Good Omens opinions
Jul. 8th, 2019 10:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
potofsoupWhen the Good Omens show came out, I was really excited, because omg Crowley and Aziraphale! And David Tennant as Crowley is like ::chef kiss::
So I dragged Hoosband into watching it, despite the fact that he'd never read the book before.
It was ... okay.
Anyway, some miscellaneous opinions follow.
- At first I was really excited that God was the narrator and she's female! But then why didn't she do one of the coolest things in the book, which is rewind the Crowley "ineffable solitaire" comment? If God is the narrator, then she loses the mystery of ineffability, which kinda detracts from the themes of the story, but fine ... at least MAKE the meta-commentary that God, ultimately, has control over the entire story, by letting her just say something like "hmmm.... I don't think we're ready for that." and then the video literally rewinds and replays.
- I *really* liked the Crowley/Aziraphale swaparoo in the last episode. What a great way of showing their relationship, Agnes Nutter's prophecies, and Heaven/Hell collusion!
- In general I loved the Crowley and Aziraphale moments. Small wonder that they're the juggernaut ship.
- That said, as much as I like what Michael Sheen did with Aziraphale, I wished that Aziraphale was not white? Like, not only would it make more sense given that the Bible doesn't have that many white people in it, but also, what's with the thing where you can have diversity in the rest of the Heavenly/Hellish Host but you can't have it with your main characters? And having Aziraphale be non-white would also restore some poc presence to those historical scenes.
- I liked Heaven as a clean, corporate place, but I didn't really like Hell as a shambling trash hole? I think I'd have preferred Hell to be a bit more organized, since they're both bureaucratic systems that care more about meeting quarterly goals than anything else. Maybe Hell is a series of tiny cubicles with way too many people, blindly stamping reams of paperwork? It'd make sense that, as long as Crowley submitted the proper reams of paperwork, no one actually had time to check up on him.
- I really wish they made it less book-like. Books can get away with introducing a bunch of unconnected characters and then eventually connecting them. The first 2 episodes really dragged because Hoosband was like "who are all these other people? When are we going to get back to Crowley and Aziraphale?" Relatedly, I think we needed more Adam. Adam needs to be more developed as a character because he needs to hold his own against Crowley and Aziraphale, and as it stood, he really didn't.
So, here's what I would have liked:
- Cut out Shadwell and Madame Tracy, because that relationship is ... :/ (She cooks for him and puts up with him demeaning her, and in the end she uses her savings to get a bungalow with him??? Like -- what is appealing about Shadwell, at ALL?). We don't need Shadwell in the story, and Madame Tracy can just be a random woman that Aziraphale occupies.
- Cut out Newt Pulsifer's backstory. Just have Anathema in the cottage, KNOWING that some dude is going to show up to help with the Apocalypse. Newt can introduce himself as a programmer who noticed that Tadfield had perfect weather patterns, and if you want to show that he's shitty at technology, you can have him attempt to microwave something, or have a flashback sequence when he says "I'm a programmer" or something. Also: they shouldn't have sex. That's really dubcon and kind of squicky for me -- Newt Pulsifer gets "rewarded" with sex with a hot woman, while Anathema was tensely just waiting for Newt to show up, knowing that she's *supposed* to have sex with him? Did she limber up beforehand? Were all of her previous sexual encounters considered "practice"? Did her mother require that she prepare herself for this particular prophesy?
- Cut down on the 4 Horsemen stuff. The 4 Horsemen are cool conceptually and visually, but not that interesting in actual scenes, since they're too conceptual. The delivery scenes can be a lot shorter, and they really didn't need the prolonged nuclear missile hacking scene, since ... none of them are hackers? Could have just been them walking into the bunker, and then cut to Adam summoning them out.
- By cutting out all of that stuff, you can have more room for Adam, maybe seeing how he's growing up in contrast to Warlock. It'd be easy enough to transition from Crowley and Aziraphale giving their reports to showing Adam becoming, well, Adam.
- Less God narration, to keep more of the sense of the Ineffable. Or heck, have Agnes Nutter narrate.
So I dragged Hoosband into watching it, despite the fact that he'd never read the book before.
It was ... okay.
Anyway, some miscellaneous opinions follow.
- At first I was really excited that God was the narrator and she's female! But then why didn't she do one of the coolest things in the book, which is rewind the Crowley "ineffable solitaire" comment? If God is the narrator, then she loses the mystery of ineffability, which kinda detracts from the themes of the story, but fine ... at least MAKE the meta-commentary that God, ultimately, has control over the entire story, by letting her just say something like "hmmm.... I don't think we're ready for that." and then the video literally rewinds and replays.
- I *really* liked the Crowley/Aziraphale swaparoo in the last episode. What a great way of showing their relationship, Agnes Nutter's prophecies, and Heaven/Hell collusion!
- In general I loved the Crowley and Aziraphale moments. Small wonder that they're the juggernaut ship.
- That said, as much as I like what Michael Sheen did with Aziraphale, I wished that Aziraphale was not white? Like, not only would it make more sense given that the Bible doesn't have that many white people in it, but also, what's with the thing where you can have diversity in the rest of the Heavenly/Hellish Host but you can't have it with your main characters? And having Aziraphale be non-white would also restore some poc presence to those historical scenes.
- I liked Heaven as a clean, corporate place, but I didn't really like Hell as a shambling trash hole? I think I'd have preferred Hell to be a bit more organized, since they're both bureaucratic systems that care more about meeting quarterly goals than anything else. Maybe Hell is a series of tiny cubicles with way too many people, blindly stamping reams of paperwork? It'd make sense that, as long as Crowley submitted the proper reams of paperwork, no one actually had time to check up on him.
- I really wish they made it less book-like. Books can get away with introducing a bunch of unconnected characters and then eventually connecting them. The first 2 episodes really dragged because Hoosband was like "who are all these other people? When are we going to get back to Crowley and Aziraphale?" Relatedly, I think we needed more Adam. Adam needs to be more developed as a character because he needs to hold his own against Crowley and Aziraphale, and as it stood, he really didn't.
So, here's what I would have liked:
- Cut out Shadwell and Madame Tracy, because that relationship is ... :/ (She cooks for him and puts up with him demeaning her, and in the end she uses her savings to get a bungalow with him??? Like -- what is appealing about Shadwell, at ALL?). We don't need Shadwell in the story, and Madame Tracy can just be a random woman that Aziraphale occupies.
- Cut out Newt Pulsifer's backstory. Just have Anathema in the cottage, KNOWING that some dude is going to show up to help with the Apocalypse. Newt can introduce himself as a programmer who noticed that Tadfield had perfect weather patterns, and if you want to show that he's shitty at technology, you can have him attempt to microwave something, or have a flashback sequence when he says "I'm a programmer" or something. Also: they shouldn't have sex. That's really dubcon and kind of squicky for me -- Newt Pulsifer gets "rewarded" with sex with a hot woman, while Anathema was tensely just waiting for Newt to show up, knowing that she's *supposed* to have sex with him? Did she limber up beforehand? Were all of her previous sexual encounters considered "practice"? Did her mother require that she prepare herself for this particular prophesy?
- Cut down on the 4 Horsemen stuff. The 4 Horsemen are cool conceptually and visually, but not that interesting in actual scenes, since they're too conceptual. The delivery scenes can be a lot shorter, and they really didn't need the prolonged nuclear missile hacking scene, since ... none of them are hackers? Could have just been them walking into the bunker, and then cut to Adam summoning them out.
- By cutting out all of that stuff, you can have more room for Adam, maybe seeing how he's growing up in contrast to Warlock. It'd be easy enough to transition from Crowley and Aziraphale giving their reports to showing Adam becoming, well, Adam.
- Less God narration, to keep more of the sense of the Ineffable. Or heck, have Agnes Nutter narrate.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-08 09:49 pm (UTC)I love the Aziraphale and Crowley show, but it does feel like if you're going to call it Good Omens you need to develop the other half of the story. I'm so annoyed Adam and the Them got short shrift when they're one of the best parts of the book.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-09 05:04 pm (UTC)And yeah, I haven't read Good Omens in probably 20 years, but the two things I remembered were the Aziraphale/Crowley and also Adam and the Them, so when Adam spent half the show being all glowy-eyed I was like ... "um... no."
no subject
Date: 2019-07-08 09:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-09 05:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-08 09:56 pm (UTC)I've never read the book, but this is exactly why I've avoided the show. Fandom burned me out with their endless arguing over whether the show was "too diverse" or "much needed representation" and I was scrolling along scratching my head like... regardless of side characters, it's still two white cis male actors as the leads lmao, how can it be either of these things!
no subject
Date: 2019-07-09 05:15 pm (UTC)I've been mainlining Lucifer as I ink comics and it's a trashy show, but at least Amenadiel, the most powerful angel, is black and a main character, and no one bats an eyelash. Him and Lucifer always introduce each other as "my brother" and it's totally chill.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-10 08:29 pm (UTC)That and "is Neil Gaiman homophobic or is he an ally? Advance ten paces, turn, and present your receipts." *rolls eyes elaborately at fandom*
no subject
Date: 2019-07-10 09:25 pm (UTC)oh joy. Glad I'm not on tumblr, then.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-08 11:43 pm (UTC)Word.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-09 05:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-10 08:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-07-09 10:01 pm (UTC)This. I do love Gaimann, and I realise the tv show was a tribute to Terry Pratchett, but if they hadn't stuck quite so closely to the Book, a lot of cool things could have happened. I am right with on cutting out the entire Shadwell and Witchfinder Army plot - it's beyond silly. Me personally, I would have gone with the Four Horsemen. If given their own plots, they could been awesome. And I can't believe I am saying this, but if we have Michael Sheen, a poc Crowley would have been awesome.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-09 11:25 pm (UTC)::nodnod:: The Four Horsemen frankly lost me at the monologuing part, and I think I would have needed a little more super-natural-ness in the other scenes to really get into it. I think, of the four, I liked Pollution the most.
I'd be up for a poc Crowley, except that there's a part of me wondering how many different ways it might be butchered. There's just so many negative/demonic poc tropes out there and it's not that I don't trust Hollywood, but I don't trust Hollywood.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-09 11:30 pm (UTC)