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[GreyHorace]

Specifically Pratchett's Discworld novels focusing on The Watch.

Our First Look at the Discworld TV Show Is Not What You Were Expecting

BBC America has dropped the first official pictures from The Watch, an eight-episode series that takes the characters of Ankh-Morpork’s City Watch, first introduced in Terry Pratchett’s beloved Guards! Guards! and since went on to star in a series of their own Discworld novels, as they navigate attempting to bring some semblance of law and order to a very lawless and disorderly wonder of a city. But while Discworld might be couched in a more traditional fantasy aesthetic, The Watch looks like a mish-mash of weird, industrial-revolution era history and a more modern sense of style.

You can already see some of the strange intersections of period aesthetic here—Vimes, Angua, and even Carrot, as appropriately dorky as he first looks, all kind of look like extremely chic modern detectives. Gone is the plate armor they’re seen wearing on Discworld book covers, replaced with jackets, ID badges around their necks, and in Angua’s case, some devastatingly smoky eye shadow. But there are interesting period elements woven into those contemporary designs. Under his jacket, Carrot’s got what looks like chainmail and a belted-up tunic, while Vimes’ jacket has got intricate bits of additional padding to give it a more militaristic look.

The clash of old and new becomes even clearer in this picture of Angua and Constable Cheery (above), the Watch’s forensic’s expert. In the books, Cheery is a female dwarf but in the show, Cheery will be presented as non-binary human who was orphaned and raised by dwarves as a child, played by genderfluid actor Jo Eaton-Kent. They’re wearing an extravagant mix of more casual wear akin to the rest of the Watch, but under a leather armored vest.

Our first look at two major antagonists in the series looks a little more evocative of the traditional fantasy you might have been expecting, however.

Above you can see Sam Adewunmi as Carcer Dun, flanked by guards in bulky armor that’s a cross between platemail and police riot gear, wielding crossbows. Dun is Vimes’ archnemesis in Night Watch, a serial killer adamant of his innocence despite a litany of crimes to his name.

Note that in the books, Carcer Dun was a white dude but here he's become a black guy who claims he's being unfairly persecuted by the law. Subtle political messaging much?

Meanwhile, below you can see Lara Rossi as Lady Sybil Ramkin. Her role is being expanded for the show—in the books, she eventually becomes romantically intertwined with Vimes and marries him—where she’s being described as a member of the City’s noble classes, who has turned to vigilantism to go after the criminals the Watch no longer has the power to pursue themselves. As you can see here, that vigilantism is, well...fiery.

While Lady Sybil, who was an old woman in the books, is now a thin young woman with red hair.

Great going Britain. You shit on the legacy of one your greatest writers by bastardizing one of his most beloved works to conform to your current day woke agenda. I haven't yet read all the Discworld books but those that I did have been nothing short of incredible (Hogfather being my favorite).

*sighs* At least Amazon's adaptation of Good Omens came out great. This looks like it'll bomb much like the current season of Doctor Who.

 

[poppabk]

Looks good to me. I thought this was going to be some social media attack for some perceived racist or sexist thing he had written 30 years ago. Changing characters in a TV show is whatever, will wait to see if it is any good or not.

 

[The Bloody-Nine]

'Gender fluid'

 

[Cybrwzrd]

 

[holygeesus]

I'm seeing a lot of white folk. Hardly woke.

 

[SidViscous]

I don't get BBC America, like.. don't we fund the BBC? Why do they have studio and staff out in the US, making content for the US?

 

[Weiji]

I don't get BBC America, like.. don't we fund the BBC? Why do they have studio and staff out in the US, making content for the US?

Because propaganda is just as useful outside your country as in it.

 

[cryptoadam]

I guess I will have to take your word for it because I have no idea about any of this or what I am looking at.

All though I do get a chuckle out of gender fluid actor. Just pick a side damn it.

 

[Stilton Disco]

Well this looks like an absolute abomination that pisses on the source material from a great height.

Fuck every single person involved with this. Cheery Littlebottom in particular is just fucking awful.

 

[Papa]

Looks like AIDS

 

[root number]

The antagonist looks good.

Where's Rincewind?

 

[Kadayi]

Never a huge Pratchett fan, so I'm somewhat indifferent to the changes, but I wouldn't be surprised if this turns out to be another clusterfuck.

 

[Threeshotgamer]

Well this looks like it will be just as good as the time they made a TV show out of the Dresden Files.

 

[Elektro Demon]

Too woke for me.

 

[Threeshotgamer]

Oh and they gender swapped Lord Vetinari as well

 

[DKehoe]

I haven't yet read all the Discworld books but those that I did have been nothing short of incredible (Hogfather being my favorite).

You should, they're a lot of fun. Although I've not read them all either yet. And agreed about Hogfather, it's great. Mort is always a favourite of mine since it was the one I started with. Although if the "woke" stuff annoys you then it's probably not the series for you.

Discworld has had trans characters and people talking about stuff like pronouns for years. I did a quick search to check and Feet Of Clay did and that came out in 1996. Maybe there's something earlier than that. Also Pratchett’s work was political, so I don’t get complaining about that.

While looking I came across this interview quote with him being asked about including trans characters and themes in his books. According to Pratchett, in Discworld Dwarves are basically gender fluid. So casting someone who identifies as that makes sense.

Interviewer: Why did you choose transgender topics (the female dwarfs striving to become recognized as female, the drag queens in "The Last Continent" , Sergeant Nobbs explorations of his female side in the recent books)? Was this motivated by political activism of your side for gay or transgender rights, personal experiences or you being witness of struggles of transgendered [sic] friends or relatives?

Terry Pratchett: None of the above. The dwarfish issue arose originally out of the established fact that fantasy/folklore rarely deals with female dwarfs and acts as if they don't exist. Ergo, females dwarfs exist and look like male dwarfs, ergo, their society does not differentiate between the sexes once the kids are weaned, ergo this society is going to [be] very interesting to write about when it comes into contact with human society. I have to admit that unfolding it, and exploring the issues in my own mind, has been fascinating.

Nobby? Well, Nobby...is exploring the wonderful world of being Nobby. I've never though of him as gay; in fact, given his general repulsiveness, he probably doesn't even get much of a chance to be straight

And the 'Priscilla' take-off in TLC was because a) it's a really great Australian movie and b) as a frequent visitor to Oz I'm always amused at how firmly rooted gay culture appears to be there. And there were 'run on' jokes, since as Rincewind's complete failure to understand what's going on, and the poor girl who's joined the trio to replace her brother...

The people I know who are gay (and one transgendered, I think -- like the dwarfs, I don't ask people what they're not prepared to volunteer) are mostly within SF/fantasy fandom which appears, at least, to be quite amiable about people's sexuality so long as they don't act like a jerk.

The look of the show is an odd choice though. Not how I ever pictured Ankh-Morpork or how I’ve seen anyone depict it before. But I’ll give it a watch to see what it’s like.

I don't get BBC America, like.. don't we fund the BBC? Why do they have studio and staff out in the US, making content for the US?

I may be mistaken but I believe the license fee doesn’t pay for BBC America.

 

[Cybrwzrd]

Oh and they gender swapped Lord Vetinari as well

You could probably hook some cables up to Pratchett's grave and power all of Britain from how fast he is spinning.

 

[Sleepydays]

I might do a little dance when they take away the license fee.

 

[Mossybrew]

What? Stuff always changes for an adaptation. I became a Discworld fan 25+ years ago and have read every Night Watch themed book. This looks pretty cool and Im willing to give it a chance, you dorks and your Wokefear, Jesus guys you just come off like old men yelling at clouds.

 

[Grinchy]

Maybe it'll do as well as the new Dr. Who series.

 

[Contica]

Pratchett camp has already distanced itself from this quite harshly.

Regardless of the quality of the final product, if you're gonna stray so far from the source that it's no longer recognizable, why bother? Why no make something new? Why make something destined to piss off millions of fans?

Pratchett was pretty forward thinking to begin with. It's not like Discworld lacked diversity in any way.

 

[Dacon]

I'm seeing a lot of white folk. Hardly woke.

White people are the biggest proponents of woke culture. Just saying.

 

[Stiflers Mom]

Hmm, if it's better than the other Pratchett inspired shows I have seen..
They have all been unwatchable tripe so far to me.

 

[DiscoJer]

I thought the Hogfather adaption was pretty good.

I was a fan of Discworld early on, but the later novels seem almost like fascist power fantasies, with Vetinari the good dicatator who puts the right men in charge of the post office, making money, railways (okay, same guy, actually).

 

[jdforge]

I don't get BBC America, like.. don't we fund the BBC? Why do they have studio and staff out in the US, making content for the US?

Aren’t they preparing for life after the TV license is scrapped?

That’s my thinking of it anyway.

 

[Lanrutcon]

Carrot looks like Carrot.

The rest? uhhh...I always imagined Angua looking slightly feral, even when not...you know.

 

[Schrödinger's cat]

I'll give BBC America a benefit of doubt.

Both BBC UK and BBC America did their own adaptations of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.
The UK adaptation was faithful to the book and was OK but not anything memorable.
The US adaptation took the premise and the character and a bunch of liberties to great effect and ended up with something in the right spirit but new to fans of the source material. Shame it only had 2 seasons.

 

[Scotty W]

What? Stuff always changes for an adaptation. I became a Discworld fan 25+ years ago and have read every Night Watch themed book. This looks pretty cool and Im willing to give it a chance, you dorks and your Wokefear, Jesus guys you just come off like old men yelling at clouds.

 

[Scotty W]

What? Stuff always changes for an adaptation. I became a Discworld fan 25+ years ago and have read every Night Watch themed book. This looks pretty cool and Im willing to give it a chance, you dorks and your Wokefear, Jesus guys you just come off like old men yelling at clouds.

 

[FunkMiller]

Every single person involved in this is a cunt.

 

[Lanrutcon]

Every single person involved in this is a cunt.

What was that. What was that.

 

[FunkMiller]

What was that. What was that.

I know, right? The utter contempt for Pratchett that screams from every second of this makes me sick. The man’s amazing characters bastardised in the name of identity politics. Fuck everyone involved.

 

[GreyHorace]

Shite. Just what I expected from the current day BBC.

 

[Kimahri]

I mean, if it wasn't based on Discworld I'd probably be going all "well now, looks like it could be fun, I'll check it out".

But instead I'm fuming inside and raging at the blasphemous self fellating aholes who had the audacity to think they could take Discworld, of all things, and think they could do it better.

Fuck these hacks.

 

[lock2k]

'Gender fluid'

I swear this has to be the most retarded definition ever in the history of English language. It always makes me laugh. How can someone take this shit seriously. lol

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Why are all the men wearing mascara and all the women look like men?

 

[Mistershine.]

Every single person involved in this is a cunt.

What the actual fuck. Why does Angua look like a hobo junky? Why is Vetinari a woman? Why does vimes look like a tweaker? Why has Cheery stolen Carrots human raised by dwarves story? Why doesn't gaspode look mangy? What the actual fuck! Jesus christ, I'm turning into a basic bitch because at the moment I just can't even. What the actual factual fuck!

 

[Lord Thunderbear]

This is worse than C.M.O.T. Dibbler's sausages.

 

[FunkMiller]

Here’s the worst thing: Terry Pratchett was incredibly progressive and inclusionary - decades before these cunts were even born. But what he did apparently wasn’t good enough. I despise the BBC.

 

[NeoGiffer]

What? Stuff always changes for an adaptation. I became a Discworld fan 25+ years ago and have read every Night Watch themed book. This looks pretty cool and Im willing to give it a chance, you dorks and your Wokefear, Jesus guys you just come off like old men yelling at clouds.

 

[Azurro]

I have never read any of these books nor have any attachments to any of the characters...and this still looks like a dumpster fire.