|
dregan posted:There were some good points too... Oh this isn't gonna turn into a Doctor-ranking thread... I do prefer Tennant when he's not just being 'wacky' though. And he's much better in his original accent.
|
#
?
Jan 29, 2009 11:30
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 20:43 |
|
|
David Tennant is awesome as the Doctor.
|
|
#
?
Jan 30, 2009 20:08
|
|
|
Spatule posted:Anybody read "Nation" ? Is it good ? It's a good read, definitely, but I always end up inevitably comparing it to Night Watch (since both of them are, I would say, Pratchett's more "serious" works), to which it is inferior. The humor seemed forced or recycled in a lot of places in Nation; it just doesn't end up flowing in very well with the serious stuff like it did with Night Watch. Its main plot hook also seemed contrived, in the sense that it's a "someone mentions that there is a Big Secret in an obvious way and then does not actually say what the Big Secret is until 100 pages later despite being presented with a variety of opporunities to do so" hook. It's an effective hook, granted, but it's so obvious and is used to draw out the book so much that I just wanted to skip past all the interim crap straight to the big revelation.
|
|
#
?
Jan 31, 2009 20:57
|
|
|
Finished Fifth Elephant and I must say that Jingo is the better of the two. Pratchett just had a much better plot worked out for it.
|
|
#
?
Feb 2, 2009 17:24
|
|
|
This is just heartbreaking: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00hhgsb/Terry_Pratchett_Living_with_Alzheimers_Episode_1/ I'm honestly going to have to go watch Hogfather now or something to get over this. "But then I got angry. I wanted to tell everyone. I wanted to make Alzheimer's sorry that it had caught me!"  gently caress you alzheimers you hearing this?!
Nilbop fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Feb 5, 2009 |
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2009 02:17
|
|
|
Yeah I saw that last night. His reading to the convention was pretty sad. He also managed to make me laugh quite a few times though. Well worth watching.
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2009 10:41
|
|
|
Terry Pratchett posted:Dear Diary, Damsels undistressed -- nil / Dragons slain -- nil / Windmills tilted -- nil / All in all, not a good knights work. http://news.ansible.co.uk/a259.html 
|
|
#
?
Feb 5, 2009 19:54
|
|
|
Well, finished Thud! and now I'm kind of sad that I won't be reading new Vimes adventures, at least for a long while. Reaper Man's up next. Are the Rincewind or Witches novels worth picking up?
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2009 07:06
|
|
|
Mokinokaro posted:Well, finished Thud! and now I'm kind of sad that I won't be reading new Vimes adventures, at least for a long while. Absolutely not, don't waste your time.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2009 07:17
|
|
|
Mokinokaro posted:Well, finished Thud! and now I'm kind of sad that I won't be reading new Vimes adventures, at least for a long while. I quite liked Interesting Times and The Last Hero. Your mileage may very. They're much lighter fluffier sillier reading than, say, the later Watch books. The Witches books are more uneven. I didn't care for Equal Rites or Wyrd Sisters at all, but Lords and Ladies and the Tiffany Aching books are really good.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2009 07:44
|
|
|
Mokinokaro posted:Well, finished Thud! and now I'm kind of sad that I won't be reading new Vimes adventures, at least for a long while. All Witches novels are worth picking up, except Equal Rites which is a odd case (Granny has the same name but is actually a very different character than her later incarnations). Rincewind I'd say Interesting Times and The Last Hero are the best of the lot.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2009 08:00
|
|
|
Mokinokaro posted:Well, finished Thud! and now I'm kind of sad that I won't be reading new Vimes adventures, at least for a long while. He's a not insignificant background character in The Truth, which is worth picking up. Especially if you plan to get into the later "industrial revolution" books (namely Going Postal and Making Money). And he gets a couple cameos in Monstrous Regiment if you haven't read it. It's a bit of a weak standalone-Discworld book, but if you cab get past the main story gimmick and a few flimsy characters there are definitely some fun parts. It's sort of an extension of Jingo's themes (the idiocies of war, the value of patriotism, the chain of command, etc.) with an unfamiliar cast. Certainly worth a library visit if you're itching for Vimes-ish material.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2009 09:49
|
|
|
Mokinokaro posted:Well, finished Thud! and now I'm kind of sad that I won't be reading new Vimes adventures, at least for a long while. Rincewind is rather shallow as a character, so his books are more reliant on the story and support cast. I think he works well in Interesting Times though, because his cynicism works well in contrast to the naivety of the revolutionaries. And the horde is just great fun. The witches books (as already said) are uneven. My favorites are Witches Abroad and Lords And Ladies, Wyrd Systers is okay, the rest left me rather cold. Although they may be worth it simply because Granny is the second best of Pratchett's characters after Vimes in my opinion.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2009 10:17
|
|
|
Vermain posted:It's a good read, definitely, but I always end up inevitably comparing it to Night Watch (since both of them are, I would say, Pratchett's more "serious" works), to which it is inferior. The humor seemed forced or recycled in a lot of places in Nation; it just doesn't end up flowing in very well with the serious stuff like it did with Night Watch. Its main plot hook also seemed contrived, in the sense that it's a "someone mentions that there is a Big Secret in an obvious way and then does not actually say what the Big Secret is until 100 pages later despite being presented with a variety of opporunities to do so" hook. It's an effective hook, granted, but it's so obvious and is used to draw out the book so much that I just wanted to skip past all the interim crap straight to the big revelation.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2009 13:00
|
|
|
I must be the odd one here, because I really liked Equal Rites and Wyrd Sisters, but was left pretty flat by the later Witch books. The Tiffany Aching series is much better.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2009 14:43
|
|
|
Wyrd Sisters is one of my favourite Discworld books, although that might be partly because the "knocking without" bit was the first part I read in Discworld to make me laugh out loud. Also Granny Weatherwax is my second favourite Discworld character after Vimes, so that helps.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2009 14:46
|
|
|
The early Witches books are kind of meh, but Lords and Ladies and Carpe Jugulum are both pretty good, if you can get past the fact that they're the same book. Witches Abroad is imo the best of the Witches books.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2009 14:54
|
|
|
My opinion is, skip FaustEric, and skip Equal Rites, and read every other book Terry Pratchett has ever written ever.
|
|
#
?
Feb 9, 2009 17:28
|
|
|
DontMockMySmock posted:skip FaustEric, and skip Equal Rites What this guy says. Only I'd also skip Hogfather because I've developed a deep loathing of that book for some reason that I've never been able to pin down. Something in the tone of it does not sit right with me.
|
|
#
?
Feb 10, 2009 14:41
|
|
|
There are two problems with the Rincewind books. a) Rincewind is really likeable and has become a series mascot, and so we're always going to try to find reasons to reccomend books that he stars in. b) Unless you've never read any Discworld books before, the Rincewind/ Wizards set are really awkward to get into. So for example while I started on Sourcery, Mort and Interesting Times, and thence into Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic, I really enjoyed them for what they were. But as I got onto the Watch series (Guards! Guards! is a marvellous entry drug) it rather dawned on me that Rincewind embodied the earlier heart of the series of gleeful piss-taking of fantasy tropes, and when Pterry decided on a set course for the series he had to fit Rincewind into the neatest position available to him. So, yeah, if you've read the newer books, and particularly the Watch series, Rincewind's The Witches I don't give a toss about after only having read Equal Rites, but I hear they get really quite good.
|
|
#
?
Feb 10, 2009 16:42
|
|
|
Jekub posted:What this guy says. What? Hogfather is wonderful! It's all about the bloody and fearful underpinnings of the Magic of Childhood. What's not to like?
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2009 00:47
|
|
|
I started with The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic, and Rincewind made me laugh out loud. You've just got to love a "wizzard" who sucks at magic and whose penchant for running as far away from danger as possible always lands him in the role of unintentional hero. But then I read Guards!Guards!, and that pretty much sealed me in as a Terry Pratchett fan. No matter how many Discworld books I read, Vimes and the Watch are easily the best characters. There isn't one book featuring them that I wouldn't recommend. The only problem is that novels involving Vimes tend to be a bit predictable, perhaps due to the fact that the characters and their natures are already well established, and they don't change much if at all. Also, Hogfather was okay, definitely had its moments, but not as great as the reviews promised. The Witches...I liked Wyrd Sisters and Witches Abroad, but Equal rights I either didn't finish/didn't find interesting enough to remember. Wormy fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Feb 11, 2009 |
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2009 03:58
|
|
|
People, seriously. . . stop judging the witches based on Equal Rites. That book sucks. Read the rest of them. Wyrd Sisters, Witches Abroad, Lords and Ladies, Maskerade, and Carpe Jugulum are all very well written, very funny, very parody-y.
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2009 04:16
|
|
|
I couldn't watch those videos linked a few posts ago since I'm not in the UK, does he mention anything about writing more Discworld books or is he going to stop? e: Apparently they're gonna show The Color of Magic in the US on March 22nd on Ion. ONE YEAR LATER fucked around with this message at 09:02 on Feb 11, 2009 |
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2009 08:56
|
|
|
Entropic posted:What? Hogfather is wonderful! It's all about the bloody and fearful underpinnings of the Magic of Childhood. What's not to like? I've never been able to work it out, sorry. I've read it a half dozen times and listened to the audio book and watched the TV show. I can't bring myself to like it, and I'm a t-shirt wearing, Clarecraft statue owning discworld fan. I've never quite got why everyone else seems to love it so much, I've always preferred Reaper Man from the Death books.
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2009 11:41
|
|
|
Jekub posted:I've never been able to work it out, sorry. I've read it a half dozen times and listened to the audio book and watched the TV show. I can't bring myself to like it, and I'm a t-shirt wearing, Clarecraft statue owning discworld fan. I've never quite got why everyone else seems to love it so much, I've always preferred Reaper Man from the Death books.  Are you sure you don't like it? If you've read it half a dozen times you either like it or you're a masochist.
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2009 20:26
|
|
|
Jekub posted:I've never been able to work it out, sorry. I've read it a half dozen times and listened to the audio book and watched the TV show. I can't bring myself to like it, and I'm a t-shirt wearing, Clarecraft statue owning discworld fan. I've never quite got why everyone else seems to love it so much, I've always preferred Reaper Man from the Death books. I've only read it once, but I concur. Could never get into Hogfather at all.
|
|
#
?
Feb 11, 2009 20:55
|
|
|
ONE YEAR LATER posted:I couldn't watch those videos linked a few posts ago since I'm not in the UK, does he mention anything about writing more Discworld books or is he going to stop? He's writing the Tiffany Aching series which are discworld books.
|
|
#
?
Feb 12, 2009 21:16
|
|
|
Mokinokaro posted:He's writing the Tiffany Aching series which are discworld books. He's also mentioned in interviews that he's been working on Unseen Academicals. It's actually due out on October 8th.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2009 04:32
|
|
|
I wish he would write more books about Rincewind and Death. For some reason those were the easiest books to follow in the series I thought personally. I am honestly surprised that we haven't seen a movie from Hollywood based on Discworld yet.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2009 04:46
|
|
|
Flaggy posted:I wish he would write more books about Rincewind and Death. For some reason those were the easiest books to follow in the series I thought personally. I am honestly surprised that we haven't seen a movie from Hollywood based on Discworld yet. You can't have watched many Hollywood movies if you think that. Discworld is way too highbrow, intelligent, quality, etc. for Hollywood.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2009 04:55
|
|
|
DontMockMySmock posted:You can't have watched many Hollywood movies if you think that. Discworld is way too highbrow, intelligent, quality, etc. for Hollywood. And you really wouldn't want them touching it anyway. Just look what they did to Douglas Adams.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2009 05:47
|
|
|
DontMockMySmock posted:You can't have watched many Hollywood movies if you think that. Discworld is way too highbrow, intelligent, quality, etc. for Hollywood. This is true but one can hope right?
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2009 05:50
|
|
|
Mokinokaro posted:He's writing the Tiffany Aching series which are discworld books. Sweet, those are actually my favorite books as of late.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2009 05:57
|
|
|
Flaggy posted:I wish he would write more books about Rincewind and Death. For some reason those were the easiest books to follow in the series I thought personally. I am honestly surprised that we haven't seen a movie from Hollywood based on Discworld yet. Here's why: Some Interview with Terry Pratchett posted:- Speaking of movies, what happened to the plans for a movie based on Mort?
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2009 09:18
|
|
|
Well that answers that questions, from the sounds of it, probably for the best.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2009 15:19
|
|
|
None of the interpretations have been any good, to be honest. The Colour of Magic was godawful, terrible casting (David Jason? Really?) and the wrong tone entirely. Discworld stands up just fine on its own as a book and nothing else, your head is meant to do the rest.
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2009 15:56
|
|
|
It'd be very hard to turn the books into a proper movie anyway. The four-hour long miniseries struggle to cut everything down to fit in, and a lot of the best lines are thought, not spoken. Some of the newer ones seem very film-friendly though. Moist's adventures come to mind, as does Night Watch and Monstrous Regiment. And Thief of Time shut up I want Susan and Lobsang to hook up
|
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2009 15:57
|
|
|
Nilbop posted:It'd be very hard to turn the books into a proper movie anyway. The four-hour long miniseries struggle to cut everything down to fit in, and a lot of the best lines are thought, not spoken. The Moist books (ooer missus, etc) I think are well suited for screen adaptation because they are very reminiscant of 'Ealing Comedy' style capers. Edit: Now I think on it, the 'Ealing' thing comes across *really* strongly for me when I read "Going Postal" in particular. I can almost hear appropriate music playing in my head, and envisage Alec Guinness making an appearance as one of the characters. As for Night Watch, or the 'Guards' books in general... I sometimes imagine them being made into a 'no expense spared' serial, so that you can cover all the characters arcs without too much sacrifice, with each book being adapted into season of episodes. *sigh*  One thing you would run into is the changing tone of the Guards books. "Guards! Guards!" was very much of the 'homage to fantasy-tropes' era of Discworld books, whereas Night Watch and Thud, while still having comedic elements, are way darker. As such, my imaginary adaptation takes its tonal cues from the more recent books. magimix fucked around with this message at 16:40 on Feb 13, 2009 |
|
#
?
Feb 13, 2009 16:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 20:43 |
|
|
Kojiro posted:None of the interpretations have been any good, to be honest. The Colour of Magic was godawful, terrible casting (David Jason? Really?) and the wrong tone entirely.
|
|
#
?
Feb 14, 2009 10:37
|
|
