeping Devil" - in fact, from the rating and broadcast volume of "Lucifer" at that time, the results were not bright, but the rich Netflix was still moving in the direction of creating a "Sleeper Universe".
In 2019, Netflix announced that it signed a cooperation with Warner Bros. Television to jointly adapt "Sleeping Devil", and in the past three years, it has encountered force majeure such as the epidemic, which has made this work with its own "impossible to be adapted" aura another twist and turn. In the end, at a cost of $170 million, Netflix launched all 10 episodes of the first season of "Sleeper". At present, the show is known as "the most expensive DC series" (this is a bit of a water, mainly the DC series produced by Warner or CW has never taken the high cost route).
The restoration of the original scene in the drama version of "Sleeping Devil"
All the "original fans" who want to judge the drama version of "Sleeping Devil" should remember Gaiman's statement in an interview in March 2019: "It now belongs to DC and Warner, not me, and the possibility of "Sleeping Devil" being adapted is still increasing, but I have no say in anything." ”
Oh, take a closer look at the list of creators of the drama version of "Sleeping Devil", the tv series co-producer still hangs Neil Gaiman's name.
This can only be said that the adaptation of the theatrical version of "American Gods" left Gaiman with PTSD.
Stills from "The Sleeping Devil"
After "Sleeping Devil" was launched, there was a drama review that was particularly interesting - the adaptation was good, that is, it was not friendly to people who had not seen "Sleeping Devil".
Of course, George W. Bush, who didn't write his own Game of Thrones, was a member of the Academy of Thrones. R.R. Martin, instead, "took the time" to watch "Sleeping Devil", and then praised the show on his personal blog as "very faithful" (very faithful) to restore the original work, and the article also claimed that he definitely did not take money from the other party, pure "tap water". These two days have evolved into a commercial blowback between Gaiman and Martin.
On Rotten Tomatoes, "Sleepers" was rated 87 percent by critics and 80 percent by viewers. Good, but not too good.
"Sleeping Devil" scored well on Rotten Tomatoes, but not too well
Compared with the original work, the big framework of "Sleeping Devil" has not changed, but some character settings have been adjusted. Although some adjustments are still criticized, such as for political correctness to cram multiple black characters and homosexuals that are not in the original book, or to avoid the DCEU, that is, the DC development universe, so that many of DC's famous characters disappear, or simply to convert the hell detective John Constantine to Johanna Constantine.
The first season can be divided into two parts, the first 5 episodes are about how the Sleeping Devil retrieves the lost sandbags, rubies and helmets, and the last 5 episodes are the "house fight" of the Endless Family.
It is widely believed that episodes 5 and 6 of the first season are the best of the season, and if you don't have time to watch the whole season, or just want to know the story of "Sleeping Devil", then just watch these two episodes. These two episodes epitomize Gaiman's creative intent—the complexity of human nature. Don't forget, in 2018, when the Nobel Prize in Literature was in chaos, Neil Gaiman was one of the 4 people who were finalized for the Nobel Prize for New Literature. Although his works are classified as popular culture, the depth of his ideas is still recognized by the pure literary field.
Episode 5 tells the story of John Boggs, the illegitimate son of the warlock Roderick, who wants to create a world without deception, only to prove that many sins are false in the name of the supreme good. Episode 6 is about the bet between the two gods, which is Gaiman's favorite subject, and in his writing, the gods are ordinary people.
After watching episode 10, I know that the drama version of "Sleeping Devil" can at least be filmed for another season or two, and the "house fight" within the Endless Family will continue. As the "original fan" of "American Gods", I only hope that "Sleeping Devil" will not repeat the same mistakes. Don't stop it in time.
Editor-in-Charge: Zhang Zhe
Proofreader: Shi Gong