Wheel of Time?

[buckchuckler]

Any fans?  Anyone looking forward to the series?  I read the books, and I'm pretty curious.  I don't know if it will have the GoT cult like following because it is more traditional fantasy and less, well... porn-y. 
I really enjoyed the series, and there are a lot of really fun characters.  As with most adaptations of books, I hope they don't mess it up!

[Hards Alumni]

Any fans?  Anyone looking forward to the series?  I read the books, and I'm pretty curious.  I don't know if it will have the GoT cult like following because it is more traditional fantasy and less, well... porn-y. 
I really enjoyed the series, and there are a lot of really fun characters.  As with most adaptations of books, I hope they don't mess it up!

I always thought the nudity/sex scenes in GoT were HBO shoe horning them in there rather than adding to the story... in general.

I'm looking forward to WoT.

[jficke13]

excited to watch WoT. Cautiously optimistic.

[Galway Eagle]

The story development is a bit all over the place so far as I have it on. Sort of how The Witcher was.

I always thought the nudity/sex scenes in GoT were HBO shoe horning them in there rather than adding to the story... in general.

I'm looking forward to WoT.

100% there was some that I can understand but much of it was gratuitous.

[Its DJOver]

Currently reading and will be watching. I doubt they they'll do 14 seasons so it'll be interesting to see where they cut the story from season to season, especially when the trailer has indicated that it also includes events from the prequel. My hope is that I can keep ahead in my reading so I don't see something before I read it as that is always my preferred method of consuming multi media stories.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

The story development is a bit all over the place so far as I have it on. Sort of how The Witcher was.

100% there was some that I can understand but much of it was gratuitous.

Read the books.  GRRM is a fat, old, slow writing, horny & perverted MFer.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Any fans?  Anyone looking forward to the series?  I read the books, and I'm pretty curious.  I don't know if it will have the GoT cult like following because it is more traditional fantasy and less, well... porn-y. 
I really enjoyed the series, and there are a lot of really fun characters.  As with most adaptations of books, I hope they don't mess it up!

I'm out.

[Skatastrophy]

She crosses her arms and tugs her braid

[buckchuckler]

She crosses her arms and tugs her braid

Hahaha.  Nice.  I watched the first episode yesterday,  I enjoyed it.  I thought Moiraine and Lan were appropriately bad ass. 

I'm really curious how far they'll get into some of the other stories.  Perrin and Mat's stories were really fun and engaging.  I hope they develop them.  The only problem is with a 14 book series where all the books are 1000 pages long, well they won't be able to get to everything.

[Skatastrophy]

I didn't realize it was out already. I really appreciate you making this thread. I'll likely wait until December to binge the season.

GoT/ASoIaF was a fun jaunt, but overall a disappointment

Dune's first installment was great, but picked an odd ending time.

I had high hopes for WoT, but they didn't consult Brandon Sanderson? Odd but we'll see.

[buckchuckler]

Pretty sure I saw Sanderson's name as a producer in the credits.

Edit:  just checked, he is.

[Skatastrophy]

Pretty sure I saw Sanderson's name as a producer in the credits.

Edit:  just checked, he is.

GREAT! I looked on the intertubes and found nothing.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Pretty sure I saw Sanderson's name as a producer in the credits.

Edit:  just checked, he is.

He could get producer credit just for being the author.   Doesn't necessarily mean that he is involved. (Haven't watched it yet, and don't know any of the specifics, tbf.)

[brewcity77]

Hahaha.  Nice.  I watched the first episode yesterday,  I enjoyed it.  I thought Moiraine and Lan were appropriately bad ass. 

I'm really curious how far they'll get into some of the other stories.  Perrin and Mat's stories were really fun and engaging.  I hope they develop them.  The only problem is with a 14 book series where all the books are 1000 pages long, well they won't be able to get to everything.

Apparently the plan is for 8 seasons, so they'll leave a lot out. But it sounds like it will be more focused than Jordan's meandering vision. I agree that Moiraine and Lan were well-cast.

I read WoT up to maybe the 7th or 8th book. Eventually, it just felt repetitive. No matter what the characters did in the last book, it felt like they were back to being no one of consequence in the next book and it started over with a new aspect or lieutenant of the Dark Lord stepping up. I guess that's the wheel aspect, but I never finished. I did enjoy the first episode and will try to find time to watch this.

Read the books.  GRRM is a fat, old, slow writing, horny & perverted MFer.

I would add in "that is horrible at writing sex scenes." Dude might be a perv, but he sure doesn't have a romance writer's touch when it comes to the bedroom.

[jficke13]

[...]
I read WoT up to maybe the 7th or 8th book. [...]

My advice to people who are WoT-curious is to read books 1-3 (maybe 4), then a synopsis for the books until Sanderson took over. I have many detailed criticisms of the series, which while deeply flawed in many ways, was something that was a revelation to me when I read it as like a 13 year old.

[Skatastrophy]

My advice to people who are WoT-curious is to read books 1-3 (maybe 4), then a synopsis for the books until Sanderson took over. I have many detailed criticisms of the series, which while deeply flawed in many ways, was something that was a revelation to me when I read it as like a 13 year old.

Interesting I'll have to pick it up again. I made it about as far as Brew.

[jficke13]

The books end up having incredible set piece scenes, but hang 200k words around this massive cinematic moment and, like someone said, end up being a slog.

RJ painted himself into a technical corner which was that the hero's story in book 1, which had 1 protagonist so only 1 central narrative arc, became 3 as he branched to the other two Two Rivers boys (trying to avoid spoilers as is feasible), became 5 as Nynaeve/Egwene took on protagonist billing, became at least 6 with Aviendha... and perhaps even took on more (it's been since Memory of Light released so some of the details are fuzzy). As an author he could do what GRRM did which was to drop entire threads from each book and pick them up again in the next volume, or he could remain dedicated to advancing every thread simultaneously. RJ chose the latter, and because of the scope of the books and the effective scattering of all of the characters, that meant that even if he gave each character an equal share of the book, they each only got like 30k words worth of
development... ergo... slog.

There are other things I can nitpick from an author's perspective, but that's I think the central culprit for why it ground down in the middle books.

That being said, the set pieces are fantastic. Dumai's Wells ftw.

I was talking to someone else about this not long ago and described these books and the way he used limited POV to effectively create mystery/narrative tension by making it clear that different characters didn't know everything and providing only limited glimpses of the narrative so you didn't know who was a Darkfriend, who was a Forsaken's false identity, etc. was a revelation to 13 year old me. It's probably the reason that I began going down the lunatic's delusion of writing novels myself.

[buckchuckler]

The books end up having incredible set piece scenes, but hang 200k words around this massive cinematic moment and, like someone said, end up being a slog.

RJ painted himself into a technical corner which was that the hero's story in book 1, which had 1 protagonist so only 1 central narrative arc, became 3 as he branched to the other two Two Rivers boys (trying to avoid spoilers as is feasible), became 5 as Nynaeve/Egwene took on protagonist billing, became at least 6 with Aviendha... and perhaps even took on more (it's been since Memory of Light released so some of the details are fuzzy). As an author he could do what GRRM did which was to drop entire threads from each book and pick them up again in the next volume, or he could remain dedicated to advancing every thread simultaneously. RJ chose the latter, and because of the scope of the books and the effective scattering of all of the characters, that meant that even if he gave each character an equal share of the book, they each only got like 30k words worth of
development... ergo... slog.

There are other things I can nitpick from an author's perspective, but that's I think the central culprit for why it ground down in the middle books.

That being said, the set pieces are fantastic. Dumai's Wells ftw. I was talking to someone else about this not long ago and described these books and the way he used limited POV to effectively create mystery/narrative tension by making it clear that different characters didn't know everything and providing only limited glimpses of the narrative so you didn't know who was a Darkfriend, who was a Forsaken's false identity, etc. was a revelation to 13 year old me. It's probably the reason that I began going down the lunatic's delusion of writing novels myself.

One thing I love about the opportunity for this show, is that I really don't remember every thing.  For LoTR, I had read those books 1000 times and knew every word.  For GoT, I had read the books very recently.  The Shannara series was a complete abomination, so I pretty much ignored it.  But, I read the wheel of time book starting in, I'd guess middle school, maybe early on in high school, which was a long time ago, and I never re-read them, because the series is just immense.  So I don't remember all the details, so it should be fun.  I'd expect some of it will come back to me as I get into the story, but still, the hazy spots will be a little more fun.

[jficke13]

One thing I love about the opportunity for this show, is that I really don't remember every thing.  For LoTR, I had read those books 1000 times and knew every word.  For GoT, I had read the books very recently.  The Shannara series was a complete abomination, so I pretty much ignored it.  But, I read the wheel of time book starting in, I'd guess middle school, maybe early on in high school, which was a long time ago, and I never re-read them, because the series is just immense.  So I don't remember all the details, so it should be fun.  I'd expect some of it will come back to me as I get into the story, but still, the hazy spots will be a little more fun.

Oh for sure. The thing about adaptations is that they really shouldn't be 1:1 recreations of the source material. WoT has such a rich world to draw from that a visionary production team could do incredible things with it.

Think about how Peter Jackson played creating the world of LotR. Sure, he made behemoth long movies, but tiny little things were nods to the scope of the world he was drawing on and he did it masterfully. Everything from the skyscraper-sized statues at the falls to just comiting to the scale of the establishing shots of Minas Tirith.

The exact same potential exists in RJ's world. I haven't had a chance to watch yet, but the worldbuilding potential is absolutely there.