The Sandman: A Dream Adaptation!

After more than 30 years in development hell, an adaptation of The Sandman has finally made it to our screens. On August 5, Netflix, along with DC Entertainment and Warner Bros Television, brought Neil Gaiman’s magnum opus to life in a 10-episode series format (plus a bonus episode) that has left fans of the original comic and new fans of this dream world equally enchanted.

Here at Q+, we are huge fans of Mr. Gaiman’s work. Nerds at heart, we were hopeful that his involvement in this adaptation – along with the brilliant work of David S. Goyer and Allan Heinberg as executive producer and showrunner respectively – would do the source material some justice; and we’re happy to report that it did. The rumors are true folks, The Sandman adaptation is a dream come true!

After binge-watching the series in one sitting, and rewatching it a few more times just because we can, we have no doubt that the decision to adapt this story for the small screen was the right one. With 75 issues published and countless specials and spin-offs that followed, television was definitely the only viable medium to share this complex, epic, ethereal, and fascinating story.

So join us as we take a deep dive into the world of The Dreaming and reveal why we think The Sandman is one of the best adaptations we’ve seen in recent times.

What is The Sandman actually about?

We are going to be honest, describing this story in a couple of words is impossible. Some will say that as the premise says, it’s the story of Dream (Tom Sturridge), alias the Sandman, the King of dreams and nightmares, who after being captured and held as a prisoner for more than a century, manages to escape and return to his realm to try to fix the series of catastrophic events that unfolded during his absence and that have changed the worlds of The Dreaming and The Waking forever. 

But The Sandman is much more than that. Just like dreams and nightmares, if we were to explain the story without delving too deeply into its complexity, we would say that The Sandman is an unpredictable story about stories. It’s a tale that, since it was first published in the late ’80s, has told and used about every genre imaginable to take its readers on a journey they’ve never been on before.

The TV series, true to its source material, does the same.

The year is 1916, Dream sets out to take down a nefarious nightmare named the Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook) who escaped the Dreaming and is wreaking havoc in Berlin, when Sir Roderick Burgess (Charles Dance) – an English aristocrat with a penchant for the occult and leader of a cult known as the Order of Ancient Mysteries – miscasts a spell to try to capture and trap the literal anthropomorphic personification of Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), and ends up capturing her brother instead, namely Dream.

Burgess, whose son had died in Gallipoli the year before, intended to force Death to bring his son back and naively thinks that he can bargain with Dream to get his wish anyway by stripping him of his tools of power. But the King of Dreams and Nightmares refuses to even talk to the old man, and as a result, he is trapped in his cellar for over a century.

In his ignorance, Burgess thinks that keeping the personification of dreams as a prisoner will not bring any major harm to the “real” world, but in reality, his selfish act triggers a series of misfortunes that have disastrous consequences both in the Waking and the Dreaming worlds. Global pandemics, wars, the destruction of the realm of dreams, and the escape of nightmares to the Waking World, all are consequences of Burgess’ actions.

Meeting Dream of The Endless

In the present, we follow Dream after he returns to The Dreaming – the place we go to when we fall asleep. Dream of the Endless is one of seven siblings, children of night and time, and although in this first season of The Sandman, we only meet three more Endless, Death, Desire (Mason Alexander Park) and Despair (Donna Preston), the rest – Destiny, Destruction, and Delirium – are sure to be featured in future seasons of the show. If Netflix renews it, that is.

The Endless are infinite and eternal beings who oversee the domains related to sentient life. Dream’s appearance, as well as his name, changes depending on who is interacting with him, that is why throughout the series we know him not only as Dream but as Morpheus, Kai-ckul, Sandman, etc.

Upon his return to the Dreaming, Dream discovers that not only has his realm fallen into decay and the dreams and nightmares he once created are gone with some now roaming free in the Waking World, but that his three tools of power – his helmet, his ruby, and his pouch of sand – have been stolen. Without them, he has no power to rebuild the Dreaming and restore the order that has been lost.

Not knowing the location of his tools, Dream finds it necessary to summon the three-that-are-one, the-one-that-is-three – the Hecatae – with the help of the only creature still alive in the Dreaming: Gregory, the gargoyle. The Fates give Dream three clues in order to retrieve his lost artifacts and keep them from falling into the wrong hands. But all this is just the tip of the iceberg in this story.

Throughout the 10 episodes that make up the first season of The Sandman, we see Dream not only embark on a mission to recover his tools and chase down the nightmares that have taken advantage of his absence to torment humanity; but we also see him try to prevent his realm from being completely destroyed by a vortex, as this would represent the end of everything.

Y’all know we don’t like spoilers, but if you’re a fan of the original comic, we can tell you that this first season of The Sandman covers the first two major arcs of the original comic: Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll’s House – i.e. The Sandman issues #1–8, and #9–16 respectively. So if you have prior knowledge of the story, now you know what to expect. If you don’t, hold on tight because you’re in for a wild, wild ride.

The Perfect Formula

But what makes The Sandman one of the best adaptations that have been made in recent times? Everything – the group of creators behind the project, the production team, the story, the casting of the characters (some of them look like they were ripped from the pages of the comic), the acting, the costumes, the score, and the visual effects. All the pieces that make this series a reality work seamlessly together and create a product that is not only enjoyable for fans of the original story, but for new fans as well.

And while hardcore comic book fans may argue that Netflix’s The Sandman isn’t a word-for-word adaptation of the source material, it’s certainly a very strong one that manages to capture the essence of the comics, which is ultimately key to any good adaptation. The changes that were made – which aren’t that significant by the way – feel right for the television format, making the story more compelling and engaging, especially for an audience learning about this world for the first time.

The Sandman does a wonderful job of bringing you into its world and catching you up with the lore you need to know in order to follow the story, laying out its premise in a way that is in tune with the story and yet very easy to understand. In a television landscape that is becoming increasingly dominated by fantasy TV shows, Gaiman’s The Sandman fits the bill.

Queer Representation

From its conception and despite what some folks claim, Gaiman’s original The Sandman – which was written between 1989 and 1996 – had queer representation in its more than 3,000 pages. Yes, the comic did it before the industry even started to care about representation. However, in Netflix’s The Sandman, queer representation takes center stage, and naturally that has sparked some controversy online with people calling the inclusion of a diverse set of characters (and cast members for that matter) a pandering to the ‘woke agenda.’

Gaiman, who is no stranger to online trolls and handles them like a pro, has said that the show’s inherent queerness is true to his original vision. “We didn’t really change anything, that was how they were when I wrote them, that’s always how I’ve written characters,” he told The Queer Review.

And what a blessing that is because this show has a plethora of LGBTQ+ characters whose stories we get to see unfold to a greater or lesser extent throughout the season. Revealed in a very casual way, none of these characters are defined by their sexuality or gender identity; it’s just one aspect of who they are and we champion that. The representation is such that in the end there’s something for everyone – good folks, bad folks, scheming non-binary entities. This show is as queer as it gets and we loved every bit of it.

In fact, when our team finished watching the season, the general consensus was: “It’s a queer show, with straight token characters,” and we still stand by that.

Overall, Netflix’s The Sandman is a faithful adaptation of a beloved story that’s off to a very strong start. It’s exactly the kind of high-concept queer dark fantasy that you didn’t know you needed but will be very grateful it exists.

Everything, from the intensity of Tom Sturridge’s portrayal of Dream to the captivating performances of Gwendoline Christie as Lucifer, Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death, Boyd Holbrook as The Corinthian, Vivienne Acheampong as Lucienne, David Thewlis as John Dee, Jenna Coleman as Johanna Constantine, and Mason Alexander Park as Desire – to name a few. This cast delivers and delivers in spades.

Like its source material, The Sandman explores the macabre and surrealist aspects of dreams and nightmares, and what it means to be human. So if you’re into horror, fantasy, and stories that are rooted in deep lore, then The Sandman is definitely for you.

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