Season 2 Trailer

[Elglin]

Well, brevity was never RJ's strong suit, so he wrote a lot of lines of dialogue. Given the super-condensed nature of the adaptation, one would need just a few lines - and when you need just a few out of a lot, you can really pick and choose.

 

More generally, on the trailer, it didn't disappoint - however, I did set the bar low for S1 and lowered it again for S2.

 

Guesswork:

- One of the scenes shows Aviendha and Perrin in the same place. Given than Aviendha was "unveiled" (pun intended) along with Bain and Chiad - may she be taking Gaul's place in the combined TGH+TDR narrative we'll be seeing in S2?

- Given that Caemlyn was replaced by Tar Valon in S1, it seems likely that Cairhien will be combined with Caemlyn - and Elayne will be the princess of Cairhien, won't she?

- Given that Moiraine has lost her magic and is unlikely to regain it soon, we will likely never see a certain High Lord of Tear and his demise, and the endings of TGH and TDR will be combined. Come to think of that, they are similar enough :). "Fruit-fruit, plant-plant - they are the same!"

 

What I really wonder how happens:

- Rand's love life this season. There's a certain garden climbing scene in TEOTW we never got to see, there are a few good lines of dialogue at the end of TGH, and we have an indication from Rafe that the Show!Rand will end up quite differently to Book!Rand in this department. It seems that he'll be spending much more quality time with, um, the Lady as compared to the books.

- Whether we see any of the Forsaken not seen in the trailer. A good half of them are good only for "bad guy gets dispatched in a more or less gruesome way with some build-up" even in the books, and all the long-term plot-relevant ones with some page time come later in the saga.

- The role of Logain this season. His portrayal by Alvaro Morte was one of the few genuinely good things in S1. In the books, he doesn't become really plot-relevant until somewhat later. As a book reader, I have zero idea where they could slot him into, as a viewer, I'd love to see if they come up with something decent.

[nsmallw]

As for Rand's love life, even in this modern age polyamory is still a taboo. So, it probably won't occur in the show. For me, as long as Rand and Min and/or Aviendha get together in some close fashion to the books, I'd be happy. 

 

[DaddyFinn]

3 hours ago, nsmallw said:

As for Rand's love life, even in this modern age polyamory is still a taboo. So, it probably won't occur in the show. For me, as long as Rand and Min and/or Aviendha get together in some close fashion to the books, I'd be happy. 

 

Rafe has said he's interested in exploring Rand and his women as polyamory. That might suggest that Elayne and Aviendha will also be lovers. WAFO I guess

[Elder_Haman]

On 7/24/2023 at 11:17 AM, Elglin said:

one would need just a few lines - and when you need just a few out of a lot, you can really pick and choose.

I know it seems like that. But because of the need to truncate so much for the screen, the dialogue really has to carry the scenes, something Jordan never attempted to do in the books. That being said, there are a number of memorable lines that I hope they manage to include. 

 

I agree that the dialogue in the show was not great. I just don't think borrowing directly from the books is the answer to that problem. The solution is just to write better. 

[SinisterDeath]

5 minutes ago, Elder_Haman said:

I agree that the dialogue in the show was not great. I just don't think borrowing directly from the books is the answer to that problem. The solution is just to write better. 

I mean, that just goes back to what I mentioned about working in those memorable (one)line(er)s. People will love-or-hate them as good dialogue or fan-service easter-eggs.

Remove all the internal monologue in the books, and we're left with a lot of grunting and whining.

[nsmallw]

28 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

Rafe has said he's interested in exploring Rand and his women as polyamory. That might suggest that Elayne and Aviendha will also be lovers. WAFO I guess

That would be cool. Anything that is direct from the books are good with me lol

[king of nowhere]

1 hour ago, SinisterDeath said:

Remove all the internal monologue in the books, and we're left with a lot of grunting and whining.

don't forget the staring, sniffing, and pulling of braids

[SinisterDeath]

41 minutes ago, king of nowhere said:

don't forget the staring, sniffing, and pulling of braids

*Sniffs*

[Elder_Haman]

47 minutes ago, king of nowhere said:

don't forget the staring, sniffing, and pulling of braids

*folds arms and stares*

[WheelofJuke]

I don't see how Mat's and/or Thom's characters are supposed to work without the snappy dialogue. 

🤷‍♂️

[Elder_Haman]

27 minutes ago, WheelofJuke said:

I don't see how Mat's and/or Thom's characters are supposed to work without the snappy dialogue. 

🤷‍♂️

They will need snappy dialogue that's mostly different from what Jordan wrote because the way Jordan's dialogue flows will - for the most part - translate poorly to screen and fail to accomplish what it needs to from a screenwriting standpoint.

[bluetear111]

Really excited for season 2. Great trailer and i really like the music that comes with it actually.

 

Do you think Thom Merrilin will be in this season? What with his story line in tgh albeit brief, but would be nice to see him back, thought the actor played him really well in season 1.

[SinisterDeath]

6 minutes ago, bluetear111 said:

Really excited for season 2. Great trailer and i really like the music that comes with it actually.

 

Do you think Thom Merrilin will be in this season? What with his story line in tgh albeit brief, but would be nice to see him back, thought the actor played him really well in season 1.

Don't quote me, but I think he's sitting out this season (he had another project?) but he'll be return in season 3.

That or I'm mixing up the actor playing Tam.

[bluetear111]

what i would say though, is anyone else nervous about the vfx coming up in the tv show? The main enemies in it are all vfx, i dont want it to get to the stage where if their  a bit wonky it detracts from the show itself. By all accounts there is some huge battles in the books, so i struggle to see how they could replicate this unless spending a ton of money?

 

Lord of the rings worked because the Uruk Hai were people with prosthetics on, but obviously they have not gone down this route with wot show. Be interesting to see how they negate that unless amazon just end up spending really big on it.

[Elglin]

59 minutes ago, bluetear111 said:

what i would say though, is anyone else nervous about the vfx coming up in the tv show? The main enemies in it are all vfx, i dont want it to get to the stage where if their  a bit wonky it detracts from the show itself. By all accounts there is some huge battles in the books, so i struggle to see how they could replicate this unless spending a ton of money?

 

Lord of the rings worked because the Uruk Hai were people with prosthetics on, but obviously they have not gone down this route with wot show. Be interesting to see how they negate that unless amazon just end up spending really big on it.

They've managed to film the battle at the Tarwin's Gap at the end of S1, and the reason why it was complete and utter *censored* weren't the VFX. Also, Sharpe managed to film Waterloo on a shoestring budget back in the nineties, and while it wasn't great and even good, it wasn't terrible.

The first really big battle in the books does not come earlier than FOH (the one at the end of TSR is of smaller scale in-universe and easier to film from a personal perspective, avoiding costly massed shots), and the craft of war does not become really routine until a few books later. We're still a few seasons away from then. Furthermore, there are tricks of trade that allow to give the viewers the look, feel and emotion of a big battle even while not filming a big battle (cf. Game of Thrones S1).

At this point, my concern is whether we get some character development, interaction and plain good old story. S1 left a lot of "who are these people and why should I care" vibes, it's high time they picked up the slack.

[SinisterDeath]

1 hour ago, bluetear111 said:

what i would say though, is anyone else nervous about the vfx coming up in the tv show? The main enemies in it are all vfx

The Main enemies are People. Forsaken, Black Ajah...

[bluetear111]

9 minutes ago, SinisterDeath said:

The Main enemies are People. Forsaken, Black Ajah...

apologies, im only on the dragon reborn at the minute, and to be fair in the great hunt the antagonists were mainly the seanchan i guess so fair enough.

[DaddyFinn]

1 hour ago, bluetear111 said:

Lord of the rings worked because the Uruk Hai were people with prosthetics on, but obviously they have not gone down this route with wot show.

Trollocs and fades were a mix of CGI and practical effects&costumes. Episode 8 got hit hard with covid so the battle was pure CGI

[SinisterDeath]

7 hours ago, bluetear111 said:

apologies, im only on the dragon reborn at the minute, and to be fair in the great hunt the antagonists were mainly the seanchan i guess so fair enough.

Yeah, those are still people lol.

 

Even then, we mostly got small skirmishes at that point, with the largest stuff being Tarwins and the Stone... 

[Elgee]

On 7/25/2023 at 4:22 PM, nsmallw said:

As for Rand's love life, even in this modern age polyamory is still a taboo.

 

I wonder if masochism is then also still a taboo? Because there have been hints of that taking place with Perin. If they take out the first, hopefully they don't put in the 2nd, because that would just be utterly hypocritical.

[king of nowhere]

wait a moment, I just realized a thing.

So it seems the a'dam is replaced with that wird sort of golden collar/shoulder piece. And it doesn't come off ever until the damane is alive, according to this article.

 

How do they change their dresses? it's really impossible with that thing.

does that mean that alivia wore the same dress for 400 years? say what you want of the seanchan, they know how to make durable clothes. hygiene is also rather difficult.

[DaddyFinn]

2 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

wait a moment, I just realized a thing.

So it seems the a'dam is replaced with that wird sort of golden collar/shoulder piece. And it doesn't come off ever until the damane is alive, according to this article.

 

How do they change their dresses? it's really impossible with that thing.

does that mean that alivia wore the same dress for 400 years? say what you want of the seanchan, they know how to make durable clothes. hygiene is also rather difficult.

Unreliable narrator. I doubt certain character will die in S2 because she can't be uncollared otherwise

[Elglin]

6 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

wait a moment, I just realized a thing.
So it seems the a'dam is replaced with that wird sort of golden collar/shoulder piece. And it doesn't come off ever until the damane is alive, according to this article.

 

How do they change their dresses? it's really impossible with that thing.

does that mean that alivia wore the same dress for 400 years? say what you want of the seanchan, they know how to make durable clothes. hygiene is also rather difficult.

Upon scrutinizing the image, I think I have beef with the costume department. As per the future occurrences in the books, the a'dam is something you can quickly put on a person. This collar is anything but, although it does look aesthetically interesting. I am genuinely interested in how they put it on the actress - velcro straps under the arms and a concealed zipper on the back?

The mouthpiece actually does seem to be a giant pacifier (the lips seem to be wide open). I get the muzzle-on-the-dog idea, but a pacifier is way off - they could've gone with a muzzle-piece for the same effect and more verisimilitude.

Also, for whatever reason, the damane, sans pacifier, just looks very much like a rebellious teenage girl you could catch a glimpse of when going past your local nightclub. It does break the suspension of disbelief.

[Elder_Haman]

6 hours ago, Elglin said:

It does break the suspension of disbelief.

Maybe for some. I quite like it. 

[king of nowhere]

If all damane wear makeup like that, it's part of the ritual and it's fine. If a damane inexplicably wears heavy makeup in a potential war zone, it would stretch things a bit