My issue with Mat is not that they made changes to his backstory necessarily, but that the character of the Two Rivers as a whole was not maintained. Emond's Field is a conservative, traditional place, where all of the main characters come from nuclear families and have generally happy childhoods. The Emond's Field five all have strong moral instincts, and it's this upbringing that allows them to resist the Dark One so strongly. Rand himself says that he will prevail over the DO because "this time he was raised better".

It's an idyllic, secluded place, and they barely even know what war is. After arriving home in TSR, Perrin thinks about Whitecloaks being in the Two Rivers and shakes his head. He can hardly believe it. But in the show, not only do the boys laugh off the concept of war in Ghealdan, they don't blink at soldiers being in Taren Ferry.

I admit that on the part of the writers, some of the changes make sense, but they alter the character of the setting so much that it's almost unrecognizable. It's like they took the 90's optimism of TEOTW and replaced it with post 9/11 cynicism.

I'm really missing the authentic WoT curses! The modern ones they're using feel out of place.  "You are such a prick!" ?  I think "Burn you!" would have sounded so much better. The world needs as much character as it can get, even if it's a bit silly every now and then.

I liked the nature of Mat & Thom's interaction in this episode, even with the thievery. I'm not sure that book Thom would have gone out of his way to bury a dead man in a cage, or get himself involved in a villages affairs like that, but I think that his character fills a niche that is sorely needed. I'm excited to see their adventures together in Season 2

20 minutes ago, Maximillion said:

I can see, for example, why they had to cut Tam's fever dreams.  Too much of a giveaway that Rand is the DR.

 

I disagree. The concept that the Dragon Reborn was born outside of the Two Rivers didn't even come up in the first 3 episodes - a newcomer wouldn't even necessarily think that being born elsewhere is important.

There was little gained by cutting the fever dream, and we lost accurate characterization of Rand. He still thinks that Tam is his father

14 minutes ago, Elder_Haman said:

Can you name one thing these days that people aren't upset about?

 

I get bored of this "concern trolling". We've known there is a large contingent of self-proclaimed book purists who aren't going to like it. Their continued existence doesn't prove they are correct. Their concerns doesn't mean the "show is bad". 

The Moiraine/Egwene testing scene is getting positive feedback.

I'm really not a fan of how the writing team has cut important sequences in favor of filler. Like getting rid of Rand dragging Tam through the Westwood in the hopes of getting to Emond's Field (while evading trollocs and fades) - his reaction when arriving to the village is one of devastation and hopelessness. Instead, in the show he teleports with Tam and Bela to the village, and his reaction (while well acted on Josha's part) lacks the gravity that it would have if we saw him struggling all night. Not only that, but we lose Tam's fever dreams. As of the end of Episode 3, Rand still thinks that Tam is his father. There is no mention of Rand taking the sword from Tam, none of the boys mention it, and it's never brought up. The sword is a major part of Rand's identity in the first two books. He directly associates it with his upbringing and with how he thinks of Tam - it's his one link from his old life to his new one.

So with the elimination of that seemingly minor scene, we lose the major inner emotional conflict that Rand has in The Eye of the World. Not only that, but apparently the only reason he is traveling to Tar Valon is because of Egwene. There's no sense of duty to keep the shadow from the Two Rivers, and there's no sense of wanting to find answers to understand who/what he is. Also, he is apparently the "only person who never wanted to leave home". What happened to the daydreaming of distant lands, of carrying a sword and leaping about? The love for the Travels of Jain Farstrider?

Quote

Rand ignored the crowd. He took a seat on the edge of the old stone foundation, gathered his cloak around him, and stared at the inn door. Ghealdan. Tar Valon. The very names were strange and exciting. They were places he knew only from peddlers' news, and tales told by merchants' guards. Aes Sedai and wars and false Dragons: those were the stuff of stories told late at night in front of the fireplace, with one candle making strange shapes on the wall and the wind howling against the shutters. On the whole, he believed he would rather have blizzards and wolves. Still, it must be different out there, beyond the Two Rivers, like living in the middle of a gleeman's tale. An adventure. One long adventure. A whole lifetime of it.

How exactly are Rafe and Co getting the characters right again?

A few bits I liked but I hated a lot of it honestly. Terrible writing decisions all around

3 minutes ago, CaddySedai said:

@DojoToad

 

Celebrate tonight? Does it not drop at 7 pm EST tomorrow for ya?

 

Or are you preemptively partying?

People are saying that the episodes will likely drop at midnight GMT on the 19th, which is 7PM EST tonight

Nice work on the cookies!

I'm not going to make it over to the liquor store for brandy, but I did pick up some good brown ale. The stew in the crock pot will have been simmering for 9 hours by the time I get home from work, and I expect the dog will have her nose up in the air sniffing all day

"It's a lotr ripoff!" is good since that's what the beginning of TEOTW was going for

Will Tudor would be an awesome Galad. I wonder if that source on casting just got two Damodred's mixed up. Either way I'm super excited about the Daes Dae'mar stuff being included

18 hours ago, Ralph said:

 

10th question there, in the first section

Ahh i'm an idiot - I searched with a space in the name lol

Thanks for posting!

Where is the Billy Zane question from? I searched that fandom.wiki page and it wasn't on there.

Kind of bummed, I thought he would be a good Ishamael with a proper script and director. Plus his initials fit ?(BZ = Ba'alzamon!)

Journo/critic reviews are largely meaningless. Between internal pressure from the publication, external pressure from the studio, external pressure from opposing forces, the need for ad revenue and clicks, etc, there's way to gauge objectivity (or sincerity, even). This may sound like copium but I don't really believe any review until I watch something for myself

2 minutes ago, CaddySedai said:

 

Less critical of the WoT and more critical of big budget anyhow. 

 

And in response... modern "inexpensive" British Telly does not have the reach of like.. Game of Thrones. So budget does matter as long as the source is good and the adaptation is sound. hehe

I regret giving them a click. One of the laziest written things I've read all year! 10 million an episode isn't extraordinarily expensive, it's on par with other productions of this type, or even cheaper. Reportedly the Mandalorian costs 15 million per

18 hours ago, DaddyFinn said:

lol @ the boys giving each other the eye, Lan looking stony faced, and the girls engrossed in chatting. All that's missing is young Matrim

I'll be making lamb stew, with some thick crusty bread to go with. I was going to try rabbit but I can't find any near me.

I could do with a pipe, and a mug of ale where it's warm!

Rafe mentioned something about how the books feature Prologues and Epilgoues, and wanting to weave a similar component into the show, so I think that we will get little vignettes here and there. Perhaps we'll get one with young Suian, one with the Blood Snow, etc

WOW!

Season 3

How far will we go? The Stone? Rhuidean??

Master Hightower in da house

https://m.imdb.com/name/nm0703522/mediaviewer/rm4075373824/

What if Season 1 ends with the raid on Fal Dara and the stealing of the horn?

It sets up a hook for season 2. They could end the final episode with Egwene knocked upside the head, and people will be like "WTF she got Ned Starked!"

At least Egwene has a satisfying story arc. Finn's character was squandered in TLJ, and by TROS he had little to do except chase after the lead and be comic relief

You're talking about millions of people. The people crying on twitter about John Boyega was a vocal minority of trolls, and not representative of the population as a whole.

With that being said, eliminating 40 years of canonical stories with the stroke of a pen was not a good way to gain the trust of the fanbase. Do that, and then bungle a trilogy of films, and you've got a fine soup of discontent

I think a lot of these minor changes will be forgiven once the show comes out. Right now all we have to bicker about are the breadcrumbs we get every few days ?

Don't gendered souls actually support the notion of transgenderism, though? IE even though I may be born into a male body, my essence is female. If the soul is not gendered, then there's no way to decide whether you channel saidar or saidin unless it's controlled by the body physiology. It seems like this is just going to muddy the waters.

I'm sure it's not going to really be a problem in the actual show, but theorycrafters may have a rough time with this.

The axe!

12 minutes ago, swollymammoth said:

This lady looks like a perfect Tuon. But like, what if we cast a Latina woman instead? 

You're beating a dead horse here bro - we have bigger fish to fry.  A worse minefield, IMO, resides in the following:

1. Altering in-universe cosmology/metaphysics for extra-universal reasons

2. Dialogue not reflecting conversations/themes that are in the books

3. Introducing plot points that are not in the books

That's what I am concerned with, and what actually will make a difference as to the quality of the adaptation, not that Egwene is slightly too tan as compared to my headcanon. Yeah, Aragorn could have been a little rougher looking in LOTR, but what really mattered to me was that they made him the reluctant hero and not the uncrowned king-in-exile that he was in the novels