The success of American Gods and the buzz for Good Omens seem to have emboldened writer Neil Gaiman, as Deadline is reporting that he’s sticking around in the TV world to develop a new project that combines two of the medium’s favorite things: Anthologies and revivals of older shows. According to Deadline, Gaiman is working with The Jim Henson Company to make a “reimagined version” of Jim Henson’s ‘80s anthology series The Storyteller, with Gaiman specifically saying that he has a “binging” model in mind for the new take.
Henson’s original Storyteller featured John Hurt and centered around presentations of European folk tales with Henson’s typical flair for fantastical creatures. Gaiman will be writing and executive producing this new version, and his comments to Deadline make it sound like he’ll be digging into the lore of who the eponymous Storyteller is and why he’s telling the stories he tells. “What I’d love to do is an inside story that’s as long as the outside story,” Gaiman says, adding that his “inside story” will be set in a kingdom where “stories are forbidden” and that “the act of telling a story is liable and can get you imprisoned or executed.”
In other words, it sounds like Neil Gaiman at peak Neil Gaiman—at least until somebody lets him write a Sandman TV show.
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Pretty sure Gaiman already has a relationship with the Henson company from making MirrorMask, so this is not only good news it also makes a lot of sense.
I loved MirrorMask, though I only saw it once. And just found out it’s available to rent digitally, which I may very well do soon.
Whatever happened with that Sandman movie that was being involved David “She-Hulk is a Prostitute that only the Hulk could fuck.” Goyer? IIRC I think it’s dead but I don’t really remember exactly. If I’m right it seems like that was basically a mercy killing.
It’s a shame Anthony Minghella, who did such good work scripting for the original series, has passed on.
The work he did on that always made me think he would have been the perfect choice to direct The Golden Compass movie, but of course my good ideas went unheeded by Hollywood.
Awesome!Amazing!Dont let him write the scripts!Brilliant!Really looking forward to this!
Ah he might be alright. Loads of little short form ideas mightn’t be a bad fit.
His stories and ideas are generally real interesting.
His scripted dialogue is always terrible on screen.
The more I think about it, the more I think this is actually the one avenue for his dialogue to work. The Storyteller was always pretty stylised, and Gaiman’s particular voice is best suited to short fairy tales.
Not just his voice, but his voice. My introduction to Gaiman was the audiobook of Stardust, read by Gaiman. It was fantastic. I’ve tried a bunch of other things from him, and frankly nothing else really compared. (Haven’t read Sandman.)
sometimes on the page as well….
Finally, the Storyteller origin story the world’s been crying out for!
Feels too early days to get excited about yet but… ah fuck it, I’m excited! Sounds like a perfect fit for Gaiman, and you can never have too much Henson Company.
It’s going to be hard replacing John Hurt, though my initial thought is ‘what’s Peter Capaldi doing right now?’
Gaiman is unable to hold himself back from adopting the mantle himself, finally becoming Story Made Flesh in the onanistic climax of a career spent repeating Yes, But Have You Ever Really Considered That Stories… They’re Stories… Really Stories, Though? STORIES!
When did Gaiman stop being a fun writer of pretty decent books, and become such a parody of himself? (Was it before or after he and Amanda Palmer became an item?)
I chuckled at that description, but I wouldn’t say that’s a very fair assessment of Gaiman who’s generally never been quite so self-masturbatory as someone like Grant Morrison or Alan Moore or even Garth Ennis.
Gaiman just happens to primarily be a talented short story writer in an era where short stories themselves aren’t really themselves a big draw amongst the modern literary audiences.
Michael Gambon was pretty great in the original GREEK MYTHS episodes too. So there’s precedent…
what’s Peter Capaldi doing right now?Swearing?
I loved the original show and have been hoping the Hensons would revive it, but I’m not so sure I want a season long arc giving me the Storyteller’s origin. I was happy with the simple anthology format with a narrator. You just need to find someone as badass as John Hurt to do it.
I have a feeling that his involvement with this will be fairly hands off. On his Twitter feed, he’s been quite vocal that now that Good Omens is more or less put to bed, he’s a “retired show runner” who just wants to get back to writing novels/comics/short stories.
Because, in the old days before TV and radio, no one would ever tell a story WITHOUT A REASON.
Never noticed this before but Neil Gaiman looks a little like Tim Blake Nelson.