The Watch
- Thread starter Who's Wee Dug
- Start date
I'm loathe to point out the colour of someone's skin, or their gender. Terry was careful (I think) to mention strict descriptions of his characters. I once (foolishly, I now realised) commented on someone's choice of Will Smith as playing Rincewind. I later realised that there was no reason that Rincewind couldn't be a person of colour. It had been something that I had an issue with Terry about - his characters weren't fully formed. Looking back at it, I suspect he did it purposely. As to a female Vetinari and CMOT Dibbler - I'll reserve judgement for now. It will depend on the actor's performances.
Terry was friends with Diana Wynne Jones, who was similarly clever about her character descriptions. She knew what they looked like to her, but made it very difficult to find the clues (often only a single word), deliberately so that children could visualize them in ways they could identify with. For example, if you follow the clues, almost all the characters in Deep Secret are POC.
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Tonyblack
I grow more skeptical with each new item I see about the series. I suppose I am just old-fashioned, but the casting choices they announced dismayed me. My stance at this point is that I am going to try to take it on its own merits, but I know that will be difficult for me. In my opinion film or TV adaptations are never as good as the books they are drawn from, and it sounds like this one is going to be loosely drawn indeed. If it gets one person to pick up and read a Discworld novel, though, it will be worth it.
I'm thinking the same. I rather feel that Narrativia has dropped the ball in protecting Terry's vision for Discworld. Still, you never know, it might be astoundingly brilliant and help change the face of police procedurals in the same way that The Young Ones helped change the face of British comedy. I suspect not but that might be my age talking (my parents, for example, never understood The Young Ones while I loved the anarchy it represented).
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Dotsie
Rachel from Discworld Monthly attempts to explain the history of what's happening with The Watch here:
https://discworldmonthly.co.uk/terrypratchett_thewatchseries.php
I suspect that part of their (probably standard) contract with the BBC doesn't give Narrativia any creative control (although it may have given "Terry Pratchett" creative control), so they can pretty much do what they like and Rob doesn't get to say "no".
That being said, Discworld Monthly are doing their best to share news about casting announcements etc, and doing so without bias (although there are a lot of unhappy and some downright nasty comments pouring in on such posts).
https://discworldmonthly.co.uk/terrypratchett_thewatchseries.php
I suspect that part of their (probably standard) contract with the BBC doesn't give Narrativia any creative control (although it may have given "Terry Pratchett" creative control), so they can pretty much do what they like and Rob doesn't get to say "no".
That being said, Discworld Monthly are doing their best to share news about casting announcements etc, and doing so without bias (although there are a lot of unhappy and some downright nasty comments pouring in on such posts).
I know what you mean about the unpleasant comments and behaviour on DW Monthly and it really is out of order. Unfortunately, I can also see Rob getting a quite hard time from those same people at the next convention. 
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RathDarkblade
I agree, Penners, on both counts.
Firstly ... the unpleasant comments and behaviour on DW Monthly. These may help people to blow of steam, but they won't help anyone in the long run and will, in fact, simply divide the world-wide DW "community".
Secondly, the hard time forecast for Rob at the next convention. Much as I may wish it otherwise, I can see this happening too. I don't think this is necessarily Rob's fault - from what I understand, this was a nasty trick that was pulled behind Narrativia's back, and unfortunately, there's not much Rob can do about it. Some people will be upset with Rob, but that's only because he is the "public face" of Terry's estate. I think the best thing for Rob to do may be damage limitation, but of course, I don't pretend to know or advise Rob in any way. What he does about this is his own affair.
Personally, I am not convinced that this new TV series is the best way to go to attract new readers to Discworld or to keep existing fans. I am willing to give it a chance, but from the stills and press releases I've seen, it's on a very short leash.
Firstly ... the unpleasant comments and behaviour on DW Monthly. These may help people to blow of steam, but they won't help anyone in the long run and will, in fact, simply divide the world-wide DW "community".
Secondly, the hard time forecast for Rob at the next convention. Much as I may wish it otherwise, I can see this happening too. I don't think this is necessarily Rob's fault - from what I understand, this was a nasty trick that was pulled behind Narrativia's back, and unfortunately, there's not much Rob can do about it. Some people will be upset with Rob, but that's only because he is the "public face" of Terry's estate. I think the best thing for Rob to do may be damage limitation, but of course, I don't pretend to know or advise Rob in any way. What he does about this is his own affair.
Personally, I am not convinced that this new TV series is the best way to go to attract new readers to Discworld or to keep existing fans. I am willing to give it a chance, but from the stills and press releases I've seen, it's on a very short leash.
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Assuming the show isn't canceled after the first episode, I think it may turn off potential new readers, which is sad. But who knows? Some people don't visualize well, and some of those whom we assume will watch the show and try the books might actually not notice the differences. Or might notice them and decide they prefer the books.
One strong possibility: someone out there will assume that the books are a parody of the show...
One strong possibility: someone out there will assume that the books are a parody of the show...
Casting has always been a problem when it comes to fans of a series and the attempt to dramatise a beloved work. I remember when I first started posting on DW related boards that, one of the most common threads was about casting - and it often got quite heated. Not just DW either - many adaptation of favourite novels suffered from the conflict of characters created in a reader's mind and the casting director.
I can remember getting into a heated debate about someone suggesting Will Smith as playing Rincewind. I wrongly assumed they were joking and they were quite hurt that I would think so. And the thing I learned was that people have very different imaginations and the characters they see in their heads are often very different to those in mine.
Having said that - when it comes to - for example: replacing a character that is described as male in the books, with a female, it stretches the imagination to breaking point.
Ultimately, I think we are just going to have to wait and see and withhold judgement until then.
I can remember getting into a heated debate about someone suggesting Will Smith as playing Rincewind. I wrongly assumed they were joking and they were quite hurt that I would think so. And the thing I learned was that people have very different imaginations and the characters they see in their heads are often very different to those in mine.
Having said that - when it comes to - for example: replacing a character that is described as male in the books, with a female, it stretches the imagination to breaking point.
Ultimately, I think we are just going to have to wait and see and withhold judgement until then.
