3 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

That leaves a lot of room for growth in future episodes/seasons. 

Part of what is keeping me optimistic despite what seems to be some lukewarm reactions is that it leaves a lot of room for improvement. Hopefully the creative team is willing to take some constructive criticism and adjust some things on the fly for season 2. Most of the issues I'm reading in the reviews are certainly correctable. And it's really not uncommon for shows to have first seasons that are, you know, pretty decent, but don't really hit their stride until the second season or so. Would I prefer for this show to come out and instantly be 10/10, blowing everyone's socks off? Of course.

But this is a MASSIVE undertaking, and expectations for this kind of series are different now in a post-GoT world. There is an entire universe and lore to establish and I think I can forgive the show if it a little awkward in laying that foundation, so long as it improves on the things that work as the story progresses. Sometimes things that seem good on paper during production don't quite translate, it is what it is and it's on the production team to learn and improve. I think a lot is going to ride on episodes 7 and 8 and how the season climaxes.

And as we know, EotW is really among the weakest entries in the series. The best material is yet to come and that is where the show can really make itself stand out ?

27 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

Spoiler

But the scene where he, as a dark-skinned Black man, manhandles Pike’s Moiraine is difficult to stomach, particularly within the context of the very long history of entertainment deliberately mythologizing and falsifying Black men’s aggression against white women.

 

There will always be these types of people who need to find something "problematic" in everything. Just wait until they find out about Valda's interactions with Morgase ?

Welp, it appears the review embargo was lifted at noon EST. Just googled "Wheel of Time" and a bunch of reviews popped up that were posted right at noon. Generally seem pretty positive

31 minutes ago, AusLeviathan said:

I've seen ads using quotes from critics who are basically just running a blog. I've even seen quotes taken out of context from negative reviews and presented in ads as praise

It's crazy, sometimes when movies come out that are clearly trash, and end up getting horrid reviews, you'll see ads on tv where they flash things like "AMAZING" and "YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE" and in tiny letters it'll show the source, and it is literally just some random twitter user. Whatever helps sell tickets, right?

1 hour ago, Agitel said:

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/0/wheel-time-review-dungeons-dragons-cosplay-game-thrones/

I'm not going to pay to read the article but any good press at this point is encouraging. It's interesting that the costumes are getting so much attention (I'm assuming the "but it all looks a bit Comic Con" below the headline is referring to the costumes - I guess it could mean the set design and special effects as well though). I've never really been one to care much about what costumes look like, to me that's way down low on the totem pole of what I notice in film/tv. Unless they are glaringly atrocious it's just kind of background noise. I will say, personally it's a bit much for the Aes Sedai to literally only wear colors of their Ajah, but not really something that will affect my enjoyment of the show

Regardless, the good news is we will hopefully have several more seasons to go. And if some design concepts maybe looked good on paper but didn't quite translate to film, I would think the creative team can take constructive criticism and course-correct a little bit for the upcoming seasons

Wow that looks really really cool. Love that they are doing this and love the animation style. Not gonna lie, as happy as I am to get a live-action series, I feel like I would be just as happy with an animated series that was more or less 100% faithful to the books. And that's not a knock on this production - I realize realistically to make a show of this magnitude they need to make changes and concessions. And while I might not agree with all of them, I've largely come around to be excited to see what things have been changed and how things will be brought to life

But anyways, I've seen quite a bit of a kinda-joking-but-also-kinda-serious sentiment among WoT fandom that it's basically an anime in literary form. And I know next to nothing about anime, but between the massive power battles, extraordinarily long and interwoven plot threads, Rand's harem, expansive lore, etc, I can definitely see it. Apparently there was a push to get WoT adapted as an anime years ago but Robert Jordan repeatedly shot it down

38 minutes ago, Ralph said:

https://winteriscoming.net/2021/11/11/zoe-robins-madeleine-madden-the-wheel-of-time-cast-competition-read-books/

Quote

"Josha has powered ahead; he has flown through them! He has absolutely left us in the dust."

This gives me an odd sense of pride

1 hour ago, Deadsy said:

 

He looks really cute here (which he should in  season 1) but also like he could potentially be a future bad ass

Like that he kind of has a baby face thing going on, that'll be a great opportunity to show how his character evolves as he grows more powerful and gets...ahem, harder.

Side note, do we have a total count on the amount of times RJ described Rand as "hard" or "like iron" in the series? Has to be well into the hundreds right?

I guess I can see why they wouldn't open the show with it, though if I had it my way I would've like to see it open the show as an homage to the books. But I still hope we get to see it at some point as it is a very important scene. Pretty sure they've cast Lews Therin right? Would be neat if we get it later in the season, maybe the episode we find out who the Dragon Reborn is...my vision would be to open that episode with the prologue/creation of Dragonmount > smash to opening credits > opening shot pan from Dragonmount to Tar Valon

I think it's a great prologue, definitely confusing for a first time reader but when I was first reading the series I would go back every couple of books I finished and reread the prologue and I loved how more depth would be added the more we learn about the lore and LTT

*grabs popcorn*

To be honest I'm not thrilled about this, I really liked the aspect that the Dragon was explicitly tied to saidin, the Dragon's fang, etc. Added to the doom that came with the name "Dragon." Plus at the very least the prophecies of the Dragon reference Callandor, which is a male sa'angreal. Also the Aiel call him the car'a'carn (chief of chiefs - i.e., male). And if I remember correctly, in The Great Hunt the heroes called by the horn all refer to Rand as Lews Therin and seem to imply (if not outright state) that he is always male. Idk. To me there is a lot of lore in the novels that explicitly tie the Dragon to being male and a saidin user. Sure, they can change this. But that begs the question - why? Just for some lip service in the name of inclusivity? 

As disclaimer, yes we are all going to watch regardless and the show should be judged on its own merits. But I'd be lying if I said this didn't leave kind of a bad taste in my mouth

On 11/1/2021 at 2:04 PM, Elder_Haman said:

The worst possible thing that could happen to Mat Cauthon. Marriage and monogamy.

Let's not overlook the fact that his full name is only three letters from the word "matrimony" ?

I do wonder if that was intentional by RJ. Must've been right?

Crying: Acceptable at funerals and The Grand Canyon Tarwin's Gap.

Let's not forget that marketing =/= showrunning. It's the job of the producers to make the series but it's the job of the marketing team is to draw as many viewers to the show as they can. Perhaps part of that strategy is putting Egwene (a young female) at the forefront of a lot of the marketing materials and making her appear as a potential DR. I don't necessarily agree with it, and as book readers we know that it's misdirection. But n00bs won't know that and I'm certain if you asked any Amazon executive, if they had the chance to gain 5 new viewers for every book viewer lost, they would take that a thousand time out of a thousand. And if some book purists go to their online nerd forums to seethe over some marketing materials then, oh well, what can you do.

I have certain misgivings about some of the creative choices they seem to have made but I cannot believe that once we see the show, that they actually made Egwene a potential DR...that is far too significant of a lore change. The good news is that we are only 3.5 weeks (!) away so we won't have to wait too long to find out

22 hours ago, DojoToad said:

Why are we waiting until November to air?

My guess is that (in addition to all of the points made above), releasing the weekend before Thanksgiving in the US was a conscious decision to maximize the word of mouth. With most people seeing extended families/old friends, the conversation inevitably turns to what tv everyone is watching: "omg you have to check out this super cool new fantasy show on Amazon. Could be the next Thrones. Hopefully they don't mess up the ending LOL." That combined with running through the holiday season where people have more time off/weather starts getting colder/holiday parties for word of mouth, I can see why that would be considered an ideal time to release.

To that point, I would expect (read: hope) that they start to ramp up the marketing significantly over the next few weeks. It's been almost a month (!) since the teaser dropped so you'd think that the full trailer will be released sometime mid-October maybe, some TV spots during football games, etc. Gotta get that hype train rolling