Neil Gaiman's American Gods 2017 Trailer

[Mouldy13]

Loved the book, really excited about this

 

[OneWingedBird]

That's some amazing casting!

Loving their choices for Mr Wednesday and Czernobog.

No sign of Low Key in there? First watch I thought it was the guy with the sides of his head shaved, I'd guess him as the smack addicted Leprechaun now.

 

[Gloucestrian]

That looks great. I had my doubts it could be made satisfactorily but then Bryan Fuller is pretty good at these things.

 

[Tigerhawk]

Looking forward to this!

 

[OneWingedBird]

Can't remember the last time I got this ecited about a film.

 

[GNC]

Anyone watch episode 1? Very slick, very glossy, stupid violent, nicely acted, but hard to like. Seemed a bit too pleased with itself in that American fantasy way (yeah, I know Gaiman's British). Emily Browning didn't get much to do, did she? One line of dialogue for second billing? Dutifully, I shall watch episode 2, and hope it's more engaging (I haven't read the book, it might play better if you have).

 

[OneWingedBird]

I was thinking it still had that Neverwhere / Mirrormask vibe to it, possibly that is the far too pleased with itself element.

Otherwise pretty good, they have nailed the casting. Apparently a lot has been rewritten for the TV version, some I think to make it easier to understand, some to update it. The bit with the Vikings was very unsubtle compared to the book.

 

[GNC]

I'd forgotten about Mirrormask! That was going to be the next Labyrinth, but I don't hear much about any cult following years later. Funnily enough, AG has the same surplus of CGI.

 

[Gloucestrian]

Yes, a bit pleased with itself but good. Casting is really well done.

 

[Bullseye]

Not sure about Shadow, but Od...........................Mr Wednesday, good call.
When I first read the book, (how many years ago?), I could so picture the ...Main Characters...really wanted to do a serious road trip in the US.

 

[OneWingedBird]

Amazing how many stiffies they managed to slip into episode 2, can't think that I've ever seen one in a show before, then 3 come along at once!

 

[Mythopoeika]

Amazing how many stiffies they managed to slip into episode 2, can't think that I've ever seen one in a show before, then 3 come along at once!

Oo-er, missus!

 

[GNC]

Amazing how many stiffies they managed to slip into episode 2, can't think that I've ever seen one in a show before, then 3 come along at once!

I know! Even the goddess who slurps people up with her nether regions was coy about actually showing it in detail.

Second episode better, or the first half was, the second half meandered with the draughts game no matter what the stakes were. Nice to see Cloris Leachman, anyway. So far the best bits have been the five minute intros.

 

[skinny]

Haven't read the book yet. Really enjoyed the TV show ep 1, despite being ignorant of the plot. Got a nice Watchmen vibe about it. McShane always impresses.

 

[Ermintruder]

I've always found the general concept of 'theosophical' thoughtforms very intriguing (cf Pratchett's Small Gods), and I can't quite grudge it's use as a conveyance by Gaiman on either page or screen.

Similar allusions to such gestalt embodiments (such as the Tulpa in the 'X-Files' episode "Arcadia" or Golem etc much earlier) are an integral and universal strand of proto-sapient humanity, with a reach and depth far beyond the vague inferential reverences of animism and environmental deification.

 

[GNC]

This really is all over the place, just watched episode 3 and get that Lovejoy is Odin, but what's all the other stuff? A spot of gory violence here, some near-hardcore gay sex there, and Emily Browning getting second billed for three seconds of work. The cast is weird too - Scott Thompson shows up and is lost to us a minute later. I think it's improving, but it's difficult to tell. Again, I'll keep watching, it has been a hit and a second season is confirmed.

 

[George_millett]

This really is all over the place, just watched episode 3 and get that Lovejoy is Odin, but what's all the other stuff? A spot of gory violence here, some near-hardcore gay sex there, and Emily Browning getting second billed for three seconds of work. The cast is weird too - Scott Thompson shows up and is lost to us a minute later. I think it's improving, but it's difficult to tell. Again, I'll keep watching, it has been a hit and a second season is confirmed.

A lot of it is scene setting for some stuff that crops up later on. Not wanting to go into to many stories but in the early parts of the book Gaiman does go out of his way to show that everyone who travelled to America brought their associated gods and demons with them.

If that love scene you mention is the one I am thinking of with Arab Salesm and and the Taxi Driver, the Taxi Driver is a Djinn.

As for a second Series hopefully that would be Anansi Boys which is set in the same world just concentrates on the Spider and his family.

 

[GNC]

Thanks for the explanation. I'll live in hope that it all ties up eventually. I do have a Gaiman book on my shelves to read, but it's not this one.

 

[George_millett]

Some parts will get tied up later on. Others are just short stories that once they finish don't crop up again. In general if anything happens in the modern time it has some connection however slight to the main storyline.

If it is in the past it is a short vignette that won't get touched again. There are a couple of exceptions but I don't want to spoil anything for you by giving specifics.

 

[OneWingedBird]

If that love scene you mention is the one I am thinking of with Arab Salesm and and the Taxi Driver, the Taxi Driver is a Djinn.

Straight out of the book and nicely done, it's like it turned into a Coil pop video partway through!

 

[GNC]

Now episode 4 was a lot more like a proper episode, a proper story that advances the plot and has a lead character with agency. But where is Crispin Glover? Noticed he is in the opening titles, but haven't spotted him at all (unless I'm being thick).

 

[GNC]

Ah, there was Crispin, impossible to miss this time. But I still find the series more confusing than mysterious. Gillian Anderson as Bowie and Marilyn was amusing, and I laughed at Lovejoy talking to the raven, but this does have a habit of letting scenes go on too long, with lots of exposition better suited to a novel. How many episodes to go?

 

[dejanmikic]

How many episodes to go?

There are 10 episodes in Season 1 and it has been renewed for Season 2 (unknown # of episodes).
No idea how does that connect with the book and if season 2 will be original material then.

 

[OneWingedBird]

I was worried at that start of this episode that it was going to be more soapy crap with 'dead wife'... at least it got going again.

Did anyone understand wtf was going on with the killer tree?

 

[GNC]

I was worried at that start of this episode that it was going to be more soapy crap with 'dead wife'... at least it got going again.

Did anyone understand wtf was going on with the killer tree?

Didn't mind spending time with Emily Browning (those stitches, though!) but if you don't know what was going on with the tree beast, then I'm totally lost.

 

[GNC]

Oh, do you think the latest episode was written by men, by any chance? Quite a few clues there. The constant swearing is getting annoying, too many characters sound like teenagers who've just discovered how to turn the air blue. As for the story, not sure we progressed too far, it's difficult to tell.

 

[OneWingedBird]

I quite liked it, also the 2nd episode we've had that's almost entirely off book.

Vulcan wasn't in the book, Salim doesn't appear again after shagging the ifrit, dead wife and ginger minge didn't appear much so the road trip thing is all new.

 

[George_millett]

Salim doesn't appear again after shagging the ifrit

Not named no, but I am fairly sure that he does get mentioned again in the book after the initial incident with the efreet. Its just buried and disguised as something else. Something it looks like they might be making a little more obvious in the series than the book.

 

[skinny]

 

[GNC]

Another episode that went off on a tangent this week. A friend of mine thinks it's refreshing that such a wide variety of Gods are depicted, not only the Judeo-Christian one, and it is nice to have that variety, but it does seem to give way to a lack of focus. Will the last episode pull it all together? How far are we into the book now?