Good Omens: A companion to Owls- biblical-cinematographical references.
Since Cecil B. DeMille played such a big role, here are some side by side scenes from The Ten Commandments and A Companion to Owls.
And most importantly, side by side scenes with the Book of Job and A Companion to Owls.
The Peter Anderson Studio and how they originally developed the ineffable opening sequence for Good Omens.
I also covered most of the easter eggs you can find in the season 2 opening sequence here.
And if you want to read the interviews used for this post:
Peter Anderson Studio Title Sequence
Title Sequence Polygon
Indigo Awards
Art of the Title
The official page of the Peter Anderson Studio
Good Omens 2 opening sequence easter eggs:
I had originally posted these after the last Ineffable Con, but in separate posts. A lot of the things mentioned here were covered in the Con and said by Peter Anderson. (He actually left this comment).
Other easter eggs are mentioned inside of the X ray section of Prime! You can watch an extensive behind the scenes there and appreciate how the flames here were built using cotton balls or how the tartan hills were made. (Including our little spider friend, which I also asked some extra pictures from because the original concept was very creepy). You can see them better here.
Some Good Omens origins: character descriptions inside of the blueprint of what would become our beloved book, but which was first named William the Antichrist.
Although these are all about characters, I wrote about the process and the first draft here.
The laudanum in Season 2 Episode 3 has a Terry Pratchett easter egg on it! :)
It reads "Guaranteed by C.M.O.T Dibbler & Co. CHEMISTS". C.M.O.T Dibbler (Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler) is a character from Terry's Discworld featuring in many books :).
"C.M.O.T. Dibbler liked to describe himself as a merchant adventurer; everyone else liked to describe him as an itinerant pedlar whose money-making schemes were always let down by some small but vital flaw, such as trying to sell things he didn’t own or which didn’t work or, sometimes, didn’t even exist." - Reaper Man
"‘Anti-dragon cream. Personal guarantee: if you’re incinerated you get your money back, no quibble.’ 'What you’re saying,’ said Vimes slowly, 'if I understand the wording correctly, is that if I am baked alive by the dragon you’ll return the money?’ 'Upon personal application,’ said Cut-Me-Own-Throat." - Guards! Guards!
“Angua picked out the bottle and looked at the label. "C.M.O.T. Dibbler's Genuine Authentic Soggy Mountain Dew," she read. "He's going to die! It says, 'One hundred and fifty per cent proof'!" "Nah, that's just old Dibbler's advertising," said Nobby. "It ain't got no proof. Just circumstantial evidence.” - Men at Arms
concept art:
Ben Hur film:
the GO episode:
Today is Sir Terry Pratchett's birthday. So, why not celebrate with some of the easter eggs we have in Good Omens that are all about him.
Mind how you go.
Crowley’s flat is riddled with statues, from different time periods, from different corners of life and society.
The Wrestlers is one of my favorite angelic-demonic inspirations for the one he keeps on one end of his flat.
Wrestling in general, especially demonstrated in other statues, goes beyond the sport of wrestling. It makes the material appear soft even though it might be stone; it makes the action look soft and meditated instead of violent and brutal. And it is not limited to statues, but found immensely in art itself.
Part of this is canonically inspired and the rest is more meta-esque, but still tied with everything else.
On the list of things NO ONE had asked Neil Gaiman:
The dialogue from the TV show that the Young family are watching in Episode 3, before Adam heads off for an early night.
I put the script together with the scene! You can hear the phrases very well if you know what they’re saying. Since Neil posted this I have been unable not to listen to the TV conversation.
Good Omens: behind the camera!
With DoP Gavin Finney.
I gathered together all of the interviews I could find where Gavin Finney discusses his work for Good Omens: including how he framed certain shots, the filters used for some scenes, how Aziraphale has a constant halo and celestial shots. (Even a camera that only exists for filming the Gavotte).
There are even more things dealing with CGI and VFX in the articles. So do give them a read if you can!
I also added some things he mentioned for The Ineffable Con 4.
Here are all of my sources:
How Cinematographer Gavin Finney Brought Heaven and Hell to Life in ‘Good Omens’
DP Chat: Good Omens cinematographer Gavin Finney
Tweets because I do now know how to call them anymore:
The 100 Guineas Club: or that discreet gentlemen’s club where Aziraphale learnt the gavotte in.
Or the gay underworld of late Victorian London.
Aziraphale’s guide to dance 101 is here.
The Chic Magazine interview with the Good Omens cast and crew by Keeley Ryan, August 2023 :)
There were plenty of miracles, mysteries and mayhem when Good Omens returned to the small screen for a second season.
The PrimeVideo series, which was originally based on Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman's best-selling novel, is heading beyond the source material this season.
The six-part series highlights the ineffable friendship between Aziraphale, a fussy angel and rare-book dealer, and the fast-living demon Crowley.
And while the duo put a stop to the apocalypse last time, there are the sparks of a new mystery that will take viewers from before The Beginning, to biblical times to grave robbing in Victorian Edinburgh; the Blitz of 1940s England to the modern day.
The cast includes David Tennant and Michael Sheen as Crowley and Aziraphale, Jon Hamm, Maggie Service, Nina Sosanya, Miranda Richardson, Shelley Conn, and Derek Jacobi also star in the series.
And Michael Sheen told how the Good Omens "world has grown" with season two - and opened up about his first day back at Aziraphale's bookshop.
In an interview conducted before the SAG strike, he said, "It was lovely to be back in the bookshop after having seen it burnt down the ground.
"Clearly I had managed to save a few books! Actually, it was extraordinary - your brain does a double take - my desk, the cash machine, the record player - everything is all so familiar even though it is a totally different location.
But we have expanded - there is much more of the world of Soho here including Aziraphale's favourite the magic shop and my favourite the pub - our world has grown."
The actor also praised Neil Gaiman's writing, noting how there's "something about the way Neil sees the mundane that is extraordinary."
He said, "His writing has such a breadth of reference and yet is so accessible and entertaining even when taking on big epic or philosophical issues.
There's something about the way Neil sees the mundane that is extraordinary. When things filter through his imagination they emerge in an entirely unique way and yet it feels like it's always been there.
Add in the sprinkling of the imagination of Terry Pratchett and cocktail has been created - utterly familiar."
Producer Sarah-Kate Fenelon told Chic how the second season of Good Omens is "building on the universe" - and how they had been "sowing the seeds of a second season without anybody knowing" last season. "
She said, "I work with Neil Gaiman and know in part that Gabriel, who is played by Jon Hamm, his character is not in the book of Good Omens - but it was included in the first season. We were sowing the seed of a second season without anybody knowing.
"That character was written by Neil and Terry as a potential second book. They never got to write it, but now we're able to tell Gabriel's story. It's kind of a lovely evolution, where we're just expanding the universe.
"A lot of locations on the set are locations from season one. We've also been able to explore new shops, like we've got the record shop and we've got The Dirty Donkey pub, which we go into - it was in season one, but we never got to go into it.
"Season two is just building on the universe."
The Wicklow native added that it was "wonderful to get the Good Omens family back together" for a second season.
She said, "We were lucky that a lot of our crew and creative talent were able to come back for a second season. But also, we had our cast return. Miranda Richardson plays a totally different character this season and we have a new Beelzebub.
"And then obviously, we've got Maggie and Nina playing themselves, Maggie and Nina, as written by Neil. It was wonderful to get the Good Omens family back together again."
Noel Corbally, who works as an associate producer on the series, recalled how they marked a special anniversary of the first season's release while prepping for season two.
The Irishman said, "We went for dinner that night to relive the celebration, happy to be back again.
"Even now, it's been more than a year since we wrapped and to be able to come back into the studio that's just been frozen in time with everything wrapped up — we had a week to turn it back to life, have it be a live street again.
"It's been a week. But it's been amazing. We had our original lighting team come back, our original art department — and they've just done a fantastic job."
And while there are plenty of easter eggs for fans to spot throughout the six episodes, the pair shared their favourites.
Noel shared, "I think that my favourite easter egg is actually in the record shop. It's a song that we play in the background. It's so subtle, but it's from the musical Happy As A Sandbag.
"Maggie's character Maggie runs the record shop, which was owned by her grandfather in the story. But the musical, Happy As A Sandbag, Maggie Service the actress - her mother and father met on the musical and fell in love. Having that was an homage to them for bringing us Maggie."
Sarah-Kate said, "I quite like the easter eggs in the title sequence. If you look really closely, there is a Gabriel or Jim in every shot, which people tend not to notice. It's like Where's Wally?"
Rob Wilkins, who manages Terry Pratchett's estate and serves as narrative EP, told how he was "elated" for the second season to be out — and about moving beyond the book's source material.
He explained, "There were lots of nerves, because there is no source material. There's no book. I went through the whole of season one with the mantra that we've got a beginning, a middle and an end.
"And at the end of season one, which was the only season at the time, I felt very relaxed - we're all grounded through Terry and Neil's words, and that's fine. We know where we're going, we've got the novel to refer to.
"And so with season two, of course there's going to be nerves — there's no source material.
"But Neil is 50% of the creative team that brought you Good Omens, so in him we trust. And we genuinely do, from the bottom of my heart - of course we do.
"There's excitement about what Neil is going to bring from the page and from the page to the screen, but trepidation as well — I'm a fan as much as anybody else, I want to know where the stories are going."
Rob added that some of his own favourite easter eggs within the second season include a nod to Terry in The Dirty Donkey pub - as well as a special sight in the bookshop.
He said, "I love the fact that in the bookshop, Teny's hat and scarf are just hanging there. Terry, as a huge patron of bookshops around the world, he just left his hat and scarf in there and moved on one day and left them behind.
"That's a lovely one for me, as well - it means more to me, I think, than anything else."
Rob opened up about the success of the first season - and why it was something that he didn't necessarily expect.
He continued, "There's the Terry Pratchett fandom, there's the Neil Gaiman fandom and push them together and there's a big crossover. But what we created with season one, we created Good Omens fandom from the show.
"People came to Neil's work and Terry's work through the show. It created something entirely individual of its own making, and that freaked me out because I didn't see that one coming.
"I didn't see that as a thing. I thought the fans would be rooted in Terry or Neil. I didn't realise that the ineffable husbands in all of that - I love David and Michael, but I didn't realise the love people would have for them as our demon and our angel.
"I shouldn't be surprised. It's just my admiration for them as actors and for what they do, and for people getting it I think that that's the thing that's meant a lot to me, that people have understood what we tried to do."
Costume designer Kate Carin told how having the opportunity to join Good Omens' second season was a "gift" - and opened up about why it was impossible to pick a favourite scene.
She explained, "When you see the whole show - you think, when you're watching episode one, you're like, 'oh my god, that's the best'. But then you watch something in episode two and it's like, 'that's awesome!'
"I would say that I'm a disciple of the show now. I didn't know the book when I was approached about the job. I'd obviously heard of it, and I'd seen season one — as a punter, I watched it.
"To get the opportunity to come and work on season two, it's a gift for a costume designer.
"You do fantasy, you do period, you do contemporary and all of the wavy lines in- between - you're given a lot of rope to play with."
The character of Shax, played by Miranda Richardson, was a "really fun character to design for" - as Kate told how plenty of ideas jumped to mind after reading the description.
She said, "When Neil writes on the page that you have a 50s inspired female demon, that gives you a lot of scope to play with. "
And when I started drawing her, I actually had to stop myself because I kept coming up with ideas."
And with the series jampacked with magical moments and settings, set decorator Bronwyn Franklin told how there was one particular shop that has a "certain magic'!
She said, "I actually think the magic shop is my favourite shop. The bookshop used to be, but now that l've done it twice - it's still beautiful. It is Aziraphale's home. It feels more magical because Aziraphale lives there, and there's the whole angelic side.
"But this one, it really has a certain magic. From a set decorator's point of view, it's a joy. Will Godstone, he gets to sit there and he's got his little cash register and if he's got no customers, he can sit there and have a little cup of tea.
"You just have to feel that person, live that person and think that it's yours. I always come into a space like this and think, 'how would I like to be?' Because if it makes me happy, it'll make the cast member happy, it'll make the viewers happy."
Michael Ralph, who is the series' production designer, told how while it's impossible to pick a favourite set, the bookshop is "one that will resonate most'.'
Aziraphale's bookshop contains more than 7,000 real books and Michael noted that it was important for the setting to feel real, not just for the audiences at home but for the cast and crew.
He said, "There's not a fake book in here. Couldn't do that. In a way, if you look at any bookshelf - I spent almost a day just moving books around, to make the bookshelves look like they're real. They could be flat dressed, and then they're not real. But this is real, when they're just moved around a little bit; or people have pulled them out and put them in incorrectly.. .that's what's real about a bookshop."
(and the whole yellow thing is a snake :) <3)
Peter Anderson: Hi, my name is Peter Anderson. I'm from Peter Anderson Studio and we created the title sequence to Good Omens Season Two. So this scene is quite literally a continuation from Season One.
An interesting detail with this scene is the fly. The fly is significant because it stores Gabriel's memory.
Gabriel is hidden in every scene. This is the first time we see it.
This goat is half bird, half goat, representing a mistake in a moment of transformation.
In the pickled herring barrel, we have literally red herrings sticking out.
A lot of the gravestones have hidden engravings, easter eggs, all written by Neil.
[This one says: HERE LIES THE FORMER SHELL OF BEELZEBUB referncing Beelzebub having a new face in S2 :), another ones are: EVERYDAY, JANE AUSTEN, Here lies ADAM (the Adam from Adam and Eve is meant)]
Another hidden Gabriel.
Our same character that was trying to escape Hell in Season One titles is also trying to escape here, moving in the opposite direction to the rest of the procession. Except this time he's apprehended and dragged back into the procession.
Our Hell spider from episode four makes a little appearance in the background here.
Can you tell where the bus is going? Director Douglas McKinnon selected Powell and Pressburger's Stairway to Heaven to put on the billboard.
Another thing to note here is the type is all handmade specifically for Good Omens. The Alphabet only exists within the show.
The big floating turnip is a nod to Azirafel's magic tricks.
The Ladies of Camelot poster we pulled from the show.
We added plaques to the back of the chairs and Neil chose who to honour.
[There are: A TALE OF TWO CITIES by CHARLES DICKENS, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by JANE AUSTEN, THE CROW ROAD by IAIN BANKS (twice!) and GOOD OMENS by TERRY PRATCHETT (Neil missing for some reason :) <3)]
Saraquiel made an appearance from Heaven.
Our Space is back from Season One. Aziraphale and Crowley are having a little dance here. A moment of flirtation. There's a tiny planet in the middle that comes into existence at this moment.
Our Scottish tartan hills make an appearance here.
The aeroplane and the airline is a little bit of a clue here.
[THY KINGDOM AIRWAYS 👀]
It's raining love hearts in reference to Aziraphale's attempt at making Maggie and Nina fall in love.
Here are elevators to Heaven and Hell. A wee thing to spot. Here is Gabriel in the lift arriving from Heaven.
We've updated our flags to reference some of the plotlines in Season Two. For example, The Second Coming.
The movie poster artwork changes every week, representing the episode plotlines and the minisodes. We made the posters to look like the time period and in this case we've got a Good Omens version of Buddy Holly.
[The posters are:]
In the snack bar some of our popcorn is actually communion wafers.
There are specific characters from Season One in the boxes watching the movie as the procession goes by. This includes some of our original concept art from Season One.
The duck playing the accordion is from a newspaper headline that someone is reading in The Dirty Donkey from one of the episodes.
[this is also from the Good Omens book :): "Daily Mail. 'Letter From America.' Um, August the third," said Newt. "Just after the story about the woman in Worms, Nebraska, who taught her duck to play the accordion."]
Each episode is showing a new movie on the screen, each one selected by Douglas, and has clues about what's to come.
The season one foam box tumbles in the background.
The big mountain is made of all the ingredients from Season Two and a couple of remnants from Season One. We are heading towards the biggest Easter Egg, which is the lift. We're heading towards the Second Coming..
Good Omens: all about its score Part 2!
Part 1 can be read here.
Almost all of these are references only to season 1; that’s because so far no official interviews for season 2 (for the score) have been published. (That I could find).
As promised here are all my sources; plus of course David Arnold’s own messages on Twitter (X?).
https://behindthelensonline.net/site/interviews/ interview-exclusives/david-arnold-rocks-the-world- of-good-omens-with-music-exclusive-interview/
I haven’t seen anyone post about the details of Jim’s jumper (officially said by Sandy who made the jumper). During her panel for the ineffable con 4, she went over the details and patterns and hidden easter eggs (although did not reveal all!). From lilies, to o’s, to greek keys, hourglasses, etc.
13 line (horizontal) patterns are in this jumper. I did this guide to show you what she meant since the video is only available for the people that attended the con.
I have the whole version here. (Only one more slide about the picture of Edward the 8th with the dog).
Sandy also has a youtube channel and an etsy shop!
The Good Omens book in the Good Omens show. :)🥰❤
