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BBC America has just dropped a few trailers for their upcoming TV series The Watch, which is allegedly inspired by Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels. I took a look, and... at this point, I don't hate it with every fibre of my being, which is honestly surprising, given what I already knew of the show. (As a whole, that is. There is one thing that I utterly despise, but I'll get to that later.)

Now I'll break down my reactions to individual points of the trailers. (Be warned, the spoiler boxes probably contain spoilers for the books.)

Aesthetics

Spoiler

First of all, the overall look definitely has style, which is good. Generally looks like a mishmash of eras all the way from medieval to modern. I think anything past Victorian is a mistake, personally, but it could work. The general dark tone... not a fan. Ankh-Morpork should be dark and gritty, but also vibrant and colorful. As far as soundtrack goes, I don't think heavy metal is the best way to go, but to be fair, I'm having trouble thinking what the proper genre for Discworld would be.

Sam Vimes

Spoiler

I have to admit, I was not convinced by the early publicity, but after the trailer, I'm cautiously optimistic. The actor plays a pretty good Drunkard Vimes, which I would assume is where the story begins.

Lord Vetinari

Spoiler

They made him a woman. I am against this, personally, because the Vetinari of the books was perfect, but it is by no means a terrible decision. She pulls the character off decently, if a touch too dramatic. (However, some statements made by the actress make me very worried.)

Carrot

Spoiler

He looks the part. About all I can say at this point.

Angua

Spoiler

Not a fan of emo Angua, but okay.

Cheery

Spoiler

Assuming it's not Littlebottom, seeing as she's(?) not a dwarf. Seems like an entirely different character with the name patched on. Mildly upset.

Lady Sybil

Spoiler

No, no, NO! This is not how you do it! "Let's make her young and attractive and a vigilante. Also black, because #diversity. While were at it, we'll make her domineering, sassy, and EVERYTHING SHE IS NOT IN THE BOOKS."

Can you tell this makes me mad? 

Making Sybil black? No big deal, diversity is great, her skin color isn't important to the story or anything. But all the other changes? She's not just a different character, she's practically the opposite! Particularly her being young and slim, which among other things, shows that they don't really care about inclusion, seeing as they missed a perfectly good chance to make the primary love interest an overweight, middle-aged woman, something practically unheard of in Hollywood! BBC America, you make me angry!

Anyway, that was my rant of the day. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

 

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The only Pratchett book I have read is Guards, Guards (I know, I know, I should read the others, and I will). I was excited for this though, and I think Richard Dormer is great casting for Vimes. I love his portrayal of Beric Dondarrion in GoT. So it is a complete mystery to me why they chose to have Dormer do Jack Sparrow instead of Sam Vimes. Sure, Dormer is a surprisingly good Jack Sparrow, but that is not how I remember Vimes. 

I think it looks like it could be fun, as long as you manage to forget what it is supposed to be based on.

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