grendelkhan
I first saw Neverwhere during a PBS pledge drive. I was and am a huge fan of Neil Gaiman's writing, since first reading his work in the comic book series Black Orchid. I had read about the mini-series and was dying to see it. My initial viewing was marred by the pledge breaks, but it didn't detract from an enjoyment of the series.The story is first rate, blending elements of fairy tales, fantasy, horror, The Wizard of Oz, and Alice in Wonderland. The idea of a world beneath or own is always attractive, whether it is Burrough's Pellucidar, the aforementioned Wonderland, or tales of the Sidhe. The added twist of London geography was brilliant.The characters are first rate, with the Marquis De Carabas and Croup and Vandemar being especially memorable,as were the actors portraying them.Much can be said about the use of video and the budget constraints. Having been weened on Doctor Who, I didn't find this as much of a problem as some. I do think film would have made the world look more fantastic, but the excellent use of actual locations really gave an "Other World" feel to the setting.The DVD release is excellent, providing the series in a high quality transfer, and including commentary from Gaiman, who is a great storyteller, in voice or print. It would have nice to include interviews with the actor and contribution from Lenny Henry, but this satisfies.If you are a fan of fantasy, horror, or just a good story, check this out (with a forgiving eye to the video look of things).
itamarscomix
After seven years, Neverwhere is finally available on DVD, and can be found on major shopping sites like Amazon. I'm sure many of you heard of it, but much fewer have seen it. This fascinating 1996 BBC mini-series was created by Mr. Neil Gaiman, accomplished and acclaimed author of American Gods, Coraline and Good Omens (with Terry Pratchett) among others, and co-written by Gaiman and the wonderful British comedian Lenny Henry. Gaiman fans such as myself have waited for quite some time to see this series introduced to American audiences - and since Gaiman is now finally breaking ground in the States (American Gods actually won the Hugo award, and was an international bestseller) this seems like the perfect time. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a video of the series a couple of years back, but those are quite rare. If you love Neil's work, take the chance to finally see this lovely piece of work.Neverwhere is a highly imaginative story of urban legend, rich with Gaiman's special brand of British black humor. The script is really wonderful, and Henry helps with his own experience in screenplay writing. Acting is terrific by everyone involved - I loved Gary Bakewell (frequent Paul McCartney impersonator on various BBC tele-biographies) as Richard Mayhew, the ordinary Englishman drawn into a strange adventure underground, and many other accomplished British actors - such as Laura Fraser, Trevor Peacock, Freddie Jones and Peter Capaldi - give a great performance. Unfortunately, the series suffers from the same problems shared by most British TV series - a budget lower than that of one episode of 'Dharma and Greg'. Therefore, the scenery, though highly inventive and original, doesn't look very impressive. Dewi Humphreys directs like he would direct a soap opera or a murder mystery, and though the directing of the dialogue is flawless, the action scenes are immensely disappointing, especially the 'Beast of England' battle, which is incredibly unconvincing.Despite these weaknesses, though, the series is still well worth watching, especially if you're fond of the genre, and also if you're fond of British television. A word on two great artists who contributed much to the series: Dave McKean, for one, the great artist who collaborated with Gaiman in works like 'The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch', 'Black Orchid' and Coraline, created an astounding opening sequence to every episode, which is a fascinating piece of work by itself; if you enjoy his work on such graphic novels as Arkham Asylum, Cages and his covers for Neil's Sandman series, the DVD is worth it just for this one sequence. Secondly, the brilliant Mr. Brian Eno, the inventor of Ambient music and musical collaborator of the likes of David Byrne, David Bowie and Robert Fripp, supplies the wonderful score to the series, very eerie and atmospheric synthesized music. Thank god for that, because without him we'd probably have basic British TV music, which tends to be quite awful - and Eno's sound really adds a lot to the atmosphere of the story.It's important that, if you read and enjoyed the novel Neverwhere, you won't approach this series expecting Hollywood - or even modern American television - production values, because you'll be disappointed. A movie version of this nature, in collaboration with Jim Henson co, has been in talks for some time, but it doesn't seem very likely. If fantasy films are to you special effects and big battle scenes, you probably won't be impressed by Neverwhere. If you love fantasy literature, though, and especially Gaiman's work, you'll find Neverwhere highly rewarding. It's very entertaining, and very imaginative. And in the end, imagination is what fantasy is all about. Isn't it?
inkleaf
True enough, this isn't glitzy, cellophane-shrink-wrapped Hollywood fare. Then again, neither is it all-gloss-and-no-substance Hollywood fare. It may not have the overdone special effects and billion-dollar sets that audiences have come to expect, but Neverwhere lacks nothing by way of storytelling and acting. (In fact, Gaiman's unhappiness with the final result was that they couldn't shoot in all the locations he'd wished - by my research he's not stated he was unhappy with the story itself.) If you have any imagination at all (or any respect for the difficulty faced by filmmakers constrained by the fact that they're not backed by Hollywood trillions) then Neverwhere is worth the watch. The book is also first-rate and includes some of the scenes Gaiman had to cut or alter during filming.
