I agree with you guys' assessment of Wheel of Time , reminds me greatly of the series that attempted the Shannara novels of Terry Brooks. In fact I wouldn't be at all surprised if they were made by the same company, so generic and formulaic I lost interest halfway through. Disappointed.
I will position this by saying that I started reading WOT in the early nineties when there were four or five books out. I kept the faith with it, even wading through the appalling padding which had one 1000 page title go by without anything happening that meaningfully advanced the story. Robert Jordan died, Brandon Sanderson finished the series (having worked with Jordan as soon as he was diagnosed with the terminal blood disease that killed him), and delivered for the most part a great end to the largest series of books I have ever read. I have read them all more than once, some of the earlier ones probably 8-10 times as I tended to re-read them before the next in the series came out.
OK, breathe.
I fucking hated it.
I guess there be spoilers ahead - so I will hide it all in the name of good manners:
Spoiler
The whole first episode by and large is completely made up, almost none of it happens in the books. Rand and Egwene are expected to get together in the books but it doesn't happen until way into the story - 9 or 10 books in maybe? In the show they are fucking 10 minutes in. Perrin is a hugely strong but gentle guy in the books, who envies Rand and Matt their way with the ladies - so of course he is married in the start of the show and then accidentally kills his wife. Egwene being inducted into the womens circle by being dumped in a river. Nynaeve and her magic fucking pool. The theme of the show is that time goes in circles, but putting wrecked skyscrapers in the opening shots makes it feel like some kind of post apocalyptic wank - there is nothing in the books that hints at OUR modern world. All shit, none of it in the books or needed at all.
But I suppose these could be forgiven, given the more egregious fuck-ups. Shadar Logoth being dealt with in the space of 10 minutes or so for example. In the books, Rand and Matt meet Mordeth in Shadar Logoth, the real reason (not the wanky story they make up in the show) why the city is cursed. He offers them riches including the dagger that Matt eventually takes but he has been missed from the TV show. Thing is, Padan Fain the trader from the opening scenes ends up being taken over by Mordeth and becomes one of the biggest villains in the whole story, so their choice not to include the character is fucking idiotic.
Oh, and Perrin. Another key storyline in the books is his wolfbrother abilities, but he learns about them from Elyas Machera, another character with the same abilities, who warns him not to let go of his humanity or he could end up mindless, a human running with a wolfpack who thinks he is a wolf. In the show, there is no Elyas, instead he just instantly finds that the wolves have an affinity to him. Presumably he will just be mourning the wife he shouldn't have had and mope his way through the show while having wolves for company.
Thom Merrilin. In the books, gleemen have multicoloured patchwork cloaks - but not in this. In the books he appears a kindly old man who is more than he appears, knowing a lot about the political machinations of the kingdoms due to his past and also rather handy with a knife. In this he is Dirty McGrimdark - no juggling or harp playing in our show please!
I could go on. Moiraine who needs to act like a contortionist in order to channel the power. The Children of the Light being so overtly evil from the outset, when it is their blind zealotry that makes them scary.
So yeah, they have missed the mark totally from the very outset. They have clearly been told that grimdark is the only way to do fantasy - well if so choose a fucking grimdark series to translate, there are no shortage of them. WOT is high fantasy in the vein of Lord of the Rings. Thing is, I love grimdark fantasy books, I absolutely devour them, but WOT ain't one.
Even if you haven't read the books, the story isn't well told.
Fucking ballhang.
RCHD wrote:Snowy is my favourite. He's a metal God.
I feel like the success of Game of Thrones when it aired ten years ago has really pushed grimdark writers to prominence in the fantasy genre and so TV producers are still tapping into that vein in thinking everything has to be bleak and dark.
I think the media and culture we produce does reflect the times it's made in, and the last couple of decades have hardly been rosey. So it's not surprising that so many things we consume are just piling on the misery. But I do wish we'd get some more fun and hopeful shows produced. Even with grimdark source material, show runners often gloss over the fact that those books tend to be often a little tongue in cheek or have a lot of humour sprinkled here and there.
It doesn't bode well for the Amazon Lord of the Rings series.
I can already see the Amazon Prime adverts of the ring being delivered (on time....) and other such bullshit.
Hellbound
New Korean show on Netflix about demons poping up and beating the living shit out of people then dragging their souls to hell. It's all very strange and not sure what to make of it yet. Think I recognise some of the cast from previous Korean shows, that's how prominent they're getting now.
I think if we're tired of grimdark, the First Law books perhaps aren't the obvious choice, but I agree. I've only read the one of them, and to be honest I can't remember much of it, but I remember really enjoying it.
I think if we're tired of grimdark, the First Law books perhaps aren't the obvious choice, but I agree. I've only read the one of them, and to be honest I can't remember much of it, but I remember really enjoying it.
Chris do yourself a favour mate, read the whole trilogy and the three standalone books that follow (in order: Best Served Cold, The Heroes, Red Country). The more recent trilogy I have not enjoyed neatly so much but those six books are gold.
Even with grimdark source material, show runners often gloss over the fact that those books tend to be often a little tongue in cheek or have a lot of humour sprinkled here and there.
Absolutely on the money, Abercrombie's work in particular has a vein of black comedy a mile wide running through it, it is that as much as the story that makes the books so great.
But what you don't do is take a massively popular series of books like WOT, then turn them into a story that only pays lip service to the fucking books. There is a reason they were as popular as they were, and that's the bloody story!
RCHD wrote:Snowy is my favourite. He's a metal God.
I think if we're tired of grimdark, the First Law books perhaps aren't the obvious choice, but I agree. I've only read the one of them, and to be honest I can't remember much of it, but I remember really enjoying it.
Chris do yourself a favour mate, read the whole trilogy and the three standalone books that follow (in order: Best Served Cold, The Heroes, Red Country). The more recent trilogy I have not enjoyed neatly so much but those six books are gold.
Even with grimdark source material, show runners often gloss over the fact that those books tend to be often a little tongue in cheek or have a lot of humour sprinkled here and there.
Absolutely on the money, Abercrombie's work in particular has a vein of black comedy a mile wide running through it, it is that as much as the story that makes the books so great.
But what you don't do is take a massively popular series of books like WOT, then turn them into a story that only pays lip service to the fucking books. There is a reason they were as popular as they were, and that's the bloody story!
I've gone back and am rereading the first trilogy after finishing the most recent one, just reached the third book. It's still really good, even on a reread (in fact there's a fair bit of the lore I'd forgotten). The most recent trilogy doesn't quite hit the same heights, but I did still really enjoy it, even though the ending for one of the lead characters annoyed me (I'm hoping it isn't actually the end end for them, we'll see).
Chris do yourself a favour mate, read the whole trilogy and the three standalone books that follow (in order: Best Served Cold, The Heroes, Red Country). The more recent trilogy I have not enjoyed neatly so much but those six books are gold.
I always meant to go back to them, just never got around to it. I've stuck the first trilogy on my Kindle wish list. It's probably a decade and a half since I read The Blade Itself, so I'll probably re-read that first.
Well that's Arcane done and dusted. What a fantastic show, consistently well written from start to finish and with such an amazing artistic direction. A lot of money and love was thrown at that series, I never expected it from the League of Legends setting.
Well that's Arcane done and dusted. What a fantastic show, consistently well written from start to finish and with such an amazing artistic direction. A lot of money and love was thrown at that series, I never expected it from the League of Legends setting.
Finished Cowboy Bebop. Overall enjoyed it (again as someone totally ignorant of the anime) but that goodwill is almost completely erased by the very last scene, where they introduce a new character, that made me want to pull out my eyes and ram them into my ears, rendering me unable to see or hear what was happening.
Ironically, the reason for this is that the actor has clearly studied and is doing an accurate impression of the anime character in question, but in live action the result is offputtingly horrible.
I'd be interested in hearing Raid's view of this scene
I suspect I know which character you're referring to, and I can't say I'm looking forward to their portrayal by a live actor. Gimme a few days, I'll probably watch Bebop after I finish Arcane.
