{"id":4885,"date":"2003-12-12T16:11:46","date_gmt":"2003-12-12T23:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=4885"},"modified":"2014-06-13T17:18:39","modified_gmt":"2014-06-13T23:18:39","slug":"fantastic_voyag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/12\/12\/fantastic_voyag.html","title":{"rendered":"Fantastic voyages"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two media reviews, a few minor of spoilers, proceed at your own peril.<\/p>\n

The Two Towers<\/i> and Neverwhere<\/i>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>First off, The Two Towers <\/i>(Extended Edition DVD)<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Wow.<\/p>\n

Many of the criticisms I had about the movie <\/a>the first <\/a>time around (or the second<\/a>) are dealt with here. The Faramir storyline is wonderfully fleshed out, with his relationship to his brother and father — and the motivations that extend from that — made much clearer. Over at the other end of the story, we have Orc Draughts, Ent Draughts, Huorns, and Pipeweed, and that’s all good, too.<\/p>\n

I’m still annoyed by Gimli as comic sidekick. From an equal member of the Three Hunters, he becomes the short-legged kvetcher who can’t ride a horse. The Gimli\/Legolas relationship gets a smidge more air time in the Extended Edition, but just a smidge, and even that’s ruined by some anachronism. <\/p>\n

The whole Aragorn\/Arwen thing continues to irk. There are hints in the supplemental material that there was supposed to be a lot more to her appearances this time around, but as it stands, even in the extended edition, it’s just a distraction.<\/p>\n

The supplemental materials are interesting. I’m amazed by the amount of what we saw that was miniature work, vs. CG. Good supplementary material, if you don’t mind a peek behind the curtain.<\/p>\n

Definitely the edition to have, even if you never go beyond the two movie discs.<\/p>\n

<\/a>And then there’s Neverwhere<\/a><\/b><\/i>, the Neil Gaiman-written BBC mini-series <\/a>about the mystic life of London’s homeless and London Below.<\/p>\n

If TTT <\/i>is expansive, Neverwhere <\/i>is claustrophobic. If TTT <\/i>is epic, Neverwhere <\/i>is personal. If TTT <\/i>is mythic, Neverwhere <\/i>is fantastic. If TTT <\/i>is a fabulously rich and expensive tapestry that recreates a world in unbelievably believable detail, Neverwhere <\/i>is … um … well, what you might expect someone with a video camera and a class project to crank out, at least in terms of budget and film quality. <\/p>\n

None of this is Gaiman’s fault; the budgetary and scripting constraints of the BBC seem to carry most of the blame (the Commentary track by Gaiman is interesting in filling in some of these details, though more as information than as accusation). Nonetheless, it definitely hurts the production, making some scenes unclear, many unrealistic. The acting is there, the writing is there, it’s just the rest that suffers. <\/p>\n

It all, alas, has that cheesy BBC Dr. Who <\/i>feel to it (something Gaiman recognizes and comments on; ironically, he thinks Paterson Joseph’s Marquis is just what he’d like to see from a new Doctor), and that robs the series of the believability that its surreal horror requires. Climactic scenes come off as cheesily cheap. Marvels and magic come across as cheap and tawdry — and not in a good <\/i>way. <\/p>\n

Gaiman was inspired by the experience to actually novelize the six-part screenplay, and the book <\/a>is indeed a very fine read. If you had to take in one, I’d choose the book. Indeed, arguably you should only take the series as supplemental material to the book, and only plan on watching the former if you’ve read it or committed to reading it afterwards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two media reviews, a few minor of spoilers, proceed at your own peril. The Two Towers and Neverwhere….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[382,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lord-of-the-rings","category-media"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31541,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/11\/29\/a-new-neverwhere-adaptation.html","url_meta":{"origin":4885,"position":0},"title":"A new "Neverwhere" adaptation","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 29-Nov-12 8:54am","format":false,"excerpt":"For radio\/audio (unfortunately), but still with a remarkable cast, including:James McAvoy as RichardBenedict Cumberbatch as the Angel\u00a0IslingtonAnthony Head as CroupBernard Cribbins as The Old BaileyChristopher Lee as the EarlWow. While I know it will be available over the intertubes, I hope this particular radio adaptation will be possible over something\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30096,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/05\/a-re-read-of-neverwhere-by-neil-gaiman.html","url_meta":{"origin":4885,"position":1},"title":"A Re-read of "Neverwhere" by Neil Gaiman","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 5-Sep-12 5:31pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A damn fine book, even on yet another re-read. Makes me want to (a) revisit London, (b) have someone make a new video adaptation [or go back in time and gift the BBC with a few million dollars for theirs, rather than the pittance they filmed the miniseries on], and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4886,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/12\/12\/its_all_about_m-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":4885,"position":2},"title":"It’s all about me","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 12-Dec-03 11:55am","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, this makes up for several weeks of not doing any of these sorts of things....","rel":"","context":"In "Lord of the Rings \/ Hobbit"","block_context":{"text":"Lord of the Rings \/ Hobbit","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/lord-of-the-rings"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5739,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/07\/23\/neverwhere_the.html","url_meta":{"origin":4885,"position":3},"title":"Neverwhere, the Comic Book","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 23-Jul-04 2:11pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been quite neutral over the announced adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere into a comic book. But this article has piqued my interest again. Now, if we could just get...","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12266,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/06\/11\/the_lost_rivers_of_london.html","url_meta":{"origin":4885,"position":4},"title":"The Lost Rivers of London","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 11-Jun-08 7:10pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I remember Gaiman talking about these in Neverwhere, and I've picked up a few other references here and there. Here's a map of pretty much all of them....","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","block_context":{"text":"Travel","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/travel"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5214,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/10\/14\/neverwhereagain.html","url_meta":{"origin":4885,"position":5},"title":"Neverwhereagain","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 14-Oct-03 2:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Henson Productions is trying get financing for a feature adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere. Cool. Haven't yet watched the BBC adaptation original on DVD yet, but I thought the...","rel":"","context":"In "Media & Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Media & Culture","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4885"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42852,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4885\/revisions\/42852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}