# The Watch!



## awesomesauce (Apr 24, 2018)

I've been waiting ages for more Discworld, so super stoked to see the BBC is planning a 6 part crime series set in Ankh Morpork and centered around the City Watch.

Rumour has it Hugh Laurie is gonna play Sam Vimes too, which would be brilliant!


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## Overread (Apr 24, 2018)

I was a little apprehensive though if they can secure someone like Hugh then there's hope!

The bigger risk is just how much budget they'll dedicate to it - one downside to Discworld is that to do it justice you actually need quite a lot of sets and CGI work as you've got monsters, beasties and all kinds of things moving around. I also think that things like the river are often underplayed or overlooked as it the air quality and ambiance of the bustling thriving mad city.


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## awesomesauce (Apr 24, 2018)

I think all the Discworld movies have been well done. At least so far. We watch _Hogfather_ every holiday season, and I was just rewatching _Going Postal_ the other night, and thinking how they really did do a good job with the production. When you think about all the period pieces the BBC does, it's not so much of a stretch. I'd be a lot more apprehensive if AMC or FOX or some other American production company had picked it up.


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## Overread (Apr 24, 2018)

I'd wage the American channels could put a bigger budget to it; but at the same time they've far more chance that they'd take character names and make something that isn't Discworld. It would have the names, but not the wit, the charm and the story.


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## awesomesauce (Apr 24, 2018)

I bet it would have more exploding helicopters, though!


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## Rodders (Apr 27, 2018)

Do American's "Get" the Pratchett's Humour?

I for one think that The Watch would be of good quality. Who knows, I may even enjoy it.


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## Overread (Apr 28, 2018)

Rodders said:


> Do American's "Get" the Pratchett's Humour?



One of the marks of his skill is how his humour is layered. There's jokes in there which are your bog standard slapstick silly; there's jokes based on themes and ideas internal to the world itself; there's jokes based on casual jumps of logic; there's jokes based upon the core topic/theme that the book is based upon. I'm sure there are others too!

Basically there's vast appeal for a wide range of people and backgrounds. It's part of the cornerstone of why he has such wide appeal to such a range of people as they are enjoyable books on many levels and its not built on elitism. You don't have to "get" the books on any specific level or way in order to find them enjoyable. Indeed because of the mad-strange world its set in anything odd that might be a casual reference ot something specific in the real world can just seem like a Discworld oddity if you don't get the reference.


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