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I rather liked the televised Hogfather too, however it did have it's share of problems. Ponder was completely off. I can see what they were going for with him and it was completely the wrong thing. It was loving Barry from Last of the Summer Wine. The director cut between scenes way, way too much. And of course, Mr Teatime. Looked the part, sounded like Michael Jackson. Everyone else was bang on though, particularly Susan and Ridcully. Bibulous was good too. I really don't know a thing about Nation. It would be interesting to see a critique of a nation's reaction to an atrocity, if that's what he's going for. Or it could just be about Derek Nation, a scrimshaw artist from Stoke who gets offered a job by Lord Vetinari. Of Stoke.
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Jan 28, 2008 11:42
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Thirded on Hogfather being good; I'll be interested to see how The Colour of Magic turns out, especially with Sean Astin as Twoflower, Tim Curry as Trymon, and Christopher motherfuckin' Lee as Death. Could be quite awesome. I too have no idea what Nation is about, which is really bizarre. All I can find out is that it's a work of fiction that is political in nature.
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Jan 28, 2008 12:21
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precision posted:I think they were referring to the descent in quality of Adams' writing. Mostly Harmless really was an amazingly depressing piece of business As said, Adams did regret the ending though, and there's an additional scene at the end of the radio adaptation of Mostly Harmless where it's explained that the Babel Fish can teleport itself through time and space to avoid danger, so it teleports itself (and Arthur, Ford, and Trillian) to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, where Arthur finds Fenchurch again, as she's working there as a waitress, and invites her to go flying with him again, which she accepts.
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Jan 28, 2008 14:25
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My only problem with the Hogfather movie was Death. Keeping the face unmoving just made it look cheap. Maybe my interpretation was wrong, but I always envisioned the jaw moving. Or at least attempted so as Death usually does.
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Jan 28, 2008 23:52
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precision posted:Thirded on Hogfather being good; I'll be interested to see how The Colour of Magic turns out, especially with Sean Astin as Twoflower, Tim Curry as Trymon, and Christopher motherfuckin' Lee as Death. Could be quite awesome. What? Who would be Rincewind, though?
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Jan 29, 2008 03:41
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Lars Blitzer posted:What? Who would be Rincewind, though? I've always imagine Judge Reinhold in the role. Just finished The Last Continent, and it seems like he's got the wizards down to a nice neat formula. Bicker, fumble, and stumble around until the book ends, all without getting what ought to be coming to them. They're basically Clouseaus by this point. He really seems to have amped up Rincewind's cowardice, the guy didn't really seem like UltraPussy until Interesting Times. He used to just be afraid of Death, now he's afraid of anything that could possibly lead to it, like say, getting up in the morning. 
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Jan 29, 2008 04:41
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Lars Blitzer posted:What? Who would be Rincewind, though? Rincewind is being played by the actor who played Alfred in Hogfather.
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Jan 29, 2008 04:56
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LooseChanj posted:I've always imagine Judge Reinhold in the role. Actually, if I were Rincewind, I'd be a big pussy too after all going through all the crap he's gone through. He pretty much started off as a cynical realist, and has now gotten to the point where, "Nice to meet you," is being said for one of two reasons. First, either it's some evil guy who wants to scoop out his eyes, gently caress the sockets, then have him rubbed along a giant cheese grater for several hours, or it's somebody who wants to send him to go fight that guy, with no help. So I can understand his reluctance to leave the safety of his bedroom, the dining hall, or his room.
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Jan 29, 2008 05:56
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precision posted:Rincewind is being played by the actor who played Alfred in Hogfather. David Jason is a national treasure but he is far too loving old for this role. Personally, I hoped for Simon Pegg. He just looks the part.
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Jan 29, 2008 13:57
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It's strange, I really could never pin down an age for Rincewind. When I read the first two books, I did think of him as really old. Plus, aside from Ponder Stibbons, every wizard in the series is described as being around 50-70. In the later books, there are times that Rincewind acts somewhat younger, however, so I gradually began to think of him as 30-ish.
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Jan 29, 2008 18:25
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precision posted:It's strange, I really could never pin down an age for Rincewind. When I read the first two books, I did think of him as really old. Plus, aside from Ponder Stibbons, every wizard in the series is described as being around 50-70. In the later books, there are times that Rincewind acts somewhat younger, however, so I gradually began to think of him as 30-ish. I've had almost the opposite progression. In the first few novels, I imagined him really young, like Ponder almost. But The Last Continent seems to indicate he's at least middle aged. I suppose you could say there's enough time between The Color of Magic and TLC that he could have aged from "adult" to "mid-life".
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Jan 29, 2008 18:31
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I always thought Rincewind was in his early twenties in the earlier books and late twenties/mid thirties by the later books. I have trouble imagining him as an old man.
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Jan 29, 2008 20:08
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He's initially a student, albeit the worst one possible. I put him in his twenties somewhere.
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Jan 29, 2008 22:03
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The way he's depicted graphically in the Last Hero makes anything over forty seem like bullshit.
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Jan 29, 2008 22:14
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Wheresmy5bucks posted:My only problem with the Hogfather movie was Death.
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Jan 29, 2008 23:46
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quote:"Rincewind's life-timer is described as resembling something created by a glassblower with the hiccups in a time machine; most likely as a result of his constant mishaps involving magic, the nature of reality, and shiftings into alternate dimensions. This represents something of a curiosity to Death who keeps the hour-glass on his desk. The complicated and sometimes changing nature of the life-timer can not only slow the flow of Rincewind's sand, but also stop and even reverse it. As such, even Death himself is unaware of how old Rincewind is supposed to be or when he will die" On a somewhat related note, I do hope that before PTerry stops writing we get another Discworld novel that directly deals with the Gods of the Disc, and how they are adapting to the growth of technology. I always thought that the sections where the Gods were sitting around playing a game with the Disc's characters were fun. It'd be especially neat to have a whole book that revolves around The Lady and Fate (I realise the first two books are sort of already like that, but still). I think I initially thought of Rincewind as old because he's drawn as being old on the original cover of The Light Fantastic, which was the first Disc novel I read. Oddly enough, I found it at a K-Mart, of all places, in 1987 or so, and picked it up on a complete whim.
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Jan 30, 2008 00:10
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This is pretty much how I got into, albeit with Interesting Times and ten years later, because the old cover art was, well, poo poo. I'm sorry, it had it's charm but really, everything was all melty.
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Jan 30, 2008 03:02
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Nosy_G posted:Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe I always remember Death speaking as the old "voice in the head" sort of thing. Yes, I do believe that is actually explicitly stated at least once in the series. THAT'S WHY HE TALKS LIKE THIS.
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Jan 30, 2008 04:06
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Doesn't change the fact it looked ridiculously cheesy and looks like they couldn't splurge the budget for a mask that doesn't look unmovingly plastic. I kind of interpreted it as Death making the mouth move anyway even if he doesn't need to. As a sort of humanizing gesture like him appearing when he doesn't need to do his job. Or just about everything in his house being stiff and stone, just looking right. Ah well, I hate when my mental images are shattered.
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Jan 30, 2008 04:19
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To really get Death right, he'd have to move his mouth, without it syncing to the words. He tries so hard to humanize himself, but can never get it right.
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Jan 30, 2008 04:39
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Well there may be hope yet: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-discover-way-to-reverse-loss-of-memory-775586.html Come on scientists you stupid, mostly-smart jerks!  If anyone doesn't want to read it, it's about scientists who may have stumbled upon a cure for memory loss while eletrocuting a fat man. Why are they electrocuting him you ask? Well apparently our pudgy friend was seeking help to rid himself of obesity, but literally every other avenue had failed so he resorted to brain surgery. One has to wonder what he actually went through before deciding "You know what? gently caress it, hack my brain open and stick electrodes into it."
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Jan 30, 2008 13:31
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precision posted:Oddly enough, I found it at a K-Mart, of all places, in 1987 or so, and picked it up on a complete whim. This is almost exactly my story with the Hitch-hiker's Guide, only it was '81'ish and a Kroger. For some reason my youth addled brain thought it would be like sniglets, you know, an actual sort of parody of a travel guide. When I realized it was actually a novel, I had a  moment. Ah, to be young and stupid. I remember my dad taking me to dinner with some friends of his from work (who happened to be from England), and mentioning this hilarious book I'd just read and having them whip out the radio show. It's fun to look back on it and realize it's one of the few things in my life I've really been in on from the ground floor. I still have the british version of Life, The Universe, and Everything.  Anyway, to get this thread back on topic, I avoided the discworld books for the longest time because I was uncertain of what order I should read them in and there were so many of them. I finally just picked one up and looked at the list in the front and started with TCOM. For some reason I got Small Gods out of order.
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Jan 30, 2008 14:22
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Anyone else unhappy with how he seemed to completely stop using the wizards and the University in later books? They used to have quite a large role in the series but now they are just cameos and there to just nudge the plot along.
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Feb 10, 2008 19:23
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This has been brought up before - it's obvious that Pratchett is aware of the shelf life of his characters. He semi-retired the Witches and totally retired the Wizards and Rincewind. I think he's preparing to do the same with the Watch (Vimes fixed his life and more or less cleared the family name and honour, so I assume his arc is coming to an end). I think it's a good thing. We haven't had time to grow tired of the characters.
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Feb 10, 2008 20:23
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Wheresmy5bucks posted:Doesn't change the fact it looked ridiculously cheesy and looks like they couldn't splurge the budget for a mask that doesn't look unmovingly plastic. Moving the mouth would look weird as hell without lips. Reading this thread made me have a look to see if the Soul Music miniseries is up on YT, it is, but thae amination is worse than I remember it being. http://youtube.com/watch?v=oOrMcN6SfHY e: Deaths voice acting is pretty perfect. Some of the others as not so much. massive spider fucked around with this message at 20:35 on Feb 10, 2008 |
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Feb 10, 2008 20:26
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muscles like this? posted:Anyone else unhappy with how he seemed to completely stop using the wizards and the University in later books? They used to have quite a large role in the series but now they are just cameos and there to just nudge the plot along. Yeah, I liked the wizards a lot. 
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Feb 10, 2008 21:59
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The Wizards are kind of played out now, though. Things have changed too much for the Wizards to effectively play a large part in future stories, especially as protagonists, by and large.
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Feb 10, 2008 22:02
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magimix posted:The Wizards are kind of played out now, though. Things have changed too much for the Wizards to effectively play a large part in future stories, especially as protagonists, by and large. I think its also because Pratchett uses the Wizards more as plot devices than Characters if you really think about it, and Rincewind is used up for aforementioned reasons.
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Feb 11, 2008 05:39
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If he ever gets around to writing Unseen Academicals it would revolve around the Wizards and University.
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Feb 11, 2008 07:20
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This discussion has got me wondering, where the hell are the Rincewind cameos? Last I remember, Rincewind was going back to Ankh-Morpork with the rest of the wizards, and hasn't been seen in any of the later books. Considering that characters like Vimes, the Bursar, the Librarian, Granny Weatherwax, Nany Ogg, etc all make cameos in other books, it's a bit odd that Rincewind hasn't show up in any non-Rincewind story since Reaper Man. It made since for a long time because he was stuck bouncing around dimensions and deserted tropical islands, but now he's back in Ankh Morpork but hasn't been seen since, outside of non-canon stuff like The Science of Discworld and The Last Hero. It seems like Rincewind deserves a cameo or two, even if it's just a passing mention of some scraggly guy wearing a pointy hat with 'Wizzard' sharing a round with an orangutan and some fatass wizards at the Drum. thrakkorzog fucked around with this message at 08:07 on Feb 11, 2008 |
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Feb 11, 2008 08:03
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He's currently locked up in the office of the Professor of Cruel and Unusual Geography, studying ... something.
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Feb 11, 2008 11:57
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Sulevis posted:He semi-retired the Witches and totally retired the Wizards and Rincewind. I think you have it backwards. He's retired the Witches (except that they appear in the Tiffany Aching books) and the Wizards will be prominently featured in the next Disc novel, Unseen Academicals, which he has already began notes on. Plus, the wizards and Rincewind appear in the Science books.
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Feb 11, 2008 18:36
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Ah. I forgot about Unseen Academicals. I'm pretty sure the Science of Discworld books are not strictly canon, though.
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Feb 11, 2008 18:41
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One thing that I don't particularly like is how the wizards have gone from Let's not use magic because it would probably go wrong to (Thud) Let's strap a shitload of flying brooms onto your magic stagecoach that goes faster than the speed of sound and (Making Money) Just wait while I put away our super awesome cupboard that has infinite drawers and is controlled by Hex, and then we can arrange for you to speak to the dead. I guess that it can't really be helped that the stories evolve over time, but there was something about these powerful wizards dealing with problems by ignoring them and arguing with each other.
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Feb 12, 2008 01:31
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amanvell posted:One thing that I don't particularly like is how the wizards have gone from Let's not use magic because it would probably go wrong to (Thud) Let's strap a shitload of flying brooms onto your magic stagecoach that goes faster than the speed of sound and (Making Money) Just wait while I put away our super awesome cupboard that has infinite drawers and is controlled by Hex, and then we can arrange for you to speak to the dead. It could be a commentary on approaching things scientifically vs. mystically/religiously. I mean, the high energy magic building changed a lot. Before the Wizards didn't really understand magic, but the more they learn the more it kind of becomes technology. I'm essays could be written on these connections but I'm going to stay brief.
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Feb 12, 2008 06:18
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precision posted:I think you have it backwards. He's retired the Witches (except that they appear in the Tiffany Aching books) and the Wizards will be prominently featured in the next Disc novel, Unseen Academicals, which he has already began notes on. He hasn't retired the Witches. He's just saving them up!I loved the Witches so much! I love Granny, Nanny, Magrat, Agnes and Tiffiny much more than the Watch. The way he explores their almost entirely female world is just brilliant. And for all you philistines hatin' on Monstrous Regiment, well you can all... uh... bugger off. Best book ever.
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Feb 12, 2008 14:01
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God knows I've had about enough of the witches, although Anges/Perdita has breathed some new life into them. I suppose it all comes down to taste. I've just finished Carpe Jugulum, and I really really hate Pratchett's vampires, in the same way Granny does. They're just pretentious assholes. Add in the whole mindcontrol thing and they're the first real threat I've actually worried about in the series. Terry did a really good job at making them seem unassailable. Which brings me to the question I hope someone can answer, cuz I really don't feel like re-reading it just after I finished it. How the hell did the vamps get driven out of Lancre? It just seemed like one moment the Count is telling the mob to sod off, and the next they're fleeing for their unlives back to Uberwald.
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Feb 12, 2008 17:32
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Granny infected them with her blood and they freaked the gently caress out. I think.
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Feb 12, 2008 22:28
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That's odd, I thought Carpe Jugulum was one of the better books in the series. I like Esme much more than Vimes, honestly.
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Feb 12, 2008 23:31
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Wormophile posted:Granny infected them with her blood and they freaked the gently caress out. I think. Pretty much, the whole "you have to obey the blood" worked both ways. Granny iron will of always obeying the rules brought the vampires back to their extremely powerful but extremely stupid style of life.
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Feb 12, 2008 23:34
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