released 01 may 08 / last mod 01 may 08 / greg goebel / public domain
* I once read one of British writer Terry Pratchett's fantasy novels and liked it, but it was at a time when I was getting out of novels and never followed it up. However, when I saw an ad for a video mini-series on DVD titled THE HOGFATHER and based on one of Pratchett's novels, I couldn't pass it up -- particularly since they were selling it for cheap.
THE HOGFATHER was made in 2006 by Jean Vadim for the UK SkyOne TV channel. As is generally the case with Pratchett's stories, it takes place on Discworld, a cosmic joke created by the gods, consisting of a flat disk of a planet with the oceans pouring off its edge, sitting on the backs of four huge elephants that stand in turn on the shell of a monstrous sea turtle, the great A'Tuin, cruising among the stars. As might be suspected for such a planet, magic is so normal there that it is mundane.
Discworld, however, is not entirely different from our own world. It has a winter holiday named "Hogwatch" that more than somewhat similar to our Christmas, whose prime mover is a character named the "Hogfather" who is more than somewhat similar to Santa Claus. However, the Hogfather has cosmic enemies who hire an assassin named Mr. Teatime (Marc Warner -- pronounced "teh-ah-tee-may") to do away with him. Death -- Pratchett's not-so-Grim Reaper (voice of Ian Richardson), intervenes to deal with the threat, taking the Hogfather's place, coming down the chimneys with a HO-HO-HO, while his adoptive granddaughter Susan (Michelle Dockery) takes on Mr. Teatime's fiendish plot.
THE HOGFATHER is a generally well-produced piece of work, though it is at about 190 minutes a fair amount of time to sit through, and about a half hour might have been trimmed from it without either losing anything or even making it seem rushed. For those inclined to be patient who have an appreciation of fantasy and oblique humor -- just think, a minor deity named the "Oh Gawd Of Hangovers" -- it is definitely rewarding. Those who are after glitz and action need not apply, of course.
Myself, I found it definitely worth the time and in fact have committed to reading every Pratchett novel I can get my hands on. However, I don't think I'll read more than one a month -- the Discworld is nice for a visit, but I don't think living there would be very comfortable.
