SirPrimalform: Aye, David Jason was incredibly miscast as Rincewind and also much too old for the part (72 now so in his late 60s when it was made).

Gazoinks: Ugh yeah, I couldn't make it through. The Hogfather movie was good, though. If long because it was originally broadcast in two parts.

overread: The BEST way to read Discworld is from the start to the finish like any series of books ever written.

The books themselves are complete novels start to finish so they can be read as a stand-alone book. However as the series progresses it gains a lot of in-jokes/themes/concepts. The footnotes and Terry's style of writing do a lot to help fill in new readers, but its just not the same if you missed the book and the story where the event was first coined.

As such I recommend people to start at the beginning - with the Colour of Magic and work on from there. I know many say that the early two books are, different and I do agree with that. That said the whole world of Discworld itself is one of progressive change - each book changes a little bit here or a little bit there in the world (sometimes its a big bit too!). So reading out of order you miss out on seeing the Discworld change and --- I won't say mature, mature is the wrong idea; but I will say develop and change.


The series also has a few running character groups - the Witches, the Wizards, the Guards and DEATH. In most of the books one of those primary groups forms the core of the story that the events are happening around whilst the others normally put in an appearance. There are one or two which don't use those base characters as the core starting group, but they still work within the same world and frame.

Fomalhaut30: With the early books, he was still trying to find his feet with the series and the universe. They aren't quite up to the same level of quality, IMO, as the later books.

Fomalhaut30: However, I find that the Witches sub-stories are the weakest and least enjoyable of the bunch. They are just so...dry...as compared to say, the Night Watch books or even the Death

bazilisek: I only played the first one, and it's basically Guards! Guards! with Rincewind in the leading part. But it's also absolutely torturous to play; I have never seen an inventory in an adventure game get this ridiculously big.

overread: I'm also aware that Making Money has also had a film version done of it, though I've not seen it.

BadDecissions: He matured with age, so probably avoid the very early ones? Maybe start with "Guards, Guards!" (first book of the guards stories, so an easy jumping-off point), then "Reaper Man," and then I want to say Lords and Ladies, although I haven't recommended the earlier books featuring the characters that appear in that (because I don't particularly like them), and I can't remember if that would hurt the story; it's definitely self-contained. Then Small Gods, and then he's hit his stride and you have a lot of options: Men at Arms (if you liked the characters in Guards! Guards!), Soul Music, Interesting Times, and Hogfather.

Pratchett is unfortunately suffering from early-onset Alzheimer, and it's resulted in a very noticeable drop of quality in his two most recent books--don't read Unseen Academicals or Snuff. Other than those and his really early ones, I'd say that Maskerade, The Last Continent, Carpe Jugulum (but I never really liked any of the witch books, except Lords and Ladies) are his weakest ones.

mrmarioanonym: well then you'd miss out on Mort, which is hilarious. And BTW, Snuff is great. Laughed my ass off and some nice serious moments near the end too.

overread: Agreed - he's a great actor, but he's just not Rincewind.

overread: Hogfather is much better and I generally enjoyed it as well as the cast of characters. I'm also aware that Making Money has also had a film version done of it, though I've not seen it.

There are also a few very old cartoons of some of the discworld books that I came across once - very faithful to the story (the book is basically the script) but the voice acting is so very dry that it saps a lot of the "spark" out of the story.



As for Alzhiemers I agree with Sir Terry! I've lost 2 grandparents and an aunt all of which suffered from it and all who lost all of themselves to it. It's sadly a very shocking thing and, honestly, they are left so mentally crippled and without any mind as to who they are let alone where they are what they are doing or anything.
(I've come to the conclusion that the only safe thing I can do in life is to take up lion taming when I hit around 80 - that way as I get a big foggy minded the cat finishes things off before it gets too far ;P )

korell: Not Making Money, the third one of the live action TV movies was Going Postal.

danteveli: Have you tried this function?
http://www.gog.com/en/wishlist/games/discworld

Never played the games but I was always interested how much are they faithful to the books.

Titanium: He's dead, Jim.

mistermumbles: Speaking of Discworld, I just watched that two-part made-for-TV mini movie 'The Color of Magic' last night. I didn't remember the Discworld universe being this boring before. The majority of jokes and references fell flet on their noses, probably also due to some so-so acting. Unsurprisingly, Tim Curry had all the good parts as he was making his way to become Arch Chancellor.

jthwilliams: The movie didn't do the books justice. I have yet to find a good discworld movie. They focus on the fantacy and not on the wit which shows that the script writters don't understand pratchett or his fan base.

Sogi-Ya: Going Postal (BBC TV Mini series) was quite good ... haven't read the book, that will probably spoil my impression of the show when I do.

jthwilliams: Unless he died in the last 7 days, pratchett is alive and well and still publishing books. or were you refering to Psygnosis?