News BBC America Greenlights The Watch, Discworld City Watch TV series

[JD]

I think I read recently that another company got rights to other parts of Discworld, so I'm pretty sure this is just limited to stuff related to the Watch. I also noticed it says it's "inspired by the characters created by Terry Pratchett", so I have a feeling they won't be doing any direct adaptations of the books.
I'm still waiting to see a trailer before I make a final decision about this, but I'm not particularly optimistic.
If this is the mess the pictures are making it look like, then I think the biggest shame is that if the other company does a good job with their adaptations, they won't be able to do the City Watch.

 

[jaime]

I think I read recently that another company got rights to other parts of Discworld, so I'm pretty sure this is just limited to stuff related to the Watch. I also noticed it says it's "inspired by the characters created by Terry Pratchett", so I have a feeling they won't be doing any direct adaptations of the books.
I'm still waiting to see a trailer before I make a final decision about this, but I'm not particularly optimistic.
If this is the mess the pictures are making it look like, then I think the biggest shame is that if the other company does a good job with their adaptations, they won't be able to do the City Watch.

A lot of the somewhat limited early marketing push (early enough that I suspect it’s release has been pushed back so they can try to put some distance between the outcry and release) was ‘Terry Pratchett’s Watch’. Rihanna is the one making damn sure the ‘inspired by’ is leaned on. You get the impression it’s said in a voice so heavily laced with sarcasm that it would better be described as a doily of sarcasm. (Ohh. That’s a good sentence, am gonna have to use that elsewhere. Where’s my screenshot button.) If they have any sense at all, they will strip as much of the Discworld stuff from it, especially the marketing, and keep it to an ‘inspired by’ in the Credits, ideally at roughly the point where they shrink the screen down and a voiceover tells you what is on next, every week it’s on. Very small font, dark grey on light grey, and with kerning done by hand by a seamstress with very small hands. Every time this pokes his head up, it is getting *slated* by the existing fandom. (Apart from an odd handful of people who probably really like to feel they are fighting for grand ideals, but their heart can’t be in it on this one)

 

[JD]

We have our first trailer, and it looks as unrecognizable as the pictures made it look. But setting aside the adaptation elements, it looks like it could be pretty fun.

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[JD]

Turns out they also released 3 clips along with the trailer
Is this Death?

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Raise. Your. Hands.

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Ankh-Morpork City Watch

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[jaime]

It’s so frustrating, because I can see the bits the are lifting from the book (even watching without sound atm.) like the klatchian coffee. I like Sybils armour...but she’s supposed to be more like Miranda Hart, and why are they chained to desks?

And sorry, but the carrot and cheery backstory shuffle is so misjudged, and looks like a way to cram in political point scoring whilst simultaneously avoid the difficulty or expense of casting little person actors or the SFX to take the LotR approach. Otherwise, if they hadn’t fucked up by having the electricity etc (managing to even miss steampunk, which would have been more acceptable these days, even if the disc is a decade off steam tech) this still could have worked. (Apart from the vetinari thing, which is again, them missing the point about *why* ankh-morpork has to be dragged kicking and screaming into the age of the fruitbat.)

The fact they are wholesale pulling from the books, whilst at the same time missing the point, avoiding real credit to Pterry, and really pissing his daughter off (who, incidentally, has real pull in exactly the sort of internet audience they are courting) is just...heartbreaking. Sky did a better job than the beeb, and that’s just embarrassing. Admittedly, those got shit when they chased the American audience, and couldnt say no to del-boy, but Going Postal was everything this isn’t, and wasn’t slavish to the book either.

 

[JD]

Yeah, it is kind of weird because you can see bits of stuff from the books, but the whole presentation is so different that it almost feels out of place.
It'll be interesting to see how this compares to the other Discworld adaptions that are in the works from another company.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Looks very BBC

 

[JD]

New trailer

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Like with the other one, it looks like a fun series on it's own, but not a very good adaptation of the book.

 

[StCoop]

It's just as well Terry's dead as seeing that would probably have killed him.

 

[JD]

I noticed that they don't seem to be any references to the books in the trailer, which is probably a smart move since this doesn't seem to be sticking to close to the book.

 

[StCoop]

I'm guessing whoever is in charge of the advertising was a big fan of Suicide Squad('s advertising), since that what's it reminds of more than anything else.

 

[jaime]

I noticed that they don't seem to be any references to the books in the trailer, which is probably a smart move since this doesn't seem to be sticking to close to the book.

Apart from the scenes we know are lifted straight from the books. Like the klatchian coffee/too sober. It looks like someone saw The Boys and wanted a go. Then there’s the fact it seems an injection of media woke has stripped all the actual ‘woke’ from the work.

 

[JD]

So I found out that even though I don't get BBC America, I can watch this on the AMC website. I decided to check out the first episode, and.......... I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. It was fun, the characters were all pretty good, and the central mystery with Carcer and the book was intriguing. There are times where you can see a bit of that Pratchetness sneak in to it. It almost feels like it could be set in a modern version of Terry Pratchett's Discworld.
I have to admit, I'm very curious to see what their take on the Unseen University is going to be like.

 

[crookeddy]

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8080292

4.3 on IMDB. Is that a wokeness revolt again, or is the show THAT bad??

 

[JD]

I don't really go by IMDB's rating that much, there is a lot of stuff on there that I really enjoy that has low ratings. I've seen stuff on there that I love, that only has a 5 or 6, but then has 4.5/5 on Amazon with thousands of reviews.
The thing to keep in mind is that a lot of Pratchett fans, which I am, are going to be going into this expecting the books and are going to be pissed that it's not them.
And the show does also have a trans main character too.
EDIT: I just looked and it has a 3.4 on Amazon, most of the bad reviews are just people pissed it's not an accurate adaptation of the books.

 

[Reverend]

Didn't make it more than 20 mins before I had to switch it off. Maybe for a non-Discworld fan it's "good", but for me this feels simultaneously like blatant plagiarism and a half-arsed adaptation. It was honestly painful to watch.
I mean Carcer as a freedom fighter and friend of Vimes? Fucking Carcer!? And what have they done to Vimes? Yeah, he was a grizzled washed up drunk when we first meet him, but he wasn't Jack Sparrow's even less personal hygiene conscious cousin. He was still a good copper under all of that. Carrot is all wrong too; they tried to give him an edge. Carrot doesn't have edge, or attitude. That's the whole point! He's Carrot! And for most of those 20 mins I kept wondering why Cheery didn't have a beard, until I realised that was supposed to be Angua, and the tall and also beardless gender fluid person was meant to be Cheery...

Look, I'm all for representation and I really do appreciate how diverse this cast seems to be...but if you're going to adapt something, then fine, adapt it. But at least respect the source material. If you're going to change literally every last detail about the world, characters and plot then what's the point?! Just make something original!
I mean a retro-punk fantasy world with dragons, wizards, trolls, witches, gender fluid dwarves, played by a diverse cast and a sense of humour inspired by the works of Sir Terry Pratchett? Yes please! But not...this....

 

[Ridcully]

Well.....as a looong time reader of Pratchett....this is utter bollocks.....make your own crap the next time......no need to use any link to Discworld...there are none shown!

 

[crookeddy]

I know nothing of discworld and so I am actually enjoying this show! I think sticking to calling it an adaptation will kill the show though. Doubt it'll get a season 2.

 

[danellis]

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8080292

4.3 on IMDB. Is that a wokeness revolt again, or is the show THAT bad??

Neither, it's an exercise in gatekeeping.

Sir Terry's daughter, Rhianne, and Neil Gaimen have declared themselves gatekeepers of all thing pTerry and found the show wanting.

I know nothing of discworld and so I am actually enjoying this show! I think sticking to calling it an adaptation will kill the show though. Doubt it'll get a season 2.

Did they ever call it an adaptation? I thought it was always "inspired by?" Sadly, I think Kevins' reactions will stop it getting a second year.

dJE

 

[JD]

Yeah, the credits say that it's inspired by characters created by Terry Pratchett or something along those lines, I don't remember the exact wording.