"Monstrous Regiment". Pilch
Terry Pratchett wrote 41 Discworld novels. At best ( Guards! Guards! ) they were brilliantly constructed combinations of Pythonesque humour, satire and tight plotting. At worst ( Moving Pictures ) they were tortuous plods through parallel cultural references, which the reader simply had to identify, shrug at, and move on, like a later episode of The Simpsons . I was privileged to meet Pratchett 30 years ago when, as both a TV producer and a fan, I suggested adapting Wyrd Sisters for TV. It came to nothing (although others had better luck). The man himself was curmudgeonly and eccentric, wry and observant, concise and colourful – in every way just like his novels. But I found, while working with him on the adaptation, that the very thing that makes his books so appealing – all the undercutting comments and observational cul-de-sacs – would be hard to translate to screen or stage. Monstrous Regiment has found the same problem. It was the 31 st Discworld novel, and its clever title (ba...
