20 Mar 08
The Colour of Magic Literature and Television
After the success, of Hogfather, this Easter weekend sees Terry Pratchett's The Colour of Magic first broadcast of Sky Television here in the UK.
The adaption of the the first two Discworld novels, The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic are being broadcast this Sunday and Monday on Sky One, and in HD, at 6pm. This is also being shown as a multi-start.
Despite my grumbles that no matter how talented Sir David Jason is as an actor- he is not Rincewind. Also, (and more annoying), the character of Twoflower is clearly a Japanese tourist, as later novel Interesting Times clearly states, and Sean Astin, (Sam Gamgee in Lord of The Rings), is American. Still despite the casting issues I have, I've been lucky enough to see plenty of previews and actually think this is going to be a really enjoyable piece of telly- whether you are a Discworld fan or not.
CGI is... well dragon riding is fairly tricky for even big budget Hollywood movies, and so to give the team their due they have done well for a made-for-telly-movie. Sadly it seems that the whole Bel-Shamharoth - "The Soul Eater" and Hrun The Barbarian section of the novel seem to be missing, and the vast amount of nudity that appears in book has been removed... lest the sight of a naked female dragon rider upset the family audience. Shame.
As I've not seen the whole thing, it is best not to pass a full judgement, however Mike Jennings managed to see a preview screening.
The Colour of Magic - Sky One, Sunday 23 March, 6:00pm.
As I am sure you noticed earlier this week in the news, Terry Pratchett was talking about the lack of funding for Alzheimer's, (which he was recently diagnosed with), and also announced his donation of $1 million to Alzheimer's research. A fantastic interview about his experience, (so far), can be found in this week's Guardian.
Please consider donating to the Alzheimer's Research Trust. Not only has Alzheimer's affected my favourite author, it is currently, cruelly, peeling away the mind of my Grandmother. Slowly a woman who looked after me for much of my early life, now barely recognizes me. My Grandfather has to watch the woman he married, become simply a shell of his partner for over half a century. It might be too late for my gran, and too late for Terry Pratchett, but think about funding research to help the millions who will succumb to the same debilitating illness. It could happen to you one day.
Disclosure
I work for BSkyB.