Terry Pratchett's Hogfather

sniffles · Dec 20, 2006

Anyone else see it?

I quite enjoyed it. I thought they did a great job of visually capturing the feel of Pratchett's novels, and thankfully Mr. Pratchett was directly involved in the production. The casting was superb, particularly David Jason as Albert and newcomer Michelle Dockery as Susan. The representation of Death really pleased me.

But my favorite bit was Terry Pratchett's cameo appearance.

Fast Learner · Dec 20, 2006

I quite enjoyed it, and agree about capturing the spirit of Discworld. I was disappointed by the lack of humor, though. Don't get me wrong, there were several really funny bits, but less humor overall than I'm accustomed to from the novels.

What was the cameo? I don't know what Pratchett looks like.

Viking Bastard · Dec 20, 2006

He played the shopkeeper at the end.

F5 · Dec 20, 2006

Wait...what? There was a Hogfather movie!?

Buh...

Viking Bastard · Dec 20, 2006

Two-part 3 hour miniseries on SkyOne.

Rl'Halsinor · Dec 21, 2006

Viking Bastard said:
Two-part 3 hour miniseries on SkyOne.

That explains it. I was having the same response as F5. I would certainly have tuned in if I could, but no SkyOne here.

shilsen · Dec 21, 2006

I'm skeptical about a movie managing to pull off much of Pratchett's humor, or his general feel. Two of the primary elements that he uses are a brilliant awareness of language (not just wordplay) and very heavy allusiveness, and both of those are difficult to translate to screen.

That being said, if I ever got a chance to see a TV/movie version of his work, I'd be there in a flash

Iku Rex · Dec 21, 2006

It wasn't bad. Though I suspect it may have been hard to follow if you didn't know what was "really" happening. On the other hand the mystery aspect of the story may have been more enjoyable unspoiled.

Susan was good.

Death was decent.

Teatime was so-so - the "Depp's Willy Wonka, only creepy (creepier?)" thing only worked part of the time.

Banjo never really struck me as dangerous.

And Nobby wasn't nearly nobbly enough. (Hard to do right with a human actor though.

)

Viking Bastard · Dec 21, 2006

They should have gotten Tony Robinson to play Nobby rather than Crumley.

I mean, the closest we've ever come to a Nobby onscreen was his Baldrick.

shilsen said:
I'm skeptical about a movie managing to pull off much of Pratchett's humor, or his general feel. Two of the primary elements that he uses are a brilliant awareness of language (not just wordplay) and very heavy allusiveness, and both of those are difficult to translate to screen.

They did get allusiveness down pretty well, as such, though of course the allusiveness onscreen vs. allusiveness on paper is a bit different in execution. The wordplay came through very little, but they managed it on occasion. My biggest peeve is that the first part was a bit oddly paced at times and I found Mr. TeaTime to be a tad over the top.

As far as getting Discworld's tone onscreen is possible, I think they managed it pretty well.

Mustrum_Ridcully · Dec 21, 2006

I enjoyed it a lot. I wonder how easy it is to follow if you haven't read the book(s), but for me, it was great.
I think they captured the feeling and tone of the Discworld novels quite well.

I had some trouble with identifying the wizards, though I usually have this trouble in the books, too, so it fits.

I think Hex fit my mental image of him/it quite well. The "anthill inside" might have been nearly to much, but the hourglass was great.

Nobby didn't really look that strange or awkward, but I never could imagine how he is supposed to look.

Death looked and sounded great.
Susan was good, too.

I am really amazed by how well the whole show looked. We finally have reached a time where we can make such a nice film on TV, which ensured that Terry could bring a film version of his novel to us that maintained the qualities of the novel. (Or, said in others words: No Hollywood executives that can screw the whole thing over)