Wheel of Time Discussion - Spoilers(with book spoilers)

Bolares · Jan 20, 2022

Parmandur said:
When push comes to shove, it's a coward, and wasn't about to be caught in a pincer maneuver in a hallway that could lead to it's death. And it is under orders to not take out the boys, and is there as a scout.

Hence my impression of it being very mundane

eyeheartawk · Jan 20, 2022

Mannahnin said:
Possibly true. I haven't read the books, but by all indications, 8 episodes a season is darn short to try to cover the events. This setup may pay storytelling dividends later, though.

I hope so too, though I'm cautious. The next season of eight episodes will combine events from books 2 and 3, instead of one book. And those two are some of the easier books to plan a show on. As the book series goes on, the climax of the books stops seeing all the characters at the same place and time.

Thunderfoot · Mar 2, 2022

Well, while I haven't gotten to see the show, my step-brother gave me this advice. If you are a fan of the books, don't expect a faithful telling.

Think of it more as a re-boot and go from there. Judge it on it's own and not against the book, the ahow's runners said it's more of a guideline.

So, there you go. If something doesn't quite line-up, it's probably meant to be that way. Also, I would expect large parts to just be skipped: Loial, The War as a whole(back drop), The Mannetherin Rising, etc. Only because a 22 year program is unfeasible. lol

Benjamin Olson · Mar 2, 2022

Thunderfoot said:
Well, while I haven't gotten to see the show, my step-brother gave me this advice. If you are a fan of the books, don't expect a faithful telling.

Think of it more as a re-boot and go from there. Judge it on it's own and not against the book, the ahow's runners said it's more of a guideline.

So, there you go. If something doesn't quite line-up, it's probably meant to be that way. Also, I would expect large parts to just be skipped: Loial, The War as a whole(back drop), The Mannetherin Rising, etc. Only because a 22 year program is unfeasible. lol

I enjoyed it well enough as someone who hadn't read the books. But that involved me giving it a lot of benefit of the doubt that the reasons for the weaker aspects had to do with the necessities of editing it down or flaws with the source material. As a work of cheesy television fantasy its fine.

My feelings now as someone who just read the first book is that as a "reboot" it's a pretty mediocre one. Changing things was necessary, sure. The original work was not some perfect, unimpeachable masterpiece, sure. But every change they made caused something else in this intricately thought out fantasy world to unravel, and whatever consortium of overworked, on-a-deadline television writers were in charge of the adapting collectively just allowed this to leave lots of plot-holes, world-building inconsistencies, and frustratingly annoying character traits. They had lots of solid ideas for ways to simplify, streamline, or bring in line with contemporary tastes, but they also had poor, messy execution of those ideas. As they veer further from the source material later in the season it works a little bit better on its own terms, but has more inconsistencies, has more frustrating characters, and fills in a lot of gaps with generic, budget television fantasy cliché. If you have read and actually remember book 1 of the series I think it's a dissatisfying show to watch, even trying to appreciate it on its own terms. If you have investment in the series it lets you down.

There are also lots of things that happen just because the show doesn't trust its audience to pay very close attention, be very patient, or understand things that are not made incredibly obvious, making it just not the type of show that fits well for someone who has the sort of patience, recall, and passion for the genre the books seem to require. So whether or not someone has actually read the books, if you are the type of person who would actually enjoy a fantasy series with literal thousands of named characters the show isn't really optimized for your enjoyment.

Mordhau · Mar 2, 2022

I don't know. You might also give someone the advice that "even if you've read the books, don't necessarily dismiss the show".

TheSword · Mar 2, 2022

It’s very much season 7 of Game of Thrones in my opinion. Liked for nostalgia, likeable actors and for novelty factor. But slightly disappointing with some pretty stupendous plot holes, and a lot of unnecessary changes.

Parmandur · Mar 2, 2022

TheSword said:
It’s very much season 7 of Game of Thrones in my opinion. Liked for nostalgia, likeable actors and for novelty factor. But slightly disappointing with some pretty stupendous plot holes, and a lot of unnecessary changes.

Which, to be honest, is better than I ever expected from a Wheel of time adaptation. Going over the books again, they really are unfilmable, from a practical point of view.