h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: 'Wyrd Sisters' - the Television Series - A87850515
Author: Bluebottle - U43530

A look at the second Discworld television animated series inspired by the Terry Pratchett novel.

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This Entry is very educational - I have seen several references to this, but never knew where they came from until now

Nice. And well-done, as always.

However, I am baffled by this sentence:

>>Yet cruel Duke Felmet loathes the kingdom of Lancre with a passion, detesting the trees and three years into his reign has become increasingly insane.<<

Could you sort it out? Why does he detest the trees? (I read the book, but I've forgotten.) Could you make that one sentence, please, and then talk about his insanity in another?

The bit about leaving out naughty songs is cool. I remember going to see the Disney 'Robin Hood' with younger sister. On a Saturday. With a lot of dads in the cinema. Johnny Mercer did the part of the score not done by Roger Miller, so I think he was responsible for what happened next.

This song came on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H2rO4HC8s8

There was inappropriate guffawing from all the men in the audience.

I assumed they'd learned the original in the army. Seeing a hen in a dress cavorting to it in front of kiddies was disconcerting, to say the least.

When I wrote the entry Christopher Lee was still alive
He's only in 2 episodes of 'Wyrd Sisters', but dominates the scenes he is in with THAT VOICE.

I've reworded the sentence and the ones around it, so hopefully that bit makes sense now.

Thanks for that link

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Excellent, thanks!

I'm reading this again and have a few questions:

"Wyrd Sisters is the second and last Cosgrove Hall animated adaptation of a Discworld novel by Sir Terry Pratchett."

Second after what? I'm also not quite clear about Terry Pratchett's role in this sentence - is it saying that he was the author of the novel, or was it that the adaptation was by him?

Ah, I see it is second after Soul Music.

In the table, there is Verence, the Fool and King Verence I and in the text you mention King Verence - are some of them the same person?

Ankh-Morpork People:

Chrysoprase the Troll (Head of the Breccia crime syndicate)
The Librarian (an orang-utan)
Hibiscus Dunelm (landlord of the Mended Drum)
Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler (in the Lancre crowd scene)

This looks slightly odd, as the first three people have descriptions of who they are in brackets, but CMOT Dibbler has where he is in the brackets, so you could perhaps tweak the bracket to say who he is, and that he only appears in the crowd scene

Is the band called The Band With Rocks In, or Music With Rocks In?

In the Adaptation section, the first paragraph and the third paragraph could perhaps be brought together, as they both talk about the fewer characters

In the Duke Felmet paragraph, the second and fourth sentences both talk about his madness, so could also be brought together

"Although many of the most gruesome aspects of the original story are edited out, the series is probably more aimed at an adult audience than young children. Sadly the infamous Discworld hedgehog song has been reworded to 'A hedgehog can never be bothered at all'."

This sentence is interesting - I like the note you end on, but I think it would be stronger if you put the part about "probably more aimed at an adult audience than young children" first, then the two things that were done to make it more suitable for children are together.

I've made changes, so hopefully the tweaked intro answers some of the questions.

In 'Soul Music', the band is called 'The Band With Rocks In' and the type of music they play is 'Music With Rocks In'.

'In the table, there is Verence, the Fool and King Verence I and in the text you mention King Verence - are some of them the same person?'
Is Queen Victoria called Queen Victoria I, or will she only be renamed once there is a Queen Victoria II? There is a King Verence who is later known as King Verence I once Verence the Fool becomes crowned King Verence II (but that's another story). I've changed 'King Verence I' to 'King Verence' because in 'Wyrd Sisters' there are no other crowned kings called 'Verence', although at the end it is pretty clear that there will be.

Have a read through of the amended bits and let me know what you think.

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Excellent tweaks

Ah, that's interesting about the things With Rocks In... I need to revisit my subbing of Soul Music, and I'll make it consistent

No problem - it was picked up at the final polish, so that's good

Hi Bluebottle. I thoroughly enjoyed the Wyrd Sisters book, but wasn't impressed with the animated version.

Here are a few word choice and punctuation suggestions:

the sixth Discworld novel first published in 1988 -->
the sixth Discworld novel, first published in 1988

who each give him three magical gifts -- did each of them give him three gifts, that is, he got nine gifts? Or did each of them give him a gift, totalling three?

Hwel, a dwarf playwright to adopt him -->
Hwel, a dwarf playwright, to adopt him

I would like it if people who saw the animation, if that was the first intro to Discworld, then say 'I wonder if the book is as good as this' they may well be disappointed, but if they get the book I'll be very pleased

I believe that should be two sentences - with a full stop after as good as this'

Did Pratchett say this or type it? If he said it, it's up to you to punctuate it correctly. If he typed it, it is probably still ok to tidy it up.

Thanks Gnomon, changes made.

So, what was it you didn't like about the animation? The animation style? That it was adapted to be suitable for children and had bits edited out? Did the voices/appearances of characters and places not match how you saw the story when reading it?

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I loved the books but felt that the jokes fell flat in the animation.

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Thanks Dmitri & Sasha
When shall we three meet again?

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