A Near Vimes Experience

Ankh-Morpork is home to sinister goblins, trolls, a baby dragon, an ageless wrathful villain, other supernatural beings known and unknown, a police force that manages and monitors crime, instead of enforcing the law, and an enigmatic, beautiful vigilante who thinks the police force is weak and pathetic for looking the other way (I agree and so far Lady Sybil Ramkin is my favorite). I am not familiar with the source material, so my opinion is based on the the show alone. I don't like the female cop with the permanent scowl on her face - maybe it's her "affliction". I've seen other characters with that same "affliction" in Penny Dreadful and Being Human and they don't look sooooo miserable all the time. There's some agenda-pushing but the show doesn't strangle you with it. The Police Captain Sam Vimes is too drunk 24-7. No one can maintain that level of intoxication 24-7 and function, let alone be Police Captain. That aside, an investigation into mysterious criminal activities, a powerful and magical book and complex characters with interesting backstories warrants continued watching.

Great start to a series. Having read all the books myself, it's nice to have a new take, as well as, updates on characters. The inclusion of minorities to show representation, that Pratchett was in support of, is wonderful. I can't wait for more.

Not having read the Terry Pratchett Discworld novels. I effectively went into this with no prior knowledge.

At least the first episode succeeds in being quirky and offbeat. I get a little jaded with sci fi/fantasy that tries too hard to be po faced.

There is an irreverent feel about The Watch. Especially by the performance of Richard Dormer as Captain Sam Vimes.

He is the intoxicated and jaded police captain. In flashbacks he feels responsible for the death of gang leader Carcer Dun.

It turns out Carcer Dun is alive and has not aged a day. He also seems to be sore at Vimes.

The series is inspired by the Discworld novels and not slavishly based on them. There was some grungy worldbuilding going on in the first episode which made it rather uneven.

I am utterly shocked after watching the 1st episode, who can possibly have allowed such awful, awful writing, production, casting, actually all of it, its diabolical, if Terry Pratchett does not turn in his grave I certainly will be. What a shame.....

So, if they wanted to create a series that had nothing to do with Terry Pratchett's Guards stories, why call it a Terry Pratchett adaptation? Why pretend that it has anything to do with the beloved Discworld stories and characters that are so poorly represented here? And why pretend that it's funny when it isn't?