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IRL - Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime (1 Viewer)

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Jul 14, 2019
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I read the Wheel of Time series and also listened to the audiobooks for round 2....pretty cool they made it into an Amazon show. I was hoping someone that's never read the books and has an interest in the show to give feedback on how it is playing out? I have all the 'back story' already, but I'd like to know if it's doing enough to grasp and gather a larger audience. I have no allegiance to the show though. Shoot holes in it if you want to.
 
I read the Wheel of Time series and also listened to the audiobooks for round 2....pretty cool they made it into an Amazon show. I was hoping someone that's never read the books and has an interest in the show to give feedback on how it is playing out? I have all the 'back story' already, but I'd like to know if it's doing enough to grasp and gather a larger audience. I have no allegiance to the show though. Shoot holes in it if you want to.
I’ve read through the series twice. My wife (who has not read them) and I watched the first episode last night. We both enjoyed it in spite of the creative license they took. My only complaint is when things are added that are not necessary or removed that should not be (Tom Bombadil!)
 
I've got a small watch party planned with some old buddies tonight, some who've read the books and some who haven't (I have) -- cautiously optimistic!

I think expecting an unabridged version of the books is of course unrealistic, so cuts are expected; it's unnecessary additions to adaptations that always grind my gears.
 
I am a huge fan of the books too - so I will always be saying "WTFZOR!!!" when some new addition to the story occurs.

I'm still trying to get past the fact that they couldn't find a 7 Ft Giant who could act to play the part of Lan - because we can clearly see he either needs to be a giant, or Moiriane needs to be a hobbit.
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Trying to watch the show without bias is harder and harder the more you love the books.

I was glad to see Brandon Sanderson is also working on this production - so I still have a lot of hopes for it.

Would also be interested to hear from people who have not read the books if they enjoyed it.
 
I am a huge fan of the books too - so I will always be saying "WTFZOR!!!" when some new addition to the story occurs.

I'm still trying to get past the fact that they couldn't find a 7 Ft Giant who could act to play the part of Lan - because we can clearly see he either needs to be a giant, or Moiriane needs to be a hobbit.
View attachment 35094

Trying to watch the show without bias is harder and harder the more you love the books.

I was glad to see Brandon Sanderson is also working on this production - so I still have a lot of hopes for it.

Would also be interested to hear from people who have not read the books if they enjoyed it.
I know, Lan is way too petite. I always thought it was weird that Moraine has hair black as night in the books but the 1st cover she's got that ruddy blonde hair. I do like how they've positioned Nynaeve and him w/ 'conflict' already.
 
I know, Lan is way too petite. I always thought it was weird that Moraine has hair black as night in the books but the 1st cover she's got that ruddy blonde hair. I do like how they've positioned Nynaeve and him w/ 'conflict' already.

Yeah the casting for Lan is probably the oddest to me of all that I've seen so far, based on both book descriptions and book covers. Plus we know from RJ's comments that the Seanchan have an Asian look to them (so no need to force that on the Malkieri). But it's not really a material change so as long as the actor does a fine portrayal of Lan then I'm probably good.

It does seem like Moraine is not wearing her blue forehead jewel in most trailer shots which isn't what I remember from the books.
 
I am a huge fan of the books too - so I will always be saying "WTFZOR!!!" when some new addition to the story occurs.

I'm still trying to get past the fact that they couldn't find a 7 Ft Giant who could act to play the part of Lan - because we can clearly see he either needs to be a giant, or Moiriane needs to be a hobbit.
View attachment 35094

Trying to watch the show without bias is harder and harder the more you love the books.

I was glad to see Brandon Sanderson is also working on this production - so I still have a lot of hopes for it.

Would also be interested to hear from people who have not read the books if they enjoyed it.
Morraine is supposed to be really short
 
from what ive seen so far, and i own the books paperback, hard back, and audio.
the casting is a bit off on many of them. Egwene is supposed to be shorter, Nynaeve is supposed to be shorter than any of the guys, Perrin is supposed to be Talk and heavily muscled. Rand is supposed to be very tall and slender
 
I get to watch this with my 13yr old in a few hours, she’s finished the 1st book and I can’t wait to see her impression vs mine. I always prefer for things to be as close to the original as possible but teenagers are more accepting of change. We have been waiting eagerly for a year since I first heard about the production. I’m drooling like my dogs do when I get out the peanut butter :worship:
 
I was looking forward to this too and I do prefer they keep it close to the book as is reasonably possible. I really don't mind the casting differences as much as I do the story differences and it has disappointed me in the one episode I have viewed so far. I have had to stop and vent to my wife, now I am better and I can go finish watching the episodes they have released so far :)
 
I was hopeful until I saw the casting. They've screwed things up as usual, so I'm going to pass despite having read the series several times. Casting isn't that hard, except when you're trying to be woke. You folks enjoy.
 
I watched the first few episodes. The first major scene is at most a faint resemblance to the book. The 3 legged stool now has 4 legs, since they made Egwene one of the Ta'vren or whatever they are called. This was totally unnecessary, she had a huge role in the books and did not need to become part of that circle. However, despite the changes, the story was enjoyable, but I think it would be stronger in the end if they had stuck to the book plot.
 
After watching the 3 episodes available I went through a few different stages.

1. mad - casting wasn’t what I would have preferred on a few
2. acceptance - just like game of throne, the show can’t follow the books perfectly but can still be good
3. hooked - they really got the story moving a long and I was really sad there weren’t more episodes to watch!

I will say, there was one attempt at wokeness or whatever that turned me off but I was able to push past it. If the books are that popular, you don’t need to force in that junk. Jordan’s characters are already diverse enough imho.

another observation is that Jordan must not be from the south because my southern accent had many of those names, titles, towns, etc pronounced completely wrong!
 
I'm enjoying the show, have read the books twice. Both my wife and I were expecting to be disappointed, but we both were pleasantly surprised and have enjoyed the first 2 episodes. Even with some of the content changes that I wish hadn't been added.
 
lan is too short, rand is too short, moraine is too tall, logain looks like taim should, the bows are not stout or long enough, perrin is a wimp, and shadar logath had more impact in the book. the spot on character was thom merilan except his white hair wasnt white enough
 
Alright so my impressions through episode #3 are primarily positive with a sprinkling of non-prohibitive criticisms which I'll hit on first.
- What the hell was up with the audio mixing in the first half of e1? It was very difficult to hear what everyone was saying over all the loud background noises. This is a common problem in movies today and oh so easily corrected. It was worse because it was a second layer of confusion on top of some of the heavy accents, and the timing was bad because of brand new folks missing names and possibly important introductory character info. (...maybe the audio could be re-engineered and this could be fixed?)

- While the CGI was often good and did the books justice (fans for years have worried about how channeling would fare in a live action production) some of the effects struggled with the uncanny valley (Shadar Logoth) or just looked straight up fake (Thom's knife through the darkfriend's throat, or her blood on the cobblestones). The production quality in general feels so good, that the "good enough" effects stand out.

- I'm just going to say right out of the gate that the number of planned episodes (seasons?) is not enough. This trend toward shorter and shorter seasons puts such a strain on character development. I often had Dune flashbacks, where *I* knew why certain scenes or dialogue were important (when Moraine was telling the Manatheren story and got to the part about the queen and the camera cut to Egwene I got literal chills down my back), but too often it felt like they were checking storyline boxes and hitting plot beats as fast as they could because they just didn't have time to stop and breathe. I understand the budgetary constraints which limit episode count, but if these seasons had twice the episodes, it would have been very easy to draw out episode 1 better, spend more time on character establishment/development, build up more to Bel Tine and the festivities, then cut to credits right when the Trolloc weapon pierces that guy's chest. As a book reader I'm already invested in every character, but a common complaint in the room was not knowing or caring who the characters were individually.

Alright those are probably my top three complaints; I could scrounge up others but they'd be trivial really.

Stuff that was 🤷🤷🤷 for me:

- I didn't really care about the casting changes. Yeah the characters aren't mirror counterparts to their book selves but... it never threatened my suspension of disbelief and was just not on my mind much while watching. Lan may be the most apparent departure for me, but good acting can cover a multitude of sins and the entirety of the main cast did not let down.

- The Trolloc faces should be varied and animal-based (bull faces, bird faces, etc) but they're just kinda generic monster faces and... that's fine, whatever. I noticed it but didn't care.

- Bella. She was always a fun, minor inclusion in the books, but from a production standpoint I understand the continuity burden would have been overly risky. I didn't mind her being cut even though I noticed.

Stuff I was real happy about:

- Boy I sure was glad when Thom showed up. He's hardly a main character, but I was real shocked when he didn't show up in the first episode. For me, down the road, rolling him into another character or something would be a significant departure for the Tower of Ghenjei rescue. Seeing that patchwork cloak let me release a breath I didn't know I was holding.

- Channeling (and the Warder bond). I'm glad the portrayal so far has been appropriate and well-paced, instead of terrible CGI or awkward info dumps. Anything dealing with the One Power could easily be botched but so far so good in my book. While we know the One Power is more of a soft magic system than a hard one, I'm looking forward to seeing it move over time from a mysterious deus ex machina to a firm plot device. For non-readers I think rewatch value is likely going to be very high.

- The dialogue, particularly the humor, is exactly the adaptation the books needed for live action. I'm glad they didn't try to force the goofy in-world curses, and the innuendos have been hilarious (and infrequent enough that someone like it mom probably won't turn the show off from them). I'm glad to hear "go in the light" and "the light guide you" and such but hopefully I'll never have to hear "wool-headed buffoon" or "mother's milk in a cup" spoken out loud. It worked fine in the books, but it would just be so cringey in this format.

Alright there's my big rundown you probably didn't care about haha.

Tune in next week for my review of e4?

All in all I was real happy with the show, am very excited to watch more, and was glad that most of my friends (who haven't read the books) enjoyed it and found it engaging. Can't wait til next week.
 
It's been easily a decade since I've read these books. I didn't get through book 8. I've tried to finish it several times but just lost interest. I don't remember that Perrin was ever married. Was he? Lans way to short though the actor was fine. Thom was great and so were the Trollocs.
The woke casting is so annoying that it takes away from the story. I'll keep watching though because... Why not?
 
It's been easily a decade since I've read these books. I didn't get through book 8. I've tried to finish it several times but just lost interest. I don't remember that Perrin was ever married. Was he? Lans way to short though the actor was fine. Thom was great and so were the Trollocs.
The woke casting is so annoying that it takes away from the story. I'll keep watching though because... Why not?

No, Perrin wasn't married in the books, and I'm not exactly sure why they did that in the show. My best guess is that it provides a quick explanation why he isn't the womanizer that Rand and Matt are.
 
lan is too short, rand is too short, moraine is too tall, logain looks like taim should, the bows are not stout or long enough, perrin is a wimp, and shadar logath had more impact in the book. the spot on character was thom merilan except his white hair wasnt white enough
Nor was Thom’s mustache long enough
 
over all i think it will do well, there was some creative takes that i did not particularly like, such as the push into the river, no tom at belltine, the look of the white cloaks. where is min and beralion at? they have really kind of screwed up the parin character by making him married.
 
No, Perrin wasn't married in the books, and I'm not exactly sure why they did that in the show. My best guess is that it provides a quick explanation why he isn't the womanizer that Rand and Matt are.
I heard one explanation is that they wanted to show why Perrin is afraid of his strength and hurting people. He is afraid and doesn't want his animalistic side to come out.
 
from what ive seen so far, and i own the books paperback, hard back, and audio.
the casting is a bit off on many of them. Egwene is supposed to be shorter, Nynaeve is supposed to be shorter than any of the guys, Perrin is supposed to be Talk and heavily muscled. Rand is supposed to be very tall and slender
ok having watched first episode now ill vent a tad.

OMFG could they have screwed the story up ANY worst. Ok Ok i like the show, but it is NOT following the book on MAJOR things. Things that where very important to the books.

i really hope it stays as a good show but they shoudlnt call it Wheel of Time, even in 1 episode i can see it wont stay anything close to the books
 
ok having watched first episode now ill vent a tad.

OMFG could they have screwed the story up ANY worst. Ok Ok i like the show, but it is NOT following the book on MAJOR things. Things that where very important to the books.

i really hope it stays as a good show but they shoudlnt call it Wheel of Time, even in 1 episode i can see it wont stay anything close to the books
Print and video are completely different mediums. I think they are doing a pretty decent job of following the story line. What you think is MAJOR may not register the same way for someone else. I am curious to know what major differences you are seeing.

Apart from some glaringly obvious casting with the intent of 'diversifying' the characters (yeah, you have to do that because print really is black and white), they are doing an excellent job (only 2 episodes in, but with the downtime tonight may see the rest). Is it the same as the books? No. Is it good? Yes.

P.S. The casting of Rosamund Pike as Morraine is really irking me though. I just don't like her. Maybe 'I care too much' soured me on her (in which case, Kudos to her acting) but I just don't.
 
ok having watched first episode now ill vent a tad.

OMFG could they have screwed the story up ANY worst. Ok Ok i like the show, but it is NOT following the book on MAJOR things. Things that where very important to the books.

i really hope it stays as a good show but they shoudlnt call it Wheel of Time, even in 1 episode i can see it wont stay anything close to the books

I'd be curious what you'd say your top 3-5 changes/additions were, or major cuts?
 
I told my wife the Perrin marriage was their way of quick explaining his hesitancy to us his strength. I just really feel like they could have found a bigger actor (size, not fame). In many scenes, he actually reminds me of Jon Snow. The accent, the mouth, other parts. Like he’s a bastard or something :dance:
 
I told my wife the Perrin marriage was their way of quick explaining his hesitancy to us his strength. I just really feel like they could have found a bigger actor (size, not fame). In many scenes, he actually reminds me of Jon Snow. The accent, the mouth, other parts. Like he’s a bastard or something :dance:
Yeah, someone told me that's called a fridge and it's kind of cringe to use in comics/novels - but honestly it is an easy way to give plot depth. Especially when you've got so much written content and it has to translate into an visual/audio for a wider audience.

I think Sanderson is working on the show and he recommended using Master Luhhan, but evidently they went with the sexual partner role for Perrin's agony and bridge into his hate of the axe.

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Fanatical reader of the Wheel of Time series, huge fan of Robert Jordan, I lean medium right conservative but not religious politically speaking (relevant - see below). Spoiler free or trying to be, feel free to nuke where appropriate.

First off, many reviews online almost discouraged me before I even watched due to saying the Amazon series was 'woke'. Inclusivity, story changes, casting choices, creative license, and so forth.

Do not let this dissuade you, watch the show with an open mind. While I do not necessarily understand all of the decisions, overall, the show is very good. Not quite GoT level yet, but they did put a budget and serious work into it. It is promising.

Pros - I feel like they have condensed the story into the medium and cuts were necessary but not overly scrapped. For example, the party can not stop at 80 different towns on the way to Tar Valon, and while there was great story and character building in those chapters, it's just not feasible for a TV series. They covered the meat of the story and plot extremely well I feel. Trollocs are done very well IMHO, and the Fade is awesome. Morraine was spot on casting to what I had imagined reading the books. Perrin is spot on, minus the whole fridge plot being married - that kind of threw me. Rand has been decent so far. Nynaeve is really good, they are building her character well. Rand's father, spot on. Thom - love the actor, miss the mustachio, but I can deal. The magic system and summoning mechanics are probably the best I've seen in a fantasy tv series bar none. Extremely well done. Padan Fain, Eamon - very good, very creepy characters. Aram looks to be very promising, great actor.

Neutral - Lan. I was totally expecting a very large, rugged, caucasian man with a granite jaw and muscular - rough yet refined experience. The actor is good, and it's growing on me, I'm starting to accept it. Shadar Logoth - anyone that has read the book and watched the series understands the missing context here with Mat Cauthon and the creative license of what happens to him. I feel they left out important details and what happens, but again I can live with it. Perrin - wolves are integrated really well and foreshadowing is well done - but where is ELIAS? C'mon man! I hope they don't leave that out.

Not so good - Egwene. I do not like the casting, I do not like the character building. Nothing like what I imagined her to be from the book. And I feel with the changes in Rand and her relationship, the village wisdom ceremony, the banter between her and the boys just awful. I agree with reviews that say she actually was Ta'everen, so I don't mind the 4 legged stool approach, I feel that it was an author oversight to begin with. Mat - sorry, he was a complex character and hard to nail, and they have missed it so far. Mat was very light hearted, the prankster, always joking and comedy relief, ladies man, loyal friend with some serious early adulthood issues and a run of bad luck and bad decisions. Unfortunately all the show is portraying is an angsty, dark Mat.

Overall experience.
Episode 1 *groan, they are going to ruin it*. Took a break with the wife and grabbed dinner. Talked about it.
Episode 2 Starting to be okay with some of the creative license, understanding that some things have to be cut for TV, some of the plot changes are starting to make some sense even though still a general dislike.
Episode 3 Full circle, starting to appreciate the series for what it is. World is starting to pull me back in like the books did. By the end of episode 3, I am definitely looking forward to the rest of the series to see how they do. Promising.


Edit: Just read Branson24's 3 stages of acceptance. What he said.
 
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I'd be curious what you'd say your top 3-5 changes/additions were, or major cuts?
Episode 1.
Perrin MARRIED, Perrin KILLING HIS WIFE (she was pregnant)
where was Tom in emonds field, where where the Luhans,
WTF was that crap about pushing egwene off the cliff into the water as initiation into womens circle
WTF was that crap about destroying the winespring inn
Bella, OMG BELLA is supposed to be a short stout PONY, not a full fledge horse

lol i can keep going

liked the show as a show, just not as a rendition of a book series
i did LOVE the trolloks and the Myrdraal
 
I have come to accept that the show could not possibly be a perfect line by line recreation and to be honest that is probably a good thing. As much as I like the series, I will admit that there are some slogs to get through. It is a beautiful world with so much lore and intrigue but that just cannot be captured in a tv show. While the first episode was rough, I think the 2nd and 3rd showed promise. The best thing so far is that non-readers seem to be enjoying it and that can only be a good thing for the series and the world as a lot of them will naturally want to read the books now.

Brandon Sanderson himself has said that the best way to watch this as hardcore fans that wanted an exact adaptation is to imagine this as another turning of the wheel where things are similar but not the exact same as the turning you know.
 
You know, I wonder if they opened with the first three episodes specifically because they knew e1 had problems, may not be enough to hook people, and making the audience wait a week or two for the story to stabilize a bit was just too risky?

Also, if you haven't read it yet, here's Brandon's take on e1+e2:

I'm glad to see he agrees with several of the broader concerns, but it's also good to see how he puts some many of the minor ones into perspective. I'm glad he's been included so much on reviewing script drafts, etc.
 
Brandon Sanderson himself has said that the best way to watch this as hardcore fans that wanted an exact adaptation is to imagine this as another turning of the wheel where things are similar but not the exact same as the turning you know.


my 13yo complained more about the changes than I did. I said this exact same thing to her. Consider it a variant on the wheel. While I’d be happy slogging through 13 episodes to cover 1/4 of a book just to get the detail, I also understand that it’s not good for business. My wife knows nothing of the series but she’s enjoying it when my eldest and I shut the fuck up lol. most review ive seen all day episode 3 was a turning point in the right direction. The 3 of us watched it separately and all felt the same way. my kid and I were pissed after 1. My wife was lost. My kid and I enjoyed parts of 2. My wife was still lost but a couple things made sense. My kid and I agreed that 3 made us want more. My wife is still lost but is enjoying it for what it is.
 
Enjoying the show, read the books several times. All I can say is:

They better not leave out the 3 legged stool.

And those Aes Sedai had better focus on the intricacy of the doilies on the dress(es) and shades of yellow on their bodice!

(Truth be told, with creative liberties taken into account, I think they've done a great job...)
 
Read the series twice and listened to the audiobooks. Truly one of the best epic fantasy series ever written.

But, I couldn't make it past the first episode of the "Wheel of Time" show. Between Lan being a midget, Rand and Eqwene having sex, and Perrin being married it was clearly going to be too far removed from the story for me to waste my time on it.
 
I thought episode 4 was great. The concerns I had during episode 1 were mostly ironed out in episode 2 and 3, and by 4 I feel like this show has hit its stride. The pacing is no longer an issue and the character development is on-point. Also, the amount of foreshadowing/easter eggs that we've seen at this point give ample evidence that the producers know the material and are setting up some pretty forward-thinking payoffs.

At times maybe I'd prefer more fidelity to the books, but I'm also glad this show won't be a slog like some of the books were, and I think viewing it as a different turning of the Wheel than the books is a great way to not get hung up in the discrepancies.
 
I thought episode 4 was great. The concerns I had during episode 1 were mostly ironed out in episode 2 and 3, and by 4 I feel like this show has hit its stride. The pacing is no longer an issue and the character development is on-point. Also, the amount of foreshadowing/easter eggs that we've seen at this point give ample evidence that the producers know the material and are setting up some pretty forward-thinking payoffs.

At times maybe I'd prefer more fidelity to the books, but I'm also glad this show won't be a slog like some of the books were, and I think viewing it as a different turning of the Wheel than the books is a great way to not get hung up in the discrepancies.

yep, e4 was really good. It’s gotten better each episode. Had they all been like e1, I wouldnt have lasted. Still some liberties I don’t like but i can get past them
 
IRL - Wheel of Time on Amazon Prime

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