Every Single One of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld Books Ranked From Good to Great

For 32 times, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books were a regular feature in bestseller listings, and dominated the science-fiction and story part of the store. Sir Terry flew the flag for anyone who enjoyed letting their [ …] come to mind when fantasy literature was less popular than other genres and comic fantasy even less.

On Den of Geek, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels are ranked from good to great, which is the first entry.

The state that” Stranger in a Strange Area” is the worst season of Lost has never been incontroversial. The seventh season of the second season of the show received nearly universally bad reviews immediately after it first aired in 2007, and its popularity hasn’t improved in the nearly 18 years since its debut. It’s the second-lowest-ranked episode of the show on IMDb ( and the lowest-rated overall episode ) and has become a kind of shorthand for the series ‘ broader shortcomings. In previous interviews, also Lost screenwriters Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have criticized the event, with Cuse going so far as to visit it” cringe-worthy.”

However,” Stranger in a Strange Area” should be at least a little gratifying to Abandoned fans everywhere. Not as a independent episode, perhaps, but as a crucial component of the series as a whole that is more important than many other officially greater but mostly meaningless episodes that have already come out. &nbsp,

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Without” Stranger in a Weird Land,” Lost might have turned out to be much worse. It not only helped keep the show, but it did so in a way that is especially important now that more and more visitors are romanticizing the era of community TV-style programming.

What Characterizes a Stranger as But Bad in a Strange Area?

On paper,” Stranger In a Strange Land” doesn’t seem worthy of widespread scorn. It’s not some great entry in the collection that fumbled a great instant, nor is it a crumbling core of the movie’s mythology. It’s really a side-adventure about Jack’s day serving in the Others ‘ station, with memories from his trip to Thailand slowly helping to clarify where the character got his tattoos. &nbsp,

But if you find yourself thinking” Wow, that sounds like a Jack-heavy episode”, then you’ve put your finger on part of the problem. While the animosity between Jack and his character has arguably been pushed past the point of reason, much of the character’s disdain is rooted in valid criticisms. &nbsp,

Jack remained a stick in the mud in a show that was characterized by how its characters developed and what we learned about their past. Early on, he was positioned at the center of the ensemble cast of the show, but he largely served as a voice of resolute opposition while those around him had more interesting adventures. Even worse, Jack’s flashback episodes frequently brought up the same underlying themes ( daddy issues and substance abuse ). Gasp! ) while many other flashbacks gradually revealed more intricate character tapestries. At the very least, they were often more independently entertaining. &nbsp,

The main reason why” Stranger in a Strange Land” is disliked rather than despised is because of those flashbacks. The episode’s shocking focus shifts to a trip Jack made to Thailand. He has a relationship there with Achara, a woman who claims to be able to tattoo people with real-world markings. She is frequently better than Bai Ling. A sullen and growing increasingly belligerent ( try not to be alarmed ) Jack eventually persuades Achara to convince him of the allegedly mystical tattoos. &nbsp,

While the episode captures the thrills of hearing about some dude’s trip to Thailand (” Bro”, he’ll claim. ” It’s wild” ), it’s the tattoo plot point that is most often remembered and ridiculed. Previews for” Stranger in a Strange Land” teased answers to three of Lost‘s “biggest mysteries”. The whereabouts of relatively minor characters are the focus of two of those mysteries, while the third seems to have to do with Jack’s tattoos: a question that few people ever asked before the series suggested it was a significant piece of the puzzle. &nbsp,

Before” Stranger in a Strange Land,” there had been some unpleasant and largely forgettable episodes of Lost, but those teases really irritated viewers who pleaded for the show to start bringing back answers rather than solving mysteries. One thing is a bad filler episode in a 23-episode season. A bad filler episode that teases a significant event and delivers a wheel-spinning, Jack-focused adventure that validates most of the criticisms made against the character and the series up until that point is completely different. &nbsp,

Even removed from those expectations,” Stranger in a Strange Land” is a particularly poorly acted, poorly written, and poorly paced entry in a series that was about to be firing on all cylinders. You can probably skip it unless you long to watch Jack fly a kite while the majority of other people put their plots on hold for a week.

Many people involved in the production of” Stranger in a Strange Land” have since stated that they knew the episode would be a turning point for the series. They didn’t care, but rather the episode was largely the result of events that were beyond their control. However, that doesn’t mean they were above using that despised episode to their eventual advantage.

How” Stranger in a Strange Land” Saved Lost

Damon Lindelof, the co-creator of Lost, reiterates that he also thinks” Stranger in a Strange Land” is a bad episode in an interview with USA Today and asks viewers to be a little bit kinder to it. According to Lindelof, the episode was the result of “many different circumstances” that contributed to it being as bad as it was. Said circumstances include a “bad casting decision”, a “bad premise decision”, and a “bad flashback story” .&nbsp,

The fact that the show’s creators still had to adhere to more traditional network TV production requirements that didn’t benefit their more serialized series was the biggest contributor to the episode’s various issues. They requested permission from ABC to allow them to set a firmer end date for the program so they could gradually advance through fewer, more meaningful episodes. ABC dissented, and it appeared to believe that more Lost was good Lost.

That is until they came across” Stranger in a Strange Land.” In a 2009 interview with writer Alan Sepinwall, Lindelof recalls that he sat in on a notes call with the network about” Stranger in a Strange Land” and heard them say,” We don’t like this episode,” which many people have since responded. When you’re in charge of the hottest television series, Lilindelof provided the kind of open response that you can only accept with candor.

” We don’t like it, either, but it’s the best we can do if we’re not moving the story forward”, Lindelof said. ” This is the future of the show: how Jack got his tattoos. Everything we’ve been saying for two years about what’s to come, is now all here on the screen. You argued that an hour of Matthew Fox in emotionally-based conflicts, it doesn’t matter what the flashback story is, it’ll be fine. But now that we’re doing his ninth flashback story, you just don’t care”.

The network was given the convincing evidence that Lindelof needed to be able to establish an end date for Lost. Without that end date, they &#8211, and us &#8211, were probably going to have to suffer through a lot more episodes like that. Finally, ABC agreed and gave the showrunners the opportunity to share their plan for a six-season adaptation of the series. &nbsp,

The three seasons of Lost that followed that conversation are hardly ideal. They have fewer episodes and advance to a conclusion that continues to divide viewers today. Yet, we never really got anything as bad as” Stranger in a Strange Land” again. We never saw a single episode that was so pointless or monotonous that the production circumstances of its superfluous existence only made it worse. In the end, Lost‘s worst episode made a compelling case for ABC to start examining their golden goose as something a little more priceless. &nbsp,

The filler episode has evolved into a kind of rallying cry for a better, or at least different, way of doing things in a time of renewed network TV nostalgia when more people are yearning for a simpler form of second-screen entertainment. Yet,” Stranger in a Strange Land” reminds us that such episodes can cut both ways. They can serve as the foundation for more expensive shows that consistently deliver standalone thrills each week, but they also contribute to the reason why some in the industry once pleaded with the networks to rethink what television can be. &nbsp,

Such apprehension should be taken in isolation from any arguments in favor of returning to that format. Their enthusiasm for the concept of a thing frequently conveniently overlooks the reality of how low even the best shows can sag over the course of 20+ episodes. Or, as Jack says regarding an interpretation of his infamous tattoos,” That’s what they say, that’s not what they mean” .&nbsp,

The episode How Lost’s Worst Episode Helped Save the Show first appeared on Den of Geek.