Miniseries: The Colour of Magic

[clearspira]

666 is thought to be a mistranslation; in the original, the Number of the Beast is 616, and it arguably is a code for the Emperor Nero (which I guess makes that "more money than Nero" joke ironic).

Never, ever heard that "failure to get to 7" theory before.

''I'll try to explain. You know anything about the number of the beast? Revelation of St. John from his dream?''
''6-6-6?''
''The number of the beast is not 6-6-6. Often in dreams, numbers appear upside down and backwards. So, 6-6-6 becomes 9-9-9. Like in 1999, the year of his return.''

If you get that reference we have the same taste in lacklustre movies.

[clearspira]

he should be in his early 30s but the artworks for some reason almost always depicted him as 60+. not sure he ever actually REACHED that age in the books. it's my personal pet peeve. and unlike Charles Danse looking wrong but otherwise being amazing in the role, I don't see any saving grace in the performance of David Jason. I am sure he is a fine actor otherwise, jusr #NotMyRincewind

I understand what you mean but Jonathan is right. Sir David Jason is acting royalty here in Britain. Very few other living actors hold the same spot in the nation's heart - of the top of my head I would say Rowan Atkinson CBE, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Maggie Smith, Sir Ian Mckellen and Sir Patrick Stewart (and yes, I am using their official titles they got for acting to make a point). That's six out of tens of thousands of actors.

Basically, if you put Sir David into something, Brits will watch it. Whether it really makes sense or not will not be factored in.

[Jonathan101]

666 is thought to be a mistranslation; in the original, the Number of the Beast is 616, and it arguably is a code for the Emperor Nero (which I guess makes that "more money than Nero" joke ironic).

Never, ever heard that "failure to get to 7" theory before.

''I'll try to explain. You know anything about the number of the beast? Revelation of St. John from his dream?''
''6-6-6?''
''The number of the beast is not 6-6-6. Often in dreams, numbers appear upside down and backwards. So, 6-6-6 becomes 9-9-9. Like in 1999, the year of his return.''

If you get that reference we have the same taste in lacklustre movies.

Vaguely remember the quote...End of Days?

[clearspira]

666 is thought to be a mistranslation; in the original, the Number of the Beast is 616, and it arguably is a code for the Emperor Nero (which I guess makes that "more money than Nero" joke ironic).

Never, ever heard that "failure to get to 7" theory before.

''I'll try to explain. You know anything about the number of the beast? Revelation of St. John from his dream?''
''6-6-6?''
''The number of the beast is not 6-6-6. Often in dreams, numbers appear upside down and backwards. So, 6-6-6 becomes 9-9-9. Like in 1999, the year of his return.''

If you get that reference we have the same taste in lacklustre movies.

Vaguely remember the quote...End of Days?

Yep. The film with the least intimidating Satan I have ever seen.

[Rocketboy1313]

This is the only Discworld book I have ever purchased and attempted to read.
I got up to (I think) chapter 8 (I recall a little demon popping out of the camera and saying they were out of pink) before I put the book down and never went back.

It was a little too dense with shtick for me. I liked all of the bits, but there seemed like there was no break between all the insane-goofy for me to just chill out and process what I was reading.

From the description in the video (that what Discworld started out as and what it became) I guess this was the wrong book to start with.

Is there a preferred, "START HERE" book for newcomers? Because I have seen so many ideas from the setting discussed in a manner that makes me curious that I WANT to like it, but... there are so many god damned books...

It is like the Harry Dresden problem I have, where everyone keeps telling me, "It gets good around book X, but you need to read the early books to see everything being set up"... and I read the first 3 and was like, "Okay, it is fine, I guess, I understand why people like it."

[Jonathan101]

This is the only Discworld book I have ever purchased and attempted to read.
I got up to (I think) chapter 8 (I recall a little demon popping out of the camera and saying they were out of pink) before I put the book down and never went back.

It was a little too dense with shtick for me. I liked all of the bits, but there seemed like there was no break between all the insane-goofy for me to just chill out and process what I was reading.

From the description in the video (that what Discworld started out as and what it became) I guess this was the wrong book to start with.

Is there a preferred, "START HERE" book for newcomers? Because I have seen so many ideas from the setting discussed in a manner that makes me curious that I WANT to like it, but... there are so many god damned books...

It is like the Harry Dresden problem I have, where everyone keeps telling me, "It gets good around book X, but you need to read the early books to see everything being set up"... and I read the first 3 and was like, "Okay, it is fine, I guess, I understand why people like it."

They are more like comics, or James Bond films. You can pick a book at random and just dive in at the middle. Yes, some stuff will be confusing, but they are pretty formulaic and no major characters ever seem to die, so it isn't too hard to follow what is going on most of the time.

Some of the later books, like Going Postal, do have chapter breaks, even though most of the ones prior do not, which might be what you are talking about there being "no breaks".

Never read Colour of Magic, but as Chuck said, it and The Light Fantastic are a bit different from what comes later. Just find out which ones have the best reviews / which ones interest you the most, and throw yourself in there.

[Mecha82]

I am not really Terry Pratchett and Discworld fan so this mini series existing was surprise to me. These reviews are surely going to be interesting to follow.

[RobbyB1982]

This is the only Discworld book I have ever purchased and attempted to read.
I got up to (I think) chapter 8 (I recall a little demon popping out of the camera and saying they were out of pink) before I put the book down and never went back.

Yeah, the first couple books are really different from the rest. They're kind of broad parody farce making fun of the tropes at the time, silliness for the sake of being silly,and they don't go much deeper than that. It takes a couple books before Pratchett starts really putting his own touch and heart to things and really starts to have a voice and make the world his own rather than just a parody.

Aside from the Rincewind stuff, you can read the books in basically any order. THere's overlap and mild, mild continuity, but nothing that requires a set order. The Death books and the the City Watch are generally good.

SFDebris has covered the adaptations of a couple other stories, so maybe give those a shot. Hogfather is good and it has a lot more of Pratchett's heart in the work..

https://sfdebris.com/videos/tv/hogfather1.php

[jadenova]

Can we talk about the casting problem of Rincewind? In the book he is a youngish guy and here he is played by an old man.

[CmdrKing]

They are more like comics, or James Bond films. You can pick a book at random and just dive in at the middle. Yes, some stuff will be confusing, but they are pretty formulaic and no major characters ever seem to die, so it isn't too hard to follow what is going on most of the time.

Some of the later books, like Going Postal, do have chapter breaks, even though most of the ones prior do not, which might be what you are talking about there being "no breaks".

I'd say that you do want to read a given subseries in order, since they feature the same main characters and do retain their basic character evolutions from book to book, but that still means there's lots of jumping-on points.

Coulor of Magic is the start of the Rincewind stories. I've actually only ever read Interesting Times from him, and as a stand alone it was... okay, but definitely lost something.

Witches starts with Equal Rites, which is okay, but all other Witches books are much better.
The Tiffany Aching books are a sort of spinoff from Witches, but read fine unto themselves. They're also kinda YA books and breezier than most. First one there is Wee Free Men.

The usual recommendation for a first subseries is the Watch, which starts with Guards, Guards! and is probably the best first book for introducing its core cast.

The Death subseries is very, very good, but kinda vaguely assumes you've read at least one other Discworld book to have a sense for how Death "normally" operates. It starts with Reaper Man, and also includes Hogfather which also got a miniseries that Chuck has covered if you want something you've been introduced to.

Way later than the rest are the Moist books, starting with Going Postal. There's a LOT of easter eggs for people who've read a lot of discworld, especially the Watch books, but it's an alright place to join.

There are however a handful of truly stand alone books, and my personal recommendation for a jumping on point is one of those, Small Gods. It gives you a good sense for some of the "rules" of Discworld as a setting, while also being a very good primer on whether or not you'll jive with most of Pratchett's work.