Did They Kill the Other Baby in Good Omens?

1990 novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

This commodity is near the 1990 novel. For the 2019 TV serial based on it, come across Practiced Omens (TV series).

Good Omens

Offset edition cover
Writer	Terry Pratchett Neil Gaiman
State	United Kingdom
Language	English language
Genre	Horror fantasy comedy
Publisher	Gollancz (UK) Workman (U.s.a.)
Publication date	10 May 1990 (1990-05-10)
Media type	Impress (hardcover, paperback)
Pages	288
ISBN	0-575-04800-X
OCLC	21299949

Practiced Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch is a 1990 novel written as a collaboration betwixt the English authors Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.^{[1] [2]}

The book is a one-act near the birth of the son of Satan and the coming of the End Times. There are attempts by the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley to demolition the coming of the end times, having grown accustomed to their comfortable environment in England. I subplot features a mixup at the small country hospital on the day of birth and the growth of the Antichrist, Adam, who grows upward with the wrong family, in the wrong country village. Another subplot concerns the summoning of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, each a big personality in their ain right. In 2003, the novel was listed at number 68 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.^[three]

Plot summary [edit]

Aziraphale, an angel (originally a guardian of the gates of Eden), and Crowley, a demon (originally the serpent who tempted Eve) have lived on Globe since its creation. Over the millennia, they take formed an odd friendship and taken a liking to humanity. 1 night, the forces of Hell deliver the babe Antichrist to Crowley, with instructions to bandy him with the son of an American diplomat stationed in Britain. Crowley realizes this means that the Apocalypse is coming and convinces Aziraphale to help him postpone it. Together, they influence the Antichrist's upbringing by posing as a nanny and a gardener so that he can never decide between Adept and Evil.

Yet, due to several misunderstandings at the hospital, the real Antichrist is actually another boy, Adam Immature, who grows up unnoticed in idyllic Lower Tadfield, Oxfordshire, together with his three close friends – Pepper, Wensleydale and Brian. As the foretold stop of the world nears, Adam begins to unknowingly use his reality warping powers, changing the world to fit his vision of things ought to exist, such every bit raising the lost continent of Atlantis after reading almost it in a conspiracy theory magazine, summoning UFOs afterward talking to his friends about aliens, and having the Amazon rainforest reclaim country lost to urban development. In the meantime, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse gather: War (a state of war contributor), Famine (a dietician and fast-food tycoon), Pollution (Pestilence having retired later the discovery of penicillin) and Death (a biker).

Aziraphale and Crowley realize their mistake and begin a frantic search for the Antichrist. Also looking for the boy is Anathema Device, a witch who is trying to forestall the Apocalypse equally predicted by her ancestor, Agnes Nutter. Agnes' prophecies are perfectly accurate, simply and then ambiguous and specific as to be nearly useless. Anathema is joined past Newton Pulsifer, sole recruit of the Witchfinder Army (and descendent of Chiliad-Shall-Not-Commit-Adultery Pulsifer, the Witchfinder who burnt Agnes Nutter at the stake), who has been sent to investigate the strange phenomena around Tadfield past Sergeant Shadwell, the Army's only other member. Everyone, including Shadwell's medium neighbour, Madame Tracy, converge at Tadfield Military Base, where the Four Horsemen are starting a world-ending nuclear war by tampering with the calculator systems.

Amid the increasing chaos, Adam is overcome with visions of greatness and attempts to split the earth between his gang. When his friends react with horror at what he is becoming, Adam comes to his senses and decides to stop the Apocalypse. He and his friends make their mode to the military base and defeat iii of the Four Horsemen, with Death accepting defeat and vanishing. A furious Satan starts to ascend to Earth, only Adam, having heard that "his father is coming", twists reality and then that his man adoptive male parent arrives instead, and so modifies anybody's memories of recent events.

With Armageddon averted, Crowley and Aziraphale muse that this was God's plan all along and speculate that the real apocalyptic conflict volition exist between humanity and the combined forces of Heaven and Hell. Madame Tracy marries Sergeant Shadwell, effectively disbanding the Witchfinder Army. Anathema begins a relationship with Newton and receives a second book of Agnes' prophecies, but decides to burn down it so every bit not to be bound by them. Finally, Adam uses his powers to evade his father'south grounding and visit the circus with his friends.

Characters [edit]

Angels [edit]

• God, the creator of the universe and all things in it. God's true nature or plan cannot be known, since he is ineffable.
• Aziraphale, articulation master character of the novel with Crowley. He doubles every bit a rare book dealer.
• Metatron, the Voice of God, merely an entity in their ain right.

Demons [edit]

• Satan, the original demon; he led the rebellion against Heaven and was responsible for forming Hell (every bit an arrangement, if not a place) when the rebel angels were made to Fall.
• Crowley, joint principal character of the novel with Aziraphale. He is a demon who did not and then much fall from Heaven as Saunter Vaguely Downwards.
• Adam Immature, the Antichrist and the Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Prince of this World and Lord of Darkness. Leader of the Them.
• Beelzebub, Prince of Hell and leader of its forces.
• Hastur, Duke of Hell and a very traditional demon who spends very little time on Earth.
• Ligur, another Duke of Hell. Ligur is killed by a saucepan of Holy Water which was placed to a higher place Crowley's door in defense against him and Hastur.
• Dagon, Lord of the Files and Master of Torments. Dagon contacts Crowley through his radio.

Humans [edit]

• Agnes Nutter, a witch from the 17th century. She wrote The Nice and Authentic Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch.
• Anathema Device, a applied occultist and descendant of Agnes.
• Newton Pulsifer, a wages clerk who becomes a Witchfinder Individual.
• Shadwell, the last remaining Sergeant of the Witchfinder Army, who hires Newt.
• Madame Tracy, a Medium who is possessed by Aziraphale.
• Pepper, the sole female member of The Them.
• Brian, member of The Them.
• Wensleydale, member of The Them.
• Warlock Dowling, a boy that is mistaken to be the Antichrist by Aziraphale and Crowley cheers to a mix-up.
• Thou-Shalt-Not-Commit-Infidelity Pulsifer, Newt'due south ancestor and the witchfinder who burned Agnes.
• Sister Mary Loquacious, a satanic nun of the Chattering Lodge of St Beryl. She managed to fumble the switch of the Antichrist with a man baby,
• Mr Immature, "father" of Adam.
• Mr Tyler, a chairman of a Residents' Association.
• The International Express Human being, a delivery homo of the International Limited who delivered parcels and messages to the Four Horsemen. He died delivering a message to Death.

Horsemen of the Apocalypse [edit]

• Expiry, leader of the Iv Horsemen and the only one who survives the Apocalypse. He is everywhere.
• State of war, aka Carmine Zuigiber. Her particular of power is the flaming sword that God once gave to Aziraphale.
• Famine, aka Dr Raven Sable. His item of power is a pair of scales.
• Pestilence, old Horseman. He retired in 1936, muttering about penicillin.
• Pollution, aka Chalky, Pestilence's replacement. His detail of ability is a crown, which is darkened by his ability with a coating of grime.

Development [edit]

[edit]

Gaiman and Pratchett had known each other since 1985. Gaiman, inspired past his success in writing a biography of Douglas Adams (Don't Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), and in observing Adams work at close quarters decided to try his hand at novel writing, and sent a piece of work to a number of friends, including Terry Pratchett for feedback. Pratchett responded positively eight months later.^[4] According to Gaiman, he originally began the book as a parody of Richmal Crompton's William books, named William the Antichrist, but it gradually outgrew the original idea.^[five] It was their own thought, non that of their publisher, to collaborate on a novel.^[6]

Neil Gaiman has said:

We were both living in England when we wrote it. At an educated guess, although neither of us always counted, Terry probably wrote around 60,000 "raw" and I wrote 45,000 "raw" words of Skilful Omens, with, on the whole, Terry taking more of the plot with Adam and the Them in, and me doing more of the stuff that was slightly more than tangential to the story, except that broke down pretty speedily and when we got towards the end we swapped characters and so that we'd both written anybody by the fourth dimension it was done, but then we likewise rewrote and footnoted each other's bits as we went along, and rolled up our sleeves to take the first draft to the second (quite a lot of words), and, by the end of information technology, neither of us was entirely sure who had written what. Information technology was indeed plotted in long daily phone calls, and we would post floppy disks (and this was dorsum in 1988 when floppy disks really were pretty darn floppy) back and forth.^[7]

Terry Pratchett said:

I retrieve this is an honest account of the process of writing Good Omens. It was fairly piece of cake to keep track of because of the way we sent disks to 1 some other, and because I was Keeper of the Official Main Copy I tin can say that I wrote a bit over two thirds of Good Omens. Even so, we were on the phone to each other every mean solar day, at to the lowest degree once. If you have an thought during a brainstorming session with some other guy, whose idea is it? One guy goes and writes 2,000 words after 30 minutes on the telephone, what exactly is the procedure that's happening? I did most of the physical writing because:

1. I had to. Neil had to keep Sandman going – I could take fourth dimension off from the DW;
2. Ane person has to be overall editor, and exercise all the stitching and filling and slicing and, as I've said before, information technology was me past understanding – if it had been a graphic novel, it would have been Neil taking the chair for exactly the aforementioned reasons it was me for a novel;
3. I'grand a selfish bastard and tried to write alee to get to the good bits earlier Neil.

Initially, I did about of Adam and the Them and Neil did about of the Four Horsemen, and everything else kind of got done by whoever – by the terminate, large sections were being done past a composite creature called Terryandneil, whoever was actually hitting the keys. Past agreement, I am allowed to say that Agnes Nutter, her life and death, was completely and utterly mine. And Neil proudly claims responsibleness for the maggots. Neil's had a major influence on the opening scenes, me on the ending. In the end, it was this book washed by ii guys, who shared the coin equally and did it for fun and wouldn't do information technology again for a big clock.^{[half dozen]}

International editions [edit]

The U.s. edition of Good Omens had numerous alterations to the text. The almost meaning alteration to the primary text is the addition of an extra 700-word department just earlier the end, dealing with what happened to the grapheme of Warlock, the American diplomat's son, who was swapped with Adam.^[8] The American edition too adds numerous footnotes not found in British editions.

The Dutch translation of Good Omens contains a preface by the translator wherein he asserts that no extra footnotes were added to clarify matters that might be unclear to a modern audition – annotated with footnotes explaining omen and Crowley.

In the French version, some characters were given French-sounding names. Agnes Nutter became Agnès Clomp (clomp is French for nutter), Anathema Device became Anathème Bidule (Bidule beingness French for Device). Crowley became Rampa (as 'Crawly' became 'Crowley', 'Rampant' became 'Rampa'), after the infamous author of The Third Eye, T. L. Rampa. The French publisher of Good Omens (J'ai Lu) was as well the French publisher of the T. L. Rampa books.

In the Czech version of the book, the names of Agnes, Anathema, the Satanist nuns, Pepper and some minor characters were translated too. The volume contains many extra footnotes as an caption to some of the phrases that were translated more literally than usual and to add together new jokes (for example the part where Abomination meets Adam and tells him she is an occultist, noting: "Yous were thinking 'Nothin' wrong with my optics, they don't need examining,' weren't you?" was accompanied by a footnote: To those who understood what was the point, congratulations. For those whom it took as long as it took me: The Dictionary's definition: Oculist – rather an erstwhile-fashioned word for an ophthalmologist.).

Historical and literary inspirations [edit]

The names of Agnes Nutter and her descendant Abomination Device were inspired by two of the victims of the 1612 Pendle witch trials, Alice Nutter and Elizabeth Device. Gaiman confirmed the homage in a 2016 tweet.^{[nine] [x]}

Reception [edit]

• Earth Fantasy Honor nominee for Best Novel, 1991^[ane]
• Locus Award nominee for Best Fantasy Novel, 1991^[1]
• Mir Fantastiki Special Award for "The most anticipated volume", 2012
• Won FantLab.ru poll for "Best Translated Novel", 2012^[2]

Possible sequel [edit]

In 1989, a yr before the completed novel was published, Gaiman and Pratchett visited Usa for the Globe Fantasy Convention in Seattle, and shared a hotel room to salvage money. Not beingness able to sleep at dark due to jet lag, and not having annihilation else to talk about, they started plotting out the sequel to Good Omens.^[eleven] 668—The Neighbour of the Fauna was slated equally the sequel's title, only later on Gaiman moved to the United States, Pratchett expressed doubt that a sequel would be written.^[8] Gaiman later affirmed this in one of his essays, titled Terry Pratchett: An Appreciation. Pratchett died in 2015. In 2017, Gaiman revealed – as part of the filming of the television serial based on the book – that he and Pratchett had done some plotting for the sequel, including that "[t]hither would have been a lot of angels in the sequel", one of whom was Gabriel, who was only briefly mentioned in Expert Omens but would figure more prominently in the television series.^[12] When asked if Neil had any plans on releasing a sequel to Good Omens or maintaining its status as a standalone piece of work, Gaiman stated that there was a plot for one that Pratchett wanted to exist told, merely that whether or non it would be fabricated would depend on certain factors.^[thirteen]

In other media [edit]

Movie [edit]

A motion picture, to be directed by Terry Gilliam, was planned. As of 2002, Gilliam had still hoped to brand the film with its already completed script,^[fourteen] merely by 2006, information technology seemed to have come to nothing. Funding was slow to announced, and Gilliam moved on to other projects. There was a rumour that Johnny Depp was originally cast as Crowley and Robin Williams every bit Aziraphale. However Gaiman has said on his website, "Well, Robin'southward worked with Terry Gilliam before every bit well, of form, most famously in The Fisher King. Merely I take no idea about Skillful Omens casting (except for Shadwell. Terry told me who he wanted to play Shadwell. I immediately forgot the man's name, although I can assure you that it wasn't Robin Williams)."^[15] According to an interview in May 2006 at The Guardian 'southward Hay Festival, Gilliam was still hoping to become ahead with the flick.

Gaiman confirmed in a 2013 podcast interview with Empire that the majority of the funding for the film was in place in 2002, but the project could not concenter the initial funding to begin product.

Even in 2008, Gilliam was all the same hopeful about the project. Neil Gaiman'southward Stardust (based on his own novel of the same proper noun) and Beowulf were successful every bit films in 2007, which had given the adaptation of Good Omens a better chance of being picked upwards. A Gilliam quote from an Empire interview appeared as follows: "And I thought with Neil, with Stardust and with Beowulf and there's some other one – an blithe film, a Henry Selick thing he's written Coraline – I was thinking he's really hot now, and then maybe there'southward a chance. I mean it'due south such a wonderful book. And I think our script is pretty good, too. We did quite a few changes. We weren't as respectful as we ought to have been. Merely Neil'south happy with it!"^[16]

The history of this project and similar experiences with Gaiman's various other works (including The Sandman series) accept led to his cynical view of the Hollywood process, a view which occasionally surfaces in his weblog^[17] and in some of his brusk fiction. Pratchett shared a similar stance, and was quoted every bit saying, "The difference between me and Neil in our mental attitude to movie projects is that he doesn't believe they're going to happen until he's sitting in his seat eating popcorn, and I don't believe they're going to happen."^[18]

Pratchett had had many of the same issues with Hollywood 'suits',^[6] but he, as well, would have loved to have seen the film made.^[nineteen]

In Baronial 2012, Rhianna Pratchett announced an establishment of a new product visitor, Narrativia, with plans to produce, among other projects, a television set flick based on her father'southward book Good Omens.^{[twenty] [21]}

Idiot box [edit]

In February 2011, information technology was reported that a television adaptation may be produced, with Terry Jones and Gavin Scott being "in talks" to write the series.^[22] On xix March 2011, Gaiman announced on his website that a boob tube series adaptation of his novel "is in the works from Terry Jones" with a link to Pratchett's webpage confirming the news.^[23]

In April 2016, Gaiman announced that he was writing the scripts for a six-part television series equally the result of a request from Pratchett, made shortly before his death.^[24] In January 2017, further details emerged. Amazon.com announced that Gaiman would adapt Good Omens into a "comedic apocalyptic" miniseries, set to exist released on Prime number Video in 2019. The adaptation is a vi-office express one-act series for Amazon and the BBC, and Gaiman served as showrunner.^[25] On 14 Baronial 2017, Michael Sheen and David Tennant were appear as having been bandage in the corresponding lead roles of Aziraphale and Crowley.^[26] The hamlet of Hambleden in Buckinghamshire is the filming location for 'Tadfield' with Jasmine Cottage being located only north of the village at Colstrope Farm. The adaptation was produced by BBC Studios in collaboration with Narrativia and Gaiman'due south The Blank Corporation. Distribution was handled past BBC Worldwide. All six episodes of the serial were released on 31 May 2019 on Amazon Prime.^[27] In June 2021 Amazon renewed Good Omens for a second season, with Sheen and Tennant returning alongside most of the original crew.^[28]

Radio [edit]

On v September 2014, information technology was confirmed that the BBC would produce a radio adaptation of the novel, to be circulate on BBC Radio 4, starting 22 Dec of that year. Mark Heap and Peter Serafinowicz led the cast, which also included Louise Brealey, Phil Davis, Mark Benton, Colin Morgan, Paterson Joseph, Josie Lawrence, Jim Norton, Adam Thomas Wright and Hollie Burgess.^[29] Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett had cameo roles as a pair of traffic cops called "Neil" and "Terry".^[xxx] The series was broadcast in six episodes starting in Dec 2014.^[31]

Theatre [edit]

In March 2013, Cult Classic Theatre in Glasgow, Scotland, performed Amy Hoff's adaptation of Good Omens with the permission of Pratchett and Gaiman.^{[32] [33]}

In November 2017, Squabbalogic staged a special development reading of Expert Omens: The Musical in Sydney, Australia with Nancye Hayes, Barry Quin and Paul Capsis.^[34]

See too [edit]

• Bible errata – Typographical errors that have occurred in various editions of The Bible
• Nicholas Barbon – English economist, physician, property developer and fiscal speculator
• Pendle witches – English witch hunt and trial in 1612

References [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b c} "1991 Honor Winners & Nominees". Worlds Without End . Retrieved nineteen Oct 2018.
2. ^ ^{a b} "Книга года по версии Фантлаба" [2012 FantLab'southward Book of the Year]. FantLab . Retrieved 19 October 2018.
3. ^ "The Big Read Top 100". BBC. April 2003. Retrieved nineteen October 2018.
4. ^ "Douglas Adams and Immortality." 13th Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture delivered by Neil Gaiman to the Royal Geographical Society. 3 March 2015.
5. ^ An afterword to the volume; e.one thousand., in the Harper paperback edition, ISBN 0-06-085397-ii, p. 377.
6. ^ ^{a b c} Breebaart, Leo. "Words from the Master". The Annotated Pratchett File . Retrieved nineteen October 2018.
7. ^ "Several days of unposted mailbag..." NeilGaiman.com. 4 May 2006. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
8. ^ ^{a b} Breebaart, Leo; Kew, Mike. "Skillful Omens". The Annotated Pratchett File . Retrieved nineteen October 2018.
9. ^ Gaiman, Neil [@neilhimself] (3 August 2016). "Oddly, no. It (and Agnes's surname) come from the names of Pendle witches. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendle_witches" (Tweet). Retrieved four September 2020 – via Twitter.
10. ^ Chivers, Tom (xv January 2020). "Proficient Omens: How Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman'due south friendship inspired their comic masterpiece". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
11. ^ Really bloody excellent omens... - Neil Gaiman's Periodical
12. ^ Allen, Ben (2 December 2017). "Jon Hamm joins David Tennant and Michael Sheen in Neil Gaiman'south Good Omens". Radio Times . Retrieved xix October 2018.
13. ^ Gaiman, Neil (xix September 2019). "speakingtothecosmos asked: Hi Mr. Gaiman! I have 2 questions to ask of you: i. What's the show playing on the TV when Crowley meets up with Mr Shadwell to talk about finding Adam for the outset time? 2. Do you plan on releasing a sequel for Skillful Omens or are you going to proceed it as it is in Terry Pratchetts award?". Neil Gaiman Tumblr . Retrieved 21 September 2019.
14. ^ Stubbs, Phil (ed.). "Skillful Omens, by Terry Gilliam". Dreams: the Terry Gilliam Fanzine . Retrieved nineteen Oct 2018.
15. ^ "Neil Gaiman – FAQs". NeilGaiman.com . Retrieved xix October 2018.
16. ^ Richards, Olly (4 January 2008). "Gilliam Says He Will Make Don Quixote". Empire . Retrieved 19 October 2018.
17. ^ "Neil Gaiman's Periodical". NeilGaiman.com . Retrieved 19 Oct 2018.
18. ^ Kelly, Stephen (22 Dec 2014). ""Time is running out": Neil Gaiman on why Radio 4'southward Good Omens is actually for Terry Pratchett". RadioTimes.com . Retrieved nineteen October 2018.
19. ^ Cain, Sian (fifteen April 2016). "Good Omens: Neil Gaiman to adjust Terry Pratchett collaboration for TV". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 February 2019.
20. ^ Pratchett, Rhianna [@rhipratchett] (27 August 2012). "Announcing the birth of Narrativia..." (Tweet). Retrieved 9 September 2012 – via Twitter.
21. ^ Pratchett, Rhianna [@rhipratchett] (29 Baronial 2012). "Good Omens will be a Television set moving-picture show & The Watch is planned every bit a xiii-part Idiot box series" (Tweet). Retrieved xix October 2018 – via Twitter.
22. ^ Jeffery, Morgan (8 February 2011). "'Proficient Omens' Television receiver series in development?". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 19 Oct 2018.
23. ^ Gaiman, Neil. "Points of Deviation". Neil Gaiman.com. Archived from the original on 6 May 2011. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
24. ^ Cain, Sian (15 Apr 2016). "Good Omens: Neil Gaiman to arrange Terry Pratchett collaboration for Tv". The Guardian . Retrieved 19 October 2018.
25. ^ Locke, Charley. "Neil Gaiman'due south 'Proficient Omens' Will Bring the Apocalypse to Amazon". Wired.com . Retrieved 19 October 2018.
26. ^ Otterson, Joe (14 Baronial 2017). "Michael Sheen, David Tennant to Star in Neil Gaiman's 'Practiced Omens' at Amazon". Variety . Retrieved 19 October 2018.
27. ^ White, Peter (thirteen February 2019). "'Good Omens' To Launch On Amazon Prime Video On May 31 – TCA". Deadline . Retrieved 14 February 2019.
28. ^ "'Adept Omens' Renewed for Flavour ii at Amazon". 29 June 2021.
29. ^ Hemley, Matthew (five September 2014). "BBC lines up adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's Proficient Omens". The Stage.
30. ^ "Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman – Expert Omens cameo". BBC Radio 4. 26 November 2014. Retrieved nineteen October 2018.
31. ^ "Episode 1 of 6, Good Omens". BBC Radio 4 . Retrieved xix October 2018.
32. ^ Lucy (1 March 2013). "Good OMENS To Be Performed By The Cult Archetype Theatre In Glasgow". TerryPratchett.co.united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland . Retrieved nineteen October 2018.
33. ^ "Amy Hoff: Skilful Omens". Glasgow Comedy. 22 February 2013. Retrieved nineteen October 2018.
34. ^ "Good Omens: The Musical". The Seymour Centre. 13 Nov 2017. Retrieved nineteen October 2018.

External links [edit]

• Skilful Omens, on 50-Space, the Discworld wiki
• The Good Omens Lexicon
• Expert Omens on BBC Radio iv
• Good Omens at Worlds Without End

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Omens

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