The show from my avatar

[AwkwardlySet]

I've just seen the last episode of The Wheel of Time show and I feel the need to share my impressions with the rest of you who watched it, regardless if you read the books or not.
Now, watching the episodes that came before the last one had been an intense SM experience, a sort of self-flagellation where I experienced no pleasure whatsoever, sexual or any other. (I might be breaking Lit rules here, who knows). Yet the last episode has surpassed them in every conceivable way. From the standpoint of someone who liked the books, I find the show to be a pile of noxious garbage, badly written, in many ways insulting towards the source material, and also brimming with political messages. Trying to put myself in the shoes of someone who didn't read the books, I would say that the show is still mediocre at best, as its plot is all over the place and probably incomprehensible to an average viewer. Action scenes are decent in the sense of production and effects, while still completely ridiculous in the sense of physics and the laws of the Wheel of Time world.

Has anyone else watched the show and what are your impressions?

 

[MillieDynamite]

Haven't watched it or read it. Sorry, I'm so busy all the time now, I have little time to read, and my tv viewing is all stuff I'm rewatching. I should read more, something other than childrens stories to Donnie.

 

[CuriousRick]

I watched the first season. Only finished it because I was watching with my wife. I hate when the directors and writers have to put their spin on classic works. Look they are classic for a reason and you are an unknown writer. Leave classics alone, just tell the real authors story. Will never watch another second of the Hollywood teash

 

[onehitwanda]

Read the books years ago; very quickly worked out that he was wilfully extending them as his meal-ticket. Gave up somewhere around book six. Same sort of experience I had with a Song of Ice and Fire. Haven't watched the show and don't intend to.

Very few authors can make a trilogy work. Of every author I've read who's done more, only Douglas Adams, Ursula K Le Guin and Megan Lindholm have (to my mind) succeeded with longer series.

 

[CuriousRick]

The middle was a little slow. I think book 5 was horrible. There was on book at that time that never mention either Mat kr Perrin. When I reread the series I always just skim through it.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Read the books years ago; very quickly worked out that he was wilfully extending them as his meal-ticket. Gave up somewhere around book six. Same sort of experience I had with a Song of Ice and Fire. Haven't watched the show and don't intend to.

Very few authors can make a trilogy work. Of every author I've read who's done more, only Douglas Adams, Ursula K Le Guin and Megan Lindholm have (to my mind) succeeded with longer series.

The books have plenty of flaws and it takes some determination to push through "the slog" as the fans often call the books in the middle. I definitely agree that Jordan extended things beyond what was needed, ruining the pace and making the readers read many incredibly boring chapters that served no purpose. Only somebody who really liked the first 3-4 books would make themselves push forward through some truly tedious and sizeable parts in later books. Not that the first books didn't have those, but they became much more prominent in books 5-10

 

[onehitwanda]

*tugs her braid and crosses her arms across her breasts*

 

[CuriousRick]

*tugs her braid and crosses her arms across her breasts*

Checking to see if the hairs on my arms are standing up.

 

[StillStunned]

I read the books as they came out - until the first 100 pages of book 10. At the end of book 9, when Rand and Nynaeve clean Saidin, I'd hoped that the story would pick up again. I was disappointed when it didn't.

Then last year I started listening to the audiobooks. I gritted my teeth through the poor narration and made it through the first six volumes. Then came volume seven, and I realised that I'd get at least 100 more hours of Perrin moping about Faile and Rand being a woolhead and Nynaeve tugging her braid and Egwene and Elayne folding their arms beneath their breasts, and pretty much nothing else. Life's too short.

That said, I enjoyed the first season of the TV show for what it was. Haven't started on season 2 yet.

I hate when the directors and writers have to put their spin on classic works. Look they are classic for a reason and you are an unknown writer.

Sometimes I think that writers and directors have an idea that they can't sell, so they superficially stick an established IP on it and pretend they're adapting a novel. The Dark Is Rising movie comes to mind, and the Earthsea miniseries, and the Christopher Lambert version of Beowulf.

ETA: As an amateur writer, I can't really blame Robert Jordan for wanting to maximise his income from writing books.

 

[onehitwanda]

Checking to see if the hairs on my arms are standing up.

My ears drooped.

 

[CuriousRick]

My ears drooped.

“Raises an eyebrow as I look at the guilty party”

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I read the books as they came out - until the first 100 pages of book 10. At the end of book 9, when Rand and Nynaeve clean Saidin, I'd hoped that the story would pick up again. I was disappointed when it didn't.

Then last year I started listening to the audiobooks. I gritted my teeth through the poor narration and made it through the first six volumes. Then came volume seven, and I realised that I'd get at least 100 more hours of Perrin moping about Faile and Rand being a woolhead and Nynaeve tugging her braid and Egwene and Elayne folding their arms beneath their breasts, and pretty much nothing else. Life's too short.

That said, I enjoyed the first season of the TV show for what it was. Haven't started on season 2 yet.

Sometimes I think that writers and directors have an idea that they can't sell, so they superficially stick an established IP on it and pretend they're adapting a novel. The Dark Is Rising movie comes to mind, and the Earthsea miniseries, and the Christopher Lambert version of Beowulf.

ETA: As an amateur writer, I can't really blame Robert Jordan for wanting to maximise his income from writing books.

Yeah, the books start picking up the pace from book 11. Many falter before that and I can't blame them. It does get hard.

 

[onehitwanda]

“Raises an eyebrow as I look at the guilty party”

It's Mat. It's always Mat.

 

[CuriousRick]

It's Mat. It's always Mat.

Poor Matrim always the scapegoat

 

[AchtungNight]

I started reading the books in my teen years and finished them in my thirties. I'm a fan of them. I've masturbated to the sex scenes in Book 5. I totally get all the complaints people have made about boring bits, however.

Regarding the show, I got through half of the first season before deciding the only thing I liked about it was Rosamund Pike and it was yet another example of them trying to remake a classic and not doing it in the best way. So I quit watching. But I still support those who are fans. I think the chick I've heard is playing Lanfear is hot too.

 

[onehitwanda]

... there's a sex scene?

I must have slept through it.

Oh, I see, it was Rand and Aviendha. Suspected it might have been.

 

[CuriousRick]

... there's a sex scene?

I must have slept through it.

Oh, I see, it was Rand and Aviendha. Suspected it might have been.

There were a lot just happened off screen.

 

[onehitwanda]

There were a lot just happened off screen.

Oh. Woman's Circle business, is it?

(it disturbs me how much I remember about these fucking books)

 

[CuriousRick]

Oh. Woman's Circle business, is it?

(it disturbs me how much I remember about these fucking books)

You just enjoy the books and have a good memory.

 

[onehitwanda]

You just enjoy the books and have a good memory.

I did not enjoy the books, in retrospect. Pre-teen me might have.

 

[AchtungNight]

... there's a sex scene?

I must have slept through it.

Oh, I see, it was Rand and Aviendha. Suspected it might have been.

It was Rand and Aviendha. And it largely took place in my imagination. Which is very active and willing to exert itself. Also into fanfic. As my readers should know.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

The books are full of Jordan's sexual fetishes, I would say. The all-pervasive powerplay between women and men, the spankings, and especially the Seanchan with their extreme forms of slavery, petplay and so on. I believe he could have been a prominent author even here... then again, maybe he actually was, under some (different) pseudonym.

 

[Ambient4190]

...addicted. I have all books predominately paperback except 'Knife of Dreams' & 'Crossroads of Twilight' in hardback.
My 'Eye of the World' is turning yellow - sniff, sniff.

Season One almost had me in tears I was so mad. Despite the disappointment, I did watch all episodes.
Thankfully, Season Two is much better. I do recommend it.

 

[Devinter]

I read the first four books during my childhood and found the pacing to be quite underwhelming, even though the story overall had a lot of interesting twists and turns, and the world that Robert Jordan created interested me greatly. But even during the first few books, there are parts that are dreadfully long without much happening, and then there's a few very intriguing chapters, only for it to get slow again. Pacing was his greatest issue by far, and that's why I didn't stick with the series.

As for the TV show, I watched the first season. My favourite part was the intro / title sequence. Enough said.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

As for the TV show, I watched the first season. My favourite part was the intro / title sequence. Enough said.

Definitely the best part of the show