Just wondering if anyone else is watching the new Wheel of Time series on Amazon Prime. I've finished episode two and am moving on to three probably tomorrow morning. Without spoilers, I can say it's quite a bit different in rather heavy-handed ways. But some of the changes are somewhat welcome for modernization standards. It moves at an uncomfortably fast pace in the first episode, but the second gets a little more reasonable. I'm hoping it finds better ground and pacing as the episodes move forward. And where the Hell is my favorite Gleeman?
I'm conflicted on WoT. I got into it as book 4 was coming out (which would be 1992), was glued to the first 4, grabbed the next 2 as those were released, and then gave up... whilst still buying the rest of the books on discount or second hand. At $10m per episode, I worry this is going to be the fantasy genre putting all its eggs in one basket and running into some kind of post-GoT fatigue, or another 'black swan' marketing factor that has never arisen before. I'd be surprised if WoT's fanbase is as recent and active as GoT's was when it was adapted. And I wonder if the age-group lines up well enough with Amazon's demographic (no offence to any present!) Editing and abridging the story for video ought to improve it. But I also worry it might decouple WoT from its primary authorial mission: of flogging improbably-sized slabs of dead tree to a generation of readers whose critical faculties had been hideously clouded by LotR. What if being able to binge-watch the whole story in 60 hours reveals glaring inanities? (I know the ending of the books was a glaring inanity but apparently they've written a new one for the series? If so, good on them). What if it succeeds and some crazed studio executive is inspired to do Riftwar or Shannara - or to inflict Brian Jacques on our children? Has televization gone too far?
I'm starting the fifth book soon, and my brother's going to watch the show first to let me know if there are spoilers for anything important later on in the books. I do plan on watching the show at some point, although like others I've talked to, I'm wary of the hype behind it and hopeful it doesn't go the way of most fantasy books turned visual media.
I don’t normally bother with anything current, but I may have to give this a look. Ive not read any of the books but a guy from work has listened to them all on audio book and says he really enjoyed them.
The tone and pacing are both wrong, imo. The fridging was lame and I thought the changes to the characters were, for the most part, for the worse. The show creators seems to think everything has to be dark and broody, which is quite unlike the novels.
I gave up 15 minutes in. I can’t quite pin down why, but most stuff being made these days leaves a very unpleasant taste in my mouth, even when it’s set in a fantasy world. It was that first scene in the tavern that did it, with the three lads talking and behaving like you’d find in any pub today. I was waiting for one of them to whip out his mobile phone to check his Facebook feed. There was no magic, no atmosphere, no sense of otherworldliness. The lad with the short ginger hair looks like he was pulled onto the set from behind a McDonald’s counter.
I am quite enjoying it. I have read the books, started in 2000 and read them multiple times since. I have also been following the development of the series so the changes are not too surprising to me. I wondered that too! Having said that there were so many characters in episode 1 that it doesn't surprise me they moved him. I like him in the show, even if he initially acted out of character. The first season is book 1 with bits from book 2 and 3. You should be safe. I agree in part. The books are quite dark and brooding. I didn’t appreciate at first, or 15th, read how dark and gorey they are until i was looking for it. The fridging wasn't great, but he is a difficult character to get across when you can't see his internal monologue. They had to externise it somehow. There is speculation she was a darkfriend as when it happened her hammer was up in the air ready to crash down so maybe her story isn't over yet. I think most of the main characters are pretty true to the books, which changes do you not like? If it helps, the WOT is from far into our future (and our past) so they probably would be quite similar behaviour wise.
@John McNeil re: characters, for example, they made Mat dark and broody too. He has a quip now and then but his personality is completely unlike the books, imo, and the series could benefit from that levity.
Okay, but if I watch sci-fi/fantasy, I do so for the escapism. I don’t want Coronation Street with dragons.
That is true - he is a lot more playful and mischievous in the books. Having aged them up I think they lost some of that - he is more like Mat after the white tower now. I agree with the need for levity. When he does come out with something then it is good but the whole series so far takes itself very seriously. My wife describes it as 'very questy'.
Yes. All of the Two Rivers characters are more like they are later in the books, after they've been through some things. I felt that they started rather innocent and naive in the books and the darker aspects that came later, where they lost some of that innocence, was an important arc for these characters that doesn't seem as compelling when they already start out world-weary and grim.
To me, it pangs of a show that was driven by people who wanted a Game of Thrones without understanding GoT and simply trying to copy/paste a very different book without understanding that, either. "It's fantasy, that's what matters!" No. No it isnt. To make it worse, it then flits between wanting to be GoT and then LotR, exacerbating the feeling of a cheap knock-off that doesn't know what it wants to be. The first thirty seconds were poor Rosamund Pike being told to do a Cate Blanchet impression and introduce it like LotR with narration, but she had about 5 minutes worth of material she was told to cram into 1 minute. It felt rushed, copied, babbling, and worse - generic. Then we have a bunch of characters who don't have character, no personality traits, and are introduced at a break-neck pace because 'holy crap, this is an 800 page book and we need to get going!' (I bet someone said that in one of the production meetings) And to make it worse, they add in a completely new storyline to make the premise easier to digest but only ends up bloating the entire thing even more. This is a show that didn't trust itself with the original material. To top it off, the cinematography looks cheap, the costumes look like they're lacking in thought, the actors have zero charisma, and even if they had, you wouldn't be able to tell because there's nothing in the script to let them express it. I dearly wanted to like this, because it could've been a nice show to keep me going for my fantasy fix over the next few years. But sadly, it's so bad I got to episode 2 and stopped watching. Thank goodness The Witcher comes back on next month, at least that gets the original source material and shows promise, even if it was flawed in places.
Oh God it's terrible. They sacrificed the characters for plot. Everything is happening so fast that we don't give a shit about any of the characters right now. For all its flaws WoT was series where you spend a lot of time with your broody friends like Rand live a power fantasy trip and your cool buddy Matt who got up to mischiefs that always worked out OK. It had its charm. This... This has no charms. The show is a pretty awful adaption and it's funny that they threw so much money to make this crap. The only redeeming factor is that they have genuinely made the trullocs the most kinetic and terrifying monsters I've seen in a while. Anyway mostly a hard pass from me. But I may still end up watching it for my fantasy fix. :*(
They could have saved money by getting one actress to portray all the female characters. That's essentially what the books are like.
having finished the first season...I have zero idea why they changed the things they did...not one change was for the better...and even if I had not read the books first, I still don't think I would enjoy the show that much...its just...meh....
Didn't read the books but I watched season 1. It was a bit too magical for my taste, I prefer as realistic fantasy as possible, but I had fun watching the series.
As a fan of The WOT series, I would have to say the Amazon series has Robert Jordan spinning in his grave. Amazon took the series woke, which has had a negative impact with fans of Mr Jordan's work.
