Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere (1996)

Whether you view it as an alternate reality or the illusions of demented mind, Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere is an intriguing place to visit. The Sandman creator's first TV miniseries suffers from the same traditional shortcomings that plague all British "telefantasy"--namely, micro-budget production values and slapdash direction that betrays a conspicuous shortage of rehearsal time. And yet, within those limitations, Gaiman and director Dewi Humphreys have crafted an ambitious exploration of "London Below," a vast, subterranean capital, far below "London Above," where office drone Richard Mayhew (Gary Bakewell) unwittingly finds himself after rescuing Door (Laura Fraser), an underworld dweller determined to learn why her parents have been killed. Gaiman teases the viewer with hints that Richard may be insane, but Neverwhere maintains its imaginative ambiguity, and presents a dark, dangerous domain of baronies and fiefdoms, bearing familiar British nomenclature but decidedly unfamiliar landmarks. Once you've visited, you might prefer to stay. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

Brilliant!

I have long considered "Neverwhere" to be the best of Neil Gaiman - a true jewel. But I'm an American and did not know until I moved to Europe that the book was written AFTER the mini-series.

True to his characters, Mr. Gaiman has created a brilliant visual perspective of the world Down Below. The series is visually stunning and just dark enough to be enjoyable by everyone. The humour is Brit-dry but still makes even the darkest character comic. "Tube" humour is pervasive (Mind the Gap!) but doesn't keep anyone from enjoying the overall wackiness of the story and company of players.

It is a joy to watch.

September 25, 2008

For Neil Gaiman Completists Only!

Neverwhere: A Novelis one of my favorite books. It was the first non-comic material of Gaiman's that I'd read, and I hold it up to great fantasy journeys like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 100th Anniversary Edition (Books of Wonder) and The Chronicles of Narnia Box Set (adult) (Narnia). Most importantly, this book has that incrediable ability to make the ordinary world, the one in which we live every day, seem extraordinary. Reading the book will expand your imagination and add a little magic to your life, no matter how ordinary.

This series, on the other hand, does its best to make the magical mundane and the extraordinary ordinary. The production had fantastic sets, which can be glimpsed from time to time, particularly in the photo gallery extras on this DVD set. During the actual series, the director thought it best to hide the sets as much as possible, shoot with as little light as possible, and generally make it look even cheaper than it already was.

The acting is passable, although much of it suffers from the common british television acting style of "rush out all your lines as fast as possible." It ends up making half the actors sound out of breath. The one actor who really stands out is Paterson Joseph as the Marquis de Carabas. Much like his character from the book, he steals almost every scene he in which he is present. Most of the other actors are servicable, although a few truly bad performances show up from time to time.

The special effects are limited in number, but their quality makes you wish that the filmmakers had simply stuck to using shadows instead of such obviously cheap tricks.

All in all, I would recommend the series only to Neil Gaiman fans who are interested in everything he was ever involved in. Gaiman's commentary is interesting, and he sheds a great deal of light upon the production without sparring any criticism of the elements that he doesn't like. That makes the series essential for die-hard fans, and perhaps worth a rental for more casual Gaiman devotees. Also of note is the title sequence by Dave McKean, who later directed the Gaiman-scripted Mirrormask. The titles are mysterious, atmospheric and beautiful. Everything the mini-series is not. In fact, the titles and the commentary are good enough that they bumped this from a 2-star to a 3-star review. But only barely.

Oh, and skip the lousy comic-book adapation(Mike Carey's Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere) as well. Stick with the novel. September 11, 2008

Again, the BBC Production Came First

Like many others, I had read Neverwhere and other Neil Gaiman Books before I discovered there was a BBC mini-series. I looked it up on Wikipedia, IMDB and Amazon and learned some of the history of the series, which included the fact that the book was based on the mini-series, not the other way around. It's probable that the book is as good as it is because they shot the script on video first (with what little funding they could get - no book to show off yet) and had the opportunity to "see" the vision first. So I watched the mini-series with somewhat realistic expectations, and had a lot of fun doing so. I encourage everyone, whether you have read the book or not, to learn about Neil Gaiman and how the series came about before watching it. And hopefully the upcoming movie will do both the original series, and the book, justice. August 31, 2008

A Wonderful (albeit low budget) Fantasy Series

I really love this BBC TV series that was written by Neil Gaiman.
Neil himself was disappointed with the production value and the fact the encounter with the Great Beast at the end lacked dramatic punch due to the low effects budget. While all this is true, in my opinion the writing and the amazing actors made up for all of this.
It is a classic fish out of water set up with the main character being drawn into the Underground world of London because he saves a girl's life. Neil does a perfect job of setting the landscape of this fantasy land and making the characters there come to life. What stands out the most is his crafting of the main character. It is always hard to write it so the main character is helpless but not so helpless and bewildered that they come across as whiney and dense. Neil balances this well so that we sympathize with the main character and his adjustment to this new world comes across as natural.

I would also recommend buying the book since it adds to the series and allows the reader's imagination to correct for the low budget special effects. June 27, 2008

Gaiman at his best

Is there anything this man cannot do? An atonishing talent from across the pond (although living in the US I believe). Whenever I see his name associated with something I know that it's going to be excellent. Neverwhere is a BBC production from the 1990's and has those wonderful BBC production values (ie, none) for which they are famous. The focus is on the story and the characters and it gets pulled off tremendously. Thank God for Neil Gaiman! May 16, 2008

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