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BexGu posted: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. Pretty much. Basically it works off of the whole, 'If you drink a vampire's blood, you become a vampire' rule. Granny willed it to work in the other direction, so that by drinking her blood, all the Vampires got stuck with Granniness. So they want to be evil, but they can't. And they're also stuck following all the goofy vampire rules, with the Vampire kids seeing religious symbols all over the place. thrakkorzog fucked around with this message at 12:28 on Feb 13, 2008 |
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Feb 13, 2008 08:37
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thrakkorzog posted:Pretty much. Basically it works off of the whole, 'If you drink a vampire's blood, you become a vampire' rule. Granny willed it to work in the other direction, so that by drinking her blood, all the Vampires got stuck with Granniness. So they want to be evil, but they can't. And they're also stuck following all the goofy vampire rules, with the Vampire kids seeing religious symbols all over the place. It's the fact that Granny wants to be evil, but can't, because she's the good witch that makes her so awesome. The speech in Witches Abroad where she goes off on her sister, the bad witch, shows just how much that hurts her. She's pissed. She's powerful. And she can't go on a rampage like Black Aliss, no matter how much she wants to, because she's the good witch of the pair. It's even better in Masquerade. There's several scenes where she says "let's do some good," in a really creepy and evil way before doing something pretty awful to someone that turns out to help them the most. So, even though she's forced to do good deeds, she often does them in a manner that others don't like or appreciate, and thus has her reputation as bad news secured. It's the closest she can get to the evil she really wants to do.
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Feb 13, 2008 19:13
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I think I've put my finger on what I really like about discworld, and it's Ankh-Morpork. Doesn't really matter which arc a book's in, if the main setting is A-M I'm happy.
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Feb 13, 2008 22:44
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The vampires at the end of Carpe Jugulum don't just run away. Magrat traps the Countess in a jar when she's trying to sneak under a door as mist and throws it into the river. The Count gets his head severed by Mightily Oats and Granny has the townspeople bring him down to the crypts to recover because she says that they need vampires around to remind them what stakes and garlic are for. The old Count Magpyr takes the two kids with him to teach them how to act like proper vampires.
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Feb 14, 2008 11:29
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This thread was the first time I heard about Unseen Academicals. I hope it is more of Ponder Stibbons and the faculty being awesome. See also the short story with the Wizards: A Collegiate Casting Out of Devilish Devices
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Feb 15, 2008 08:50
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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. The wizards dont really seem to like using magic for everything, but thats not to say they dont do it at all, they are wizards after all. The general rule seems to be that Pratchett hates when characters solve a plot problem "by magic" so the way he uses it reflects that. Also, flying brooms seem very much at the more mundane end of the magical spectrum in the books.
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Feb 15, 2008 14:59
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thrakkorzog posted:outside of non-canon stuff like The Science of Discworld and The Last Hero. The Last Hero is non-canon? That's news to me. Anyway, Carpe Jugulum was actually the only Witches book I liked at all, and that was mostly because I liked the way the vampires were treated in it. I tried some of the others and almost immediately lost interest in all the characters and went back to rereading a Watch or Death book. Its almost as if something in my brain just shuts down whenever I see the word "Weatherwax" and sends me off to do something else.
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Feb 17, 2008 09:15
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There's not much point in making a distinction between "canon" and "non-canon" when it comes to the Disc, sine PTerry himself has said that he makes no distinction. The only thing to worry about is if he wrote it or not; everything else is Quantum, innit?
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Feb 17, 2008 22:18
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precision posted:There's not much point in making a distinction between "canon" and "non-canon" when it comes to the Disc, sine PTerry himself has said that he makes no distinction. The only thing to worry about is if he wrote it or not; everything else is Quantum, innit? I can agree with this, Pterry seems like the type to get annoyed with a canon vs non-canon arguement.
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Feb 20, 2008 08:11
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Oh you're pterrible.
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Feb 20, 2008 12:30
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EvilUrchin posted:The Last Hero is non-canon? That's news to me.
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Feb 21, 2008 15:25
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As far as books about the Witches go, Lords and Ladies isn't bad and I really enjoy Masquerade.
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Feb 21, 2008 22:52
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Didn't Pterry have a line about how there's no continutity errors, only multiple continuities that are slightly different, or something like that? It seems like that could well apply to questions of what is and is not canon.
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Feb 26, 2008 22:36
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Pope Guilty posted:Didn't Pterry have a line about how there's no continutity errors, only multiple continuities that are slightly different, or something like that? It seems like that could well apply to questions of what is and is not canon. Yeah, something like that. He knows he's made mistakes in the books and doesn't try and explain it. Probably a wizard did it.
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Feb 27, 2008 09:49
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Pope Guilty posted:Didn't Pterry have a line about how there's no continutity errors, only multiple continuities that are slightly different, or something like that? Not all Discworld stories occur in the exact same leg of the Trousers of Time.
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Feb 27, 2008 15:52
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I can't really judge whether I like specific books more, so if I'm asked I'll always say I base the quality of the books on how often I reread them. Some I will probably never touch until I've entirely forgotten what it was about and the curiosity is overwhelming, and I read Small Gods every five months or so.
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Mar 7, 2008 08:36
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I'm almost done reading Night Watch at the moment (ironically, I didn't even sleep last night because of that drat book). It's weird such a weird book to read now. At first I thought he was referring to the post 9/11 political landscape, and then I was like 'No, that can't be it', until I realized it was a 2002 novel and quite obviously was. It's weird having Discworld reference current events.
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Mar 12, 2008 23:00
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Anyone watch 'The Worlds of Fantasy' tonight on BBC4? It's the third part in the series and this one deals with the current state of fantasy and has Terry in it, I would kill for his six screen writing desk monitor array and robotic hoover collective. UK users only I guess can watch it at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer just go to channels, BBC4. Any UK readers going to the con this year? Or US goons going to the north American con next year? Jekub fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Mar 13, 2008 |
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Mar 13, 2008 03:04
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Mr Pratchett just upped and gave £500,000 to Alzheimers research. His quotes in the article are actually hilarious. Which makes it all the more tragic that such an awesome guy got such a lovely disease
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Mar 13, 2008 13:35
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Adversary posted:His quotes in the article are actually hilarious. Which makes it all the more tragic that such an awesome guy got such a lovely disease Terry Pratchett posted:personally I'd eat the arse out of a dead mole if it offered a fighting chance That's the spirit!
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Mar 13, 2008 14:52
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precision posted:Yeah, something like that. He knows he's made mistakes in the books and doesn't try and explain it. No, the History Monks did it. He probably just came up with Thief of Time as a huge 'gently caress you' to all the continuity-obsessed geeks.
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Mar 14, 2008 09:46
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Pratchett posted:"You can't write books when you are dead, unless your name is L Ron Hubbard [the founder of Scientology]," he said.  Haha! I have more respect for this man every day!
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Mar 14, 2008 12:36
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The Sun newspaper have another interview with him today (or, quite possibly, more of the same one), with an opening diatribe from him about how wonderful Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is, particularly so, he posits, if the reader's last interaction with videogames was staring at Lara Crofts buttocks. loving hell.
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Mar 14, 2008 15:07
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Moist von Lipwig posted:I'm almost done reading Night Watch at the moment (ironically, I didn't even sleep last night because of that drat book). It's weird such a weird book to read now. At first I thought he was referring to the post 9/11 political landscape, and then I was like 'No, that can't be it', until I realized it was a 2002 novel and quite obviously was. It's weird having Discworld reference current events. I always got the feeling that Night Watch was more a critique of modern movements trying to style themselves after or emulate the uprisings and revolutions of 1840s Europe, and less a critique of a post 9/11 world.
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Mar 14, 2008 18:22
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Augustus Artorius posted:I always got the feeling that Night Watch was more a critique of modern movements trying to style themselves after or emulate the uprisings and revolutions of 1840s Europe, and less a critique of a post 9/11 world. There's a lot of levels to Night Watch - the Unmentionables do seem to be an attack on authority acting immorally and secretly under the guise of protecting the people, and has strong parallels (whether intentional or not) with Guantanemo Bay, and the revolution is fostered by the people's fear of the authorities in power. But there's a lot of Les Miserables in there too, and parody of modern day leftism If you do choose to take it as critiquing the post 9/11 world, it makes a nice pairing with Monstrous Regiment with it's religious war being fought by an insane leader, and the soldiers who find themselves torn between obeying authority and following their own morsl compasses. Incidentally, Night Watch is being dramatised on BBC Radio 4 just now on Wednesday nights - it's up to episode three of five, which you can hear here. Finally, am I the only one who made the assumption that Unseen Academicals is going to be about soccer?
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Mar 14, 2008 19:28
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Anyone seen this and bidding on it? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Terry-Pratchett-Sky-One-Colour-of-Magic-for-Charity_W0QQitemZ220211906562QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item220211906562 One-off replica of the Luggage. Brilliant.
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Mar 14, 2008 22:10
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olylifter posted:Anyone seen this and bidding on it? With a 0 feedback seller, all the images are broken, and unverifiable signature authenticity? No thanks.
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Mar 15, 2008 02:02
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daggerdragon posted:With a 0 feedback seller, all the images are broken, and unverifiable signature authenticity? No thanks. Images are there now, and the proceeds go to Alzheimer's research. Not that I have £2500 to fritter away, mind..
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Mar 16, 2008 15:15
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1 posted:There's a lot of levels to Night Watch - the Unmentionables do seem to be an attack on authority acting immorally and secretly under the guise of protecting the people, and has strong parallels (whether intentional or not) with Guantanemo Bay, and the revolution is fostered by the people's fear of the authorities in power. But there's a lot of Les Miserables in there too, and parody of modern day leftism Nothing in Night Watch is necessarily about us. Secret Police, minor uprisings, and police states are old as dirt, and Night Watch looks more like a series of references to the 1800's than to the 2000's.
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Mar 17, 2008 19:57
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Pope Guilty posted:Nothing in Night Watch is necessarily about us. Secret Police, minor uprisings, and police states are old as dirt, and Night Watch looks more like a series of references to the 1800's than to the 2000's. True, but it was a strangely dark change of direction for the series. I'm not really arguing that the book as a whole is a reaction to 9/11, just that elements seem to have crept in and changed the tone. And if you want to look at Ankh Morpork under the rule of a paranoid ruler, jumping back to Snapcase's time is the "shortest route" short of getting Vetinari out of the way yet again. I don't think that's the point of the book, though - if Pterry was making a deliberate point he could easily have used a more transparent parallel, like, for example, a Klatchian attack on the Tower of Art. Okay, maybe not as garishly blatant as that, but at least using terrorism or a foreign attack as a catalyst for the revolution. Now I think further (and in the course of typing this reply, I seem to have abandoned my previous opinion  ), the parallels I was seeing are all things that he's spoken out against for many years; the Unmentionables aren't very far removed from the Omnian Quisition which he wrote about in 1992, and he's never more clearly given the message they teach us than in Carpe Jugulum (a full three years prior to 9/11) -Granny Weatherwax: "There's no greys, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is." Mightily Oats: "It's a lot more complicated than that--" Granny Weatherwax: "No. It ain't. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they're getting worried that they won't like the truth. People as things, that's where it starts." Mightily Oats: "Oh, I'm sure there are worse crimes--" Granny Weatherwax: "But they starts with thinking about people as things..."
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Mar 19, 2008 15:26
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1 posted:Granny Weatherwax: "There's no greys, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is." I love that little exchange so much. As relating to Night Watch, it was fairly clearly a parrallel to me of the Glorious Uprising complete with the Black and Tans or whatever they were called in that place at that time. Mind you, I come from Northern Ireland so the Black and Tans are the only Secret Government Bastard group I can remember.
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Mar 21, 2008 22:31
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1 posted:Granny Weatherwax: "There's no greys, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is." I just finished Carpe Jugulum and that exchange rang pretty true with me. Back to Night Watch though, it is a very dark turn for the series, and thats part of what struck me. I guess one of Pratchetts talents is that he can write about several different things at once. I'm sure the uprising and the Unmentionables are references to several differant events and groups throughout history, but not many have touch so close to the present day for me. I also think this was kind of a turning point for Pterry and the discworld series. The previous books have a lot of commentary on humanity and philosephy in general, not to mention physics and other things. Night Watch and the Lipwig books are heavy on social and governmental commentary. My opinion is that he is starting to feel fed up with the state of the world and it's bleeding heavily in the series. You only have to look at the fact that his next book is called Nation to know that hes doing a lot of social thinking.
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Mar 29, 2008 06:23
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Wait, the next one isn't Raising Taxes?
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Mar 29, 2008 10:44
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Pope Guilty posted:Wait, the next one isn't Raising Taxes? I actually thought you were taking the piss - I'm a little out of touch. Wikipedia says that Nation is potentially a Discworld book if it needs to be, but is probably standalone. Raising Taxes is the next Moist book, which might be after "I Shall Wear Midnight", a Tiffany book. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld#Lists_of_novels
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Mar 29, 2008 10:53
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I'm just wondering how long he's going to keep writing given his circumstances.
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Mar 31, 2008 01:22
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Three Red Lights posted:I'm just wondering how long he's going to keep writing given his circumstances. Yeah, pity that. Heard the other day that he had donated a substantial sum to Alzheimer's disease research. Here's hoping that he'll at least finish Raising Taxes!
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Mar 31, 2008 19:23
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Three Red Lights posted:I'm just wondering how long he's going to keep writing given his circumstances. From what I gathered it seemed like he would have at least five or more years mostly uneffected, and I assume he would keep writing. quote:The author said work was continuing on his latest works, Nation and Unseen Academicals, and that there was "time for at least a few more books yet". Also quote:The Discworld author, 59, has sold more than 55 million books worldwide. 59? I would sacrifice my own grandmother if he could live another 20 years.
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Mar 31, 2008 21:27
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Blimey, missed this thread. No-one talking about the COM adaptation? The use of 'Pterry' makes me suspect the presence of AFP-ers. The_Doctor fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Apr 3, 2008 |
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Apr 3, 2008 06:26
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The_Doctor posted:Blimey, missed this thread. No-one talking about the COM adaptation? I haven't heard much about the COM adaptation, and I heard about Pterry here, which is AFP I guess.
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Apr 3, 2008 10:07
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Moist von Lipwig posted:I haven't heard much about the COM adaptation, and I heard about Pterry here, which is AFP I guess. I finally saw it last night and it was ok. Not perfect and obviously slightly altered for TV-shortened the Wyrmburg bit among others-but kinda cute. I didn't find Jeremy Irons performance as Vetinari as amazing as the internet had led me to believe. "super secret A list actor who is perfect for the part" but it was still good if too brief to really stand out. The Trymon story was expanded, which I felt was a good move as it helped add a nice overarching plot and also because even when fat, Tim Curry is awesome. Archancellor Weatherwax also rocked until he died and the Librarian was nice to see, even if the
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Apr 4, 2008 04:28
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