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I couldn't find the other thread - even with the search function, so here we go. Sky One in the UK showed Part 1 of Pratchett's 'Hogfather' last night, and even though I didn't enjoy the book as much as other Discworld volumes, it was an excellent production for TV, I thought - despite two slight drawbacks.
The first negative is that they are pushing David Jason, who I don't like, as a lead player, when he actually plays a minor character, while alongside him Ian Richardson (the best actor ever imo) is playing Death (the central character of the story and one of the best characters in fantasy fiction anywhere). The other thing is that the wizards of Ankh Morpork are in this story, and I just don't find these guys funny at all compared to other characters and institutions in the books. They are slapstick clowns, basically, and it might be their presence that limited my enjoyment of the book in the first place.
On the plus side - the audio-visual production was superb through last night's episode, Ian Richardson was perfect as Death, Susan was a good portrayal, and Mr Teatime had villainy in abundance. The scripties did OK in the tricky task of keeping the plot updated without the constant narrative of the book. The overall atmosphere was superb.
I can't wait for Part 2 tonight, and hope that Hogfather is the first of many TV productions of Discworld, as popularisation of the books might ween people off the embarrasing infantialia that is Harry Potter and get them on to some proper books.
The first negative is that they are pushing David Jason, who I don't like, as a lead player, when he actually plays a minor character, while alongside him Ian Richardson (the best actor ever imo) is playing Death (the central character of the story and one of the best characters in fantasy fiction anywhere). The other thing is that the wizards of Ankh Morpork are in this story, and I just don't find these guys funny at all compared to other characters and institutions in the books. They are slapstick clowns, basically, and it might be their presence that limited my enjoyment of the book in the first place.
On the plus side - the audio-visual production was superb through last night's episode, Ian Richardson was perfect as Death, Susan was a good portrayal, and Mr Teatime had villainy in abundance. The scripties did OK in the tricky task of keeping the plot updated without the constant narrative of the book. The overall atmosphere was superb.
I can't wait for Part 2 tonight, and hope that Hogfather is the first of many TV productions of Discworld, as popularisation of the books might ween people off the embarrasing infantialia that is Harry Potter and get them on to some proper books.
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