The Terry Pratchett Thread: For the sake of prisoners and the flight of birds

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > The Book Barn > The Terry Pratchett Thread: For the sake of prisoners and the flight of birds

«‹›309 »

SeanBeansShako: Nov 20, 2009; Now the Drums beat up again,
For all true Soldier Gentlemen.

Alhazred posted:

The graphic novels that has been made are pretty bad.

Compared with the novels duh, as graphic novels though they looked pretty nice and told the story pretty decently so I disagree.

# ? Mar 24, 2016 21:16

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? May 12, 2024 07:51

Sloth Life: Nov 15, 2014; Built for comfort and speed!; Fallen Rib

angerbeet posted:

I don't know if you've seen Tim Curry lately but about the only person he'd be up for playing is Arnold Sideways.

Holy poo poo, I didn't know! Sorry if I offended.

# ? Mar 24, 2016 23:05

SeanBeansShako: Nov 20, 2009; Now the Drums beat up again,
For all true Soldier Gentlemen.

Oh drat, poor Tim Curry

# ? Mar 24, 2016 23:37

Liquid Communism: Mar 9, 2004

Yeah, poor guy had a stroke a couple years back and is still wheelchair bound last I knew. Worse, it affected his speech. :smith:

# ? Mar 25, 2016 07:40

precision: May 7, 2006; by VideoGames

RoboChrist 9000 posted:

He could play Nobby. With a face like his I can buy him needing a certificate to prove he is probably human.

That reminds me, for years I kept expecting the joke to be that Nobby actually looks like a normal Earth human and everyone else in Ankh-Morpork is a hideous weirdo, because it's loving Ankh-Morpork.

# ? Mar 26, 2016 01:11

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

SeanBeansShako posted:

Compared with the novels duh, as graphic novels though they looked pretty nice and told the story pretty decently so I disagree.

I've only read the first two, but they sucked as graphic novels too.

# ? Mar 26, 2016 14:46

SeanBeansShako: Nov 20, 2009; Now the Drums beat up again,
For all true Soldier Gentlemen.

Well I enjoyed them, especially the Mort one.

# ? Mar 26, 2016 14:50

Eighties ZomCom: Sep 10, 2008

http://www.theguardian.com/books/tvandradioblog/2016/apr/15/good-omens-neil-gaiman-to-adapt-terry-pratchett-collaboration-for-tv

So apparently Good Omens is getting made into a tv series. And Mort and Wee Free Men are both getting film adaptations.

# ? Apr 15, 2016 16:21

My Lovely Horse: Aug 21, 2010

Mort is a good choice. As an early book it doesn't have all that Discworld baggage you need to know. "Boy becomes apprentice to Death himself" is immediately accessible and a funny premise, and I haven't read the book in decades but as I recall it's got a good plot for a mainstream film.

# ? Apr 21, 2016 09:42

Hogblob: Mar 24, 2008

EvilTaytoMan posted:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/tvandradioblog/2016/apr/15/good-omens-neil-gaiman-to-adapt-terry-pratchett-collaboration-for-tv

So apparently Good Omens is getting made into a tv series. And Mort and Wee Free Men are both getting film adaptations.

Here's hoping they bring back Serafinowicz and Heap from the Radio Four adaptation as Crowley and Aziraphale.

I'm starting to think that we're never going to see The Watch TV series, though.

# ? Apr 21, 2016 11:11

divabot: Jun 17, 2015; A polite little mouse!

My Lovely Horse posted:

Mort is a good choice. As an early book it doesn't have all that Discworld baggage you need to know. "Boy becomes apprentice to Death himself" is immediately accessible and a funny premise, and I haven't read the book in decades but as I recall it's got a good plot for a mainstream film.

My intro to Discworld too, in 1996. A good starting point.

# ? Apr 21, 2016 11:25

BizarroAzrael: Apr 6, 2006; "That must weigh heavily on your soul. Let me purge it for you."

Hogblob posted:

Here's hoping they bring back Serafinowicz and Heap from the Radio Four adaptation as Crowley and Aziraphale.

Yeah, that seems pretty perfect, and they even looked right in the promo pictures. I'd be surprised if they didn't at least get first dibs.

# ? Apr 21, 2016 12:45

SeanBeansShako: Nov 20, 2009; Now the Drums beat up again,
For all true Soldier Gentlemen.

My Lovely Horse posted:

Mort is a good choice. As an early book it doesn't have all that Discworld baggage you need to know. "Boy becomes apprentice to Death himself" is immediately accessible and a funny premise, and I haven't read the book in decades but as I recall it's got a good plot for a mainstream film.

Mort is a great suggestion yeah.

Kind of funny though, reminds me of the anecdote of Terry trying to pitch a Discworld movie to Hollywood and they told him Mort would be great but they'd have to retool Death entirely.

# ? Apr 21, 2016 13:56

Trin Tragula: Apr 22, 2005

There's really no reason not to have it again, you know

quote:

"A production company was put together and there was US and Scandinavian and European involvement, and I wrote a couple of script drafts which went down well and everything was looking fine and then the US people said "Hey, we've been doing market research in Power Cable, Nebraska, and other centres of culture, and the Death/skeleton bit doesn't work for us, it's a bit of a downer, we have a prarm with it, so lose the skeleton". The rest of the consortium said, did you read the script? The Americans said: sure, we LOVE it, it's GREAT, it's HIGH CONCEPT. Just lose the Death angle, guys.

Whereupon, I'm happy to say, they were told to keep on with the medication and come back in a hundred years.

"The person also said that Americans "weren't ready for the treatment of Death as an amusing and sympathetic character". This was about 18 months/2 years before Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey."

"Currently, since the amount of money available for making movies in Europe is about sixpence, the consortium is looking for some more intelligent Americans in the film business. This may prove difficult.

It could have been worse. I've heard what Good Omens was looking like by the time Sovereign's option mercifully ran out -- set in America, no Four Horsemen... oh god."

"What you have to remember is that in the movies there are two types of people 1) the directors, artists, actors and so on who have to do things and are often quite human and 2) the other lifeforms. Unfortunately you have to deal with the other lifeforms first. It is impossible to exaggerate their baleful stupidity."

# ? Apr 21, 2016 17:02

Fat Samurai: Feb 16, 2011; To go quickly is foolish. To go slowly is prudent. Not to go; that is wisdom.

What, they were going to scrap the (Mort ending) final epic battle between Protagonist with a Magic Sword and a huge skeleton wielding a scythe?

# ? Apr 21, 2016 17:18

sfwarlock: Aug 11, 2007

SeanBeansShako posted:

Mort is a great suggestion yeah.

Kind of funny though, reminds me of the anecdote of Terry trying to pitch a Discworld movie to Hollywood and they told him Mort would be great but they'd have to retool Death entirely.

As I recall, it was "lose the Death angle," which is even more blockheaded.

# ? Apr 21, 2016 18:31

dordreff: Jul 16, 2013

Hogblob posted:

I'm starting to think that we're never going to see The Watch TV series, though.

When the only news for like 4 years has been "oh yeah we're totally still doing it, guys" it's pretty clearly not happening.

# ? Apr 21, 2016 18:33

SeanBeansShako: Nov 20, 2009; Now the Drums beat up again,
For all true Soldier Gentlemen.

sfwarlock posted:

As I recall, it was "lose the Death angle," which is even more blockheaded.

Turning it into a heart warming generic tale of a apprentice cobbler.

dordreff posted:

When the only news for like 4 years has been "oh yeah we're totally still doing it, guys" it's pretty clearly not happening.

We want to believe :smith:

# ? Apr 21, 2016 19:42

VagueRant: May 24, 2012

Fat Samurai posted:

What, they were going to scrap the (Mort ending) final epic battle between Protagonist with a Magic Sword and a huge skeleton wielding a scythe?

Don't forget the parts with the hourglasses getting knocked about and the effects that has on people's lives. Man, that whole sequence was DOPE.

# ? Apr 21, 2016 21:53

Dave Angel: Sep 8, 2004

SeanBeansShako posted:

Kind of funny though, reminds me of the anecdote of Terry trying to pitch a Discworld movie to Hollywood and they told him Mort would be great but they'd have to retool Death entirely.

Wasn't the anecdote that he was told a movie-going audience wouldn't be able to relate to an anthropomorphic personification of death, and the next year Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey hits cinemas?

Edit: Missed the bit where Bill and Ted got brought up.

# ? Apr 22, 2016 10:48

Jedit: Dec 10, 2011; Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

But not that Pterry later borrowed the joke of not just playing chess with Death, as someone once challenged him to a game of Monopoly instead.

# ? Apr 22, 2016 13:05

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

dordreff posted:

When the only news for like 4 years has been "oh yeah we're totally still doing it, guys" it's pretty clearly not happening.

Considering how hit and miss the adaptions have been so far I'm okay with this.

# ? Apr 22, 2016 17:53

Mad Hamish: Jun 15, 2008; WILL AMOUNT TO NOTHING IN LIFE.

Jedit posted:

But not that Pterry later borrowed the joke of not just playing chess with Death, as someone once challenged him to a game of Monopoly instead.

Death is just bad at games. He can't play bridge, he forgets how the knights move in chess, and I can only imagine that the Disc's version of Monopoly didn't go well either. That was in the Light Fantastic, right?

I guess he's probably OK at Cripple Mr. Onion but aside from that, nope.

# ? Apr 26, 2016 18:39

Drakyn: Dec 26, 2012

Mad Hamish posted:

Death is just bad at games. He can't play bridge, he forgets how the knights move in chess, and I can only imagine that the Disc's version of Monopoly didn't go well either. That was in the Light Fantastic, right?

It's mentioned in Reaper Man.

Reaper Man, page 146 posted:

I THOUGHT PERHAPS I COULD . . . FIGHT BACK . . .
'Has it ever worked? With you, I mean.'
NOT USUALLY. SOMETIMES PEOPLE CHALLENGE ME TO A GAME. FOR THEIR LIVES, YOU KNOW.
'Do they ever win?'
NO. LAST YEAR SOMEONE GOT THREE STREETS AND ALL THE UTILITIES.
'What? What sort of game is that?'
I DON'T RECALL. 'EXCLUSIVE POSSESSION', I THINK. I WAS THE BOOT.

# ? Apr 26, 2016 19:15

Oxxidation: Jul 22, 2007

Mad Hamish posted:

Death is just bad at games. He can't play bridge, he forgets how the knights move in chess, and I can only imagine that the Disc's version of Monopoly didn't go well either. That was in the Light Fantastic, right?

I guess he's probably OK at Cripple Mr. Onion but aside from that, nope.

Death is good at games but bad at chess, which is why he insists that people don't pick that one. Remember that he once threw a game of cards with Granny because he "only had four ones."

# ? Apr 26, 2016 19:29

Rand Brittain: Mar 25, 2013; "Go on until you're stopped."

I remember the Discworld RPG mentioned that Death is incredibly bad at all games but will always win anyway unless he decides he ought to lose, which sounds about right.

# ? Apr 26, 2016 21:43

Jedit: Dec 10, 2011; Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

Oxxidation posted:

Death is good at games but bad at chess, which is why he insists that people don't pick that one. Remember that he once threw a game of cards with Granny because he "only had four ones."

After swapping hands with her. But then Granny was only asking for the right to choose, and of course Death isn't pro-life.

# ? Apr 27, 2016 10:38

Rand Brittain: Mar 25, 2013; "Go on until you're stopped."

Okay, it's been long enough that I feel like I can say this without disrespecting a great man who just died�I feel like the sequence at the beginning of The Shepherd's Crown was totally wrong.

It feels to me like Granny was getting her send-off as an audience favorite rather than a realistic one, and it felt off to have every important character ever, more or less, drop in to talk about how great she was. (Nice though it was to see Agnes Nitt again.) Granny was a good person in a lot of ways, but she was also a giant rear end in a top hat in a lot of ways, and one of those ways was that she deliberately didn't let people get close or see that she was being nice to them. I feel like it would have been a lot truer to her as a character to die unmourned except by maybe the ten people who knew her best. And the audience, obviously.

# ? Apr 29, 2016 00:02

Alhazred: Feb 16, 2011

Rand Brittain posted:

Okay, it's been long enough that I feel like I can say this without disrespecting a great man who just died�I feel like the sequence at the beginning of The Shepherd's Crown was totally wrong.

It feels to me like Granny was getting her send-off as an audience favorite rather than a realistic one, and it felt off to have every important character ever, more or less, drop in to talk about how great she was. (Nice though it was to see Agnes Nitt again.) Granny was a good person in a lot of ways, but she was also a giant rear end in a top hat in a lot of ways, and one of those ways was that she deliberately didn't let people get close or see that she was being nice to them. I feel like it would have been a lot truer to her as a character to die unmourned except by maybe the ten people who knew her best. And the audience, obviously.

Then again she was the unofficial leader of the witches on the Discworld. And as the book stated that even if people didn't like her they had nevertheless felt safer when she was around.

# ? Apr 29, 2016 17:47

dordreff: Jul 16, 2013

Rand Brittain posted:

Okay, it's been long enough that I feel like I can say this without disrespecting a great man who just died�I feel like the sequence at the beginning of The Shepherd's Crown was totally wrong.

It feels to me like Granny was getting her send-off as an audience favorite rather than a realistic one, and it felt off to have every important character ever, more or less, drop in to talk about how great she was. (Nice though it was to see Agnes Nitt again.) Granny was a good person in a lot of ways, but she was also a giant rear end in a top hat in a lot of ways, and one of those ways was that she deliberately didn't let people get close or see that she was being nice to them. I feel like it would have been a lot truer to her as a character to die unmourned except by maybe the ten people who knew her best. And the audience, obviously.

Yeah, the bit with Vetinari was probably a bit much, and the sequence with HEX absolutely was.

# ? Apr 29, 2016 20:30

Mad Hamish: Jun 15, 2008; WILL AMOUNT TO NOTHING IN LIFE.

Rand Brittain posted:

Okay, it's been long enough that I feel like I can say this without disrespecting a great man who just died—I feel like the sequence at the beginning of The Shepherd's Crown was totally wrong.

It feels to me like Granny was getting her send-off as an audience favorite rather than a realistic one, and it felt off to have every important character ever, more or less, drop in to talk about how great she was. (Nice though it was to see Agnes Nitt again.) Granny was a good person in a lot of ways, but she was also a giant rear end in a top hat in a lot of ways, and one of those ways was that she deliberately didn't let people get close or see that she was being nice to them. I feel like it would have been a lot truer to her as a character to die unmourned except by maybe the ten people who knew her best. And the audience, obviously.

Yeah, I sort of got this feeling too, in all honesty. Some of them made sense - Ridcully, for example - but others, not so much.

# ? Apr 30, 2016 15:36

Reene: Aug 26, 2005

Ridcully mourning her was absolutely correct (and that sequence was depressing) but I have no idea why HEX would have done anything, much less Vetinari. Why would Vetinari even know who she is? She was in Ankh-Morpork like, a couple of times in the books, but she didn't do anything to rise to that level of notoriety.

So yeah, I'll agree the sequence was basically written for the audience by a man that was, himself, bidding his audience goodbye. I don't think that's an unforgivable sin, considering.

# ? May 1, 2016 22:15

GodFish: Oct 10, 2012; We're your first, last, and only line of defense. We live in secret. We exist in shadow.

And we dress in black.

I haven't read it yet, been keeping it so I'll have one to read even if I never end up reading it. But I was sure that the HEX and Vetinari comments were joking, I can't figure out why they'd show up. That it apparently wasn't is blowing my mind.

# ? May 1, 2016 23:37

Jedit: Dec 10, 2011; Proudly supporting vanilla legends 1994-2014

Reene posted:

Ridcully mourning her was absolutely correct (and that sequence was depressing) but I have no idea why HEX would have done anything, much less Vetinari. Why would Vetinari even know who she is? She was in Ankh-Morpork like, a couple of times in the books, but she didn't do anything to rise to that level of notoriety.

Granny was a close personal friend of the Archchancellor, a distant relative of a former Archchancellor, and she had significant interactions in the city with a number of major players on the Ankh-Morpork scene including Rosie Palm and the Cable Street Particulars. Plus she fought vampires in Uberwald, a community in which Vetinari has friends and keeps himself informed about, and she overthrew rulers in two different countries. Vetinari absolutely knew who she was.

# ? May 2, 2016 01:08

Old Kentucky Shark: May 25, 2012; If you think you're gonna get sympathy from the shark, well then, you won't.

Jedit posted:

Granny was a close personal friend of the Archchancellor, a distant relative of a former Archchancellor, and she had significant interactions in the city with a number of major players on the Ankh-Morpork scene including Rosie Palm and the Cable Street Particulars. Plus she fought vampires in Uberwald, a community in which Vetinari has friends and keeps himself informed about, and she overthrew rulers in two different countries. Vetinari absolutely knew who she was.

Also her sister ruled Genua, a major Ankh-Morpork trading partner, for much of Vetinari's term of office.

She also had, personally, forged herself into a kind of psychic and magical bulwark against, at minimum, a half-dozen world-rending threats from outside space and time. Hence the rest of the events of Shephard's Crown. She's not just a witch, she's a load-bearing witch. Hex has been shown to be keyed into the underlying magical fabric of the Discworld enough to feel that type of load-shifting.

# ? May 2, 2016 03:43