I'm doubtful my opinion will contain profound revelations, or indeed many points not yet raised in this 48-page thread, but here goes.
Having watched the entire Season 1 (episode 8 just a few hours ago), I felt like a gambler at the horseraces: the anticipation and hopes of what might be ahead of the race, the ups and downs of the race itself, and throwing away the betting slip, returning to my 9-5 job after the horse collapses on the track and doesn't even cross the finish line...
I come from the books, I read them all. That's my bias if you will, I won't try to hide it or say that I judge the show as a neutral, objective critic. The cinetmatic WoT adaption I imagined when I first heard of this project like three years ago was amazing. What I got didn't, as things so often do, live up to this. Could be my expectations were unrealistic, I don't know. I don't think they were. In any case, what I certainly didn't expect was the mediocre, bordering on bad, fantasy pap that was delivered.
Plot
My main issue is quite simply that the rich story of the WoT was not just adapted to the TV format, it was changed. And while I'm sure that the writers of the show are nice chaps, they are sadly no Robert Jordan. They thought they could do better, turns out they couldn't. Like Benioff&Weiss when they left the safety of GRR's pre-written story to spread their wings, the resulting product falls apart immediately.
I am interested in the story of the WoT as told by Robert Jordan, I am considerably less interested in random people's interpretation of his story. Rafe Judkin's vision of "another turning of the Wheel"? Ok, but why should I care? My respect for the series won't just magically transfer over simply because there's a character on-screen named Rand al'Thor. This series has been likened to a fanfic project several times throughout the thread, and I can definitely see why. I understand that this paragraph is what some may call pure book-fan snobbery, but hey, my critique is no less valid than anyone else's because of it.
Without going into specifics: glossing over the Saidin/Saidar divide sells one of the most interesting and unique aspects of the WoT universe short. Wasting so much time on the silly "who could be the Dragon" mystery left too much else underdeveloped. The changed ending was a hot mess, I daresay non-book-readers were left utterly confused.
Characters
Rand - well cast I thought, the acting didn't strike me as particularly good or bad, mostly solid I'd say. There were, to my liking, too few opportunities to get to know the character so far. From what did happen, I would say he's going into a direction that's at least compatible with book-Rand.
Mat - well cast and good acting that carried two of the episodes. Unfortunately, the changes to the character don't work. Mat is no longer the scoundrel with a heart of gold, he's kind of an ass. I don't know what they're setting the character up for. In the final scenes of ep 8 it was even suggested he might turn to the shadow.
Perrin - liked him in the first few minutes, now not so much. The character gets repetitive quick. Might be the narrow range of the actor or the lack of development in the script. In any case, his scenes usually were unengaging for me. The backstory with the wife... yeah, it's an easy shortcut to explain his cautious and violence-averse nature, but I see it interfering with future development significantly.
Egwene - kinda blank. I don't like her, I don't dislike her. To be fair, in the books her character also starts gaining some texture only later on.
Nynaeve - Oversized presence so far to be sure. This may be to sell the misguided 5-way Dragon whodunnit subplot and misdirect the audience to assume she'd be it. Not a fan of the ridiculous uplevelling of all of her skills and strengths either. I won't speculate on the reasons for this. If anything, it makes her less interesting to me, a problem that good-at-everything characters often face (looking at you, Mary Sue Palpatine).
Morraine - I'm OK with the character so far in the context of what the show made possible.
Lan - aka Cerberus turned lapdog. Instead of hiding deep complexity under a hard outer shell, he's now your run-of-the-mill good guy sword dude. Casting was spot-on though.
Secondary characters: stand-out performances by Padan Fain, Valda, Aram, and Ishamael. Not enough exposure yet to say anything about Thom or Min, I'm leaning towards good.
CGI
Servicable. Trollocs and Fades looked good, Channeling wasn't my cup of tea. The cities and scenery I liked overall, although even while cutting 80% of the book's content, they somehow still managed to make the world of the WoT look empty.
Without droning on for another two pages, overall 4/10. I may give the second season a chance, but honestly, I probably won't. Too many threads (pun intended) of the story have gone off in a bad direction already and I think it's very unlikely that it can be salvaged, or that the current show leadership is likely to even try. Back to waiting for another, more faithful adaptation, however unlikely that may now have become.
Season 1 Discussion (Full Book Spoilers) v2.1
in Wheel of Time TV Show
Posted
I'm doubtful my opinion will contain profound revelations, or indeed many points not yet raised in this 48-page thread, but here goes.
Having watched the entire Season 1 (episode 8 just a few hours ago), I felt like a gambler at the horseraces: the anticipation and hopes of what might be ahead of the race, the ups and downs of the race itself, and throwing away the betting slip, returning to my 9-5 job after the horse collapses on the track and doesn't even cross the finish line...
I come from the books, I read them all. That's my bias if you will, I won't try to hide it or say that I judge the show as a neutral, objective critic. The cinetmatic WoT adaption I imagined when I first heard of this project like three years ago was amazing. What I got didn't, as things so often do, live up to this. Could be my expectations were unrealistic, I don't know. I don't think they were. In any case, what I certainly didn't expect was the mediocre, bordering on bad, fantasy pap that was delivered.
Plot
My main issue is quite simply that the rich story of the WoT was not just adapted to the TV format, it was changed. And while I'm sure that the writers of the show are nice chaps, they are sadly no Robert Jordan. They thought they could do better, turns out they couldn't. Like Benioff&Weiss when they left the safety of GRR's pre-written story to spread their wings, the resulting product falls apart immediately.
I am interested in the story of the WoT as told by Robert Jordan, I am considerably less interested in random people's interpretation of his story. Rafe Judkin's vision of "another turning of the Wheel"? Ok, but why should I care? My respect for the series won't just magically transfer over simply because there's a character on-screen named Rand al'Thor. This series has been likened to a fanfic project several times throughout the thread, and I can definitely see why. I understand that this paragraph is what some may call pure book-fan snobbery, but hey, my critique is no less valid than anyone else's because of it.
Without going into specifics: glossing over the Saidin/Saidar divide sells one of the most interesting and unique aspects of the WoT universe short. Wasting so much time on the silly "who could be the Dragon" mystery left too much else underdeveloped. The changed ending was a hot mess, I daresay non-book-readers were left utterly confused.
Characters
Rand - well cast I thought, the acting didn't strike me as particularly good or bad, mostly solid I'd say. There were, to my liking, too few opportunities to get to know the character so far. From what did happen, I would say he's going into a direction that's at least compatible with book-Rand.
Mat - well cast and good acting that carried two of the episodes. Unfortunately, the changes to the character don't work. Mat is no longer the scoundrel with a heart of gold, he's kind of an ass. I don't know what they're setting the character up for. In the final scenes of ep 8 it was even suggested he might turn to the shadow.
Perrin - liked him in the first few minutes, now not so much. The character gets repetitive quick. Might be the narrow range of the actor or the lack of development in the script. In any case, his scenes usually were unengaging for me. The backstory with the wife... yeah, it's an easy shortcut to explain his cautious and violence-averse nature, but I see it interfering with future development significantly.
Egwene - kinda blank. I don't like her, I don't dislike her. To be fair, in the books her character also starts gaining some texture only later on.
Nynaeve - Oversized presence so far to be sure. This may be to sell the misguided 5-way Dragon whodunnit subplot and misdirect the audience to assume she'd be it. Not a fan of the ridiculous uplevelling of all of her skills and strengths either. I won't speculate on the reasons for this. If anything, it makes her less interesting to me, a problem that good-at-everything characters often face (looking at you, Mary Sue Palpatine).
Morraine - I'm OK with the character so far in the context of what the show made possible.
Lan - aka Cerberus turned lapdog. Instead of hiding deep complexity under a hard outer shell, he's now your run-of-the-mill good guy sword dude. Casting was spot-on though.
Secondary characters: stand-out performances by Padan Fain, Valda, Aram, and Ishamael. Not enough exposure yet to say anything about Thom or Min, I'm leaning towards good.
CGI
Servicable. Trollocs and Fades looked good, Channeling wasn't my cup of tea. The cities and scenery I liked overall, although even while cutting 80% of the book's content, they somehow still managed to make the world of the WoT look empty.
Without droning on for another two pages, overall 4/10. I may give the second season a chance, but honestly, I probably won't. Too many threads (pun intended) of the story have gone off in a bad direction already and I think it's very unlikely that it can be salvaged, or that the current show leadership is likely to even try. Back to waiting for another, more faithful adaptation, however unlikely that may now have become.