Guess who went to the premiere of Terry Pratchett’s The Colour Of Magic?
Me. Obviously.
So – what was it like?
Actually pretty good.
Adapting something with a cult fanbase such as the Discworld novels is always going to be a problem. If you put every little nuance from the book into the film – it’s going to be about a week long. If you stray too far from the source material the fans will camp outside the directors house pissing through his letterbox and burning crude effigies. It’s tricky.
Another problem is that Fantasy on film generally sucks a huge amount of cock. Until LOTR the technology and funds were not available to put together fantastic worlds easily conjured on paper. The results looked cheap. Unless a wad of cash is spanked in the direction of special effects and sets you’ll get something as nice to look at as the back end of a paper mache dragon doing a paper mache turd.
Weirdly enough TCOM doesn’t suffer from either of these issues. As someone who read the books and understands the source but long enough ago to look at it with fresh eyes, the balance between staying true to Pratchett and making a film anyone can enjoy is well kept. There is enough info on the Discworld to keep newbies from becoming confused and some fun injokery for the hard core nerdage.
The basic plot involves rubbish wizard Rincewind acting as tour-guide to naive tourist Twoflower – showing him around the many weird delights of the Discworld (A flat landmass atop four elephants atop a giant turtle.) There is also a subplot involving ambitious wizard Trymon killing his way through the ranks of the Unseen University and something involving a powerful book of spells connected to Rincewind. – All will probably be explained in the sequel – The Light Fantastic.
It looks amazing. Not to gush like a div – but it’s the best looking fantasy production ever seen on TV. Not a huge amount of competition, I know, but still. The sets and costumes in particular make Ankh – Morpok a believable place. There are a few instances where the green screen is quite conspicuous, but this can be forgiven when you see how fucking cool the Wyrmberg (an upside – down mountain) looks on screen. The Luggage – a wooden trunk with loads of little legs, and a mean streak is also pretty awesome – it does look exactly how I imagined it to be. Well done to modern technology for finally matching my childhood imagination.
One point that needs addressing is the casting. The fan reaction to David Jason (an old, short, slightly fat man) being cast as Rincewind (a youngish, tall, skinny man) has been errr….unfavourable. Same with Sean Astin (American) as Twoflower. (Japanese)
Bah to the naysayers. Jason owns as Rincewind. He’s likable even though he’s a cowardly asshole. Good work.
Astin is alright too, but his shirt seems to be more interesting than him…(it is an interesting shirt.)
My real criticism comes from the fact that TCOM has no real plot. Rincewind and Twoflower’s adventure is one fantasy cliche after another. The political assassinations at the Unseen University are a bit dull…spiced up considerably by Tim Curry being as campy and sinister as only Tim Curry can. But it was like that in the book. Pratchett himself – who was at the premiere looking like your rich goth uncle – admitted as much.
To sum up – kids will love the comedy and fantastical element – adults will like how it riffs cleverly on the familiar fantasy elements – talking swords, scantily clad warrior women riding dragons and magic. It works for families.
It’s way WAY better than the preceding adaptation – Hogfather – exponentially so – and is paving the way for future adaptations –Going Postal next.
There was also much speculation on who the mystery star playing the Patrician is – It’s a big name and you won’t be disapointed. He is very very cool. Suits the role down to the ground.
Star rating? Four out of five. I’m hoping that once all the loose ends are tied together in The Light Fantastic it’ll get that extra star.
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Von Turbo 
loose ends will not be tied up in the sequel, as this film is an amalgamation of the first two books of the discworld series; i.e. The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic. The first 2 hour episode is largely TCOM and the second is largely TLF.
As a discworld fan, I’m very pleased. It’s fairly true to the books, but I felt I could watch it with non discworld fans and they still got it. The little in-jokes for the fans were a nice touch (The librarian’s comments about the octavo before he has his little accident: “It’s going ape”, “Monkeying around” etc had me and my mum laughing)
Astin was a weak point; I don’t really rate him as an actor, and he seems to be trying to come across as an intellectual when he’s interviewed. It doesn’t work.
Jason was surprisingly good as rincewind, contrary to my every expectation. I suppose I should have had more faith in such a talented actor.
I’m glad they did Hogfather first, because I really didn’t like that adaptation, and I would have hated for them to have ruined one of the better-loved books.
umm… i had to watch the first part over the internet im a big fan of the books and i was wondering how i can see the second part i can’t seem to find it- i know that it was only released in the uk, but is it going to be released in the states?
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