When I heard that there was a Sandman Bonus episode based on the two comics stories Dream of 1000 Cats and Calliope, I may or may not have squeed out loud. Now, Netflix put it online, and I am one happy fan, the darkness of one of the two stories not withstanding. Both are only standalones on first sight but really continuity important if you know the entire saga.

Since the cat story really is a cat story, meaning nearly everyone in it is a cat, I must admit I was curious whether or not the tv version would find a way to do it. I mean, a talking raven is one thing, but talking live action cats can come across as uncanny valley or goofy pretty fast. So I'm happy to report the tv show decided to do this one in animation. I'm no expert, but to me the result looked fine, and the cats pleasingly like felines, not with too large eyes or with a body language like dogs (true for many a Disney animal, even horses, looking at you, Maximus). ( Some spoilery remarks. )

Calliope surprised me by using Derek Jacobi as Erasmus Fry (small part, big impact - Jacobi isn't whom I imagined at all, but he is really good in a way that reminds me of his performance in Utopia (after a certain transformation scene) and Arthur Darvil, Rory himself, as Richard Madoc (also not at all whom I had imagined, but I salute the show for going against type here, because part of the point is that the Richard Madocs of this world aren't signalling "creep" from the get go but can come across as completely harmless at first. Calliope is played by an actress whom I haven't seen before (at least not that I recall), and she offers a steely dignity along with the suffering. It also helps that without changing the plot, the tv version gives her more agenda. ( It gets spoilery again. )

So that was a good way to end the week, and I'm now more hoping than ever for a next season confirmation.