Last time I visited this site, the show hadn't yet aired, and I was surprised to see many people with positive attitudes towards what I thought were abysmal trailers. Now I come to this thread and it seems most people's opinions have shifted. Wild to see. 

1 hour ago, Tim said:

 

I'm being a bit glib, but basically a lot of readers (such as the person quoted as thinking that only Seanchan has darker-skinned ethnic groups) seem to assume that the primary characters need to be anglo-celtic in appearance, even though RJ - unlike Sweet's book covers - was actually pretty sparing in specifically describing people that way. In many cases it's probably less to do with the book covers than readers applying a default assumption to the effect that, if a character's skin colour is not specifically described, it's white.

 

If anything (to use on the first few books as examples), the fact that RJ specifically calls out certain characters or groups as being pale or fair (e.g. Elayne or Lanfear or Carlinya or the Cairheinin or (ironically) Egeanin) tends to suggest that where he didn't do so the characters were of darker complexion. I'm aware of nothing in the books inconsistent with the casting of (say) Nynaeve or Egwene or Perrin in this regard.

Except he also calls out specific characters for being dark skinned. Tuon is an obvious example, and there are a couple others throughout the series that I remember seeing, although their names escape me. I know one of the thief-catchers was an example of this.

3 minutes ago, DaddyFinn said:

Not satisfied with this?

 

Actually I thought that scene was great. At the very least on the right track. Unfortunately, in my opinion the effect was ruined when they showed it screaming with all its teeth in a later clip.

51 minutes ago, Elder_Haman said:

I support your freedom to state your negative opinion about the show. On the other hand, it doesn’t add much to the discourse to come shout about how it “looks bad” and is “of low quality”. If you really want to “talk about the show”, back your opinions up with something that we can actually talk about. 
 

What looks bad about it? What do you see that’s low quality? Specifically, what changes don’t you like and what don’t you like about them?

 

If you’re not interested in getting into those weeds, then you’re not really interested in talking. 

I didn't feel the need to state the specifics of what I didn't like, because I feel like it's already been said by others, and I wouldn't be adding anything new. I felt that my view of the "at least they're doing it at all" mentality had not been shared (that I've seen), so I decided that was worth saying.

Since you asked, though, I really liked how someone else put it early on in this thread: (paraphrasing here) "show me the frames where we can see the books coming to life on screen." Personally, I don't feel there have been any. That doesn't mean they won't be there at some point in the show, but one would think that it would be one of the main things they show in the trailer, to appeal to fans of the books. The fact that we've seen little to none of that is worrisome to me. I'll give a few specifics off the top of my head: 

• In one of the teasers, we can see someone jumping off a cliff/rock into a river. That's the first thing shown in that video. Maybe my memory is bad, but I've read the series multiple times, and can't think of what scene in the books that might be. And it's the first thing we see in that video. That's naturally going to give an impression for the rest of it
• The Myrddraal's teeth. Other people have already said it, but I found it ridiculous. The Myrddraal are supposed to be ominous and terrifying. They get their power largely due to fear, and while a monster like that would certainly be frightening, it's not the same. What we saw invokes a horror movie monster that eats people, not a sinister intelligence that creates feelings of dread simply by looking at you. I also don't agree with the argument that such an effect couldn't be done on screen. Lighting and music are well-known ways to create emotional responses in the audience, and a discussion between characters could be had to further clarify what happened. If I recall correctly, such a discussion actually exists in the books already
• Moiraine and Lan. They seemed completely at odds with what their characters are supposed to be. They've been traveling for years looking for the Dragon Reborn, and we know that Moiraine liked to keep a low profile doing so. She, reasonably, wanted to keep their mission secret from Darkfriends, and even after the ta'veren are found she tends not to make her position as Aes Sedai known. But here, we see her and Lan deliberately draw all attention to themselves and announce exactly who they are to everyone. The timing of this bothers me as well, because the way it affects events seems like it will inevitably take away from some of the mystery of her character. Now, do these things drastically affect the overall story? Maybe not, but when our first look at the characters shows them being the opposite of what we know they should be, it is very concerning. 

There is, of course, always the argument that it won't be exactly like the books, and many seem to be perfectly happy with any changes at all. I recognize that it can't be exactly like the books, but I disagree with making any more changes than what's strictly necessary. As a fan of the books, the only reason I want to watch this is because it claims to be the story I already love, brought to the screen. So to me, every change feels like a betrayal of that story, especially when the change goes against the original spirit, as well as the letter. As I said, some people are fine with that, and more power to them, but I am not one of them. 

Personally, I feel like the people who are happy just because it's being done at all are doing both themselves and the rest of us a disservice. I fully understand wanting to support such a wonderful series in any way you can, but this, in my opinion, is the wrong way to go about it. If the whole show is as bad as it (to me) looks so far, then all you've accomplished is telling Amazon and others that we're OK with such low quality. It tells them that no effort needs to be made to stick to the source material, because an attempt was made. Hell, in other circumstances, saying "an attempt was made" is another way to say that it was bad. If your only reason to support this show is because it has the Wheel of Time branding on it, then it will only encourage more of the same or worse in the future. It pains me to no end to see what they're doing, and to know that I probably will end up hating it when it comes out, but I can't bring myself to contribute to such things happening even more in the future. I would much rather this version be a failure, and have future show runners be able to learn from its mistakes and give this series the show it deserves.

Also, as a reply to the speculation about new accounts and being negative: I can't speak for others, but I made a new account to talk about the show. I didn't have an account before, because the series has been done and over with for years, and there was no point. As long as we're speculating about why new accounts are trending towards negativity: I could just as easily argue that old accounts are people who have been here so long, and are such die-hard fans, that they can't bear to admit that it doesn't look good.