Wheel of Time (Amazon)

nullObjects

(Mild spoiler for a character surviving to Season 2, in case that counts as a spoiler!)

Spoiler Warning

Actor that plays Matt has been recast, bit weird given the first season hasn't come out yet:

https://deadline.com/2021/09/the-wheel-of-time-donal-finn-to-play-mat-cauthon-in-recasting-on-amazon-series-as-barney-harris-not-returning-for-season-2-1234840887/

EoinMcLovin

https://youtu.be/mPAYuCt7Eco

https://youtu.be/8ABgqUh8M98

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Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117855678#Comment_117855678

Amazons Region locks are very weird. Personally I only subscribed for the Expanse. Had a load of trouble getting the regions correct.

Ave Sodalis

I am so very excited now!

Heffoman

I hope the dont ruin it. The casting doesn't overly fill me with hope.

Anyone know the reason why Matt is recast. That seems a big problem already.

OwaynOTT

Looks great. Best one so far

"One of the 5 of you"??

I really don't dig the colour grading being used here. It feels very very CW

Mitch Connor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118081823#Comment_118081823

Egwene, Rand, Matt, Perrin Nyneve.

I assume Nyneve isn't going to follow them, and will just be part of the party heading out.

OK I am not going to go into this because of spoiler territory

OwaynOTT

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118082363#Comment_118082363

It could just be an aes sedai getting around their oaths. Can’t lie but can be selective with truths

pixelburp

That second trailer has me MUCH more interested; the first made it look a little hokey and low budget, whereas this newer one gives a much broader, more epic scope.

mewso

At least I haven't read this book series so I might enjoy it more although I am fed up with Amazon's new weekly episode approach. It was one of the advantages of the streaming services to watch all episodes when you were in the mood. I'm probably in a minority here since people prefer to be able to discuss episode by episode but I am very much in the watch when it suits camp. I'm glad Netflix haven't gone that way with their series. The only thing about that trailer that was a bit lame was the "wheel moves as it weaves" line. I'm sure it's from the books but it sounds terrible to me.

pixelburp

For the Google averse, this is a book series that was never finished, right? I seem to recall one of the major Fantasy Names from the 00s and its author died before finishing it. I presume if this show is a success, it'll curry some controversy if it ploughs its own furrow (as opposed to embracing any fan theories or whatnot floating about)

It was finished.

Robert Jordan knew he was ill and compiled all his story threads. Brandon Sanderson then finished it off

Ave Sodalis

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118085962#Comment_118085962

The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills. The series is heavily reliant on the theme of reincarnation and fate, hence the title. As the Wheel of Time turns, it weaves threads of people's lives into a pattern. If the pattern starts to stray, people who have a stronger influence on their own fate and that of people around them, are born to bring the pattern back to normality. It's an interesting concept and is the whole point of the series.

Slydice

From a kinda outside perspective, this show feels like it has a lot going for itself. The books seem to have been really well received from it's fans. Rosamund Pike is a great-to-have cast member.

The trailer looks like it's hitting a limit on special effects though. I'm guessing that might be ok though. If amazon has thrown a heap of money at the show, then the special effects could still be in-progress to be finalised.

Flinty997

The books are mixed bag. In my opinion, they start great. But about about midway the author (as often happens) lost the run of himself, too many characters, too many story arcs. When he realized he was ill he drafted in another writer to tighten it up, and then the new writer finished the series after the original author passed away. Lots of great ideas though. If you like fantasy its one of the classics IMO.

I suspect it will be improved by condensing it for the screen.

I think the Expanse books are a little too heavy going for me. I actually like how it the TV series lightened it. I'm hoping that happens with the WOT.

Usually its the opposite you hate the shortcuts when they bring something to screen. The Hobbit though was decent on how they stretched it out.

Sleepy

The books had a great story and an epic scale but the quality of the writing would be considered very poor by modern standards for the fantasy genre. It'll benefit greatly from being condensed for the screen... there's one whole book in the series which you could summarise into a paragraph and not lose anything before moving onto the next!

human 19

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118107831#Comment_118107831

Very shortly after I finished all the books, I missed the world so much that I just had to go back and read them all again. 2nd time around there were a lot of times when I just skipped pages and pages of meaningless conversations or scenes where I knew it wasnt moving the story along. Overall, thought, I agree it's a wonderful world to get lost in. Its like a cross between Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings (with a lot more magic).

Mitch Connor

Spoiler Warning

Is that book 8? IIRC the only think of real note happens in the epilog. egwene blocking or unblocking the docks of tar valon or something like that, can't remember fully - been years since I read it

Nody

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118107831#Comment_118107831

Why do you hate pulling of braids, "Humpf, Men!", "If only X/Y/Z was here; he's so much better with women" etc.

Sleepy

LOL @Nody

I think so @Mitch Connor , IIRC the book could be summarised as

Spoiler Warning

Egwene moves her army... gets kidnapped.

kerplun k

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118086059#Comment_118086059

Looking forward to this one.

I’ve never actually finished the books, I stopped around book 6. But these go and on. It would want to get a lot of seasons to catch up.

Heraclius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118120042#Comment_118120042

I think I gave up around book five or six too. I'm still confused by how some people laud the series because I found the characters very poorly written and eventually found myself skipping whole paragraphs of prose. I still liked the core story and look forward to seeing it on screen.

kerplun k

Yeah. I just remembered getting very bored with it. It didn’t help that I started reading the lotr books midway through book 6, and just had no desire to go back after finishing the lotr trilogy. I must pick it up again,

Heraclius

I started to find the arguments and emotional issues of the characters so annoying because they seemed to be ignoring the very existential issues their world faced.

Flinty997

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118120096#Comment_118120096

I think we all did the same.

It's an entertaining world/story but overly simplistic in many ways, and overly long winded as it goes on.

Still it had stayed with me, after decades and when the final books appeared I re-read it and wanted to see what happened to the characters. Even if I speed read a lot of it. So the world and it's characters had the power to engage us.

pixelburp

So then book readers, answer me this please: what kind of fantasy show can we expect here? The trailers have made it look very earnest, down-the-centre kind of a High Fantasy world; in contrast with something like, say, The Witcher or Game of Thrones - which both tried to subvert tropes, playing things with a grubbier palette.

Mitch Connor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118120149#Comment_118120149

that and their refusal to communicate causing untold amount of problems, though some of the issues (as far as half way through book 4) are because RJ just decided to ignore important plot points he set up in previous books.

Two most glaring, imo (Spoilers for books 2 and 3 mostly):

Spoiler Warning

Min not telling Moiraine a the start of book 3 that she had seen and spoken to a Forsaken, who had said Rand would be hers, at the end of book 2. Even when Moiraine said, right in front of her, that she fears some of the Forsaken might be loose, even NAMING the one Min saw.

Matt not telling Elaine about the plot to kill her - this being a huge plot hole for me. Matt went to Tear because 'Lord Gabriel' sent the fella to kill the girls - the fella Morgase is a love sick puppy for, the fella who had the leader of the Andor army exiled. After Morgase told Matt to tell Elaine that she misses her chats with Sheriam 'Tell her those exact words, which is also pointed out by the Andor guard that escorts Matt out. But no, Matt seemingly doesn't tell her or anyone, and Elaine and the rest don't ask why Matt knew to go to Tear and who was after them. Maybe he tells them later, but FFS it should have been an immediate topic of great importance.

There are probably some other massive plot holes I'm not thinking of, but the general theme of the characters not telling each other stuff, never mind Moiraine is infurating for the problems it causes.

kerplun k

At the time of reading, it reminded me a lot of The Hobbit which is basically a more child friendly version of LOTR. I haven’t actually seen the trailer, so no idea what route they’ll take with this. But from what I did read I’d be very surprised if they went for the GOT/Witcher adult audiences.

Christ but the amount of issues which could have been resolved with "Hey, this happened. Want to discuss it?"

Sleepy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118122031#Comment_118122031

It's very much High Fantasy in the same mould as LOTR but with the scale and multi-character approach of Game of Thrones. Fantasy as a genre has come a long way since Robert Jordan which makes the books suffer by comparison to many modern works but the sheer scale of world-building in the Wheel of Time was extremely novel for the time and has had a huge influence on more recent works. Jordan and the series are actually referenced a number of times in A Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin who was a huge fan of Jordan's:

• "Lord Trebor Jordayne of the Tor" is one of the great lord of Dorne. (Wheel of Time was published by Tor Books, Trebor is Robert backwards)
• Lady Rohanne Webber of Coldmoat has her hair tied in a long braid and tugs on it in moments of stress (done so frequently be the character of Nynaeve in Wheel of Time that it's practically a meme)
• An Archmaester Rigney of the Citadel is mentioned as theorising that time is a wheel. (James Oliver Rigney. was Robert Jordan's real name).
• The Coat of Arms of House Toland is a dragon eating its own tail, and is meant to represent the unending and cyclic nature of time, which correlates to the Great Serpent in Jordan's the Wheel of Time.

Anyway…

whens it out.

Cuddlesworth

19th Nov

nullObjects

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118123889#Comment_118123889

Already have it in my list. Looking forward to it

Agent Coulson

Reviews starting to appear for the first 3 episodes before it arrives this Friday and they all seem to be very positive.

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118122328#Comment_118122328

Some nudity, more male than female according to Rosamund Pike

https://winteriscoming.net/2021/11/12/amazon-cannot-afford-muck-up-the-wheel-of-time-nudity/

Doesn't necessarily mean sex I suppose, which apparently there isn't much of in the books

The Golden Miller

I've meant to read the books for this, but never have. But from what I'm led to believe, no show has ever had a bigger reputation to live up to. Take away Lord of the Rings, and this is the greatest fantasy story/novel/book of our time, so huge pressure to deliver.

On top of that, Game of Thrones is the series on which all other series' will be compared to in the fantasy world. So this show will have to get it right from the start, regardless of whether the Ice and Fire stories are inferior.

I'm expecting huge things from this, because as someone who reads books, but never read this, for years I've been told how nothing lives up to it, bar Lord of the Rings.

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118176517#Comment_118176517

Really, I'm seeing mixed ones

https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/16/22785109/amazon-wheel-of-time-tv-show-review-rosamund-pike-game-of-thrones

Btw drop is expected to be midnight GMT tonight, though that's apparently not certain.

FortuneChip

One episode down.

Eh, not great. A few immediate strays from the book, three or four are quite significant.

Also sped quite quickly through things to get our party on the road, like, unnaturally so.

Flinty997

I dunno why

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118183996#Comment_118183996

GOT is basically Fantasy for 18+

Wheel of Time, Lord of the Rings, (well the books) are really 12+ at worst. Completely different.

As someone else said the books are less complex than people have come to expect.

Flinty997

I see it's 16+ on Prime. Must have spiced it up for TV audience.

Agent Coulson

Maria Doyle Kennedy is in everything these days.

I enjoyed the opening 3 episodes.

twinex

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118193053#Comment_118193053

Can you elaborate for me please? It's a toss up between this and Cowboy Bebop and I loved the books and the anime but I fear it will be the least bad who wins out...

kerplun k

Jeez, episode 1 was brilliant. I think there's been some deviations from the book, but if the rest of the season is this good, who cares.

y0ssar1an22

just started, lets hope it lives up to my memory of the books

gmisk

Disclaimer I have only watched episode 1.

I went in totally blind enjoyed lord of the rings, loved a lot of game of thrones...the script in this...hmm...Rosamund Pike in particular does her best but it is kind of awful, some of the other actors are dreadful. It feels weirdly cheap in places bizarrely given the budget. I might watch one more but it needs to improve.

y0ssar1an22

they've made a balls of the audio anyway, dialogue quite hard to pick up in some scenes

15 mins in, i can see this going the way of sword of truth rather than GOT/LOTR

Heffoman

Big fan of the books really didn’t like the first episode.

Some pretty huge changes made to the book for no real reason. Lots of minors one which was to be expected.

The whole tone of the first episode was way off from the books.

spookwoman

Watched all three episodes. First one not so good, Moiraine seemed like the book character and same with Rand, Lan, Gwayne and Nynaeve nothing like the books. Personally the actor who plays Thom Merrilin looked more like the Lan I had pictured from the books.

Got more into it for the second and third episodes.