I nope'd out of the first episode about 20 minutes in. Then I started over with no expectations and saw all of it, this is about nothing like the books.
I don't get how they managed to fuck this up so bad.
Probably should have stopped watch within the first scene, it did not really get any better.
Your experience sounds very similar to mine. I had huge expectations going in and when I saw their budget I was thinking it would be amazing. I even separated myself from the books early on and knew that the story would be different. My heart sank right away after E1 though. I wanted to like it so bad I basically tried to kid myself and pretend it was good. After the train wreck of E8 the flood gates opened and all the crap I tried to ignore poured out lol. It's super disappointing for fans especially.
I actually agreed with some of the changes made for the TV series. But the stuff I mentioned in this article and some other stuff as well was unforgivable.
I was already worried before the drop, I saw the scene introducing Moiraine to the 2 Rivers folk, I should probably have quit at that point such a terrible scene.
No LTT as a prologue as another clear sign that this is not going to be a good adaptation.
I hated the show from the monologue Moiraine gave in the first episode. I broke in the middle of the first episode, to then try again with no expectations.
What did you think was a good change, I struggle to find one I even thought was okay.
Yeah I'm with you on that.
I actually liked that they made the Aes Sedai wear their colors. I thought that it was smart to give them distinction so that the viewer can recognize the ajahs right away instead of it having to be explained in the dialog. I think that Liandrin's character will be combined with Elaida's which I think is smart to reduce the story lines and to develop that character rather than half assing it with two different characters. Skipping the Camelon and not introducing Elayne was smart because again, it would be too much for such a short season and they were clearly already struggling to develop the characters they had.
Sorry if I butchered the spelling of names of characters there. I can't remember how to spell names from the WoT series hahaha
I completely disagree with all these points.
Having Aes Sedai wear there colors does not allow the Aes Sedai to act covertly, or hide from Whitecloaks and leaves them a little bit less defensive than there were in the books, it might make sense to have the Aes Sedai wear there colors in the white tower, but they already do this, at least the shawl. So this is in fact a non point for the show.
Combining Elaida with Liandrin seems fairly dumb oh and I will spoil stuff, so in case somebody has not read the books be aware that I will spoil some stuff now.
Elaida is actually not a black ajah she is simply self-obsessed and easily manipulated, Liandrin is in fact fairly smart and black ajah, she also lures out Elayne Eggwene and Nynaeve on a mission except they end up getting captured by the seanchan instead. I feel this is just stupid writing.
Skipping Caemlyn was a big slap in the face, especially after having seen episode 5 with a unimportant character (Stepin) spend almost a full episode committing suicide, this was fluff that was not necessary, we already saw his reaction to his Aes Sedai getting killed in the previous episode. Wasting this whole episode on a unimportant character and removing important characters seems a bad direction.
Cutting Elayne from the first season removes a large bit of Rand's character arc, and it eliminates a familiarity from Elayne and Eggwene and Nyneave when they meet in the white tower.
The fact that they struggle to develop characters only shows the complete lack of competence the writers have. If they simply took the books and did minimal changes to bring it to screen they would be very likely to not have these problems.
Very interesting points.
I see what you're saying with the A.S. colors and hiding from White cloaks and agree. I think that is a very important point in the books for sure. For S1 of the show though the colors may have helped progress the story forward for new viewers without excessive explanation... but we may see more covert attire in later seasons? Hopefully.
I agree that Liandrin and Elaida are very different characters in the book for sure. The WoT has so many characters and story lines though I don't think that a show could do all of them properly so I assume more characters and storyline will be dropped in future seasons. But, it would be nice if they were able to tell all of them.
I agree with everything you're saying about E5 and the warder. No disagreement there.
Regarding introducing Elayne in S1: They were worried about hiring an actress for a brief appearance in one episode of S1 and then not being able to get the same actress back for later seasons if she moved on to another project while waiting for her big role in the series. My understanding is that she will be introduced in S2 or S3 when they can lock someone down long term. I don't know if that changes your opinion or not but I think it was smart to temporarily remove a storyline if it means that character inconsistencies may be an issue. I hear that Matt Cauthorns character is leaving the show for unknown reasons. So already we are going to be seeing casting issues.
I agree that the writers should stick to the book as much as possible though.
I for one think that having Elayne in season one would be preferable, even if a different actress were going to portray the character at a later point.
I don't actually care enough about this mess to watch season 2, they already went so far away from the books all arcs are so different at this point.
One point that had me completely loose any respect for this show was the scene where Eggwene "healed" Nynaeve back from the death, this outright breaks a core law in the books, you cannot heal anybody back from the death.
Then there is another point where they are incredibly wobbly on whether Saidar and Saidin are different or the same.
There is honestly way to many points to list here.
Okay I see. We differ in opinion there but that's fine. I respect your viewpoint.
Omg. I totally agree. That was a fireable offense in my opinion. The writer of that episode should be fired on the spot from the project for that scene alone. The writer of the episode happens to be the showrunner Rafe Judkins too, so I bet the show would turn around immediately and get better if they did fire him 😂