I was immensely disappointed in Episode 1 and 2 due to the immense amount of changes from the books. 3 and 4 redeemed it though skipping meeting Min is really a bold move.
The Wheel of Time (Amazon Prime)
- Thread starter Brian in Mesa
- Start date
Chaplin
Better off silent
You obviously aren't caught up yet.
You obviously aren't caught up yet.
Yeah just finished 4. They meet her right off though in the books.
Chaplin
Better off silent
If you're a book reader (and it sounds like you are), you will probably be frustrated. But stick with it, I'm a book reader and I think it gets better and better. Still not as good as the books, but it's nearly impossible to do that anyway.
It's really funny -- it's hard to be enthusiastic about a series after you have already read the books. But if you see a series/movie before the books, it's a different situation. I did that with Harry Potter and love both the movies and the books.
Game of Thrones is an outlier, I read the books first and liked the first book especially, but enjoyed the series more than the books.
Stout
Hold onto the ball, Murray!
GoT the series was pretty damn good seasons 1-4. One of the best, if not the best, fantasy shows of all time. I'd say books 1-3 were better than seasons 1-3, but they were all outstanding. George lost his damn mind with book for, so season 4 wins in a landslide. After season 4, the show tanked. Slowly at first, then quickly circling the drain. The awful Dorne premier, the senselessly making Sansa an idiot all over again, the awful fixation on Ramsay, etc. But seasons 1-4 were freaking nails.
Town Drunk
Longest serving ASFN lurker
Just finished episode 4. It’s entertaining, but a bit frustrating that they’re not really sticking with the books. It’s basically a completely new adaptation, which is fine, it just wasn’t what I was expecting.
With that said, my wife and I are enjoying it.
With that said, my wife and I are enjoying it.
Season 5 was so bad my wife and I stopped watching and have never had the desire to finish it. George got arrogant and thought he could do whatever he wanted with his characters, no matter how preposterous their change of motive was, and fully believed his audience were his sheep and would keep throwing money at him worshiping his greatness.
But yes, Season 1-4 were really good.
Just finished Season 1. Gotta say, I loved it.
I understand people are frustrated with the adaption, but remember, this got the blessing from Brandon Sanderson and Harriet McDougal (Jordan's wife). I don't think they would have let this fly if it dishonored Robert's story. I also don't think many of the changes alter the characters too far from what the books portray. And they hit all the major points in the story:
They all start in Two Rivers
Split up at Shadar Logoth after Mat gets the dagger
Kill the Darkfriend in the small town
Struggle against the Whitecloaks
Reunite
Meet Loial
Travel the Ways
Rand confronts the "Dark One" at the EotW (and even got to use the Sa'angreal).
The only major character missing is Elayne who shows up in S2, according to IMDB. Obviously, they sacrificed Caemlyn to get more Tar Valon. Which makes sense if you think about it.
And let's face it, there is NO WAY they are making a show about the slogfest known as Books 4-11. I can see their genius in trimming all the fat from them and sprinkling their key points into the other seasons: ie. Liandrin, Logain, Suian, Nynaeve and Lan, Aes Sedai politics... This way they can still honor the story but save us from falling asleep. (There shouldn't be one thing depicted from the atrocity of Book 10. Not one thing.)
If I had one gripe it would be that they spent WAY too much time on Morraine and Lan. This story is about the five ta'veren that leave Two Rivers. They should have shaved her time down and developed the five, especially Rand. I feel like they got Mat, Perrin and the girls mostly right, but they could have used some richer development. Rand's development was almost non existent.
It's a small gripe though. Loved the actors, writing, set designs, and casting. Like the pace even though it got slow in Tar Valon (which was not in the books). I'm excited to see the Great Hunt for the Horn. I'm not excited to see the most despicable characters in the whole series... the Seanchan.
I understand people are frustrated with the adaption, but remember, this got the blessing from Brandon Sanderson and Harriet McDougal (Jordan's wife). I don't think they would have let this fly if it dishonored Robert's story. I also don't think many of the changes alter the characters too far from what the books portray. And they hit all the major points in the story:
They all start in Two Rivers
Split up at Shadar Logoth after Mat gets the dagger
Kill the Darkfriend in the small town
Struggle against the Whitecloaks
Reunite
Meet Loial
Travel the Ways
Rand confronts the "Dark One" at the EotW (and even got to use the Sa'angreal).
The only major character missing is Elayne who shows up in S2, according to IMDB. Obviously, they sacrificed Caemlyn to get more Tar Valon. Which makes sense if you think about it.
And let's face it, there is NO WAY they are making a show about the slogfest known as Books 4-11. I can see their genius in trimming all the fat from them and sprinkling their key points into the other seasons: ie. Liandrin, Logain, Suian, Nynaeve and Lan, Aes Sedai politics... This way they can still honor the story but save us from falling asleep. (There shouldn't be one thing depicted from the atrocity of Book 10. Not one thing.)
If I had one gripe it would be that they spent WAY too much time on Morraine and Lan. This story is about the five ta'veren that leave Two Rivers. They should have shaved her time down and developed the five, especially Rand. I feel like they got Mat, Perrin and the girls mostly right, but they could have used some richer development. Rand's development was almost non existent.
It's a small gripe though. Loved the actors, writing, set designs, and casting. Like the pace even though it got slow in Tar Valon (which was not in the books). I'm excited to see the Great Hunt for the Horn. I'm not excited to see the most despicable characters in the whole series... the Seanchan.
Stout
Hold onto the ball, Murray!
If you read (and liked) the books and had only one small gripe, I have no idea what to tell you.
Clearly you know nothing about the books if you think they got Mat "right."
Chaplin
Better off silent
Good write-up, but I think episode 8 really did the series no favors. It went totally off the rails.
I know how difficult it is to do an adaptation and some of the decisions that have to be made. But in this case, episode 8 especially, they've completely sacrificed the story. They killed off characters that not only do not die in the first book, but they are actually CRUCIAL to the final battle for books to come!
You can adapt something without making wholesale changes that have NOTHING to do with say, budget constraints. The showrunner of this show is HIGHLY inexperienced and I am flabbergasted that Amazon put this guy in charge of this series. I will continue to watch, but I don't have much hope for a lot of the storylines, starting and ending with Mat.
The show for sure added/subtracted some things. But I've been viewing this series more like a slight variant in the multiverse rather than a wholesale book adaption (mostly just to preserve my love for the books and still give this show a chance). Once I got there I've enjoyed the show.
One thing about Jordan's books... no one really ever dies. So those characters might not be completely lost.
I'm not sure what is going on with Mat. He wasn't crucial to the end of EotW so I can understand him going after the dagger for a bit, but he's absolutely crucial in the the Great Hunt (albeit sick the entire time from being separated from the dagger). Hopefully the showrunner preserves the connection of Rand, Mat, and Perrin next season as they travel to Falme(?). Also, I hope the writers rescue him from being too depressing. The sooner we get to Sanderson's Mat the better.
Which brings up a question I have for the book readers: Did you enjoy Robert Jordan's version of Mat? I personally wanted desperately to like him but he always came across immature and stupid. It wasn't until Sanderson got a hold of him that I felt the real Mat came to life.
Chaplin
Better off silent
I liked him once he went on his own. Basically all the stuff with the Seanchan was gold.
Chaplin
Better off silent
The actor who played Mat left the show because he was fired for refusing to get vaccinated. Good riddance.
Ouchie-Z-Clown
I'm better than Mulli!
Is that the guy who killed his wife? I still have no idea any of their names. Not a great sign.
Stout
Hold onto the ball, Murray!
No, you're thinking of Perrin. It's the guy they inexplicably made into a thief and dirtbag, one of the three guys to leave the Two Rivers.
Ouchie-Z-Clown
I'm better than Mulli!
Ah. Thx. That dude wasn’t a thief and dirt bag in the book? That’s all I think of him in the show.
Chaplin
Better off silent
No he wasn’t. He was more of a trickster and didn’t take things seriously. Still came under the spell of the dagger but he wasn’t anything like a dirtbag.
OP
OP
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Luciano
ASFN Lifer
Season 2 is better, more engaging.
Costumes are awesome.
It gets really dark with the Damane training.
Costumes are awesome.
It gets really dark with the Damane training.
Stout
Hold onto the ball, Murray!
Really lost interest in early season 2 and just dumped it. Impossible to reconcile the "We don't have enough time to even scratch the surface" excuses compared to the "we're going to just make ish up that makes no sense compared to the source material" changes. As a writer and reader of the series, I just can't.
Chaplin
Better off silent
Terrible show. The show runner is either an idiot or a psychopath.
I liked some of Season 2 but it felt like a slightly different show. Characters that were featured last season sort of took a huge backseat this season. I liked Season 1 better even though I do like some of the newer characters. Overall Season 2 feels rushed, like they were trying to jam too much into it and didn't feel like an organic continuation of Season 1.
With the authors writing style it's common for characters to disappear. Often, you didn't even see Rand in a book until near the final chapter...the series has something like 1200 named characters and 8 different storyline happening simultaneously.
Season 2 was better. But mostly because they reined in the political agenda quite a bit.
We just finished season 2 and I really liked it. They made me hate the Seanchan as much as I did reading them.
season 2 was far better than season 1. even though they are still hinting that egwene might be the dragon.
that final scene in falm with the flame dragon,...all the emmonds field kids were there...and egwene put up way more of a fight than rand did.
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