So… anybody else on here excited about The Wheel of Time TV Series?

[leftyjace]

The first full Official Trailer dropped today…

[juan know well]

I don’t know if excited would be the word for me. . . curious maybe?  Read the books, loved them when I was younger.  It will be interesting to see how they do it.  Do you know if the season is the first book?   

[leftyjace]

From what I’ve heard/read, the first season will have elements of the first three books in it, but will primarily address the first two books.
Rafe Judkins is the show-runner, and he’s said that he thinks he can do all 14 books justice within 8 seasons.
If you’ve read the books – all 14 of them – and have a twitter account, the #twitteroftime and #wheeloftime hashtags are a lot of fun to watch. There’s been quite the crazy buildup amongst the die-hard fan base as of late.

[leftyjace]

Here are two other tidbits, and an article.

First, here’s the best article I’ve seen written about the upcoming series, from GQ:
https://www.gq.com/story/inside-amazons-wheel-of-time

Second, the Teaser Trailer that was released some weeks ago:

And Third, a clip from the first episode:

[leftyjace]

Also just found this, would be of interest to those who have read the books – Rafe Judkins basically doing a breakdown of the trailer, kind of fun stuff.

[AlohaUte]

So not a single mention of Rand?

I suppose the first episode, maybe the first 3 or 4 wouldn’t be too focused on him. I hope this isn’t a trend throughout the show though.

[leftyjace]

Keep in mind that this is being made for those that haven’t read the books. Rand plays a pivotal role, but I don’t think his exact role (nor any of the other ta’veren) will really be addressed until a few episodes in.
On a related note and speaking of ta’veren, it’s obvious that they’re playing up the “who is the Dragon Reborn” thing.

[AlohaUte]

I am, but I have some reservations. From the trailers I’m seeing it looks like they are making a kind of “women empowerment” angle for the show, which would be fine if that was the point of the books. It looks like they are putting excessive focus on Moiraine and the Aes Sedai and that Rand, Perrin, and Mat are taking a back seat, despite the fact those three (particularly Rand) as well as Nyanaeve and Egwayne (i.e. that crew from the Three Rivers).  So I hope it doesn’t get too, i guess, politically correct or socially aware I guess. I just want an entertaining show, that aligns well with the books. And the great thing about the books is, is that does just that. Women are amazing in the books, the people are diverse, etc. Let that show through without over doing it.  

[leftyjace]

Rosamund Pike is the “name” for the series. She’s the big actress that they’ll all follow into the show, and then the Emond’s Field Five will really come into play on their own character’s strengths as the series unfolds, I think. I hear you, but again – I think it’s a bit of bait, and then switch to the true characters that play the most important roles in the books.

If you don’t know a thing about Rafe Judkins… just read the article on GQ. The dude is doing this arm-in-arm with Harriet McDougal and Brandon Sanderson, making sure to do the books the justice they deserve. He’s a massive fan of the series and has been since he was a child, and he’s got the budget to do it right, so it gives me a great deal of hope.

It’s going to be different for sure. I mean, There were serious differences between the Game of Thrones books and the TV series, but the TV series was highly entertaining, drove a ton of people to the books, and were faithful enough to at least partially satisfy those that read the books before the TV series debuted (including me). Granted, the ending of GoT was suspect… but we won’t have that problem here. If this series lasts until The Last Battle… people who watch the TV series but hadn’t read the books are going to freak out.

[AlohaUte]

 Hopefully they have great character development because… *spoiler alert*… stop reading here of you don’t know already….

 

Moiraine is not in the story for more than half of all the books.  So Rosamund Pike – who by the way isn’t even that big of a name actress – shouldn’t be in probably 3 or 4 of the seasons if they are following the story mostly accurately.  That said, I suspect the writers of the TV series will completely change that part of the story and figure out how to keep Moiraine a key player for the whole thing.

[leftyjace]

Or… again spoilers…

You’ve been warned…

They’ll just change timeline on some stuff so that she’s missing for a few episodes/half a season or something. Who knows. I know they’re not introducing Elayne until the 2nd season, and given that Elayne is prominent from the first book on, you know they’re going to have to move stuff around.

[AlohaUte]

You are probably right.

[leftyjace]

Episodes are available Thursday night here in the US…
5pm PT
6pm MT
7pm CT
8pm ET

[leftyjace]

So…. I was wrong.
It just dropped, an hour before I thought.

Time to get watchin’!

[leftyjace]

7 episodes in.

Anybody watching this?

[Wes]

These are my wife’s favorite books. I’ve been watching with her. Pretty enjoyable to watch. I read the books once, but I don’t remember them well.

[Central Coast Ute]

I’ve watched the first three. So far so good.