New Witcher - Blood Origins - Spoilers allowed

[Mort]

Just binged this. Ok, that was a TON of fun. Good action, fun story, decent plot. Gorgeous shots.

For all the complaining about Caville not being the Witcher next season, and all the back and forth about ignoring the source material, well, if this is what ignoring the source material gets me, then, well, I have zero problems binning the source material. That was a ton of fun. Actually wouldn't have minded it being a couple more episodes long, to be honest. And that's a rarity for me.

What did folks think?

We get 1 more season of Caville as the Witcher (season 3) then it will switch in season 4.

I'm only on episode 2 and this show is fun. But there's a bit too much telling, SO many narrations - takes you right out of it.

 

[Tonguez]

We get 1 more season of Caville as the Witcher (season 3) then it will switch in season 4.

I'm only on episode 2 and this show is fun. But there's a bit too much telling, SO many narrations - takes you right out of it.

I liked the narration - infact I liked the whole framing of it as an ancient legend being related to the ‘chosen’ bard so that he could bring the tale back to the world

 

[Ryujin]

I liked the narration - infact I liked the whole framing of it as an ancient legend being related to the ‘chosen’ bard so that he could bring the tale back to the world

Indeed. You either like a framing device, or you don't. I happen to quite like it.

 

[Hussar]

We get 1 more season of Caville as the Witcher (season 3) then it will switch in season 4.

I'm only on episode 2 and this show is fun. But there's a bit too much telling, SO many narrations - takes you right out of it.

Heh, I kept imagining the dungeon master expositing to the players during this.

 

[Mort]

Heh, I kept imagining the dungeon master expositing to the players during this.

That's exactly what I thought when watching.

But it doesn't quite work, for me, the context of the show

 

[MNblockhead]

I heard it’s awful. Destroys source material, special effects are bad and people feel bad for yeoh . At first I thought it was just angry fans but most online magazines aren’t that high on it as well

I played the the video games but never read the books. I enjoyed both the main Witcher series and Blood Origins. But apparently I'm easily entertained.

Why does anyone thing that other people give the slightest rat's petoot about the stuff you don't like?

For the same reason people give a rat's petoot about the stuff you like?

Actually, as someone who enjoyed the shows, I'd be interested in how they deviate from the novels.

I'm at the age where people's strong dislike of things I like--whether movies, books, games, sports, or food--just doesn't phase me.

Generally, when I find conversations moving in this direction, I ask them to recommend things they do like. You are unlikely to convince me that what I enjoy sucks, but you could turn me onto something you enjoy.

 

[MarkB]

I liked the narration - infact I liked the whole framing of it as an ancient legend being related to the ‘chosen’ bard so that he could bring the tale back to the world

I was a bit doubtful at first - seemed like just an excuse to shoehorn Jaskier into the story - but it worked well.

Neat twist in the stinger scene too.

 

[Dire Bare]

Actually, as someone who enjoyed the shows, I'd be interested in how they deviate from the novels.

I'm at the age where people's strong dislike of things I like--whether movies, books, games, sports, or food--just doesn't phase me.

Generally, when I find conversations moving in this direction, I ask them to recommend things they do like. You are unlikely to convince me that what I enjoy sucks, but you could turn me onto something you enjoy.

I'm totally cool with posters joining the discussion to talk about what did and did not work for them in "Blood Origins" (or whatever show/thing is the topic of the day). Like you, I often find it interesting to learn about how a movie/tv adaptation differs from source material I'm not familiar with, like The Witcher series. I don't subscribe to the idea, "the book is always better" . . . but, it certainly can be.

So, if you pop into a thread like this with, "Watched it, overall didn't care for it. This is what I liked and didn't like about the show" I'm totally down with that conversation. Share your opinions, but don't belabor the point or try to turn the conversation into a debate over the worthiness of the show.

It's the posters who just won't stop with the negativity, who want to argue with others whether the show is terrible. Those who conflate their opinion with objective quality of a show. So tired of that.

 

[RangerWickett]

Actually, as someone who enjoyed the shows, I'd be interested in how they deviate from the novels.

There are some intense character changes that almost amount to character assassination. When you look at how Yennefer in the books, she is a little harsh, but ultimately a very caring mother figure to Ciri, whereas in the show they concoct a plot of her losing her magic and wanting to sacrifice Ciri.

I get that they wanted to add a plot line so that yen had something to do, because in the books she is not the point of view character, and so you just hear about what she's up to, instead of seeing it directly, but when they wrote a plot for her, it did not match her characterization in the books.

Then there are world building faults, like how people travel across the world really fast by horseback. Like, there is this really weird scene where geralt and yen reunite, and it's really far from Kaer Morhen, and yen rides away, and Geralt follows, and the next time you see them they are riding into the castle, and that is the first time they have a conversation about the urgent matter that prompted them to write off, even though it would take weeks to get there.

And they depict the witchers at Kaer Morhen as incompetent compared to how they are in the books. It takes several witchers multiple minutes to just hold their own against some monsters, whereas they're supposed to be pretty badass, and should have been able to take on those monsters much faster, maybe even solo.

It just feels like the writers didn't think the original books were any good and so decided to change stuff, rather than try to give fans something that matched the stories they liked.

And even if I'm open to adding stuff to fill in gaps, they did it in a way that messes up characterization and threatens to make it so great parts of the story later on won't fit. A mean and heartless show Yen wouldn't protect Ciri the way she did in the books.

 

[Vael]

I've only played a little bit of Witcher 3, and seen the show, so I'm not particularly versed in Witcher canon.

And I found Blood Origins ... fine. Four episodes makes for a short run, and that did mean that the character relationships seemed to evolve pretty quickly, I would've liked maybe another episode of having the whole gang together.