Good Omens: Neil Gaiman to adapt Terry Pratchett collaboration for TV

[NickK]

I've read this book multiple times - Crowley I felt had a little more character that was a little dodgy (ie like Trotter) but getting caught out and a bit I can't be bothered.

The scene when Crowley reorders the pegs of the M25 construction into the shape of a pentagon - you can tell the character really believes it's got merit in the long term but is frustrated by the lack of his bosses' modern approach and short sightedness.

 

[Bickaxe]

I'm looking forward to this, i think there is or was a City Watch/Night Watch TV series in pr production but i've not heard about that for a while.

The latest...

http://narrativia.com/watch.html

 

[Werewolf]

woohoo!

 

[NickK]

 

[dowie]

well that is positive that the BBC thing is getting made, still would love it if Netflix or HBO were to have a go at a diskworld based TV show

 

[Werewolf]

I suspect the issue with HBO would be they tend to like a bit of "skin" in their shows, and Netflix probably wouldn't allow the level of control that the Pratchett estate seems to want.

From my (very limited) understanding one of the reasons there hasn't been more Discworld stuff despite offers is/was that Pterry wanted them to remain faithful to the books/feel of the books, which tended to put off a lot of companies, especially American ones who may have had the money to do a good job, but would almost certainly have insisted on changing key bits to "fit the market" and in the process would have probably lost exactly what made them so good, as they don't usually quite get the humour (or feel the need to take what are subtle references and put them up in neon lights).

 

[Bickaxe]

^ Exactly this.

The rights to one of the books were sold years ago but have been bought back since.
Mort was refused as the American production company felt Death was too morbid and didn't want the character in the film.
Terry could smell useless execs a mile away and didn't tolerate them, I've heard many stories about this so anything on the screen has usually gone through years of scrutiny before it gets the okay.
This is also the reason you don't see much in the way of official merchandise (I only know the 2 official sellers not inc Amazon).

 

[Jonny2284]

Yup. Didn't the Watch books nearly get adapted a few years back, Pratchett wrote them a bible of the bits that are immutable and they responded with "thanks for that, we'll let you know if we need to change anything" so he pulled the plug?

 

[Bickaxe]

Sounds about right.

The below was recounted to us by Rob Wilkins...

Voice on phone: Please hold for Mr Spielberg...
Rob tells Terry the call is for him.
Pleasantries exchanged, a few "Okays" and "I see's" later..
Steve: I can make you rich
Terry: I'm already rich, can you make me happy?
Steve: .....
Terry hangs up and goes back to his desk to carry on writing as if nothing had happened.

 

[dowie]

It is a bit of a shame, I mean JK Rowling managed to hold her own and maintain control, IIRC they wanted to cast American kids/potentially change the location for the Harry Potter movies. I guess perhaps in that case she's in a league of her own as the books were simply so big that they'd want to get the movies done regardless and she was able to demand that she kept control.

 

[peterwalkley]

Shameless bump again: but a a new teaser trailer and its out on 31st May on Prime:

Reminds me a lot of the Terry Gilliam animations on Monty Python.

There is also a write-up over on Ars at: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019...ve-finding-all-the-easter-eggs-in-new-teaser/

 

[peterwalkley]

Bump again. Another new Trailer and better than then last one:

Can't go wrong with a Queen and Bowie backing track.

Also a bit more from Ars at: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019...en-and-hell-in-latest-trailer-for-good-omens/

 

[seabiscuit]

Well any casette left in your car long enough turns into Queens greatest hits, so they couldn't really *not* have it as part of the soundtrack.

 

[seabiscuit]

Posters for this on bus stops now. Anyone know if Amazon are showing all the episodes at once, or is it one released each week?
Also the "Brand New Baby Smell" video on Youtube that's been done to promote this is brillaint!

 

[FTM]

the chattering order have been brilliant

 

[Werewolf]

I'm slightly conflicted, I've got both the script book and the companion book but as much as I want to read them, I think I'd better wait until watch the series.

 

[Rroff]

Never read the book but seems fairly good so far.

 

[ivrytwr3]

Mmmmm, Complete S1 (6 episodes) has just dropped in the usual places!!

Anyone watched any of this? Worth a watch?

 

[Werewolf]

I've watched episode 1 and enjoyed it, some reviews are rating it highly others are rating it low (in some cases seemingly proudly).

It's worth a watch I think and see what you think, remembering that Gaiman has said that he wrote the screenplay as something Terry Pratchett would have liked, and changes where needed done with that in mind.
I was reading one interview with him where he described it as his ideal school play version, one that was done with a cast who he and Terry knew were fans of it, and who they liked as actors or were friends and who they thought would have been good in the roles.

Personally as I say I'm enjoying it, depending on your personal taste and how inflexible you are when it comes to changes needed to put a 25-30+ year old book on screen in a modern setting your mileage may vary.

 

[Bickaxe]

3 episodes in, will watch the rest tonight.

Really enjoying it so far, sticks close to the book in so far as is possible but I wouldn't expect anything less.
Sheen and Tennant do a great job of Aziraphale and Crowley.