Was The Show Consultant Active Here?

[TheMountain]

I would love to examine her posts to try and glean hints about how she might influence the production haha. What plot elements were important to her, what kind of changes she would advocate, push back on, etc. I think it would be very enlightening! Rafe is an unknown element, we know very little beyond the infrequent Q&A's, but Sarah *has* to have been more active in the fandom right?

[TheMountain]

...I guess not? Lol

[Maximillion]

All I can say is that I hope her work on 'Winter Dragon' was nothing at all to do with anything at all that made it into the 22 minute debacle.

 

Hopefully she would have read some of the posts here - she must be interested.

 

Edited October 17, 2021 by Maximillion

[JenniferL]

Sarah volunteered at Jordancon for several years, but I don’t believe she was ever active on any forum. 

[nsmallw]

Better question. How active has Harriet been in the production ?

How much say does she have over what they do with her and her husband's

legacy. She would seem to me to be the best one to say what RJ would have wanted.

The producers should be going to her with every move they make imo.

 

[Elder_Haman]

Harriet is listed as an executive producer on the show. What that means or how actively she’s involved is unknown. 
 

I highly doubt that they check with her on everything or that she has veto power over any decision making. But she has definitely been consulted. In fact, there’s video of her addressing the cast on RJ’s birthday. 

[DaddyFinn]

I don't know how these things work, but surely they have agreed to keep some stuff exactly like in the books and some other things are more open to changes. There's no point to bother Harriet with every single tiny detail. She wouldn't have time for anything else.

Edited October 18, 2021 by DaddyFinn

[Maximillion]

There is a lot of info in Rafe's Q&As on how they are developing the writing, making changes to the books etc.

 

Rafe Judkins/Quotes | The Wheel of Time Wiki | Fandom

 

e.g.

Quote

Question 3 - Writers' planned changes

How many times did i give you blank stares when discussing possible changes?

Judkins

This one is obviously from Sarah N. There were moments when a thrilled room full of writers would go "we've cracked it! It's amazing! But can 'insert book canon person/place/thing' be 'insert noncanon idea' instead?" And Sarah's resounding, withering stare would tell us to go back to the drawing board. RIP Perrin talking to a bear.

 

One of the things I was interested to read is that some of the characters and locations in book 1 will not be in Season 1 of the TV series.

Edited October 18, 2021 by Maximillion

[Beidomon]

7 hours ago, nsmallw said:

Better question. How active has Harriet been in the production ?

How much say does she have over what they do with her and her husband's

legacy. She would seem to me to be the best one to say what RJ would have wanted.

The producers should be going to her with every move they make imo.

 

Remember, RJ wanted to write Books 7-10. So respectfully, I’m not sure that he or Harriet should be the measuring stick for a quality show. Alright, now feel free to fire away with your poorly rendered CGI arrows. I will meet them like Lan in the Winespring Inn. 

[TheMountain]

Sarah posts infrequently on Reddit:

 

I was hoping that there was more though! As far as I can tell, she hasn't really shared a whole lot of her thoughts on WoT beyond inclusivity and mental health. 

[Elder_Haman]

33 minutes ago, Beidomon said:

Remember, RJ wanted to write Books 7-10. So respectfully, I’m not sure that he or Harriet should be the measuring stick for a quality show. Alright, now feel free to fire away with your poorly rendered CGI arrows. I will meet them like Lan in the Winespring Inn. 

What are you saying here? That Books 7-10 were bad? That RJ himself is a poor measuring stick? That Harriet doesn’t have valuable insight to provide?
 

I am legitimately perplexed by this post…

[Beidomon]

8 hours ago, Elder_Haman said:

What are you saying here? That Books 7-10 were bad? That RJ himself is a poor measuring stick? That Harriet doesn’t have valuable insight to provide?
 

I am legitimately perplexed by this post…

Yes. The series went off the rails in earnest starting with Book 7, hitting its nadir in Book 10. Had RJ moved into the third and final act following Dumai’s Wells, he would have finished the series. And WOT could then have possibly been the single greatest work of fantasy every created.

 

RJ is to blame for this. To the extent Harriet had any influence, she shares a portion of the blame. I’m far from the only one with this opinion. Rafe has already indicated they’ll be making major cuts to the latter part of the series if they get that far.

Edited October 19, 2021 by Beidomon

[Elder_Haman]

8 minutes ago, Beidomon said:

Yes. The series went off the rails in earnest starting with Book 7, hitting its nadir in Book 10. Had RJ moved into the third and final act following Dumai’s Wells, he would have finished the series. And WOT could then have possibly been the single greatest work of fantasy every created.

 

RJ is to blame for this. To the extent Harriet had any influence, she shares a portion of the blame. I’m far from the only one with this opinion. Rafe has already indicated they’ll be making major cuts to the latter part of the series if they get that far.

What does any of that have to do with Harriet giving advice to the producers of the show?

 

[Beidomon]

7 hours ago, Elder_Haman said:

What does any of that have to do with Harriet giving advice to the producers of the show?

 

As I explained above, the “what would RJ / Harriet want” should not necessarily be the guiding metric for a quality show. They wanted Books 7-10. 

[DaddyFinn]

1 hour ago, Beidomon said:

As I explained above, the “what would RJ / Harriet want” should not necessarily be the guiding metric for a quality show. They wanted Books 7-10. 

I enjoyed those books on first two or three reads.

[Elder_Haman]

I still enjoy those books. 
 

1 hour ago, Beidomon said:

As I explained above, the “what would RJ / Harriet want” should not necessarily be the guiding metric for a quality show. They wanted Books 7-10. 

I thought your criticism of the show was that it didn’t live up to RJ’s vision? Did I get it twisted?
 

Because it’s odd to say that the show is bad because it didn’t live up to what the author envisioned, then turn around and say, “but the author isn’t a good metric.”

[DojoToad]

27 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

I enjoyed those books on first two or three reads.

I did not enjoy books 7-10.  They were a hard slog and too far apart on releases.  I enjoyed them more when I could read them straight through - but they are still the worst books for me in the series.  Too little going on, or too much I didn't care about.  There were some great scenes, but few and far between.

 

I think RJ lost his way.  And as much bad press as BS gets from some, he saved the series for me.

Edited October 19, 2021 by DojoToad

[DojoToad]

19 minutes ago, Elder_Haman said:

I still enjoy those books. 
 

I thought your criticism of the show was that it didn’t live up to RJ’s vision? Did I get it twisted?
 

Because it’s odd to say that the show is bad because it didn’t live up to what the author envisioned, then turn around and say, “but the author isn’t a good metric.”

Yes, I believe you got it twisted up.  If I'm understanding @Beidomon's point, someone was asking about the show consultant's influence on the show while someone else thought RJ and Harriet's vision should have more sway than the consultant -  @Beidomon was saying that RJ's vision isn't a standard we want to hold to looking at books 7-10.

 

I think...

[Elder_Haman]

 

1 minute ago, DojoToad said:

Yes, I believe you got it twisted up.  If I'm understanding @Beidomon's point, someone was asking about the show consultant's influence on the show while someone else thought RJ and Harriet's vision should have more sway than the consultant -  @Beidomon was saying that RJ's vision isn't a standard we want to hold to looking at books 7-10.

 

I think...

But @Beidomon has been critical of the show in the past for not living up to RJ. To me, it seems like the goal posts keep moving. But maybe I’ve got it wrong. 

[DojoToad]

Maybe the goalposts move depending on the topic, but thought @Beidomon was consistent in this thread...

[Beidomon]

5 hours ago, Elder_Haman said:

 

But @Beidomon has been critical of the show in the past for not living up to RJ. To me, it seems like the goal posts keep moving. But maybe I’ve got it wrong. 

I could be wrong because I’ve said a lot of things, but I don’t think I’ve ever criticized the snippets we’ve seen as not living up to RJ’s vision. I think you may be confusing me with someone else. If I’m wrong, let me know. I really don’t care about whether RJ or Harriet would approve. What I care about is bringing the excellence of books 1-6 to the screen, and then furnishing a much better final act. 

 

 

[Elder_Haman]

55 minutes ago, Beidomon said:

I could be wrong because I’ve said a lot of things, but I don’t think I’ve ever criticized the snippets we’ve seen as not living up to RJ’s vision. I think you may be confusing me with someone else. If I’m wrong, let me know. I really don’t care about whether RJ or Harriet would approve. What I care about is bringing the excellence of books 1-6 to the screen, and then furnishing a much better final act. 

 

I probably did confuse you with someone else. I had a helter-skelter weekend and ended up a little frazzled. Please accept my apologies.

 

I do care what Harriet thinks, only because this is Jordan's work that's being adapted and her opinion is valuable. She shouldn't have a veto though, and I doubt she does. Still, all things considered, I prefer that she be on board rather than opposed.

 

There is definitely a ton of fat to be cut from the middle books, and I'm looking forward to a great final act as well! 

[Maximillion]

Good discussion here:

 

[DaddyFinn]

1 hour ago, Maximillion said:

Good discussion here:

 

Check out this thread