Braid Tugging - Amazon’s Wheel Of Time (occasional book spoilers)

[footle]

2 hours ago, JohnC said:

That's very weird. Unless it's an unprecedented bomb, there will probably be millions watching it who have not read the books.

that doesn’t mean I can imagine non book readers watching it.

[jonamok]

7 hours ago, JoeK said:

Doesn't bode well for the Middle Earth stuff really.

Absolutely my main concern watching the first ep of this.

[Bazjam]

I quite liked the first episode. Did enough to make me intrigued to watch more. Haven't read the books, but I'm always a sucker for a bit of fantasy.

[sandman]

Gave up 10 minutes in. Utter tripe.

[Darwock]

I see three episodes. Did everyone just give up after the first?

[Sirloin]

I watched all three in the background while I was working. It had got better by the third episode but it still wasn’t very good. Some odd plot choices. It’s certainly no Game of Thrones.

[Festoon]

46 minutes ago, Sirloin said:

I watched all three in the background while I was working. It had got better by the third episode but it still wasn’t very good. Some odd plot choices. It’s certainly no Game of Thrones.

 

Neither is the source content. Utterly derivative.

[Timmo]

I've only met one person who's read the books. I think she was on book 6. I asked her if it was good and she said it was rubbish but she couldn't stop. 

 

I'd imagine it gets good in the last couple of books when Sanderson takes over, though. 

[Sirloin]

1 hour ago, Festoon said:

 

Neither is the source content. Utterly derivative.

Eh, the first few books are fine, the concepts are decent and could have translated OK into a TV show if they had sorted out the terrible pacing and some of the dodgy characterisation. It’s standard high fantasy schlock, the entire genre is derivative.

[Sirloin]

6 minutes ago, Timmo said:

I've only met one person who's read the books. I think she was on book 6. I asked her if it was good and she said it was rubbish but she couldn't stop. 

 

I'd imagine it gets good in the last couple of books when Sanderson takes over, though. 

More things happen but the actual prose is a lot worse as Sanderson is a worse writer than Jordan, which is actually impressive.

[Timmo]

11 minutes ago, Sirloin said:

More things happen but the actual prose is a lot worse as Sanderson is a worse writer than Jordan, which is actually impressive.

 

Who do you rate as a fantasy writer? I was on the subreddit earlier and they all seem to think that Sanderson is the best writer to walk the earth.

 

I enjoyed the first Stormlight Archive book but I can't deal with them anymore, they're just so slow.

[Sirloin]

Abercrombie, Jemisin, Hobb, Parker and Martin are good writers. Eriksen and Bakker are more imaginative but not great writers, and you can forgive that to a certain extent. Jordan can be a decent writer, when he hits a scene right he’s as good as anyone, but he completely lost it with WoT, should have been a trilogy instead.

 

I might be being harsh on Sanderson, but I think that big series of his is a worse WoT with bits of Malazan thrown in, and the worst bits of it at that, and then written as if it was a manual for a fridge instead of a novel.

[footle]

10 hours ago, Timmo said:

 

Who do you rate as a fantasy writer? I was on the subreddit earlier and they all seem to think that Sanderson is the best writer to walk the earth.

 

I enjoyed the first Stormlight Archive book but I can't deal with them anymore, they're just so slow.

it’s a WOT subreddit, they’re all about plot, twists, secrets and theory crafting. Sanderson is good at encouraging that stuff (with his chapter intros taken from letters between characters who aren’t in his novels but are part of his wider universe etc.), even if the writing is not inspired.

 

I’ve now watched all three episodes. It’s much better than, say, Foundation. It’s not GoT season one to three, and was never going to be because of the source material. On the other hand, it’s also never going to be GoT season eight.

[spork]

This was enjoyable enough. Obviously not going to win any awards and some of the acting and effects are a bit shoddy but if you can see just a little way past that then there is definitely something enjoyable in there.

[euan]

I watched the first episode last night and thought it was alright. Some decent effects and the locations were impressive.

 

I've never read the books though and went in without any expectations.

[Scribblor]

13 hours ago, footle said:

I’ve now watched all three episodes. It’s much better than, say, Foundation. 

I'll be interested in what happens in episodes 2 and 3 then, because episode 1 was duller than Foundation, the acting was far worse, the direction was muddled, the writing was clunky, the worldbuilding perfunctory, and it looked very cheap in comparison. 

 

[footle]

1 hour ago, Scribblor said:

I'll be interested in what happens in episodes 2 and 3 then, because episode 1 was duller than Foundation, the acting was far worse, the direction was muddled, the writing was clunky, the worldbuilding perfunctory, and it looked very cheap in comparison. 

 

have you watched episode three of foundation?!

[Thor]

On 20/11/2021 at 19:32, Sirloin said:

Abercrombie, Jemisin, Hobb, Parker and Martin are good writers.

I love Robin Hobb, I'm tempted to start reading the Farseer series again actually. Can you imagine that as a TV series? Would cost and absolute fucking fortune to make!

 

Edit: Watched the first episode of this having not read the books, thought it was alright to be honest. 

[Radish]

I thought the first episode was ok and felt it had potential. Fortunately each episode afterwards was better than the last and I actually really liked the third. The pace slowed down a bit which gave the characters time to breathe and have some meaningful moments together. 
 

There are a few utterly bizarre tweaks to the books but I’m doing my best to look past them, hopefully they’re not too significant. The one involving Perrin was bizarre and while I see what they were going for, I think they went about it in the wrong way. 
 

I also think just quoting a random paragraph from a WoT book as an example of why you think he’s a terrible writer is a bit disingenuous. You could easily pick a few sentences from any Hobb book that would sound incredibly boring but it doesn’t make her a bad writer either.
 

Robert Jordan’s not the best writer but there’s a reason why the WoT books have sold over 90 million copies. I know someone’s itching to pull out the Twilight comparison (bad books can still sell well), but it’s a lot harder to reach those numbers with a fantasy series. The details isn’t always there but the story is good. 

[Lovelyman]

This isn't as bad as I had expected. 

[FishyFish]

I watched episode 1 tonight and I enjoyed it more than the trailer led me to think I would. It looks pretty cheap considering the supposed $10m per episode budget. Well, not exactly cheap, but if feels like it's missing the sense of heft, and weight that something like GoT had, probably down to the direction and cinematography to an extent, but also perhaps the costumes and other set-design. They lack that sense of being lived in. Maybe this will change as I watch more episodes.

[Darwock]

The three lads were cast really well, I thought. Before I sat down to watch I could not remember any characters names except Rand, but when I saw each actor the names jumped right up in my mind. Lan is also very well cast.

 

The women though? I always pictured Moiraine being small and delicate (I assume Jordan described her that way), whereas this actress comes across like a school headmaster or something. I didn’t really warm to Egwene or Nynaeve either (after 1 episode).

[scottcr]

Me and the boy really enjoyed episode 1… are our brains broken or something?

[spork]

1 hour ago, scottcr said:

Me and the boy really enjoyed episode 1… are our brains broken or something?

Nah, just Rllmuk being way too fussy.

[Gotters]

Add me to the 'meh' list for the first episode. 

 

I didn't really have any interest in any of the characters or what was going on and it all looked so shonky, 1970s looking painted backgrounds at times and laughable CGI.

 

I think what was meant to be the big showpiece at the end of the ep with Pike waving her arms around just had me laughing at the shiftiness of the effects and men in Samsquanch suits.

[fragglerock]

I think if they could have had more than one of the baddies on screen during a lot is the rampaging it would have looked better.

 

The casting magic stuff was laughable. Interpretive dance and a 100 watt lightbulb.

 

Still watched as to encourage more fantasy stuff be made.

[scottcr]

I quite liked the dancing magic stuff… it took time and energy to harness and contrasted nicely with the destructive nature of it all.

[footle]

9 hours ago, scottcr said:

Me and the boy really enjoyed episode 1… are our brains broken or something?

Not really. You have lots of people who think fantasy starts and ends with grimdark. The WOT won’t ever satisfy them, in any form.

[macosx]

I read the books as a youth, one of those series that had “like Tolkien at his best” writ large on the back. 
This was poor though, switched off after 15 minutes, just looked pound shop.

[scottcr]

Imagine switching off after 15 minutes...

 

It seems programmes aren't allowed to find their feet or given room to breath.  Folks over-reacting after one perfectly good episode that had a few twists and shocks in it as well.