Moving Pictures

Summary

Out on a lonely beach, the last of a line of ritualists whose purpose is forgotten is about to die. Just about then, or soon after, alchemists in Ankh-Morpork discover how to make celluloid and project movies. But there may be more to the lure of Holy Wood than just fame and fortune.

Review

This is, in a general sense, very familiar territory for Pratchett in that he’s satirizing a known element – in this case the film industry. The story itself veers among satire, parody, and just plain fun. And it is fun. While Pratchett can be a bit uneven and lose track of the need for the book to entertain (as opposed to the line), here’s he’s pretty consistent.

The story itself is fun, and of course does have many of those funny Pratchett moments – a few, very funny. The scenery is a deliberate amalgam of every movie cliche you can imagine, and then some, and it all works pretty well.

Funny and with a pretty good story in it.

Eh. Kind of clumsy; a promising idea stretched too thin. A few eye- and heart-catching sentences, but few and far between.

In a world gone mad
one dog strives to save the day
but first, sausages.

Hollywood has been invented. Magic mayhem and adventute await

This is a hilarious entry into the discworld universe and as usual terry pratchett brings the laughs as he pokes fun at hollywood and fame

Enjoyed this one all the way from start to finish

A fun Pratchett parody of the movies plus a talking dog

Executive Summary: After being pretty s0-so on [b:Eric 64218 Eric (Discworld, #9; Rincewind #4) Terry Pratchett https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1377865202s/64218.jpg 59951], I really enjoyed this one a lot. It's right up there with [b:Guards! Guards! 64216 Guards! Guards! (Discworld, #8; City Watch #1) Terry Pratchett https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1431127356s/64216.jpg 1128601] I'd say.Full ReviewIt's been awhile since my last Discworld read. A lot longer than I had realized. I had been planning to read a book every other month or so. I'm stubbornly determined to read the books in publication order, and I'm finding some of these early books uneven.That's not the case with this book. I really enjoyed it a lot. It might be that I'm huge movie fan, and loved all the little easter eggs, and “in” jokes that you might not get if you hadn't seen the movie being referenced.The characters themselves are mostly forgettable save some of the recurring ones who make cameos: DEATH, the Librarian, and Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler. In fact Dibbler is probably one of the main characters in this book, rather than just a minor character in [b:Guards! Guards! 64216 Guards! Guards! (Discworld, #8; City Watch #1) Terry Pratchett https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1431127356s/64216.jpg 1128601].That said, I didn't really need great characters to enjoy this one. The commentary on the world, and in particular the movie industry was more than enough to carry this book.Hopefully I won't take quite so long to pick up [b:Reaper Man 34517 Reaper Man (Discworld, #11; Death, #2) Terry Pratchett https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1389211958s/34517.jpg 1796454] as I did to do this one, especially since I've enjoyed both the first DEATH book in the series.

I love the discworld novels especially the ones about the industrial revolution.
The dog Gaspode just made it for me. Brilliant.

In the running for the most formulaic and mediocre of the Discworld books. You gotta love Gaspode though.

I'm not keen on this one, though at least it features the first appearances of Gaspode the talking dog and Mustrum Ridcully, the Archchancellor of Unseen University, both of whom I rather like.