Why did Planer stop reading Discworld novels?

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The Mad Collector

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Sep 1, 2010
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#21
He got it as a long time supporter of the Labour Party and a senior union official at Equity. The official citation in the honours list is for public and political service, nothing to do with his acting ability or otherwise.

Wikipedia entry for Tony Robinson said:
Robinson and his former wife Mary Shepherd were active in Bristol Labour politics from the early 1980s.

From 1996 to 2000, he was vice-president of the actors' union Equity, helping with a huge restructuring programme which turned a £500,000 deficit into a small surplus. He continues to work within Equity. In 2000 he was elected to the Labour Party's National Executive Committee, a position he held to 2004.

He was also active in the "Make Poverty History" campaign during early 2005, in the lead-up to the G8 summit in Scotland, and is the patron for UK-based charity Street Child Africa.

In March 2011, Robinson participated in the 'March for the Alternative' protests in Central London, which opposed the Conservative led Coalition UK Government's spending cuts programme
 

Tonyblack

Super Moderator
City Watch
Jul 25, 2008
30,841
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#23
The best part is that he got this honour during the Coalition Government he protested against.

Thanks for that, Mad. I hadn't known that about him, and now I like the guy even more than before. Just wish he'd stop reading the audiobooks though. :laugh:
 

raisindot

Sergeant-at-Arms
Oct 1, 2009
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#24
Tonyblack said:
The best part is that he got this honour during the Coalition Government he protested against.

Thanks for that, Mad. I hadn't known that about him, and now I like the guy even more than before. Just wish he'd stop reading the audiobooks though. :laugh:
Uh, your wish was granted...like twelve years ago, wasn't it? :laugh:
 
Nov 10, 2013
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#26
"I agree with you. Planer can do Captain (Sir) Vime like no other, and Nanny Ogg! Perfect! Corporal Detritus also. I don't know. I guess it is just a matter of getting used to Briggs."
I agree with you on all counts. Also, I think Planer does Death the best. The only voice I think Briggs does better than Planer is Lady Sybil. I think Planer made her sound a bit more manly than I'd like her to sound.
Mostly though, I think Nigel Planer has more varied voices for the many characters he portrays when reading the books. I'm on my third round of listening to all the Pratchett books and while Briggs is pretty great...I mean *really* great...especially when compared to just about any other audio book reader other than Planer, I still prefer Planer. I think that so many of Brigg's vocal styles for different characters are the same. He just doesn't have the range that Nigel Planer has, IMO. Also, I hate the way he makes Detritus sound.
However, the narrator that really gets on my nerves...to the point that I simply cannot listen to her, is Celia Imrie.
The reason I'm listening to books, rather than reading them, is because in my occupation, I spend so much time driving. Since reading while being at the wheel is so frowned upon around here, (Can't imagine why. :p) I listen to books. when Celia is simply narrating, she is so soft spoken that I can barely hear her. Then, whenever she's doing a character's voice, she is terribly LOUD, whiny, nasally, raspy, just awful. I find just about every voice she does to be very annoying, especially when she whines. I also think she is not suited to doing the voices for male characters.
I wish that the books that she performed on could be re-recorded with either Nigel Planer or Stephen Briggs reading. I love those books...I just can't stand to listen to them.
 

TheAnts

Lance-Constable
Nov 5, 2013
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#27
Thank you for the warning!

We used to listen in the car a lot while travelling, and it was very noticeable that Tony Robinson's volume veered all over the place. I thought this was because he wasn't an actor, but Celia Imrie is, isn't she? Anyway, it's not a good style for a talking book. Nigel Planer was better on every front, I'm sorry to hear he's stopped doing it. I haven't neard Stephen Briggs except at the last TP Con we went to - he sounded good, but I haven't heard him do a book.
 

raisindot

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Oct 1, 2009
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Boston, MA USA
#29
TheAnts said:
Thank you for the warning!

We used to listen in the car a lot while travelling, and it was very noticeable that Tony Robinson's volume veered all over the place. I thought this was because he wasn't an actor, but Celia Imrie is, isn't she? Anyway, it's not a good style for a talking book. Nigel Planer was better on every front, I'm sorry to hear he's stopped doing it. I haven't neard Stephen Briggs except at the last TP Con we went to - he sounded good, but I haven't heard him do a book.
Try one, especially one of his Watch readings. Planer is very good but Briggs brings the voicings to a whole new level, most of the time.
 
Nov 15, 2011
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#31
I'm a relative newbie to DW audio but I've listened to a few read by Nigel Planer & Tony Robinson. Robinson is better but I don't really like either. They are a thousand miles away from what I'd hoped.
 

ar43r

New Member
Sep 11, 2015
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#35
I heard to 15 books and realised that some of the books I did like more than the other. My personal favourites were Colour of magic, Guard! Guards! Small Gods and Thief of Time.
During that time I didn't realised that there were two narrators, so I was kind of unbiased (except, I love Irish accent :)
I loved the presentation of Vimes, Colone, Detritus and Vetinary by Planer. And I also loved Igor by Briggs. As for Death - nobody beats Christopher Lee, imho.
So I personally think that both narrators are exceptionally good. But even so I'll miss Nigel Planer anyway.
 

RathDarkblade

Moderator
City Watch
Mar 24, 2015
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#37
In my not-so-humble, Nigel Planer was good but Briggs is better. ;) The reason he does the Feegles well is simple - no-one else has done them, as far as I know! :laugh:

I agree that Tony Robinson doing a character sounds exactly like Tony Robinson. The only exception might be Eric's mom, and she's only on a record for about 5 seconds. :p
 

raisindot

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Oct 1, 2009
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Boston, MA USA
#39
RathDarkblade said:
In my not-so-humble, Nigel Planer was good but Briggs is better. ;) The reason he does the Feegles well is simple - no-one else has done them, as far as I know! :laugh:
Actually Niger Planer did do Feegles--in Carpe Jugulum. His voicings made them sound like sneaky little deviant "foreign" miscreants--but, in Planer's defense, Pterry hadn't "evolved" the Feegles to be much more than figures of fun in this book. Briggs was fortunate enough to begin voicing them when they came into their own in WFM.
 

RathDarkblade

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Mar 24, 2015
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#40
Oh! *surprised* OK. I haven't heard any recording of Carpe Jugulum, except Tony Robinson's. :|

How much are the Discworld books-on-CD? Is it possible to purchase some of the better ones (e.g. read by Nigel Planer or by Stephen Briggs)? *interested* I've only been able to listen to them by borrowing them from the library. Are they very expensive?
 

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