Moving Pictures: A Novel of Discworld

This is a great book, HOWEVER, the brand new copy I received from the store is missing some 36 pages right before the end, at the books climax. This is a publishing error, not pages that have been removed. Talk about a ruined reading experience, and, quite naturally, since I ordered several Discworld books at once, by the time I discovered this the store REFUSES to replace it (with what would almost certainly be just another identical copy). Guess I have to buy this one again - at a physical bookstore.

Tenth in the overall Discworld fantastically satirical series and first in the Industrial Revolution subseries. The focus pokes fun at Hollywood. If you're interested, there is a chronological listing of the Discworld books on my website.

My Take
Only Pratchett could pull the magic of our Hollywood into Discworld and make it work, revealing the truth!!, lol.

Nothing is sacred to Pratchett, from people who don't get jokes, old farts reminiscing about their days when they never…, students who prefer being students, the new career opportunities available for drunks, Singing in the Rain, the staple food for the moving-picture pits — banged grains, Lassie, The Wizard of Oz, Rudy Valentino, "great" epics, Gone With the Wind, the stereotypical things that happen in film will happen in real life — s'true, just check out that barn full of cabbage…*laughing* Oh, yeah, Wile E. Coyote's gots nothin' on Moving Pictures.

"Mattresses tend to be full of life too, and no one writes odes to them."

Ah, yes, it's "…a slander on skilled crude hut builders…"

"A month went by very quickly. It didn't want to hang around."

The filming process in Holy Wood is very simple with the end result very much like a flip book. You'll learn some fancy tips when Cut-me-own-Throat steps things up, advertising-wise, ROFL. Unfortunately, I'm more along the lines of Thomas Silverfish and need to be more Cut-me-own-Throat, *more laughter*

It's about the actors behind the scenes, on scene, and in front of their public. About the whimsical fancies of directors. The extras and cameram…, oops, handlemen with their strict guild rules, and how it all ties in to the magic of Discworld.

Now this is one of the things I like about America. You're not expected to follow in yer granfer's trade, just because it was his trade. And Ginger puts it quite well.

Oh, no! Intelligence ruins your sex life!! Mr. Thumpy liked his so much better before he was able to talk. Now he "suddenly wants to make conversation, and all they do is sit there wrinklin' their noses at you. You feel a right idiot."

It's them rogue books, the ones that may go cannibal…that remind me of the forbidden section at Hogwarts. Those books of power like The Bumper Fun Grimoire with its deadly jokes, and The Joy of Tantric Sex which had to be stored under iced water.

The excuses these pompous wizards dream up for why they have to investigate the films of that busty girl.

Poor Gaspode. His life is a trial and only gets worse when Laddie shows up.

It's all about belief. Believe in something hard enough, and it will become true. At least for long enough.

The Story
Ahh, the pull of Holy Wood. You don't know why you're going, you simply know you have to go there. It's "a different sort of place. People act differently here. Everywhere else the most important things are gods or money or cattle. Here, the most important thing is to be important."

It's the alchemists, you see. They've "always thought that they can change reality, shape it to their own purpose. Imagine then the damage that could be wrought on the Discworld if they get their hands on the ultimate alchemy: the invention of motion pictures, the greatest making of illusions.

It may be a triumph of universe-shaking proportions. It's either that or they're about to unlock the dark secret of the Holy Wood hills — by mistake…"

The Characters
Theda "Ginger" Withel used to be a milk maid, and isn't too sure being an actress is all that much better.

Victor Tugelbend is a wizard student with a desperate need to not graduate and not work too hard.

Ankh-Morpork is…
…the greatest of the Discworld cities…which ain't sayin' much, especially when Pratchett reminds us that "all roads lead away from Ankh-Morpork". The Patrician is the city dictator. Sergeant Colon and Corporal Nobbs are on the Night Watch.

Holy Wood had…
…been kept in check by Deccan Ribobe, the Last Keeper of the Door and Tento before him and Meggelin before him and… Now the alchemists, a tiny guild with very few of them married (as it's difficult for them to relate to others) are taking over. Thomas Silverfish is the president of the guild and stumbles into producing moving pictures through his new company, Interesting and Instructive Kinematography. Peavie is the guild treasurer. Lully and Sendivoge are members.

Gaffer Bird is the head handleman. Galena, a.k.a., Flint, and Morraine "Morry", a.k.a., Rock, are trolls who can take on any part that requires rocks, monsters, guards, etc. Nodar Borgle the Klatchian runs the commissary. Thunderfoot, Snidin, and Breccia are more actors. Mrs. Marietta Cosmopilite has some astonishing views and turns out to be quite the seamstress.

Gaspode the Wonder Dog…"Woof?"…found his niche in the world: agent. He's dang good too, lol. Don't-call-me-Mr-Thumpy is a talking rabbit; Definitely-Not-Squeak is a talking mouse; Laddie is the archetype Lassie — gorgeous and dumber'n a box of rocks.

Cut-me-own-Throat Dibbler is a salesman who intends to move up in the world. He certainly can't go any further down! Detritus is a troll who gets hired on as Cut-me-own Throat's bodyguard. Soll Dibbler is Throat's nephew and the new v-p in charge of making pictures.

Harga runs a restaurant. Well, technically, it's a restaurant. Bezam Planter owns the Odium, one of the city's moving-picture pits. Mrs. Planter has some suggestions. Their daughter, Calliope, plays the organ. The Mended Drum is the most disreputable of city taverns. The Blue Lias is a troll bar where Ruby (another troll) performs. Those trolls have some interesting "dating" rituals. Too bad Ruby's been corrupted by those human girls.

Unseen University is…
…the school for magic. Mustrum Ridcully the Brown is the new archchancellor who does his best to avoid any of the duties. He prefers hunting and fishing. The Bursar appears to act more like a secretary, or a relay runner…as he is always trying to chase the archchancellor down. Old Windle Poons is the only wizard not terrified of Ridcully, mostly because he isn't particularly with it. The Librarian had been a human wizard until a spell changed him into an orang-utan, Ook. Riktor "Ol' Numbers" the Tinkerer built all sorts of devices to measure anything. The Chair of Indefinite Studies, the Dean of Pentacles, and the Lecturer in Recent Runes talk themselves into investigating. Ponder Stebbins is a post-graduate student who learns his lesson. Mrs. Whitlow is the University housekeeper. Ksandra is one of the maids.

Klatch is…
…another country, far from Ankh-Morpork. Azhural N'choate is a stock dealer in Klatch; his assistant, M'Bu, has some clever ideas. Those who help herd all them there elephants include Uncle N'gru and Aunti Googol. Banana N'Vectif is a hunter who builds a better mouse trap.

Great A'tuin is the turtle who glides through space carrying the Discworld on its back. Uncle Osbert, Uncle Oswald, they're all the same. DEATH has a heckuva sense of humor.

The Cover and Title
The cover has a bright red background with the author's name and title in white. There's a black border on the left with a succession of falling director's chairs that echoes the theme of the story. But what really grabs me and makes me laugh is the Discworld version of cameras with that old-fashioned projector and the teeny green imps who create the film.

The title is the lure and magic of Holy Wood and the Moving Pictures.

Moving Pictures, Terry Pratchett's 10th venture onto Discworld, puts Hollywood and celebrity culture in it's sights as the Disc goes crazy for motion pictures. Pratchett blends a combination of his satirical Discworld humor with movie clichés, even reverse clichés, to create a fun book but not up to some of his previous efforts.

The death of the last priest of Holy Wood results in "dreams" spreading through the thin reality of the Disc touching off the discovery and inventions of motion pictures, which leads to a motion picture boom and thousands heading to Holy Wood to get in on the action. The set-up seems perfect for Pratchett to do wonders with his humor, unfortunately variations of the same jokes what were funny in the first half of the book are not so in the second. The stand out characters are not the main characters Victor and Ginger, instead it was Gaspode the Wonder Dog and the previous introduced Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler that shine throughout the book. And not all the humorous situations Pratchett creates pan out, especially the one thousand elephants ordered by Dibbler seem to build up to something only to arrive after the second or third climax.

Do not get me wrong, Moving Pictures does have it's good sections particularly those surrounding Gaspode and Dibbler, but the overall book is just okay.

Moving Pictures was not one of my most favorite Pratchett books, but it is certainly a great satire and was a lot of fun to read. Pratchett's sendup of Hollywood, its history, and the culture of the silver screen using some really clever devices was a quick and enjoyable read. In terms of his overall skill and acrobatic humor, I didn’t find it as much in this book. It was fun, but it wasn't roll-off-my-reading-chair brilliance that I am constantly attributing to his work when I refer friends to the books.

Essentially, there are much better books in his canon. Still, it is a lot of fun to travel to the new island and experience some Holy Wood magic, and want to literally be in pictures. As a fan, I can be disappointed when one of my biggest heroes pens something that is great by other writer's standards, but only mediocre by my expectations of their own talents.

Full review at [...]

Here we meet Victor. A student at the Unseen University. But he has a small problem. His family left him a fortune to not become a wizard, if he becomes a wizard he will lose but if he fails at UU he will also lose the money. So Victor is the most intelligent student at the University, the guy that other students go to for information but he's also the guy that never aces nor fails his tests. Not knowing about the money, the wizards at UU are starting to catch on to his 83% test scores and decide that the next test Victor takes will be a one question test, one where he can either pass or fail. Instead of taking the final Victor finds himself, like many others compelled to go to The Holly Wood.

Gaspode the not so friendly, very scruffy, talking dog tries to help Victor even when everyone pushes him away for the overly loving and overly cute Laddie who steals the show every time. Nobody gives Gaspode the time of day.

Cut my own throat Dibbler is in charge and he is seeing stars, in the form of money! Lots and lots of money. He comes up with hilarious and crazy ideas for each new flick to outdo the last. As they get longer and longer people get more drawn to them.

How to make Banged Grains by Alchemist Peavie:

What you do is, you take some corn, and you put it in, say, a Number 3 crucuble, with some cooking oil, you see, and then you put a plate or something on top of it, and when you heat it up it goes bang, I mean, not seriously bang, and when it's stopped banging you take the plate off and it's metamorphosed into there, er, things... You can eat it, if you put butter and salt on it, it tastes like salty butter.

My thoughts:

Once again, this is a hilarious book. We see Death quite often sometimes in the most unlikely places. We meet a few new characters for the discworld, Detrirus and CMOT Dibbler are in almost all of The Watch books. This is hilarious, easy to read. The book thrives on classic movie cliches but they don't hold the story back at all. For instance, have you followed a yellow, sick toad lately?

The plot flows and takes us through yet another Discworld that is bound to please any Terry Pratchett fan and probably convert those that are not.

Want a good laugh? This one is for you.

The alchemists of Ankh-Morpork may be trying to make gold, but when discover how to make Octo-cellulose instead, they suddenly realize that while they may not be able to transform other materials into gold, they might have found a different way to make gold. Afraid that the wizards of Unseen University will not understand that their new moving pictures don't make use of magic, the alchemist move to a remote location known as Holy Wood to build their new industry. Soon, the new town of Holy Wood is churning out clicks (as they call their motion pictures), and they are drawing huge crowds back in Ankh-Morpork.

The lure of fame draws many people to Holy Wood, including perennial Unseen University student Victor Tugelbend, who is always on the lookout for ways to live comfortably with minimal effort. When he reaches Holy Wood, he suddenly becomes the hottest leading actor, starring in a series of successful clicks. However, strange things begin to happen. The magic of Holy Wood alters Reality, which is only barely stable on Discworld to begin with, and it threatens to open a hole to the Dungeon Dimension, allowing the Things that live there to enter the world. Victor, with the assistance of Gaspode, the talking dog, must figure out how to stop this threat before it destroys Ankh-Morpork and Discworld.

While the Discworld story is compelling in-and-of itself, the references to Hollywood and movies that flesh out that story are used to terrific comic effect along the way. We see all the classic movie clichés, with heroes saving the day at the last moment and against impossible odds. Perhaps the most interesting visual reference is the homage to King Kong. While a deep knowledge of movie-lore is not necessary to appreciate this book, it certainly will allow for a deeper appreciation of the satirical nature of the Holy Wood analog to Hollywood.

The Guild of Alchemists have created a new form of entertainment - moving pictures! Soon Ankh-Morpork is gripped by this latest craze and everyone's trying to break into the business as more and more 'clicks' are made out at Holy Wood. The speed with which the phenomenon spreads is quite strange and soon reluctant actors Victor Tugelbend ("Can't sing, can't dance, can handle a sword a little,") and Theda Withel (aka 'Ginger') are caught up in epic events set against the backdrop of a world gone mad! With a thousand elephants! Once the order arrives, of course...

Moving Pictures is a bit of a 'fallback' Discworld novel. That is, whilst still entertaining, funny and enjoyable, there's also the feeling that Pratchett simply came up with a cool idea and let it meander around for a bit aimlessly rather than being really fired-up and inspired by the concept. His taking of a real-life phenomenon and turning it into a Discworld novel is a pretty consistent way generating stories throughout the series (he also does Discworld takes on the theatre, the post office, rock music, organised banking, Christmas, war and newspapers in future books, with football and taxation still to come), but it does feel like he hasn't put much more effort into the book than what he did with, say, police procedurals in Guards! Guards!

Of course, Pratchett on an off day is still considerably more entertaining than a lot of fantasy authors at their best, so Moving Pictures is still a decent novel. Pratchett is clearly a big movie fan and it's fun trying to find all the references to various films in this book, from Gone with the Wind and Charlie Chaplin through Laurel and Hardy to The Blues Brothers and Back to the Future, not to mention a particularly hilarious inversion of King Kong. There's also some nice prescience on Pratchett's part: the book is now twenty years old and his comments on product placement and the culture of celebrity seem more relevant today than ever before. Characterisation is also pretty good, and the regular cast continues to grow with the arrival of Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, Gaspode the Wonder Dog (don't ask) and most of the regular cast of Unseen University, led by the formidable Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully (finally ending the tendency of UU archchancellors in the series to have the lifespan of a colony of terminally depressed lemmings living near the Grand Canyon).

The book has a rather unusual problem for Pratchett, which is pacing. Pratchett usually handles pacing pretty well in his books, with a slow introduction to the story followed by rising action and a (usually) well-handled climax. Moving Pictures isn't quite like that, and stutters a few times with a start-stop feel to the action. In fact, it appears that the main problem has been solved two-thirds of the way through the book, followed by the 'real' grand climax in Ankh-Morpork which also turns out to be a fake-out before we get the final, somewhat anti-climatic, ending in Holy Wood. It's a bit all over the place, to be honest. In fact, it feels like on of those really big Hollywood action blockbusters which goes on for about half an hour too long after the movie should really have ended, which I suppose is quite appropriate.

That said, whilst Moving Pictures is not one of the stronger Discworld novels, it's still better than the earlier, less-well-written books and many of the individual characters and episodes in the book are funny and intelligently-handled, as always.

Moving Pictures (***½) is available now in the UK and USA.

Given a choice between books and movies, many people - myself included - will say that books are always better than movies. "You can use your imagination," we'll say, "drawing on the powers of the human mind to create things that manifestly are not real. You can decide for yourself what the scenes look like and how the characters appear, rather than have some director feed his or her vision over yours."

Despite that, however, we all still love the movies. If you gave me a novelization of Casablanca, for example, I would be hard-pressed to say honestly that it's better than the movie. There's just something about movies, how they take images and ideas and just pour them into your head whole. Ideas and emotions flood your mind, evading the more analytical parts of your brain (if it's a really good movie) and heading straight for the unconscious.

Oh sure, you might analyze it later - take it apart for meaning and symbolism, dissecting the casting choices or praising the story arc. But for those couple of hours, when you're staring at the screen, there's magic happening. We're lucky that we know what to do with it.

On the Discworld, though, movie magic is something new, and something very, very dangerous.

You see, one of the flaws of the Discworld is that it's not horribly real. Not as real as our world, certainly, but just about as real as you can be, if you're a flat world being carried on the backs of four elephants, who are in turn standing on a turtle that swims through the stars. It has been shown in many other volumes that reality on the Disc is negotiable and variable. And if something should come along to make the Disc slightly less real, then that could be a danger to everyone.

In a dry and sunny place far from Ankh-Morpork, something stirs. Long held at bay by ancient rituals and safeguards, something primal has finally been allowed out into the world, and it seeks the minds of those who dream. It is the dream of a place called Holy Wood, and it is where reality itself may be torn asunder.

It calls many people to create thse dreams. It calls young Victor Tugelbend, the best bad Wizard student in the Unseen University. He wants nothing more than to live a life of leisure, without actually having to work. It calls Silverfish, an alchemist who has very nearly mastered the art of making octo-cellulose. With it, he hopes to change the world. It calls Rock, a troll down from the mountains who dreams of doing more with his life than just hitting things. And it calls C.M.O.T. Dibbler, the greatest opportunist and worst entrepreneur in Ankh-Morpork.

Without really knowing why, they all head to Holy Wood, where the sun always shines and the clicks can be made on the cheap. A strange city springs up, made not of solid brick and mortar buildings, but shacks with false fronts, a city that is completely modular and impermanent. There they build worlds and lives and, yes, dreams. Through them, the people of Ankh-Morpork can dream as well.

All those dreams, though, are a shining beacon for Things that live beyond the boundaries of our universe. They seek the warmth and light of our world, and will exploit any opportunity to break through. By bringing dreams to life, the people of Holy Wood risk dooming the world to nightmares.

I could, if I wanted, just start to catalog all the movie references that Pratchett makes in this book, but that would be ridiculous. Besides, someone has already done that for me, over at L-Space, and even they say it's impossible to list them all. Suffice it to say, if enough people remember it from classic cinema, then it's in this book in one way or another. If it's a story told about Hollywood and they heyday of the studio system, then it's in here too. Whether you're an avid fan of the cinema or you just watch whatever your friends are watching, you should be able to get a lot of enjoyment out of this.

The themes that Pratchett explores in this book are interesting, too. One of these is the nature of fame. In one scene, the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, a man who holds the life of the city in his hands, is seated next to Vincent and Ginger, the Disc's first movie superstars. Even though the Patrician has worked hard to become the ruler of the city, even though he is responsible for the lives and well-being of everyone in it, he is still far less famous and beloved than these two people who are famous just for standing in front of a camera and saying things. And even though he knows this, he still feels an odd thrill that he's actually sitting next to them.

In our own world, we hold celebrities to be almost apart from the rest of us - although that may erode slowly as social media such as Twitter and Facebook open up more and more of their mundane lives to their fans. Still, if we see someone famous in the grocery store or on the bus, we think, "Oh my god! That's [famous person]! He's buying broccoli here, just like me!!" Even though they are made of the same flesh and blood that we are, we perceive them as something Other, often even confusing them with the characters they play. In our world that's merely annoying, but on the Discworld, it's downright dangerous. The power of belief, coupled with Holy Wood's need to make dreams into reality, are a potent and disastrous mix.

As he does so often, Pratchett is using his world to comment on our own, and in doing so is taking note of the immense power that Hollywood has. I heard someone say once that America's greatest export is unlike that of any other country. Our greatest export is Dreams. And dreams can be wonderful or they can be horrible. But their power to affect the world should never be underestimated.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
"It's fifteen hundred miles to Ankh-Morpork. We've got three hundred and sixty-three elephants, fifty carts of forage, the monsoon's about to break and we're wearing... we're wearing... sort of things, like glass, only dark... dark glass things on our eyes... Let's go."
- Azhural, elephant herder
--------------------------------------------------------------------

"Moving Pictures" is the tenth book in Terry Pratchett's hugely popular Discworld Series and was first published in 1990. It gives a starring role to Victor Tugelbend, Theda "Ginger" Withel appears as his leading lady and marks Gaspode the Wonder Dog's first appearance. (It also gives supporting roles to Dibbler and the Unseen University's wizards).Unsurprisingly, the book pokes fun at the movie industry.

The book opens about thirty miles down the coast from Ankh-Morpork, in a battered, dusty shack on the shore. Deccan Ribobe has just died...and, since he never managed to find an apprentice, has just become Holy Wood's Last Keeper of the Door. With no-one to chant the chants and to keep the fires lit, its magic will find a way out...and before long, a wild idea makes it thirty miles up the coast. It starts with the Alchemists - who, having being inspired to invent octo-cellulose, start making movies - before it switches to Dibbler's fertile mind. Everyone agrees the city's light is all wrong for moving pictures. Strangely, the know just the right place for filming, though they can't quite remember where they heard of it...

Victor Tugelbend, meanwhile, is a very skilled student at the Unseen University and a friend of Ponder Stibbons. Thanks to the terms of an uncle's will, he's realised he'll always be very well off...just so long as he never actually graduates. (Naturally, he can't fail his exams too badly either - so, every year he carefully scores an 84). This year, however, he misses his exams altogether...with the call of Holy Wood proving too strong, he blows town and heads along the coast. It isn't long before he's a massive star, forming a successful double act with Ginger Withel. However, the pair soon realise that the popularity of their movies has a very dangerous side-effect...

Unsurprisingly, given that Pratchett wrote it, "Moving Pictures" is a very funny book There are nods in the direction of any number of actors, actresses and movie classics - including the Blues Brother, Indiana Jones, the Wizard of Oz , Marilyn Monroe, Lassie, Singing in the Rain, King Kong, the War of the Worlds, Tarzan and the Fred Astaire - Ginger Rogers double act. Very enjoyable, definitely recommended.

The Discworld is in peril once more, and this time it's quite a show! When the last priest of an ancient order dies without training a successor, the spirit of Holy Wood is released once more into the world. People are called from the Disc over to come and be a part of this new phenomena-moving pictures! The only problem is that the dark Lovecraftian things from the Dungeon Dimensions still want through into the Discworld, and Holy Wood is about to make a door for them....

Moving Pictures is perhaps my favorite book in this series yet. Pratchett usually picks one idea or concept to make fun of and play with for the course of a book, and this time it was Hollywood. As such, the book is rife with references from Gone with the Wind to old Errol Flynn flicks. The plot is mostly an excuse to make all these jokes, but it's still great fun! This one stands alone as well as any of the Discworld novels, by which I mean a lot of background characters reappear-The Librarian, Death, Detritus the Troll bouncer from the Mended Drum tavern, Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler....a couple others, I think, but its not really important.

Terry Pratchett's MOVING PICTURES is his hysterical take on Hollywood, which in the book becomes the Holy Wood. It features a host of great characters, including a couple of my favorites, the Librarian ("Oook") and Gaspode the Wonder Dog. On the million to one chance that Terry Pratchett reads this review (which, of course, by Discworld logic means that he will without any possible question read this review), I would like to make the following request: Sir Terry, please include Gaspode in your next book. Thank you.

I'm now at approximately the one quarter point in my goal of reading and re-reading all of the Discworld books in order (I previously had read all of the City Watch books as well as three or four others). It honestly doesn't make a huge difference reading the books in order. Pratchett has done an incredible job of simultaneously making each book stand on its own while at the same time building upon what has gone before. Thus Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler assumes a far more important role here than in GUARDS! GUARDS! Or other Discworld novels, but while it is fun seeing his character expand in this book, it isn't really important to know the role he played there.

In some ways I didn't care for this book as much as earlier books such as PYRAMIDS or GUARDS! GUARDS!, but that really is a meaningless distinction. For me much of the joy of the Discworld books derives from the gradual accumulation of detail and the overall richness of the universe that Pratchett describes. And with each book I become increasingly grateful for this great good thing that Pratchett has brought into the world.

Discworld, Terry Pratchett's alternative fantasy world mirroring our own and full of sharp satires and hilarious parodies, has become one of my favorite literary destinations. Pratchett's Discworld books are peopled with the most intriguing, creative characters, and he routinely displays the most outrageous wit in their pages. Yet, with twenty years and dozens of volumes devoted to this unique world, it stands to reason that a few of them will not quite meet the high standards that we fans have come to expect. This is one of those Discworld books.

I have grown accustomed to rather flimsy plots in many Discworld volumes, as they often exist merely to give an excuse for Pratchett's incredibly inventive characters and his witty satires and parodies to dance through the pages. In `Moving Pictures', however, the characters and wit fail to justify the silly flimsiness of the plot. The parody rests on send-ups of old movies (mostly both stale and obvious), and there isn't any satire worth speaking of, as any social commentary here is far too obvious and banal to qualify as genuine satire. Nor do his characters delight here as they often do. Cut Me Own Throat Dibbler gets a leading role for once, proving that he works best as a minor bit player. Several of the recurring wizards show up, but they work best as comic relief when surrounded by other strong characters - here they are not. Even the Ape librarian of Unseen University (one of my favorite recurring characters) falls far short of usual expectations. Gaspode, a cynical, talking mut dog, has a rather large role as well, and becomes more annoying than amusing long before the end of the book.

`Moving Pictures' is not totally without its moments - the high point of the book is a chase where the climatic scene from King Kong is totally inverted, which is as good as any parody Pratchett has ever done. Unfortunately, there just aren't enough moments like that one. This is a book that anyone new to Pratchett's Discworld should probably skip. And while the devoted Discworld regulars will probably want to read it eventually, they needn't be in any rush about it.

Theo Logos

"Moving Pictures" for some reason is ranked low on the scale by some hardcore Pratchett fans. Being one to buck a trend, I hereby declare it to be near the top. It's ingenious, well-written, and outright hilarious, combining a gigantic cast of the usual suspects with several newcomers and lots of action.

It begins with the alchemists. One has developed "banged grains" that can be buttered and served in bags. Combine that with a new contraption that records images on octo-cellulose and the town of Holy Wood is about to hit the big time. A mysterious pull draws various characters in that direction, including aspiring actors and actresses, animals with a newfound tendency to talk (and bang each other with frying pans), and the notorious C.M.O.T. Dibbler. All will soon be working to produces clicks for the theatres in Ankh-Morpork.

Yet all is not well in Holy Wood. Something is stirring in the nether regions that lie between the universes, waiting for its opportunity to hit the big time. While the studios grind out bigger and better pictures, a door long closed is starting to open, and bad things are starting to happen.

"Moving Pictures" is an excellent novel, massively complex yet never missing a beat. Those familiar with the golden age of Hollywood will appreciate a sizeable number of in-jokes. References to silent films from the 20's and 30's fly fast and furious. Yet even those who have never studied Hollywood history in depth should enjoy this wild romp through Discworld.

Moving Pictures, the 10th Discworld novel written by Terry Pratchett, has the distinction of being the first one with which I've been a bit disappointed. All of the typical elements of a Discworld book are still there: witty satire on an aspect of society, humour, and weird situations. They just don't come together as a whole. It was a bit difficult to get through as a result, because I did become bored at certain points. Pratchett includes a few characters that don't have much to do with the plot, but instead are there for a one-off joke. This seemed to pad the book far more than the joke, while amusing, was worth. One character in particular falls into this category: he's there to make a joke about Victor's exit examination; then later on in the book, he keeps trying to go out for a night on the town, but keeps getting stymied. Again, the joke is amusing, but the pages devoted to it seem to be a waste. Another example is the antics of some of the wizards. The situations that they get themselves into are hilarious, I must admit. But as part of the narrative, they don't merge well.
The rest of the book contains some wonderful skewering of Hollywood and the movie business. I loved how Dibbler wanted to add elephants to everything, with mass battle scenes (with different people galloping by in take after take because they only have a couple of horses) and romance where there wasn't any before. Theda (who calls herself Ginger) and Victor heat up the screen with kiss after kiss, and everybody assumes that they're lovers (hey, it happened on screen, right?). Who cares if something didn't really happen, it will look exciting!
The main characters were less memorable than Pratchett's characters usually are. I found both Victor and Ginger to be kind of bland. This is ironic, considering how they are perceived as almost larger than life by the people who watch these movies. In the book, however, they are a trifle boring. I didn't get any sense of chemistry between them, like I did with William and Sacharissa in The Truth. They are capable in their roles as a vehicle for Pratchett's satire, but as characters themselves they fall a bit short.
Thankfully, some of the other characters make up for this deficiency, and they prevent the book from sliding into tedium. Dibbler is wonderful as a man who has let too much power go to his head. He's a director that thinks he knows everything (he has, after all, run a highly "successful" business selling "sausages" in a bun). He has some of the best lines, and if he doesn't get his elephants, he's going to be very unhappy! Gaspode, the talking dog, is another winning character, and I was glad to see how he was introduced. Pratchett defies logic a little bit in keeping Gaspode talking when the other animals stop, but he's such a great character in subsequent books that it's worth it.
Every time I thought of putting this book down, something funny or interesting happened. Unfortunately, it's not like a Pratchett book to ever make me have that feeling in the first place. Still, it is worth getting through it. I don't think you'll feel you've wasted your time reading this. However, if you start the series with this book, know that it's one of the weaker ones and you can move up from here. Give it a try.

Once again, the Discworld's alchemists are getting themselves into trouble. This time they've created moving pictures. Their short "clicks" immediately gain attention throughout the land and soon after people are mysteriously finding themselves drawn to a place called Holy Wood, a location out in the middle of nowhere. Soon, a huge movie industry spurts up and more and more people are coming to Holy Wood to be a part of this. Included in this group are: Victor, a wizard-in-training who would purposely fail his exams to not become a full-blown wizard; Ginger, simple milk-maid; Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, a former sausage salesman about to take Holy Wood by storm; and Gaspode the Wonder dog, a flea-bitten, diseased old mutt who can actually talk. What the people of Holy Wood don't know is that by making these moving pictures, they are actually creating a whole in the fabric of the already thin reality of Discwork. In the process, they are opening the gate for some not-very-nice creatures to come right in.
I have read most of Pratchett's books and I found this one the most disappointing. Pratchett plays too much on poking fun at the real motion picture industry than developing the characters or inserting his own brand of humor into the story. There were some classic scenes in the book, like when Gaspode tries to get some trolls to help rescue his friends Victor and Ginger from a collapsed cave by talking to them, but instead the stupid, overly trained dog, Laddie, manages to get their attention instead. However, these are few and far between. Too many times Pratchett just makes obvious connections to the film industry that are funny at first but get rather predictable towards the end of the book. The only thing I did enjoy about the book was Gaspode. This poor dog is given the capability of speech from the Holy Wood magic floating in the air and his side comments are just hysterical at times. He is the best developed character in the book.

In his more recent yarns, Pratchett has had trenchant (though always funny) things to say about such deep-rooted Western mythmaking institutions as war and religion. In this earlier work, he takes on a more fearsome set of myths: Hollywood! The Holy Wood, down the coast from Ankh-Morpork, in an area where the sun is always bright, is the site of "leakage" by Things from the other side of reality (or somewhere) that are trying to take over the Discworld by perverting the minds of innocent people and animals. Victor, a student wizard at Unseen University who knows better than to graduate and lose his funding, gets sucked into the boom, as does Ginger, an erstwhile milkmaid who suddenly decides she wants to be the most famous person in the world. Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler becomes a producer, Laddie the not-very-bright Wonder Dog becomes a star, and Gaspode (who really does talk) becomes an agent. The plot, such as it is, concerns Victor's realization of just what's going on and his attempts to evict the Things from his own reality. But, of course, that's really just an excuse for Pratchett to dredge up every movie cliché he can think of, almost always hilariously. (In fact, some of his references are so sly and relatively obscure, I suspect they'll be wasted on younger readers with little experience of the old Hollywood system and of old films.) This isn't one of Pratchett's best, by a long shot, but it's still far above most novels.

Once again the Discworld has me giggling. Darn near chronically. This time, it's Holy Wood and all the references to various films. Especially when it's just plain wrong (have you followed a "yellow sick toad" lately? Or perhaps you've a desire to be "a lawn"?).
There's a lot of things going on in this one, lots of characters with their viewpoints and plots. But the main one focuses on Victor, and later Ginger, and the strange magic of Holy Wood (not real magic, mind, silver screen magic). At first it's just hilarious.
Then the Things arrive and it's world-threatening as well as funny. But less funny. The ending is even more chock full of movie references and, while there's a strange kind of logic to what's going on, it does start to wear a little thin. Fortunately, this proved to be a small dint in my enjoyment as it gets back to my more favoured Pratchett brand of humour.

Moving Pictures is a delightful farce that introduces us to some of the Discworld's most interesting citizens. The evil forces of Holy Wood have lain buried under the sand for countless generations, but then, in the kind of luck typical of life on the Discworld, the guardian is rendered incapable of guarding the power. As the non-wizard magic of Holy Wood quickly escapes from its timeless sleep, inhabitants from all over the Discworld find themselves drawn to the spot out in the middle of nowhere, and they all want to be a part of the new moving pictures (or clickies) business. The alchemists delight in sidestepping the authority of wizards by coming up with some non-wizard magic of their own. To make a clickie, you just need a box full of little imps, and when you turn the handle the imps draw what they see in front of them, and they do it very quickly because there are whips connected to the turning handle. Most people have a hard time figuring out just what these clickies are and how they work, but the citizens of Ankh-Morpork instantly fall in love with them, lining up in droves for the chance to see little five-minute long, soundless clickies of historical and educational interests-at first. Then none other than Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, famed salesmen of sausage in a bun and other pseudo-culinary tidbits (whose fame comes from the fact that he can actually sell his sausages in a bun to people on more than one occasion) gets the calling, basically takes over the whole business, and starts making epics filled with danger and fighting and romance, some of them taking the better part of a whole day to film. The milkmaid Ginger and Victor Tugelbend (a student wizard who is generally acknowledged to be the laziest person on the Discworld) find themselves the leading lady and man of cinema and they are the first to figure out that something is terribly wrong in Holy Wood. Holy Wood magic is not really real, and what it is actually doing is wearing away the barrier between reality, always in rather short supply on the Discworld, and the Dungeon Dimensions, where all kinds of terrible entities sit waiting to come in. The first person to really figure out the danger is not a person at all, but rather Gaspode the Wonder Dog (not to be confused with the ingratiatingly obedient and thus wildly popular Laddie the Wonder Dog). He's a mangy little mutt of a dog really, but he does something most dogs can't do-he talks. He talks a lot, grumbling about life as a talking dog and constantly warning Victor about all the "boding" going on up on the hill. Well, things all come to a head when Dibbler makes the most lavish moving picture ever, Discworld's version of Gone With the Wind, and the evil that Victor, Ginger, Gaspode, and the Librarian must ultimately contest is a Lovecraftian being from the outside, with all kinds of tentacles and other nasty bits.
There are more unforgettable characters in this novel than I can describe here. For me, though, the senior wizards pretty much steal the show. After seeing a poster of the scantily-clad Ginger's newest and biggest movie, they decide that they need to find out what all this clickies nonsense is about. Of course, they can't let anyone know they are wizards so they come up with the brilliant idea of putting wire in their beards to make them look like fake beards (ingenious, really, in my opinion). A special delight is old Windle Poons; he may be the oldest, most deaf wizard still alive, but he behaves quite like a youngster when he goes out on the town. This tenth book in the Discworld series sorts of takes the reader in a new direction, centering on brand new characters but incorporating a few familiar faces that manage to keep things lively from start to finish. Looking back, it may have dragged a little in the middle, and the ending wasn't overly spectacular, but it was a pure joy to read. There is wit galore here but not too much satire, making this a fairly carefree book to be read strictly for the pleasure of it. There are numerous references to popular films, and I was really delighted to see Pratchett give the horrors from the Dungeon Dimensions an obvious Cthulhuian cast. Moving Pictures would be a great book with which to introduce yourself to the Discworld universe; you can enjoy it immensely without having read the previous nine books, and there are laughs to be found on every single page.

Moving Pictures, like all of Pratchett's work, is entertaining, satirically funny, and very poignant, containing all the finer elements of the early books and some unexpected twists from the Disc as it warps our view of reality into the Discworld view. All manner of delightful Hollywood lore ends up in this tale of Holy Wood, including A Night at the Opera, Gone With the Wind, The Little Rascals, Lassie, King Kong (my favorite passage in the book) and Ben Hur. There are way too many wonderful parodies to list, and each one contributes a bit of a gem to this book, which like many of Pratchett's, causes the reader to think while he is engaged in reading.

The Alchemists awaken a great evil beneath Holy Wood, and it's up to a student wizard who never graduated, a farm girl, and Gaspode the Wonder Dog to save the day as the fate of the Disc hangs in the balance. There's romance, action, and a thousand elephants, all Discworld style. This book also contains the most scenes with Windle Poons, the Disc's oldest known wizard, and for me that was worth the price of admission.

If you are a Pratchett fan, you will naturally read this book in your progression from title to title, but if you've never read Pratchett, start your journey on the Disc elsewhere, like in one of the series. This stand alone is good, but only superb to the truly devoted. I liked it, and I never stopped smiling during my sit through with it. Essentially it is a "dog book," but it contains wizards, trolls, eldritch boding, and dwarves. Not many other dog tales can boast that loud.

. . . are best accompanied by some "banged grains", which, with butter and salt added, taste just like "salted butter". What better typifies the role of moving pictures in our lives? Terry Pratchett performs literary vivesection on the film industry in this classic parody. He has reached through time and space, exposing the hidden world of film making. The unreal lives of actors and actresses and the hype accompanying movies in our many local Bijou and Rhoxie Theatres is vividly conveyed in this superb novel. The film industry has always been an unlikely marriage of art and business. Yet even the clash of culture and commerce pales against the strength of what "popular appeal" can invoke.

Moving Pictures follows individuals from the population melange of the Discworld's greatest city. An unseen force entices them from reasonably comfortable lives in Ankh-Morpork to a realm of uncertainty and confusion. Victor Tuglebend, aspiring almost-wizard, is inexplicably lured to a desolate desert site. The trees have but one real side, and houses are one type in the front, something else at the back. He's not certain he wants to stay, but the life is too compelling to leave. How do you build a career in a new form of communication? Especially one built on the most unsubstantial foundation of fantasy - and film that explodes. What actually happens before an imp-inhabited box that transforms a chaos of people, contrived scenery and improbable stories into something we willingly - no, eagerly, shell out hard-earned money to watch?

Victor's becomes immersed into the "clicks" industry as he deals with all these improbabilities. As Pratchett builds his story, his expressive genius is given full rein. He draws cliches from the film industry's giants - Producer Thomas Silverfish is derived from Samuel Goldwyn [born Samuel Gelbfisch] among innumerable others. In a narrative rich with imagery - exotic dancer Ruby, a Troll, moves around the stage "like continental drift with curves" - Pratchett traces Victor's increasing awareness of the industry. An inexplicable force is drawing people to Holy Wood. It changes the lives of everyone as it's influence permeates the Discworld. This force builds in vigour and influence. Its effect seems stronger with actresses. Victor's co-star, Ginger, is even more vulnerable to its call. She wants to be the "most important person in the world". Who will consider her "important"? You?

There's a positive side to Holy Wood's mystical powers. On the Discworld there are many species - trolls, gnomes, dwarves. Many of these would battle each other on sight. In Holy Wood, however, they mingle and cooperate. Getting the click finished, on time and over budget is the commonly held goal. Tradtitional animosities are set aside to complete the project. Is the price worth entering the world of delusional images and the admiration of millions? You must decide that for yourself. Pratchett will help you settle the question. And in doing so, will keep you chuckling and reflecting. An amazing and captivating story.

Oh, yes. That'll be ten A-M cents for the bag of banged grains. Thank you. Enjoy the show. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Only Terry Pratchett would do a satire of Hollywood by incorporating it into a story about Nameless Things Man Was Not Meant To Know.
In this Discworld novel, Pratchett once again details -- or, rather, hints at -- the nameless horrors in the Dungeon Dimensions, home to things that destroy sanity and crave nothing more than to invade the universe that we (or rather, the characters in the novel) know. (And a big hello to the fans of H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulu mythos.) This time, their entry into reality is afforded through a mysterious little desert community called Holy Wood, where people are being drawn to create a new form of art (and business) heretofore unknown on Discworld: the moving pictures industry, commonly referred to as "clicks."
What's happening and why only gradually becomes clear, but first we're treated to a send-up of classic Hollywood, one that eventually embraces dozens of classic films, as well as all the stereotypical Hollywood personalities. Returning characters include the wizards of Unseen University, shady peddler Cut My Own Throat Dibbler, the troll bouncer Detritus and, briefly, the City Watch of Ankh-Morporhk.
While movie fans will grin throughout at the "real" nature of the motion picture industry, including unexpected winks at different icons, the story overall has a certain menace and darkness not commonly found in Pratchett's Discworld novels, one which foreshadows his work with Neil Gaiman in "Good Omens."
Strongly recommended to fans of Discworld, film buffs and fans of the dark creeping horrors of authors like H.P. Lovecraft.

An ancient curse bursts forth from the ruins of Holy Wood, alchemists discover the secret of octocellulose, Detritus the Troll is unchained and madly in love with Ruby, CMOT Dibbler moves up from suspect sausages, Gaspode is introduced, and the Librarian and a blonde... never mind, this is getting too weird...

An on-going came of 'spot the cinematic reference' wrapped around a passable plot with a fair number of twists. One of Pratchett's better pieces, but not quite at the top of his form. The Librarian and Lord Vetinari, two of my three favorite Discworld characters, have small but significant parts in this one, which of course grants it a certain degree of merit from the start (the third favorite is Greebo).

Cinematic references abound, from the days of silent film right up to fairly modern stuff, and I'm certain I've missed some of the references. But it does become an enjoyable game, trying to identify the sources, though frustrating when you feel that some bit is a reference, but can't identify the source.

I enjoyed this one, a strong four stars, but only four.

Let's be very clear about this - all of Pratchett's books are excellent.
Opinions may differ about individual titles, but basically we're talking about the difference between, on a scale of 1 to 100, perhaps 95 to 100.
If you're familiar with Pratchett's work, Moving Pictures is a good example.
If you're not familiar with his work, it's important to start with the right book - start off on the wrong foot and you'll miss the pleasure of reading all the others.
Starting with Pratchett's earlier books isn't that good an idea since, as he freely admits himself, he wasn't as good a writer in those days.
Many of the later books assume a knowledge of the Discworld environment, and some of its more important characters, and can feel like coming in in the middle of the movie.
Moving Pictures would be a good book to start with: it's relatively self-contained, lots of fun, and introduces some unforgettable characters that you'll come across in other books. (It's difficult to forget Gaspode the Wonder Dog or Cut-me-own-throat Dibbler). It will also introduce you to Pratchett's style of alluding to real-world events. See how many you can spot.
(If you find it's too light and humorous for your tastes, try Small Gods: much deeper, but equally self-contained)
Moving Pictures was the Pratchet book that caught me. Maybe it'll catch you.

In Moving Pictures, Pratchett spins up Victor and Ginger- two likable characters that become famous actors in the "clicks" which are suddenly being filmed in forgotten part of the disc named Holy Wood. Full of gags mixed in with Hollywood and Lovecraft references, Moving Pictures is a bit of a departure from his other Discworld novels. Still funny though and the parts with Gaspode the Wonder Dog are particularly good. If you like Pratchett, it is certainly worth a read. 4/5

Discworld had one surviving guardian against the ancient terror and that man has died, his purpose and even his name forgotten. Now, no one is left to hold back the --

-- lights, camera, and action! Pratchett's premise is that nameless evil is the driving force behind the many people joined in creating motion pictures. OK, it sounds improbable (or does it?). Pratchett makes it all make sense somehow, in a steady stream of bad puns, unlikely characters, and loving references to every kind of movie from Gone with the Wind to King Kong.

A few of the usual characters are there, Death (as always), wizards somehow escaped from the Unseen University, Vetinari (briefly) and the rest. A few new ones show up as well, including Laddie, friend to all except maybe Gaspode.

It's light, literate, and laughable, just what you'd expect from Pratchett. Maybe it's not my absolute favorite among the Discworld books, but even Pratchett's lesser efforts are head, shoulders, and pointy hat above most other writers.

//wiredweird

. . . and our little life is rounded with a sleep." This snippet of Prospero's from Shakespeare's The Tempest, was beautifully ad libbed by Humphrey Bogart during the filming of The Maltese Falcon. It pretty much sums up the experience I took out of reading Terry Pratchett's Moving Pictures. Life in Holy Wood, like life on Prospero's island is one where magical events occur encouraged by a host of spirits. Since these magical events unfold in that piece of the universe known as Discworld, they unfold with wit, humor, and more than a bit of thought.

As the title suggests, Moving Pictures is Pratchett's take on Hollywood. In a manner similar to his approach to Men at Arms, The Truth, and Going Postal, Pratchett takes the development of the motion picture industry and through the literary equivalent of time-lapse photography compresses it so that the reader experiences in a brief time span that which occurred over decades on our slower-moving planet. The result is hilariously funny and made me shake my head and murmur, how did we let this nonsense happen.

CAST OF CHARACTERS: As a click trailer might say: Introducing Victor and Ginger (think Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers) as the leading man and lady of this epic. Also new to Discworld is Thomas Silverfish (think Samuel Goldwyn of MGM fame), the first big producer on Discworld. As in Casablanca, Pratchett has also rounded up the usual suspects. Cut Me Own Throat Dibbler (can't think of a character on earth that remotely resembles Dibbler!) and Gaspode (think Oscar Levant as played by a stray dog) are featured prominently and hilariously. This is a big step up for these two contract players in the Discworld series! Rounding out the featured players is that zany group of performers known as the wizards, led by their fearless librarian (think the Keystone Kops meets Planet of the Apes). And, as they say, a cast of thousands, including assorted trolls, an overly obsequious dog known as Laddie (think Lassie) and other delightful diverse denizens of Discworld.

THE PLOT: The plot is simple. It is about the power of dreams in a world, as Dibbler might say, "gone mad". Dreams, particularly the dreams of Ginger, play a critical role in the book. A group of alchemists have invented movies or clicks as they come to be known on Discworld. Fearing that such magic might anger the wizards of Unseen University the alchemists move out of Ankh-Morpork to a strange and wondrous place called Holy Wood. In what seems like only days, clicks become the next big thing. People from around Discworld come to Holy Wood for no apparent reason other than a strange compulsion. Perhaps mysterious forces are at work? The excitement level gradually builds, the outlines of an evil, dark plot by the spirit world reveals itself as in a dream, until all heck breaks loose. Victor strives valiantly to save the universe with the wizards following close behind in a manner reminiscent of the Keystone Kops. The climactic fight scene is both dramatic and hilariously funny. Of course, the fun in any Pratchett novel is not the ending but the journey. Hollywood references abound. It is always fun trying to spot some, even those which Pratchett may never have intended. Dibbler's hilarious product placements and his `invention' of subliminal advertising were worth the price of admission.

Some have suggested that Moving Pictures is not as `good' as his other Discworld books. There is an inference, perhaps, that it does not address profound issues relating to life, the universe and everything as was the case in Mort, Small Gods, or Thief of Time. For me, however, the profusion of cultural gods (from Valentino to Pacino) created by Hollywood and its enormous impact on popular culture throughout the world seems just as worthy of the typical Pratchett treatment as small gods in the form of a turtle. I also have to add that it was a pleasure seeing both Gaspode and Dibbler in more prominent roles.

All in all, as I finished Discworld I kept coming back to Bogart looking wistfully at the worthless Maltese Falcon that so many people had died in pursuit of their dreams. Perhaps for his next click, Dibbler can have Victor close by reminding the audience that, like Prospero:

Our revels now are ended: these our actors
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yes, and all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a wrack behind: We are such stuff
As dreams are made of, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

Th-th-th-that's all folks!!!

The tenth Discworld novel is Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett. Pratchett takes on Hollywood, here called Holy Wood, and the movies as the death of the guardian of a particular door and the lack of a replacement begins to cause reality, our silver screen reality, to seep into the Discworld. People begin to have these Big Ideas about making moving pictures and Pratchett, with his usual wit and humor, gives us references to movie classics as citizens of the Disc begin to make movies...in their own twisted Discworld sort of way.

Moving Pictures took quite a few pages to really begin to engage me in the story and the humor, but once it did I thoroughly enjoyed this Discworld novel. While not as good as, say, Mort, or one of the early witch novels, Moving Pictures is a decently good story and far more enjoyable than that dolt Rincewind (who, granted, has started to grow on me. Must be the luggage).

Nothing really critical here to say or examine because I find it almost impossible to discuss the plot of a Discworld novel as Pratchett is all over the place in a way that would cause most novels to fail. Yet Discworld succeeds.

Favorite Character Here: Gaspode the Wonder Dog.

Second Fav Character: Laddie (a idiotic Lassie like dog who has not been gifted the power of speech and intelligence through the magic of Holy Wood).

Good boy, Laddie!

-Joe Sherry

And so, "Hogfather" is finally dethroned as my favorite Discworld novel! Terry Pratchett's work is often compared to Douglas Adams's classic "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" applied to fantasy rather than science fiction, but I feel that Pratchett is in another league entirely. He has an uncanny knack to find one element of society -- in this case, the film industry, and deconstruct it, poking fun at all its conventions and turning something we take for granted into a bizarre threat.
The magic of "Holy Wood" grips Discworld this time around, as a would-be Wizard, a former farmgirl and a talking dog become the stars of the newest product of alchemy, the moving picture. There's something sinister about the pictures, though, something that should have remained untouched...
The ending sequence, which I can't examine in detail without giving away too much, nearly had me paralyzed with laughter as Pratchett systematically took on every Hollywood cliche he could find. If you've ever enjoyed a "Discworld" novel, you've got to read this one. If you love the movies and you love people who can poke good-natured fun at them, you've got to read this too.

This is the 10th in Pratchett's Discworld. Since neither of the main characters (Victor and Theda ("Ginger")) are ever referenced in any other Discworld books, this is one of the "standalone" books in the series ("Equal Rites," "Pyramids," "Moving Pictures," "Small Gods," "The Truth," and "Monstrous Regiment"). It's also one of the excellent ones. As the name implies, it's a parody of Hollywood during its Golden Age. Since Pratchett's forte is working with cultural metaphors, and Hollywood is a prime source of such metaphors, Pratchett is at his best here. The way the material and various films tie together (especially in the last 100 pages or so) is hilarious. Plus, the book does some good development of C.M.O.T. Dibbler and Detritus. It also introduces Ridcully, the Archancellor who seems to be Pratchett's now-permanent one, and one of my favorite recurring characters: Gaspode. Excellent book. I rate it at 5 stars out of 5.

I have been reading the Discworld novels in order, and sadly found this book to be the least entertaining one. These doesn't mean that it's not a good book, just that it's below level in comparison to the previous ones (I haven't read the ones that follow Moving Pictures, so I can't compare it with them).
The whole deal of poking fun at the movie industry seemed like fun, but seemed to grow old very quickly due to too many references and inside jokes, instead of the usual smart humor Pratchett has us used to.
The characters aren't really interesting, save from Gaspode, and maybe some of the trolls, but as for the other new ones (Victor and Ginger), I didn't like them. I have to say I'm biased because my favorite characters (DEATH and the librarian) had little to do this time around. Also, the backstory at the Unseen University seemed out of place and not really connected with the whole Holy Wood theme (at least until the end).
Well, I guess I can't really complain. This would be a great book for any other author, but when compared to the rest of the series, it seems a bit off.

Terry Pratchett is not a man associated with fine literature. In his Discworld series he has carved out a niche in the massive world of science fiction/fantasy novels: absurdist science fiction. His alternative world, which sort of resembles Earth (complete with humans), contains a wealth of nutty creatures. And Pratchett's narrative, while very simple, has many funny bits. But for this reader, and probably many others as well, his works are way over the top ... and tiresome. Fortunately 'Moving Pictures' seems to be amongst his better efforts.
'Moving Pictures' is the story of how Hollywood (in this case 'Holy Wood') comes to Discworld. The author takes tremendous liberty in poking fun at show business, often to good effect. Double entendres abound. At no time does the author take the story seriously, which eventually make this reader lose interest before the end. But kudos to Mr Pratchett for taking on a delicious subject matter and making the best use of his talent (ie, humour).
Bottom line: perhaps one of the few Pratchett books that will appeal to his detractors.

"Moving Pictures", while not in and of itself and weak book, is one of the lesser entries in the Discworld series. It's first half is anchored more by parody -- which Pratchett uses sparsely and to great effect in the other books -- than by satire -- which is Pratchett's real strength, and the thing that gives the other books their weight. The parody manifests itself in Pratchett's doppelganger depiction of the American movie industry. He gets the characters just right (e.g., an egomaniacal film producer, a talking dog who fancies himself an agent, and leading actors who are vacuous and mundane once the camera stops rolling), but the cheekiness of the situations he presents come off as rather cheesy.
There are too many mangled quotations from famous movies, such as a dog inquiring "What's up, duck?", or a lady troll remarking, on an old-fashioned mating ritual, that "a brick on the head could be quite complimentary, but diamonds are a girl's best friend." And the epic being made in the book's middle-third section is about a civil war, a city burning in flames, and the love between a stuck-up Southern Belle and an older distinguished gentleman. When pressed for a title, the film's producer thinks it should having to do with wind, and finally comes up with... 'Blown Away'. The setup to that inconsequential joke was too long to be funny.
Although I should note that not all of the film parodies are hokey. At one point a giant woman carries an ape in her hand as she climbs a tall building, and all regret that they don't have a camera rolling to catch the scene. And a golden statue of a bald man holding a sword "looks just like my Uncle Oswald!" Pratchett has some fun with his jokes, but I just found there to be too many of them. They were distracting.
Another problem is that the ending just takes too long to unravel. There are myriads of subplots that need to be resolved, some introduced during the final encounter itself and further complicating things. Keeping this story simple would have been a good idea. Terry tended to let it get away from him.
The final problem I noticed was that the romantic leads, Victor and Ginger, lacked any heat. Terry seemed to rely on the reader's assumption that since they were the main male and female characters, then love would naturally bloom. He did little to develop this idea, but consistently allowed its possibility to seep into the narrative.
All that being said, there were some interesting aspects to the book. A strong point is made about the strength of movie magic (especially in comparison with the Discworld's "real" magic). Although a tad underdeveloped, the idea that people are unconsciously drawn to "Holy Wood" was a thoughtful take on the power of the imagination. And the continuing growth of the character of the Librarian (for the uninitiated, he is a former wizard magically transformed into an orangutan... and perfectly happy to stay that way!) is a joy to watch. Even though he can say nothing more than "Ook", he is consistently the most sensible and conscientious character in any Discworld book, using his logic and reason to save the day.

Terry Pratchett has become one of the most popular authors alive today and his popularity is richly deserved. But not even with his fertile mind could ever have envisaged the heights to which his Discworld series would rise. This book was first published in 1990 and is number ten in the Discworld novels.

You would think that a fantasy world full of trolls, zombies, witches, vampires would be an alien concept to most readers. Werewolves and dwarves in the Ank Morpork city watch. Wizards running a university. All this born in the mind of one of the funniest minds writing today. Surely this style of writing would have a limited readership? But no the books are loved by anybody and everybody and are read by people who would not normally allow fantasy fiction anywhere near their book shelves. This is the Discworld of Terry Pratchett.

It's the turn of the alchemists to make you chortle through the pages of yet another winner from Terry Pratchett. Is it Hollywood, no, is it Bollywood, no, but it's the next best thing. Moving pictures are about to hit the silver screen on the Discworld. What this means in real terms is that the imps that used to paint really fast in the still cameras, now have to paint really really really fast. All of a sudden there is a whole new life form on the Discworld. Not vampires, werewolves, or even trolls, it is the birth of the filmstar and oh what a messy birth it is.

This is an early Discworld novel, and with most of them it's best read if you have some familiarity with the setting and characters, but it can still be read "cold" with no problem. Indeed, I'm reading the series out of order, so it was kind of fun to see some of the characters in their "early" stages of development.

The plot is pretty straight forward: alchemists work out a way to make movies, and things get out of hand with Cthulhu-like critters trying to use this as a portal back into the "real" world. As with most Pratchett books, the plot is solid but most of the fun is in the social parody and commentary going on around this. There are quite a few chuckles here, and this book is especially funny with its lampooning/parodying of classic Hollywood movies.

Highly recommended.

Probably my least favorite of the series so far. I never really connected with the characters in this one and while it did have a few chuckles in it, not so many as in previous books. I'm working my way through the entire series and am enjoying the light hearted reading.

This book features one of the best characters in all of the disc:(dum Dum DUM)C.M.O.T Dibbler the sausage inna bun peddler and wholesale swindler, who takes over the moving picture industry. This guy hires the dumbest troll in the city, Detrius, to be his hired hand. After making a 3 reeler (It's actually ten minuets long) a monster steps out of the screen and the librarian swings into a concrete wall and says "ook"(well, that is the only thing he says period).I like the Thingeness meter too. Poor bursar.

This Discworld novel is a spoof of the early days of Hollywood, with lots and lots of movie references. Gaspode the talking dog, who was introduced here, is a big asset to the book. Peripherally tied to the Rincewind stories via the wizards, and the Night Watch stories via "cut me own throat" Dibbler, it is primarily a standalone, and not one of the better ones: when the most interesting character is a dog, you know something is not quite right.

This book has this really irritating quality typical of middle-period Discworld novels: for the first two thirds of the way through, it's unadulterated fun. But then, you get to the last sixty pages, or whatever, and it insists on building to a profoundly dull climax, rather letting the reader down after all the prior hilarity. Still, most of it's great, even if Soul Music does the same basic idea much better.

This book features one of the best characters in all of the disc:(dum Dum DUM)C.M.O.T Dibbler the sausage inna bun peddler and wholesale swindler, who takes over the moving picture industry. This guy hires the dumbest troll in the city, Detrius, to be his hired hand. After making a 3 reeler (It's actually ten minuets long) a monster steps out of the screen and the librarian swings into a concrete wall and says "ook"(well, that is the only thing he says period).I like the Thingeness meter too. Poor bursar.

This Discworld novel is a spoof of the early days of Hollywood, with lots and lots of movie references. Gaspode the talking dog, who was introduced here, is a big asset to the book. Peripherally tied to the Rincewind stories via the wizards, and the Night Watch stories via "cut me own throat" Dibbler, it is primarily a standalone, and not one of the better ones: when the most interesting character is a dog, you know something is not quite right.

This book has this really irritating quality typical of middle-period Discworld novels: for the first two thirds of the way through, it's unadulterated fun. But then, you get to the last sixty pages, or whatever, and it insists on building to a profoundly dull climax, rather letting the reader down after all the prior hilarity. Still, most of it's great, even if Soul Music does the same basic idea much better.

I really like all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld (fantasy) books, including this one. You will best enjoy reading them in the order published, but they're good on their own. They have a unique, fey humor: I expect you will like all or none, so if they're new to you, get just one to begin with.

Moving Pictures is one of the best since The Color of Magic. Terry skews the movie industry from every possible angle in his fractured lens. Loved every minute of it. CMOT Dibbler is elevated to CB Demille and that should tell you how insane the rest is. 5 stars over the Paramount mountain!

I haven't really read anything of Terry Pratchett, but a copy of this book was given to me, and I loved it! It was great...hilarious! I liked the "banged grains." If this is Terry Pratchett's worst novel, I'm already reading his others. Absolutly fabulous. Terry Pratchett has a way with creating humorous characters. A wonderful book. If you want to laugh, read this.

Pratchett chooses yet another industry to satirise, and Hollywood and the whole movie business isn't a bad choice.

A fledgling industry starts up, complete with producers, stars, and all the other hangers-on, until it is discovered that actually doing this movie thing is really, really bad for the discworld.

In the smack-dab middle of the Discworld series, Moving Pictures portrays a fun-filled, bizarre, and completely extraordinary comedy with some of the most innovative characters and hilarious jokes in any of the series. Some minor flaws in the story structure make for a less consuming novel than some of his previous outgoings, but the entire appeal of the novel (not to mention the cover) enthrall the reader and give a new sensation in the world of Pratchett. I think maybe he could have incorporated "putting sound into moving pictures" a little better, but an overall delight. Nice Work, TP!