Talk:Unseen Academicals

Football/Soccer
Should it be clarified for American readers that the "football" is their (including my) "soccer"? I was confused at first, but then realized that since Terry Pratchett is from England, it's what I would think of as "soccer", not "football". Molly moon  04:05, 8 June 2009 (UTC)
 * Interviews and other prepublishing info (images) seems to sugest soccer with some rugby mixed in. Round ball but, use of hands. My guess that it will be a fantasy sport similar but not the same as either football or soccer. I guess we'll see in about a month. --Ttias (talk) 21:45, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
 * In fact, I'm sure it's reffered to as "foot-the-ball" in the book, so probably isn't strictly football or soccer. Nevermind, I've read on a little bit more and (spoiler for those who haven't read it, but a tiny spoiler at that) the rules have been changed and now it sounds almost exactly like football lol.--91.105.72.86 (talk) 08:30, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

American Cover
Shouldn't this article also include the American edition's cover as well? 98.19.55.141 (talk) 18:24, 31 July 2009 (UTC)


 * As far as I can tell, all the other articles only have the original UK cover. I'm afraid I don't think it would be useful or feasible to start listing all the other covers. Kimberley Verburg (talk) 15:38, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

I personally agree on the american cover(see amazon.com) as it features the football in question, it is a round brown ball with stiches(ie, a mix of football AND soccor)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.28.155.113 (talk) 15:23, 28 October 2009 (UTC)


 * It's a book by an UK author so the UK cover is more logical. Alternative covers can only be used if their use significantly increases the reader's understanding of the topic (see WP:NFCC). I see no such reason just because it features the ball, that can be explained using text just as well. Regards  So Why  15:34, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

Release Date
There's a bit of confusion over the UK release date. The official release is 8 Oct 09. However, according to this evening's quick phone call, Transworld aims to get it in shops on 1 Oct. About 800 books will be released in the race for the Xmas bestseller, on what some are attempting to dub "Super Thursday. Will try to establish tomorrow if they decided to join the race and what happens with the audio CD.

P.S. Terry's website of choice, PJSM Prints, also lists the 1 October release date. Kimberley Verburg (talk) 19:39, 28 September 2009 (UTC)


 * I see, thanks. Every online site (other than Amazon) lists it as 8th October, as does my Amazon pre-order. So Transworld are basically playing silly beggars, perhaps the release date here should be the one that will apply to most people, ie 8th October? :-) --Gaunt (talk) 20:10, 28 September 2009 (UTC)


 * Talked to Transworld Sales department who say that the week's difference between the "on sale" and "publication" dates is standard and is something that will be changed next year. He said there's a lot of confusion about it. No, really? :) Kimberley Verburg (talk) 15:30, 30 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Now I've actually searched... The "on sale" date seems to be the hard date, the "publication" date is an approximate ETA for the books. Can't find a UK source but Editorial Anonymous (among others) seems to have relevant info. Kimberley Verburg (talk) 15:58, 30 September 2009 (UTC)
 * It was definitely on sale on the October 1, because I bought it (I was meant to be buying textbooks but, oh well). I suppose I could find the receipt if you fell like having proof. --Tyrfing (talk) 01:15, 4 October 2009 (UTC)
 * And I received my copy from Amazon on October 1. --Gaunt (talk) 09:05, 4 October 2009 (UTC)

Twist?
What's the current policy on revealing the important points of plots? Specifically, this article states that Mr Nutt is an orc... but a major plot point through the first half of the book is that everyone (including Mr Nutt) thinks he's actually a goblin...? --86.134.133.59 (talk) 22:32, 13 October 2009 (UTC)


 * It depends on what is written about it. for sommat like this it wouls have to be written in a careful way. rdunn  albatross  10:30, 14 October 2009 (UTC)


 * See WP:SPOILER and WP:NOTCENSORED. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and as such, our goal is to give complete overview, not save people from reading spoilers. Noone is forced to read this article before reading the book's story after all. But Mr. Nutt's status as an orc is fundamental to the book, so it should be included in the synopsis. Regards  So Why  10:59, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

FIFA reference?
Trevor Likely ≈ Pelé? Dr. F no. in point of fact i did not read the book b4 suggesting this as is, i am sure, obvious. i was thinking of the rags to glory quality of Sr. do Nascimento's life. presently in process of reading the book. Dr. F 01:22, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

Motifs
Many of Pratchett's recent Discworld novels had veiled motifs throughout the story. And I'm not sure what the references in this one referred to.

One thing I noticed is that there seemed to be a few references to musicals. I noticed this when Glenda was talking on p. 49 about how Juliet spoke very crassly, and a guard said "My fare, lady" (a reference to 'My Fair Lady'). That made me notice: - The main point of star crossed lovers refers to 'Romeo and Juliet' (which is also the name of the female of this pair), but is also the plot of 'West Side Story', featuring 2 rival gangs. - The aforementioned reference to 'My Fair Lady' - The cook's name is 'Glenda,' name made famous in 'Wizard of Oz'

I didn't notice anything else that shouted out, but was this supposed to be an underlying motif? Since it's based on football, I would have expected at least 1 reference to 'Damn Yankees,' but couldn't find one. Qvamp (talk) 16:42, 11 February 2010 (UTC)


 * the author is British so there probably wouldn't be a reference to American football. rdunn  albatross  10:14, 11 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Actually, Damn Yankees is about Baseball, I was more referring to a musical about sports than anything. Qvamp (talk) 16:42, 11 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Oh okays. I'm not totaly sure about that. It would have been mentioned in an interview I think. rdunn  albatross  12:20, 12 February 2010 (UTC)

At the end of the story - Juliet realises she always wanted to ride through the city with the wind in her hair. Must be a reference to "Ballad of Lucy Jordan" Quote lyrics: At the age of thirty-seven she realised she'd never ride through Paris in a sports car with the warm wind in her hair. Recorded by Marianne Faithful, Dr. Hook and many others. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.71.89.15 (talk) 19:56, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Death?
Is this the only Discworld book in which the character Death does not appear? If so, I think that should be added. --Robinson weijman (talk) 15:47, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
 * Pretty sure there are others that he doesn't appear in. DP 76764  (Talk) 19:06, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
 * He is in this one - near the beginning when one of the main characters is seriously injured. Halmyre (talk) 19:15, 8 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes, he's definitely in this one, and with speaking lines, too, so to speak (well, always does, far as I remember.) Schissel | Sound the Note! 09:19, 5 December 2013 (UTC)

Nutt
I'm pretty sure Nutt shouldn't be classified as a savant, he's rather a renaissance man. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.166.234.204 (talk) 11:31, 12 June 2013 (UTC)

Other titles
Published in French in 2010 by Atalante as Allez les mages! (ISBN 9782841725212 / ISBN 2-8417-2521-9) - not sure if that's relevant to anything. Schissel | Sound the Note! 09:17, 5 December 2013 (UTC)

A wreck
This page is a (steam)train wreck and needs to be redone from start to finish Lots42 (talk) 01:22, 2 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Could you be more specific? Stephenb (Talk) 10:32, 2 November 2015 (UTC)


 * One problem is the endless use of '(soccer)' in the article. I know Americans find 'football' alone confusing, but I would have thought anyone interested in Pratchett's work would understand the British usage, and it only needs disambiguating once in any case. I would have thought wikilinking would be a better way to disambiguate. --Ef80 (talk) 22:20, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
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