The Wheel of Time- Amazon Prime

[Matt S]

I heard the first 5 seasons are just book 1. HOLY SH**T!!

Long books, longer series = relationship

 

[xipotec]

The production design is very good but the budget shows, here and there. Not a dealbreaker, I love The Expanse and the first couple of seasons had the same issue.

The show has managed to surprise me a couple of times (I haven't read the books) -- and that's a tall order, so I'm all in for the moment.

The only real weak point for me is some of the acting, but it's not too bad.

I agree on all points. lets me say this. you have only seen a fraction of the world and how it works.

Things will get very interesting soon, as they introduce the history of the last Dragon, and how the Aes Sedai came to power.

 

[xipotec]

I heard the first 5 seasons are just book 1. HOLY SH**T!!

Long books, longer series = relationship

no, I don't think so. Episode 5 and we are near the end of book one.

 

[xipotec]

Finally finished. Overall a good start to the huge world of WOT.
Although they are making some very odd choices with the story.
The appear to be jumping all over to get in some of the later and arguably more interesting world ideas, at the expense of character development. While the actors are good, the attachment to them is limited as we really do not have a chnace to know them better as people. Only Moraine seems to get enough development to really have an attachment to her. Lan and Nyneave story is so rushed that it feels unatural and inorganic.

The really should have stuck with the smaller story that Eye of the World was, and focused more on the Two Rivers kids ans how they were seeing the larger world.

Its hard to really screw up such a good story, but they are making some really poor chocies with the focus of the show.

It one of the reasons alot of WOT fans do not like it. They want more of the personalities of the main characters , how they interact with each other, and the famy bonds they have….which right now seems forced and secondary to the plot.

You can almost smell the studio interference in this show, as they “add” things focus groups obviously want….and really have no bearing on the overall story.

I enjoyed it, but really question if it can survive knowing they are so comfortable screwing around with the roots of the story in favor of audience appeasment.

 

[abake]

I watched it, but more as a guilty pleasure type of thing...
The cast and production value are mostly pretty solid, but the story itself seems like such a ripoff of LOTR that it just had me rolling my eyes every five minutes. And to top it off, they rip off The Last Temptation of Christ in the last episode... that was actually kinda painful to watch

Having said that, I'm intrigued as to what comes next, so bring on Season 2!

 

[ZE_501]

It definitely felt *compressed*. With this kind of production design and the lack of HBO-level t&a, I guess they didn't have the confidence to develop things slowly like GoT for fear of losing the audience.

Once again, the show has surprised me here and there and isn't the straightforward sword & sorcery I expected, so I'll check out Season 2 but I'm not 100% sold yet. Curious though.

 

[ZE_501]

seems like such a ripoff of LOTR that it just had me rolling my eyes every five minutes.

That was a very strong vibe regarding their big bad but I kind of expect it from most fantasy so it gets pushed to the back of my mind.

 

[xipotec]

That was a very strong vibe regarding their big bad but I kind of expect it from most fantasy so it gets pushed to the back of my mind.

See, thats what I mean, the big bad you all are referring to….with a huge spoiler, isnt really the main antagonist of the books…

They could have shown that fact several times in the series but must be holding it back for some reason…again with alot of the the story its literally the tip of the titanic sized iceberg. They should have at least hinted at the larger story….they did a bit with the after credit scene….but to an new viewer….its more of a WTF was that about.

 

[Spartan Rex]

Lots of discount/diversity actors on this show. The only ones with charisma is Rosmund Pike and her body guard. Some nice scenic vistas and set designs.
I hope this isn’t a preview of the Netflix LotR or Halo series.

 

[xipotec]

Lots of discount/diversity actors on this show. The only ones with charisma is Rosmund Pike and her body guard. Some nice scenic vistas and set designs.
I hope this isn’t a preview of the Netflix LotR or Halo series.

The book is all about diverse cultures and tribes….so you would expect that.

 

[generalszabo]

This gets better with every episode, at first I hated it but I gave it a chance but now am really enjoying it, the visuals are amazing and can't wait to see what happens

Can I just ask though as I didn't read the books, it seems there is a lot of racial diversity and whilst that's great, is that realistic to have lots of different ethnicities within each group? I hate racism and homophobia so it's great that they normalise a lot of these issues, however it comes off as maybe a bit simplistic compared with other shows which highlight race and sexuality as opposed to glossing over/acting like it isn't a concern?

 

[xipotec]

This gets better with every episode, at first I hated it but I gave it a chance but now am really enjoying it, the visuals are amazing and can't wait to see what happens

Can I just ask though as I didn't read the books, it seems there is a lot of racial diversity and whilst that's great, is that realistic to have lots of different ethnicities within each group? I hate racism and homophobia so it's great that they normalise a lot of these issues, however it comes off as maybe a bit simplistic compared with other shows which highlight race and sexuality as opposed to glossing over/acting like it isn't a concern?

We have only really seen the Two Rivers, Tar Valon and Sheinar.

Each of these areas has been obviously been immigrated to. But the core people can still been seen. Tar Valon, and by default, the White Tower, is very diverse sue to the Aes Sedai purposly finding and training channeling women from whereever they find them.

Shienar , was mostly a single people, as was Manetharan (Lans people) but the Trolloc wars depleted them. Same Two Rivers, it was created from the remnants of the breaking of the world.

The teaser at the end was a new group called the Seachan, they are an invading army, from the other side of the sea. tthey should be mostly of the same race, although, like the Aes Sedai, they have channelers as well, whom may have been “imported”.
The Aiel , which we saw briefly, are mostly tall red haired people, but even in thier ranks , there are divisions and clans from different areas.
In the books, like life, most areas have many types of people, but many are recognized easily from the regions they came from.

 

[xipotec]

Its worth looking at the very first book cover art to see the different races and societies represented.

Lan on the horse, Moraine by his side,
Followed by Rand and the rest. Note the dress and skin tones of each.

 

[generalszabo]

We have only really seen the Two Rivers, Tar Valon and Sheinar.

Each of these areas has been obviously been immigrated to. But the core people can still been seen. Tar Valon, and by default, the White Tower, is very diverse sue to the Aes Sedai purposly finding and training channeling women from whereever they find them.

Shienar , was mostly a single people, as was Manetharan (Lans people) but the Trolloc wars depleted them. Same Two Rivers, it was created from the remnants of the breaking of the world.

The teaser at the end was a new group called the Seachan, they are an invading army, from the other side of the sea. tthey should be mostly of the same race, although, like the Aes Sedai, they have channelers as well, whom may have been “imported”.
The Aiel , which we saw briefly, are mostly tall red haired people, but even in thier ranks , there are divisions and clans from different areas.
In the books, like life, most areas have many types of people, but many are recognized easily from the regions they came from.

Thanks for that info, it was nice to see all different skin colours and I guess they need a multicultural cast these days, but as you can see from the book cover, that wasn't necessarily the aim when the books were written

 

[xipotec]

Thanks for that info, it was nice to see all different skin colours and I guess they need a multicultural cast these days, but as you can see from the book cover, that wasn't necessarily the aim when the books were written

Lan is asian in that painting. Morraine was white, Rand was nordic.

The other two rivers people were of varying backgrounds , but Egwene and Nynave were also white.
The whitecloaks (bad guys) were all white as well……

Perrin was described as dark competition, The seachan were all also asian looking. So it goes both ways.

Many white characters are other races and many none white are now white. Its really irrelevant over all.

These stories were about multitude of races. It was never like LOTR where all the characters were white, even though they were of different races.

 

[generalszabo]

Lan is asian in that painting. Morraine was white, Rand was nordic.

The other two rivers people were of varying backgrounds , but Egwene and Nynave were also white.
The whitecloaks (bad guys) were all white as well……

Perrin was described as dark competition, The seachan were all also asian looking. So it goes both ways.

Many white characters are other races and many none white are now white. Its really irrelevant over all.

These stories were about multitude of races. It was never like LOTR where all the characters were white, even though they were of different races.

Sorry I misunderstood your post, I thought they all looked Caucasian in that picture

 

[pixletwin]

I loved WoT, but those books had the worst cover art. Soooo bad. Eye, isn't the worst. But there are some cringey ones.

 

[xipotec]

your not wrong pixel. Most of them were pretty bad with characters not even looking the same from book to book. or even matching character descriptions at all.

 

[Spartan Rex]

Finished the season and it was pretty anticlimactic. Ginger Hayden Christiansen
beats third rate Sauron with a Maguffin Rosamund Pike gives him. No real consequences or danger for the heroes as long as Grace is around. Nobody dies or seriously injured. Accents and hushed dialogue make following the story a royal pain. Insipid emotional love/triangle angst tedious to listen too. The books might've pioneered certain tropes when they were originally published but some of this seems well worn at this point.

 

[Turtle882]

I've enjoyed the books that I have read (up through #7), but this show didn't capture the magic. A lot of really weird story telling choices, beginning with changing the main character. I also always imagined that in the WoT, unlike every other fantasy story, people spoke with American accents, not crappy British accents. The SFX are lacking. Some of the camera work looks like a CW show. The acting is pretty hit and miss. Overall I find it to be a fun guilty pleasure, but not great. LotR better not end up like this.