Customer Rating:  
Summary: Almost as good as the book
Comment: I have to confess to disappointment with Hogfather, finding the casting of Jason as Albert to be eccentric to say the least. I have the feeling that there was a case of finding a big name for promotional reasons and then having to shoehorn the star into a part, any part. Rincewind is far more the proper part for him and I have a feeling that the man himself is far happier with it. In discussing this with friends it became clear that each of us had a different picture in our heads of the cast members which is why it has been said that the radio or books have the best pictures.
Taken on its merits alone I feel that The Colour of Magic is a far better production than Hogfather lead us to expect and I can recommend it to anyone.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Colour of Magic and the Light Fantastic
Comment: I got this two-disc version as a Christmas present and really enjoyed watching the movie. We took our time and watched the first episode one evening and the second episode the next morning. This way it was not too long or overwhelming than if we had watched it all in one go. David Jason and Sean Astin, in my opinion, did a really good job portraying Rincewind and Twoflower, and the landscapes and the city were just brilliant.
The only thing I was a bit disappointed with was the second disc with the special features like the Tourist Guides, deleted scenes, images and bloopers. Some of the deleted scenes I believe should have been kept in the film because they did explain things a bit further. However, like Hogfather I enjoyed the film itself and hope there will be more Discworld novels turned into movies.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Discworld
Comment: I have just watched this fantastic movie and loved every second. The casting roles were brilliant and fitted their charcters perfectly. There wasn't one second of boredom for me, and the star scenes at the ending are amazing. It was fabulous to spot Terry in his small role, too, and his introduction speech was fascinating. Great entertainment that all fans of fantasy movies and books are sure to enjoy.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Odd.
Comment: Hmm. When I heard they were making Hogfather into a 2-part TV series, my immediate reaction was "what an odd choice". Hogfather (the book) contains some interesting ideas and is very funny in parts, but if you aren't familiar with the backstory of the Discworld, then I would have thought it was incomprehensible. I watched it, however, and was somewhat underwhelmed, and felt that a good interpretation of one of Terry Pratchett's novels (which I love) was yet to come.
Then I heard that Sky were going to make another TV adaptation - this time of The Colour of Magic. My immediate reaction was to question which planet these people were from - it certainly wasn't Earth, or the Discworld, come to that. I came across the Discworld series by picking up one of the books some way from the start (Guards, Guards, I think) and only subsequently read The Colour of Magic. If I'd done it the other way round I don't think I'd have persisted, because I think The Colour of Magic (the book) is pretty poor. As Terry himself admits in the interview about this adaptation, it wasn't until he wrote the sequel (The Light Fantastic) that he bothered about adding a few small essentials, such as a plot.
Having said all that, I actually think that combining both The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic into this one programme helps a lot. It comes across as a coherent story, and that wouldn't have been the case if they'd just stuck with the first book. As a self-contained story without the need for prior knowledge or explanation,it works much better than Hogfather did.
I have to agree about the casting - David Jason's too old, Sean Astin isn't Auriental enough, and as somebody's pointed out, Vetinari wasn't Patrician in The Colour of Magic (though I did think Jeremy Irons made a good Patrician - an adaptation of a story where the Patrician plays a more central role, such as Going Postal, would be very interesting). But they overcome these objections just by being good actors.
In the end, though, I think the real issue with TV or film adaptations of novels is that they take away the freedom - or the responsibility, take your pick - from you to construct these alternate universes in your own mind and, instead, present you with somebody else's interpretations. If they correspond to yours, you'll like them; if they don't, you'll hate 'em; and if you've never read the books yourself and therefore don't have any preconceptions about how things ought to be then you might find this more coherent and enjoyable than Hogfather.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Such a disappointment
Comment: This was never going to be an easy film to make. After the rather good job they did with Hogfather I believed this was the production team who could make it work. Unfortunately it proved too difficult for them. As someone who has read the books I found it difficult staying awake through even the first episode, let alone the whole thing. That's not to say that it was boring. It's just that the story is so disjointed it's hard to keep your attention focussed. As someone who hasn't read the books I wouldn't have a clue what was going on.
I couldn't agree more with comments made by previous reviewers about the casting. David Jason's already been cast as Albert. He was very good as Albert. He's not Rincewind, not by a long chalk. Not only that: if they intend to make any more films, eventually Rincewind's going to meet Albert, and that's just awkward. I also found the casting of an American Twoflower a continual distraction. Somehow I had in mind someone more like Masi Oka, who plays Hiro Nakamura in Heroes. the Librarian didn't really work for me either. It wasn't necessary for him to actually pronounce the word "Ook". Orangutans don't really do that - they just make "Ook" noises, which is much more funny.
Production values are slightly overdone, something this film shares with Hogfather. It's all a bit we've-made-a-TV-comedy, and a bit too glossy. It would benefit from a more feature-film feel, and letting the humour speak for itself, rather than trying to oh-so-subtly point out each joke as it comes along.
Due to the episodic nature of these books (particularly the first one) I think this would have been better represented as a series, with Rincewind and Twoflower getting into a different scrape (complete with cliffhanger endings, if you like) each week. This would obviously have been a lot more expensive but they wouldn't have had to cut nearly as much material. Cramming it all into three hours has just made it a confusing collection of nonsensical and largely unconnected adventures, with the thread running through it all failing to adequately explain what's going on.
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![The Colour Of Magic (2-disc edition) [2008]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61l6Z3fmAeL._SL160_.jpg)
