It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Community
General discussion (archive)Discworld(45 posts)(45 posts)
(45 posts)
Pages:
1
2
3
This is my favourite topic
Posted October 05, 2012
avatar
SirPrimalform: Aye, David Jason was incredibly miscast as Rincewind and also much too old for the part (72 now so in his late 60s when it was made).
Agreed - he's a great actor, but he's just not Rincewind.

avatar
Gazoinks: Ugh yeah, I couldn't make it through. The Hogfather movie was good, though. If long because it was originally broadcast in two parts.
Hogfather is much better and I generally enjoyed it as well as the cast of characters. I'm also aware that Making Money has also had a film version done of it, though I've not seen it.

There are also a few very old cartoons of some of the discworld books that I came across once - very faithful to the story (the book is basically the script) but the voice acting is so very dry that it saps a lot of the "spark" out of the story.



As for Alzhiemers I agree with Sir Terry! I've lost 2 grandparents and an aunt all of which suffered from it and all who lost all of themselves to it. It's sadly a very shocking thing and, honestly, they are left so mentally crippled and without any mind as to who they are let alone where they are what they are doing or anything.
(I've come to the conclusion that the only safe thing I can do in life is to take up lion taming when I hit around 80 - that way as I get a big foggy minded the cat finishes things off before it gets too far ;P )
Posted October 05, 2012
Off the top of my head my favourites personally are:

The Colour of Magic
The Light Fantastic
Going Postal
Soul Music
Reaper Man
Mort
Small Gods
Hogfather
Unseen Academicals
Guards Guards
Feet of Clay
Equal Rites
The Thief of Time
and The Last Hero
Posted October 05, 2012
avatar
overread: The BEST way to read Discworld is from the start to the finish like any series of books ever written.

The books themselves are complete novels start to finish so they can be read as a stand-alone book. However as the series progresses it gains a lot of in-jokes/themes/concepts. The footnotes and Terry's style of writing do a lot to help fill in new readers, but its just not the same if you missed the book and the story where the event was first coined.

As such I recommend people to start at the beginning - with the Colour of Magic and work on from there. I know many say that the early two books are, different and I do agree with that. That said the whole world of Discworld itself is one of progressive change - each book changes a little bit here or a little bit there in the world (sometimes its a big bit too!). So reading out of order you miss out on seeing the Discworld change and --- I won't say mature, mature is the wrong idea; but I will say develop and change.


The series also has a few running character groups - the Witches, the Wizards, the Guards and DEATH. In most of the books one of those primary groups forms the core of the story that the events are happening around whilst the others normally put in an appearance. There are one or two which don't use those base characters as the core starting group, but they still work within the same world and frame.
With the early books, he was still trying to find his feet with the series and the universe. They aren't quite up to the same level of quality, IMO, as the later books.

However, I find that the Witches sub-stories are the weakest and least enjoyable of the bunch. They are just so...dry...as compared to say, the Night Watch books or even the Death books.

My favorite line throughout the series? "What can the harvest hope for, if not the care of the Reaper Man...".
Posted October 05, 2012
avatar
Fomalhaut30: With the early books, he was still trying to find his feet with the series and the universe. They aren't quite up to the same level of quality, IMO, as the later books.
Aye, but this can be the case with any long running series. You'll get the books that shine, the books that don't and some who land somewhere in the middle. That said even a bad discworld book is still a very good book by normal standards

avatar
Fomalhaut30: However, I find that the Witches sub-stories are the weakest and least enjoyable of the bunch. They are just so...dry...as compared to say, the Night Watch books or even the Death
See I like all 3 each for its own reasons - if I had to pick a group I didn't like as much it would be Making Money - mostly as I feel the character lead is a rehash of what he was doing before Making Money kind of retold and a bit rushed feeling.



PS _ Discworld was started long LONG before The Colour of Magic. Or at least the concept of it was. There's a lesser known book by him called Strata. Interesting his other sci-fi work of The Dark Side of the Sun is also very overlooked
Posted October 05, 2012
avatar
bazilisek: I only played the first one, and it's basically Guards! Guards! with Rincewind in the leading part. But it's also absolutely torturous to play; I have never seen an inventory in an adventure game get this ridiculously big.
Yeah, also only played the first one, and it was by far the hardest adventure game I've every played. So many puzzles are not completable unless you go to a completely different location and doing something completely unrelated before coming back and proceeding on the current puzzle. It's like every action you do makes the time goes forward a bit, and until many puzzle solutions do not unlock unless time has reached a certain point.

But hey, at least it doesn't have any dead ends, and the writing is amusing.
Post edited October 05, 2012 by kalirion
Posted October 05, 2012
avatar
overread: I'm also aware that Making Money has also had a film version done of it, though I've not seen it.
Not Making Money, the third one of the live action TV movies was Going Postal.

The reason that you might have been mistaken is because both of these books are about Moist Von Lipwig. Going Postal was the first one where he brings back the Ankh Morpork Post Office with a competition against the Clacks towers. Making Money was the follow-up where the Patrician put him in charge of the Ankh Morpork Bank due to how the success of his postal stamps led them to be used by the citizens as currency. There may be a third book in the Moist Von Lipwig series, Raising Taxes, but I don't know what kind of progress has been made on this book.
Posted October 05, 2012
avatar
Tantrix: Perfect topic.

I am about to get into the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. He wrote ALOT of the universe, I know, but what should I read, what should I avoid? Is there even a "Complete collection" edition?
avatar
BadDecissions: He matured with age, so probably avoid the very early ones? Maybe start with "Guards, Guards!" (first book of the guards stories, so an easy jumping-off point), then "Reaper Man," and then I want to say Lords and Ladies, although I haven't recommended the earlier books featuring the characters that appear in that (because I don't particularly like them), and I can't remember if that would hurt the story; it's definitely self-contained. Then Small Gods, and then he's hit his stride and you have a lot of options: Men at Arms (if you liked the characters in Guards! Guards!), Soul Music, Interesting Times, and Hogfather.

Pratchett is unfortunately suffering from early-onset Alzheimer, and it's resulted in a very noticeable drop of quality in his two most recent books--don't read Unseen Academicals or Snuff. Other than those and his really early ones, I'd say that Maskerade, The Last Continent, Carpe Jugulum (but I never really liked any of the witch books, except Lords and Ladies) are his weakest ones.
well then you'd miss out on Mort, which is hilarious. And BTW, Snuff is great. Laughed my ass off and some nice serious moments near the end too.
Posted October 05, 2012
avatar
BadDecissions: He matured with age, so probably avoid the very early ones? Maybe start with "Guards, Guards!" (first book of the guards stories, so an easy jumping-off point), then "Reaper Man," and then I want to say Lords and Ladies, although I haven't recommended the earlier books featuring the characters that appear in that (because I don't particularly like them), and I can't remember if that would hurt the story; it's definitely self-contained. Then Small Gods, and then he's hit his stride and you have a lot of options: Men at Arms (if you liked the characters in Guards! Guards!), Soul Music, Interesting Times, and Hogfather.

Pratchett is unfortunately suffering from early-onset Alzheimer, and it's resulted in a very noticeable drop of quality in his two most recent books--don't read Unseen Academicals or Snuff. Other than those and his really early ones, I'd say that Maskerade, The Last Continent, Carpe Jugulum (but I never really liked any of the witch books, except Lords and Ladies) are his weakest ones.
avatar
mrmarioanonym: well then you'd miss out on Mort, which is hilarious. And BTW, Snuff is great. Laughed my ass off and some nice serious moments near the end too.
Well, of course I'm giving my own opinion of Snuff. I don't actually have strong memories of Mort; I assume I liked it, but not enough to recommend it.
Posted October 05, 2012
avatar
SirPrimalform: Aye, David Jason was incredibly miscast as Rincewind and also much too old for the part (72 now so in his late 60s when it was made).
avatar
overread: Agreed - he's a great actor, but he's just not Rincewind.

avatar
Gazoinks: Ugh yeah, I couldn't make it through. The Hogfather movie was good, though. If long because it was originally broadcast in two parts.
avatar
overread: Hogfather is much better and I generally enjoyed it as well as the cast of characters. I'm also aware that Making Money has also had a film version done of it, though I've not seen it.

There are also a few very old cartoons of some of the discworld books that I came across once - very faithful to the story (the book is basically the script) but the voice acting is so very dry that it saps a lot of the "spark" out of the story.



As for Alzhiemers I agree with Sir Terry! I've lost 2 grandparents and an aunt all of which suffered from it and all who lost all of themselves to it. It's sadly a very shocking thing and, honestly, they are left so mentally crippled and without any mind as to who they are let alone where they are what they are doing or anything.
(I've come to the conclusion that the only safe thing I can do in life is to take up lion taming when I hit around 80 - that way as I get a big foggy minded the cat finishes things off before it gets too far ;P )
Wait Making Money had a film adaptation? When did this happen I know Going Postal had one but not Making Money
Posted October 05, 2012
avatar
overread: I'm also aware that Making Money has also had a film version done of it, though I've not seen it.
avatar
korell: Not Making Money, the third one of the live action TV movies was Going Postal.
ACK! You're right Sorry guys its Going Postal and not Making Money!!

And yes I do tend to feel that those two books (of all discworld) feel so very very similar in a way which is why I got them mixed up!
Posted October 05, 2012
avatar
danteveli: Have you tried this function?
http://www.gog.com/en/wishlist/games/discworld

Never played the games but I was always interested how much are they faithful to the books.
have now. Good to know that ~5000 other people feel the same way
avatar
amok: No, Psygnosis was bought by Sony in '93 and became SCE Studio Liverpool in '01.
avatar
Titanium: He's dead, Jim.
Unless he died in the last 7 days, pratchett is alive and well and still publishing books. or were you refering to Psygnosis?
avatar
mistermumbles: Speaking of Discworld, I just watched that two-part made-for-TV mini movie 'The Color of Magic' last night. I didn't remember the Discworld universe being this boring before. The majority of jokes and references fell flet on their noses, probably also due to some so-so acting. Unsurprisingly, Tim Curry had all the good parts as he was making his way to become Arch Chancellor.
The movie didn't do the books justice. I have yet to find a good discworld movie. They focus on the fantacy and not on the wit which shows that the script writters don't understand pratchett or his fan base.
Post edited October 05, 2012 by jthwilliams
Posted October 05, 2012
avatar
jthwilliams: The movie didn't do the books justice. I have yet to find a good discworld movie. They focus on the fantacy and not on the wit which shows that the script writters don't understand pratchett or his fan base.
I think one problem is that a lot of the humour and wit isn't just in the characters, but in the descriptions and explanations of the world. Having a strong narrator talking one through a film is something generally reserved for either the very opening parts of a film; or kids shows. Adult wise its just not something western directors ever really use unless they are making a documentary.

Thing is cut out the narrators voice from Discworld and you lose a lot of the background info - background info that makes the actions of the characters; their views and the world around them far more alive and far more engaging and also far more amusing.

I'm sure you could possibly get it all done without a narrator, but you'd either have a character (newly made) on screen doing the very same thing (whilst also either appearing a fool to have everything explained to him or an old sage explaining everything)
Posted October 05, 2012
Going Postal (BBC TV Mini series) was quite good ... haven't read the book, that will probably spoil my impression of the show when I do.
Posted October 05, 2012
avatar
Sogi-Ya: Going Postal (BBC TV Mini series) was quite good ... haven't read the book, that will probably spoil my impression of the show when I do.
All of the recent TV adaptations were Sky (Rupert Murdoch, blech), not the BBC. :P

Hogfather was fairly good though, didn't care so much for Colour of Magic and haven't seen Going Postal yet.
Post edited October 05, 2012 by SirPrimalform
Posted October 06, 2012
avatar
Titanium: He's dead, Jim.
avatar
jthwilliams: Unless he died in the last 7 days, pratchett is alive and well and still publishing books. or were you refering to Psygnosis?
SCE Studio Liverpool went towards the light a few weeks ago.
Pages:
1
2
3
This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussion (archive)Discworld(45 posts)(45 posts)
(45 posts)