Some interesting stats to give a sense of just how big Rafe's task is

[ArrylT]

12 minutes ago, ManetherenTaveren said:

Yeah, GRRM had quite the influence. Also note that GoT's pilot was completely panned by HBO execs and other producers, requiring a complete rewrite/reshoot of the pilot,  and they recast Daenerys!  Fire Cannot Kill a Dragon is a fascinating read. It contains some amazing insights into the production problems they faced. Two dedicated showrunners supplemented by GRRM definitely helped. They also brought in some heavy-hitter directors with plenty of modest budget experience.

 

Plus there was the gratuitous stuff, which brought in more eyeballs.

 

I really doubt BS and Harriet could give the insights that GRRM could. What BS works have been adapted? I don't recall him being active in the visual medium yet.

 

He is working on adapting Mistborn.

[Terry05]

2 hours ago, ArrylT said:

Game of Thrones the show benefited from George Martin in 2 ways.

 

1 - Martin had previous show/ film / screenwriting experience prior to writing ASoIaF

 

So he could write his books with adaptation in mind.  He actually went through experiences where parts of his books and screenplays got cut out due to budget / feasibility / etc.   While his ASoIaF books obviously still had to be adapted to screenplays, that process was likely easier.

 

2 - He is alive &was an active writer on the show

 

He actually wrote 1 episode in each of the 4 seasons.  He also had a lot of say on the selection of the writers for that show.

 

I can only imagine what benefits WOT would have gotten if Robert Jordan had been around to adapt his books to television and actually write adaptations.  That is no knock on Rafe or Harriet McDougall - just that obviously having Robert Jordan around would have been such a plus.

 

However at least 1 of the writers working on WOTTV has worked on GOT (Dave Hill) so hopefully that will continue to pay dividends (the episode written by Hill was the highest rated - #4) as the other writers gain from that experience with a fantasy series.  I have no doubt the other writers have lots of talent but it seems most of their experience comes from non fantasy/sci fi shows or films.    

 

I am glad we have Brandon Sanderson, whose experiences working on adapting his own books into the other mediums will help give insight for WOT as well.

A lot of people have glossed over the early struggles of GoT - only remembering it as a show that dominated everything for years until that final season. The big thing with me with the very first episode was how obvious it had been cut together from old footage and reshoots. In one scene, Sansa ages like 2 years and is a foot taller.

[PerrinsShadow]

I don't care how big the task is. If he was not going to maintain the integrity of the books he should not have taken on the task at all! 

  Their has been a lost opportunity that will probably never be achieved now. The scenes are beautiful, the cast well chosen, but this would have Robert Jordan in a rage to see his books, his story telling genius tossed aside to have this farce be used to stand in its place.

[DaddyFinn]

2 minutes ago, PerrinsShadow said:

but this would have Robert Jordan in a rage

You don't know that..

[PerrinsShadow]

As a writer, I can say I have never known another writer that wanted to see their finished work used to make paper dolls, and with all the skips, jumps and holes in this telling I am seeing paper dolls

[DaddyFinn]

32 minutes ago, PerrinsShadow said:

As a writer, I can say I have never known another writer that wanted to see their finished work used to make paper dolls, and with all the skips, jumps and holes in this telling I am seeing paper dolls

As a writer you should know better than put words into the mouth of a dead writer.

[PerrinsShadow]

Okay I can respect that. So I will say this, I could never be happy that someone took my work and twisted and turned it so badly that without the name and the characters it would be unrecognizable. 

  I truly hope the series is a success. I hope people love watching it. I am delighted when entertainment can give people a moments reprieve from their daily lives.

   I just know that for me I had high hopes of seeing the Wheel of Time expressed on film in a way that remained much closer to the original source material. 

[TheDreadReader]

2 minutes ago, Deviations said:

This question makes me lose sleep.  For the life of me, I can't fathom how she would approve of this.

 

Maybe, she's better at the storytelling game (from her experience as a professional editor) than some fans?

 

[Deviations]

56 minutes ago, TheDreadReader said:

 

Maybe, she's better at the storytelling game (from her experience as a professional editor) than some fans?

 

Ouch.  Was she a better storyteller than RJ?  Did she disagree with him in some manner we don't know about?

[Elder_Haman]

6 minutes ago, Deviations said:

Was she a better storyteller than RJ?

She was his editor! So her influence over the finished product is fairly profound.

[TheDreadReader]

11 minutes ago, Deviations said:

Ouch.  Was she a better storyteller than RJ?  Did she disagree with him in some manner we don't know about?

 

Editors help guide and shape how the book(s) emerge from early draft to final draft.   It is what they do.

 

 

[Deviations]

17 minutes ago, Elder_Haman said:

She was his editor! So her influence over the finished product is fairly profound.

Not my point.  If her influence was strong (and I believe it was), it follows that she had consensus (at a minimum) with him on his story.  How does that square with this TV departure?  Did she not actually approve of the original version?  She obviously had disagreements.  That's part of the editing process.  I'm speaking of wholesale change.

 

There was plenty of documented commentary on how Sanderson tried to closely follow Jordan and how important it was to her.  Why not now?

 

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Deviations

[CaddySedai]

stuff about Harriet's views are now their own topic.