I'm not a fan, but over time i seem to have read a fair number of his books, and most of them congeal into a soggy mass of sameness, but three stand out for me.

Nightwatch - it surprised me by feeling like it was dealing with real characters, and had a doomed feel. I was actually moved by it.

Small Gods - much less like his normal milieu, with a classical greek feel of danger and despotism

Witches Abroad - just about as good a deconstruction of fairy tales as i've ever read. It's seriously clever, and, again, has elements of darkness and ruthlessness that are unusual.

I just finished "Making Money" while I was traveling to and fro.

I liked it. It was not a powerful as some of his efforts as far a political or philosophical satire but very enjoyable.
A solid read.

quote:

Witches Abroad - just about as good a deconstruction of fairy tales as i've ever read. It's seriously clever, and, again, has elements of darkness and ruthlessness that are unusual.

I really have to read that one - my sister wrote an essay largely concertrating on it's self-awareness and stuff, and I've wanted to read it since!

Terry Pratchett is probably the best subversive in fantasy today, better than Neil, better than China Mieville, maybe better than Michael Moorcock. There's this utterly exquisite interplay between story cliches and realistic consequences. It's fantasy for hecklers. When a human is turned into a frog, only Pratchett would ask, where does all the extra mass go?

I haven't re-read Witches Abroad for ages because my copy seems to have gone walkabout. I may have sent it to a friend, I can't remember.

quote:

It's fantasy for hecklers

genius. and bang on the money

quote:

Originally posted by ZoneSeek:
Terry Pratchett is probably the best subversive in fantasy today, better than Neil, better than China Mieville, maybe better than Michael Moorcock. There's this utterly exquisite interplay between story cliches and realistic consequences. It's fantasy for hecklers. When a human is turned into a frog, only Pratchett would ask, where does all the extra mass go?

You have a point there, but I think it only holds for Pratchett's subversion of fantasy and fairytale clichés, and as such I find it a tad limited. There's only so much fantasy parody you can do before you're basically doing variations on variations on variations on a theme.

okay, so in principle, not having seen it yet i can't say i'm happy with most of the casting for The Colour of Magic but...

quote:

One thing that The Mob and SkyOne tried (and for the most part
succeeded) to keep secret before the premiere was the identity of
the actor playing Vetinari. As the information has now appeared in
the UK daily papers I hope that it is OK for me to mention that
Jeremy Irons plays the role perfectly.

yesssssssssssssssssssssssss


oh, and sfx attended the premier

quote from discworld monthly  

i saw a poster for this the other day - it was the first i heard about it.
and david jason is on the poster, dressed as a wizard. is he playing rincewind? please please no. if he is i'm not at all happy. he's just not right for the part.

i did say i wasn't happy with the casting for rincewind and twoflower didn't i....

Hmm... I always thought Rincewind was much, much younger... I like the idea of Sean Astin as Twoflower, but only if he's directed well. Which, frankly, is unlikely to happen - directing the actors seems to be fairly low on the list of priorities when it comes to such projects.

Sean does have that "doe-eyed innocent" thing down by the numbers, but it needs to be just so for a good Twoflower.

Pratchett's been hit or miss for me as well, but the Tiffany Aching books are consistently among the best YA and The Night Watch was one of the best books I read that year.

I really don't understand the logic of doing Colour of Magic, erm... are they incorporating The Light Fantastic as well or what? And yeah, I don't think much of the casting either.

I would have gone with Guards! Guards! or maybe even Moving Pictures. but, nobody asked me!

i love the tiffany aching books. they're probably my favourite pratchetts. and david jason as rincewind? after he was albert in hogswatch? oh no no no no. that's terribly WRONG.

i always thought of rincewind as being something largely akin to a long streak of piss on the wall, and that's SO not how jason will play him. euch.

quote:

Originally posted by Thirith & His Enormous Tibia:
Hmm... I always thought Rincewind was much, much younger... I like the idea of Sean Astin as Twoflower, but only if he's directed well. Which, frankly, is unlikely to happen - directing the actors seems to be fairly low on the list of priorities when it comes to such projects.

Me too! I always had such a crush on Rincewind. I thought he was in his 30s or maybe 40s.

quote:

Originally posted by Maeve:
I really don't understand the logic of doing Colour of Magic, erm... are they incorporating The Light Fantastic as well or what? And yeah, I don't think much of the casting either.

I would have gone with Guards! Guards! or maybe even Moving Pictures. but, nobody asked me!

yes, apparently it's the two.

and the next will be going postal!

i think i might want somebody else to do guards guards after the hogfather...but perhaps this will still pleasantly suprise.

quote:

I always thought Rincewind was much, much younger...

he is!! i see him as mid-late 20s. kind of post-graduate without actually graduating.

and smaug, yes you did, but i was echoing emphatically

i haven't seen hogfather yet - am toying with the idea of whether or not i want to. has anyone seen it? is it good?

Colour of magic could be very good visually if they get the special effects right. it has potential i think. just whether or not it works.

plus electric and agitated and skinny. And David Jason is none of these.
Sean Astin... yeah, that'll do.

But isn't the colour of magic a picaresque and episodic thing with no real plot?

very much so. the light fantastic has a more clearly defined plot (well, a start and a finish at any rate) so if they are combining the two then it may make more sense.

But still... CoM and LF are really just the genesis of Discworld and more just a basic parody of SF/Fantasy. I prefer the later books when Discworld evolved a bit.

And I think that David Tennant could do a creditable Rincewind - he already runs a lot on Doctor Who.

I wonder what they'll do with the Librarian's transformation. and the Luggage will no doubt be CGI-d.