Finished up this evening the Amazon Prime adaptation of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s delightful novel of the Apocalypse, Good Omens.
- Gaiman had committed to Pratchett that it would be adapted to TV, but only if it could be done well. He kept his commitment. We all had tremendous fun watching it.
- I have no idea how well it will play for folk who have never read the book (an activity I can heartily recommend). (James has only gotten 2/3 of the way through, but he enjoyed it, beginning to end.)
- As someone who has (multiple times, and as a prelude to watching the series), I found the translation between media — what was taken away, what was added, what was de-emphasized, what was focused on, what was changed — to work pretty damned nicely. The novel is heavily laden with interior voice and backstory and trivia, which is a delight to read, but a challenge (met) to render on television. Making it more, but by no mean solely, about Aziraphale and Crowley, is part of what makes it click for a TV setting.
- A special shout-out to having the nerve to include the final set of lines in the promos for the series. And they are even more delightful in context.
- Michael Sheen and David Tennant are Aziraphale and Crowley. Brilliant.
- I don’t agree with all the decisions for visualization, voices, or character design … but it feels a very English production for all that, and it’s a delight.
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