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I always heard Night Watch as everyone's favorite Discworld book, it's good to know I'm not alone on how loving awesome Small Gods was. Not that I didn't love Night Watch, but Small Gods was just perfection.
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Aug 23, 2007 19:34
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LooseChanj posted:I need to get back into discworld. I got soured on Moving Pictures by the Flintstonish shoehorning going on with the Holywood stuff. Really, imps painting on the film? Guh. That was the only one where I really didn't enjoy it and was hoping for it to hurry the gently caress up and end.
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Aug 24, 2007 01:17
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Everyone says Monstrous Regiment is bad but really it was good 
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Aug 24, 2007 02:17
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Ferrinus posted:Everyone says Monstrous Regiment is bad but really it was good I agree, man. I liked that book too
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Aug 24, 2007 02:41
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Leospeare posted:As someone else mentioned, Neil Gaiman's Sandman series has Death as a character, though she couldn't possibly be any further removed from Pratchett's death (which incidentally is inspired, like so many other Grim Reapers, from Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal). There is sort of a shared archetype which crops up quite frequently in a lot of that sort of thing: Death Is Quite Nice And Acts Like A Person Where Possible Even Though He/She Is Not A Person, but the implementation is quite different.
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Aug 26, 2007 06:28
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hlazlo posted:The only Pratchett I've read is Mort. I chose that specifically because of the personification of Death. I've always loved when people use Death as a main character. On that subject, aside from Pratchett's work, does anyone know of any authors who use Death as the protagonist? Try "On a Pale Horse" by Piers Anthony. It's sci-fi, and quite good.
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Aug 27, 2007 12:30
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I'm surprised by all the love for Small Gods. It's one of my least favorites; it seemed really trite and a bit hamfisted. Of course I also thought that Good Omens was obvious and the only really great parts were where it directly parodied "The Omen" and I think Gaiman's comic book output is hugely overrated. Yeah, I agree that the Discworld books keep getting better. They're just as consumable as they used to be, but the humor in them seems to be getting meatier without getting as preachy or boring as it was in those middle years. I'm of two minds about Monstrous Regiment. The political commentary seemed a bit rough, but I thought it was awesome that he went the extra mile and made almost everyone into a woman. The almost instant reveal of the entire regiment was great; it gets you ready for a slow comic reveal of each character one-by-one, only perceived by the protagonist, and suddenly everyone gets outed in one go by someone else. There were a bunch of little moments like that, and I found myself liking the book almost in spite of my better judgment.
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Aug 27, 2007 21:25
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MolluskGoneBad posted:I'm surprised by all the love for Small Gods. It's one of my least favorites; it seemed really trite and a bit hamfisted. Oh come on, it's full of some of the absolutely best lines Pratchett has ever written. "There are hardly any excesses of the most crazed psychopath that cannot easily be duplicated by a normal kindly family man who just comes in to work every day and has a job to do." Although, of course, the best joke Pratchett has ever written, was, and remains to this day, the footnote on page thirty-nine of Men at Arms.
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Aug 29, 2007 05:54
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Keshik posted:Oh come on, it's full of some of the absolutely best lines Pratchett has ever written. Wait... is that Fingers-Mazda? Oh god, I came up with that from memory.
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Aug 29, 2007 12:17
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MolluskGoneBad posted:I'm surprised by all the love for Small Gods. It's one of my least favorites; it seemed really trite and a bit hamfisted. I think it's because it's Pratchetts only really no-holds-barred criticism of organised religion. I guess it can seem hamfisted because a corrupt religion is an incredibly easy target to make fun of and criticise, but I enjoyed the way he went about it personally. The central concept of a vast religious empire where only one man truely believes is a very damning commentary, but it rings true. And like many of the most interesting literary "attacks" on religion (dark materials for example), the book is NOT anti "God" or against spirituality, but is deeply critical of the dogma and human structures that grow up around religious institutions. It was also nice to see things from the point of view of the forgotten god; Om is a great character and really develops over the course of the story. Monstrous regiment also touches on these ideas, but only in small gods are they the absolute core of the story.
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Aug 29, 2007 12:32
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I actually really like how the books evolve from a humorous take on high fantasy in Colour of Magic and Light Fantastic, to the sort of victorian-esque satire Pratchett writes about now, just as the Discworld world itself progresses and changes.
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Aug 29, 2007 13:19
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Ferrinus posted:Everyone says Monstrous Regiment is bad but really it was good If nothing else Monstrous Regiment showed just how fun a book would be about other character interacting with Vimes.
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Aug 29, 2007 13:41
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Part of why I liked The Truth and Monstrous Regiment so much was the reminder that, from the outside, Vimes looks like a giant rear end in a top hat.
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Aug 29, 2007 18:54
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Fatkraken posted:I think it's because it's Pratchetts only really no-holds-barred criticism of organised religion. I never thought of it that way. I think I like it because Small Gods was where Pratchett really solidified the process and effects of belief in his world. His previous attempts at nailing it felt rushed, incomplete and more like he was evolving the idea as he went along. It's also the only self-contained book that is any good. Pyramids and Moving Pictures can't even compare. I think Small Gods, Witches Abroad and Men At Arms were really defining books for the main characters in the series that they dramatically changed it for the better. I also think that he has yet to really to take the wizards of Unseen University and make them more dimensional than the Keystone Cops with magic.
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Aug 29, 2007 20:12
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Mukaikubo posted:Wait... is that Fingers-Mazda? And I thought I was bad. Mr. SM Holocaust posted:I think Small Gods, Witches Abroad and Men At Arms were really defining books for the main characters in the series that they dramatically changed it for the better. I also think that he has yet to really to take the wizards of Unseen University and make them more dimensional than the Keystone Cops with magic. While on the subject of older characters, does anyone remember if Djelibeybi has been mentioned even in passing in any of his books since Pyramids? Keshik fucked around with this message at 21:04 on Aug 29, 2007 |
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Aug 29, 2007 20:58
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Keshik posted:While on the subject of older characters, does anyone remember if Djelibeybi has been mentioned even in passing in any of his books since Pyramids? Not by name, but it was mentioned in Reaper Man as a country where they put dead people in pyramids with their stuff.
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Aug 29, 2007 21:10
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Keshik posted:And I thought I was bad. I think Brian Blessed would have made a great Ridcully. I always think of him in a robe when I read about Ridcully. Also, I didn't realize Djelibeybi was a pun because we call them jelly beans over here. I mean even after I started pronouncing it right I didn't get that it was what it was.
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Aug 29, 2007 21:55
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Keshik posted:I think this may come someday with Rincewind becoming Archchancellor or something. The reason for the continued stability of the University is that nobody can seem to kill Ridcully. The only other character in the series we know is drat near impossible to kill is Rincewind. I'd imagine Ridcully dying in a hunting accident or some such thing. Dunno. This will happen the moment George R.R. Martin takes over writing Discworld books.
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Aug 29, 2007 22:15
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Nilbop posted:On a side note: David Jason as Rincewind this Christmas! Who's looking forward to it and who remains cautious but optimistic? Aw, man. What's Eric Idle doing right now? I think I liked Rincewind more in the games than in the actual books. Also, jelly beans and jelly babies are different. Pratchett was eating from a cup full of black jelly beans while signing books when he came to my city. 
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Aug 31, 2007 11:40
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dissonant posted:Aw, man. What's Eric Idle doing right now? I think I liked Rincewind more in the games than in the actual books. so they're exactly the same as jelly beans except shaped like babies ok or are they gummi bears but shaped like human children. A picture doesn't really help me out here. What are they like?
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Sep 1, 2007 02:55
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I wonder if they're not closer to jujubes.
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Sep 1, 2007 06:22
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Krinkle posted:so they're exactly the same as jelly beans except shaped like babies ok soft on the outside, softer on the inside, eat them legs-first
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Sep 1, 2007 14:33
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Slightly off-topic here, but your avatar looks incredibly familiar, dissonant. Is it from the Trap Door?
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Sep 6, 2007 11:34
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fivefingers posted:I know that i'm not really looking forward to it, all previous attempts at comics, animated movies, and that hogfather thing, has been disastrous in my opinion. Why does the actors have to use such silly voices all the time, it sounds as they're all trying to distance themselves from what they regard as something beneath them. What i'd like to see, is a mmorpg like WOW based on discworld. Discworld MUD exists, and is surprisingly awesome (or was when I last played it, about 5-6 years ago). It's text-only of course, but, well, so are the books. 
Ashenai fucked around with this message at 11:57 on Sep 6, 2007 |
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Sep 6, 2007 11:53
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You know, Small Gods was a bit ham-fisted, but it absolutely positively worked for me. I let myself be moved by it, I guess. The "gently caress you" moment that Death gives Vorbis when he dies is priceless. "YOU HAVE HEARD THE IDEA, PERHAPS, THAT HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE?" "Of course." "IN TIME, YOU WILL LEARN IT IS FALSE."
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Sep 6, 2007 12:58
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Keshik posted:While on the subject of older characters, does anyone remember if Djelibeybi has been mentioned even in passing in any of his books since Pyramids? Colon pretended he was from Ur (in Djelibeybi) in Jingo.
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Sep 7, 2007 18:32
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In one of the previous terry pratchett threads someone said that the vimes/carrot dynamic was ripped off or based on this tv show about canadian mounties and I would love to see that show. I don't suppose anyone knows a tv show about canadian mounties like that? I mean I could try searching the archives but I have never had any luck doing that ever.
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Sep 9, 2007 04:45
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Krinkle posted:In one of the previous terry pratchett threads someone said that the vimes/carrot dynamic was ripped off or based on this tv show about canadian mounties and I would love to see that show. I don't suppose anyone knows a tv show about canadian mounties like that? I mean I could try searching the archives but I have never had any luck doing that ever. Probably Due South. I suppose Fraser is a bit Carrot like. (Plus, he's got a wolf, but I don't think they're romantically involved.)
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Sep 9, 2007 10:43
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The Vimes/Carrot dynamic is merely archetypal - raw, do gooder newbie comes to big city and is trained by a grumpy cynical older cop. They both change because of it. This is what Pratchett does, he takes the old stories and changes them.
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Sep 9, 2007 12:54
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All I meant was that there was a guy who constantly said that one of them was clearly based on the other. He said it a lot and that is why I remember it. Taking the relationship between any two types of people and claiming that you invented that relationship is probably a bit suspect. I am rereading guards, guards right now, and remembered this, and felt like seeing if I could add it to my netflix queue and see for myself.
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Sep 9, 2007 13:32
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I picked up half a dozen Discworld books for fifty cents each. I just read Guards! Guards! for the first time and it was amazing. Really amazing. I'm reading Sourcery now and I still hate Rincewind but Conina and the Luggage almost make up for him.
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Sep 9, 2007 15:23
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ConfusedUs posted:I still hate Rincewind Am I the only person who actually likes Rincewind? He's hilarious.
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Sep 9, 2007 16:21
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Everyone likes Rincewind. Everyone  I'll agree that he's become a bit less likeable from his early appearances because he needs people to play off. So really, he should be stuck around the Faculty more.
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Sep 9, 2007 20:10
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"Potatoes?" That line was brilliant. I want to see more of the outlying areas, following 71-Hour Ahmed around the deserts of Klatch, some more of the places in Colour of Magic etc.
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Sep 9, 2007 20:36
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LooseChanj posted:Am I the only person who actually likes Rincewind? He's hilarious. I liked him in The Colour of Magic. Since then he's been obnoxious.
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Sep 10, 2007 02:21
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ConfusedUs posted:I liked him in The Colour of Magic. Since then he's been obnoxious. Rincewind had some really nice roles in the Science of Discworld series (possibly some of the most under-read "Discworld" series because people think it's "science" but, it actually has a fantasy/Discworld plot!). However the Witches are still my favorites, Lords and Ladies being my favorite book and Carpe Jugulum still has my favorite scene ever(when Oats burns his book in the cave to provide fire for him and Granny. Although Death's revenge and his appeal to Azrael in the end of Flow fucked around with this message at 04:07 on Sep 11, 2007 |
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Sep 10, 2007 07:01
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ConfusedUs posted:I liked him in The Colour of Magic. Since then he's been obnoxious. Pratchett himself says Rincewind is a tricky character to write because he's so popular, but his motivation is to get as far away from trouble and live as boringly as possible, so he has to be shoehorned into the plot. really, his story arc ended with the second book.
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Sep 10, 2007 12:05
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i love Rincewind and i dont care what anyone says
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Sep 10, 2007 12:40
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Jeedan posted:Pratchett himself says Rincewind is a tricky character to write because he's so popular, but his motivation is to get as far away from trouble and live as boringly as possible, so he has to be shoehorned into the plot. I think he sells him a bit short. I mean in Interesting Times he did pretty much save the day and he has a thorough understanding of how the world works. Like Confusedus says, I'm a bit annoyed at how Pratchett's taken him since then. Oh and Flow, can you explain that to me? I was sure Azrael only appeared once in the series (although he got a whole page to himself  ) and it was in Reaper Man.
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Sep 11, 2007 01:17
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Nilbop posted:I think he sells him a bit short. I mean in Interesting Times he did pretty much save the day and he has a thorough understanding of how the world works. Like Confusedus says, I'm a bit annoyed at how Pratchett's taken him since then. I can fully explain - I confused the two books. I meant to say Reaper Man, thanks for correcting me. 
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Sep 11, 2007 04:04
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