Terry Pratchett was never my thing. I had friends who liked his books, but it seemed like too big an undertaking to start reading them - though I did read "Only you can save Mankind" and later "Good Omens". This is all to say that going into watching this series, Discworld doesn't mean that much to me, so I'm not upset that this series apparently doesn't represent it very well. Which is not to say that I loved this, more than I'm judging what it is, not what it might have been.
In a city when crime is legalised and regulated, The Watch, the city's police force is treated as a redundant joke. It's leader, Sam Vimes (Richard Dormer) is haunted by actions in his past, that led to the death of his former friend, Carcer Dun (Sam Adewunmi) and has spent much of his time drowning his memories. Charged with discovering a missing library book, Vimes is astonished to discover the culprit resembles Dun, who seemingly has not aged since his death. Together with his increasingly reengaged team, Vimes stumbles into a plot to destroy the city.
"The Watch" is an odd one for me, in that personally I reasonably enjoyed it, but I can absolutely see what would put off other casual viewers. There is a lot going on and, particularly in the first episodes, you're bombarded by a new world, the mechanics of how it works and a large number of characters, several of whom are not human. The character of Carrot acts a little like the audience's route in, but still there's a great deal to get on board with. There is a lot of forced whimsy in it too, which again I feel is more likely to lose viewers than attract them.
Once you settle in a bit, it does start to come together - though the actual story for this season never really progresses much beyond some fetch quests. I do really like the characters though and particularly Richard Dormer as Sam Vimes. It's perhaps the most deliberately mannered performance I've seen since Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean" and it's a wild swing at a character, but it worked for me. I liked the teases of romantic relationships in the show and the regular additional of a great British character actors, Paul Kaye, Ingrid Oliver, Anna Chancellor spices things up. There is vocal work from Ralph Ineson, Wendell Pierce and, of course, Matt Berry.
I'd like to see the characters again in another story - though I suspect, given that the BBC hid this on the Iplayer with no advertising that isn't particularly likely.
In a city when crime is legalised and regulated, The Watch, the city's police force is treated as a redundant joke. It's leader, Sam Vimes (Richard Dormer) is haunted by actions in his past, that led to the death of his former friend, Carcer Dun (Sam Adewunmi) and has spent much of his time drowning his memories. Charged with discovering a missing library book, Vimes is astonished to discover the culprit resembles Dun, who seemingly has not aged since his death. Together with his increasingly reengaged team, Vimes stumbles into a plot to destroy the city.
"The Watch" is an odd one for me, in that personally I reasonably enjoyed it, but I can absolutely see what would put off other casual viewers. There is a lot going on and, particularly in the first episodes, you're bombarded by a new world, the mechanics of how it works and a large number of characters, several of whom are not human. The character of Carrot acts a little like the audience's route in, but still there's a great deal to get on board with. There is a lot of forced whimsy in it too, which again I feel is more likely to lose viewers than attract them.
Once you settle in a bit, it does start to come together - though the actual story for this season never really progresses much beyond some fetch quests. I do really like the characters though and particularly Richard Dormer as Sam Vimes. It's perhaps the most deliberately mannered performance I've seen since Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean" and it's a wild swing at a character, but it worked for me. I liked the teases of romantic relationships in the show and the regular additional of a great British character actors, Paul Kaye, Ingrid Oliver, Anna Chancellor spices things up. There is vocal work from Ralph Ineson, Wendell Pierce and, of course, Matt Berry.
I'd like to see the characters again in another story - though I suspect, given that the BBC hid this on the Iplayer with no advertising that isn't particularly likely.
