Episode structure if you where showrunner.

[JGun]

My eight cents.

S1x01 - Attack of the Trollocs on Emond's Field: show the party in EF, then focus on Rand-Tam, then show the aftermath, not the battle.

S1x02 - From EF to Shadar Logoth: use this episode to let Moiraine talk with characters on power, saidar-saidin, Aes Sedai, Dragon. Basically introduce to the audience the world of the Wheel of Time.

S1x03 - Shadar Logoth: dagger, Mordeth, eerie episode, conlude the episode with the characters split.

S1x04 - From Shadar Logoth to Caemlyn: focus on Perrin-Egwene, Tinkers, Elyas, and the Whitecloaks.

S1x05 - Rand and Mat to Caemlyn: cut lots of their journey, then focus on Rand's casual encounter with Trakand's Family, show also Logain's parade.

S1x06 - The fellowship reunited in Camelyn, then follow them towards the Ways and in the Ways.

S1x07 - Fal Dara: let Agelmar talk about Shienar and the Blight, then follow the fellowship through the Blight.

S1x08 - The Eye of the World: cut the Green Man, don't mess with Rand and the Battle. Let Rand fight the Forsakens without relaly knowing what he's doing AND Agelmar fight the Trollocs with an explosion not shown/explained. Conclude the episode with the fellowship going back to Fal Dara with The Horn, the Banner, and the cuendillar's stuff. Last scene: the Dragon Banner just besides Rand.

 

Make this season a "adventure and chase high fantasy", let it go political from Book 4, aes Sedai could have been just "talked and hinted", no need to show Tar Valon. We only see Minas Tirith in the third LOTR movie.

 

So, to recap: 1 episode in Emond's Field, 1 discussing the Wheel of Time, 1 in Shadar Logoth, 1 following Perrin-Egwewn towards Caemlyn, 1.5 in Caemlyn, 0.5 in the Ways, 1 in Fal Dara + Blight, 1 Eye of the World.

No Tar Valon and Aes Sedai: money saved for Caemlyn, which could just be filmed somewhere in Europe like the high citadel in Budapest.

[sidcarton2]

I apologize in advance for the stream of conscience approach to this discussion but I thought I'd at least get this down while it's still fresh in head breaking down the structure of the story for the show. 

 

 

 

8 seasons, 8 episodes per season = 64 episodes

7 "segments" per episode
Teaser
Acts 1-5
Coda

So around 320 acts + 8 teasers and 8 codas, on the low end. 

I have some ideas about how I would approach the story structure as a
showrunner (never having been one, but it's a fun exercise isn't it?).
Before we start breaking down the scenes, I would want to identify the
major structural changes that I feel will need to be made to make that 320-odd
scenes reasonable.

 

For ME, these include, in no particular order:

 

* Consolidating Seanchan and Shaara in some fashion, by emphasizing
  the former and deemphasizing or eliminating the latter. The main
  reason that the Shaarans even show up is to give the Shadow an
  unknown force of channelers to throw in at the Last Battle and to
  give Demandred something [sic] awesome given what a Sir
  Not-Appearing-In-This-Book he is for most of the series. If
  eliminated, then fold them into a previously unknown force of
  channelers coming out the Blight under Demandred's banner
  (e.g. beyond the normal generic "Dreadlords" a specialized force
  that might include the red-veiled Aiel?) This folds into revamping
  the Black Tower which I discuss further below.

 

* Remove the Shaido plot as early as practicable in the
  storyline. After Mat kills Couladin they don't advance any obvious
  plot points except Perrin's endless hunt for Faile. Have a Shadio
  Wise One (Thereva?) bitch-slap Sevanna and take the Shaido clans
  back to the Three Fold Land to forget and be forgotten.

* Pare down the number of Forsaken to a more manageable number:

  Ishamael  -- keep
  Lanfear   -- keep    
  Demandred -- keep and merge in Sammael's plot points
  Asmodean  -- keep and merge in Rahvin and Be'lal's plot points
  Graendal  -- keep and merge in Semiraghe's plot points
  Moghedien -- keep and merge in Messana's plot points

  Semiraghe -- ditch
  Rahvin    -- ditch 
  Sammael   -- ditch
  Aginor    -- ditch
  Balthamel -- ditch
  Be'lal    -- ditch
  Mesaana   -- ditch

  This gives us an even number of male and female Forsaken to play
  with and gives us a relatively even distributon of powerful,
  middling, and low-power people. One could mybe reference the missing
  Forsaken but I don't know that we need to see them on screen.

 

* Merge Galad and Gawin into Galad. It would be quite powerful to have
  Galad's hate/disappointment of Rand run up against the relevation
  that Rand is his half-brother. Almost as powerful as falling in love
  with the Amyrllin Seat while LCC of the Whitecloaks. At the LB,
  Galad is killed by Demandred, who is then killed by Egwene (see
  below)? This also elimates Berelain as a character, which is kind of
  a shame because while she initially off-putting as the books wore on
  she kind of grew on me.

 

* Consolidate the number of named/shown Borderlands down to Shienar
  and maybe Saldaea (to account for Zarine). The others are in the
  background and we don't need to show them except on a map.

 

* Condense the Bowl of the Winds plot. One way might be to have Rand
  and company go to Ebou Dar instead of Falme and introduce the
  Seanchan there. The Girls get the Bowl of the Winds, the world gets
  Rand in the clouds. The Seanchan don't get thrown back but manage to
  hang onto Ebou Dar and and Egwene gets briefly captured before being
  rescued by the other Girls and coming out with the Bowl. This may
  also mean including Bayle and Egeanin as "different" characters in
  Ebou Dar or eliminating them altogether.

 

* The Gholem by-itself doesn't add much except to make the foxhead
  medallion more interesting, so I'd eliminate that as well.

 

* Tear and Callandor need to be included, but perhaps after the events
  at Ebou Dar, I mean Falme instead of before. Move the recovery of
  the Horn to Tear and have the Ishy battle there, and eliminate Rand
  messing about with Be'lal (who no longer exists).

 

* Keep as much of the Shadow Rising as possible, and then end the main
  Aiel plotlines at the Battle of Cairhien. The story getting bogged
  down in politics is not particularly interesting to watch. If
  geography didn't make things a muddle, it might be interesting to
  replace Cairhien with Caemlyn and Sammael's attacks against Rand
  replaced by a Rahvin (being played by Asmodean in this
  interpretation).

 

* Rand's major story beats are around overcoming his
  psychological trauma and accepting his role and the roles that
  others will play as equal requirements. Basically everyone gets to
  be their own hero, he can't make or take that choice away from them,
  and it will involve loss. Ending with the Veins of Gold.

 

* Dumai's Wells has to stay, but the Black Tower plotline needs to be
  pared down substantially. I would actually eliminate Taim and
  replace him with Logain. Have Logain's conflict between conscience
  and power be part of his arc in trying to build the Black Tower per
  Rand's instructions and being resentful of Rand. Logain is tempted
  by the Dark Side, and his crisis is resolved because he actively
  chooses to not succumb.

 

* Have Demandred take Taim's role in the Last
  Battle in addition to his own and end up being the one that gets
  p*wned by Egwene instead of being killed by Lan. Honestly if I could
  I'd like to see Bela kill Demandred by accident. He's such as an
  arrogant prick for no reason in my mind that I want him to be
  completely humbled and then crushed. ?

 

* Speaking of Bela. She lives. No ifs ands or buts. This one is
  non-negotiable.

 

* The Cleansing needs to stay, but it doesn't have to occur in Shadar
  Logoth if there are production reasons to re-use an existing
  location or consolidate it with something else.

 

* Eliminate Morgase's post-Rahvin plotline entirely. If Morgase must
  be included, then have her killed offscreen and have Elayne return
  to Andor to fight for her throne, but as a means to prepare the
  armies of the Light for the Last Battle. Gaining the throne
  shouldn't take as long or be as complex as it is in the books -- no

  one cares that much about Andoran politics. Since we are ditching
  Rahvin from the named Forsaken list, most of Morgase's story might
  actually happen off screen anyway -- she may only be referenced by
  Elayne or Galad and never actually seen?

 

* While we're at it, greatly condense Perrin and Faile's
  adventures. Remove the Prophet plotline entirely. If there must be
  conflict for Perrin to resolve the axe/hammer conflict, limit to
  events that happen in the Two Rivers instead of having Perrin wander

  all over the Westlands.

 

* Condense the Aelfin/Elfin plotline by having it be a simple oracle
  Mat and Rand find in Rhuidean. Remove Moiraine's sojourn in the
  Tower of Ghenji. Have her continue to try and advise Rand, replacing
  Cadsuane, and have both try and fail to maniuplate each other in
  getting their own way until they realize they need each other and
  just listen for once. Eliminates Cadsuane, gives Moiraine a lot more
  screen time, and leaves open the possibility that Moiraine herself
  becomes the Amyrlin after Egwene (as she so didn't want to
  be!). This means changing Lan and Nynaeve's story a little since the
  bond won't be broken/released in the same way.

 

* Have Mat help rescue Egwene from the Seanchan, help with the Bowl,
  and remain in Ebou Dar after the Bowl/Falme replacement thing
  happens, held "captive" by Tuon instead of Tylin. The relationship
  between the two then has more of a chance to develop more
  organically? The Band of the Red Hand shouldn't spend as much time
  apart from Mat as they do.

 

* The White Tower split probably needs to happen more or less as it
  does in the books, but I wouldn't drag it out quite as long. Cut out
  all the filler with the spies and counter-spies and young Sitters --
  it's likely to go over non-book people's heads anyway -- and have
  Egwene be "raised" and captured by Elaida more quickly so she can do
  her awesomeness of undermining Elaida and healing the Tower.

 

* And a few more things which I ran out of steam to cover. 

 

Of courses by the type I finished typing this I realized I hadn't even covered the actual question, which is how to break down the episodes as a show runner. Next post?

 

[WhiteVeils]

One thing I'd do is instead of having the Seanchen and the Shaara as two different peoples, I'd have the Seanchen devolve into a civil war after the death of the Empress. There are two factions: The Forerunners, led by Tuon officially, who ally with Rand and hold the most power/position on the mainland, and a faction that holds the power back in the Seanchen Empire who oppose Rand and fight 'On the other side' in the last battle.  Tuon's faction believe the prophecies of the Last Batttle and the Dragon, in the end, if their own version of it, and are willing to agree to the demands that the Seanchen forsake the use of the slavery of channelers, but the other faction will not and will actively fight against it.

This sets up Mat and Tuon going back to reclaim her Empire after the end of the series and ends the troubling slavery piece. And removes the need for an extra faction.

[Humbugged2]

On 12/29/2021 at 11:49 AM, fra85uk said:

For Caemlyn they could Have used a real city (in the end Caemlyn is based on Camelot)

For the Bond thing not only that could Have been shown just in few seconds of Stepin going berserk and die vs Logain but the whole episode misses to underline that Stepin is not just depressed because he "was nothing before she gave the honour of being her warder"(!!!) but because there is a magical nature of the Bond. So, it does not serve to prepare in advance for the final Season but just blatantly robs the focus from the main characters.

But you would then have pay 4 people a remittance to have them hanging about and then there is the 4-5 rcuuring players who would also have to pay remittances to with to guarantee  they would come back

[Humbugged2]

On 1/7/2022 at 3:59 PM, sidcarton2 said:

I apologize in advance for the stream of conscience approach to this discussion but I thought I'd at least get this down while it's still fresh in head breaking down the structure of the story for the show. 

 

 

 

8 seasons, 8 episodes per season = 64 episodes

7 "segments" per episode
Teaser
Acts 1-5
Coda

So around 320 acts + 8 teasers and 8 codas, on the low end. 

I have some ideas about how I would approach the story structure as a
showrunner (never having been one, but it's a fun exercise isn't it?).
Before we start breaking down the scenes, I would want to identify the
major structural changes that I feel will need to be made to make that 320-odd
scenes reasonable.

 

For ME, these include, in no particular order:

 

* Consolidating Seanchan and Shaara in some fashion, by emphasizing
  the former and deemphasizing or eliminating the latter. The main
  reason that the Shaarans even show up is to give the Shadow an
  unknown force of channelers to throw in at the Last Battle and to
  give Demandred something [sic] awesome given what a Sir
  Not-Appearing-In-This-Book he is for most of the series. If
  eliminated, then fold them into a previously unknown force of
  channelers coming out the Blight under Demandred's banner
  (e.g. beyond the normal generic "Dreadlords" a specialized force
  that might include the red-veiled Aiel?) This folds into revamping
  the Black Tower which I discuss further below.

 

* Remove the Shaido plot as early as practicable in the
  storyline. After Mat kills Couladin they don't advance any obvious
  plot points except Perrin's endless hunt for Faile. Have a Shadio
  Wise One (Thereva?) bitch-slap Sevanna and take the Shaido clans
  back to the Three Fold Land to forget and be forgotten.

* Pare down the number of Forsaken to a more manageable number:

  Ishamael  -- keep
  Lanfear   -- keep    
  Demandred -- keep and merge in Sammael's plot points
  Asmodean  -- keep and merge in Rahvin and Be'lal's plot points
  Graendal  -- keep and merge in Semiraghe's plot points
  Moghedien -- keep and merge in Messana's plot points

  Semiraghe -- ditch
  Rahvin    -- ditch 
  Sammael   -- ditch
  Aginor    -- ditch
  Balthamel -- ditch
  Be'lal    -- ditch
  Mesaana   -- ditch

  This gives us an even number of male and female Forsaken to play
  with and gives us a relatively even distributon of powerful,
  middling, and low-power people. One could mybe reference the missing
  Forsaken but I don't know that we need to see them on screen.

 

* Merge Galad and Gawin into Galad. It would be quite powerful to have
  Galad's hate/disappointment of Rand run up against the relevation
  that Rand is his half-brother. Almost as powerful as falling in love
  with the Amyrllin Seat while LCC of the Whitecloaks. At the LB,
  Galad is killed by Demandred, who is then killed by Egwene (see
  below)? This also elimates Berelain as a character, which is kind of
  a shame because while she initially off-putting as the books wore on
  she kind of grew on me.

 

* Consolidate the number of named/shown Borderlands down to Shienar
  and maybe Saldaea (to account for Zarine). The others are in the
  background and we don't need to show them except on a map.

 

* Condense the Bowl of the Winds plot. One way might be to have Rand
  and company go to Ebou Dar instead of Falme and introduce the
  Seanchan there. The Girls get the Bowl of the Winds, the world gets
  Rand in the clouds. The Seanchan don't get thrown back but manage to
  hang onto Ebou Dar and and Egwene gets briefly captured before being
  rescued by the other Girls and coming out with the Bowl. This may
  also mean including Bayle and Egeanin as "different" characters in
  Ebou Dar or eliminating them altogether.

 

* The Gholem by-itself doesn't add much except to make the foxhead
  medallion more interesting, so I'd eliminate that as well.

 

* Tear and Callandor need to be included, but perhaps after the events
  at Ebou Dar, I mean Falme instead of before. Move the recovery of
  the Horn to Tear and have the Ishy battle there, and eliminate Rand
  messing about with Be'lal (who no longer exists).

 

* Keep as much of the Shadow Rising as possible, and then end the main
  Aiel plotlines at the Battle of Cairhien. The story getting bogged
  down in politics is not particularly interesting to watch. If
  geography didn't make things a muddle, it might be interesting to
  replace Cairhien with Caemlyn and Sammael's attacks against Rand
  replaced by a Rahvin (being played by Asmodean in this
  interpretation).

 

* Rand's major story beats are around overcoming his
  psychological trauma and accepting his role and the roles that
  others will play as equal requirements. Basically everyone gets to
  be their own hero, he can't make or take that choice away from them,
  and it will involve loss. Ending with the Veins of Gold.

 

* Dumai's Wells has to stay, but the Black Tower plotline needs to be
  pared down substantially. I would actually eliminate Taim and
  replace him with Logain. Have Logain's conflict between conscience
  and power be part of his arc in trying to build the Black Tower per
  Rand's instructions and being resentful of Rand. Logain is tempted
  by the Dark Side, and his crisis is resolved because he actively
  chooses to not succumb.

 

* Have Demandred take Taim's role in the Last
  Battle in addition to his own and end up being the one that gets
  p*wned by Egwene instead of being killed by Lan. Honestly if I could
  I'd like to see Bela kill Demandred by accident. He's such as an
  arrogant prick for no reason in my mind that I want him to be
  completely humbled and then crushed. ?

 

* Speaking of Bela. She lives. No ifs ands or buts. This one is
  non-negotiable.

 

* The Cleansing needs to stay, but it doesn't have to occur in Shadar
  Logoth if there are production reasons to re-use an existing
  location or consolidate it with something else.

 

* Eliminate Morgase's post-Rahvin plotline entirely. If Morgase must
  be included, then have her killed offscreen and have Elayne return
  to Andor to fight for her throne, but as a means to prepare the
  armies of the Light for the Last Battle. Gaining the throne
  shouldn't take as long or be as complex as it is in the books -- no

  one cares that much about Andoran politics. Since we are ditching
  Rahvin from the named Forsaken list, most of Morgase's story might
  actually happen off screen anyway -- she may only be referenced by
  Elayne or Galad and never actually seen?

 

* While we're at it, greatly condense Perrin and Faile's
  adventures. Remove the Prophet plotline entirely. If there must be
  conflict for Perrin to resolve the axe/hammer conflict, limit to
  events that happen in the Two Rivers instead of having Perrin wander

  all over the Westlands.

 

* Condense the Aelfin/Elfin plotline by having it be a simple oracle
  Mat and Rand find in Rhuidean. Remove Moiraine's sojourn in the
  Tower of Ghenji. Have her continue to try and advise Rand, replacing
  Cadsuane, and have both try and fail to maniuplate each other in
  getting their own way until they realize they need each other and
  just listen for once. Eliminates Cadsuane, gives Moiraine a lot more
  screen time, and leaves open the possibility that Moiraine herself
  becomes the Amyrlin after Egwene (as she so didn't want to
  be!). This means changing Lan and Nynaeve's story a little since the
  bond won't be broken/released in the same way.

 

* Have Mat help rescue Egwene from the Seanchan, help with the Bowl,
  and remain in Ebou Dar after the Bowl/Falme replacement thing
  happens, held "captive" by Tuon instead of Tylin. The relationship
  between the two then has more of a chance to develop more
  organically? The Band of the Red Hand shouldn't spend as much time
  apart from Mat as they do.

 

* The White Tower split probably needs to happen more or less as it
  does in the books, but I wouldn't drag it out quite as long. Cut out
  all the filler with the spies and counter-spies and young Sitters --
  it's likely to go over non-book people's heads anyway -- and have
  Egwene be "raised" and captured by Elaida more quickly so she can do
  her awesomeness of undermining Elaida and healing the Tower.

 

* And a few more things which I ran out of steam to cover. 

 

Of courses by the type I finished typing this I realized I hadn't even covered the actual question, which is how to break down the episodes as a show runner. Next post?

 

'* Consolidate the number of named/shown Borderlands down to Shienar
  and maybe Saldaea (to account for Zarine). The others are in the
  background and we don't need to show them except on a map.'

 

Apart from all he Arafelan sisters like Alanna

[sidcarton2]

18 hours ago, Humbugged2 said:

'* Consolidate the number of named/shown Borderlands down to Shienar
  and maybe Saldaea (to account for Zarine). The others are in the
  background and we don't need to show them except on a map.'

 

Apart from all he Arafelan sisters like Alanna

 

I hadn't put it in the list, but I had thought about whether Alanna still makes sense as a separate character or if she should be merged with someone else -- or if she is included change her background to Shienar. 

 

 

 

[Humbugged2]

40 minutes ago, sidcarton2 said:

 

I hadn't put it in the list, but I had thought about whether Alanna still makes sense as a separate character or if she should be merged with someone else -- or if she is included change her background to Shienar. 

 

 

 

And there is a whole bunch of people from the Indian sub-continent in the show. Verin is also from there and played by a British actress whose family is from the Punjab and Eggy's mother is a Bengali

 

Shienar/Manatheren is East Asia,Arafel/Kandor is the Subcontinent, Saldea is Persia/Arabia