Amph Wheel of Time (Amazon Prime TV Series)

I know we have a WoT thread, but that was for the books and contains spoilers. Knowing that the TV is another turning of the Wheel and for both old and new fans, I thought a new thread is needed.

Even though the show technically doesn't drop the first three episodes this Friday the 18th, this site tells you the regional time when it premieres.

I'm both excited and nervous, because I know for a fact I won't like some of the changes and hope my brain doesn't get me caught up in the changes.

There are some recent posts in the book thread, particularly one posted today about a reddit thread. Is it possible for a mod to merge that post at least into this thread?

 

That Reddit thread has got me all over the place. Some details sound good, some stuff seems like a potential red flag. Should be interesting, I guess.

 

Will watch. But the footage I've seen looks like fantasy TV before it started getting taken seriously.

 

Can't be worse than Shannara, right?

Right?

 

Pretty much by default, that's not even a bar they need to clear. Most folks' bowel movements have higher production values than MTV shows.

 

I know a lot of time and attention has been put into making sure the details are as spot-on as possible. I heard the first ep is a bit choppy, especially if you know the story, but all first episodes are rushed and choppy and sometimes have a bit too much to set the foundation. Fortunately, with 3/8 released at once, a viewer can get a better and faster understanding as to whether or not it’s fantasy done right for them.

 

A review

Robert Jordan’s best-selling fantasy book series has traveled a weird road to get to TV. Now that the live-action adaptation of The Wheel of Time is here, the results are… well, weird. It’s a show that’s full of contradictions; it clearly loves the source material but constantly fights with it. The series is condensing an 800-page novel into eight hour-long episodes of TV, and the story still feels like it’s meandering sometimes. It’s both better and worse than the books. And yet, for some reason, I’m ready for more.

 

This part of the review (below) tracks with everything I’ve seen so far, and very likely means I’ll make it a couple episodes in before calling it quits. The complex worlds people inhabit are just as interesting as individual people. If more showrunners and filmmakers understood this, we’d have so much better entertainment.

“What the TV show gains in clarity and focus it loses in the sense that this is a real place where things happen beyond the quintet of heroes. Part of the problem is that the show doesn’t feel like it has any of the realism that made Game of Thrones look so good. The clothes are too clean. Villages’ dirt grounds are so flat and smooth they’re obviously sound stages. The magic VFX looks mediocre and uninspired. The Trollocs—orc-like monsters who serve the Dragon Reborn’s ultimate foe—are guys in suits that look like they were made by ILM in the ‘90s: good, but it’s nothing like the quality of TV viewers are used to nowadays.”

 

That is disappointing, considering that I thought they would focus on making clothes and places seem lived-in and realistic. I hope it doesn't really stay shiny throughout the first season.

 

Well, the IGN review is far more positive ( 9 out 10).

 

Just look at the trailers and the number of generic, suburban Ren Fair-looking fantasy villages in it.

 

I dunno, the book cover art shows the characters wearing some pretty fancy threads:
Spoiler tag for length.

Spoiler

 

The point was that it all looks like “generic” fantasy costuming, not “fancy.” And the locations just look too artificially clean. Like the showrunnere have never visited a place that’s more than a couple decades old, and this is their cheaply stereotypical idea of what a medieval-esque setting should look like.

Plus, fantasy book cover art is not ever a place concept artists and costume designers should look for inspiration. That’s often some of the worst cover art out there.

 

As nice as I like some of the cover art, some don’t adequately reflect descriptions of characters

 

The thing about the WOT covers is, each of them actually depicts a scene from the novel. I remember a long time ago I was reading Lord of Chaos at work, and my coworker commented that it looks like a romance novel.
Spoiler for book 6:

Spoiler

I mean yeah, if you’re unfamiliar with the book I could see how you might make that assumption. Muscly dude in an open shirt, looking at a woman near him. That makes sense from an outsider’s perspective.

But if you have read the book, you know that’s the scene where Rand busts out of the cage that the Aes Sedai put him in and lays the smack down at Dumai’s Wells. Which, incidentally, is the scene I’m most looking forward to when the show reaches that point.

 

My opinion on the covers can be summed up in "I was not surprised TOR did an about-face on their importance to the books' identities and dumped them all when they did reprints."

Then again I'm big on the UK covers, so maybe it's just that I don't want any gosh durn pictures on mah readin' books.

 

Anything to wash the stench of Foundation off my subscription. I’m ready to dive in

 

Just started listening the soundtrack. No idea if the series will be any good, but the soundtrack is pretty awesome. Also, I do like what I've seen from the trailers.

 

Just to be kind and make sure people have the time to catch up, we should stick with the norm for weekly series and put info about each episode in spoiler tags for at least a week.

It's fun to listen to on my way to work before the sun has risen.
I love that Lorne Balfe made sure everything is in the Old Tongue. I hope there's a translation book eventually.

 

that’s tower bridge m8

 

Looks like the first three episodes are up

 

I'm halfway through the first episode.

I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed.

 

Have this in my que since I get into this kind of stuff. I’ll give it a go. I’m trying to stay away from too many reviews and other information though ahead of time!

 

A more positive review, from someone who doesn't know the source material: