Book:Moving Pictures

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Moving Pictures
Cover art by Josh Kirby
Co-author(s)
Illustrator(s)
Publisher Victor Gollancz
Publication date 1990
ISBN 0552134635
Pages 279
RRP
Main characters Victor Tugelbend, Theda Withel, Gaspode
Series Discworld Series
Annotations View
Notes Book #10
All data relates to the first UK edition.

Blurb

The alchemists of the Discworld have discovered the magic of the silver screen. But what is the dark secret of Holy Wood hill?

It's up to Victor Tugelbend ("Can't sing. Can't dance. Can handle a sword a little") and Theda Withel ("I come from a little town you've probably never heard of") to find out ... Moving Pictures, the tenth Discworld novel, is a gloriously funny saga set against the background of a world gone mad!

Cover

The cover was painted by Josh Kirby, and the front features many characters filming a moving picture: Victor (with sword), Ginger (lying languorously), Silverfish (with megaphone), Gaffer (with picture box), Gaspode (by Ginger's leg), CMOT Dibbler (with sausages-in-buns), Oswald (behind Victor), a troll (under Ginger), and several imps and dwarves.

The back cover has three Wizards riding with Windle Poons on his wheelchair, chasing Gaspode (who seems to be on both covers) and Laddie, passing the Resograph.

Major Characters

Minor Characters

Cameos and Mentions

Things and Concepts

Clicks and their Roundworld references

  • High Jinks at the Store, in the general style of early Charlie Chaplin films
  • Pelias and Melisande, a Belgian play
  • The Interestinge and Curious Adventures of Cohen the Barbarian, parodying the Conan the Barbarian series of films (Cohen himself being a parody of Conan), later renamed Sword of Passione
  • A King's Ransom
  • The Dark Forest
  • Mystery Mountain
  • A Bolde Adventurer, probable reference to the Indiana Jones films
  • Tales of the Dwarfes, references Snow White, given the "Hiho" song (there are many movies about dwarves, but the "Hiho" song is unique to the Disney version of Snow White). The "And that includes you, Dozy!" line near the end of the book references Sleepy the dwarf from this movie
  • An Exciting Study of Pottery Making, probably refers to the awful Open University self-study films of the 70s in which men with beards and tank-tops showed us how to do everything, using blackboards. But might also be a reference to the BBC film "The Potter's Wheel", shown when there were technical problems in the early days of broadcasting.
  • Bad Menace of Troll Valley, possible reference to Lightnin' Smith Returns, American title "Valley of the Bad Men"
  • Shadowe of the Dessert, referencing The Shadow of the East, UK title "The Shadow of the Desert"
  • The Third Gnome, referencing the The third man by Orson Welles
  • Golde Diggers of 1457, reference to "Gold Diggers of 1933" and its sequel The Golde Rushe, reference to The Gold Rush (note the 57 reference as well)
  • Turkey Legs, reference to Duck Soup (given that it's a comedy and later referenced along with A Night At The Arena)
  • Blown Away, referencing Gone with The Wind, and based on the Ankh-Morpork Civil War
  • Valley of the Trolls and Beyond the Valley of the Trolls, references to Valley of the Dolls and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
  • A Night At The Arena, referencing A Night At the Opera
  • Burninge Passiones

Locations

Sentient Species

Supernatural Entities

Gallery

First Edition Cover by Josh Kirby
'Letterbox' Hardback
Cover by Peter Scanlan
Paperback 2004
Audio Cassette
Audio CD
Paperback ROC Publishing
US Cover
Paperback 2012
Unseen Library Edition
Collectors Library Edition
Paperback 2023

External links

Moving Pictures Annotations - The Annotated Pratchett File


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