Just a heads up for those interested.
I noticed that Terry Pratchetts “Hogfather” is on tonight at 9pm est
Channel 15 (Ion Network?) on Comcast Cable here in the Boston Area.
Just FYI IMHO it’s not all that great.
Considering the quality of most Discworld books including Hogfather they could and should have done a better job with this movie.
Is it worth watching at all?
Or (as a fan) will it just piss me off?
The entire production, casting and acting was mediocre. I was extremely disappointed to realize it was two nights long. I wasn’t expecting that and felt like I wasted my time.
I think this was just as disappointing as Tin Man. Both felt more like a waste of time than anything worth watching.
I think it’s worth watching if you’re not a fan or if you are not a hardcore fan. If you are a hardcore fan it may annoy.
It’s not terrible, it’s just not what I personally was expecting as a fan.
What was the production company? I wonder if it would have been better made if it had been commissioned by the BBC rather than SKY.
It wasn’t as bad as the animated Wyrd Sisters, I thought. I haven’t had the urge to re-watch it, though.
One more thing… The bad guy (can’t remember his name) all I could think was… “Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka… Only more nasty”
Teatime. That’s te-ah-ti-meh. 
And, in fact, he’s said that Depp’s Wonka was his inspiration.
Didn’t work for me in the slightest. He was more annoying that intimidating.
I kind of thought he played him as nicely psychotic.
I haven’t read Hogfather in a while, but the only thing I noticed missing was more of Death of Rats. He made a cameo, but maybe they couldn’t afford the special effects. However, I found it in general to be too loyal to the book, and it dragged as a movie. It was nice seeing the Wizards, and I’m real glad they showed the “Anthill Inside” sign, but were they really necessary? The important parts of the story were Susan rescuing the Hogfather and Death taking over. A lot of characters showed up just enough to slow down the story but not enough to let anyone who is not a fan know who they were. (Like Death of Rats, and Nobby and Visit.) Plus the music really, really sucked.
Better than the cartoons, though.
I’m a hardcore fan and I liked it, but I agree: it was actually too loyal to the books. I always feel a little cheated when my favorite scenes and characters are cut out of book-based movies, but with very few changes, pretty much every scene from the book is in the movie.
I’m going to watch it again Sunday night – a friend has the region 2 DVD and a British player. I did find Teh-ah-tim-eh kind of annoying too… creepy, yes, and made my flesh crawl, but I always envisioned him as a bright-eyed murderer with childlike glee, gentlemanly in the way some twelve year old boys are brought up to talk to their grannies. Polite, cheerful, completely psychopathic. Someone who goes through the world stabbing people with an I’m-going-to-a-lovely-party! smile, killing a person as casually as you might crumple a sheet of paper. Possibly it’s influenced by Kidby’s drawing of the fellow.
Movie Teatime, though, just struck me as a parody of childlike behavior. I think the actor got exactly the effect that he wanted, but it wasn’t the effect I was looking for.
Still, I like it. But I have no taste: I also like the animated Wyrd Sisters. Not enough to watch it often, mind…
I didn’t enjoy what I saw of it very much. Some small bits were good, but as has been noted, it tried to follow the book too closely.
But what do I know? I liked Wyrd Sisters.