Unseen Academicals: Difference between revisions

At the heart of the plot is the need for Unseen University to field a team (the eponymous Academicals), but as the story progresses this becomes almost [[A Worldwide Punomenon|academic]].

 

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* [[Accidental Innuendo]]: (in-universe) See the [[Visual Innuendo]] example.

* [[Brainless Beauty]]: Juliet, although not fully.

* [[Brick Joke]]: {{spoiler|The possessed whistle}} and {{spoiler|"Come on if you think you're hard enough!"}}

** Mightily Oates' axe and unique way of bringing the good word.

** After the heated meeting between Ridcully and {{spoiler|Henry, Former Dean and Current Archchancellor of Brazeneck}}, Rincewind is seen putting one of his socks back on. {{spoiler|Way back in ''Sourcery'', he stopped an Eldrich Abomination by hitting it with half a brick in a sock.}}

** An earlier Discworld book describes "anti-crimes," and Hix can be said to be committing one: planting tickets for his amateur theater group's productions in people's pockets is the opposite of pickpocketing (especially since it's implied his group isn't very good).

** At the beginning of the book, the Faculty are congratulating themselves on the successful Hunt of the Megapode. At the end of the book, when discussing the {{spoiler|[[Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever|rampage of the Blit-Chicken in Pseudopolis]]}}, Ponder and Ridcully agree that they have better things to do than run around after birds.

* [[Children Are Innocent]]: Even if you call them pups. Even if they are {{spoiler|infant orcs}}.

* [[Color-Coded Wizardry]]: Parodied with UU's late sports instructor, Evans the Striped. Presumably he wore black and white stripes, as per referees.

* [[Covers Always Lie]]: Vetinari sadly does not referee the game.

** The cover also has Glenda and Juliet dressed as cheerleaders, and the Luggage implied to be part of the team, neither of which happens.

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: Someone throwing a banana to the Librarian while on the field is reminiscent of real-world racist insults to black football players by throwing bananas at them.

* [[Dramatic Irony]]: Anyone reading Discworld books in the first place is probably [[Genre Savvy]] enough to realize that {{spoiler|Glenda is talking to Lady Margolotta after roughly the third paragraph at the latest, though some of us probably recognized her immediately.}}

* [[The Empire]]: This is the first book to go into any kind of detail about the fallen Evil Empire of Uberwald (also called the Unholy Empire and the Dark Empire in earlier books). According to [[Word of God]], it's the [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] of the [[Soviet Union]]. (Combined with some fairly obvious nods to [[Mordor]]).

* [[Everybody Lives]]: Unusual for a Discworld story, Death only shows up once to tell a character he's not dead yet. Then again... some things you don't want to live through.

* [[Expospeak Gag]]: Nutt's erudite and verbose way of answering questions.

* [[Famed in Story]]: Trev's father, Dave Likely.

* [[Fearless Fool]]

* [[Girls Love Stuffed Animals]]: Even the three-eyed ones, who are [[Yogi Bear|more enlightened than the average bear]].

* [[Good Old Ways]]: Changing the rules of football?

* [[Groin Attack]]: Andy tries this on Trev, but runs into Pepe's gift.

* [[Henchmen Race]]: {{spoiler|The orcs}}.

* [[Humans Are the Real Monsters]]: People believe that {{spoiler|orcs}} were created by magically and/or eugenically altering goblins. {{spoiler|At the end, Vetinari reveals that, no, orcs are descended from humans. Goblins aren't ''vicious'' enough.}}

* [[I Gave My Word]]: Trev promised his Mum he'd never play football.

* [[I'll Take Two Beers, Too!|I'll Take Two Beers Too]]: After the wizards catch the Megapode, one of the maids asks them what they want to eat. Ridcully gives an impressive list of food (including "cheese boards one through five") and then says "Anyone else want to add anything?"

* [[In My Language, That Sounds Like...]]: Various bits of dwarfish fall victim to this here.

* [[Insistent Terminology]]: Professor Bengo Macarona, after scoring the first goal for the Academicals, insists that any chanting of his name also includes his full name and list of honours. Since this in its entirety is "Professor Macarona D.Thau (Bug), D.Maus (Chubb), Magistaludorum (QIS), Octavium (Hons), PHGK (Blit), DMSK, Mack, D.Thau (Bra), Visiting Professor in Chickens (Jahn the Conqueror University (Floor 2, Shrimp Packers Building, Genua)), Primo Octo (Deux), Visiting Professor of Blit/Slood Exchanges (Al Khali), KCbfJ, Reciprocating Professor of Blit Theory (Unki), D.Thau (Unki), Didimus Supremius (Unki), Emeritus Professor in Blit Substrate Determinations (Chubb), Chair of Blit and Music Studies (Quirm College for Young Ladies)" and the crowd actually ''agrees to go along with it,'' this turns the football chant "One Makaronah, there's only one Makaronah, there's only one Makaronah, one Makaro-naah" into an [[Overly Long Gag]] of absolutely ''EPIC'' proportions.

* [[Interspecies Romance]]: Subverted, inverted, averted and every other kind of '"ted" you can think of ({{spoiler|including playing it damn well straight with Glenda and Nutt... [[Biopunk|sort]] [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|of]]}}), and working with Lady Margolotta and Vetinari.

* [[I Was Told There Would Be Cake]]: "There will be cake"

* [[Long List]] / [[Overly Long Gag]]: Professor Macarona's full list of titles and honors goes on for about a full hardcover page. In reality it's only about an eight-line paragraph, but ''repeated'' so many times that it covers nearly two softcover pages - and audobook readers may start to wonder if their file is stuck in a loop.

** Ridcully asks Ponder what the wizards' problem is. The list takes up roughly the same space as the one above. Without repetition.

* [[Mama Bear]]: Glenda. According to Vetinari, it's [[In the Blood]].

* [[Meaningful Name]]: Juliet, obviously. There's also Andy Shank; "shank" can mean a stabbing weapon. Also see Stealth Pun below for Trev Likely.

** Also, Mrs. Whitlow has an in-universe Memetic Domestic Badass reputation among the UU staff, which Glenda eventually sees through and subverts.

* [[Misapplied Phlebotinum]]: {{spoiler|''Orcs''. The Evil Empire created a race of [[Genius Bruiser]] [[Super Soldier]]s designed to excel in every field of warfare... and then drove them into battle in poorly-armed waves with men with whips to goad them on. Considering that Uberwald is the old and much-beloved home of [[Mad Science]], it would probably have been more surprising if they ''had'' used them properly.}}

* [[Nice to the Waiter]]: Ridcully and Lord Vetinari listen to Glenda.

* [[No Social Skills]]: Nutt, initially. He's read a lot in books, but applying that to the real world is something else.

* [[Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping]]: Arguably, Margolotta's lack of an [[Vampire Vords|Uberwaldean accent]].

** Probably anyone who deals with Vetinari is capable of faking/hiding an accent. Or maybe her Morporkian's just got better since ''The Fifth Elephant''.

** Professor Bengo Macarona is evidently a nod to Diego Maradona, a famous football (soccer for Americans) player. There was also a player named Macarone in Genoa, which is the right city, give or take a letter.

** The [[Running Gag]] of the celebrity press asking about "your favourite spoon" is from ''[[Private Eye]]''.

** The first few pages are an extended [[Shout-Out]]/parody of [[Dan Brown]].

{{quote|It occurred to new employee Rudolph Scattering...}}

* [[Verbal Tic]]: Juliet's habit of ending every sentence with "Din't it?" or "Didn't I?" or something similar, innit.

* [[Visual Innuendo]]: Glenda points out that the proposed uniform design with "UU" on the front resembles breasts.

* [[World's Most Beautiful Woman]]: Juliet.

* [[Worthy Opponent]]: Mr. Hoggett, captain of Ankh-Morpork United. Despite the fact that his team contains a number of jerks, cheats, and Andy Shank, he tries to play a fair game, ''apologizes'' to the ref for his team's illegal moves, and {{spoiler|punches out Andy Shank for mucking up what would otherwise have been a fair and square game in a personal [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]].}}