The Colour of Magic (2008) (TV)

Director:

Vadim Jean

Writers:

Vadim Jean (adaptation)
Terry Pratchett (writer)

Release Date:

23 March 2008 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy

Tagline:

It's a pigment of your imagination

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Luggage | Pub | God | Wizard | Companionship

Cast

David Jason	...	Rincewind
Sean Astin	...	Twoflower
Tim Curry	...	Trymon
Jeremy Irons	...	Patrician
Brian Cox	...	Narrator (voice)
James Cosmo	...	Galder Weatherwax
Christopher Lee	...	Death (voice)
Janet Suzman	...	Ninereeds
David Bradley	...	Cohen the Barbarian
Nigel Planer	...	Arch Astronomer
Stephen Marcus	...	Broadman
Laura Haddock	...	Bethan
Liz May Brice	...	Herrena
Karen Shenaz David	...	Liessa (as Karen David)
Geoffrey Hutchings	...	Picture Imp

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color | Color (High Definition)

Filming Locations:

Anglesey, Wales, UK

Company:

RHI Entertainment

Trivia:

The Alchemist is played by Richard Woolfe -- better known for being Director of Programming for Sky One, Sky Two and Sky Three. Sky Televison commissioned the production of both "The Colour of Magic" and "Hogfather".

Goofs:

Continuity: When Rincewind and Twoflower are on the rock next to the Circumfence, the string holding Rincewind's hat around his neck keeps moving from above his beard to below it between shots.

Quotes:

Death: Don't mind me. I've got a book to read.

Movie Connections:

Version of The Colour of Magic (1986) (VG)

Very disappointing follow up (or follow back!) to Hogfather

While the production values are charming and perhaps even more vibrant then Hogfather, the same cannot be said for the acting, direction, and comedy. Where Hogfather was a brilliant satire on many elements in the real world (as is the whole point of all of the Discworld novels), Colour of Magic is instead, a painfully dire slapstick farce. You would at least expect Pratchett's satirical humour to shine amongst the dreadful acting and direction but no, even that was butchered. Its hard to understand how the same team who brought us the wonderful Hogfather, delivered this mess of a follow up (or should that be follow back? This being the first 2 novels in the 35 book Discworld series). What a great pity, as the cast is a high calibre one. But what the hell happened to David Jason, who stars as our cowardly non-magical wizard anti-hero, Rincewind? Jason is justifiably Britain's greatest TV comic actor but you would never have guess it from this misguided performance. His comic timing was agonisingly off but then so was mostly everyone else's. And poor Sean Astin was simply horrible. Why, how can this be? I can only blame it on the director who seems to insist on all of his main actors to make Scooby Doo noises such as "Huh, ooh, aaah, and yikes" at every opportune moment (ie every 2 minutes) and I'm afraid this is what mainly killed the comedy. Absolutely no subtle comic reactions. The childish jokes would make even 5 year old cringe. I chuckled perhaps 4 times and they were simply out of desperation to laugh at anything remotely funny because trust me, I really wanted to enjoy this. Even Death was woefully mis-used, although voiced majestically by the great Christopher Lee, (a bravo replacement for the late Ian Richardson who beautifully voiced him in Hogfather). However, this being a Discworld novel adaption, there is a rollicking story to ride on and this is the only thing that would have you watching this 3 hour long adaption. A discworld fan may enjoy it simply to watch favourite characters come to life (albeit badly). On the other hand fans may hate it seeing their favourite character come to life in the most butchered way. Some smaller roles did manage to get the aforementioned 4 chuckles out of me, mainly Tim Curry as the murderously high flying wizard, Coren the Barbarian, and Jeremy irons as the Patrician. But sadly, this was an utter mess. However, I do hope they learn from this and deliver better Discworld adaptions as they did with Hogfather. This was a major step back off the edge of Discworld.