Page 2 of The Watch - Discworld series

I'm used to these all being on Sky. I really enjoyed the books about Grimes and co, must remember to give this a go.


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Quote:
Robee J Shepherd says...
"must remember to give this a go."
Eight minutes into episode one.
Don't rush.
I may go back to it after a beer but it has none, zero, zilch, a complete absence of, anything you'd recognise as Terry Pratchett.

It is to Discworld and The Watch as Plan Nine from Outer Space is to Star Wars.




Snaps

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Quote:
admars says...
"it's apparently not great"
I've yet to see a Pratchett adaptation that passed muster. Possibly Going Postal, but Hogfather & Colour of Magic just had something about them that just didn't 'pop'.


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As good as David Jason is he was nothing like a decent casting for Rincewind in Colour of Magic.

Hogfather I thought was better and came quite close.

Going Postal absolutely nailed it for me.

A beer was not enough to tempt me back to The Watch.
Maybe sometime just out of curiosity but I don't see me watching the whole series.

Snaps

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My new Flash Fiction blog. All my own work
500ish

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I am not young enough to know everything.

I quite enjoyed it... once I got past some glaring miscasting, accepted that it's a Discworld adaptation in name only, and turned the subtitles on because I can't understand what half of the actors say...

I'll give episode 2 a try next.

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Jitendar Canth

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"I thought what I`d do was, I`d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes."

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Quote:
Snaps says...
"As good as David Jason is he was nothing like a decent casting for Rincewind in Colour of Magic."
Maybe the DOS game skewed my biases, but no-one but Eric Idle would have been perfect for the role.

Just given it a go and paused for the time being halfway through episode one. The biggest issue here is that you can't suddenly 're-imagine' a universe that's been established in the minds of the faithful for the last 30+ years and expect it to work. I'll probably continue watching over the the next week and give a proper view, but thus far, style over content. It's too well established to get a modern makeover.

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This item was edited on Friday, 2nd July 2021, 21:52

I can see why Eric Idle but I think there would be too much Python.
Equally mad but not Discworld mad.

To be honest I can see why David Jason from Sky's point of view. A well known name carrying a large degree of affection already from previous roles.

Personally I think they'd have been better off with a relative unknown that could take the character without the baggage.

Your summation of The Watch nails it pretty well, at least from the eight mins I managed.

Snaps

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My new Flash Fiction blog. All my own work
500ish

---

I am not young enough to know everything.

Quote:
Snaps says...
"Personally I think they'd have been better off with a relative unknown that could take the character without the baggage."
You mispelt luggage!


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Stuck with it through to the end, and it's a hard one to categorise. I kind of liked it, once I kept constantly reminding myself that it wasn't what I expected. It felt like they tried too hard, each episode doing its own thing, like they tried to cram all of Discworld into one series.

A loose adaptation of Guards Guards, it had its moments, hit the right beats, but it ended on such an obvious play for a second season, that the conclusion was an utter disappointment, not a triumph.

I'm currently reading Monstrous Regiment, and Vimes and co make an appearance. I tried seeing the TV characters in the book, and they just don't fit. It's like squeezing a square peg into a round hole.

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Jitendar Canth

Quote:
"I thought what I`d do was, I`d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes."

Site Reviewer at DVD Reviewer & MyReviewer

Carving out a niche with a pneumatic drill at Anime @ MyReviewer.com

Quote:
Jitendar Canth says...
"A loose adaptation of Guards Guards"As well as Men at Arms, Night Watch, Thud, Snuff, Unseen Academicals and a smattering of The Thief of Time.

The biggest issue with this series, which I've only just managed to get through, was that it got absolutely everything wrong apart from the story it told. I'll get to that.

You can't just step up and alter 99% of locations, characters, ethnicity, gender, general time period and genetic traits of specific species and expect it to be accepted. Josh Kirby, Paul Kidby, Nick Martinelli et al have spent many years creating the look of Ankh Mormork and environs, backed up by sumptuous productions (Colour of Magic, Hogfather, Going Postal), so that look has ingrained itself in the collective consciousness of millions of the Pratchett Faithful, and for a cheeky young upstart to barge in and try to take charge isn't going to curry many favours.

Trying to transfer all that into what seemed to be a South African urban wasteland is, for lack of a better expression, jarring. It just doesn't look or feel right, and that's a pretty huge hurdle to try to overcome if you want both the fans on side, as well as trying to introduce newbies to the Discworld universe*.

I'd go as far as to say the only things it got right was the appearence of the Watch House interior & Carrot. Vimes was too wacky and gurned too much, Sybil too thin and completely off-character. Angua too short (She's from Uberwald, after all) Cheery too tall (as were all the dwarves). I won't mention gender or ethnicity changes as it's 2021 after all and you just have to go along with that now, which is fine.

As for the story, despite being a blended hodge-podge of the books mentioned earlier with Guards! Guards! bookend- it actually kinda sort of works. I found myself semi-engaged in what was going on, and was interested to see how it all played out.

But, and it's a big but. At every single turn you have a niggling thought playing at the back of your mind that either this thing wouldn't look like this. That character wouldn't do that. Why has Cheery got a beard now when she had it removed 5 minutes ago. Why is the Following dark now controllable when it was essentally cabin fever with a touch of PTSD before?

It just changed too much and tried to be the new face of the thing too many people know too much about. Would I watch a second series? Maybe. Will there BE a second series? If it tries to do this crap again, I hope not.

4/10.

*Which, I hope it doesn't. I can think of at least 5 novels that just won't work in this world.**

**see what I did there?


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This item was edited on Wednesday, 18th August 2021, 16:06