(foreboding percussive music)
- "When the first living thing drew breath,
"he was there,
"waiting."
(mysterious orchestral music)
All of the people out there in the Audible world
who think they've listened to everything with my name on it
have an adventure waiting for them.
- I'm really proud to have been part of bringing this
to a bunch of people who really have not had very much
other than the original work for 30 years to enjoy.
- "You are utterly the stupidest,
"most self-centered,
"appallingest excuse for an anthropomorphic personification
"on this or any other plane!"
- "I've been out of my depth before
"and something tells me there are sharks in these depths."
- "The name to registered under?
"Put me down as the Corinthian."
- I read first comics I think when I was 17, 18.
It was a really exciting prospect to work on something
that was sort of visual in its initial concept.
You know, you've gotta get the tone of the character, right?
It's even more important to get the sound of him, right?
He's actually in a very vulnerable place,
which I think is something that makes it easier
for an audience to identify with them.
So that throughout the course of the 20 episodes,
you feel him coming back into himself more and more.
Hopefully that journey is something
that the audience can connect with.
"The wind that blows between the worlds
"chills me as I fall.
"Suppose I fail?
"I cannot bluff demons
"as I bluffed the errant dreams with Constantine.
"But I have the pouch.
"I have a modicum of power.
"And I have hope."
- I just love the way Neil can merge the real world
and this kind of insane world that he's created
and put all these different characters
from all these different sensibilities
all in the same place.
- Serial killers, Shakespeare, witches.
I never knew that that medium could do that.
It was really exciting to read something
where you felt like literally anything could happen.
- It's kind of an iconic book in the queer community
because it was sort of revolutionary
in that it introduced non-binary characters
and characters that really appealed and gave voice to people
that had never really been given voice in that world.
"Human beings are the creatures of desire.
"They twist and bend as I require it."
- "I can't avoid the green hair
"and the face that's half granite."
- "The poet's pen turns them into shapes
"and gives to airy nothing.
"A local habitation and a name."
- "Technically that's dying in your sleep kid.
"You know, makes you a permanent resident of the dreaming."
This is absolutely the perfect medium for "The Sandman."
It's beautiful because it's so poetic and so out there.
It's almost hard to imagine a visual version of it
because we all wanna create it in our heads.
- Dirk is a hugely accomplished director
at being able to cast well
and create beautiful cinematic soundscapes.
- He works in a very particular way in the booth with you.
He's bouncing off you.
It feels very alive
and I think you hear that in the recording.
- It really sounds the way
that your imagination makes it sound.
There's a million amazing actors,
the mixing of all the different sound effects,
and the music is also fantastic.
- "I am the king of dreams.
"Of everything!"
- "Dream the world the way it truly is."
- "Look around you Morpheus.
"The million lords of hell stand arraigned about you."
- What I've tried to do is be inside your head as you wrote.
We're able to put this stuff in
that previously only the artists saw.
There are bits where we can describe Morpheus,
in your language,
which no one's ever heard before.
- Yeah.
- And that's what's terrific about it.
And you are,
as narrator,
are able to put them in your voice.
You write with a sort of rhythm
and it really comes off the page
and it reads really, really well.
- "Is dream.
"Lord Morpheus.
"And he must learn to change
"or die."
(high-intensity music continues)