Terry Pratchett's Discworld... on TV!

[Dasquian Belargic]

http://www.skyone.co.uk/hogfather/

Ahh!! :D I am too excited for words.

[Byl Laprovik]

Record it for me and then mail it please.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I would if I had any way of doing it :( I bet there will be a DVD release though, which I will buy ASAP :) Also I think Hallmark are going to be showing it at some point in the US, since they partly funded it. There's a couple of "Making Of..." videos on the site that are worth looking at. The casting looks pretty spot-on. Death's voice sounds awesome and Mr. Teatime is suitably creepy.

EDIT: Just a few random facts about this.

* It was made on a £6 million budget (Skys most expensive dramatisation to date), lasts 3 hours in total and was filmed in High Definition.
* It features Nigel Planer and Tony Robinson, who have both narrated Discworld audio-books and done voicework for Discworld videogames.
* Terry Pratchett has a cameo as a toymaker!
* Sky have optioned another 3 Discworld books, including The Colour of Magic, for dramatisation (:D!!!)

Here's hoping this is the first of many live-action Discworld productions. From the interviews with Pratchett on the Sky website, it seems like he was incredibly impressed with what the production team achieved, in terms of creating a Discworld faithful to the novels.

[Zem-El Vymes]

They'd better get around to the Watch novels :shakefist

[Teroch Tor]

Wow. It looks bloody brilliant!


They'd better get around to the Watch novels :shakefist

Aye!

[Salem Ave]

I can't even begin to guess which other 2 books they're planning on bringing to life. I would think it's more likely that they'd choose some of the 'stand alone' novels, though. Pyramids, Small Gods, The Truth, etc. Books of that kind - with stories that don't require a lot of foreknowledge of the Disc or its inhabitants. Of course they could do the books that first introduce the various characters - hence the choice of The Colour Of Magic, since that is the first time we meet Rincewind. Guards! Guards! would be the logical choice for the Watch. I guess they could also tackle some of the other Death/Susan-related books. Who knows!

I wish they would make Good Omens. I know it's not a Discworld book but it would make a fantastic movie :(

[Daanarri Meorrrei]

:D Very exciting - I read about this a few months back. Can't wait to see it, I hope we at least get the DVD over here in the States. ^_^;

[Dasquian Belargic]

Just watched the first part and I am enjoying it so far! The Death of Rats was very cute :)

[Dasquian Belargic]

My overall impression of this was that it was decent, but there is a lot of room for improvement. I watched the whole thing with someone who has read a couple of Discworld books, but couldn't really understand what was happening.

I think the problem is that the story flits from scene to scene in a way that was probably a little jarring and confusing for someone unfamiliar with the Disc. It felt as if they were trying to cram in everything from the book, in the right order, and in doing so it felt that the translation lacked some dramatic pacing. I can't really fault the casting, because everyone played their parts incredibly well - although Mr. Teatime's voice was a little... distracting. The way the actor played him was influenced by Johnny Depp's version of Willy Wonka. :\

The setting, I felt, was underdeveloped. While the characters were people of the Disc, it didn't feel like I was being shown parts of the Disc. Death's Domain was pretty good, but Ahnk-Morpork was hardly touched upon and locations like the Assassins Guild just seemed... flat.

I hope that if they decide to make more adaptions of Pratchetts novels, they do choose stand-alone novels, or at least pick some that have continuity with one another (e.g. the various Watch novels) so that they can really sink their teach into something. I'd rather see a vivid adaption of one element of the Disc rather than a quick glossing over of many, as was the case with Hogfather, which introduces Death, the Watch and the Wizards all in one go.

A lot of the comedy was lost in translation too, though I suppose that is to be expected, given the nature of Pratchett's style of humour.

[Dasquian Belargic]

http://www.skyoneonline.co.uk/tcom/

More Discworld goodness is on the way! :crack

I'm kind of put out that David Jason is playing Rincewind, because I always thought he should be played by Eric Idle, and David Jason looks too old for the part. Sean Astin as Twoflower should be... interesting, and the addition of Tim Curry to the cast is certainly welcome.

[Pierce Tondry]

Tim Curry? The Tim Curry?

I am so missing out on British tv. :( I guess one of these days I should maybe read the books.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Their website is taking forever to load. :(

[Dasquian Belargic]

Going Postal is on this weekend.

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I just watched the first half and.. well, it was alright! I like this new cast they are working with. They re-cast Vetinari as Charles Dance, but he has playing Lawful Evil down to an art. I'm glad they decided to go with one of the 'stand alone' stories, so that we don't need to spend a chunk of the show explaining who and what everything is.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

David Suchet!! :eee


Charley and I bought Hogfather and Color of Magic last weekend, so we'll have to watch those soon :D

[Crusader]

Thanks for the reminder on this one :)

[Daria Nytherciria]

Did everyone spot Angua at the start of that trailer? :3 at least I guess it was suppose to be her, unless there is another blonde werewolf on the City Watch.

[Callomas Savoc]

I don't think that's Angua, as I believe she at least tries to be a vegetarian.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

OMG it looks awesome. I love Going Postal and Making Money, Moist is a great character.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I just watched part 2 and it was great! So much better than the first half, in fact. I think part 1 lagged a bit, as they were still trying to establish Moist's character (it looks like the actor has a lot of fun with him), but the pacing and humour of part 2 really worked. It's my fav of the Discworld TV movies so far. The DVD is due out later this year, just incase there are no channels in the US showing it. And...


I don't think that's Angua, as I believe she at least tries to be a vegetarian.

...having spotted her in part 2 and checked the cast list, I can confirm that was indeed Angua!

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

How odd. Wonder what brought about that sanguine side of her? I mean it comes out occasionally in certain books, but it seems more of a repressed thing.

[Dasquian Belargic]

She was only featured for a couple of scenes with barely an dialogue. She wasn't so fleshed out as a character, so I'd guess they just went with the most obvious indicator that she was a werewolf and not to be messed with.

[Taataani Meorrrei]

Bummer. I actually haven't read Going Postal, so maybe I need to get to it. I of course recognize Vetinari, but is that also the same golem from Feet of Clay in it too?

[Dasquian Belargic]

Nope, I believe Mr Pump / Pump 19 makes his first appearance in Going Postal - which incidentally is a good book and I'd def recommend reading it :)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Mr. Pump :love

So many good characters in the book. And yeah, the Watch is just used as background, really.

[Taataani Meorrrei]

I hope this is an opening into doing renditions of the watch novels, but I'm gonna go ahead and read this in anticipation.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Going Postal was the third in a three book contract that Sky had. Whether they option any more will depend largely on viewing figures and DVD sales from the previous three TV movies. We can live in hope :)

[Crusader]

A "Mort" movie would be great :)

[Sanis Prent]

If Jenny's at all like me, we'd rather see The Fifth Elephant, but the amount of backstory that would have to be laid down for that book to make sense is, effectively impossible.

[Dasquian Belargic]

The Fifth Element would be my first choice of course! It is still one of my favorite books ever, and although I'd love to see it on screen I think we are more likely to get another "stand alone" story. Or maybe Making Money.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

The Fifth Element is already a movie. ;)

[Dasquian Belargic]

...you know what I meant. It's an easy typo to make :mneh

[Lilaena De'Ville]

... tee hee!

I love The Fifth Elephant as well. I'm hard pressed to find a Discworld book that I don't love, in fact. Each one is a perfect mix of memorable characters, satire, and hilarious happenings. The way Pratchett writes a ripping good yarn and then makes you THINK at the same time is unmatched.

[Captain Untouchable]

Going Postal was the third in a three book contract that Sky had. Whether they option any more will depend largely on viewing figures and DVD sales from the previous three TV movies. We can live in hope :)

I've seen the Hogfather, and I'm watching Going Postal at this very instant... what was the other one?

[Dasquian Belargic]

The Colour of Magic :)