WheelofTime

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Watched the first episode on Amazon Prime tonight.  No film adaptation is ever going to replicate books and the pictures that you create out of them, but I think they've done a good job at starting to interpret Robert Jordan's epic.  Will be interested to see how it continues.

[PaulF]

Haven’t read the book, or is it a series of books? But started the first episode last night, it was late so I didn’t finish it but I saw enough to watch the rest later.

[spesh]

Haven’t read the book, or is it a series of books? But started the first episode last night, it was late so I didn’t finish it but I saw enough to watch the rest later.

It's a series of books - Robert Jordan planned on it being 14 books, but he died during the writing of the last one. However, Author Existence Failure is occasionally no bar to completion of their life's work:

With Jordan's death on September 16, 2007, the conclusion of the series was in question. On December 7 of that year the publisher Tor Books announced that fantasy author Brandon Sanderson was to finish A Memory of Light. Sanderson, a longtime fan of the series, was chosen by Jordan's widow Harriet McDougal partly because she liked Sanderson's novels and partly because of a eulogy he had written for Jordan.

On March 30, 2009, Tor Books announced that A Memory of Light would be split into three volumes, with Brandon Sanderson citing timing and continuity reasons. By his estimate in early 2009, the book would have taken several years to write and would have reached 800,000 words. McDougal doubted that Jordan could have concluded it in a single volume.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time#Jordan's_death,_and_completion_by_Sanderson

[fd3]

I can see that it would work better as a series than as books, as it would remove the repeated recycling of material from every book, the need for chapters to remind the reader of what happened last and would not be so obviously badly written.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Watched episodes 2 and 3 tonight.  They have taken some liberties with the plot, but not with the characterisation and the scenery is making me want to visit the filming locations.

[mrcharly-YHT]

I tried reading the books. I think I gave up on something like book 10 or 11, and I read some real crap.

It was just getting tedious. Maybe I'll have to revisit them and see.

[Beardy]

I tried reading the books. I think I gave up on something like book 10 or 11, and I read some real crap.

It was just getting tedious. Maybe I'll have to revisit them and see.

I seem to remember petering out around that point as well, but it is a long time ago.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Big chunks of books 7 - 11 were tedious due to the endless subplots.  But things became a lot more focused when Brandon Sanderson took over and completed the series after Robert Jordan passed away.   The first three episodes suggest that the screenwriters have done a reasonably good job of sorting the wheat from the chaff, so if they get that far (which would be several series in) I'm hopeful.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Just watched Episode 4.  They've mucked with the plot, but actually I think that makes it more interesting as its created the capacity to surprise.  And its beautifully filmed.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Started this last night. Acting is a bit wooden and the dialog often tedious. Fairly true to the books then.

MrsC not impressed so I might not get to watch much more.

[mrcharly-YHT]

So we've watched the first four episodes.

MrsC leant over at one point and said "I have no idea what is going on."

It is a long time since I read the books, but I do seem to recall that the reader, and the main character, has little idea what is going on. Understanding builds up over time.

I've noticed this a lot; films reveal everything about the main plot early. You just then sit along for the show. A bit like going to see Romeo and Juliet where everybody in the audience knows the plot.

People aren't used to not knowing what the film is about.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Still following it.  They've added some back story to characters which I don't recall from the books, but as Robert Jordan's widow and Brandon Sanderson, who finished the last three books after his death, are both consulting producers, I get the feeling that this is reasonable genuine.  Its a different telling of the story, which leaves some suspense, which I think is good.

[Beardy]

I’m enjoying it, but there is an overtone of it being a Game of Thrones lite. It even had nudity in the last episode, although only extras and from a distance. The lead characters do perform apparently naked, but are awfully filmed to reveal little. I don’t think any of this detracts from the story, but it does feed into the trying to be GOT narrative.