I like to think that UK's SkyTV is doing the Lord's working by adapting Terry Pratchett's Discworld books into TV movies. I mean, I'm not sure which Lord -- I'm guessing Om, but that's probably because Small Gods is still my favorite Discworld novel -- but at any rate it's always good to see Pratchett's work in action. Going Postal will premiere on SkyTV near the end of May, and stars Richard Coyle -- who you might recognize as the very weird dude on Coupling -- as Moist von Lipwig, a criminal who chooses to overhaul Ankh-Morpork's postal service instead of death, and discovers he got the raw end of that deal. Thanks to Tredlow for the tip.
Comments
Bazor said:
I haven't yet watched any of these but Going Postal is one of my favorites of the latter Discworld novels and I always liked Richard on Coupling.
Small Gods is one of my favorite novels, period.
Praise to Om.
(holy horns)
Posted 05/03/2010 at 03:20:20 PM
Mookie said:
I really do love all of these TV Movies for Pratchett's books. I loved the Colour of Magic one (Sean Astin as Twoflower was genius) and Hogfather was pretty awesome too (
So, I have decently placed hopes in this one too!
Posted 05/03/2010 at 03:21:39 PM
RobP said:
So, are these adaptations actually worth checking out? I've been scared to take the plunge out of fear that the production values would just make the whole thing sink like a stone. I love Pratchett's work too much to see a shoddy production, just because no one else is making them...
That said, if any of the City Guard books were going to be adapted, I'd definitely check those out in a heartbeat. I love me some Captain Vimes.
Posted 05/03/2010 at 03:29:54 PM
Charlie replied to RobP:
They're OK (definitely not disasters), but not amazing in my opinion. It doesn't really help that Hogfather and The Colour of Magic/The Light Fantastic aren't amongst my favourite books in the series, and casting the 70 year old David Jason as Rincewind in the latter adaptation was stupid (he's only four decades or so too old for the role!). But they are worth checking out, and I liked Going Postal a lot so am interested in this new one.
Posted 05/03/2010 at 03:43:25 PM
DoctorSmashy replied to Charlie:
Me and my friends are constantly arguing over what Rincewind's age should be. The original cover artist for the books always depicted him as an old man, but the more recent artist (definitely check out his book The Art of Discworld) makes him look like Shaggy, which I've always loved.
Posted 05/03/2010 at 03:47:58 PM
Leonilla replied to DoctorSmashy:
I've almays thought that he was relatively young. After all, it'd be hard to do all that running with a bad hip and stiff knees.
Posted 05/03/2010 at 04:14:21 PM
Charlie replied to DoctorSmashy:
The trouble with the Discworld book covers is how inaccurately they portray many characters (especially Granny Weatherwax) - I always saw Rincewind as being in his 30s or so. Definitely not an old man anyway.
Posted 05/04/2010 at 02:21:27 AM
They're good, and Hogfather is better of the two. They do suffer from a slower pacing than what most of us are used to though, so be aware of that.
Posted 05/03/2010 at 03:52:51 PM
Zhalfim replied to RobP:
They are definitely worth checking out, the production values are very good, especially for a TV movie. The Hogfather (after all it does have Christopher Lee as Death) one was something I enjoyed more than The Color Magic/Light Fantastic one that was done, but still, really good.
With that said, I can't wait for Going Postal, it's a great book and Richard Coyle should be able to pull out the neuroticness of Moist pretty well I think.
Posted 05/03/2010 at 04:11:37 PM
Awesome, guys-- all of you. I'll definitely check them out. If they're on View Instantly, I may even get to that tonight. Thanks!
Posted 05/03/2010 at 07:28:19 PM
Sami said:
I also spy David Suchet, the one-and-only Hercule Poirot, and one of the creepy guys from The League of Gentlemen.
This looks to be much funnier and action-paced than the Hogfather, which was quite dreary and sleepy for my taste, even though I loved the dry wit in it. I only saw a glimpse of the Colour of Magic movie, so can't compare to that.
Posted 05/03/2010 at 03:36:04 PM
DoctorSmashy said:
I've generally disliked Sky's Discworld films, so I'll be approaching this with caution. I just pray they don't adapt any of the City Watch books, those are my favourites. Well, those or the Witches, but I can see the Witches being easier to do right.
Posted 05/03/2010 at 03:43:42 PM
RobP replied to DoctorSmashy:
See, I've always thought the City Watch series would be perfect for film adaptations, and not that difficult to pull off. Well, perhaps a TV series would actually be the better way to go. Still, I think they'd translate very easily. (Those are, without question, my favorites-- Mort, notwithstanding).
Posted 05/03/2010 at 07:27:05 PM
Geoff said:
I have much higher expectations of these than the first two, since unlike the magic / whimsy heavy selections, this is of a relatively grounded story and should be easier to make work in practice. The only real weirdness in Going Postal is the golem (well, and the banshee attack), everything else is very filmable.
Unfortunately, apparently it's no longer Jeremy Irons as Vetinari, but getting him for more than a cameo wasn't ever really going to happen.
Posted 05/03/2010 at 04:07:17 PM
Geoff said:
I have much higher expectations of these than the first two, since unlike the magic / whimsy heavy selections, this is of a relatively grounded story and should be easier to make work in practice. The only real weirdness in Going Postal is the golem (well, and the banshee attack), everything else is very filmable.
Unfortunately, apparently it's no longer Jeremy Irons as Vetinari, but getting him for more than a cameo wasn't ever really going to happen.
Posted 05/03/2010 at 04:09:25 PM
Leonilla said:
Not Rain, nor Sleet, nor Glom of Nit shall keep me from watching this movie! (Don't ask about rocks, trolls with sticks, dragons, Mrs. Cake, huge green things with big teeth, any kind of dog with orange eyebrows, rains of spaniels, fog, or Mrs. Cake.)
Posted 05/03/2010 at 04:21:30 PM
Oolon Colluphid said:
I certainly am looking forward to this, and as far as production value is concerned, its definitely on par with the TV movies on Syfy, but with what I presume will be better writing, much much better!
Posted 05/03/2010 at 04:29:30 PM
Atlas said:
THIS IS IMPORTANT!
Thank you very much for that information ^^
Posted 05/03/2010 at 04:35:27 PM
Grimmie said:
Oh wow! Awesome! Now when are they going to adapt Wyrd Sisters or Witches Abroad? I wanna see Maggie Smith as Granny Weatherwax!
Posted 05/03/2010 at 04:42:20 PM
Charlie replied to Grimmie:
Wyrd Sisters (and Soul Music) were made into animated serials by Channel 4 in the mid to late 90s. They were OK but nothing more (they even changed Nanny Ogg's favourite song to The Hedgehog Cannot be Bothered At All from what I remember!)
Posted 05/04/2010 at 02:24:14 AM
avr said:
Little bit disappointed that Jeremy Irons isn't back as the Patrician, but to be fair, the Patrician of The Colour of Magic was never clearly Vetinari anyway.
Posted 05/03/2010 at 04:44:57 PM
Durandal said:
Must Watch TV!
Loved going postal and can't wait for this. Hope they think about doing Thief of Time.
Posted 05/03/2010 at 06:20:48 PM
Enari said:
I can't wait to see if they put the trial of the unfranked man in there (i think thats what it was called... lol). Great book, I'm looking forward to the movie!
Posted 05/03/2010 at 08:28:55 PM
Darkest Requiem said:
Fuck and Yes, Terry Prachett is my Favorite author now. Im afraid to find the movies because I dont want to be let down. his books are smart and hilarous
Posted 05/03/2010 at 10:25:13 PM
Ross said:
Theydo have Charles Dance for Vetinari, though, which does look like it will work almost as well as Jeremy Irons. I have to admit though, that I'm a bit worried about Richard Coyle - from the ads, I'm worried that he (or at least the adaptation they've written for him) doesn't bring out the essential super-smoothness that Moist has in the books. He seems a bit nervy.
Posted 05/04/2010 at 01:59:02 AM
Duchess Prozac said:
Hell Yes!
I've been looking forwards to this one since I heard it was announced, even though I didn't like either of the others; they were to slow and ponderous, but I have a feeling this one will be different.
Posted 05/04/2010 at 02:06:47 AM
Anonymous said:
Finally! I've been waiting on this for ages. Going Postal and Making Money are two of my favourite Pratchett books. I hope the guy's got a couple more Moist stories left in him :/
Sucks the previous patrician won't be back, he was perfect. "Don't let me detain you." Vetinari is probably one of my favourite characters.
I an sceptical about the Golems though. And also Moist's smoothness. The guy calmly talked himself out of being murdered a good dozen times.
Who's playing Adora Belle?
Posted 05/04/2010 at 04:33:48 AM
Catherine said:
I'mlooking foward to this. I've enjoyed watching the Sky versions of Pratchett's books and this one looks just as good. Even my Mum and Dad enjoy them.
Posted 05/04/2010 at 05:08:47 AM
Pippin4242 said:
Can't stand the Sky adaptations, but I think it's because I'm so angry that David Jason got the part of Rincewind, which is clearly a vanity role. Was anybody ever so perfectly suited to play Ridcully? But their Moist seems to be in the right age bracket, so I think maybe I'll be able to watch it without restraining myself from shouting "quick Rodders, get the van!" and trying to ignore some patently racist casting decisions...
Posted 05/04/2010 at 05:38:32 AM
Cham said:
Alright, i'm biased since i read Colour of Magic when i was 11 (too many years ago to think of), and have grown up with the Discworld and Truckers series as well as his sci-fi stuff. So as much as possible i tried to get away from the fanboy within to watch the Sky adaptations, since i was watching them at the time with novices and the uninitiated (outbursts of "They never said that!" would not have been appreciated).
In spite of this, i can't STAND these new films. They smack of being written and directed by people who skim read the books once, and then just ran as fast as they could into the literary brick wall. The acting is almost universally awful; CGI, SFX and prosthetics are usually cringe-worthy (just look at the banshee in the clip and tell me i'm wrong); the direction and pacing is inconsistent and embarrassing. I'm such a sad and lonely individual that i have a list, an actual list of all the things wrong with the movies so far (how they were made rather then loyalty to the original material)
I'm praying (for an atheist i seem to do that quite a bit) that this one breaks the curve, but as it is, i'm going to watch this one in the same mood most people would be in when watching a car wreck: i deplore the waste and carnage involved, but somehow i can't look away from the guts hanging from the wall. And then i can run around with my "I told you so smirk" until someone nerd-slaps me.
Posted 05/04/2010 at 08:31:50 AM
LuftWaffle said:
Oh Man, this just made my day. Just got done reading the fifth elephant last night and I love me some Terry Pratchett. Hogfather and COM were amazing. Kinda bummed that Jeremy Irons is not the patrician, but hopefully this dude can pull off Vetinari's menacing personality. Cant wait.
Posted 05/04/2010 at 09:58:05 AM
Hanni said:
This looks awesome, even though some of the casting isn't what I would've liked (I always kinda figured Lord Vetinari was dark-haired...)
But...Adora Belle is supposed to be cynical and sardonic, not abusive. This looks like they made the relationship into the more typical "He's a doofus who doesn't know when to give up, she's hot and badass and therefore physically abusive" thing I'm getting tired of seeing.
Posted 05/04/2010 at 09:04:57 PM

