Soul Music (TV series)
| Soul Music | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy, comedy, animation |
| Created by |
Terry Pratchett Martin Jameson |
| Developed by | Acorn Media |
| Directed by | Jean Flynn |
| Starring |
Andy Hockley Debra Gillett Christopher Lee |
| Composer(s) |
Keith Hopwood Phil Bush |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 7 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 159 min (7 episodes approx 23 min each) |
| Release | |
| Original network | Channel 4 |
| Original release | 12 May – 23 June 1997 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Welcome to the Discworld |
| Followed by | Wyrd Sisters |
Soul Music is a seven-part animated television adaptation of the 1994 book of the same name by Terry Pratchett, produced by Channel 4 Television Corporation/Cosgrove Hall Films/ITEL/Ventureworld Films and distributed by Channel 4 Television Corporation (1996) (UK) (TV) & Vision Video (2001) (UK) (DVD). It was first broadcast on 12 May 1997 and released on DVD in 2001 alongside Wyrd Sisters in a box set entitled "Soul Music". The feature-length miniseries was developed by Acorn Media, and directed by Jean Flynn. It was the first film adaptation of an entire Discworld novel (following the Welcome to the Discworld short, which was based on a fragment of the novel Reaper Man). The series soundtrack was also released on CD, but the disc is now out of production. The soundtrack is, however, now available through iTunes. Editz did the title sequences, Flix Facilities did the digital picture editing, and Hullabaloo Studios did the audio post-production.
The film's tagline is: "A story of reality, fantasy and the bits in the middle".
The series closely follows the plot of the novel, which, like many of Pratchett's novels, introduces an element of modern society into the magical and vaguely late medieval / early modern world of the Disc - in this case rock and roll music and stardom - with nearly disastrous consequences. It also introduces Susan Sto Helit, daughter of Mort and Ysabell and granddaughter of Death.
Soul Music is notable for having numerous allusions to various aspects of the music industry, including groupies, music-recording devices, and most notably the history of rock and roll. The Geeky Guide To Everything noted "Each new number depicted a different aspect or period of rock music ranging from the likes of beat music all the way to the Beatles. And this made for an entertaining musical and visual experience". NeedCoffee said "the songs that The Band with Rocks In sings manage to be send-ups and faithful recreations of the various styles rock-n-roll has been through". PopMatters notes "the whole adventure is a parody of the music industry in the world outside of the story". The Geeky Guide to Everything described it as a "quirky celebration...of rock music's history". Terry Pratchett said "Rock and Roll is sung about and talked about as though it is some kind of a living thing – it won’t fade away, it’ll never die. It has a meaning quite apart from a particular type of musical sound, and then consider the large number of people to whom it offered tremendous fame for a few years and then sudden death, as if there was some kind of devil’s bargain going on."
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