Here's my 'uneducated' thoughts:

1.  From a Marketing perspective (in this day and age) the potential for the Dragon to swap genders is an interesting concept...keeping the audience in suspense as to who it is....seeing Egwene's strength in the power...I'm fine with it being a mystery (i.e. the show isn't just for 'us', the book fans, it's for a wider audience).

2.  I have been worried about them up and switching the Dragon Reborn from Rand to Egwene...and that started with a comment Brandon Sanderson made about changes between the book and the TV.  He said there would be "a change that fans would hate"  (or dislike....I"m forgetting the exact quote).  At first people were saying this change was going to be Perrin starting out married at the start of the show--which to me personally was a 'meh' change...that particular change doesn't bother me one bit....  But what if it truly is a switch from Rand to Egwene....and we can forget the whole Amyrlin seat/Split Tower subplot (I mean....if this show targets for 8 seasons worth of shows...some serious cuts are going to have to be made)....   I got to admit, I'm fine with dangling Egwene as the DR as that would be a safer choice because there's not help for men who channel...but then it's a sudden reveal at the end of Season 1 (i.e. the overarching mystery of S1 is who is the DR)....but if they truly switched it....that WOULD be a change I'd hate.

I liked it.  I wish we could get a still picture of a Trolloc though....it's always blurred because of movement or just slightly out of focus (like the scene with the Myrddraal approaching).

The more I see the Myrddraal...the more I  like it the design.

2 hours ago, CaddySedai said:

...as can be found in my diary entry “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace - the day I died a little inside” …

LOL....had I kept a journal my entry would have mirrored yours....

I saw the Winespring clip this weekend and it looked 'adequate' except for the weird Lan entrance...I hate when they make heroes 'pose' in films...I know they're aiming for this cool entrance....but it makes it look unnatural to me.  I guess I continue with "cautiously optimistic"...

Is some of the concern just because we've been disappointed by other adaptations in the past?  I know that's how I've feel...I've hyped myself up a number of times only to be majorly dissappointed when the show actually airs (GOT and LOTR being the pleasant surprises).  For me it's easy to give the 'side eye' to the showrunner and assume it's going to be a 'poopshow' from the start because that's what happened to most other adaptations I've seen...(bad 'adaptation PTSD')

On the flip side, we also have to remember that the show isn't just for "us" (i.e. fans of the series that know the show).  It's also someone's introduction to the series.  The concern that Rand isn't in the trailer a lot is good....  As someone who hasn't been 'spoiled' by reading the books he's just an 'every man' character that isn't that important (until the big reveal at the Eye...or if you were really paying attention).  Perrin is talking to wolves and Mat is speaking old tongue, but Rand's not doing much of anything other trying to steer clear from Bal'zamon.  The more they misdirect away from Rand being 'special' the bigger the impact of the reveal...  (Focus on Egwene in my right hand until I fling my left hand out).  Even though Rand is the 'focus' character in the first book....there's a whole lot of people doing stuff around him.  Let him stay in the background for a bit...he's a nice boy, good manners (not like that rogue Mat) and then when the reveal happens as far as the new audience is concerned they'll be sympathy because he'll soon descend into madness like Logain and there's nothing anyone can do about....

I'm not getting worked up about anything I saw or didn't see in the trailer.  It look 'adequate' for what I think they're trying to do.  The real meat will be when the show finally drops and we can all come back here and go "THAT WAS SO AWESOME" or "THAT WAS HORRIBLE!".....  I don't think the response will be anything else but those two extremes.... ?

On 9/10/2021 at 7:35 PM, CaddySedai said:

 

Particular Individual? Why so coy? Are you trying not to spoil a plot point or something? Lol. 

LOL...I didn't know if some individuals would come to the forum who haven't read the books yet and would end up getting spoiled.  I mean, it's pretty obvious early on in the book...but the trailer itself seems to be very coy about it...'he' just seems like a background character in the trailer.

I was probably also sensitizes as I think I wrote that right after watching Daniel Greene's youtube video ripping on IGN's Trailer review for spoiling major plot points with their explanations about the WOT trailer (e.g. "...and this is foreshadowing her rise to become the Amyrlin Seat."  "Why would you say that?!?!?")

I could see them cutting out the Green Man and the Eye of the World completely....I mean other than the Eye itself being a finale to the first book....it just doesn't play a part in the rest of the novels (yes, it's a 'trigger' for a particular individual) but that, after Book 1, it plays no role in the story (same this with the Green Man).  We've not casting news for the Green Man or the 3 forsaken....and we have to be realistic and not expect this show to run for 14 seasons (if it makes it, I'd expect 8 seasons) so there's going to be a lot of condensing of material...  The seen with the Waygate doesn't even appear to have Loial in it...he's been cast...but perhaps that will be reduced role too (if you're not going to have the Green Man, then why bring Loial along...his interactions with the GM was a highlight of the end of Book 1 for me...)

I'm still neutral.

I honestly didn't have a problem with the trailer.  If anything, seeing the actors in costume actually gave me a little more comfort.  My particular issue (and its my own personal issue) is that I'm old enough to have seen enough different books that I've loved have adaptations that I thought were just awful:

SyFy's Earthsea

Legend of the Seeker (I was so hyped for this...loved the photos...loved the trailer...made it through 2 episodes and said 'enough of that)

Shannara Chronicles (Made it through 4 episodes before I gave up)

So I hear redgiant's concern and I can't help but wonder if he/she has gone through the hype machine one too many times and suffered other major disappointments:  to the point where any deviations from the book are just 'red flags'.

I'm at the point of "Let me see the first episode and then I'll tell you...".

My thoughts on the criticism of the visual representation of channeling:  We're early on and most Aes Sedai weren't doing all that powerful of 'stuff' early on in the books (if memory serves Moraine was using her angreal during Winternight).  I think the visuals are intentionally understated now...so when that *others* begin to learn you will clearly differentiate their power levels from others.  I think they're specifically trying to downplay it a bit.

And will channeling Saidin look different from Saidar?  (And different from the TP?)

I'm hoping with the changes made to the show we don't end up with a "Logain = Ba'alzamon" change from the books...as they're making Logain look a bit more nefarious in the trailer.  (Then again the capture of Logain was 'off screen' in the books).