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Discworld! (Terry Pratchett has passed away; world cries a collective "Buggrit.")
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Also, it hasn't been updated in a few books, but the Pratchett File is a decent place for explanations of a lot of the references, especially those particularly British ones. Spoilers abound, of course.
Hell I love Discworld so much I've watched all four movies. Pretty sure I've read all the main Discworld books, and I own nearly all of them. I am missing some supplementary stuff, but I found a nice hardcover of the Light Fantastic comics. I still regret passing up that Mort tpb I saw once, though.
The Watch books are probably my favorite series overall, but there aren't really any I don't like. Even the first couple Rincewind books which were...well, you know.
Monstrous Regiment was awful compared to his other works at the time. I'd say it was as bad as Pyramids. Equal Rites suffers from being an early book. The witches books get noticeably better as the series continues, though I found Witches Abroad to be on par with some of the later stuff.
Small Gods was the best for a long time but honestly I can't see how any of the rest of his stuff can compare with Night Watch.
It's surprising how consistently his later works outdo his earlier ones.
Favorite lines:
From Feet of Clay:
"No, dis is just police shoutin'! You want to try for brutality, it okay wit me!"
It's like Xanth, but fewer puns and slightly more respectable.
EDIT: And let's not forget the Greek and Troyan armies both learning from the Battle of Troy, and each hiding in a giant wooden horse waiting for the other side to take them into their base.
I must be odd however, since one of my favorite books is Jingo. I honestly think that the lawrence of arabia vibe was great. It also shows off more of carrots underlying kingliness than any other book, and more of ventinari's deviousness.
Leonard de Quirm is just the icing on the cake here.
Exactly!
"Oh no, you are quite right, this won't have any kind of accuracy over more than a few feet. Here, hang on to this for me....hmmm, maybe if i put some fins on here....."
What I love is the lines describing God.
"Not precisely. Let's just say that if complete and utter chaos were lightning, then he'd be the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armor and shouting 'All Gods are bastards!' Got anything to eat?"
~ Buckaroo Banzai
for all the wrong reasons
My favorite would have to be either Pyramids or Going Postal. Pyramids was where his current style really started to come out, and I love the descriptions of what happens when
Death and Ventari are two dudes I would like to read more about.
but most of those characters were ones you should've known already :P
Someday, there will be a huge, hilarious series of Ankh-Morpork City Watch movies, and I will be thrilled beyond belief.
There's a whole series focusing on Death, and Vetinari shows up more and more in the Watch books, especially Jingo.
Well, it is an Origin story. But it's like in comics and what not where you get really familiar with who a character is and then learn why he's that way. And Night Watch is just awesome, since the same character is being developed twice at the same time.
I'm really hoping that Pratchett is preparing for how Discworld will be handled when he can't write it anymore. While I suppose it could be picked up by other authors, I can also see it being ruined by some really incompetent ones. I haven't heard him announce any plans for this, or a possible end to the series all together, so I'm getting a little worried.
Vetinari is one of my favorite supporting characters in Discworld, he is essentially the Batman of Ankh-Morpork, knows everything about everyone, and always prepared for every contingency.
"Say, that's a nice duck"
"what duck?"
Eyes forever focused, on the sanguine, metal dawn.
Of note are the Pratchett TV miniseries adaptations, as well. Hogfather was utterly superb, and The Colour of Magic, while not as good as Hogfather, did a wonderful job of "fixing" a lot of the problems the first two books had.
They're doing Going Postal next. Richard Coyle (who played Jeff in Coupling) is playing Moist Von Lipwig. Not my first choice - that actually would've gone to David Tennant, provided he used his native Scottish accent - but a brilliant choice nevertheless.
...
I've mentioned this before in previous D&D [chat] threads, but I always thought that a TV series set around the City Watch would work remarkably well. You could have "Guards! Guards!" as the pilot, and then tell mostly brand-new stories with maybe one or two novel adaptations as two-parters a season. "The Troll Bridge" would make a great stand-along episode, too.
With the UK's current trend for 13-episode seasons I think this could work very well.
Yeah. Nobby and Colon are great too.
"What is it that I am always saying to you Carrot"
"Why the hell did Nobby become a copper. You say that one a lot commander."
Well... every good play needs it's grave diggers.
It's not as good as Hogfather but it's pretty damned excellent. It fixes a lot of the story problems with the first two novels by changing certain elements and interweaving the plots of TCoM and TLF.
David Jason wouldn't be my first choice to play Rincewind - he's the wrong age and entirely the wrong shape - but he fulfills the role marvellously.
Sam Gamgee as Twoflower. lol-tastic, but I also see how it could work.
Wait, it also has Tim Curry in it. The only thing better would be Alan Rickman, who of course would have to play Vetinari.
And then years later when I was 18, a friend lent me Color of Magic to read, and it was great too. And then I took a read through the 'other books by' section, saw Guards, and decided this is a great series of books.
And the sad thing is, I haven't read anything else since. Seen both movies, they were great, but that's it. Oh, and the Color of Magic graphic novel. Didn't like it as much ... the series leaves so much visuals to the reader's imagination, and it's great that way.
So I think I'm definitely putting some Pratchett on my Christmas list this year. Definitely.
3DS FC: 4699-5714-8940 Playing Pokemon, add me! Ho, SATAN!
Vimes = Philip Glenister. I can't not hear his voice when I re-read the City Watch novels now. He's perfect for the character.