Hi,
Does anybody know if/why not the story was ever continued? With hints about doors sister, and the fact that the bad guys could easily have survived their journey through the door at the end, it seemed as if more was being planned...
Cheers,
Stu.
Hey Stu,
I don't know if the television series will ever continued. But Gaiman has said that the story will continue. From the looks of it it will more than
likely be about the sisters.
Here's what Gaiman actually wrote on his FAQ.
# Will there be a sequel?
Sooner or later I'll write another Neverwhere novel. It'll probably be called The Seven Sisters.
# Do you have plans for a sequel to "Neverwhere"? Say yes please! And do not hire a ghostwriter! And that it will be just as good, if not better than "Neverwhere"! And that it'll be released soon, as in yesterday!
1) Yes. 2) Okay, I won't hire a ghostwriter. 3) I'll do my best. 4) Ah... can't promise that one. I'll have to write it first, and I don't think it's the next book I'll write. So I think you've lost out on getting it yesterday.
Damn, Gaiman needs to get working on this book already! LOL
My friend actually proposed to me that... Richard may be Door's brother. That would explain how he is able to open the door at the end and how they seem to have this special connection. As for me, I wished they would be each other's love interests :(
I hope you mean, brother.
"Perception is reality." -unknown
That particular faq was written shortly after American Gods came out in 2001. It's now 2005 and his new book Anansi Boy's comes out on Tuesday. That book takes place in the same world as American Gods.
The point I'm trying to make there is that The Seven Sisters is not the next book, but the next book is done. So now it could be the next book. I met him about a year ago and I asked about the sequal and I'm trying to remember what he told me. He said that Anansi Boys is the next book to be released and about a year after that a new book of short stories (he's mentioned this a couple times on his web page. It's called Fragile Things and it'll probably come out about July-September of next year). If memory serves me right he said that after the book of short stories will be The Seven Sisters. I have a bad memory so don't hold me too this. So hopefully by 2007 we'll get the sequal.
My only fear is there was a four year gap between his most recent novels. Granted he did write the MirrorMask screenplay, the 1602 comics, Coraline, Wolves in the Walls, Sandman: Endless Nights; various short stories and Anansi Boys in that time. If he just set's his mind to it we should get Seven Sister's soon enough.
"My friend actually proposed to me that... Richard may be Door's brother. That would explain how he is able to open the door at the end and how they seem to have this special connection. As for me, I wished they would be each other's love interests :( "
They aren't related. Richard was able to open the door because he had the key. Obviously you weren't paying attention.
It was actually DOOR who opened the door at the end with the key - the one that the villains get pulled through.
Richard goes back to his old life, realises he has made a mistake, and cuts a door shape in a wall which then opens to reveal the Marquis.
The idea of Neverwhere's alternate universe has a lot more scope than the TV series, and even the book, could entirely portray. There's mention of other cities Below (Any city large enough could, potentially, have a city Below) which opens up a hell of a lot of stories. That and the war under London with the fiefdoms could be elaborated on. The Seven Sisters were pretty much skipped over in the story, which was a shame because I wanted to find out more about how London Below worked (Or didn't). But I don't think the story should feature any of the original cast, unless in cameo. The world of Neverwhere is big enough to leave them to it and follow someone else.
shareI think that yes, there could be a "below" for many cities, but what makes "London Below" work so well is that London is such an old city. I just can't picture it in North America. Continental Europe, yes. Asia, yes. Middle East, yes. But the United States, no. If it did, it would HAVE to have a totally different feel to it.
share[deleted]
If I remember rightly there is some mention of the great white alligators in the sewers of New York. I think Hunter says she fought them. Does this suggest there is a New York Below? or would these beasts have been just in the sewers of normal New York?
shareI think New York has enough history and sheer scale to provide a fairly rich undercity. The hook would be seeing one that is still in a youthful, formative state, maybe try to capture the dangerousness, wildness, and diversity of the city above, before Disney started marketing it as a family theme park. A couple good references would be Taxi Driver and The Warriors. And some of the abandoned subway scenes from Ghostbusters 2, just for set concepts.
-E-Butt
God is irrevevocably therm-o-dynamic
He cannot Go Anywhere because He is already Everywhere
He cannot Do anything, because the act of Doing pre-sup-poses any opposition
-W.S. Burroughs
It's Old Bailey who mentions that they exist - apparently, they bit the head right off one of his friends (it's okay, they had a spare one).
You see? I'm a steelworker. I kill what I eat. See?
New York was founded in 1625 and has over 450 miles of subway tunnels under the city. Below those are countless miles of sewers and municiple pipes. One would assume this is old enough and extensive enough to support a 'below'. From a storytelling perspective, my home town (Los Angeles) would make for an interesting underground culture. While there are not tunnels as extensive as those of the older european cities, there is something intriguing about a dark and dank subculture living under a city of eternal sun. It is all fiction, after all.
shareBeauty and the Beast (the Linda Hamilton/Ron Perlman series) could almost tie into Neverwhere easily. It takes place in the New York underground, has an entire subculture living there...While the people who come down from above don't exactly cease to exist in the world above, they do almost disappear...and time does sort of stand still down below.
--
Tejas,
Robin
Desert Moon Art
http://www.desertmoonart.com
[deleted]
"You're forgetting one important factor Moonshadow. Beauty and the Beast was crap."
I must respectfully disagree, Mike. I thought B&B was one of the better shows to be shown on TV in a long time. It was the most unique twist on the classic Beauty and the Beast story ever created. A far cry better than Disney's CGI tripe a few years later. Consider what else was in the same generation as B&B -
Dynasty, Falcon Crest, Dallas, and more of the same. B&B was a completely different animal - so to speak, compared to the other offerings.
Hamilton and Perlman had a chemistry on screen that, though it didn't sizzle, it was warm and genuine, far more so than any other onscreen relationship that I’ve seen.
An excellent cast of supporting actors rounded out the cast. The series was mistreated badly by CBS, so no wonder it died at the end of the second season, despite a third being filmed and shown. But, this is no surprise. TV Networks always think they know best when it comes to the shows. They did the same thing to the Babylon 5 spin-off series Crusade. TNT wanted it to more of a shoot 'em up in space and so forth. JMS didn't, and being that it was his show, he pulled the plug instead of letting the network ruin it.
Regarding the under cities of the New World...Yes, age aside, there could be under cities there. They would certainly have a completely different character to them compared to the Old World. How that measures out in coolness is hard to say.
--
Tejas,
Robin
Desert Moon Art
http://www.desertmoonart.com
[deleted]
Mike,
I appreciate what you said. I certainly respect your opinion, while I may not agree with what you said in the first post, I have greater respect for the way you were willing to change your mind on Beauty and the Beast. You were willing to see my point of view, whether I was right or wrong. The way you stated your retraction was intelligent, and well thought out.
One day, I'd love to see England in genral. I've been a Robin Hood fan since childhood, and, whether he was real or not, I'd love to see where it all happened - Sherwood and Nottingham.
--
Tejas,
Robin
Desert Moon Art
http://www.desertmoonart.com
[deleted]
I can't tell you how refreshing it is to meet someone who is willing to admit a mistake (Though I wouldn't call your opinion a mistake - simply a difference of opinion. No better or worse, and more right or wrong than mine). It’s nice to see someone willing to accept a differing point of view.
I've long since put going to England and a lot of other places on my list of "X number of things to do before I die" list.
I have a feeling I will love it.
--
Tejas,
Robin
Desert Moon Art
http://www.desertmoonart.com
Under Birmingham would be interesting. It's not got the age of London, nor the coolness, and I suspect it would be just full of ratspeakers or equivalent, but I'd still like to see it. Under Leicester might also work to some extent - it's certainly got the age, at least - parts of it have been inhabited since extremely early times, and was probably a relatively major town back when London was a couple of huts beside a mere.
You see? I'm a steelworker. I kill what I eat. See?
[deleted]
Do you reckon every town has one?
Leighton Buzzard below.
Milton Keynes? O_o
share[deleted]
"Venice would be problematic however..."
I think I just peed a little from my own uncontrollable laughter. I tip my hat to you, sir.
[deleted]
As well you should be. I've never personally accomplished such a feat, but I now have my fingers crossed for the future (I find goal-orientation to be key to anyone's success). Although....such a sentiment does seem rather antithetical to a discussion of a novel with a protagonist like Richard Mayhew (I haven't seen the mini-series yet. It's on my to-do list). Goal-orientation merely led him back to a world which he no longer found contentedly inhabitable. However, if he hadn't been led back to such a place, would he have realized...Oh goodness; I'll stop now. I swear, sometimes I get to rambling, and the only thing that can stop me is a swift blow to the head by something like an unabridged, hardback edition of Bleak House. Sorry.
share"Venice would be problematic however..."
Ya think??? ~L~ Unless you're Aquaman or that magician guy who tried and failed to hold his breath for 9 minutes...~L~
--
Tejas,
Robin
Desert Moon Art
http://www.desertmoonart.com
What? One couldn't step on to the other side of the water, where there was air? Not underneth the water of course, you'd drown there, but the other side of is completely safe... well breathable.
share[deleted]
Ever seen somone step trhough the looking glass? Imagine the same thing with water.
share[deleted]
Oh I quite like that idea of stepping through the water, would fit well I think as another aspect of the distortions of time and space seen in London Below.
As for other Below places how about the mythological Atlantis - people fall through the cracks so why not an entire city? Or how about having cities below cities that have long since been disused/abandoned, forgotton or destroyed say like Skara Brae in the Orkney Islands, Wroxeter in Shropshire UK, Tikal in Guatemala or Philoxenite in Egypt .
I think Rome Below would be amazing. I was visiting some ancient houses (under a church near the colisseum); they were the perfect setting with their labyrinthine tunnels and crumbling frescoes. And of course there's the catacombs...
You need a fairly old city, or at least one that has developed through many historical periods, to get the variety. While the idea of Venice is appealing, it's a bit too homogeneous for me. But staying with the whole 'stepping through the water/mirror image' idea, I think Mexico City would be very interesting - perhaps Tenochtitlan survived somewhere under the colonial buildings?
In the book (I haven't seen the series) they do mention other places, mostly where Hunter's killed some underworld creature; Berlin, New York, Calcutta, Bangkok. Islington also mentions Atlantis.
Any Danish city(or town) would do, since they all have similar histories as London, their Belows would just be smaller.
shareHere's one: Arctic Canada Below, on top is a barren wasteland, below could be a veritable paradise unfortunately populated by the sick and depraved army of Croup and Vandemarr.
shareI doubt that they would have(,use)or need an army, but great location idea! Wastelands would also have an underside.
shareIn an interview that's just been placed on the SFX website (to tie in with the Region 2 DVD release) Gaiman says that he was planning a second series, but wanted it to have a larger budget and 45 minute episodes. The BBC responded that it would still have 30 minute episodes and a budget even smaller than the first series. So Gaiman gave up and walked away from the project.
Gaiman says in the interview that his plans for the second series were to focus on Richard's adventures as the Hero of London Below. The stories in each episode would have been self-contained.
I'd love to see Seattle underside- it does have a known underground, which floods when the tide's in, but no subways. Just the basements and bottom stories to all the downtown buildings. I guess it's pretty extensive...
Politically correct does not equal Morally correct.
In a FAQ section of "Neverwhere: The authors preferred text" which came out a couple of years ago, Gaiman says sometihng along the lines of "the universe of neverwhere is certianly somewhere I'd like to go back to, whether I'd stay in London or not I'm not sure. I certainly wouldn't be against a tour of New York's sewers in the future." As soon as my flatmate finishes borrowing my copy then I'll put up the correct quote.
Personally I'd like to see a continuation of the Door/Richard story as well as certain spin offs like The Seven Sisters, and the Marquis of Carrebas.
As always I apologise for my poor grammar' speeling and use of RanDOm cAPitaLS
[deleted]