Wheel of Time on Prime

First three episodes have hit.

So far, if you watch this show hoping it will be a good telling of the books you will be disappointed. The people they cast and the choices they have made for some of the characters are way off.

To start with, all of the just coming of age kids are reportedly in their 20’s and look like they’re in their 30’s.

Hell, Perrin is married. Lol.

But, if you can set that aside and watch it as something new that resembles a great story you once read it’s really quite well done.
 
I read the books 20+ years ago which puts me in the sweet spot to watch this show. I know the story well enough that I see what’s going on, but I don’t recall enough detail to be mad when they changed something. Someone who never read the books is going to be lost at first And will probably laugh at a Trollock‘s ridiculous Dr. Who quality costume.
 
So far it is a better adaptation of a book series than what was done with Terry Goodkinds Wizards first rule books.
 
cold1 said:
So far it is a better adaptation of a book series than what was done with Terry Goodkinds Wizards first rule books.
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That was such a turd. Watched about 5 minutes of an episode, thought WTF & never went back. Not even gonna try to watch this one, either.

Tried to read the whole series, but started it when book #2 was a new release. Got tired of waiting so long between books & by #5 or 6, he started trying to out-Tolkien Tolkien with his excessive detail & over description & I just lost all interest.
 
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They added a fourth potential dragon. They're going to make the dragon female. Well, the show probably won't last that long anyway.
 
So far the show reminds me a lot of the books. Lots of filler and fluff but not much action.
 
cold1 said:
So far the show reminds me a lot of the books. Lots of filler and fluff but not much action.
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lol. I feel the exact opposite and apparently so do a lot of other fans.

I just read this on google and it’s a fair assessment when you compare it to the books.

They would have done far better if they’d called the series something else and said it was based on the wheel of time.

From google.

The core problem is that the Amazon series is rather different from the books - with these differences angering readers who initially loved Jordan's novels.

The most striking change of all is a visual one, with Wheel of Time's main characters aged older than their book versions in an attempt for the show to avoid feeling like some sort of YA fantasy adventure. Meanwhile, Jordan tried to balance traditional fantasy violence with an attempt to appeal to general audiences with younger characters.

Although Wheel of Timecould get pretty brutal, he didn't go into detail, and, visually, the first two episodes are already gorier than anything Jordan wrote. This shift in age and violence is a naked attempt to appeal to Game of Thronesviewers, but for those who love the books, it goes rather too far.

All this is compounded by the sheer pace of the story, which is running through chapters at remarkable speed. It's quite incredible that the Emond's Field group found their way to the cursed city of Shadar Logoth by episode 2, whereas this journey takes quite some time to develop in the books.




Back to me. The character development is for crap. But on par with stuff like game of thrones. And the mere possibility that a women might be the dragon is a slap to fans.
 
Chdamn said:
And the mere possibility that a women might be the dragon is a slap to fans.
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If true, it basically takes away the huge problem in the books (ie the taint on the male half of the power and the whole 'dragon might go crazy and kill us all but we need him so we can't just kill him' thing). If the dragon just turns out to be a super powerful chick, then.... what's the conflict? Trying to convince the Aiel that someone who looks nothing like them is now going to be the head clan chief? I get it that our politicians can claim to be 1% whatever, but damn, this isn't the politics section. Our fantasy has to be better than our reality, dammit.

Unrelated, I know that Liandrin is all wack-a-do and whatnot, but she really, really reminds me of an ex-girlfriend. The good bits of that ex anyway.
 
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GreatGazoo said:
To be fair, the premise was that the situation you described was one we might say is "fallen." In the state of original justice, the male/female sides were to work in tandem - with the greatest acts always being the two conjoined. The two were different, e.g. men might individually be more powerful, but women controlled linking: that, and men were typically stronger with fire and earth; women with air and water.

I think the novels were showing that when the sexes were artificially split and thereby self-focused (by the taint) not much good was the result.

PS not that I expect much from any film.
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So...a version of Skeksis, urRu, and urSkeks?

🙃
 
I'm disappointed, but I'll keep watching.

As long as I can somewhat divorce it from the books in my mind, it's still my cup of tea when it comes to entertainment.
 
thrillhill said:
As long as I can somewhat divorce it from the books in my mind, it's still my cup of tea when it comes to entertainment.
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I'm doing absolutely the wrong thing.... I'm re-reading the books now and watching the show. Very confusing!

I never did finish the series so I've started over and determined to get through it this time. At least it's complete for this read through.
 
Just finished watching the latest episode…

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This is an absolute travesty. I’m actually glad Robert Jordan is dead so he doesn’t have to see what they’ve done to his life’s work. I’m going to keep watching, but only to see how much worse they can actually make this. Because I’m quite sure it isn’t going to get any better.
 
Jayne said:
I'm doing absolutely the wrong thing.... I'm re-reading the books now and watching the show. Very confusing!

I never did finish the series so I've started over and determined to get through it this time. At least it's complete for this read through.
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Where are you? I'm about 60% of the way through tDR.

Not watching the series, however.
 
AD43576 said:
Just finished watching the latest episode…

View attachment 409532


This is an absolute travesty. I’m actually glad Robert Jordan is dead so he doesn’t have to see what they’ve done to his life’s work. I’m going to keep watching, but only to see how much worse they can actually make this. Because I’m quite sure it isn’t going to get any better.
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Yeah this is where I’m at as well. Just watching to see how bad it gets.
 
Im enjoying it up to ep 6 so far. not sure what yall are griping about.
 
Here are the big problems I have with the series. And I've only watched a couple of episodes.

1. There are plenty of strong women in Jordan's version. it isn't necessary to make sure ham handed attempts to further the narrative. Nyn sneaking up on Lan and getting the drop on him with a sword? Please. Never would happen.
2. Perrin was married but accidentally killed his wife? WTF.
3. Matt's family is a mess and he's a crook? Really?
4. A female could be the dragon? Extra WTF. That goes against the whole dang premise of how magical powers behave in Jordan's universe.
5. Rand is already banging Egwene? Huh?

I stopped watching because it is completely ridiculous. Even if you haven't read the books, the clumsy pandering is enough to make someone stop watching. I had to go to Hulu and find a John Wayne movie just to rebalance the universe.
 
Just watched last night's episode and the sets are really impressive. There are so many details in the background and really well done. Bummer the story isn't as good as the sets.

The wife is usually up for trying my goofy/dumb shows, she really got into the BSG remake which made her open to watching other scifi/fantasy stuff. This though.... she asked why it's just a bad romance novel. It is trending that way. All these love triangle twists that just don't match up with anything. Kinda lame.

And why are all the women so damn angry all the time? I was looking forward to seeing how Min worked out, and now she's just another angry bitter character.
 
I have to agree there. this screen adaptation is not giving yhe same sense of a huge complex fully developed fantasy world like the book conveyed.
 
Watched the season finale, and I'm so confused about what happened. I'll give them artistic license on what the battle at the Eye of the World thing was all about, but... wtf is up with Moraine there? Don't remember that happening and it kinda changes everything along with the... well no spoilers...

They've setup season 2 to have a big opener, but damn if I know where it's going now with it being so far off track. It's basically no where near the actual stories, which is... fine? At least the woman won't make me explain wtf she just watched anymore since I won't know either.
 
I'm with the dissenters up-thread now. I held out hope, but they saw the train wreck for what it was. You were right.
 
I quit trying to compare it to the books and just started watching it as a fantasy flick. When I did that it started being a decent show.

The finale was actually pretty good then and has me excited about the next season.
 
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I have started watching it and on the third episode.

It's about what I kind of expected. I will keep watching it.
 
I never read (never heard of, actually) the books, so I don't have anything to compare this to. My wife likes it, and I can tolerate it, so I watch it with her. But I generally don't care for magic stories, so this series had two strikes against it already. I'm waiting for the next "Justified". We're watching Joe Pickett, and it isn't Justified II, but it's pretty good.
 
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