Wyrd Sisters: The Animated Movie??? | Discworld | Stuff You Like

Our latest Patron voted episode: Discworld's 'Wyrd Sisters' by Terry Pratchett! (The animated movie)
We talk about adaptations, the voice of the narrator, and why this bunch of weird sisters just don't quite work for me.

[@Retro_Sorcerer]

The Wyrd Sisters animation was my introduction to Discworld, so now whenever I read any of the books this is how I picture the characters. It's impossible to read any line Death says without it being in Christopher Lee's voice.

[@l0stndamned]

I'd probably have imagined Death's voice as being somewhat like Christopher Lee's even without the cartoon :)

[@amiefortman7220]

Christopher Lee as DEATH is far and away my favorite part of any of the Discworld cartoon adaptations. :D

[@zvimur]

Have you seen Dark City?

[@scottmantooth8785]

*Christopher Lee will ALWAYS be the voice of DEATH and speak in ALL CAPITALS!!!*

[@MysticMuttering]

I’m on a total Discworld bender right now, currently listening to the Tiffany Aching books again

[@rachaelknudsen8801]

The Tiffany Aching books and Mort were my introduction to the series and the Tiffany books remain beloved by me.

[@startdale5547]

My fav of the witches is Lords & Ladies. For many many reasons.

[@Skorpys365]

Pratchett was what got me through the bad periods of my bachelor and then master in English literature. I would laugh out loud on the bus, devour a book in an afternoon, and revel in the plethora of references. (I still find new ones). I even lobbied s year to be allowed to write my master's thesis on the universe - until I had to change the topic.

[@Bustermachine]

It fascinates me that Discworld is such an amazing series of books that has such a TERRIBLE list of adaptations. I'm pretty sure Going Postal is the closest it gets to decent. And while I though Going Postal was pretty cool, that's still damning with faint praise.

[@benjaminodonnell258]

How to make a discworld adaptation: Make it a series, have a narator and preferably make the narrator Stephen Fry.

[@wellesradio]

Damn it, Not Stephen Fry!

[@countertony]

I wonder if the 2019 miniseries adaptation of Good Omens might make a *live-action* adaptation of Wyrd Sisters more plausible - that made extensive use of the narratorial voice with 'visual aids', and did so very well.

[@Inlelendri]

I shall always love both this and Soul Music as adaptations, the latter in particular because it introduced the world to me twice over That and one thing I thought was added to the Soul Music series was...well, the music, since the book can't evoke that to the same degree. That said, I very much do see your points, they're very valid and well-argued, especially about the narrator. Interesting that a world that is stated to work on 'narrativium' has a narrator that cannot succesfully be omitted from the telling.

[@lauriebrown1571]

This is my go to comfort movie. I'm literally about to watch it while I lie in bed with the full knowledge that it's fine to fall asleep to

[@zvimur]

Pretty sure that Tomjohn is the old Fool's son, while Verence the fool is the old King's son. Forget it, Enter Your Name Here, it's Discworld.

[@markchapman6800]

_Verence the fool is the old King's son._ _tomjon is obviously the son of verence i_ Nope. "Magrat became aware of an uncomfortable atmosphere. "You did tell the truth, didn't you?" she said. "They really are brothers, aren't they?" "Oh yes," said Gytha Ogg. "Definitely. I saw to his mother when your - when the new king was born. And to the queen when when young Tomjon was born, and she told me who his father was." ... "I remember the Fool's father, said Nanny Ogg, speaking slowly and deliberately. "Very personable young man, he was. He didn't get on with his dad, you know, but he used to visit sometimes. To see old friends." "He made friends easily," said Granny. "Among the ladies," agreed Nanny. "Very athletic, wasn't he? Could climb walls like nobody's business, I remember hearing." "He was very popular at court," said Granny. "I know that much." "Oh, yes. With the queen, at any rate."" Corgi edition, p 249-50. Tomjon is indeed the old Fool's son, but he and Verence the fool are definitely brothers, therefore Verence the fool is the old Fool's son too.

[@stellaluna6421]

Excellent point on the necessity of the narrator. I'm reading Hogfather right now, and there is no way to capture lines such as the following by following strictly "show, don't tell" means of visual storytelling (sets, costumes, etc): "Binky was not challenged by the high stairs. It wasn't that he flew. It was simply that he walked on a ground level of his own devising." Attempts to depict Binky would just look like...a horse flying. Or else walking mid-air. Hardly the same feel. Or perhaps: "She kicked the snow aside elsewhere and found a wooden toy soldier in the kind of uniform that would only be inconspicuous if you wore it in a nightclub for chameleons on hard drugs." What does the toy soldier comment tell us about the uniform? That the toy wears a ridiculous uniform (that is, contrary to what we expect a dignified uniform to look like), or is it a commentary on the ridiculousness of bright formal military uniforms as glorified by toys? Is it making a real-world analogue, or is it literally discworld-style ridiculous? Either way, no depiction of a toy in a silly uniform will be able to muster the same level of humor as the commentary would be able to. The commentary given by the narrator isn't only literal, but judgmental. Instead of giving a visual description of the soldier, they describe their _reaction_ to it by using a wild analogy that a) leaves so much to the imagination that a film would fail to do it justice, and b) limits a narrator-less film to either depicting a ridiculous uniform or else a conventional uniform that the audience would fail to understand as ridiculous since we've accepted it into our worldview and don't question why on earth a soldier would wear a scarlet coat or epaulettes. In other words, a good deal of the humor is derived from the simultaneous familiarity and ridiculousness of the discworld (so it is surprising and yet not surprising when time is relative and light is literally lazy), the resulting ambiguity (we don't know whether to expect the familiar or absurd), and the narrator who helps us navigate the two by reframes the familiar in ridiculous terms and the ridiculous in literal terms. At the end of the day, the discworld is both absurd because it is not like our world, but also absurd because it is very much like our world, and sometimes the absurdity follows rules and in fact loses its ridiculousness because we just accept it as a ruling condition of the world (the very concept of Igors, or the thinking patterns of stone trolls, or dwarven "cultural dress," or Ankh-Moporkian guilds, etc). Anyways, they say don't analyze humor but I just can't help it. ETA: for an example of the unexpectedly literal, consider this: "(Susan finds a boy lying in the abandoned ruin of an ice castle). 'My head,' said the boy. 'My head. My head. My head. Feels awful. My head. Feels like someone's hitting it. My head. With a hammer.' Someone was. There was a small green and purple imp sitting amid the damp curls and holding a very large mallet. It gave Susan a friendly nod and brought the hammer down again."

[@InkHeart17]

While I love Hogfather and recommend it to everyone, its movie was my first foray into Discworld and I thought it did a terrible job of explaining who the characters are and what the rules of the universe were. Plus the editing where it won't finish a scene without cutting in at least two interrupting scenes is so disjointed. Wyrd Sisters has a little of this editing problem too, but I actually prefer its movie to Hogfather's. I think the cartoon style makes it work for some of the more ridiculous moments - any live action version of Duke Felmet is going to be annoyingly over the top, but he transitions well to cartoon, like Cobra Commander or Shredder.

[@jessielefey]

So... Discworld needs to be more Princess Bride?

[@arellajardin2323]

As someone who didn't read the books, I rather enjoyed this miniseries. I only just discovered it last year, and I found it amusing enough. I didn't notice a lack of a narrator, and thought it was funny enough when it needed to be. Mostly, I was just interested in the story and the world.

[@markchapman6800]

The brief bits of animation shown looked really ugly, and yes, the narrative voice is a big part of most if not all Discworld novels. I immediately thought of (and it's been a while since I read it last, so IIRC) Lords and Ladies, and the minor character Bestiality Carter, who is mentioned several times before a footnote which starts "Well, it's like this..."

[@JillBearup]

Pterry did love his name jokes. My favourite was the one where Sally narrowly avoided being named Chlamydia because her mother thought it sounded pretty.

[@sonianevermindultimateprin659]

Havent watched it (or at least not all of it and if i did it was ages ago) But the first thing i noticed :LOOK HOW NEAT MAGRATS HAIR IS. To be fair though drawing messy hair is hard and they did toss a flower in

[@LairdErnst]

Never saw the cartoons. The made for TV movies did a commendable job of adapting the stories for television. Wish they’d kept going with them.

[@nixhixx]

It's such a clever book, and ... such a hokey cartoon.

[@BOABModels]

I've never seen any of the Discworld animations and I'm not sure I want to - what I'd really like to do is play the point and click Discworld adventure game.

[@davidhoekstra4620]

I love Granny Weatherwax too.

[@awildman69]

I've always thought that Japanese animation could do justice to Sir Terry's world. Currently listening to the new Penguin audio adaptations, witch (get it) I highly recommend

[@tarab2003]

It took me until I read The Book Thief to understand the concept of the narrator as a separate character, but once I'd read that Pratchett's books became all the more clever to me. The books are strange, and while I've liked the adaptations of them I've liked them for being their own thing. They aren't "The Hogfather" , they are "An Adaptation of The Hogfather" if that makes sense

[@spencer1531]

One of my roommates suggested this for movie night and we all had a blast! I had already read the Night Watch series but none of them knew Pratchett so they were amazed by the quality of the dialogue

[@spencer1531]

Also I personally think a novels' narration voice is designed to *fit* the tone of the scene rather than set it, which is why I don't agree that a narrator is actually necessary in a Discworld adaptation. A Discworld scene's absurdity speaks for itself as it plays out

[@AranelEnMirkwood]

I remember watching this as a kid, I enjoyed it though looking back as an adult yeah I'm not a fan. I still like the Soul Music cartoon though, but that is one of the few Pratchett's I haven't read yet so I can't comment on it's quality as an adaption. I also remember seeing a play of Wyrd Sisters as a kid. Literally the only thing about it I can remember is the dungeon scene with Nanny!

[@signaltome]

I have both this and Soul Music on VHS (yes I am that old) and they are fine. (I only have the last part of soul music because the family threw away the player with the first half in it but that is another story :-P ) But I see your point to be sure. Not quite sure about the Soul Music adaptation but Wyrd Sisters was heavily censored to appeal to a younger audience. The Discworld books can be read by young readers (I was fourteen when I started for instance) of course but they are made to be enjoyed by an adult. Possibly. I am not sure any more, Pratchett and Discworld has severely altered my perception of certain things... :-P I have not watched it in a long time and seeing the clips in this video I can certainly agree about the cheap aspect of it. But Pratchett is one of my favorite authors (may he rest in peace) so I really want to like everything Pratchett. But maybe not this part of it so much any more? Also I hold on Maskerade as MY favorite witches book. Unless we talk about Tiffany, then it would be I shall wear midnight, the last really complete book in that series. The final one was not really polished all that well and I would say it smelled a bit of a cash grab but anyway, still bought it though so what does that say about me? ;-)

[@lickswizards6029]

I have a really weird soft spot for the Cosgrove Hall adaptation. Something about the animation just reminds me of home.

[@blu_cyan2995]

you should try the discworld BBC radio plays! They are much better!

[@xingcat]

I have to say that I like the animation style on the clips you showed, but yeah, without a narrator, Discworld loses a lot.

[@UncleMuin]

(On a similar topic...) Have you read the novel "Fool" by Christopher Moore?

[@lewisbarclay9113]

Yeah, there is such a thing as too accurate to the book. Like when I was shocked when what Granny said about Greebo made it into the show.

[@katerinazavadilova9440]

I really like the voice acting in the animated movies. I'd love a kind of acted audiobook of both Wyrd Sisters and Soul Music, where the actors from those animations would read the lines of their characters in the books and in between a narrator would read all the rest of it. That way, you'd have just the book with an addition of each character having a definitive voice, but not a definitive look and you'd have the narrator bits.

[@nilo70]

I have to say I agree Jill ! ( this makes us both right)

[@jordangreen9201]

Sup Jill. (i wanted to say that for some reason) love your work. Can't wait for the hair tutorial!

[@countluke2334]

What about Witches Abroad? Probably my favourite witches novel.

[@dechha1981]

hmmm... Generally, footnotes are tiny bits of information that one could easily ignore to concentrate on thestory. That's *technically* still true of Discworld, but without it you miss some of the best jokes, I was disapointed with an iTunes copt of a Discworld version of a Discworld book because of the lack of footnotes and stopped reading it. A visual asaption could do a "popup video" thing, but it'd be destracting, unless it was a DVD extra. Or, the director could figure out some clever way to insert the footnotes into the story proper. Maybe an extra says it or there's a copy of the Ank-Morport Times that the audience can pause if they choose to do so, or something.

[@hanvyj2]

I absolutely love Pratchett but I never get on with the adaptions. The humour, and world just never seem to work for me in any other medium. Even radio adaptions never really work for me.

[@d.rabbitwhite]

I like the audio books as read by Neil -I mean Nigel Planer. Very difficult has it been for me to locate. Not even on the discworld web site, at my last perusal. That is me agreeing with the lack of a narrator. I love the way the muppets did it in a muppet christmas carol.

[@zebo-the-fat]

As always, when you read the book, the pictures in your head are always better!

[@maxximumb]

Jill, if you like shows that poke fun at Shakespeare, have you watched David Mitchell's Upstart Crow? It's a loving reimagining of Will's days spent between London and Stratford upon Avon. It's fun poking comes from hindsight and the characters thoughts on how the actions of their day and their impact on the people of Albion, some 300 years hence. It also looks at some of the speculation about the actual author's work and other writers who were possibly the real hand holding Will's quill. There is one joke that rings true for me about torturing school children with another one of his tedious Henrys. I hated English literature back in school for Henry IV part one (also the Trumpet Major -Thomas Hardy) Why could we have not studied better books? Any ways, BBC, Upstart Crow (also on Netflix). Well worth a watch. Thanks for another Pratchett video. I couldn't agree more with your thoughts.

[@rayharley597]

This was the THE Pratchett animation that made me a fan; would love to see it in the episodic version, but I've never found it anywhere. It's my favourite; after the Night Watch BBC radio series, and ahead of the Small Gods radio version. Not hugely fond of the book in comparison; also in comparison to Night Watch & Small Gods books. As a fan of Shakespeare I love every moment connected to Hwel, and I wish I'd had a father like Tomjon's adoptive Dad. You can have the book of Wyrd Sisters I will continue to watch Wyrd Sisters at least once a month :-) kerk

[@Isobibbel]

my fave form of discworld adaptation has to be the various amature theatre shows i've seen, maybe it because they have my friends involved in production, maybe its because they're amateurs and don't take themselves too seriously?

[@michaelbootes4822]

One thing. You keep referring to this as a movie and I feel that explains your complaints on the pacing. This was originally not a movie but a series in several episodes.

[@ridbensdale]

That’s how I remember it. Sunday evenings on Channel 4 in the early Summer of 1997.

[@helenl3193]

I thought it was - but then I wasn't sure if maybe it was just Soul Music that was a series... Soul Music definitely was a series though, I know because I had it on video :)

[@jimstanley_49]

That may be an excuse for awkward cliffhangers followed by a jump cut (over a commercial break) to a few moments ago, but the whole thing feels like the editor doesn't know how comedy works. It's all about the ............ timing!

[@martatarasiuk5198]

I had no idea this animated movie existed. I need to watch it right now!

[@JillBearup]

*cough cough it may be on KZbin cough cough*

[@martatarasiuk5198]

Ohh. I see. You should have a doctor look at this cough. It sounds pretty nasty. *wink*

[@jaystrickland4151]

What I like about the adaptation is it gives me scenes from novel to find on KZbin. I generally agree the adaptations are a tad slow paced and often lack the humor the narrator and footnotes provided.

[@billmorse5724]

While I do not “hate“ the adaptation, mostly consider the Wyrd Sisters adaptation(and the Soul Music adaptation by the same studio) as radio plays with pictures.

[@DeathEatsCurry]

The problem with Discworld adaptations is that they're always either a little too word-for-word accurate (which makes it a worse *adaptation* as different mediums have different benefits) or they're The Watch.

[@annakobuk3618]

Turtle moves! Oh gods, this abomination should vanish from the face od Disc as soon as possible!

[@franohmsford7548]

Wyrd Sisters was actually the first Discworld novel {and first Pratchett story} I read and I enjoyed it but on subsequent reads I've found it to be significantly tougher going than most of his other books. I adore Equal Rites, Witches Abroad and My personal favourite Pratchett Novel - Lords and Ladies. I feel that the adaptations have always been of the "wrong" Discworld novels - It's like they took the ones that would be the hardest to adapt. Equal Rites, Mort, Sourcery, Guards! Guards! Even PYRAMIDS would have made far better options to be adapted for the cartoons instead of Wyrd Sisters and for me the worst Discworld Novel - Soul Music. By the time the Live-Action adaptations started being made there were even more options and again Hogfather, Colour of Magic and Going Postal were the wrong choices. Hogfather worked just about but the other two - NO! Personally I'd like to see someone attempt to make as faithful as possible an adaptation of the trilogy of Mort, Reaper Man and Moving Pictures. Yes Moving Pictures would be a big undertaking but the other two much less so as they are small confined stories {I can't think of the right term but I'm sure you know what I mean}. The Watch series would be very much more difficult to do right faithfully and would probably need changing far too much for me to enjoy {I'd just get angry at all the changes}.

[@JillBearup]

+Francis Wright Yes! It's like they thought nah, this one would be too easy, let's go big or go home! I'd like to see a watch adaptation, even if they did have to change stuff. I really enjoyed the Night Watch radio play.

[@jamesgorman5241]

If you put in some of Nanny's jokes the ratings got to 15 or similar.

[@gollum1ring]

I have never gotten through the full cartoon. I can look past the quality of the animation, that's fine. It's certainly better than some of the animation for novels I grew up watching. That said, the pacing. A story has an arc, obviously, but whoever directed this doesn't realize that the individual scenes need to have their own micro arcs. Everything just feels at a par most of the time. Wyrd Sisters and Carpe Jugulum are probably my favorite of the Witches books. .I probably should like Maskerade more than I do. Then again, I feel that way about most of Pratchett's books that I audibled instead of physically read, especially if I was on an elliptical at the time.

[@varzilthegood]

I’d love to know your thoughts about The Watch (tv series)

[@Halbared]

Well the problem with all the adaptations of the Disc is none of them rally caught he fun of the Disc. The best Pratchett adaptation is the cosgrove job on Truckers.

[@brandyloutherback9288]

Olivia De Havilland rocked Cinnamon Bun 25 years before Carrie Fisher did!

[@mirthfulArtist]

I like the Wyrd Sisters movie, but I feel like the comedic timing was off. Like, the "I can do next Tuesday" gag for example. I feel like they didn't leave enough time between the set up and the punchline. This was the how it felt all around for me. I liked the voice acting for the main characters, and the character designs, but of course the animation is a bit...dated. I'd love to see it remastered! The only reason I ever re-watch Going Postal is because of Vetinari's performance. Otherwise, the adaptation left a lot out and some of the dialogue felt out of place without the narration.

[@ToddniTV]

So when are you gonna have a cross over with the DOM from Lost in adaptation? you both live on a greenscreen you two would be perfect for a review, you two could do a discworld related movie. just a suggestion.

[@JillBearup]

+Nick Todd I like your thinking... :)

[@davyhotch]

I often wonder how well the books translate. There seem to be a lot of English language jokes.

[@angelgris001]

davyhotch having read the spanich versions when i was little and less fluid in the english lengaje i can say it works fine with a good tranlators, some books didn't have one but there were funny and good reads anyway

[@davyhotch]

Good to know.Cheers for the reply

[@bramvanduijn8086]

The Dutch translations are also very good. Translated by Venugopalan Ittekot, if I remember the spelling correctly.

[@jaroslavb.korinek7285]

I absolutely love reading any of the Discworld books and simultaneously sincerely dislike any of the movies. I appreciate the effort but it's just meant to be read. The Czech translation by the way is punny as hell.

[@Visplight]

Also everyone seeeeeems toooo taaaaalk sloooooowly in the movie. It feels like the whole thing's been slowed down a few rpms or everyone's had a stroke.

[@seandarbe2521]

Hey ursa does this importance of the narrator happen too be a British writer thing I believe that Claremont and Pratchett and lots of British writers use lots often narrator being character in the story. Asides from the narrator are less common in American stories I believe it whent out of fashion and was not as common as in British works.

[@jessjose3638]

I swe these movies before i read the books. And they convinced me to read discworld novels. But overal wyrd sisters is not memorable as a movie.

[@franohmsford7548]

Does anyone actually like the Wyrd Sisters and Soul Music Cartoons? If anything Soul Music is even worse than this one! TBF They're two of the weakest books in the series with Wyrd Sisters being a much tougher read than any of the other Witches novels {it was also the first Pratchett novel I read all the way back in 91 and the one that hooked me on Discworld so I'm not putting it down here just saying that of all the first 10 novels it was probably the worst choice to adapt}. My bottom 5 Discworld novels would be.... 37: Wyrd Sisters - The original story is very dark and dreary, this book suffers from that and it is a tough one to get through. 38: Moving Pictures - This was just slow, real slow. 39: Soul Music - I think it was actually the cartoon that put me off this book, it's probably the only pre 2000 Discworld novel I've not read at least 3 times! 40: Thud - Just didn't work for me, I'm not particularly fond of The Fifth Elephant either. 41:The Shepherd's Crown - Yep, sorry he'd lost it and this book should never have been released in the condition it was. My Top 5 would be.... 1) Lords and Ladies - Magnificent! 2) Witches Abroad - Never stopped laughing! 3) Night Watch - Yes it's more dramatic than usual but it's probably also his most award worthy work. {Well except for Good Omens of course!}. 4) Equal Rites - I was really very very annoyed at what he later did to Eskarina! 5) Guards, Guards - Did you expect anything else? Maybe Monstrous Regiment and Jingo run it close but it had to be in the Top 5 because without it neither of those books would have existed!

[@zvimur]

Soul Music cartoon provides best musical spoofs that don't involve Weird Al Yancovic.

[@khengisgahn9607]

Mort was good,thud was what hooked me a few years back and moving pictures was okay. i think that the truth and interesting times were quite good.

[@franohmsford7548]

Wyrd Sisters was the first I read and I was "hooked" - Worst Discworld novel is still better than 99.999% of all other books ever written!

[@John190assman]

Is that a nose ring?