A plea against what we all pray for.

[nirve9909]

I'm going to catch some flak for this one I know. I am writing today against the idea of a motion picture production of The Wheel of Time. In all honesty I would love to live in a perfect world and have a perfect recreation of the books, but I know that would never happen. Based on the depth, and density of the books I don't think any production, whether movie or HBO style mini-series would do it justice. The primary reason would be funding and appeal. A company like HBO could probably do a fantastic job but I don't see it going beyond 2 or 3 books. The series would have a limited market and would be cancelled because the budget would invariably be too high to carry on for so few. If there was a movie the same thing would befall it. The chances of a Harry Potter type success would be a million to one. I've been mulling this over for a while but the thing that put me over the edge was the Lord of The Rings movies. I thoroughly love those books and have for close to 20 years. I've read them more times than I can count, and the supplementary material on more than one occasion. I know that most people love the works and will strike me with a voodoo curse for this but in my humble opinion the movies were utter crap. The acting was hammy at best, the CGI was poorly done (I thought so when they first came out but after a few years they look especially cheesy), and worst of all the story got changed to the point that I was scratching my head at points. The Wheel of Time is far more complex and difficult to reproduce, look at the troubles a writer is having fleshing out crib notes. Now imagine a director trying his hand. Horrible to behold. I could not stand to let this happen to my beloved Wheel of Time books. Please try to hear me out on this before you flay me alive. Thank you.

[Bluedust9]

Have you been drinking again?

[Ryrin]

I can't get enough WoT.

[TLHansum]

The only reason why WoT cant be made into movies is because the actors would be 70 years old by the time the last one came out, where in the books they only age 2 years.

 

Your LotR 'evaluation' reeks of someone trying to act a professional critic but falls on its face completely. If personal attacks regarding intelligence were permitted on this board, id have a much longer post

[Din]

If personal attacks regarding intelligence were permitted on this board, id have a much longer post

I believe I'd have a few things to say about certain of the OP's comments also.

[water_seeker]

The only reason why WoT cant be made into movies is because the actors would be 70 years old by the time the last one came out, where in the books they only age 2 years.

 

Your LotR 'evaluation' reeks of someone trying to act a professional critic but falls on its face completely. If personal attacks regarding intelligence were permitted on this board, id have a much longer post

 

 

If personal attacks regarding intelligence were permitted on this board, id have a much longer post

I believe I'd have a few things to say about certain of the OP's comments also.

 

We're all allowed to have our own opinions...

[nirve9909]

Fair enough, and I've got thick skin. But an attempt at proffessionalism it was not. It was merely my opinion, I happen to think the effects in the first Star Wars were better than the Rings. And to imply an insult on my intelligence is just priceless. Thank you for that, you made me chuckle.

[Twiggy]

I actually agree. A movie would be horrible at best I think

[Ithillian Turambar]

How about CGI - like Beowolf?

[Niniel]

I actually agree. A movie would be horrible at best I think

 

I agree with that too.

[trelkor]

gotta agree, i think a film would miss a lot of magic the book possesses, like the eragon film. i dont want to see a film made if its a butchered story

[TLHansum]

How about CGI - like Beowolf?

 

 

I thought of that quite a bit as well. However, technology advances in CGI so quickly that by the time we got halfway through the series, the first films would look antiquated compared to the new ones. Undoubtably each book would require more than 1 movie, and at a production time of 2+ years for each movie, you're looking at 56 years minimum to do the series. (2 movies per book x 14 books x 2 years per movie).

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

.... people pray for this? really? pray?

[damandred]

I have never liked fantasy movies, I think they come over a bit cheesy.

But the CGI idea is interesting and I think a one off EoTW movie could be a good thing.

[baalsmistress]

.... people pray for this? really? pray?

 

Oh blessed Robert,

Who art beyond the pattern,

we beseech thee to hear us,

Harken to our plea

and deliver unto us

our annual film

From the Eye of the World

to A Memory of Light

One series, One Story

One World without End

May it be so

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

don't know if i can fit that in.... could drop the whole world peace thing i guess.

[Guest PiotrekS]

That's a nice prayer

[Mr Ares]

don't know if i can fit that in.... could drop the whole world peace thing i guess.

Praying for world peace? What have I ever done to you?

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

don't know if i can fit that in.... could drop the whole world peace thing i guess.

Praying for world peace? What have I ever done to you?

 

 

only for the parts that affect me personally. you can have all the fog of war you like.

[MauricXe]

I agree with the OP on a couple of points. It would be impractical to expect wide success. This serious is also hard to mess up if the budget isn't just right. How will they do convey channeling?

 

I don't think the density of the books is an issue. Most of the stuff in there is filler. One 15 second scene acted out will account for 3 chapters. All you need is about 10 servants, some skirts to smooth, and one obscure conversation about a random house that's too hard to pronounce.

 

 

 

A small tangent, LotR is overrated.

[Leyrann]

How about CGI - like Beowolf?

 

 

I thought of that quite a bit as well. However, technology advances in CGI so quickly that by the time we got halfway through the series, the first films would look antiquated compared to the new ones. Undoubtably each book would require more than 1 movie, and at a production time of 2+ years for each movie, you're looking at 56 years minimum to do the series. (2 movies per book x 14 books x 2 years per movie).

 

LotR took three years, while the extended versions are two per book.

 

.... people pray for this? really? pray?

 

Why do you always make me LOL?

 

.... people pray for this? really? pray?

 

Oh blessed Robert,

Who art beyond the pattern,

we beseech thee to hear us,

Harken to our plea

and deliver unto us

our annual film

From the Eye of the World

to A Memory of Light

One series, One Story

One World without End

May it be so

 

Why did you kill me by making me laugh this hard, while I could've lived many years from now?

[gloweye]

I would very much like the idea of a WoT movie, however, i fear that i would not be done properly. And to my opinion, better no movie than a bad one.

 

PS. although i like the LoTR movies in general, they should not have messef with the storyline.

[Taryn]

The LOTR movies were the best book adaptions that I have personally seen. In general, the presentation between a book and movie is, and has to be, different because these two types of media come across in quite different ways. In LOTR, nearly everything they changed benefited the story in terms of a movie-type presentation......but that's just my opinion.

 

However, I do agree with the OP that a WOT movie/show/whatever should probably never be made. Most of the Harry Potter movies are garbage when compared to the books. And will anyone here admit to watching 'The legend of the seeker'? Compared to those books that was a terrible debacle......ughh...gross. I don't want to see this risk taken with WOT. I would rather not have a movie/show/whatever than have one that was as terrible as most book-to-movie adaptions.

[Kahsm]

First of all, in before thread moved to media board!

 

But anyway, bad movies aren't so horrible, the horrible part is the fear that the IP would be tainted once bad movies come out. Same with games. I'm still somewhat unsure as to how SW:TOR is happening despite the fact Sony already sank that ship. I guess Sony didn't have an iron-clad grip on the IP, or Bioware's claim to historical SW universe is just different from Sony's "current" universe. Either way, I had assumed any chance for a good star wars MMO were dashed. Of course I feel that way again, but that's only cause I played the beta for SW:TOR last weekend, but I digress!

 

I still wonder how they'd do channeling right? From the whole multi-perspective thing. I understand that GRRM's SoIaF is similarly multi-'perspectived', but in WOT what you see is pretty heavily dependent on that perspective. And of course there's the issues that plague both series in screen adaptation. You're going to know pretty quick if Taim is Demandred or not on screen, since you'll have a lot more than height and a hooked nose.

 

There's a similar scene IIRC from the recent Game of Thrones. Arya is hiding in the bowls of the castle where she had chased the cats, and some guys walk by talking about something, murdering her father or some such. Well in the TV series you can clearly see who they are. But in the books I believe they are described rather vaguely from Arya's PoV. And even if I don't have that quite right you see the issue.