BBC 4: "The Worlds of fantasy" Last part tonight

[Darujhistan]

Has anyone else been watching?

[I'm Murrin]

I saw last week's. The Tolkien stuff is mostly old news by now, but it's good to see some attention given to Mervyn Peake.
From what I've heard (opinions of first show, and previews of next) tonight's will probably be the more interesting one--though it all depends on what they choose to look at.

And thanks for posting about it, because it's on in half an hour and I had forgotten.

[stonemaybe]

And thanks for posting about it, because it's on in half an hour and I had forgotten.

What he said, except i didn't even know it was on at all!

[Phantasm]

I tried to Sky+ it last week, but for some reason, it didn't record - typical that it's the first thing it's failed to record

[stonemaybe]

Hmm not sure if i enjoyed that or not!

[Darujhistan]

I saw last week's. The Tolkien stuff is mostly old news by now, but it's good to see some attention given to Mervyn Peake.
From what I've heard (opinions of first show, and previews of next) tonight's will probably be the more interesting one--though it all depends on what they choose to look at.

And thanks for posting about it, because it's on in half an hour and I had forgotten.

No worries.

Yes, i enjoyed the Peake stuff.

I meant to post a reminder last week, but ironically...i forgot...

[I'm Murrin]

Tonight's was alright, but not great. Too much focus on Pratchett in the first half, though it's good they included some about Moorcock (including reading an Elric quote). They just couldn't help bringing everything back to Tolkien...
Mentioned New Weird toward the end, and Miéville, but talked about King Rat--probably because the Bas-lag stuff (that more properly fits the New Weird label) is a ittle too strange and far-removed from the show's audience (non-fantasy fans). Speaking of that audience, I'm not sure the show really hit its mark--a small series, not well advertised, on BBC4 and on a subject of narrow interest probably only attracted the attention of people who already knew about fantasy.

I can understand your reaction Stone--it's a bit of an odd mix, stuck halfway betwen informing people about the more interesting areas of fantasy and keping within the expectations of the mainstream audience, which resulted in a lot of the old cliches coming up.

[Darujhistan]

"keping within the expectations of the mainstream audience, which resulted in a lot of the old cliches coming up."


I groaned when the inevitable happened - film of men with beards sat around a D and D board in the 70's...

Not a lot of interest for long time fantasy readers i'd imagine, which i am not, being a relative "noob".

[Phantasm]

It's on again at midnight for any insomniacs, or recording.

[stonemaybe]

I can understand your reaction Stone--it's a bit of an odd mix, stuck halfway betwen informing people about the more interesting areas of fantasy and keping within the expectations of the mainstream audience, which resulted in a lot of the old cliches coming up.

That's it - it was a halfway kind of program. I doubt whether anyone watching who'd never read fantasy, would go out and start after watching it (in fact, the reverse!), whereas fantasy fans weren't told anything they wouldn't have already known.

It was nice seeing neil gayman, phillip pullman, terry pratchett, and china mieville in the flesh, but apart from pp I don't think any of them came across very impressively.

The bit about terry pratchett in the library as a kid did ring some bells with me - I was the same in our local library, progressing from fantasy to folklore and mythology because the fantasy section was so limited. But *shrug* that's probably the same for any fantasy fan over 30.