What happens when a wild, magical idea escapes into Discworld? Well, if you are Terry Pratchett, you write a funny send up of Hollywood known as Moving Pictures (Penguin Books, 1990).

For years, Holy Wood remained deserted. Now that that wild idea has escaped, people are headed toward Holy Wood for various known and unknown reasons. The alchemists came to escape the watchful eye of the wizards–and to put demons to work drawing pictures on octocellulose (highly explosive and highly captivating when shown as moving pictures). Ginger, the beautiful milkmaid, is determined to be the biggest and best she can be, whatever that means. She’s sure it doesn’t involve milking cows. Victor finally puts aside his status as an eternal student (who always fails by just a little, but probably knows more than the rest of the wizards at Unseen University. He’s not too sure about this whole moving pictures business, but finds himself a reluctant leading man.

Gaspode, the talking dog, shows up. Even though he is outshone by Laddie (a beautiful, loyal, dumb, golden dog) at every turn, Gaspode knows how to make a deal and take his 10 percent. Dibbler, the sausage seller, learns to sell movie magic as he turns into a movie mogul. Even the trolls show up to play their part–and maybe find a little romance if the rules would just stay the same.

Wherever they are coming from–and wherever they might be leading–the ideas keep flowing until the best movie of all time is made. The only question that remains is will anyone survive long enough to figure out what is really going on?

Once again, Pratchett skewers modern society, this time focused on its fascination with all things celebrity and movie. I’m not a huge movie buff, but even I enjoyed the movie references that I caught. I’m sure someone who watches more movies would laugh even more.

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