Watched episode 6
My daughter liked it.
I just have to come to grips with the concept that the series is very loosely based on a series of booked I’ve read and loved.
4 Likes
I thought 6 was a better viewing than 5 . Albeit a tad slow at stages. But they needed to work through the political setup.
I couldn’t quite follow one thing though. why was Loiayl (spelling?) - who, I must admit, seems very Tolkien entish in character to me- required? I thought maybe only he had the magic to open portals, but Moiraine opened it anyway?
Anyway, other than that small issue, I thought I was more or less on top of it all, lol.
I think, and this is only a guess, he is required for navigating the paths due to his knowledge level. But that is a guess, I haven’t read the books.
2 Likes
Yes, the show’s version of the Waygates differs from the books. In the books, Loial is required because only he knows the location of the Waygate, how to open it and also how to navigate the ways inside. The Ogier were the ones who built the Waygates.
In the books, the Waygate is a solid stone gate, covered with carvings of branches and leaves. There is one small piece in the shape of an Avendesora leaf that is the key, you pull it out to open the gate and put it in to close the gate.
I assume the show will maintain that he is required to navigate the Ways inside.
1 Like
The biggest thing that gas irked me is when Nynaeve snuck up on Lan and placed her sword on his neck. I shouted an “As if!”
Still salty about that
1 Like
get the ■■■■ in there
1 Like
episode 7 is the goods.
1 Like
Good stuff.
Aiel fight was the right level of awesome.
3 Likes
regret this
don’t regret this
tigraine 
give that choreographer an award
1 Like
Yup, that episode was awesome. Just when it seemed that the episode was veering off into more made up storylines, it pivots back towards the books in a big way.
I love the teaser opener about Rand’s origin and the fighting was great in that sequence. For non-readers, there is still more to be revealed in future about who his biological mum is.
Also, still annoyed that they changed the Waygates to be opened with channelling. Not a good decision as it then becomes inconsistent with how Trollocs and Fain can enter and use the Ways.
Fain spoilers below
one of the stills released on the Amazon website has Fain with a leaf shaped key in his hand.
they had a similar shot of Rand and Tam in the forest for the episode one stills so I’d say they are just waiting on the reveal
Fascinated with how they handle the eye of the world climax. In the book, the scene was a mess. The show has licence to revamp that finale.
Thing is, I have no idea what they are going to do with it.
Interesting to read people here who’ve liked the books actually liking the show. Haven’t read the books and I’m finding it abysmal as a cleanskin. All that money and zero soul, looks comedically bad, shocking dialogue, b grade cast at best with the rare exception (RPike will probably regret this one), I’d put it in the same category as Shannara Chronicles or any of those very poor attempts at fantasy. When you get distracted by how obviously extra the extras are it’s not a well crafted show.
Seems like knowing the plot might help a viewer a bit with this one despite how much it deviates, but that should never be a requirement. And not that it matters much but I’m a fantasy and scifi fan and I will tolerate quite a bit of rubbish for quite some time. If ep7 is the same dross I’m out. The Expanse and Witcher are back to scratch those itches.
1 Like
I’ve read the books but I’m still having a hard time deciding how much I rate the show. Bounces between awesome and abysmally bad depending on the scene. Overall it’s alright though.
I can’t quite put my finger on what it is, but at times it looks much more low budget than it should, almost laughably so. I’ll continue to watch though just to see the story (somewhat) brought to life.
Contrast it to The Witcher, which certainly has the odd poor moment, but just has a far better overall “feel”.
3 Likes
could be pre-covid production and filming rush vs post covid? eps 1-6 visually were pretty poorly produced. also condensing a 2 hr pilot with a 10 episode season into 8 1hr eps.
Yep, importantly it has humour, real stakes you can grip a hold of and even though chronologically it’s a rough ride you still get a sense of the whole.
1 Like
even though im fully on board with this adaptation i still 100% think this should be an animated series. theres too much magic for it to be live action with cgi.
I read about the proprietary motion smoothing and I guess i can see that but it’s more the costumes, the 3d printed furniture, generic castle interiors etc. it looks like sets, sets that cost a lot but were made by a relative of the director with an algorithm. Of course these things are maybe more obvious because of the visual tech employed. To my eye it looks worse than a Dr Who episode, minus the knowing nod to low budget heritage
visuals in e7 were much better imo