Why I haven't enjoyed any of the Pratchett adaptations I've seen

[andrewducker]

They keep filming them as comedies.

And in my head Pratchett characters aren't in comedies. They're in tragedies, or police procedurals, or adventure stories, or straightforward dramas.

Now, the narrator may well be telling those stories in an amusing way. And the characters may sometimes make jokes. And some of the situations may end up being ridiculous.

But in my head, when I'm read the books, the characters are definitely not doing "comedy acting". And specifically not "British Comedy Acting", where everyone's speech patterns leave spaces for the laughs and emphasises the punchlines, and generally acts as if they're acting on a stage, winking at the audience. Because, in my head, the characters have no idea that what they're doing is comedy. And if they're breaking the fourth wall then they're terrified that things from the Dungeon Dimensions will now come through the gaps and eat them.

The closest I can think of for how I'd like to see Pratchett shot is something like Thor:Ragnarok. Where lots of funny things happen, but there's also a lot of tragedy and drama, and none of the characters seem to think they're there for comedic effect (except, now I think of it, for Korg, who I found a bit grating sometimes).

(Jane says that the radio version of Night Watch was played fairly seriously, but I haven't heard that.)

Comments

[cmcmck]

I agree- the books are funny often in a grim sort of way, but the adaptations never seem to be.

I'm glad to know it's not just me!

[kerkevik_2014]

Both Night Watch and Small Gods radio dramas didn't come across as comedies, and they are two of my favourite Pratchetts.

I did love Wyrd Sisters as an animated series though; not so much Soul Music.

kerk

[pax_athena]

Oh, I stumbled over this post by chance - looking around while waiting for some baking to cool down. And you just made me realize why especially the later Pratchett books work so well for me and why I shy away from calling them comedy. Thank you!

[andrewducker]

Pleasure!

And yes, I love many of the later ones - nootably except the wizard ones, which are more broad comedy than I'd like.

[calimac]

I wonder if this has anything to do with explaining the fact that I just don't care for Pratchett's work. It seems to me as if he's trying to be funny, but not succeeding.

I've never taken much to P.G. Wodehouse either.

Douglas Adams I find genuinely funny.

[skington]

My experience as a Terry Pratchett reader, reading them as they came out, was that the books went from uproariously funny, to full of jokes, to “there'll be one joke in the book that makes me laugh out loud”, maybe.

Until the dementia started kicking in later on, I also thought that the books got better. Was that to do with the books being less joke-laden? Or was it just a craftsman getting better at his job? I couldn't say.

[skington]

I have read very little of Wodehouse; I bounced off, hard, one audiobook, on the basis that all the characters were basically terrible people and I didn't care for that. Terry Pratchett, in contrast, writes very human characters.

[agoodwinsmith]

I don't think I would enjoy Wodehouse spoken - as much as I like Fry and Laurie, even they were iffy. However, written Wooster and Jeeves are very enjoyable.

[magister]

Which may also explain why Rincewind is the Pratchett character I like least. Vimes, Weatherwax, Lipwig et al are written as characters. Rincewind is a joke. Death starts out as being a joke, but grows into a character, but Rincewind never makes it for me.

[andrewducker]

And, in fact, the wizards in general. Who started off as characters with amusing attributes and became a collection of walking tics.

[eruvadhril]

The other thing is, they'll be doing all the -physical- comedy, like the ridiculous mugging at the camera and pause-for-laughter, all the way through where it's not called for, but then when they actually write the dialogue and take lines from the book that were supposed to be jokes, they completely mess them up. Going Postal was the worst for it; I kept noticing lines that were setups in the book but nobody ever delivered the punchline, or vice versa. It's like they knew "this bit is a funny quote, we need to keep it" without understanding what about it was actually funny.
The -worst- one for me was at the end of the animated Soul Music, where they've been doing the "Are you sure you're not Elvish? You look Elvish" gag the whole way through, and then they keep the part right at the end where one of Susan's schoolmates mentions the new boy that all the girls are swooning over and "I'd swear he's Elvish", but he's -not working down the chip shop-. They kept -half of the punchline-.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, it feels like they are written for people who already know the book, and so the writers can just say "Hey, remember this joke you liked?"

[atreic]

I have just got the main joke in Soul Music 20+ years after I read it. I am Slow. Or maybe 13 year old me had less context...

[naath]

I stcill don't get the chip shop bit :( (Mosnt of Soul Music I didn't get fircst time' I'm not a big music buff)

[andrewducker]

If you Google Elvis chip shop you will be enlightened.

[eruvadhril]

It's a reference to the Kirsty MacColl song There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis.

[armiphlage]

You have hit the nail on the head.

[splodgenoodles]

Yes - this!

Would you mind if I take this to the Pratchett group on FB? I think people would enjoy chewing this one over.

[andrewducker]

Sure!

Let me know what they say!