BBC America's City Watch: Premieres Tonight!

[Janus]

So, I've been seeing a couple of teaser ad for this on TV lately. And it wasn't till yesterday that one actually peeked my interest. It had a short clip of a hooded figure interacting with a character. What was said and how it was said caught my attention. Then I thought about the title of the show, and it raised a suspicion. Later ads confirmed it. This show is based on the City Watch from the Terry Pratchett "Diskworld" series. It premiers tonight on BBC America with two episodes.

I'm going to give it a chance. I just hope that the Pratchett humor of the books survives the adaptation. I have some small hope given the listed titles for the episodes: " A Near Vimes experience" and "Ook", (which I hope refers to who I think it does)

Anyone else heard about this or are planning on watching it?

 

[Bandersnatch]

The reviews coming in are crestfallen. Looks like this one is going to be a miss, like so many earlier attempts at adapting Pratchett.

 

[hmmm27]

As a TV series, I think you'd have to start with no expectations : it isn't TP writing the script. The Wikipedia article is scary, though.

Going Postal was decently adapted, IMHO. I'd never pictured wossername as a dominatrix/Goth, but it worked.

Definite watch of course ; may continue watching for awhile even if it's crap, just in case.

 

[Vanadium 50]

it isn't TP writing the script

How would that work exactly?

I have not read the novels, and was relatively un-entertained by the show. I felt that show was filled with inside jokes. Jokes that I didn't get because I wasn't meant to. I suspect that people who have read the novels will be disappointed because the two media are just so different. So my prediction is that this show won't last long.

 

[Janus]

First impressions:
Somewhere between " Oh my god, that was great", and "Oh my god, I want rip my eyes out after that"

How would that work exactly?

I have not read the novels, and was relatively un-entertained by the show. I felt that show was filled with inside jokes. Jokes that I didn't get because I wasn't meant to. I suspect that people who have read the novels will be disappointed because the two media are just so different. So my prediction is that this show won't last long.

Yes, there were a lot of stuff that you wouldn't have caught if you hadn't read the novels. (For example, the "round world" in the Arch chancellor's office. The novels take place on an world that is shaped like a disk and is on the back of a giant turtle swimming through space. so a "round" world is just an idea the Arch chancellor is playing around with )
I can also see where it is hard to translate it to screen well, as much of the humor in the novels is in the form of the exposition. For example: In describing the Library of Unseen University he says that it has been twisted through "L-space". Which ( and I'm paraphrasing here) he justifies like this:
Books are Knowledge, Knowledge is power, Power is Energy, Energy is the equivalent of mass. Sufficient mass can bend time and space This is why when you step into a bookstore "for just a Minute", you walk out an hour later.
This is doubly true for magical books, and why entering the Library is like stepping into an Escher drawing.

For me, it wasn't horrible. But I didn't go in with high expectations (Especially when I saw that it was "inspired by" and not "based on" the Novels. "Inspired by" usually means "You are going to have to hunt for any similarities"*.)

It did seem to go by quickly, so at least I wasn't looking at my watch wondering when it it was going to be over.

*For example, in the books. the Librarian is a full orangutan. He was changed to that form by a past magical accident, and has resisted all attempts to turn him back, as he found that the ability to swing from shelf to shelf given to him by his new form made his job easier.