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*POSSIBLE SPOILERS* The Wheel of Time

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by Aginor, Sep 6, 2021.

  1. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    No further news so far. They have been relatively quiet.

    My wife and I are almost through book 1 now. A few evenings of listening left.
     
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  2. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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  3. Lizards of Renown
    Slann

    Lizards of Renown Herald of Creation

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    Great!

    Still need to get mine going... :oops:

    I'll look at these videos soon!!!!
     
  4. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    Ok, so now a LOT of promotional material and leaks are coming in, and I am soaking it all up since I don't care about spoilers.

    Some awesome stuff in there. Some less awesome, and some I don't really like, but nothing that makes me less excited so far.

    Here's the trailer:
     
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  5. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    There is also a video on YT in which the producer talks a bit about the things we see in the trailer, including explanations of why some things are displayed differently than in the books.
     
  6. Lizards of Renown
    Slann

    Lizards of Renown Herald of Creation

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    Okay, I'm starting to get excited about this now. The actor who does Matt seems to depict him well. It's obviously a changed story line but to see that universe being put on screen should be pretty cool anyways.
     
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  7. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    Lots of new stuff, but you have probably seen a lot of it already.
    I like most of it so far, even most of the "controversial" things. At this point it is just marketing I guess. We have to see the show to really judge.

    But of course the people who have an axe to grind are already on it. And as usual they don't care what it is, they see what they want to see.

    I wouldn't be surprised if there are already some of them running around telling people to boycott because of some silly reason.
     
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  8. Lizards of Renown
    Slann

    Lizards of Renown Herald of Creation

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    Well, I’m going to try it regardless.

    Listen… You don’t think they’ll change who he Dragon Reborn is do you? I had this strange idea pop into my head that they’ll make it Egwene or Nyneave…
     
  9. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    No. Rand is the Dragon.

    They did a little bit of wobbling around in the promotional material to fool people who haven't read the books or are quick to jump to conclusions, and people who apparently have seen the first six episodes say that there will be some Aes Sedai Truth used by Moiraine "It is one of the four of you I am searching for", possibly to bait Egwene to go with the group.
    For that purpose they made the prophecies and their interpretations a little more vague it seems.
    The Dragon "could maybe" be a woman.
    Of course that triggered the (often over-sensitive) woke-sensors of a few very loud people.

    But he isn't. Rand is the Dragon and that seems to be confirmed by everything we as book readers recognize in the ads and trailers.
    Are we 100% sure? No, we can't be until we see it.
    But I for one am sure that they won't change that.

    However it seems that the show did a much better job in hiding that it is Rand. They give the other Emondsfielders a lot more screen time and make the mysterious things happen a bit differently so they will keep you guessing until EP8-10 who is the Dragon, instead of RJ who played it pretty straight.

    In fact it seems that the people who have either seen EP1-3 or EP1-6 don't see that as controversial at all. The bigger controversies among people following the leaks seem to be:

    - Perrin's personal background story that was changed, and especially the way it was changed, since they used an overused trope many people seem to dislike.
    - that Winternight is different
    - that Thom plays a much smaller role
    - the parts that were cut/conflated


    I personally cannot wait. All I heard makes me more excited for the show, not less.

    So yeah, they changed more than I thought they would, but I can see how those changes can be great if they do them right.

    I might still end up disliking the show, but the more I see the less likely I think that I will.

    Book purists probably will though, based solely on the fact that there are _many_ changes, even if most of them are not that big.
     
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  10. Lizards of Renown
    Slann

    Lizards of Renown Herald of Creation

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    Fair enough.

    Like I said before, I've read the books enough times that I will need to pretend I'm watching a different story so that I can enjoy whatever they've done with it.
     
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  11. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    Yeah that's a good approach.
     
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  12. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    Somewhat good news today:

    There were public screenings of the first episodes in theaters across the world, and the reactions seem to be fairly positive all around.

    The most negative ones I have encountered so far seem to complain about the plot (not the production, which is described to be quite polished) in the first episode being rushed (the word several people use is "breakneck speed", which is very unlike the books but the non-readers seem to enjoy it) and some dialogues being a bit forced (for exposition).
    People compare it to the first episode of Game of Thrones in that regard, it was the same there.

    The big controversial things (that we know of from leaks and trailers and that were discussed up and down on reddit and elsewhere) are reported as either a lot less high profile in the actual show, or make a lot more sense when you see them.

    And even the people who still hate the changes praise the acting, the music, and overall feel as well as the action and cinematography.

    I remain carefully optimistic. Can't wait to see it myself and form my own opinion (most likely on Saturday. Can't watch it on Friday because I don't want to disappoint my D&D group).
     
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  13. Lizards of Renown
    Slann

    Lizards of Renown Herald of Creation

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    That's great news. Considering that a lot of those viewers will be book fans.

    I guess I should have expected this. It ALWAYS happens like this on a book to TV or book to Movie adaptation (with very, very few exceptions).

    I have to say that the main thing I was concerned about was crappy acting. I can have the fact that it will be a changed story and just enjoy the fact that it is a TV show set in a world that I really enjoy. But crap acting would have killed it for me.

    Hopefully the storywriting isn't crap...

    Me too!
     
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  14. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    Some more reviews by non-readers, and professional critics (whom one may trust or not, I usually don't) are coming in now and they are mixed, but rarely really negative.
    Most are in the 60-80% range.

    The most negative ones I have seen can be sunmed up as "this is by Bezos so it sucks" or "this is not like Game of Thrones so it sucks".

    The wheel weaves as the wheel wills I guess.
     
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  15. Lizards of Renown
    Slann

    Lizards of Renown Herald of Creation

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    Meh...

    There will always be haters. Because there are always people who expect the TV/Movie to be identical to the book.

    This will never be, as the types of people who read books are different to those who watch movies. The overlap, but if you want to have a successful TV series or movie you're going to need to incorporate things into an adaptation.

    Bah. As always, the critic's review don't really mean anything to me as half the time I agree with them and half the time I don't.

    So. I'll check it out as soon as I can after it comes out.
     
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  16. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    Ok, I watched the first three episodes and I really really like it.
    I like it a lot more than I thought I would.

    I talked to a few other WoT fans and non-readers now, and funnily we all have different things we liked more (or less) about it. Nothing severe though.
    IMO some of the changes make more sense than the way the books handled it.

    Episode one was a bit weaker than the other two, but I must say I really enjoyed all of them.
    The atmosphere is right there for me, it feels like WoT.

    And they hid so many little details in there, nods to the books and foreshadowing. Just like RJ.
     
    Last edited: Nov 21, 2021
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  17. Lizards of Renown
    Slann

    Lizards of Renown Herald of Creation

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    Okay, that's really good to hear.

    My dad (also read all the books, but not as much of a fan as I am) watched the first two and said 4/5 for acting, 3 or 4/5 for cinematography and 4/5 for special effects.

    All in all, it looks like a good thing.

    It's just a shame that my life has been turned upside down right now so the closest time I'll be able to watch these is probably Christmas.

    Nice to have something to look forwards to though! :)
     
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  18. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    You can binge watch the whole season then! :)
     
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  19. Lizards of Renown
    Slann

    Lizards of Renown Herald of Creation

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    Yeah!

    I have two friends who have seen the first 4 episodes now. One said it was fantastic and the other said it was pretty good.

    Looks like it's shaping up to be a good one to watch! :D
     
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  20. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    Yep! Ep4 was the best so far.
    In my book every episode was better than the one before it.
     
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