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Here is a tip for those who love Soul Music. Don't watch the horrible animated cartoon TV movie. Seriously, it is MST3K bait to the full.
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Feb 6, 2010 22:12
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zacpol posted:I've read the main Discworld series (excluding the Tiffany Aching and Wee Free Men books) several times over over the past several years, mainly because when I finish a book and don't have a new one on hand I'll pick up an old Terry Pratchett book. I love it all, but I abhorred Unseen Academicals. Anyone else feel this way? It just seemed so cliched and boring to me, and felt like several steps back in general. Nope. It was a very interesting character development book. "Crab basket" and "hammer" are really important concepts. Reread it and keep in mind that Glenda is the main character. No Bursar but plenty of archchancellor-formerly-known-as-dean
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Feb 6, 2010 22:25
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Alvie posted:That quote has to be one of my favorite from the entire Discworld series. In fact, I know a lot of people like to diss on Soul Music as a book but I think it had some of the best one-liners like that in the entire series. I didn't even get the "He looks Elvish to me" running joke until I read about it on L Space Web. Elvish - H = Elvis Well, I'm only about halfway through but I like it a lot so far, above average in the series I would say. Moving Pictures also arrived in the mail today, which I understand is one of the least liked books in the series?
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Feb 6, 2010 23:09
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I didn't like Unseen Academicals as much as the other books. It's too worthy, if that makes any sense. The villains aren't villainous enough to be interesting, and the plots just seem to meander along until the end. My absolute favourite is Witches Abroad. The whole subverted fairy tale thing is fantastic.
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Feb 6, 2010 23:37
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Cacto posted:I didn't like Unseen Academicals as much as the other books. It's too worthy, if that makes any sense. The villains aren't villainous enough to be interesting, and the plots just seem to meander along until the end. There were a bunch of plot threads woven together but none of them were particularly interesting and it felt like we'd seen it all before. I didn't like the witches at first, but Witches Abroad totally sold me Granny & Nanny.
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Feb 7, 2010 05:39
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Entropic posted:I'm in the "UA was lame" camp. The whole Nutt is really a This may be blasphemy but the man is getting old, and dealing with his own special mild Alzheimer’s hell. The best books may be behind us. UA was not a very good book and Making Money before it was only ok. I really wish he would go all old school about it and take on an apprentice. Some noob he can train while he still can, let him know all the tools of the trade, outline a few books and major plot points and then hand over the discworld series to the new guy so it can be continued over the next 20 years. “I am not the Dread Pirate Pratchett you see…”
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Feb 7, 2010 05:53
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Kris Longknife posted:“I am not the Dread Pirate Pratchett you see…”
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Feb 7, 2010 06:05
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John Dough posted:Well, I'm only about halfway through but I like it a lot so far, above average in the series I would say. Yeah, it's one of Pratchett's parody-before-plot books, which plague a lot of his early writings. I thought Unseen Academicals' major problem was the EDITING. It had good ideas and concepts, but the story was like a car with a broken gas pedel. One minute apparently going somewhere, the next juddering to a halt, stop-start-stop-start and never really achieving liftoff. A good editor would be able to point out the pacing flaws and flow, but that was lacking here. Making Money had a similar problem. It's still good, but Discworld needs much better editing now that his mental facilities are lowered. I'm sure he can get the final few Discworld books done in his leftover time.
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Feb 7, 2010 08:19
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Surprised about the criticism of Soul Music in here. It is definitely a parody-heavy book, but that isn't a bad thing when the parody is observed as perfectly as it is there. I've always thought of it as one of his strongest books - it's definitely one of the ones I've seen the highest appreciation for in wider literary circles. I was disappointed by UA first time through, but it went up a lot in my estimation on second reading. I think it is a return to a greater amount of parody than he's had in his other recent books - parody of football, academia, celebrity culture. I would say it's the genuinely funniest book he's published in quite a while, and definitely the most satirical. Some of the lines and wordplay are among his best too "Glenda was taken aback and affronted at the same time, which was a bit of a squeeze" "Glenda never normally read the leader column because there was only a certain number of times she was prepared to see the word 'however' used in a 120-word article."
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Feb 7, 2010 14:19
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SeanBeansShako posted:Here is a tip for those who love Soul Music. Don't watch the horrible animated cartoon TV movie. Seriously, it is MST3K bait to the full. I didn't think it was THAT bad. Certainly not the worst thing ever created. And they did a great job with the song at the end, I thought - captured the mood of what Pratchett was going for as well as you can when faced with such an impossible task. Plus Christopher Lee as Death always rules.
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Feb 7, 2010 14:57
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Sophia posted:I didn't think it was THAT bad. Certainly not the worst thing ever created. And they did a great job with the song at the end, I thought - captured the mood of what Pratchett was going for as well as you can when faced with such an impossible task. The art style grated my tits to be fair. And it was more Soul Music abridged with some excellent bits cut out. The Death of Rats looked like a coked out Lizard that a skeleton of a deceased rodent. I would also disagree on a Discworld succession. It should die with Pratchett as I don't trust such a lovely series in the hands with anyone not born before the fifties. The post Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide books are awful.
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Feb 7, 2010 17:03
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SeanBeansShako posted:The post Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide books are awful. All one of them?
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Feb 7, 2010 22:31
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SaintFu posted:All one of them? There were several written under the licence after his death. Associated with the name and property.
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Feb 7, 2010 23:27
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SeanBeansShako posted:There were several written under the licence after his death. Associated with the name and property. Really? Which ones? The only one I've heard of was the Eoin Coffer one that came out recently. Edit: I'm not like calling you out or anything, I'm just curious as to whether there's hitchhiker stuff I've never seen before. I guess maybe Starship Titanic? But that seems a bit of a stretch.
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Feb 7, 2010 23:37
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SeanBeansShako posted:There were several written under the licence after his death. Associated with the name and property. What? Starship Titanic was written by Terry Jones who is actually funny and it was with DNA's blessing while he was still around. There's The Salmon of Doubt, but that was really just a collection of his short fiction and essays with the top-billed unfinished story actually being pretty short, so that hardly counts. I've yet to hear anything good bout the Eoin Colfer estate cash-in though.
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Feb 8, 2010 00:24
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I meant the Eoin Colfer ones yeah. I can't think of any author now that can be as pleasantly witty as Terry though. I would like to see all the books done in graphic novel form. I remember reading Mort and Light Fantastic first as graphic novels before I really got into the books. My mum loves Witches Abroad. It is her favourite.
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Feb 8, 2010 00:47
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SeanBeansShako posted:I meant the Eoin Colfer ones yeah.
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Feb 8, 2010 00:52
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SeanBeansShako posted:I meant the Eoin Colfer ones yeah. See, this is it exactly. I'd hate to see some other author write Discworld books. It just wouldn't be the same. But I hope people continue making adaptations of the existing stories. Especially for movies/tv. I would love to see a well-made City Watch miniseries or something like that. Seeing a few members of the Watch in Hogfather was cool and all but the guy who played Nobby was atrocious.
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Feb 8, 2010 05:02
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Soul Music continues to shine. "Are you the Watch?" "No Ma'am. We're musicians."
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Feb 8, 2010 10:39
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John Dough posted:Soul Music continues to shine. Hathathathat. The thugs the Musicians Guild hired to try and kill them after the Cavern is part of a moment that needs illustration dammit. Sequin covered daggers!
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Feb 8, 2010 15:39
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TAKE IT FROM THE TOP?
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Feb 8, 2010 21:28
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John Dough posted:TAKE IT FROM THE TOP? Oh noooooooooooooo!
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Feb 9, 2010 00:42
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John Dough posted:Moving Pictures also arrived in the mail today, which I understand is one of the least liked books in the series? Moving Pictures is an odd duck since it's partway like the later Discworld books where everything was pretty much fully developed but also partway like the earlier ones where everything wasn't set in stone yet.
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Feb 11, 2010 07:48
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The term Clickies still makes me grin.
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Feb 11, 2010 22:51
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muscles like this? posted:Moving Pictures is an odd duck since it's partway like the later Discworld books where everything was pretty much fully developed but also partway like the earlier ones where everything wasn't set in stone yet. Yeah, it was a good book when I read it (I started reading when The Light Fantastic was published) but if anyone is going to read the Disc books out of order then I'd put it near the bottom, with The Last Continent and Soul Music, which I feel also suffer from "here is one joke and I am going to write a book around it" syndrome. It's odd that he does that every now and then. Some of the earliest in the series - Sourcery, Mort, Pyramids - are actually, at the core, very serious novels with jokes in, then you get one like Maskerade where the joke is pretty much the entire point (though I do like that one, because I feel the way about the Witch books most people feel about the Watch ones). Someone should make "Team Witch" and "Team Watch" t-shirts.
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Feb 13, 2010 05:36
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I would wear both. I agree about the 'one joke' books, though. In a weird way, I'd put Monstrous Regiment in the same category - a throwback to the 'one joke' Discworld books Pratchett occasionally wrote earlier, but unlike those it's lacking in the constant parade of gags and one-liners. Soul Music and Moving Pictures manage to riff off the 'big joke' throughout, even though it's all part of the same broad parody, but Monstrous Regiment is very serious throughout most of it. Which may be why it's a failure for me at least. The other more serious Discworld books aren't based on a joke premise, so the sombre approach and darker tone works better. Monstrous Regiment does have one of the best Discworld book titles, though.
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Feb 13, 2010 16:15
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I wouldn't say it was one joke, I figuire it is more of a general parody and overlook at what the subject is and the detritus that surrounds it myself. I still enjoy them dammit. Also, Team University t-shirt. Wizzards 4 life.
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Feb 13, 2010 17:06
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One thing that's very important to "understanding" Monstrous Regiment is that it's the first Disc book he wrote post-9/11. There was an interview floating around at the time where he talked about how he didn't much feel like being funny, and it shows - I'm pretty sure I literally didn't laugh at anything in that one except when the vampire has the 'Nam flashbacks. It was more like he wanted to write a criticism of geopolitics but wanted it to reach a wide audience (I mean, as good as Nation is, how many casual PTerry fans even know it exists?).
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Feb 14, 2010 02:00
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precision posted:Yeah, it was a good book when I read it (I started reading when The Light Fantastic was published) but if anyone is going to read the Disc books out of order then I'd put it near the bottom, with The Last Continent and Soul Music, which I feel also suffer from "here is one joke and I am going to write a book around it" syndrome. I want a Team Susan Death shirt.
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Feb 15, 2010 06:51
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Moggity posted:I want a Team Susan Death shirt. The logo should be a fire poker lying on a chair.
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Feb 15, 2010 07:08
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Team Feegle! Crivins!
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Feb 15, 2010 07:27
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Team Greebo. "Vampires have risen from the grave, the crypt and the tomb, but have never managed it from the cat" 
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Feb 15, 2010 11:12
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 I would buy this. It's for those of us who have read the book with the vampires in it. I won't spoil it for the rest of you though.
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Feb 15, 2010 13:15
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mllaneza posted:The logo should be a fire poker lying on a chair. And a box of chocolates with a couple of them missing.
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Feb 15, 2010 13:16
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Moggity posted:
God I love that moment so much, so very  .Carpe Jugulum is one of my favourite Witches books next to Abroad and Wyrd Sisters.
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Feb 15, 2010 15:49
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Moggity posted:
That's brilliant. Some people complain that Carpe Jugulum is exactly the same as Lords and Ladies in terms of the major villain/conflict, but those people are missing the point. I love both equally, though.
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Feb 15, 2010 19:21
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I had really high hopes for Unseen Academicals, but I was pretty let down by its scattergun approach to the plot. The UU environment and wizards have such potential on their own (eg the last continent). It really wasted most of the humour of UU, which is the absurdity of the place. The little things like the pre-dribbled candles and the Megapode hunt were the funniest bits for me. Also, for a book about football it could do with some actual gameplay description. I'd get rid of Trev and Juliet, cut Nutt's character down to just a mysterious savant who works the dribbler and keep Glenda as she is and be much happier with it. Think of it as an 'above stairs' and 'below stairs' story about the running of the University- like Gosford Park, but with sleepy, obese mage-professors instead of landed gentry
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Feb 24, 2010 11:07
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Grumio posted:I'd get rid of Trev and Juliet, cut Nutt's character down to just a mysterious savant who works the dribbler and keep Glenda as she is and be much happier with it. Um, shades of Maskerade but with no Ogg at all?
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Feb 24, 2010 13:16
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Without Juliet, we wouldn't have Pepe. I can't accept a lack of Pepe.
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Feb 24, 2010 14:43
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Mukaikubo posted:Without Juliet, we wouldn't have Pepe. I don't even know what Pepe was meant to be. Apart from psychotic.
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Feb 24, 2010 16:28
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