Wheel of time

[Neopopulas]

Is anyone watching the Wheel of time series? The first season was okay, but the second season is actually shaping up to be really good.

There have been some changes i'm not totally onboard with but none that hurt me too badly.

I'm also hoping to see a good system for Wheel of Time like GoT got, because previous attempts have been.. not good.

[Lord Foul]

I persevered through the whole of the first season, in the vain hope that it would get better at some point... but it didn't.

I watched the first episode of season two in the same spirit of hope... but have not been back for more.

At what point does it start getting good?

 

[Inash]

I haven't started season 2 yet. Haven't been into watching anything though.

[Suzuki Stumpy]

Season 2 does start to pick up from the 2nd episode onwards. It's still not mind-blowingly awesome IMNSHO, but it's definitely becoming more tolerable.

[cailano]

I was so disappointed by the seemingly arbitrary changes made to the first two episodes of Season 1 that I abandoned ship. I don't mind when the film versions of books have to make some changes as I understand that it's a different medium, but the WoT episodes I saw reminded me of that lame attempt MTV made at the Shannara books more than it did a legitimate effort to treat the source material with respect.

I'm basically ignoring it and hoping someone else gets the rights down the road. I'm assuming it will be many years, which is a bummer.

 

[leons1701]

Season 1 I enjoyed for the most part, aside from the idiocy that was Perrin's wife. The less said about that whole exercise the better. I started Season 2 but they flat out lost me when they made Min a Darkfriend. Nope, done.

[Inash]

I'd managed to block the whole Perrin's wife thing. Darn you.

[Neopopulas]

I think this seems to be a very common consensus from people who have read the books. I recently reread the early books and the changes were.. jarring. But i'm watching it with someone who hasn't read the books at all and seeing if from their perspective makes me appreciate it more.

The changes are.. dramatic in some places, but they aren't terrible if you don't compare them to the books, the problem is, i do compare them to the books, but someone who hasn't read the books, they seem to make a lot more sense - well.. most of them. The whole Perrin thing is very problematic and lazy.

[Lord Foul]

I haven't read any of the books, but the TV series is still really bad, from what I've seen of it.

It's hard to say precisely why... I think the main thing is that it's just so boring. Even the so-called climax of the first season was dull.

And it was sooooooo obvious who the secret special one was, right from episode one. I hoped they'd pull a twist there, but oh no...

 

[Inash]

It's not bad if you take it as a parallel universe story loosely inspired by the books, but that does take an effort to get into the right mindset.

 

In fairness, that was fairly obvious in the books as well. We'll have to wait and see whether the other two are as important as they were in the books though.

[bwatford]

I think a lot of it has to do with the inconsistency of quality/writing from episode to episode. I've watched both seasons complete, and some episodes are really bad, like the characters don't even act the same as if written from a different perspective. Also, a very bad choice of actor for the Dragon, he just can't act, and is very one dimensional in his portrayal.

There is also so many "filler" episodes in an already short season that really advance the story nowhere and causes it to drag as they try to explain everything in long worded conversations. The series really needed more episodes per season to spread out the exposition dumps and explain the world a little better.

I've not read the books in many years so not just basing this on them, just feels like a made for MTV teen series (aka Shanara) although not quite as bad as that. It is watchable, just not very memorable, and certainly not bingeable. I had to have breaks to watch other things because of boredom.

[Eric]

Ultimately it suffers from the same challenge that any serial has in trying to depict a deep, complex world. A serial needs movement within the episode, but books don't drive at that pace; we wouldn't understand the inner workings of the Aes Sedai and how their culture and rituals came to be if we had to have a battle every chapter. But the converse is also true: the whole Red vs Blue thing needs a lot of time to develop, and viewers will be turned off if we have 60 minutes of negotiating the Congress of Vienna constitute a week's entry. [LotR parallel: Tom Bombadil/barrow wights]

The statements above about making major changes to the plot resonate with me. I hadn't reread the books before watching Season 1, and Perrin's entry had me wondering whether I'd forgotten an important detail. Min... come on, man. [LotR parallel: Faramir's personality]

I guess I feel the same as about Game of Thrones. Watchable, but at best it's making sacrifices to fit the media.

[Neopopulas]

The Min thing i can sort of understand, she's obviously reluctant about it, but the books gave her a much better origin and reason for doing what she does, it feels like a very short-cut sort of 'TV option' way to solve her character. Its the same with Perrin's wife - which is problematic for a couple of reasons.

I actually kind of agree about the acting too. Aside from two, maybe three actors, they just don't have the feel that i was expecting. I always feel bad pointing and saying 'these people can't act' because i can't either but some actors in the series are doing a good job. Rosamund Pike is doing really well i think and so is Natasha O'Keeffe as Lanfear, but the core heroes just kinda aren't hitting it.

I would have preferred more established actors but i guess you kinda get what you get.

 

[Inash]

Are the actors/actresses growing into the roles though? I can forgive a rough season if they learn and get better.

[cailano]

21 hours ago, Eric said:

Ultimately it suffers from the same challenge that any serial has in trying to depict a deep, complex world. A serial needs movement within the episode, but books don't drive at that pace; we wouldn't understand the inner workings of the Aes Sedai and how their culture and rituals came to be if we had to have a battle every chapter. But the converse is also true: the whole Red vs Blue thing needs a lot of time to develop, and viewers will be turned off if we have 60 minutes of negotiating the Congress of Vienna constitute a week's entry. [LotR parallel: Tom Bombadil/barrow wights]

The statements above about making major changes to the plot resonate with me. I hadn't reread the books before watching Season 1, and Perrin's entry had me wondering whether I'd forgotten an important detail. Min... come on, man. [LotR parallel: Faramir's personality]

I guess I feel the same as about Game of Thrones. Watchable, but at best it's making sacrifices to fit the media.

Agreed, although the first few seasons of GoT respected the source material (and to be fair, they kind of ran out of source material in the later seasons.)

It would be incredibly hard to make a series from a book with the scope of The Wheel of Time. Then again, if one is not up to the task, maybe it's better to let someone else take a swing.