Moving Pictures
Final Thoughts
This was a fantastic book, really funny, very sharp parody. This one falls more into the category of genre parody rather than specific parody but mainly because there was just so much. The references were thick and fast, the characters compelling, and we’re now seeing the final form of a lot more of them (Ridcully, Vetinary). The character of Gaspode is great too, a dog who’s reluctant to follow his instincts. The ending is really good, the screen finally struck down by a giant Oscar, before that energy dissipates…. for now?? Nothing stops the idea from re-entering in Holy Wood again….
This is an A-tier Pterry book!
Summary
- Introduction to Holy Wood
- The novel begins with the death of Deccan Ribobe, the last member of an ancient order tasked with “remembering” Holy Wood through ceremonial chanting.
- His death releases a mysterious influence from Holy Wood Hill.
- The Birth of Moving Pictures
- Alchemists in Ankh-Morpork discover the ability to create “clicks”—moving pictures.
- The new industry draws hopefuls to Holy Wood, including Victor Tugelbend, a lazy but talented wizard student, and Theda “Ginger” Withel, an aspiring actress.
- Cut-Me-Own-Throat Dibbler, a notorious salesman, sees an opportunity to profit and becomes a film producer.
- Rise of the Film Industry
- Holy Wood becomes a bustling hub of filmmaking, attracting dwarfs, trolls, demons, and humans alike.
- Victor and Ginger become stars, aided by Gaspode, a talking dog, and Laddie, a simple-minded but beloved canine actor.
- The industry grows rapidly, parodying Hollywood’s excesses and clichés.
- Reality Begins to Unravel
- The production of movies starts affecting the fabric of reality.
- Victor discovers Deccan Ribobe’s body and records of the ancient order.
- Ginger becomes possessed by an unknown entity, leading her and Victor to an ancient, hidden cinema.
- The Dungeon Dimensions Threat
- The hidden cinema contains a portal to the Dungeon Dimensions, a realm of monstrous entities.
- During the premiere of Blown Away (a parody of Gone with the Wind), a creature from the Dungeon Dimensions breaks through into Ankh-Morpork.
- Victor realizes he can harness Holy Wood magic and cinematic conventions to fight the creature.
- Climactic Battle
- In a parody of King Kong, Victor battles the creature with the help of the Librarian of Unseen University.
- He exploits the power of storytelling and film tropes to defeat the monster.
- The creatures continue trying to break through, revealing that Ginger’s possessed state was actually an attempt to prevent their arrival.
- Resolution
- The influence of Holy Wood dissipates, and the film industry collapses.
- Victor and Ginger return to their normal lives, while Dibbler moves on to his next business venture.
- The world of Discworld returns to its usual chaotic state, with the events of Holy Wood fading into legend.
Favourite Quotes
- It has been estimated that there are only about five hundred real people on any given planet, which is why they keep unexpectedly running into one another all the time.
- You couldn’t fish in the river Ankh; you had to jump up and down on the hooks even to make them sink.
- Holy Wood, here we come.
- A month went by quickly. It didn’t want to hang around.
- Ankh-Morpork itself was generally considered as wicked a city as you could hope to find in a year of shore leaves, and seemed to have avoided any kind of supernatural vengeance, although it was always possible that it had taken place and no one had noticed.
- This is Holy Wood. To pass the time quickly, you just film the clock hands moving fast…
In Unseen University, the resograph is already recording seven plibs a minute. - There was a noise exactly like a rubber sack full of butter hitting a stone slab and this was followed, after a moment or two, by a very quiet “oook”.
References
- Apparently there’s a line saying there’s a wizard in a picture, and someone else says there’s no wizards in Holy Wood, and they respond “Oh, this one’s all right. He’s not very good at the wizarding.”…. Rincewind?!
- Ridcully the Brown is likely modelled after Radaghast the Brown
- Two outerdimensional monsters: “yerwotyerwotyerwot” is a British saying/football chant, and Yob Soddoth meaning a yob should sod off.
- The well known quotes “you’ll never work in this town again”, “a verbal contract ain’t worth the paper it’s written on”, “include me out” were from Samuel Gelbfisch (Goldfish/Goldwyn) who is parodied in Thomas Silverfish.
- “No-one would have believed, in the final years of the Century of the Fruitbat, that Discworld affairs were being watched keenly and impatiently by intelligences greater than Man’s, or at least much nastier; that their affairs were being scrutinised and studied as a man with a three-day appetite might study the All-You-Can-Gobble-For-A-Dollar menu outside Harga’s House of Ribs…” This paragraph is a word-by-word parody of H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, which begins with: “No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.”
- Century of the Fruitbat studios = 20th Century Fox
- The Riktor Resorgraph was based on an ancient Han dynasty (2nd century) seismograph! It worked in basically the same way!
- “My daughter Calliope plays the organ real nice”, Calliope is the muse of epic poetry and a type of organ that sues whistles and bellows.
- Go, Sow, Thank You Doe. – Wham, Bam, thank you, Ma’am.
- ‘A rock on the head may be quite sentimental, […], but diamonds are a girl’s best friend.’ – A kiss on the hand may be quite continental; But diamonds are a girl’s best friend.
- Laddie is of course based on Lassie
- The climactic scene is a reversed king kong, with the librarian being carried up a tower by an enormous woman.
- Uselessium discovered at the end is…. uranium! Oh boy!
- OH! The reason everyone keeps saying the golden statue looks like their uncle Oswald/Osric etc. is because the nickname “Oscar” for the academy awards came from the Academy Librarian remarking that it looked like her uncle Oscar.
Leave a Reply