Below are posts associated with the “Terry Pratchett: The BBC Radio Drama Collection” series.
🎙️ radioblog: Only You Can Save Mankind (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
This was a very interesting subversion of stories like The Last Starfighter, where a young “chosen one” is called to save not their own people but another, not through violence but through peace. It wasn’t perfectly done, but it was a compelling story and invoked the then-contemporary Gulf War in all the right ways.
🎙️ radioblog: Night Watch (❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️)
I had an awful experience with the last Sam Vimes adaptation, so I wasn’t sure about this—especially since it is one of the longer adaptations in the collection I have. I think the key is the adapter, though, because Robin Brooks’s shows have been my favorites, and this one was quite good.
I really got why people like Sam Vimes stories, I appreciated nods to Discworld continuity even if I didn’t understand them, and I am a real sucker for “time travelling into your own past” stories.
🎙️ radioblog: Small Gods (❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️)
Okay, I finally listened to one of these that convinced me how good Discworld can be. This is a clever, expert skewering of what religion so often is—but holds out hope for what religion can be. I ought to read the original book, because I imagine I’d be copying a lot of passages down.
🎙️ radioblog: Eric (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
I have some complaints about this show, but I was so relieved to find myself smiling at the jokes that I’m giving it some grace.
It’s a wonder I keep listening to these, but I spent a lot of time driving this weekend and needed something to listen to—besides, I’ve owned this collection for years without ever getting past Mort. I don’t know how much longer I’ll keep going, but I want to give it a try, at least.
🎙️ radioblog: Guards! Guards! (❤️❤️❤️🖤🖤)
I’m beginning to wonder if I just don’t like Discworld, which would be a tragedy, since Pratchett is revered, and it seems like I should like his style of fiction.
I at least know that I didn’t really like this series, which also seems a shame, since I’ve always wanted to get into the Sam Vimes stories. I suspect some of it may be the adaptation: It seems just too hard to follow.
🎙️ radioblog: Wyrd Sisters (❤️❤️🖤🖤🖤)
I don’t know if I didn’t like the adaptation or if I wouldn’t have liked the source material, but this just felt like a slog to get through, and I didn’t really enjoy it.
🎙️ radioblog: Mort (❤️❤️❤️❤️🖤)
This bounced off of me at first, which surprised me, because I remembered liking it when listening to it years ago. I think it might have been a case of the Mondays, though, because by the last episode, I was totally on board. It’s funny, adapted well to radio, and worth the listen.