Accurate.

for whom good omens is being written

Hey maggots and the rest of the fandom, it's the Good Omens Mascot here. Today I read a post about this tweet:

The accompanying video genuinely made me cry. And I've been thinking about this for a long while, as far back as February, when I saw a lot of conflicting opinions on what people wanted from the third season. It really is true that no matter what you do, some people will be dissatisfied. But what matters is that Neil is writing this for Terry.

And I was reminded of some paragraphs from the Good Omens TV Companion, which I'd read in Amazon's sample excerpt of the book. I know this is a long post, but I really truly do think you all need to read these, I've done my best to select only the most important parts. Here you go:

'His Alzheimer's started progressing harder and faster than either of us had expected,' says Neil, referring to a period in which Terry recognized that despite everything he could no longer write. 'We had been friends for over thirty years, and during that time he had never asked me for anything. Then, out of the blue, I received an email from him with a special request. It read: “Listen, I know how busy you are. I know you don't have time to do this, but I want you to write the script for Good Omens. You are the only human being on this planet who has the passion, love and understanding for the old girl that I do. You have to do this for me so that I can see it." And I thought, “OK, if you put it like that then I'll do it."

'I had adapted my own work in the past, writing scripts for Death: The High Cost of Living and Sandman, but not a lot else was seen. I'd also written two episodes of Doctor Who, and so I felt like I knew what I was doing. Usually, having written something once I'd rather start something new, but having a very sick co-author saying I had to do this?' Neil spreads his hands as if the answer is clear to see. 'I had to step up to the plate.' A pause, then: 'All this took place in autumn 2014, around the time that the BBC radio adaptation of Good Omens was happening,' he continues, referring to the production scripted and co-directed by Dirk Maggs and starring Peter Serafinowicz and Mark Heap. ‘Terry had talked me into writing the TV adaptation, and I thought OK, I have a few years. Only I didn't have a few years,' he says. 'Terry was unconscious by December and dead by March.'

He pauses again. 'His passing took all of us by surprise,' Neil remembers. 'About a week later, I started writing, and it was very sad. The moments Terry felt closest to me were the moments I would get stuck during the writing process. In the old days, when we wrote the novel, I would send him what I'd done or phone him up. And he would say, "Aahh, the problem, Grasshopper, is in the way you phrase the question," and I would reply, "Just tell me what to do!" which somehow always started a conversation. 'In writing the script, there were times I'd really want to talk to Terry, and also places where I'd figure something out and do something really clever, and I would want to share it with him. So, instead, I would text Terry's former personal assistant, Rob Wilkins, now his representative on Earth. It was the nearest thing I had.'

(...) As Neil himself recognizes, this is an adaptation built upon the confidence that comes from three decades of writing for page and screen. But for all the wisdom of experience, he found that above all one factor guided him throughout the process. 'Terry isn't here, which leaves me as the guardian of the soul of the story,' he explains. 'It's funny because sometimes I found myself defending Terry's bits harder or more passionately than I would defend my own bits. Take Agnes Nutter,' he says, referring to what has become a key scene in the adaptation in which the seventeenth-century author of the book of prophecies foretelling the coming of the Antichrist is burned at the stake. ‘It was a huge, complicated and incredibly expensive shoot, with bonfires built and primed to explode as well as huge crowds in costume. It had to feel just like an English village in the 1640s, and of course everyone asked if there was a cheap way of doing it. 'One suggestion was that we could tell the story using old-fashioned woodcuts and have the narrator take us through what happened, but I just thought, “No”. Because I had brought aspects of the story like Crowley and the baby swap along to the mix, and Terry created Agnes Nutter. So, if I had cut out Agnes then I wouldn't be doing right by the person who gave me this job. Terry would've rolled over in his grave.'

And, finally, this paragraph:

"Once again, Neil cites the absence of his co-writer as his drive to ensure that Good Omens translated to the screen and remained true to the original vision. 'Terry's last request to me was to make this something he would be proud of. And so that has been my job.'"

I think that's so heartwrenchingly beautiful, and so I wanted you all to read this, too, just in case you (like me) don't have the Good Omens TV Companion. It adds another layer of depth and emotion to this already complex and amazing story that we all know and love.

Share this post, if you can, please, so that more people can read these excerpts :")

Tagging @neil-gaiman, @fuckyeahgoodomens and @orpiknight, even if you've definitely read these before :)

Here’s frame 225 for the EveryFrameAgainstTheWall project! I have two more frames to share with you for this…I enjoy these big collaborations so very much! Hundreds of artists coming together like this just gives me the biggest warm fuzzies 🥰. The video itself is not yet live, but once it’s available for viewing, I’ll be sure to share it with you!

Dead Boy Detectives | 1.01: The Case of Crystal Palace

Good Omens and ancient Rome board games:

I remember looking up ancient board games and came across so many versions of tic-tac-toe within the area of Rome. These are some of the names they had back then!

Pssst, hey, you. Do you want a very cool copy of @neil-gaiman's Coraline, plus some other goodies?

Well, you're in luck! @linda-from-the-bird-site is having a raffle, which benefits the homeless:

You can snag tickets for the price of a coffee, potentially get some awesome swag, and do some good. That's a win/win/win!

Ok Good Omens fandom, can I just bask in your glory for a bit? We know the lengths well all go to analysing every frame, every sound, every nuanced facial expression and because it's David and Michael we have a very rich seam to mine. Season 2 gave us so many questions. Neil's story telling has hooked us all so deeply. Is there any other tv show like this? What prompted me to post this was this gif from season 1. I'd never noticed what a tiny little smirk and chest puff Crowley/David did. He was pleased with himself. Its almost imperceptible but with hindsight, 6 years later, and after reading lots of excellent fan ficion, I am just seeing it. DT how did you know to do that??

GIF from @itsscottiesstark

I can't think of another tv show that inspires it's audience to dig so deeply as Good Omens.

I wonder if @neil-gaiman had any idea of the alchemy he was weaving. It really is magic. You can feel Terry's influence in every frame.

i miss them ...

im never happy with the way i draw azi, he either looks too young or too realistic. i cant win

(prints) !!

Day #920 of David Tennant as a Fennec Fox 🦊 @neil-gaiman

I always wondered why Edwin was a much faster runner than Charles in the earlier episodes. Now seeing episode 7 it's because he spent 70 years doing nothing but dead sprinting barefoot through dirty cluttered hallways. Man is an Olympic runner at this point. Must have been so easy the first time he got to earth running in shoes on normal ground. It's like the teathered daughter from 'Us' running through the tunnels.

Reversed Veil of Worlds

Crowley’s POV Pages 10-15 out of 20.

1-5 | 6-10 | 16-20

5 more pages to go. Crowley has figured things out after having to repeat his wedding with the love of his life. How will he fix this?

Me when I remember the world is actually still very homophobic and I can't just stay in my queer friendgroup at my accepting school forever

I don't know who still needs to find this out but Good Omens fandom, you are aware there is a lovechild of Aziraphale and Crowley in the world, right? Also created by Neil Gaiman?

Listen. Listen

Edwin Payne has the classic look, the queer mannerisms, the innocuous innocence, the love for books and knowledge, the repression, the damn bowtie.

AND ALSO HAS the bitchiness, the hater attitude, the sassy walk, the actual experience of being in Hell, the quick wit.

I don't even have to talk about the pining and the devotion both stories have but I mean-

Anyways Edwin is their biological son and if you haven't watch Dead Boy Detectives yet what are you doing

Netflix better quit their habit of cancelling queer shows and give us a second season of dead boy detectives or istg I will find whoever is responsible and put my shoe up their ass :)

Dead Boy Detectives | 1.01: The Case of Crystal Palace

HUGE REMINDER THAT THERE’S A WATCH PARTY GOING ON FOR DEAD BOY DETECTIVES FRIDAY-SUNDAY! MAKE SURE TO PARTICIPATE AND PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD SO WE CAN GET SEASON 2!!

Ps make sure when the watch party is over please continue to watch and stream dead boy detectives even on mute while your doing something or even at work/school just have it on thank you!

(also for those who are confused on how watch parties work, we all press play on the episode at the same time and if ur on twitter we live tweet the episode and spead the dead boy detective hastag!)