Anyone watch BBC's The Watch?

I watched the first two episodes of The Watch and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It appears to be loosely following the story line of Guards! Guards!. There are definite differences, I do not like what they did with the Librarian at all, but for the most part I can separate it from the book and enjoy it for what it is. I'm also sad that Detritus was killed in the second episode, which I imagine was to spend fx budget on the dragons. Has anyone else tried the show yet?

>1 Narilka: I have not, but would like to. Sadly, the only TV I get is through Amazon Prime now, so not sure they have it yet. I may be able to buy the BBC channel for a bit, or I might wait until the series is finished. The Watch series are my personal favorites, being a fan of detective stories.

>2 MrsLee: You can watch the first episode for free on Prime.

I think there are a 2-3 more episodes to release here in the states. If you waited a month you could probably binge all of season 1 in one shot. Guards! Guards! is not a long book. I don't think it will stretch beyond this season but you never know. I'll report back as I watch more :)

>3 amanda4242: Thank you, yes, I did that last night. At first I was put off, but it only took 10 minutes or so before I was drawn in. The choice made for Cheery and Vetinari were startling. I have a very different image of Vetinari in my head (David Bowie) and I like mine. The size of Cheery seemed odd, but I can adjust.

I think it has been too long since I've read Guards, Guards! because I am a bit lost in the plot. Must read that before I watch any more.

I noticed Prime is offering the 1st season for $19.95, I will probably buy it.

>5 MrsLee: I agree about the choice for Vetinari. I was initially taken aback by Cheery but think it's working out and holds to the spirit of the character. The show has accelerated Cheery's progression. Didn't it take her a couple books to work up to nail polish?

Watched episodes 3 & 4 last night. O M G The forced dance-off scene in the old folks home was hilarious! I had tears in my eyes I was laughing so hard. Also, I did not expect Auditors! They weren't given that name but that's what they are.

I'm going to need to reread Guards! Guards! sometime this year.

>6 Narilka: I think I will do a reread in the next month or so. I'm doing one in my Nero Wolfe group at the moment, but when I do start Guards! Guards! I will start a group reading thread here that anyone can join when they want to.

If anyone begins reading it before I do, and they wish to start the thread, please feel free to do so!

I plan to start reading Guards! Guards! today, if I can keep my eyes open. Not much sleep last night.

6 episodes in now and it's taken a weird turn. Still pretty funny though. I like how they worked out the various guilds.

I just finished re-reading Guard! Guards! and the only similarity to the plot of the show is that there are dragons in it, I think it pulls in bits from at least two more City Watch books. It's odd not to have Colon and Nobby, though Carrot's arrival is similar to the book. The other characters don't join the Watch until later books. I'm going on to re-read Men at Arms and see if that rings any other bells. The casting that I found odd was Lady Sybil, they went with "leading lady" instead of anything like the character as actually described. The woman playing Vetinari would have been a closer match.

>10 SF_fan_mae: I agree, I watched the first episode, then decided to read Guards! Guards! and now I don't think I care for the show enough to purchase the rest of it in order to watch. Apart from the massacre of the Patrician (I can think of several women who could be cast in the part without a problem, but the actress they cast didn't carry it for me).

I do think, from the one episode I watched, that it is a compilation of the Watch books. Been too long since I've read them to tell you more than that.

The show is missing the humor and depth of the book. I'm not sure any show could capture those things, but I would rather spend my time reading the books in that case, so will give this one a pass.

According to a Discworldmonthly facebook post "The Watch" is due in the UK from 1st July https://www.facebook.com/DiscworldMonthly/posts/3987635958032641

The Watch TV is finally coming to UK shores!
It will be shown first on BBC iPlayer from the 1st July and then at a later date on BBC Two.
Don't expect this series to be an adaptation of the books, it is purely "Inspired by characters created by Terry Pratchett"
Watch it and make your own decisions about this controversial series!

I enjoyed The Watch. At first I was a bit disappointed that certain characters were missing and/or altered but I think that changes need to be made for any book to film project. I especially liked the actor who played Vimes - he really nailed the role. Hope there are future seasons.

>13 dankeding: Obviously much depends on how the reader has envisioned a fictional character, but I was totally thrown off by the portrayal of Vimes. All I could see was Robin Williams playing Popeye.

Last night my husband and I finished watching "The Watch". It's a TERRIBLE adaptation, but my husband (who hasn't read the books) liked it well enough (although he found plot holes and there were bonkers things that really didn't make a ton of sense) and there were things I thought weren't terrible. Despite being staggeringly miscast as the book version of Cheery, the actor playing the TV version (Jo Ayton-Kent) was charming and sweet. Vimes and Carrot were also decently cast, although in the case of Vimes, actor Richard Dormer did a lot of scenery-chewing. I thought he was WAY over the top. I don't think I want to see any of it again and am not particularly keen to see any more (assuming it gets made).

Afterwards, I had to re-read Guards, Guards to re-set my memories and I'll probably go on and read the rest of the Watch subseries, because why not? I only have 61 books on my TBR pile and 4 library books. Re-reading Pratchett is currently what my brain wants to do :)

I watched it and even leaving out the way it mangles the book it's pretty weak. Some of it simply doesn't make much sense and it's plain and simply too cheap for the subject matter. The effects were mostly a bit of a joke, and that's never good for a fantasy subject. I assume that some of the nonsense was also due to that, like supposed dwarves all being tall people. If you then compare it to the book, which was so much better, it makes you wonder why on earth they felt the urge to change it as they did. I wish they'd kept their hands off this material - so that someone else could do something decent with it - instead of changing it like this and not investing enough money to even do a proper job with what they turned it into. I find it pretty telling that a really small production like Troll Bridge could do such a wonderful job, and something much bigger than this is a complete mess. It's really about whether or not you love and respect Pratchett's work in these two cases.

>16 SF-72: Many thanks for the reminder. I've just enjoyed Troll Bridge on YouTube again. Including the song over the credits to the tune of Arthur McBride; that is very well done.