Doing some searching I have found two companies that do some of the Audio books Isis Audio Books and Fantastic Audio Books. Does anyone know how they compare? From what I have read Isis only has a single narrator while Fantastic has several narrators. So I am wondering has anyone been able to compare the two or know who's is most preferred? They are both unabridged versions of Thief of Time.
Hi there! I personally have not heard any audio books since those long dull assemblies at primary school. Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself inthe introduction thread?
The ones with the black covers are read by Tony Robinson, ala Time Team and Blackadder. They're alright.
Yeah, the ones with Tony Robinson reading are the only ones I've heard, I think he was pretty good at it if I remember right?
I know only the German audio books... :roll: But I too have heard good things about the ones red by Tony Robinson. But as the topic is available, anyway - can any of you tell me wether the English audio books are unabridged, and if not, how much has been cut out, and has it been done sensibly?
I don't remember, they've gone all black though... you could email one of the second hand owners (where it says used and new) from the link and ask them?
The Tony Robinson ones are abridged but as far as I remember from the Hogfather it was well done (it's been a while since I listened to it). There were some ones around read by Nigel Planer that were unabridged, but I've never listened to them.
The ISIS audio books are unabridged (unedited). The earlier books were read by Nigel Planner, with the latest ones read by Stephen Briggs. Tony Robinson does the Corgi audio book versions, which are abridged. The ISIS ones cost more, which makes sense, since they're longer & each book takes up several discs. Both types are read satisfactorily in my opinion, so I guess it depends if you want the full, unedited versions or not.
I remember years and years ago, Tony Robinson told the story of Odysseus on TV, wandering around the countryside. As I remember he was very good at that, so I know he can do it!
I've been meaning to ask you all your thoughts about this topic, too. I've got a lot of the books on tape, and I'm gradually getting more on CD. So here's my two cents on comparing the different ones that have come out. The ones by Isis have been audio tapes, which have pros and cons for the listener. You can always find your place, because the tape stops at that point. On the other hand, probably the cds will stay in good shape longer. Cds cost more, though. Nigel Planer's reading of the books is really excellent! His voice for Death is just about perfect, in my opinion! Stephen Briggs does a very good job reading the stories, too. Both Planer and Briggs read the unabridged versions, and that is a big plus for me. I've read the books themselves so often that I would miss bits if they were cut out to save time! Not to mention, Terry's writing is worthy of savoring, and to have things such as the footnotes cut out would really be a shame! A couple of my audio books have the multiple reader format which is really, really jarring! I still haven't figured out why they chose to do this in the first place! If you can get Thief of Time with the single reader, go for it! As for Tony Robinson, I love the guy as an actor! I have no doubts that he does a good job reading the material. However, the cutting must be extreme in those audio books...just a quick comparison: Thud in the unabridged form consists of ten and a half hours in its entirety. The abridged form is listed as having three and a half hours of listening time. That sounds like a lot of cut material to me! The abridged versions are a lot cheaper, of course, but I'm not sure that they are really worth it. All I know is that on e-bay, there are lots of the abridged ones being resold, when anyone will bid on them, whereas the unabridged versions get bid up quite quickly and are much harder to find.
I found out yesterday that a friend of mine purchased a DVD off ebay that contains the first 29 discworld ISIS audio books. He only paid about 25euro for it. You would barely get 1 audio book on CD for that price, so he saved over 600euro! Apparently it wasn't illegal because of a loophole, whereby the person selling it says the DVD must be for backup purposes only & they accept no resposibility if you do not already have those 29 audio books! Talk about a dodgy loophole. Why would you by another copy of the audiobooks as a backup. You could simply backup using your own copies!
I'm a fan of the audio books of terrys work,although I have to say i find a discrepancy in the latter Corgi/Tony Robinson versions.For instance,I got Monstrous Regiment which plays over 4 tapes and lasts for just under four hours and is ok,for an abridged version.Then I got Going Postal which is again spread over four tapes but clocks in at SIX hours plus and is probably the best abridged version produced.Then Thud! comes out and again its back to three and a bit hours again.So whats going on? Who and how do they decide these abridged versions?Any answers people? I like Nigel Planer's character voices but prefer Stephen Briggs narration but Tony Robinson does the best Patrician of the lot!Could we get all 3 of them to do a prachett special together you think,and who would you like to voice your favourite character? I'm currently listening to Planer reading The Last Continent and was thinking doesn't his australian accent wander off at times?!
I've wondered the same thing about the abridged versions and who decides what can be cut. Do you suppose that Terry has the last word on it? Nigel Planer or Stephen Briggs as the best reader....I like them both, but I wonder if my preference for Nigel partly is because his readings were the first that I heard. It's kind of like asking Dr Who fans who their favorite Doctor is. A group effort with Planer, Briggs, and Robinson would be great, though I still vote for Planer to do Death! On the other hand, when Nigel Planer does the voice for Ludmilla, Mrs. Cake's daughter, he sounds like his character in the Young Ones! Terry Robinson could be the Patrician, but I want him to be Nobby as well, using his Baldrick voice from Black Adder! I like Stephen's voice for narration, and I particularly like his version of Vimes, as well as Colon, Angua, Carrot, etc. (Can you tell I've been listening to Thud a lot lately? It's in the CD player in the car and makes the time go by much more pleasantly!) Jackal, I've been wondering how they could possibly compress all of those books onto one CD. Is this something high tech? Those ISIS audios are all unabridged, as far as I know. It makes you wonder how the seller got his hands on it in the first place! Edit, to be totally honest: I'm probably just jealous that your friend saw it on e-bay first!
[quote:1a3719c1b7="janible"] Jackal, I've been wondering how they could possibly compress all of those books onto one CD. Is this something high tech? Those ISIS audios are all unabridged, as far as I know. It makes you wonder how the seller got his hands on it in the first place! Edit, to be totally honest: I'm probably just jealous that your friend saw it on e-bay first! [/quote:1a3719c1b7] They were all on a DVD, which has capacity for a couple of gigabytes, so that's how he fit 245 hours worth of unabridged material onto it! I too was jealous of my friend, so have borrowed tyhe DVD for the weekend, and just saved them all onto my laptop. On another topic, I think Tony Robinson is the best. Admittedly, I heard his versions before the others. Tony's female voices are brilliant, especially when he has to switch from male to female to male in quick succession.
[quote:d408bb4b10="DeWorde"]So whats going on? Who and how do they decide these abridged versions?Any answers people?[/quote:d408bb4b10] Yes, good question. The abridged versions certainly cut out a lot of material. Though I would imagine they send PTerry a copy for a final say on whether it's good enough for release. Also how come ISIS switched from Nigel Planer to Stephen Briggs in the first place? One would think tehy would stick with the original narrator.
I agree that Stephen does a cracking Vimes and Colon and I too would think that Tony playing Nobby as Baldrick would be fine.One word about Nigels rendition of The Last Continent though.Is it me or does he play Ridcully far too wimpy and bases his voices for the Dean on John Prescott and the Bursar on a mildly insane Roy Hattersely? :lol: A further point,one which I believe scores me far and beond the pale on the Pratchett anal retentive scale,I notice that in the Night Watch audio book (Briggs/unabridged versiobn) ,in the scene on top of the library dome,when Vimes makes the jump Carcer says "Well done ya Vimes!" and "No harm trying Mister Grace!".In the book its the other way round!How sad am I? I suppose the beauty of it all is we own have our individual ideas,thoughts and images about the Discworld characters we love and each form a slightly different picture of them in our heads.Thats what makes Terry's writing great.A great author makes writing like the act of telepathy.You see what he sees very clearly with your own individual nuances thrown in
:lol: You know you've got the books thoroughly in your brain when you can tell that the dialogue has been switched! I can picture Stephen reading the words out of order, and thinking, "At least it sounded okay. Surely no one will notice !" As to why ISIS switched readers, I wonder if Nigel Planer was busy elsewhere. Either that, or Terry knew how nicely Stephen renders the characters, from hearing him do parts in the plays.
I tend to agree with you ,janible,on the second idea of your potential theories regarding changes of reader on the ISIS audio books.After all messrs Briggs and Pratchett have a long established relationship now and he quite (Pterry) probably had some input with ISIS assuming Nigel wasn't available.I wonder if Stephen uses the same voices when he acts the parts?If anyone's seen him could you let me know please. Not that I'm saying Nigel did a bad job.I've been through his version of T.L.C and I'm listening to selected parts again...particularly the Explanation OF S-E-X scene in the God Of Evolutions cave.Funny as anything! :lol:
