SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I am about to pick up my copy today to watch the series. Did anyone else watch it?

I watched disk one ... I won't have time to see disk two 'til the week-end. It seems really short (3 half hour shows each disk); however, it does follow the book rather well (or perhaps the book follows and expands upon the series). So far I like the book much better, but the show did re-enforce my perception that mental illness plays a significant role in the story plot.

yeah...i didn't like it. i just couldn't forgive the bbc for not looking as polished and cool as the story made up in my imagination. i do give them credit for having an awesome looking marquis de carabas.
mirrormask, however, is AMAZING. VERY worth watching...actually, i'd like to own it.

I thought the shows were going to be an hour long!

I started watching it once, and it was so typically cheesy like most British tv, that I didn't get through it. I am, however, willing to give it another try. I wish that a real movie would be made of Neverwhere, along the lines of Mirrormask. I love that movie!

I just watched the Neverwhere miniseries this weekend with a friend who hadn't read the book first and I kept urging him to read the book to get the cheesy effects out of his mind. Some aspects of the miniseries are fine (the Marquis is pretty good, some shots of the Floating Market look OK) but for the most part the effects are corny and cheap. The bones of the story come through, and it's fairly entertaining, but extremely hard to take seriously.

I finally sat down and watched it, the effects are cheesy! And that surprises me but maybe back in 97 they didn't care as much. I have seen some good series on the BBC and they look much better than this (Robin Hood, Hex).

Yeah, I'm not sure we can completely blame the effects on 1997 technology... that was the year Buffy first aired, and while some of the effects are dated, you can still watch it today without finding everything completely ridiculous.

It's not fair to compare a mini-series that was produced for the BBC's second channel with a continuing US show that went out on a major network. Neverwhere had a tiny budget. It's actually remarkable what they did with it under the circumstances.

Robin Hood and Hex are much more recent shows that were aimed at larger audiences and had a much greater budget behind them.

I prefer the book too, but if you the tv show is pretty good with the exception of the effects.

It almost sounds like you guys have never watched anything on the BBC before! I watched Dr. Who on the BBC back when I was a kid, and any number of other programs like Hitchhikers Guide. That's what they ALL look like, cheesy effects and all. I myself really enjoyed the Mini-series, except for the real bad intros to every episode. I can see why Gaiman chose to write a novel to better portray things, but honestly I didn't expect anymore out of the BBC and I enjoyed what they gave me.

I figured that it was an older show and that is why the graphics weren't so good. in 1997 I was 17 and wasn't really into watching BBC so I have only started watching it as an adult and obviously those shows (Hex) are much more updated which I realize. I don't know anything about a BBC second channel I only know about the one provided on my Direct TV. I can't help but laugh at some of the effects on Neverwhere mini-series. I didn't think the show itself was bad though just the graphics!

I really do want to see this. I'm glad to hear they have it on NetFlix - I just might have to join ;-)

Robert wrote: "It almost sounds like you guys have never watched anything on the BBC before! I watched Dr. Who on the BBC back when I was a kid, and any number of other programs like Hitchhikers Guide. That's wha..."

Season 2 finale of Blake's 7. I swear the big battle was filmed with someone kid's bathtub toys. :)
While the effects were hokey as anything, the story was really good. I guess growing up with shows like Dr Who, Blake's 7, Red Dwarf, and the like gave me the appreciation for story over image.

Would love to see this sometime. Glad I didn't know about it/see it before reading. It seems like many who saw the series first, found the book wanting.

But I loved the book ^-^