The Sandman
released 2022
www.ink2quill.com

“The Sandman” is an American scifi, action, drama, supernatural, fantasy series based on the comic book/ graphic novel series of the same name written by Neil Gaiman. It was produced by Jim Campolongo, Andrew Cholerton, Anya Dubble Olson, Neil Gaiman, David S. Goyer, Austin Guzman, Allan Heinberg, Samson Mucke, Alexander Newman-Wise, Ameni Rozsa, Jamie Childs, Ann-Marie Fitzgerald, Jo Mance, Erin Vitali,Vanya Asher, Heather Bellson, Mike Barker, Iain Smith, Bruno Felix, Janneke van de Kerkhof and Femke Wolting. It was directed by Jamie Childs, Andrés Baiz, Louise Hooper, Mairzee Almas, Mike Barker, Coralie Fargeat and Hisko Hulsing. It stars a huge cast of talents that include Tom Sturridge, Vivienne Acheampong, Patton Oswalt, Nina Wadia, Souad Faress, Dinita Gohil, Boyd Holbrook, Razane Jammal, Kyo Ra, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Mason Alexander Park, Nicholas Anscombe, Jenna Coleman, Esme Creed-Miles, Ann Skelly, Mark Hamill, Asim Chaudhry, Douglas Booth, Clare Higgins, Stephen Fry,
Gwendoline Christie, Adrian Lester, Freddie Fox, Donna Preston, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Jack Gleeson, Ruta Gedmintas, Umulisa Gahiga, Steve Coogan, Barry Sloane, Charles Dance and many more. It seems that everyone wanted to be a part of this project.

Sandman IMDb webpage

Sandman Goodreads webpage

“Sandman” is the story of Morpheus (Lord of Dreams), played by Tom sturridge, who is kidnapped by an occultist named Roderick Burgess, played by Charles Dance. (Just as a side note, the man who plays Roderick Burgess, Charles Dance, is the same actor who played Tywin Lannister in the “Game of Thrones TV series” taken after the book series of the same name. He did an amazing job at it too. If you haven’t seen it please check the series out.) Roderick is a skilled occultist but not as skilled as he believes himself to be. In many ways he is a child playing with fire. He has no clue what he has gotten himself into and he does not consider the damage he has done to the dream world. Lord of Dreams is held captive for over 100 years and when he gets out he has to fix the damage done to the land of dreams.

This story begins in the year 1916 England. This is a time when technology was steampunk. So, the sets, costumes and worldbuilding in this series are just beautiful and soooo well done. If you like steampunk stories this series is for you. I love the investment in worldbuilding this series has.

Another great element is the fairy tale like aspect of this story. This really reads like a fairy tale or even mythology of our day. I am one of those people that view the comic book, graphic novel world of today are our days mythology, complete with moral lessons, love, conflict, and symbolisms that make some of these stories timeless. I think that if people from ancient times looked at our better comic books, graphic novels from today they would be pleased and intrigued. We really have not lost our ability to tell great tales.

Another thing worth mentioning is the fine acting of Tom Sturridge playing the Lord of Dreams. If you’ve read the graphic novel then you’ll see that Tom Sturridge is such a good fit as the role of Lord of Dreams. I don’t just mean looking the part. His acting is just fantastic. The casting is soooo well done. It really makes all the difference. So, many great stories are badly cast and even great scripts and great world building won’t a good production make. (To quote Yoda). And in this series that fact is clear as day.

So, check out “Sandman” is really worth the watch. Check it out.

John Ink2Quill

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