Terry Pratchett's Hogfather (2006)

Clocking in at two ninety-minute episodes, this is one of the longer pieces of work we've seen for this project, but it's completely worth the time. This is an excellent adaptation of the novel, with all of its zany twists and dry satirical humor.

As in said novel, the plot revolves around Hogswatch (Christmas) on Discworld. The Hogfather is missing, and while Death himself holds down the fort, his granddaughter Susan has to figure out what happened, then how to save both Hogswatch and possibly the Discworld itself. The characters are fun and interesting, most of my favorite parts of the book made it into the adaptation, and Erin, who hasn't read the book, was able to follow the plot, and the point, without a problem.

I'm hoping to re-read the novel soon and post about it, so I won't go too far into the plot here. Instead I'll give you a few screenshots. I wish there had been more Death of Rats, but Death was surprisingly well done. I wasn't sure that he could be properly portrayed in three dimensions.

Also, Susan was everything I hoped she'd be,

the bad guys were properly creepy,

and it managed to juggle the various plotlines really well.

There's adventure, nonsensical gift-giving, and the very creepy magic of blood, teeth and belief, which, after all, is what Christmas is all about.

This is streaming on Netflix, so really you have no excuse not to carve out some time to enjoy this seasonal visit to Discworld.

Comments

  1. Would I understand this if I have no familiarity with Discworld?

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  2. I should think so, no problem! I think it starts with a quick orientation anyway. Discworld is satirical British fantasy, that's really all you need to know.

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  3. Sam - I went in with basically no background and had no issues keeping up. It's definitely worth checking out.

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