tv show spoilers S1E8: The Eye of the World

[DigificWriter]

@Blackbyrd I think you might've meant "count on one hand", but I can actually think of and offhandedly name a large number of book-to-screen adaptations that have matched or exceeded the quality of their source material:

* The Hobbit Trilogy

* The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

* The CW's Nancy Drew

* His Dark Materials

* Tina Fey's Mean Girls

* Disney's The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

* Disney's Prince Caspian

* MGM's The Wizard of Oz

* Harry Potter

* Starz's Black Sails

* BBC's The Musketeers

 

[NinjaPowers975]

1 hour ago, JenniferL said:

This was posted in the Articles and Interviews thread, but I think it belongs here too. Rafe clarifies the intention behind some of what we saw and that Moiraine really is stilled and not just shielded. 
 

https://www.cbr.com/wheel-of-time-rafe-judkins-interview/

 

I like this interview because Rafe isn't being shy about the purely commercial/economic justifications for a lot of his decision making process.

 

For example, the Moiraine/Lan/Nynaeve tension is definitely a big deal in the books, but from a TV-writer's perspective it's a huge opportunity to suck in certain viewers who aren't even fans of fantasy fiction. Romances, in general, are one of the most tried and true ways to keep people hooked on a TV show, so they're going to be brought way more to the forefront. Lots of screen time. But there's always a trade-off.

 

More romance screen time means less screen time for other things. Reduce the amount of romance in this season, and there'd be a lot more time to do other important plot stuff.

 

But from watching non-reader reaction videos, I've noticed that the romance scenes are working exactly as intended. In certain episodes, those scenes are literally the highlight moments for some non-readers, and other plot points are much less important.

 

Rafe seems to be very naturally inclined to go with the standard TV playbook whenever he gets a chance. Love triangles, fakeouts, cliffhangers, romantic melodrama, shock-value scenes, big overblown moments that turn things up to 11, unanswered questions, drip-feeding details to keep people tuning in...

 

A lot of this might also be coming from Amazon. I'm sure they wanted to throw as many tropes as possible into this season to maximize the chances of commercial success.

 

When I've said the show has a pulpy sensibility, this is the stuff I'm talking about. For me, it's not really a criticism---I actually enjoy that whole vibe most of the time---but I never really expected to see the Wheel of Time filtered  through that kind of aesthetic. It is a strange experience, to say the least. But I am curious to see how it plays out going forward.

 

For me this is just a very weird show. Not what I expected when it was first announced. I'm having a very good time with it, but I'm not surprised that some other readers are much less pleased.

Edited December 24, 2021 by NinjaPowers975

[Sabio]

4 hours ago, fra85uk said:

This should Have the baptism of fire of DR and show how powerful he is...instead we Have some glowing stone and Serj Tankian disappearing

Exactly, something needed to be shown to suggest why the Dragon is suppose to be feared besides simply being a man who can channel.  I like IShy, I liked that the battle between them was more of his trying to lie to and tempt Rand. Since IShy was already called the deceiver in the series, it makes sense it wouldn't be a battle of strength with him.  The dragon using the power to tear up the land and destroy the Trollocs would of given a big shout out to the breaking and what might be coming to the world.  A reason the Dragon is suppose to be feared.

Edited December 24, 2021 by Sabio

[Gothic Flame]

1 hour ago, Mirefox said:

Maybe someone will remind her that she’s spend 20 years tracking down the Dragon Reborn and she’s just let him wander off in the blight.  She’ll spend next season looking for him.

Rafe's Reinvention of the Wheel; Moiraine's story...

[Sabio]

5 minutes ago, Gothic Flame said:

Rafe's Reinvention of the Wheel; Moiraine's story...

We saw it, DO is dead so Rand is no longer needed.  He's free to just roam about now,

[DaddyFinn]

2 minutes ago, Sabio said:

We saw it, DO is dead so Rand is no longer needed.  He's free to just roam about now,

Like in the books. ?

[Gothic Flame]

3 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

Like in the books. ?

A little late to be going by the books.

[Sabio]

Did Moiraine really think she could kill Rand before Ishy could just hold her in place?

[Yojimbo]

17 minutes ago, NinjaPowers975 said:

 

I like this interview because Rafe isn't being shy about the purely commercial/economic justifications for a lot of his decision making process.

 

For example, the Moiraine/Lan/Nynaeve tension is definitely a big deal in the books, but from a TV-writer's perspective it's a huge opportunity to suck in certain viewers who aren't even fans of fantasy fiction. Romances, in general, are one of the most tried and true ways to keep people hooked on a TV show, so they're going to be brought way more to the forefront. Lots of screen time. But there's always a trade-off.

 

More romance screen time means less screen time for other things. Reduce the amount of romance in this season, and there'd be a lot more time to do other important plot stuff.

 

But from watching non-reader reaction videos, I've noticed that the romance scenes are working exactly as intended. In certain episodes, those scenes are literally the highlight moments for some non-readers, and other plot points are much less important.

 

Rafe seems to be very naturally inclined to go with the standard TV playbook whenever he gets a chance. Love triangles, fakeouts, cliffhangers, romantic melodrama, shock-value scenes, big overblown moments that turn things up to 11, unanswered questions, drip-feeding details to keep people tuning in...

 

A lot of this might also be coming from Amazon. I'm sure they wanted to throw as many tropes as possible into this season to maximize the chances of commercial success.

 

When I've said the show has a pulpy sensibility, this is the stuff I'm talking about. For me, it's not really a criticism---I actually enjoy that whole vibe most of the time---but I never really expected to see the Wheel of Time filtered  through that kind of aesthetic. It is a strange experience, to say the least. But I am curious to see how it plays out going forward.

 

For me this is just a very weird show. Not what I expected when it was first announced. I'm having a very good time with it, but I'm not surprised that some other readers are much less pleased.

As the Wheel of Time turns, so are the days of our lives.

 

[WheelofJuke]

6 minutes ago, DigificWriter said:

@Blackbyrd I think you might've meant "count on one hand", but I can actually think of and offhandedly name a large number of book-to-screen adaptations that have matched or exceeded the quality of their source material:

* The Hobbit Trilogy

* The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

* The CW's Nancy Drew

* His Dark Materials

* Tina Fey's Mean Girls

* Disney's The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

* Disney's Prince Caspian

* MGM's The Wizard of Oz

* Harry Potter

* Starz's Black Sails

* BBC's The Musketeers

 

I'll add to this the BBC's Adventures of Sherlock Holmes starring Jeremy Brett. Masterfully done, one of my all-time favorite adaptations. 

 

BBC's 80s Narnia stuff was pretty decent IIRC...

[Ryan al'Thor]

I’m pretty bummed out about the series now. I was pumped after E7, I thought surely Rafe would somewhat sync things up in the finale. Now I have no expectations that we will even see some of the major events later on. Will Dumai Wells even be recognizable? Will Rand fight Ishy in the sky? Will Egwene make the black tower kneel now? Lame.

 

 

[DaddyFinn]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbr.com/wheel-of-time-rafe-judkins-interview/amp/

 

Quote

That makes me think of Egwene and Perrin. There was a bit of a connection between them. Does that mean anything for the introduction of Gawyn and Faile?

 

Rafe:

I think it does.

I think you do see in the books this idea of, "Did Perrin have feelings for Egwene?" We've milked that a little here. I think it will continue. Each of those characters goes on to have very important relationships, Egwene with Gawyn, and then Perrin with Faile. And so those relationships, we will also take those, those are two big relationships that are really foregrounded in the books, and so we'll take them and really run with them too. I think any real romantic relationship that we do have in the foreground, we want to use.

Gawyn confirmed lmao

 

Quote

As for the platonic relationships, what did Nynaeve do in that scene when they were linked and channeling that protected Egwene?

 

Rafe:

Oh, Nynaeve basically took the, when the women are linked, the Power is sort of like pulled through them, and so she took Egwene's link so that all the Power was being run through her instead of through Egwene.

 

Quote

I see, and then when Egwene turned it around, did she heal her just in the same way that Nynaeve healed people by accident in the past?

 

Rafe:

Yeah, what we wanted to do with that story is, in the very first episode, you see Nynaeve saying to Egwene, "I think you could be a healer someday, I think you could be like me," and so to have that payoff come back around at the end where Egwene really is like Nynaeve and is doing what Nynaeve would have done in the same situation, we thought was really nice.

 

[Sabio]

4 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

Like in the books. ?

I don't think Moriaine in the Books really feared Rand was going to run off alone.  I'm guessing she was pretty sure he was going to linger with his friends, train with Lan etc...  But here she seemed pretty cool with him leaving and wanting her to tell people he was dead.  There was no, the war isn't over or anything.  just watched him walk off alone in the blight.

[Yojimbo]

25 minutes ago, DigificWriter said:

@Blackbyrd I think you might've meant "count on one hand", but I can actually think of and offhandedly name a large number of book-to-screen adaptations that have matched or exceeded the quality of their source material:

* The Hobbit Trilogy

* The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

* The CW's Nancy Drew

* His Dark Materials

* Tina Fey's Mean Girls

* Disney's The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

* Disney's Prince Caspian

* MGM's The Wizard of Oz

* Harry Potter

* Starz's Black Sails

* BBC's The Musketeers

 

I personally think the Hobit trilogy is one of the worst pieces of crap I have ever had the displeasure to watch.   A complete waste of Martin Freeman, who was perfectly cast and criminally underused.

Edited December 24, 2021 by Yojimbo

[jh557]

3 minutes ago, Sabio said:

Did Moiraine really think she could kill Rand before Ishy could just hold her in place?

Felt this was bad as well. Like he just potentially stilled her in 2 seconds yet he can't do anything because she pulled a knife? 

 

Or heal him if needed since everybody is talented at Healing in the show.   

[dwn]

3 hours ago, MasterAblar said:

 

I do think the near death healing was unecessary. Showing Nyneave in really bad condition because of the circle and not being in control and suffering because of it would have been enough to set up her later struggles with channelling.

 

 

 

Same, I think them being used as batteries was fine, but I would have prefered if the Shienarans had managed to pull back from the fort, regroup and cavalry charge once the channellers were exhausted. Somewhat similar to the books. It also just makes the Shienarans look better than they did there.

This is pretty spot-on. Amalisa's bit could have ended several ways, but the one they chose was weird and confusing, didn't add any dramatic tension to the episode, and didn't give Egwene and Nynaeve a satisfying conclusion to the season. I'd also argue that it detracted (and distracted) from the similar scenes with Perrin and Loial.

[VooDooNut]

3 minutes ago, Yojimbo said:

I personally think the Hobit trilogy is one of the worse pieces of crap I have ever had the displeasure to watch.   A complete waste of Martin Freeman, who was perfectly cast and criminally underused.

I actually can't stand Martin Freeman or The Hobbit Trilogy, so they complement one another perfectly. ?

Edited December 24, 2021 by VooDooNut
is off-topic, I admit. Delete at will

[Blackbyrd]

27 minutes ago, DigificWriter said:

@Blackbyrd I think you might've meant "count on one hand", but I can actually think of and offhandedly name a large number of book-to-screen adaptations that have matched or exceeded the quality of their source material:

* The Hobbit Trilogy

* The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

* The CW's Nancy Drew

* His Dark Materials

* Tina Fey's Mean Girls

* Disney's The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

* Disney's Prince Caspian

* MGM's The Wizard of Oz

* Harry Potter

* Starz's Black Sails

* BBC's The Musketeers

 

No I meant two hands- as many modern books are more adaptable to the screen than there were in times gone by as the screen is much more of an inspiration to modern writers than in previous times.

 

And I won't take up the argument as it's getting off topic but out of those listed that I'm familiar only the Wizard of Oz would get a hard agree from the general consensus

[Ryan al'Thor]

Not a fan of what they’re doing to Mat and Perrin. Both come across as cowards at this point. Some non readers I’ve talked to see Perrin as WoT’s Hodor. 

[Gothic Flame]

36 minutes ago, Sabio said:

The problem is if they make Moiraine and Lan a focal point again for the next season it will mean once again many of the main characters are going to get pushed to the back.  I understand they can't just make the actors take most of the season off.  But by going to focus on all this emotional drama between the two it will cut into lot of the main characters.  

Well, if they think they have 56 hours left maybe they think they've plenty of time.

[DaddyFinn]

Anyone else feel like the damane are so much more unnerving with the mouthgags? I like it.

[Chivalry]

1 hour ago, DaddyFinn said:

That was the worst part of the episode

I'm putting this moment up there with the non-AS chain of destruction in Tarwin's Gap. I felt that both these scenes (or actually the whole extended scene) only diminished the AS, who spend decades in training and yet struggle to defend themselves against random Trolloc attacks, or heal critical injuries, etc. It did not feel earned.

 

Also, we've already seen a miraculous healing, in Episode 4. If it keeps happening, is it that miraculous? 

Edited December 24, 2021 by Chivalry

[TheSmurf]

17 minutes ago, jh557 said:

Or heal him if needed since everybody is talented at Healing in the show.   

'Need' is the key. Not to find the Eye of the World... But to heal. 

 

Channeler: "I need this man alive"

Wheel: "Yes Ma'am"

Channeler: "Wheel, why is this man still dead" 

Wheel: "Ma'am, I didn't feel the need. I got more a sense of 'convenience'... You can open that jar with the One Power."

[Chivalry]

1 minute ago, DaddyFinn said:

Anyone else feel like the damane are so much more unnerving with the mouthgags? I like it.

 

Definitely. Quite an introduction to a new set of bad guys.

[DaddyFinn]

Just now, Chivalry said:

 

Definitely. Quite an introduction to a new set of bad guys.

The tsunami was a bit overkill but oh well, it leaves an impression for sure