This article on the effect of fandom on the Good Omens miniseries brings out the quantum theorist in this TVWriter™ minion. As in – Do the acts of reading and commenting on a creative work actually change the work itself?
At the very least, it would see that they can’t keep from having an effect on the writers/ What do you think?
by Samantha Edmonds
I’m just going to say it: I liked the Good Omens miniseries more than the novel. It’s sacrilege among Book Folks, my people, to admit this, but sometimes recasting an old story into a new medium improves the experience. (Remember Legally Blonde, the Amanda Brown novel? Of course you don’t.) There are several reasons why I preferred the show, but mostly it’s because the novel didn’t have Aziraphale and Crowley’s queer-as-hell relationship — unarguably the best part — as the main focus.
So when I say Good Omens the show is “better” than Good Omens the book, what I mean is, it’s gayer.
Good Omens isn’t unique in its having fans who read queerness into the text. Fandoms have been doing this for years: Supernatural immediately comes to mind, as does The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. What does make Good Omens unique is that this fan-created queer love story — a fairy tale for the end of the world — pretty much came true when the story was adapted from the page to the screen.
Consider the standard one-sentence summary of the miniseries, which goes like this: In the final days leading up to the final battle between Heaven and Hell, the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley work together to thwart the apocalypse. Reviews may continue from there to praise the show’s casting, humor, or Emmy-nominated music — but then, inevitably, every article says something like “at its heart, this is a love story,” in reference to the obvious Crowley-and-Aziraphale-Making-Heart-Eyes-At-Each-Other moments throughout.
Here’s the thing, though: I don’t think it actually is a love story. Or rather, I don’t think the book was.
A more accurate novel summary is this: Shortly after his 11th birthday, Adam Young starts displaying mysterious powers. As various supernatural forces gather around him, he and his friends (the Them) decide if their world is worth saving….