Interviews and News Articles

[TheMountain]

18 minutes ago, Elder_Haman said:

No. He hired people who had been doing book art for years as his design team. And he still gave them all kinds of creative license. Go watch the DVD extras.

I have.. dozens of times. I've also watched the extended editions. I've read the Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, Beren and Luthien, Children of Hurin, all volumes of A History of Middle Earth by Christopher Tolkien, and of course the Hobbit. There is a vast ocean of difference between the creative liberties in the Lord of the Rings films and that of the Wheel of Time production, especially aesthetically.

Edited November 15, 2021 by TheMountain

[Elder_Haman]

5 minutes ago, TheMountain said:

There is a vast ocean of difference between the creative liberties taken by Peter Jackson and that of the Wheel of Time production, especially aesthetically.

Okay. But my initial point remains. Jackson tabbed two people who had lengthy experience with illustrating the books as his design team. He didn't hire people and then tell them to go copy the books.

 

It's not an apples to apples comparison.

Edited November 15, 2021 by Elder_Haman

[themann1086]

Not sure if anyone's watching the various livestreams of the red carpet event in London but there's been a few good interviews with cast and crew so far. I've been bouncing between Dragonmount's and The Dusty Wheel's streams

[Ralph]

I remember one interview in which Rafe said he asked the designers to use their own ideas - not just to copy the books, because he wanted it to be real for them. Can't find it now

 

But also, this:

 

Question from (our very own) @GeekyEri:

What balance are you striking between recreating what’s in the books word for word and letting the artists have creativity?

Answer by Rafe Judkins:

What’s really important to me is that when we’re diverging from the books, that we KNOW we’re doing it. So, every piece of production design from shoes to swords to the White Tower itself begins with pages of quotes from the books about that place/thing… The designer then takes it from there to build something that makes sense in our world, with our production concerns, our cast, our aesthetic, etc. But at the end of the day, it all stems from that first document and it’s something we can always go back to. 

 

[TheMountain]

1 hour ago, Elder_Haman said:

It's not an apples to apples comparison.

I'd say more apples to pears.

 

Hint: I like pears better ?

[TheMountain]

35 minutes ago, Ralph said:

The designer then takes it from there to build something that makes sense in our world, with our production concerns, our cast, our aesthetic, etc.

 

 

Yeah. I basically took that as "well, we're not really interested in following the book descriptions, so I'm just gonna let them do their own thing."

[Mnemosyne]

On 11/10/2021 at 11:31 PM, Deadsy said:

Here is a review of the first 3 episodes from Tor:

I’ve Seen the First Three Episodes of The Wheel of Time: Here’s Why You’re Going to Love It | Tor.com

 

Interesting, this has been taken down now... maybe too many spoilers?

Edited November 15, 2021 by Mnemosyne

[king of nowhere]

4 hours ago, TheMountain said:

 

Yeah. I basically took that as "well, we're not really interested in following the book descriptions, so I'm just gonna let them do their own thing."

fallacy! false dicotomy!

You seem like you consider only two possibilities: either you follow the book pedantically to the smallest detail, or you are not interested in following the book at all.

 

there is, of course, a lot of middle ground in "follow the general descriptions, but take some liberties".

[Tim]

Yeah I don't read that quote in that way at all. It seems more like, "well, in this case we're not going to literally recreate the book's description of this particular costume because e.g. a costume like that wouldn't work given the actor's build, or it would be too expensive, or it would look unrealistically cold or hot given the backdrop for the scene. But we can always explain how and why we moved from X to Y"

I expect there will also be cases where the designer says "I just think this other approach would look much cooler on the screen than what Jordan describes" - which would not be inconsistent with the above quote - but, taking Rafe's statement at face value, it doesn't at all seem like the starting point was to just "let them do their own thing."

[Deadsy]

2 hours ago, Mnemosyne said:

 

Interesting, this has been taken down now... maybe too many spoilers?

There weren't really spoilers but people were not allowed to review it before Wednesday. I thought maybe Tor was an exception.

[Kudzu]

2 hours ago, Tim said:

Yeah I don't read that quote in that way at all. It seems more like, "well, in this case we're not going to literally recreate the book's description of this particular costume because e.g. a costume like that wouldn't work given the actor's build, or it would be too expensive, or it would look unrealistically cold or hot given the backdrop for the scene. But we can always explain how and why we moved from X to Y"

I expect there will also be cases where the designer says "I just think this other approach would look much cooler on the screen than what Jordan describes" - which would not be inconsistent with the above quote - but, taking Rafe's statement at face value, it doesn't at all seem like the starting point was to just "let them do their own thing."

 

Pretty much this. I remember Rafe saying something like his way of ensuring the show had soul and felt real was to give his team creative license, to embed their own soul into their work. He thought that would end up with a better result than mindlessly copying descriptions from the books.

 

There's a really good interview with Rafe, I think on IGN where he talks about the design of Emond's Field and Harriet's thoughts on whether the roofs needed be to be thatched or not. I thought it summed up pretty nicely how changes can work (and be good) if done for the right reasons. 

[templar7]

After hot and cold opinions on the Casting and production;  I have found the void... My re-read has actually helped me to re-envision characters and such! But the kicker was the NYCC panel interview. The passion from Zoe Robins, when talking about her role as our beloved Wisdom, floored me!  In fact one of my early concerns about the show was her. I just couldn't see Nynaeve there. I must eat my words and thank the light for such a perfect fit. I dont need to see her performance first.

[templar7]

17 hours ago, TheMountain said:

I basically took that as "well, we're not really interested in following the book descriptions, so I'm just gonna let them do their own thing."

 

18 hours ago, Ralph said:

every piece of production design from shoes to swords to the White Tower itself begins with pages of quotes from the books about that place/thing… The designer then takes it from there...

Sounds pretty page driven to me

[Agitel]

It's behind a paywall, but the Telegraph gave the first six episodes 4 out of 5 stars, and my screenshot sniping of the article confirms they have positive things to say. (The headline sounds possibly derisive, but the content is positive.)

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/wheel-time-review-dungeons-dragons-cosplay-game-thrones/

Edited November 16, 2021 by Agitel

[SinisterDeath]

1 hour ago, Agitel said:

It's behind a paywall, but the Telegraph gave the first six episodes 4 out of 5 stars, and my screenshot sniping of the article confirms they have positive things to say. (The headline sounds possibly derisive, but the content is positive.)

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/wheel-time-review-dungeons-dragons-cosplay-game-thrones/

They're not a publication I'm deeply familiar with, but the Telegraph isn't exactly known for their movie/TV show reviews, are they?

 

E.g. Like many "papers" they'll do a review, but they aren't reviews a show is going to brag about like they movies did (in the 90s) when "Siskel & Ebert" gave them 4 out of 5?

[Agitel]

6 minutes ago, SinisterDeath said:

They're not a publication I'm deeply familiar with, but the Telegraph isn't exactly known for their movie/TV show reviews, are they?

 

E.g. Like many "papers" they'll do a review, but they aren't reviews a show is going to brag about like they movies did (in the 90s) when "Siskel & Ebert" gave them 4 out of 5?

 

All I really know about them is they're a UK paper. If you see movie/show a poster that has a ton of review scores on it you might see then listed with everything else, but I don't know much. I was just desperately searching for any reviews lol, and that's the only one I found at the time.

[Orel P]

1 hour ago, Agitel said:

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/wheel-time-review-dungeons-dragons-cosplay-game-thrones/

 

I'm not going to pay to read the article but any good press at this point is encouraging. It's interesting that the costumes are getting so much attention (I'm assuming the "but it all looks a bit Comic Con" below the headline is referring to the costumes - I guess it could mean the set design and special effects as well though). I've never really been one to care much about what costumes look like, to me that's way down low on the totem pole of what I notice in film/tv. Unless they are glaringly atrocious it's just kind of background noise. I will say, personally it's a bit much for the Aes Sedai to literally only wear colors of their Ajah, but not really something that will affect my enjoyment of the show

 

Regardless, the good news is we will hopefully have several more seasons to go. And if some design concepts maybe looked good on paper but didn't quite translate to film, I would think the creative team can take constructive criticism and course-correct a little bit for the upcoming seasons

[AusLeviathan]

20 minutes ago, SinisterDeath said:

E.g. Like many "papers" they'll do a review, but they aren't reviews a show is going to brag about like they movies did (in the 90s) when "Siskel & Ebert" gave them 4 out of 5?

These days shows and movies will brag about any praise they receive.

 

I've seen ads using quotes from critics who are basically just running a blog. I've even seen quotes taken out of context from negative reviews and presented in ads as praise.

[Ralph]

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/wheel-of-time-tv-amazon-b1956738.html

 

Here's a nice negative one ?

 

From before the premiere

 

https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/tv/2021/11/amazon-prime-fantasy-series-the-wheel-of-time-is-a-colossal-waste-of-time-and-money

 

!!! 

 

https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/amazon-creates-immersive-3d-illusion-wheel-time-launch/1733146

 

https://www.techradar.com/news/the-wheel-of-time-5-things-we-learned-at-the-amazon-fantasy-shows-world-premiere

[CaddySedai]

9 minutes ago, Ralph said:

https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/tv/2021/11/amazon-prime-fantasy-series-the-wheel-of-time-is-a-colossal-waste-of-time-and-money

 

!!! 

 

I read it. This one provides little context and audience vibes are positive. Feels like a Critic being Critical for the sake of Criticality. LOL. It looks like New Zealand? Is it supposed to look like Mars? Pandora? Cmon... 

 

11 minutes ago, Ralph said:

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/wheel-of-time-tv-amazon-b1956738.html

 

Here's a nice negative one ?

 

From before the premiere

 

Less critical of the WoT and more critical of big budget anyhow. 

 

And in response... modern "inexpensive" British Telly does not have the reach of like.. Game of Thrones. So budget does matter as long as the source is good and the adaptation is sound. hehe

 

5 minutes ago, Ralph said:

https://www.techradar.com/news/the-wheel-of-time-5-things-we-learned-at-the-amazon-fantasy-shows-world-premiere

 

Last point is important - Accessible to newcomers. That was always IMHO a staple of the WoT books. Anyone could pick them up and slide right into the world.

 

I think that sentence bodes well for new viewers and newcomers to our beloved WoT.

[mogi68]

 

2 minutes ago, CaddySedai said:

 

Less critical of the WoT and more critical of big budget anyhow. 

 

And in response... modern "inexpensive" British Telly does not have the reach of like.. Game of Thrones. So budget does matter as long as the source is good and the adaptation is sound. hehe

 

I regret giving them a click. One of the laziest written things I've read all year! 10 million an episode isn't extraordinarily expensive, it's on par with other productions of this type, or even cheaper. Reportedly the Mandalorian costs 15 million per

[Orel P]

31 minutes ago, AusLeviathan said:

I've seen ads using quotes from critics who are basically just running a blog. I've even seen quotes taken out of context from negative reviews and presented in ads as praise

 

It's crazy, sometimes when movies come out that are clearly trash, and end up getting horrid reviews, you'll see ads on tv where they flash things like "AMAZING" and "YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE" and in tiny letters it'll show the source, and it is literally just some random twitter user. Whatever helps sell tickets, right?

[CaddySedai]

Just now, mogi68 said:

 

 

I regret giving them a click. One of the laziest written things I've read all year! 10 million an episode isn't extraordinarily expensive, it's on par with other productions of this type, or even cheaper. Reportedly the Mandalorian costs 15 million per

 

Another Critic being Critical for the sake of Criticality ?

[CaddySedai]

21 minutes ago, Orel P said:

 

It's crazy, sometimes when movies come out that are clearly trash, and end up getting horrid reviews, you'll see ads on tv where they flash things like "AMAZING" and "YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE" and in tiny letters it'll show the source, and it is literally just some random twitter user. Whatever helps sell tickets, right?

 

I mean... Tell them to come here. I got them covered.

 

Ahem.

 

"An audio and visual feast for the senses!"

                                                          -CaddySedai

 

"Immersive and engaging. A must see for any fan of the genre."

                                                                                             -CaddySedai, 

 

"Did I eat all that popcorn? I was lost in the world Jordan built and Rafe brough to life."

                                                                                                                                       -CaddySedai

 

I'll take my check now. We get a check yes?

Edited November 16, 2021 by CaddySedai
Caddy understands how to use words...yes.

[themann1086]

10 minutes ago, Orel P said:

 

It's crazy, sometimes when movies come out that are clearly trash, and end up getting horrid reviews, you'll see ads on tv where they flash things like "AMAZING" and "YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE" and in tiny letters it'll show the source, and it is literally just some random twitter user. Whatever helps sell tickets, right?

My favorites are when you go to the source and it's like "amazing this was greenlit" or "you have to see this movie to really appreciate how terrible it is"