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

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Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

the trailer looks good. BUt the golems look...weird. But im still hoping for Terry Gilliam's "Good Omens".
Comedy option: "Small gods" by Mel gibson.I trully want this to happen.
And i LOVE "small gods"

# ¿ Apr 2, 2010 00:37

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# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 09:10

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

I though "Carrot is a sociopath that slowly learns and decides to be less of a sociopath" was a established opinion.a lot of the things he does (like dutifully writing letters to his family back in the mine) are things that he thinks is expected of a good, simple ~~man~~ dwarf.

The real trick with carrot the character is that in most literature/media you want/expect to see that kind of person let loose an be evil.
But with carrot, the reader wonders, but never wants to see it, not really. That's good writing. man, this guy pratchett was kinda good.

# ¿ Dec 12, 2019 22:10

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

Rand Brittain posted:

The thing is that if Carrot really is all those things, then he’s almost astoundingly lacking in emotional honesty.

Well, yeah.hes a sociopath.
And sure carrot doesn't get developed much because it stops being interesting exploring him further.hes a foundation, more than anything.i think, especially in the later books, he's more the bedrock of the Watch than Vimes is.that doesnt mean he is a boring character, only that his story is less narratively interesting.
Angua too, especially after the fifth elephant.knowing when to be done with your characters is a very hard thing to master, but Pratchett always found that balance for the characters with better stories,with maybe the exception of rincewind.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2019 02:07

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

Beefeater1980 posted:

Glorious.

Carrot is interesting because he’s a philosopher king who applied his mind to the system and realised it wouldn’t be improved by him being in charge, so he stayed low.

In Guards, Guards there is a real tension at the end of the book when Vetinari asks them what they want. It’s still there in Men At Arms. The potential that after all the requests for dartboards etc, Carrott adds “oh, and Supreme Executive Power.” But he never does.

I don’t like the mythologising of sociopaths we occasionally see in fiction, and I don’t think Carrot is one. He’s thoughtful and empathetic, but he has a very strong moral code and he acts in accordance with it, and part of having a very strong moral code is letting it overrule concepts like “good guys don’t kill bad guys.” As Cruces found out.

Yeah, ok, these are good points, I've tentatively moved carrot to the not-a- sociopath column.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2019 16:42

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

It was charming, but not good.
Death and nobby were perfect though.

# ¿ Jan 17, 2020 11:42

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

Bruceski posted:

He truly perfected his craft, just along a different axis.

BSJ inadvertently stumbling into the eldritch dimensions is completely in character.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2020 21:24

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

Epicurius posted:

Pratchett said he always pictured Vimes as Peter Postwaite.

Wait, sergeant Obadiah postlethwaithe or Mr. Kobayashi postlethwaithe?

# ¿ Feb 5, 2020 11:59

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

I always pictured vimes as Sean Bean but with the permanent scowl of Eastwood

# ¿ Feb 5, 2020 12:01

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

Is there where's my cow fanfic? Maybe a shared missing animals universe?
Where's my pangolin must be pretty popular right now.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2020 11:53

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

But night watch was published in 2002? :confused:

# ¿ Aug 4, 2020 03:08

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

Jaguars! posted:

Fair enough, and also Thief of Time which is still my first and favourite.

Yeah those two and small gods are my favourite too.and jingo.carpe jugulum is probably the funniest.and Mort.and going postal.

crap.

I'll say this about night watch; I read it right after reading Roberto Bolano's 2666, which is a legit Masterpiece of Literature and there is usually a refractory period after reading something like that , and even then I was blown away.night watch is really good.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2020 00:53

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

Mine was carpe jugulum, and I'm pretty sure I picked it up just by reading the blurb in the back and thinking "this can't be as hilarious as it sounds".and it wasn't.it was even better.
I immediately fell in love with the witches and went back 2 days latter and bought all discworld books in the shop, which if I'm not mistaken was pyramids, Eric, Mort, sourcery and wyrd sisters which was a significant chunk of my money because I was a poor high school student. This was back in 1998, I had to order the books in the shop and they would take about a month to arrive because English is not my mother tongue and I kind miss that anticipation of when a new book is gonna come in.

# ¿ Aug 6, 2020 23:08

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

I get that man at arms presents the more established version of the watch, but the ending gets a extra kick if you follow carrots arc from guards guards.
Same as jingo, for me. The rolodex death call really hit me in the feels, because I've followed these characters in the previous novels.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2020 22:15

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

Just picture Chris Evans with ginger air as Carrot.
Not another teen movie Chris Evans.
Oh poo poo Billy bob Thornton as Nobby.
No wait, Steve buscemi as Nobby.
No wait...Walton goggins.nailed it.

# ¿ Aug 12, 2020 01:23

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

thetoughestbean posted:

Andy Serkis doing the mocap for Nobby

Nobby is technically human so it would be against his brand.
To bad Brian blessed is too old, he would be a great archchancellor .
"BUUURSAAARRR!"

# ¿ Aug 12, 2020 01:38

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

The universe constantly screwing with hot rincewind would be a cool concept, like Death would be pissed that he doesnt die and hes also dreamy.

But yeah, part of the charm of discworld is that its just odd people in a odd world, the setting and the profound humanism in the stories are the beautifull things.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2020 01:57

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

I always kinda read the inner cop of Vimes as being his sense of justice and indignation, because thats who watches the watchmen.
I like it because as vimes becomes a better person and less repressed so does the watch.even Nobby becomes a better (technicaly) human as the series goes on.
Discworld is a fantasy land and acepting that not all cops are bastards is about on the same level of acepting Death strolling about and having a little rodent sidekick.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2020 00:22

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

I mean, death of the author and all , but discworld is a highly moralist universe so.
On one hand , pterry spoke at a tory convention, on the other hand his book have examples of class consciousness and no one who comes up with the samuel vimes theory of boots and economic inequality can be truly bad.theres a left humanist populist in there, even if buried under all the liberal tropes.

Edit: actually that vimes quote is very dolly parton.partonist?partonista?

# ¿ Sep 15, 2020 16:56

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

Thats like talking at the ocean convention and begging water not to be wet.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2020 21:21

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

Bold, casting foul ole ron as samuel vimes.
Dutch angles!
Man, this is going to be a trainwreck.love it.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2020 11:55

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

Counter counter point: they can be resurrected when they exit the cat.
That's gonna be a angry and smelly vampire

Just a Igor following a cat around with a litter box and a little shovel

# ¿ Nov 11, 2020 11:49

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

Agreed, gillian anderson as granny it is.

# ¿ Jan 21, 2021 23:04

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

Devorum posted:

I gave up halfway through. Every character getting a Certified Tragic Backstory was the final straw for me.

Like...what did it actually add to the story to make Carrot an unwanted child? Or Sybil an orphan?

This is the trope of "band of misfits bonds over common tragic past and learns to work together" which is just lazy at this point.

# ¿ Feb 21, 2021 23:13

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

I love the bit where vimes finds out the guild of assassin's is no longer accepting jobs for him and he's miffed.
Its also a really neat pay off, from drunkard captain to possibly the second most important figure in the city.

# ¿ Nov 7, 2021 21:05

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# ¿ Apr 24, 2024 09:10

Antifa Poltergeist: Jun 3, 2004; "We're not laughing with you, we're laughing at you"

I picked up carpe jugulum when it came out simply on the strenght of the title and the book blurb, but it was when the vampires all get weatherwaxed that i knew i found a love for life.
Queue several years of ordering books, waiting months, and giddily going to the store , because pratchett still was 10 years away from having a translation in my native language.

# ¿ Mar 24, 2023 21:16

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