Unseen Academicals: Difference between revisions

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''Unseen Academicals'' tells the story of what happens when the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork tries to bring civilisation to the ancient and tradition-laden game. Since said traditions include a generous measure of mob violence both on and off the pitch, this proves a somewhat dicey project.

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]].

 

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

* [[Actually, That's My Assistant]]: Glenda mouthing off about {{spoiler|Lady Margolotta}} to someone she thinks is her librarian. {{spoiler|Who she thought was Lady Margolotta was the librarian, which makes the librarian Lady Margolotta.}}

* [[All Psychology Is Freudian]]: Mr. Nutt's method of psychotherapy revolves around acknowledging repressed memories and emotions (especially vis-a-vis paternal/maternal conflict), and is based entirely on Uberwaldian philosophy which comes complete with nonsensical Germanesque names. He even adopts the stock gag-Austrian accent (with "ze" for "the"), explaining that it's "soothing."

* [[Always Camp]]: Pepe the fashionista, but only when he's working.

* [[Ambiguously Gay]]: Pepe again. [[Word of God]] ([[Shrug of God|Shrug]] [[Word of Gay|Of Gay]]?) is "he's probably as gay as a treeful of monkeys, but you can never tell".

* [[Animal Athlete Loophole]]: [[Aint No Rule]] saying an orangutan can't play football! Since the wizards are writing the rules of football themselves as they go along, of course, there wouldn't be. The climax relied on this (for non-ape reasons), with the twist that there actually was a rarely-used rule allowing it. It was implied there soon be an [[Obvious Rule Patch]].

** Also, the lines from philosophical works Nutt quotes are infinitely more hilarious if you understand German. (One, for example mentions sweet, vanilla-flavoured desserts.)

* [[Black and Gray Morality]] (maybe [[Grey and Gray Morality]])

* [[The Blacksmith]]: Mr Nutt shoes a horse for the carriage company and silvers Glenda's tins. [[I Thought It Meant|No, not like that.]]

* [[Brain Bleach]]: Glenda and those slightly-less-than-three seconds.

* [[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).

* [[Bullying a Dragon]]: Andy and his followers taunting Nutt about his species.

* [[Card-Carrying Villain]]: Professor Hix, by university statute.

* [[Changing of the Guard]]: Between Ponder's ascent to the {{spoiler|entire}} University Council, Nutt's implied future as Mightily Oats's successor, Adrian Turnipseed's professorship, and the youth of the cast in general, this book builds upon other recent Discworld novels in bringing a fresh generation of characters to the fore.

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: {{spoiler|The ball is the ball.}}

* [[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]]

* [[Food Porn]]: Just read those descriptions of Glenda's pies.

* [[A Friend in Need]]: Glenda, Juliet, Mr Nutt, and Trev help each other through the events.

* [[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}}.

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

* [[Improbable Age]]: Although no age is given for Glenda and Juliet, they seem to be quite young. Despite this Glenda is the boss of one of the two biggest kitchens in the city (and possibly on the planet). Of course, she does have a genius for pies. Also, Ankh-Morpork is in a kind of [[Regency England|Regency]] setting verging on [[Steampunk]], so people start working very young (especially in poor families.)

** She is noted to be fairly mature for her age, to the point where people assume she's Juliet's mother rather than her friend. Part of that's her bossiness as well.

* [[Inelegant Blubbering]]

* [[Inherently Funny Words]]: ''gloing''

* [[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.

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

* [[Kaiju]]: {{spoiler|An accident at Brazeneck's Higher Energy Magic building unleashes a seventy-foot chicken onto the streets of Pseudopolis.}}

* [[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.

* [[Mistaken Identity]]: Courtesy of Glenda's total lack of useful cynicism in some areas.

* [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much]]: Played with in several instances.

** {{spoiler|Nutt is an orc, but largely rejects violence. His [[Planet of Hats]]' hat get deconstructed by the end, though, showing that the orcs' bloodthirstiness had been an in-universe [[Dead Unicorn Trope]].}}

*** He even had to look up words in the dictionary, so more like getting married to two hookers and a dog in Vegas.

*** Even then, it continues a running gag from earlier books that only one other person consistently solves them. Since she is no longer listed as a winner and the difficulty jumped, he concludes she is writing them now.

* [[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''.

* [[Real Men Wear Pink]]: The Dimwell colors. Do ''you'' want to question a football hooligan's manhood? Didn't think so. Nutt suggests the pink is a deliberate fight-provoker, and chosen for that purpose.

* [[Rescue Romance]]: Trev doesn't really get Juliet's interest until after he saves her from being beaned during a football match (the old-fashioned footballs are made of wood and ''very'' heavy).

''Glenda:''' That's no basis for a relationship! A polite thank you would have sufficed! }}

* [[Roboteching]]: Trev can do this with ''tin cans''. It's all about the spin.

* [[Running Gag]]: "It doesn't chafe", "Skull ring, remember?", hanky panky, etc.

** And that of civilization. Can a reasoned will not only contain violence, but defeat the mob?

* [[Shaped Like Itself]]: "Mostly they're just pies, sir. Made of...pie."

* [[Shoot the Dog]]: It's important that {{spoiler|Mr Nutt does not harm anyone, and publicly refrains from harming Andy when he'd be quite justified in doing so}}. However it's ''also'' important that {{spoiler|Andy gets his just deserts, so Pepe obliges}}.

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

** And when Hex is asked to find a football, he responds by asking whether they meant a spherical or oval ball, a shout out to [[American Football|those]] [[Rugby Union|other]] [[Australian Rules Football|games]].

** Nutt's indecipherable philosophy of football recalls Eric Cantona at his most Dadaesque.

* [[Smug Snake]]: Andy Shank. He's an evil-minded little git who carries himself like Carcer Dun. {{spoiler|Pepe educates him in why this shouldn't be so.}}

* [[Sophisticated As Hell]]: Asked what makes a good football trainer, Nutt [[Crowning Moment of Funny|gives a long answer]] that takes in psychology, metaphysics and quantum physics, concluding with:

"Probably not, sir." }}

* [[Spock Speak]]: Nutt, most of the time.

* [[Stealth Pun]]: Trev works in the university dribbling candles for wizardly pursuits. By the end of the book, he's dribbling footballs instead.

*** Un-stealthed in the back-cover copy, which calls him "a likely lad with a wonderful talent for kicking a tin can". (The pre-release blurb had much the same phrase, but called him an "urchin".)

** Hix is Unseen University's Token Black Magician.

'''Stibbons:''' Not to my knowledge, Archchancellor. }}

** Possibly [[Bi the Way]], given that the end of the book implies {{spoiler|Macarona is flirting with Madame Sharn}}. Or not, since {{spoiler|even if they are dressed as females, all dwarfs look like ultra-masculine and thickly bearded barbarian warriors.}}

* [[Token Evil Teammate]]: Dr. Hix, again.

* [[Too Dumb to Fool]]: Juliet

* [[Turn Out Like His Father]]: A touching version.

'''Juliet:''' Yes, but they used to say you were his son. }}

* [[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.

* [[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]].}}

* [[Wrong Genre Savvy]]

* [[Xtreme Kool Letterz]]: Dr. Hix was really Dr. Hicks, but "any man who wears a black robe and a skull ring isn't going to pass up the chance to have an X in his name".

* [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle]]: {{spoiler|'''"You think it's over?"''' Done ''three times''.}} A reference to a famous remark by the commentator at the end of the 1966 World Cup final: "They think it's all over..." ''(Whistle blows)'' "It is now!"

 

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