How did the show hold up for you?

[DojoToad]

4 hours ago, Cauthonfan4 said:

At this point I'm going to adopt a wait and see approach for season 2. If people I trust tell me its back on track and more in line with the books I may check out season 2. But I have little faith in that happening.

 

Really looking forward to reacher though.

You know that show that closely followed the books and was far better received then wheel of time across the board?

Wait and see for me too.  If S2 gets back on track, I'll go back and watch S1 (including the last 4 episodes that I never watched) and then head into S2 knowing that it will get better - even though I'll have to sit through stuff I don't like.

 

I also liked Reacher much better.  I never read the books though.

[jigson]

I began reading the books early 90's. I re-read the entire series every time a new book came out until the end. 

The show for me is a disaster.

Mr. Jordan did an exceptional job on the series.

 

I was disappointed from the first scene to the last, and I find myself watching and asking "why would they change that?" "Why would they completely change this character?" The majority of the changes seemed so unnecessary other than to prop up the ego of the man in charge.

 

I've re-watched the entire series a few times in hopes I would find something I like about it, but simply cannot.

My only hope now is that they ditch this miserable mess, and in a few years try again with a show runner who will honor the integrity of Mr. Jordan's masterpiece.

[DojoToad]

17 hours ago, jigson said:

I began reading the books early 90's. I re-read the entire series every time a new book came out until the end. 

The show for me is a disaster.

Mr. Jordan did an exceptional job on the series.

 

I was disappointed from the first scene to the last, and I find myself watching and asking "why would they change that?" "Why would they completely change this character?" The majority of the changes seemed so unnecessary other than to prop up the ego of the man in charge.

 

I've re-watched the entire series a few times in hopes I would find something I like about it, but simply cannot.

My only hope now is that they ditch this miserable mess, and in a few years try again with a show runner who will honor the integrity of Mr. Jordan's masterpiece.

Similar background to you with how often I read the books.  But I could only manage to watch the first 4 episodes twice before I gave up on the show.

 

There are others that have read it as much but like the show anyway.  Do some reading and check out their thoughts as well.  Didn't help me like the show anymore, but changed some of my thoughts toward the books.  Really looking forward to my next re-read.

[Cauthonfan4]

Here's another problem I have with the ending of episode 8.

 

5 mostly untrained channelers wipe out hordes of trollocs without even being touched.

 

Imagine what they are going to have to do to give dumais well the wow factor it deserves.

[Skipp]

4 hours ago, Cauthonfan4 said:

Here's another problem I have with the ending of episode 8.

 

5 mostly untrained channelers wipe out hordes of trollocs without even being touched.

 

Imagine what they are going to have to do to give dumais well the wow factor it deserves.

Unlike the book ending where an untrained channeler wipes out an army of trollocs without even being touched. 

 

And to be fair we were told what a channeler can do when they burn themselves out in the process of attacking an encroaching army.

[DaddyFinn]

4 hours ago, Cauthonfan4 said:

Here's another problem I have with the ending of episode 8.

 

5 mostly untrained channelers wipe out hordes of trollocs without even being touched.

 

Imagine what they are going to have to do to give dumais well the wow factor it deserves.

And 3 out of 5 died as a result and the other 2 didn't feel very good afterwards

[Cauthonfan4]

2 hours ago, Skipp said:

Unlike the book ending where an untrained channeler wipes out an army of trollocs without even being touched

You mean the book where he had access to the eye?

 

Nice job leaving that out. Huge difference.

2 hours ago, DaddyFinn said:

And 3 out of 5 died as a result and the other 2 didn't feel very good afterwards

Still going to make dumais well very hard to adapt and give the wow factor.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Cauthonfan4

[DojoToad]

3 hours ago, Skipp said:

Unlike the book ending where an untrained channeler wipes out an army of trollocs without even being touched. 

 

The difference is that the untrained channeler in the books was the Dragon.

[Cauthonfan4]

1 hour ago, DojoToad said:

The difference is that the untrained channeler in the books was the Dragon

The dragon reborn*

With access to the untainted eye.

[SinisterDeath]

5 hours ago, Cauthonfan4 said:

You mean the book where he had access to the eye?

 

Nice job leaving that out. Huge difference.

The eye was just a pool of clean saidin. The user was still an untrained channeler, dragon or no dragon.

 

You could argue, that the book army of trollocs was far more massive then the one we had in the show. That's what I'd do.
 

5 hours ago, Cauthonfan4 said:

Still going to make dumais well very hard to adapt and give the wow factor.

How so?

What exactly happened in that scene that had soo much wow factor, that you can't possibly imagine a Dumais well scene one upping this one? Graphically, it wasn't even that impressive.

[Skipp]

7 hours ago, Cauthonfan4 said:

You mean the book where he had access to the eye?

 

Nice job leaving that out. Huge difference.

Still going to make dumais well very hard to adapt and give the wow factor.

That is what happens when you boil it down both scenes to their basics.  You had left out the part where the channelers burnt themselves out which we also know can provide a large boost in power.

[Scarloc99]

On 8/27/2022 at 2:41 PM, VooDooNut said:

Worried? No, I'm not worried. Disgusted? Absolutely. The only way I would find myself worried, per se, is if I had kids and those kids watched HOTD and thought it was the pinnacle of modern television. Like I said, I think it uses violence and sex as a crutch when it really doesn't need as much of either to tell a quality story. It already has a lot of good aspects beyond those two elements.

As to ratings, I really couldn't care less. I have my own feelings towards HOTD and WOT and online reviews and ratings are not going to influence my opinion. Since it's something you enjoy, I hope it's a successful project and you get to enjoy many more episodes/seasons to come. I'll look elsewhere for my story-telling entertainment. 

I mean are you hoping that WOT ignores the Rape, the BDSM implied sex, the Spankings, the 3 way relationship, the use of Compulsion to make people do horrendous things at Forsaken gatherings just for there amusement? 

 WOT has the potential to be as graphic and present just as many adult themes as GOT, as the books progress Robert Jordan may not have graphically described the scenes but on the screen we may well get to see them play out. 

[Scarloc99]

On 9/15/2022 at 7:57 AM, DojoToad said:

Yes and no.  There is always a market for sexy time in TV, movies, and lit.

 

Jordan never 'showed' Egwene and Rand's relationship as being carnal.  But it is not that big a leap to assume it was happening.  Fast forwarding Nynaeve and Lan's relationship, I think, was a bit too quick for the romantic in me based on what I 'knew' of the book characters.  Siuan and Moiraine was unexpected as their current relationship was not portrayed as physical at all in the books - but was not out of left field either considering their relationship as novices.

 

I think all three of the relationships could have been handled better, but that is based on my own opinions/sensitivities.  Other folks probably think they should have gone further...

I always saw the scene between Rand and Egwene to be two fold 

1) To show in a single scene that they are an actual item and therefore be able to tell the story of there drifting apart in far less time on screen, when you are trying to pair down everything to the smallest possible amount for the screen time you have sometimes you need to do that. 

2) More importantly to show in episode 1 to people that this is a fantasy series that will get racy at times. Really in the books it isn't until maybe book 5 I think that the really adult stuff starts to happen, There are hints about Matt sleeping his way around the castle in Tear in Shadow Rising but, suddenly after 2-3 seasons depicting Morgase being raped, or sea folk walking around topless, or the numerous other acts that Might make it onto the screen you can rightly expect viewers not into that to complain that there TV show has suddenly changed. 

When you are producing a TV show you need to consider where it might go and set that stall out early doors so that Audiences are not shocked in a bad way. 

[WhiteVeils]

Exactly.  If it didn't have those (minimal, very tastefully done) scenes, with the topics they imply, parents might mistake this for a show suitable for their children.  By including adult themes in Season 1, even Episode 1,  they are setting the precedent and defining the approach they will take to this topic in the future.  The violence will be this graphic, the nudity will include this amount of nudity, and, a little later in the season, how topics like homosexuality will be treated, and so on. By having additional topics like suicide addressed, they are warning that these topics are on the table for future seasons. People can then choose whether or not they find that level of topic appropriate for their children. If their approach to sex became has horrible as Game of Thrones, that would be a bad turn too. 

[VooDooNut]

On 8/27/2022 at 1:41 PM, VooDooNut said:

Worried? No, I'm not worried. Disgusted? Absolutely. The only way I would find myself worried, per se, is if I had kids and those kids watched HOTD and thought it was the pinnacle of modern television. Like I said, I think it uses violence and sex as a crutch when it really doesn't need as much of either to tell a quality story. It already has a lot of good aspects beyond those two elements.

As to ratings, I really couldn't care less. I have my own feelings towards HOTD and WOT and online reviews and ratings are not going to influence my opinion. Since it's something you enjoy, I hope it's a successful project and you get to enjoy many more episodes/seasons to come. I'll look elsewhere for my story-telling entertainment. 

I've been thinking about this comment I made for a few weeks. I ended up coming back to House of The Dragon and watching the rest of the season. And...I actually enjoyed it quite a bit! I thought the acting was fairly strong across the board. I still stand by my previous comments though. This show was good. But it could have been GREAT if it didn't insist on thrusting the most disturbing content on the viewer. Some things are better left to the imagination. Off the top of my head, a few scenes I think could have been nixed without any loss to the story or quality:
 

Spoiler

-Castration scene

-Brothel scenes

-Cesarean section scenes

-Foot fetish scene (WTF)

-Dead baby scene

-Skull king scenes

-and others I'm sure I've repressed

 

Edited October 28, 2022 by VooDooNut
spelling

[Chivalry]

On 10/28/2022 at 6:43 AM, VooDooNut said:

I've been thinking about this comment I made for a few weeks. I ended up coming back to House of The Dragon and watching the rest of the season. And...I actually enjoyed it quite a bit! I thought the acting was fairly strong across the board. I still stand by my previous comments though. This show was good. But it could have been GREAT if it didn't insist on thrusting the most disturbing content on the viewer. Some things are better left to the imagination. Off the top of my head, a few scenes I think could have been nixed without any loss to the story or quality:
 

  Hide contents

-Castration scene

-Brothel scenes

-Cesarean section scenes

-Foot fetish scene (WTF)

-Dead baby scene

-Skull king scenes

-and others I'm sure I've repressed

 

Haven't watched HotD, but you could be talking about GOT and your point would still stand. 

[notpropaganda73]

On 10/28/2022 at 2:43 PM, VooDooNut said:

I've been thinking about this comment I made for a few weeks. I ended up coming back to House of The Dragon and watching the rest of the season. And...I actually enjoyed it quite a bit! I thought the acting was fairly strong across the board. I still stand by my previous comments though. This show was good. But it could have been GREAT if it didn't insist on thrusting the most disturbing content on the viewer. Some things are better left to the imagination. Off the top of my head, a few scenes I think could have been nixed without any loss to the story or quality:
 

  Hide contents

-Castration scene

-Brothel scenes

-Cesarean section scenes

-Foot fetish scene (WTF)

-Dead baby scene

-Skull king scenes

-and others I'm sure I've repressed

 

I 100% agree on this, I thought it was well acted and with the time jumps they crafted pretty compelling characters that you could understand motivations etc., but the gore was really, really OTT for me. I understand grimdark as a style but I think you can highlight the brutal nature of the world by using scenes like those in the spoilers above much more sparingly. 

 

 

[DaddyFinn]

HotD was surprisingly good but the CGI was so lackluster for a ~20 million per episode show. Especially the cityscapes and dragons looked sub-par most of the time. Perhaps that was just an artistic choice.

 

One gripe was also the actual dragon riding. Riders wore regular clothes and didn't freeze to death, saddles had no straps for legs&hands. Apparently one can also talk/shout while flying and others can hear clearly. I wanted more detail, like how Christopher Paolini wrote the riding in the Inheritance Cycle.

 

I'd say HotD S1 was 7/10 we'll check S2 when it releases. A bit more interesting than early GoT.

Edited November 8, 2022 by DaddyFinn

[SinisterDeath]

12 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

HotD was surprisingly good but the CGI was so lackluster for a ~20 million per episode show. Especially the cityscapes and dragons looked sub-par most of the time. Perhaps that was just an artistic choice.

 

One gripe was also the actual dragon riding. Riders wore regular clothes and didn't freeze to death, saddles had no straps for legs&hands. Apparently one can also talk/shout while flying and others can hear clearly. I wanted more detail, like how Christopher Paolini wrote the riding in the Inheritance Cycle.

 

I'd say HotD S1 was 7/10 we'll check S2 when it releases. A bit more interesting than early GoT.

Glad I wasn't the only one yelling at the tv "WHERE ARE YOUR SEAT BELTS AND GOGGLES?!".

[A Memory Of Why]

You don't need seatbelts, it's all about the clenching.

 

Thats why Valerian have a very special Calisthenics workout 😉

 

The Dragon's did look cool though.

[SinisterDeath]

23 minutes ago, A Memory Of Why said:

You don't need seatbelts, it's all about the clenching.

 

Thats why Valerian have a very special Calisthenics workout 😉

 

The Dragon's did look cool though.

Did you just explain why everyone is obsessed with the Targaryen line's rear end?

[WheelofJuke]

On 10/26/2022 at 7:58 PM, Cauthonfan4 said:

Here's another problem I have with the ending of episode 8.

 

5 mostly untrained channelers wipe out hordes of trollocs without even being touched.

 

Imagine what they are going to have to do to give dumais well the wow factor it deserves.

Haha, what makes you think we'll get even get Dumai's Wells with this 'adaptation?' 😄

 

Either they'll cut it as insignificant to this turning of the wheel, or they'll totally emasculate the entirely of the battle and/or its significance to the story, or the show will be cancelled prior to reaching that point in the plot. 

 

[Guire]

10 hours ago, A Memory Of Why said:

You don't need seatbelts, it's all about the clenching.

 

Thats why Valerian have a very special Calisthenics workout 😉

 

The Dragon's did look cool though.

As freaky as the Targeryns are I imagined large metal lower back piercings.  Lock in with chains and your Valaryn steel carabiner and off you go.  Also keeps aunts, sister, cousins from running away. 

[DaddyFinn]

11 hours ago, A Memory Of Why said:

You don't need seatbelts, it's all about the clenching.

They got some thunderthighs

[SinisterDeath]

4 hours ago, DaddyFinn said:

They got some thunderthighs

Dragonthighs?