O.K. So....

Its like this right...

Niel Gaiman's T.V. adaptation of Good Omens, is Fantastic... Brilliant... I could pile superlatives on it for quite a while. I loved it.

Now I hasten to add... this isn't a 'review'. At least... not in the ordinary sense of the word. 'Reaction' would be a better description. And... that said... I am a little biased... because I have loved the book since it was first published. And... as anyone who knows me, knows (brd) I am a huge fan of Terry Pratchett, one of my all time favourite people. Never mind author.

In a lot of ways the experience reminded me of seeing Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring for the first time. Likewise I loved it, but when it was done... I missed Tom, and Old man Willow.

And now... dear reader, if you don't wan't spoilers, would be a good time to postpone reading further.*

And with Good Omens I missed, Big Ted, Pigbog, Greaser and Scuzz, AKA  Grievous Bodily Harm... Really Cool People, (Formerly Ansaphones)...  Cruelty to Animals and...  Embarrassing Personal Problems (AKA No Alcohol Lager/Things Not Working Properly Even After You’ve Given them A Really Good Thumping/All Foreigners, Especially the French/Treading in Dogs***/People Covered In Fish).

And... yes... I completely understand Gaiman's rationale for omitting  them, "only so much time, only so much money." Or words to that effect. He telegraphed this almost as soon as production got underway. Some things were not going to make it.

Still missed them though.

As far as Aziraphael's inconvenient discorporation goes... Wheras, in the book, he pings all over the world, including popping up in a Televangelists head,  to the tune of 'Jesus is the Telephone Repair Man on the Switchboard of my Life.' John Hamm's smarmy 'Mega Church Preacher' presentation of Gabriel kiind of made up for its absence. Even though Gabriel doesn't actually appear in the discorporation scene.

The expansion of the 'two consenting bicycle repairmen', narrative was quite amusing, and somehow 'on screen', the... 'old couple' aspect of Aziraphael and Crowley's relationship seemed to be more in sharp relief. Though most of what appears between them in the show is right there in the book too.

Tennant was just the right side of his silly side, Sheen lovely and cuddly. The bit parts read like a who's who of British Acting.

I wanted more of the battle of Tadfield Manor. (Aka... Industrial Holdings (Holdings) PLC, combat course.)

I was not quite sure what was happening with Death's face. And, without the context, the Burger Lord cook... seemed a bit of an arbitrary nod to the long time fan. And of course Elvis would today be 84.

One Video Blogger,  https://youtu.be/HEIHLuA-nhs I know is a Long time Pratchett and, seemed a little disquieted by the inclusion of the Crucifixion which was not in the book. For myself I thought it was spot on. And not just because of where the nails went in. There are some very dark aspects to the whole narrative in the book, that somehow seemed summed up in that scene, that might have been hard to include otherwise. Without getting into long expositions by Crowley and Aziraphael. Which the TV execs would have loathed.

The trials of Crowley and Aziraphael were interesting additions. The book ends pretty much with heaven and hell trying to pretend  nothing happened.  Not sure what the ineffable plan actually is. And busily guiltily getting their heads down after realising the boss has been watching them all along. Hard to really translate to the screen. Instead the complicity between heaven and hell is played out in their attempts to punish their respective miscreants. And Agnes Nutters hand in the outcome for Crowley and Aziraphael raises a lot of interesting questions. Especially when she knew the outcome anyhow 'The Further Nice and Accurate....' Agnes is messing in the affairs between Heaven Hell and Earth. Almost omniscient.

The Them, seemed just a little stilted, particularly without the Johnsonites. Especially Greasy Johnson himself, who I always felt was a neat resolution to the 'third baby' question.

And I couldn't help thinking that Adria Arjona wasn't entirely sure what was going on a lot of the Time. Josie Lawrence was near perfect Agnes. And the Who's Who of British Acting , just gave the whole thing a ... great feel.

The M25 as a screaming wall of flame was glorious. Queen... well... Queen. 

I missed Sergeant Deisenburger's  homecoming I even missed Shadwell's rollups.  Which might possibly be, the only time that phrase is written by anyone, ever...

But By Heck... it wasn't just good enough, it was still Bloody Brilliant!

* Oh and if you haven't read the book, some of what follows here, will make, little if any sense.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DEATH

Image
THIS BLOG POST MAY NOT BE AS MORBID AS THE TITLE MIGHT SUGGEST. ALTHOUGH IT MIGHT. I SUPPOSE IT COULD DEPEND ON YOUR POINT OF VIEW. I love death. Not the twisted arms and legs, torso cut into pieces, struck down by a heart attack, kind of death, but a particular character in a series of books by a now ( sadly ) deceased author. And if you haven't figured it out, his name was Terry Pratchett. But this isn't really about Sir Pterry, or even Discworld. Its about appropriation. I didn't mean to steal this character, and two others ( The death of Rats, and Quoth the raven he rides on ) for my own nefarious ends. It happened some years ago, sort of by accident. Few people can fail to have encountered those posters who, WRITE IN ALL CAPS, NO MATTER WHAT THE TOPIC. Usually making statements and claims one thinks are, lets say 'odd'. ( Or.. flying mammal poo bonkers ) And I am no exception. And every time I have, the first thought in my head was of Sir Pterr
Keep reading

The spirit of humanity.

OK, I give up, I cannot resit the temptation to write a polemic on Spirit. Many of my regular readers will, by now, have realised I am an atheist. And something of an anti-theist. I am also interested in what we might term 'spirituality'. "Wait!" I hear you cry,  "Atheists don't believe in 'spirit', you can't be spiritual! It's against the rules." But is it? I wonder? And now to throw a real cat among the pigeons. The symbolism of 'gods and goddesses'. A quote from Terry Pratchett seems to sum this up nicely. "I ain't against gods and goddesses, in their place. But they've got to be the ones we make ourselves. Then we can take 'em to bits for parts when we don't need 'em any more, see?' Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies. Which seems to me quite one of the most profound statements I can imagine. When we see a boxer fight, we often say he or she fights with spirit. It seems legitimate to me
Keep reading

AFTER THE DAY: Timothy's History, The Dispute: The Travellers meal part 2.

John stood quietly and I could tell he was reorganising his thoughts. "Which Ism, do you think they are?" He asked. "I'm, not certain," I paused, "I think whoever they are, they planned to survive 'the day'. In a deliberately constructed and provisioned bunker. They undoubtedly think of themselves as 'the government', and no doubt want to take back what they think is theirs." "What do you think we should do about them? "I'm not sure. I think Lilly would talk about alliances and information gathering. It would certainly be a bad idea to antagonise them at this stage." I turned to John as a thought occurred to me, "Have you asked them about the smokers?" "No, it seemed to me that the more ignorant they thought I was, the more I might learn about them." "I think it would be good to ask them, I imagine they might be the source of the carts that come down from the North. Even th
Keep reading