Discworld - The Colour of Magic

The March issue of What Satellite magazine here in the UK has a story on the TV adaptation of the first two Discworld novels (The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic) by Sky TV. The show stars David Jason as Rincewind, Sean Astin as Twoflower, and Tim Curry as Tryman. Sky did the adaptation of Hogfather, which has become Christmas viewing here in the UK.

According to the magazine, A Colour of Magic will be shown in the UK on Sky One over Easter.

 

That would be outstanding, if done properly.

Done badly, it would be, well, a blasphemous disfiguration of a classic.

 

They did a pretty good job with Hogfather. The villain in that was especially creepy. I'm not really a Discworld fan but I enjoyed that show.

 

any chance of a link to the article? coz this is awesome news!!
-doodie

edit: nevermind!

 

I couldn't find the What Satellite article online but I did find this on the Sky One website.

 

I didn't watch the Hogfather so I don't know if it came up, but I wonder how they will show the 'eighth' colour in use?

 

Sky's The Colour of Magic website and news that the next miniseries will be Going Postal. (One of my personal favorite of the Discworld novels).

 

I've seen some ads for the show and what I saw looked pretty good. One showed the Luggage running across some grass.

 

Been seeing the ad for this all over Sky Movies this afternoon. It starts at 6pm on Easter Sunday on Sky One. Today on Sky One there's a 'Making of..' special from 430-530 pm.

 

so what did everyone think?
-doodie

 

It's not too bad, but it's not over yet. Part 1 was last night, part 2 is on now. Each part is 2 hours long.

 

so it looks like only me and Laj-Fett watched this so i'll go first.

on the whole in enjoyed it, so we'll start with the positives. i liked the overall look of the film. The Disc World felt like a very real place and close to how i pictured it when readin the books. same with most of the characters, costumes and sets. The pacing of the first half was enjoyable. it moved quicker than the Hogfather but didn't feel rushed.
Gotto mention that Christopher Lee was my first choice to voice death and although Ian Richardson did perfectly well in the Hogfather, Lee just fits the role perfectly. (i think it's that tiny hint of irony in his voice that does it) the dialogue was generally enjoyable in it's pratchett like way. there was quite a bit of exposition but all of it relevant and entertaining.
i loved Trymon and the wizards and basically everything set in unseen university. really enjoyed Trymon killing his way to the top and everyone being aware of it. the dragons were impressive as was the HUGE troll. oh and how awesome did the hatching of the baby disc-worlds look?

as for the things i didnt enjoy as much. David Jason as Rincewind. whilst it cant be denied that mr Jason is a quality actor, Rincewind is not a cranky old man. to me he's a whiny, cowardly, extremely reluctantly heroic, 40 year old that looks like a cross between shaggy (from scoobydoo)and a homeless man i once saw running down the street. Sean Astin as Twoflower is also a pickle. Astin annoyed me but then again Twoflower was supposed to be an annoying tourist so im not too sure why i'm complaining...
also i didnt like the fight scenes. the sword fights lacked any real excitement or decent choreography and the brawl scenes just felt a little tame. personally i was really looking forward to seeing Cohen ambush a party and owning the lot of them. some plot points could have been missed out or better developed eg. wizards sending a hero to go and get Rincewind, or visiting Death's domain. i felt that was a big missed opportunity right there as Death's place is so eerie.

i'm sure there are things that i've overlooked but i'll get to them after my repeat viewing - something i never granted the Hogfather.

-doodie
p.s. the Luggage was awesome!