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[palsch]

On the "this might actually work" front, this is from a completely new production company owned by PTerry and with a series budget of ~£26 million for a 13 episode series. That's a pretty solid amount of money to put behind this type of show. It's not Game of Thrones, but it beats out most Sci Fi TV shows that have been made. Definite cinematic television territory.

I kinda hope they don't go for big-name talent, or at least not too much or too big. Eating that budget on names could do horrors to the rest of the show.

Spoiler: walk away as long as you still can... (click to show/hide)

Vetinari/Vetinari's secretary(what's his name again?)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Drumknott. And that one is a fairly serious ship despite attempts to sink it.

[RedKing]

I've always wanted to read the Discworld books in English, especially Watchmen-arc ones since they always seemed like the better ones, but since I've pretty much lost the ability to concentrate on large texts I've mostly given up on that prospective... A well handled tele adaptation is probably the closest I'll ever come to experiencing them, so I would look forward to that. Of course, like Frumples and Skyrunner, I am very not at all certain they would manage to do it well. I can't really think of an adaptation of humour into another media that has worked well, actually, it suffers a lot more than drama or action in the transference. Different media calls for different kinds of gags and all that. I mean, an hour of text-based puns would be a horrible experience.

I think they can handle that bit. They've done stage productions of Wyrd Sisters, there's a Mort: The Musical, etc. Plus the various animated adaptations, and the quite well done point-and-click adventure game with Eric Idle voicing Rincewind and Jon Pertwee and Tony Robinson providing some voice work.

It's just a matter of substituting sight gags for wordplay puns. It can be done well with the right writers.

[Flying Dice]

There is no squee large enough for this.

[lordcooper]

Has this actually been confirmed by anyone?

Spoiler: RE: Shipping (click to show/hide)

Detritus/Cheery

[Sensei]

PLEASE tell me they do it better than the other TV adaptations that basically came out as 'trying to be serious and funny and failing spectacularly'

I know it was like, 20 years ago or something, but the BBC Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy TV show was good stuff. IIRC.

[Wayward Device]

Though I now have a rather morbid curiosity as to what the main ship would be.

Obviously Carrot and Cheery. I mean, can't you feel that raw sexual tension? Plus, they're both dwarves.

*ahem*

Anyway, I am quite excited about this. Almost makes up for the fact that we've only got another couple of books coming  . 

[Another]

What I really hope for is that the end result will make Sir Terry happy. As a side effect it would guarantee that the show is top quality.

CSI is a decent material for this. All Discworld works are satire, not imitations, so with enough creativity it doesn't matter if the original was good, bad or "so bad it is good". The only requirement is for it to be relatively well-known and to possess some distinctive recognizable features.

There was also a Discworld Noir videogame which I think was quite good.

[palsch]

Yeah, Noir was great. Pretty much a Disc take on Casablanca crossed with The Maltese Falcon, with other inserts. I do remember Vimes being a bit off character, but then he usually is when he isn't the POV character.

As for H2G2, the TV show was good because they kept most of the radio cast. About the cheesiest low budget SF BBC have done, but well worth watching.

[MonkeyHead]

I wonder which particular novel they will choose to do now. I do so hope it is Jingo or The Fifth Elephant.

[Pnx]

I'm... vaguely optimistic that this might be entertaining. Discworld stuff on television tends to suck a bit and not do the novels justice, or just plain not work on television, but we'll see how it goes.

[Scoops Novel]

WE must apply our genius to getting more people to actually read books rather then their live-action adaptations.

[Sergius]

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[RedKing]

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[Leafsnail]

That sounds like a pretty strong budget, actually.  Bigger than Doctor Who and probably comparable to Sherlock, so they shouldn't have trouble lining up a good cast.

If this watch thing is going to not suck then they need to figure out what the arc is going to be right off the bat.  I think that's a bit tricky because most of the arc for the watch novels is Terry Pratchett having fun writing about cops.  That's good in novels, I like watching Terry Pratchett play around with shoving his characters into a different genre of the week.  But I doubt that's something they want to do for TV.  So what is going to be the essential story of this show?

I feel like it's doable with the Watch ones though - generally there is a main story arc and a bunch of side ones that merge into it towards the end.  It seems easier to do than the more rambling Discworld books.

[Askot Bokbondeler]

oooo, i want rowan atkinson for vetinari