TV Shows

[zerostatic]

Wheel of Time

I wanted to love this. Ive failed to read the books twice. However, watching season 1 may actually make me want to read the books. Not because the series is awesome (it's not), but because I can tell there is definitely a good story in there.

The series is basically Lord of the Rings for kids. Youve got your magic person, a non human, and a bunch of innocent kids that just wanted to live simple lives on a quest to defeat the Dark One. The Dark One has an army of Trollocks (orcs) and Fades (Nazgul). Different good guy armies are scattered throughout with loose alliances. Seriously, I kept waiting for Gandalf to pop in.

The kid actors all suck a fatty. They have no presence at all. The main chick and her Warder (guardian) must be exhausted from carrying this show. I kept hoping someone would decapitate of few of these kids.

WoT has potential, but it feels like Amazon didnt give them a good budget to work with. And Im sure theres a lot more to the story, and we just got the basic good/evil light/dark tiresome battle.

I will give season 2 a try, but man, if they want to finish the entire book series, they need to improve. A lot.

I agree with your last sentence. I read the first three books a couple of summers ago and had high hopes for this show. Some of it is familiar, but a lot of episodes left me thinking what did I just watch? I thought maybe it was my bad memory(I usually read them poolside while half inebriated) but I checked the plot summaries for the books online and my memory isn't as bad as I thought. The creators are taking a lot of liberties with the show and making major changes for some reason. Pandering to a diverse and woke audience maybe?

 

[Blurry_Dreams]

@Doom

i read The Wheel of Time series way-the-fuck-before anyone ever said anything about turning it into any kind of anything
clearly this got turned into a TV-show (instead of theatrically released series of movies) to make money of the popularity of HBOs Game-Of-Thrones series
but i really just kept waiting for it to be this super-bad-ass-animated-show that just straight-up uses-the-book-as-a-script
i really just knew from Day one that making this live-action was going to fucking-suck,
i haven't even actually seen any of the show yet
but i'm just going to assume the books were way-the-fuck-better than what-ever-the-hell this live-action-show actually looks like

@Bloopy
to me Game-of-Thrones just always seemed like the kinda show that people binge-watch
like you work Mon-thru-Fri and watch a whole season over Sat-and-Sun
i know that there were alot of people that waited till they broadcasted the very-last episode and watched all 8 seasons over the course of 8 weekends
which, to me, seems like the best way to watch that specific show

 

[DarkGift]

Wheel of Time

I wanted to love this. Ive failed to read the books twice. However, watching season 1 may actually make me want to read the books. Not because the series is awesome (it's not), but because I can tell there is definitely a good story in there.

The series is basically Lord of the Rings for kids. Youve got your magic person, a non human, and a bunch of innocent kids that just wanted to live simple lives on a quest to defeat the Dark One. The Dark One has an army of Trollocks (orcs) and Fades (Nazgul). Different good guy armies are scattered throughout with loose alliances. Seriously, I kept waiting for Gandalf to pop in.

The kid actors all suck a fatty. They have no presence at all. The main chick and her Warder (guardian) must be exhausted from carrying this show. I kept hoping someone would decapitate of few of these kids.

WoT has potential, but it feels like Amazon didnt give them a good budget to work with. And Im sure theres a lot more to the story, and we just got the basic good/evil light/dark tiresome battle.

I will give season 2 a try, but man, if they want to finish the entire book series, they need to improve. A lot.

WoT is one of those book series that I've read about a million times back in the day.
The TV show doesn't come anywhere near unfortunately, and although it's not without its good parts, it's definitely in need of better writers. I thought the actors were a bit off at the start, but as the season went on, I realized it's mostly the writers not being able to handle the story in a good way.
I mean, I get it's probably super difficult turning a 14 book series into a TV show, but sometimes I'm wondering what they're using those, reportedly, 10 million USD per episode on.

The last episode was the worst of the season imo, but hopefully they'll get a bigger budget for the next season, and fix a lot of the mistakes so far.

With all that said, the first book isn't the strongest either, as it is mostly a tribute to Tolkien (which you already pointed out), the series definitely comes into its own from book 2 onwards.

 

[Blurry_Dreams]

The TV show doesn't come anywhere near unfortunately, it's definitely in need of better writers.
I mean, I get it's probably super difficult turning a 14 book series into a TV show, but sometimes I'm wondering what they're using those, reportedly, 10 million USD per episode on

i think they should have just made it animated and just used the books as a script

 

[DarkGift]

i think they should have just made it animated and just used the books as a script

I actually agree, would've made things a lot easier with having actors on for several seasons, Covid restrictions etc. They have some bonus material lore videos on there that are animated, and they are actually better than the show, although only a couple of minutes long each.

 

[Blurry_Dreams]

@DarkGift

wasn't even thinking covid,
i was thinking the "logistics" problems that were mentioned in an article that was written before covid
the article was all about how Wheel of Time had only just barely gotten purchased,
and how WoT could have made a spectacular anime-type-cartoon and would sadly be live-action
the article author was bitching about it being live-action partially because "there was no way in hell" the WoT would be able to get the high-budget necessary to do all the special effects that would accurately convey the magic that was going on in the books

one of the "logistics" problems (noted before COVID even fucking started) was the actors doing scenes where the characters are interacting with each other through the dream world (tel aran rhiod)

 

[DarkGift]

Tel'aran'rhiod is probably not an issue, I think we even might've seen parts of it during the season. But yes, A LOT of the stuff that's difficult doing justice in a live action setting would've been about 100 times easier in an animation setting. Given how well many recent animated shows (like Arcane for example) have been doing, I think it would've been the correct choice.

 

[Blurry_Dreams]

Tel'aran'rhiod is probably not an issue, I think we even might've seen parts of it during the season. But yes, A LOT of the stuff that's difficult doing justice in a live action setting would've been about 100 times easier in an animation setting. Given how well many recent animated shows (like Arcane for example) have been doing, I think it would've been the correct choice.

the idea that Tel'Aran'Riod would have been an issue was based on the assumption that filming the series as live-action would have involved shooting-locations all over the entire globe

 

[DarkGift]

Easily solved by having the dream sequences indoors I'd say, most of them happen inside buildings in the books anyway

 

[Blurry_Dreams]

Easily solved by having the dream sequences indoors I'd say, most of them happen inside buildings in the books anyway

no
the problem was supposedly having 2 actors on 2 different continents and then trying to film those 2 characters holding a conversation, which i suppose is a problem that could be fixed with some-sort of green screen

 

[Blurry_Dreams]

Tel'aran'rhiod is probably not an issue, I think we even might've seen parts of it during the season. But yes, A LOT of the stuff that's difficult doing justice in a live action setting would've been about 100 times easier in an animation setting. Given how well many recent animated shows (like Arcane for example) have been doing, I think it would've been the correct choice.

well, did they actually get the huge-budget of Game-Of-Thrones or not??
if the budget is too low, the future seasons are going to end up looking horrible

 

[Bloopy]

@Bloopy
to me Game-of-Thrones just always seemed like the kinda show that people binge-watch
like you work Mon-thru-Fri and watch a whole season over Sat-and-Sun
i know that there were alot of people that waited till they broadcasted the very-last episode and watched all 8 seasons over the course of 8 weekends
which, to me, seems like the best way to watch that specific show

You say that like I was born yesterday. My normal method of watching TV episodes was to binge up to 3-5 episodes in a day, so that's why I have to make a conscious effort if I don't wanna watch GoT that fast. Sure, the show's particularly suited to binging because there's so many damn characters. You have to watch a lot to find out what happens in any one storyline. I just don't wanna use up all my time at once like that when there are plenty of other things I like more.

 

[J.]

4 eps in to The Witcher season 2. Seems random so far, but Im sure itll all come together at the end. This series is how you correctly adapt a book series into a tv series. Amazing stuff

 

[Blurry_Dreams]

You say that like I was born yesterday. My normal method of watching TV episodes was to binge up to 3-5 episodes in a day, so that's why I have to make a conscious effort if I don't wanna watch GoT that fast. Sure, the show's particularly suited to binging because there's so many damn characters. You have to watch a lot to find out what happens in any one storyline. I just don't wanna use up all my time at once like that when there are plenty of other things I like more.

now that i'm thinking about it, the idea of binge-watching a show really seems like it's something you really can only do when you

A
"work from home"
and/or
B
you're one of those people that only shows up at the job-site 40 hours a month
and/or
C
you're childless because you've purposely decided you're going to forever remain "child-free"

outside of the above
you really might not have the kinda free time to really binge-watch a show

and i think these new shows only being a mere 8-10 episodes is prolly just to allow people to binge-watch a season
i mean
Game Of Thrones (and other new shows) only had 10 episodes a season
was prolly a decision done for specifically making it possible for binge-watching a whole season over the week-end
i mean, can you imagine binge-watching a whole season of a show
when you're talking about one of the older shows that had a whole 22-26 episodes a season??
i mean Lauren Graham once binge-watched the entire series of Gilmore Girls, (preparation for her memoir book "talking as fast as i can")
and that series made it to 153 episodes
where as Game of Thrones only made it to 73 episodes

and Game Of Thrones only had 8 seasons (73 episodes)

where Smallville had 10 seasons (217 episodes)

Supernatural had 15 seasons (327 episodes)

even the show Babylon 5 (famous for supposedly being the first show with a "series-arc", and being the only show with the final episode already written before the first episode filmed) made it to 110 episodes and that was only 5 seasons (and that 110 episodes does not include the movies or "the lost tales")

and the show that i think everyone on the ultimatemetal forums is familiar with
the Fresh Prince Of Bel Air did 6 seasons with 148 episodes

 

[Blurry_Dreams]

@DarkGift

well, did they actually get the huge-budget of Game-Of-Thrones or not??
if the budget is too low, the future seasons are going to end up looking horrible

how large is WOT budget??

 

[Bloopy]

outside of the above
you really might not have the kinda free time to really binge-watch a show

How about D.) you're on meth and awake for 7 days at a time

Some possible explanations for shorter seasons here:
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/why-tv-networks-are-ordering-shorter-seasons-2015-6?r=US&IR=T

#2 & #5 in the article are basically the ones I would've thought of. Making something of sharp and consistent quality over getting weary making more quantity. And not making the mistake of Twin Peaks season 2 which was 22 episodes long but basically resolves the major mystery of the whole show 9 episodes in.

 

[J.]

last season of Peaky Blinders. excited for this one.
also started Vikings: Valhalla and meh so far. We'll see.

I really want to watch Peacemaker. Loved John Cena in The Suicide Squad

 

[SonOfNun]

In process of watching all 95 episodes of Three Kingdoms (2010 - Chinese historical drama). Follows the famous 14th century novel of Luo Guanzhong rather faithfully. It's well done and you can tell a great deal of money was invested in the series.

 

[Blurry_Dreams]

How about D.) you're on meth and awake for 7 days at a time

Some possible explanations for shorter seasons here:
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/why-tv-networks-are-ordering-shorter-seasons-2015-6?r=US&IR=T

#2 & #5 in the article are basically the ones I would've thought of. Making something of sharp and consistent quality over getting weary making more quantity. And not making the mistake of Twin Peaks season 2 which was 22 episodes long but basically resolves the major mystery of the whole show 9 episodes in.

i don't know here
with the longer season-shows
i end up caring about the characters more
when Smallville was on the air i cared more about Chloe Sullivan than i cared about real-life people

also
when Game Of Thrones premiered
they showed the first episode several times before showing the second one
THEY HAD TO
for a huge ass amount of the specific people who hadn't read the books,
they had to watch the first episode a second time to actually figure out that the sex Bran saw was incest
this specific moment of audience-confusion would have been avoided with a longer episode count where Bran doesn't see the incest and get thrown out of the window till the end of the 2nd episode

also
the scene explaining that "Baratheon black" hair would be dominant over the "Lannister blonde" hair
in the show it kinda-sorta looks like they're saying that a kid's father's hair-color would be dominant over the mother's hair color
where as in the books, it's clearly showing that black hair should be dominant over blonde hair
the weirdness in this scene could also have been avoided with the show trying to do more-episodes-per-season

 

[Bloopy]

That's kinda dumb as the audience doesn't need to figure out it was incest straight away. They just need to be vaguely aware of which two people got their fuck on and then all the implications become more and more obvious as the season goes on.