Pratchett Gives Thumbs Up to Discworld Cop Show

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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Pratchett Gives Thumbs Up to Discworld Cop Show



One of the most unique fantasy worlds around is about to get a big infusion of new stories.

Sir Terry Pratchett has signed an agreement with TV production company, Prime Focus, to create a Discworld TV show, based on the adventures of Ankh-Morpork's City Watch. Pratchett's Discworld books have inspired a number of spinoffs, including miniseries and videogames, but this will be their first time as an ongoing TV show.

The city of Ankk-Morpork is a little like the real world Budapest, in that it is technically two cities very close together. On its cobbled streets walk humans, dwarves, trolls, golems, vampires, humans who think they're dwarves, werewolves, and a whole host of other fantasy races. The City Watch, under the able command of Samuel Vimes, has the difficult task of keeping some kind of order in the city,

Pratchett has referred to the characters of the City Watch as being the jewel in the Discworld crown, and they have starred in eight of the series 38 books, with appearances in plenty of others. This will be the first time that Pratchett has allowed anyone to create new Discworld stories for television, although the author will be overseeing the series. The show will be an episodic, crime-a-week, cop show, and according to Prime Focus, a number of international TV networks have expressed an interest in it.

Prime Focus' managing director, Rod Brown, said that adapting the world of the Discworld books was a huge responsibility, but he thought that the series would translate well to television. He also said that Prime Focus had assembled a strong writing team, including former Monty Python member, Terry Jones. Pratchett expressed his excitement over the project, and said that he was happy to be working with Brown again, after their previous collaboration on the Discworld TV miniseries.

There's no indication of when the series will air, but hopefully, it will be relatively soon. With all the special effects needed to bring the Discworld to life, however, that seems rather unlikely.

Source: Bleeding Cool [http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/03/14/terry-pratchetts-discworld-being-adapted-to-crime-of-the-week-mystery-tv-series/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BleedingCool+%28Bleeding+Cool+Comic+News+%26+Rumors%29]





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Elvoret

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Mar 3, 2011
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I...
I don't know how to feel about this. Really.

If this does happen, I hope everyone is portrayed well.

Heh, the Discworld books are my favourite series of book...
 

Hungry Donner

Henchman
Mar 19, 2009
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Looking them up Prime Focus seems to be involved in a ton of high profile productions, I'm surprised I didn't recognize the name, huh.

Well I'm certainly looking forward to this :)
 

KingofallCosmos

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Nov 15, 2010
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Could be great if they don't loose the particular combination of humor and wit of the stories; happened a bit with Hitchhiker's Guide. It was funny, just not as clever.
 

Plinglebob

Team Stupid-Face
Nov 11, 2008
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Oh dear.

Sadly, the specials that have been on the past few years have shown that Discworld really doesn't translate well to a visual medium and with the Watch books being among my favourites (Vimes is a DUDE!!), I can't imagine it working.
 

Daemascus

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Mar 6, 2010
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I hope this doesnt suck. Too many book to tv/movie things have just been so badly done.
 

GonzoGamer

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Apr 9, 2008
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Logan Westbrook said:
He also said that Prime Focus had assembled a strong writing team, including former Monty Python member, Terry Jones. Pratchett expressed his excitement over the project, and said that he was happy to be working with Brown again, after their previous collaboration on the Discworld TV miniseries.

There's no indication of when the series will air, but hopefully, it will be relatively soon. With all the special effects needed to bring the Discworld to life, however, that seems rather unlikely.
IDK. We're talking about UK TV effects. How long does it take them to do the average DrWho episode?

As a long time fan of Pratchett, this could be really cool. Especially with Terry Jones writing for it. How could that get set up any better?
 

NezumiiroKitsune

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Mar 29, 2008
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So much awesome in one thread, I might need another just to go cry a little.

I can not wait for this, Guards Guards was my second favourite Discworld novel after Mort. I'm looking forward to this more than pretty much anything on TV for the past half a decade, excluding the other Discworld mini-series ^_^
 

Fetzenfisch

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Sep 11, 2009
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I'd love it, just dont let the Yanks intervene here in any way, keep it pure Sir Pratchett.

IDK. We're talking about UK TV effects.
Exactly for that reason.
If it can keep up the Quality of Color of Magic or even Going Postal, it would be brilliant. But the average Nightwatch story wont even need big effects. Its about crime in a wacky city. Its not CSI Narnia.
 

Pimwing

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Oct 9, 2010
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Way cool,
I just hope it won't take a decade to get it on dutch television, if it ever get's there at all. Honestly, the tv companies here are creating (as yahtsee once said) an endless stream of sequels ripoffs and wank. Hmm maybe there will be a dvd release?
 

Rylot

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May 14, 2010
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I'm actually looking forward to this. I was severely underwhelmed by the TV miniseries but having a show that pokes fun at either Cops or CSI could keep more with the satirical nature of the books (if that's the route they take). If they can some how pull off the visuals this will be the greatest thing ever.