Interviews and News Articles

[JaimAybara]

7 minutes ago, CaddySedai said:

I still think it was fine. Though events happened fast they never felt misplaced. 

 

I actually would have felt TRAPPED in the Two rivers if every line and moment was verbatim placed into the show. It works amazing as a book - as a show it would be a slog. but thats me

How would you compare it to Shadow and Bone? 

[TheMountain]

3 minutes ago, JaimAybara said:

How would you compare it to Shadow and Bone? 

I know this question isn't directed at me, but imo this is wayyy better than Shadow and Bone.

[JaimAybara]

3 minutes ago, TheMountain said:

I know this question isn't directed at me, but imo this is wayyy better than Shadow and Bone.

I thought it would be. I saw the reviews of Shadow and Bone by critics…88% or something…and saw Wheel of Time score by critics…64% and I was like on what planet could that be real? 

Edited November 17, 2021 by JaimAybara

[CaddySedai]

1 minute ago, JaimAybara said:

How would you compare it to Shadow and Bone? 

 

I wouldn't. I never really fell in love with S&B. I felt like the acting was good enough but they suffered from bad writing and it was always treated like as a fantasy checklist of sorts. Like you could assemble a "What makes fantasy for dummies" and you could go down the list checking each tick off lol.

 

I know a lot of people enjoyed it but it just never hit home.

 

I would say this much. It is in and of itself shaping up as a good quality fantasy series. The fact it happens to also be Wheel of Time is great. 

 

The acting so far is grand. Though many characters have yet to get any long strips of dialogue. How much of this is because they are doing worldbuilding for (new) fans and how much is going to carry forward is to be seen. But when the characters DO speak I loved it. Weakest links currently to me are Nyn and Matt - not terrible by any stretch but not on the same level as the others. (Which is bound to happen with relative unknowns - some will hit some will miss)

 

The CGI and practical effects blend well. There is only one scene where I found it to be mediocre but it happened to also be the scene with the most amount of actors that were being generated on screen - but even big budget MOVIES suffer from that (I'm looking at you Avengers Endgame) And when the CGI works it works amazingly well.

 

Shadow and Bone does not have the One Power. The One Power deserves to be a character because it quite literally steals the show lol.

 

[TheMountain]

5 minutes ago, JaimAybara said:

I thought it would be. I saw the reviews of Shadow and Bone by critics…88% or something…and saw Wheel of Time score by critics…64% and I was like on what planet could that be real? 

One reason might be that the expectations are much higher going in for WoT than for Shadow and Bone.

[JaimAybara]

1 minute ago, TheMountain said:

One reason might be that the expectations are much higher going in for WoT than for Shadow and Bone.

Eh, I blame the “professional” critics. I honestly don’t know the last time I watched a movie/show (or didn’t) because they said I should. They also have worse track records than a 1960s weatherman. I don’t even know how they have jobs to be honest. 

[CaddySedai]

I still find it offensive Shadow and Bone got a series before WoT. 

[Guire]

31 minutes ago, CaddySedai said:

 

I wouldn't. I never really fell in love with S&B. I felt like the acting was good enough but they suffered from bad writing and it was always treated like as a fantasy checklist of sorts. Like you could assemble a "What makes fantasy for dummies" and you could go down the list checking each tick off lol.

 

I know a lot of people enjoyed it but it just never hit home.

 

I would say this much. It is in and of itself shaping up as a good quality fantasy series. The fact it happens to also be Wheel of Time is great. 

 

The acting so far is grand. Though many characters have yet to get any long strips of dialogue. How much of this is because they are doing worldbuilding for (new) fans and how much is going to carry forward is to be seen. But when the characters DO speak I loved it. Weakest links currently to me are Nyn and Matt - not terrible by any stretch but not on the same level as the others. (Which is bound to happen with relative unknowns - some will hit some will miss)

 

The CGI and practical effects blend well. There is only one scene where I found it to be mediocre but it happened to also be the scene with the most amount of actors that were being generated on screen - but even big budget MOVIES suffer from that (I'm looking at you Avengers Endgame) And when the CGI works it works amazingly well.

 

Shadow and Bone does not have the One Power. The One Power deserves to be a character because it quite literally steals the show lol.

 

I have loved Nyn actor in interviews and was hoping she would steal show as one of my favorite characters.  I have been pushing to non reader wife that will probably be character she will love.  Do you think acting might have been situation dependent and will improve or is her take on Nyn going to be a problem for readers?

[CaddySedai]

3 minutes ago, Guire said:

I have loved Nyn actor in interviews and was hoping she would steal show as one of my favorite characters.  I have been pushing to non reader wife that will probably be character she will love.  Do you think acting might have been situation dependent and will improve or is her take on Nyn going to be a problem for readers?

 

Hard to say. She was missing for all of episode 2 so lol. She has maybe the least screen time of all of them.

 

We shall see on friday ?

[Guire]

1 minute ago, CaddySedai said:

 

Hard to say. She was missing for all of episode 2 so lol. She has maybe the least screen time of all of them.

 

We shall see on friday ?

Gotcha.  I think the beauty of WoT is the journey further in books and some characters really need rereads to get and embrace.  Hopefully Nyn comes into her own.  

[TheMountain]

I always joke with my wife that she reminds me of Nynaeve, and after the screening she was like, "Really? I don't get that at all." Lol

 

So far, the problem is less her acting, and more the lines she was given.

 

Spoiler

Oh, also, the leaked Nynaeve audition scripts are pretty spot-on.

 

Edited November 17, 2021 by TheMountain

[Guire]

15 minutes ago, TheMountain said:

I always joke with my wife that she reminds me of Nynaeve, and after the screening she was like, "Really? I don't get that at all." Lol

 

So far, the problem is less her acting, and more the lines she was given.

 

  Hide contents

Oh, also, the leaked Nynaeve audition scripts are pretty spot-on.

 

Maybe writers just don't get Nyn then.  Kind of Sanderson with Mat deal.  Not bad just not quit getting the reason Mat was so good.  This almost falls into the representation argument.  Sometimes you really don't know what you don't know.  

[AusLeviathan]

Reading through the reviews some of these takes are honestly pretty brutal.

 

They're not necessarily completely writing it off but there is definitely a contingent of critics who all feel that the show hasn't done anything to actually make the Two Rivers characters stand out from each other, has pacing issues, has weird choices in what the lore they choose to show and what lore they don't bother to explain, doesn't have memorable writing and has some really poor visual effects.

[Morani]

As someone who used to play League of Legends, I was really skeptical about Arcane (if you have not seen that yet, do it! It is amazing), before it dropped last week. and I have been super hopeful about WOT all along. Then Arcane got an insane reception, as in both critics and viewers were completely blown off their feet, and it landed high on IMDBs top 250 shows really fast. 

 

From these early reviews and from fan reactions, I does not seem like WOT will get the same success. Not like it is bad, but it might not be the huge success Amazon was hoping for. I just hope that will not mean no season 3. 

[AusLeviathan]

53 minutes ago, Morani said:

From these early reviews and from fan reactions, I does not seem like WOT will get the same success. Not like it is bad, but it might not be the huge success Amazon was hoping for. I just hope that will not mean no season 3. 

Where it's tricky is that the whole reason WOT was made is that Bezos wanted a GOT like prestige project that would win critical acclaim and awards. As long as the critics loved it the show probably would've been safe, money means nothing as long as it brings Prime Video prestige.

 

A mixed reception throws that out the window and puts the pressure on WOT and with its massive budget it's going to be difficult to justify it unless it manages to blow up in terms of viewers.

 

One thing is for certain though and that is Rafe is probably sweating buckets. The guy was put in charge of over $100 million and almost all critics are basically telling Amazon that he didn't make great use of it and made a series that looks much cheaper. I imagine it's going to be a stressful few weeks for him as he waits to hear how the show did in its first month.

Edited November 17, 2021 by AusLeviathan

[Guire]

31 minutes ago, AusLeviathan said:

Where it's tricky is that the whole reason WOT was made is that Bezos wanted a GOT like prestige project that would win critical acclaim and awards. As long as the critics loved it the show probably would've been safe, money means nothing as long as it brings Prime Video prestige.

 

A mixed reception throws that out the window and puts the pressure on WOT and with its massive budget it's going to be difficult to justify it unless it manages to blow up in terms of viewers.

 

One thing is for certain though and that is Rafe is probably sweating buckets. The guy was put in charge of over $100 million and almost all critics are basically telling Amazon that he didn't make great use of it and made a series that looks much cheaper. I imagine it's going to be a stressful few weeks for him as he waits to hear how the show did in its first month.

I read the first 12 or so reviews that popped up after a google search.  They did seem pretty harsh.  Also it felt like hardly any of the reviewers knew enough about WoT story to critique it from an adaptation stand point but they all seemed to have an axe to grind about expensive TV and what they expect out of it.  It may be a problem that bad press will steer new people away from series not giving it time enough to get interesting before it is written off as failure.  Ugh hopefully this is not the case.  

[AusLeviathan]

38 minutes ago, Guire said:

Also it felt like hardly any of the reviewers knew enough about WoT story to critique it from an adaptation stand point but they all seemed to have an axe to grind about expensive TV and what they expect out of it.

Not knowing the WOT story honesty makes for a good viewpoint, it cuts out the issue of using knowledge of the books to cover for any issues the series has.

 

It goes beyond that though. Even critics who liked it tend to be saying that there isn't much characterization, that the protagonists are just bland. If they've watched 6 hours of footage and they're still having trouble differentiating between the Two Rivers characters then it's a troubling sign.

 

The worst thing that could happen would be to get to the climax in episode 8, everyone realizes that Rand is the Dragon Reborn but they just don't care because they never really learned about him as a character.

[Guire]

41 minutes ago, AusLeviathan said:

Not knowing the WOT story honesty makes for a good viewpoint, it cuts out the issue of using knowledge of the books to cover for any issues the series has.

 

It goes beyond that though. Even critics who liked it tend to be saying that there isn't much characterization, that the protagonists are just bland. If they've watched 6 hours of footage and they're still having trouble differentiating between the Two Rivers characters then it's a troubling sign.

 

The worst thing that could happen would be to get to the climax in episode 8, everyone realizes that Rand is the Dragon Reborn but they just don't care because they never really learned about him as a character.

I have not seen any episodes so I am approaching this blind.  By six episodes shouldn't we have wolfbrother Perrin, dagger Mat, Spunky Nyn, future Aes Sedai Egwene, and exploding doors Rand.  If you can't differentiate by this point we really are lost.  Could centering pov on Moraine really have thrown story this out of whack.  I understand it starts pretty generic but actors seem charismatic enough to at least make us figure out who characters are. 

[SinisterDeath]

7 hours ago, CaddySedai said:

I still find it offensive Shadow and Bone got a series before WoT. 

Not really?

WoT Started filming a whole month before S&B, S&B just didn't get shut down due to Covid restrictions, and WoT required ~8 months of filming to S&B's ~4 months.

[TheDreadReader]

6 hours ago, AusLeviathan said:

Reading through the reviews some of these takes are honestly pretty brutal.

 

They're not necessarily completely writing it off but there is definitely a contingent of critics who all feel that the show hasn't done anything to actually make the Two Rivers characters stand out from each other, has pacing issues, has weird choices in what the lore they choose to show and what lore they don't bother to explain, doesn't have memorable writing and has some really poor visual effects.

 

I wonder how much of this might be the result of them playing up the "mystery" aspect of who is the DR?  

 

I definitely see what you're saying from the early reviews.   

 

 

[AusLeviathan]

20 minutes ago, TheDreadReader said:

I wonder how much of this might be the result of them playing up the "mystery" aspect of who is the DR?

Not just them playing it up but the scenes and moments that they would've needed to move to ensure the mystery could be maintained is probably part of the issue too.

 

Even so it seems so bizarre. That almost all of the critics even after six episodes couldn't tell the difference between five of the main characters. That they had almost no characterization and were almost completely bland.

 

That would suggest serious writing issues for the entire writing team, it's not like they had to create the characters themselves, they were already fully fleshed out on the page and ready to be adapted.

Edited November 17, 2021 by AusLeviathan

[DaddyFinn]

There's a lot of positive reviews to balance the bad ones.

[AusLeviathan]

12 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

There's a lot of positive reviews to balance the bad ones.

Oh tons, many more positive ones than bad ones now truth be told.

 

Even the positive reviews though are mostly maintaining that there's little actual characterization of the Two Rivers characters.

 

The fact the reviews are still positive is a good sign the rest of the show works but WOT is so heavily character driven that I find it disheartening to think that 75% of the way through the season five of our main characters are still considered to basically be blank slates.

Edited November 17, 2021 by AusLeviathan

[Agitel]

The show might have been better off with 10 episodes instead of 8. But I'll judge that when I see it. 

[DaddyFinn]

23 minutes ago, AusLeviathan said:

Oh tons, many more positive ones than bad ones now truth be told.

 

Even the positive reviews though are mostly maintaining that there's little actual characterization of the Two Rivers characters.

 

The fact the reviews are still positive is a good sign the rest of the show works but WOT is so heavily character driven that I find it disheartening to think that 75% of the way through the season five of our main characters are still considered to basically be blank slates.

The EF5 were just a bunch of people from the middle of nowhere in the first book. Each had a few distinct character traits and that seems to be the case still. That leaves a lot of room for growth in future episodes/seasons.