Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere – The Original Series

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: B     Episodes: B-

 

 

Neil Gaiman is still best known for the legendary success of his DC Comics character Sandman, but beyond that graphic novel series, he has branched out into other directions.  Neverwhere (1996) was his 1996 project for the BBC that combines the feel of The X-Files with classic British modern Horror like the theatrical film Raw Meat (1973) and adds elements of the Fantasy genre that produce a unique hybrid of a television show.

 

Of course, that translates into something very British.  If you can get past the eccentric nature of the series, that’s half the battle won in getting in to it.  The Fantasy genre side of it is another story.  This is not “happy time” as far as that is concerned.  This is more somber, less upbeat than something Hollywood would try to push on its audience.  It is also the kind of thing increasingly lame U.S. Network TV would be clueless in how to promote, greenlight, support, and/or see an audience for.

 

One evening with his wife-to-be, Richard Mayhew (Gary Bakewell) helps a wounded young lady, which turns his fiancée off.  This actually exposes her as being shallower than he ever expected, and he’s off in trying to find out how she got injured and what is really happening to her.  This is more or less what gets Raw Meat going, leading to the unseen underground of Britain.  Though the show is not as daring or challenging as that classic film, it is a good enough takeoff point for the show.

 

The full screen, PAL image is not bad, with decent color reproduction for its age.  The lighting makes this look studio-bound, but is also on the eerie side, which is a good thing.  Some outdoor scenes still look like they were filmed or made to look that way off of tape.  The simple stereo sound is reproduced here in Dolby Digital 2.0, which has a little surround going for it, but is nothing spectacular, so you will have to judge by your preference what you think offers the best playback possibility.  The music is by no less than Brian Eno, so that is another plus that works.

 

Extras include commentary tracks by Gaiman himself on every single episode, as well as a short-but-nice stills section, extensive character descriptions (needed if you are going to really be able to get into this), a brief Gaiman biography, and an interview Gaiman did no the show at the time of airing.  They actually add up to more entertainment than the show, which is really a cult item.  This is worth getting into if you want Fantasy genre work well thought out, but really needs to be seen otherwise to see if it works for you or not.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo