S01.E01: Leavetaking

[paulvdb]

Quote

A strange noblewoman arrives in a remote mountain village, claiming one of five youths is the reincarnation of an ancient power who once destroyed the world – and will do so again, if she’s not able to discover which of them it is. But they all have less time than they think.

Premiere date: November 19, 2021

[jmnf19]

Just a heads up that the first 3 episodes are up already. 

[paigow]

Roose Bolton!!!??? You made a wrong turn at Winterfell....

[Zonk]

This was really good. Hopefully it doesn't go the way of Foundation. That became a total shitshow after a good first episode.

Also can, somebody, anybody please be gay in these shows? I'm so tired of watching a bunch of young straight couples and their relationshipdramas. That might just be a me-problem, but some representation would be nice. Guess there is one of the four left who could still be gay. Fingers crossed. (but that's not going to happen, is it?)

[WildPlum]

I wasn't overly wowed by the first episode - it seemed really heavy-handed. The village had the look of an upsized tourist trap Hobbit village more than an actual place where people lived and worked. I'll give it another episode or two.

[Danny Franks]

I enjoyed this a lot. It wasn't perfect, and I can see where there's room for improvement but it was a good opening episode. The highlight was the Trolloc attack, which was visceral and far more gory than I expected. And the Trollocs themselves looked great - huge, bestial creatures that just want to kill.

I liked all the characters, but especially Nynaeve and Mat in this opening episode. The other youngsters need a bit more time to develop, although I like the contrast between the humble farm boy who just wants a simple life and the girl he loves, who clearly has ambitions beyond that.

Perrin killing his wife was a shocking moment. It seemed to me that they were struggling to communicate, and it looked like there had been a miscarriage or something, with the way Nynaeve told Perrin to go home and be with her, then he touched her belly tenderly while she looked really uncomfortable. Hopefully we'll find out more.

The conversation between Moiraine and Nynaeve was great - Moiraine wants to confirm Nynaeve's age to know whether she might be the one, Nynaeve is immediately offended that Moiraine is implying she's too young to be a Wisdom.

They left in a rush at the end, but with an army of monsters on their heels. I guess we should assume those monsters will follow them rather than fall on an unprotected village for breakfast.

 

 

[AnimeMania]

I haven't read the books, so I have no respect for any of the characters yet.

Moiraine was way too proper for my tastes in the first half, she had no personality. I didn't like her first entrance into the tavern because she left the door wide open, even though it was cold and raining. Raised in a barn, much? Then she heads straight to the fire to keep warm. Not a good way to win me over.

Then Moiraine and Lan Mandragoran have the interesting cold tub/hot tub scene. In my mind it went something like this, Lan Mandragoran says the water could be a little hotter and the camera pans to Moiraine and you see a couple of bubbles pop out of the water and Moiraine says "Is that better?". After pausing the video to laugh for a few minutes, Moiraine has finally earned my respect and I resumed watching the show.

I also didn't like Matrim Cauthon gambling, drinking and losing lots of money only to come home to his sisters covered in filth, did they really have to be so dirty, it reeked of neglect regardless of how much the show tried to convince us that Matrim truly loved his siblings during the rest of the episode.

The first half of the episode was a little boring they tried the make the tavern scene seem lively and interesting, but I just wasn't into it. By the time the Trollocs attacked, the only people I was rooting for was Lan Mandragoran and Nynaeve al'Meara. The second half of the episode was fine.

It seemed like Moiraine controls/summons wind, fire and lightning, but I am sure that is not the case.  Moiraine seems to harness the elements that are already around her and directs them. That doesn't quite explain how she pulled the stone blocks out of the buildings. I guess a Wizard did it.

I am watching on a computer with Chrome and the X-Ray stuff (you should watch the X-Ray stuff especially the Companion Animation: Origin Stories) never goes to full screen and even worst doesn't have subtitles. There are lots of character and place names as well as everything else that would have greatly benefited from subtitles.

Companion Animation: Origin Stories: Ep 1: The Breaking of the World

Anybody want to explain what happened and how it is relevant to the story, it is probably better to create another thread, so as not to get in any trouble with the moderators.

[SueB]

My PEOPLE!  I have found the forums.  Can’t wait to start commenting!

[paigow]

Roose Bolton must be some kind of old Jedi ... was that a swan???

[supposebly]

So, I  know nothing about this. It starts off well, the fighting seemed overly long and the leaving a bit abrupt.  I liked the different reasons why they would leave without protest.

Egwene: no more training and the option to be with Rand

Rand: be with Egwene

Perrin: no more marriage with the additional baggage of guilt over having killed his wife. I hope that bloodied face wasn't clumsy foreshadowing that he is the dragon

Mat: not sure other than he might be sick of cleaning up after his parents with the excuse that this will keep his sisters safe.

Overall it's very pretty. 

I can't say yet I care about any characters.

[SueB]

World Building:

-Freaking gorgeous scenery.  I think it’s Czech Republic, not sure. Very Grand

- The village seemed a bit too grubby for me.  Can everyone take a bath?   I did like their sense of community and it’s the different ‘reincarnation-based’ religious ethos.  I also loved the sense of great traditions (the braid, the floating in the water to join the women’s circle).
- I really dislike the women in Red - they felt cardboard villain. I liked the hallucination concept for the man they were chasing. 
- I imagine Moraine will be more interesting as they go along. 

I liked Rand/Egwene.  I like that he respects her choices even though he clearly intended to marry her.  Egwene is ambitious. 
 

Mat’s parents are schmucks.  And Mat stealing for a ‘good cause’ was not endearing. 
 

I too think Perrin’s wife had a miscarriage.  
 

The R-rated fight scenes were effectively gruesome. 

I live the opening credits. 
I also like the visual effects for the One Power. 
 

First episodes are pretty hard to pull off but the scenery and plot are pretty good for a pilot episode. 
 

 

[paigow]

Looks like the only bathtub in town was monopolized by Team Shrinking Balls.

 

[ribboninthesky1]

6 hours ago, WildPlum said:

I wasn't overly wowed by the first episode - it seemed really heavy-handed. The village had the look of an upsized tourist trap Hobbit village more than an actual place where people lived and worked. I'll give it another episode or two.

The dialogue was kind of terrible and overwrought.  "An Aes Sedai with eyes so white, she couldn't see anything.  Yet still she saw." Um, okay? I mean, I get it - she was blind but could still see beyond or whatever.  But that's just an example of verbose dialogue without saying much.   

Most of the younger actors didn't bring much to the table, although I appreciate the Rand actor's bone structure. He's handsome.  Nynaeve was interesting, but then she disappeared (died?). 

I hope the next 2 episodes are better. 

[silverstream]

In a basin right next a river - that town centre looks like it was purposefully built to be flooded come rainy season! And I sure hope not a lot of people were hiding in that house Moraine ripped apart...

But generally, I liked it well enough, though I hope Nynaeve reappears.

[Rickster]

5 hours ago, SueB said:

World Building:

-Freaking gorgeous scenery.  I think it’s Czech Republic, not sure. Very Grand

 

 

I’m only part way through the first episode and my impression is that there’s a huge amount of CGI enhancement to the backgrounds, to the extent it’s distracting me.

[DearEvette]

I liked this quite a bit.  I think it got the spirit/feel of the start in Two Rivers right, imo.

For all that the actors don't look like I headcast them back in the day, the casting is great and they feel right.  Especially Nynaeve , Mat and Lan. And even the smallish glimpse of the Red Ajah at the beginning.  They feel very on brand.  LOL.  Moiraine comes off as way more enigmatic than I remember but it works here.

The highlight was most def the trolloc attack.  Very well done and brutal.  Also Perrin accidentally killing his wife was shocking and also well acted and frankly made sense.  A chaotic fight scene in the dark with untrained fighters should result in more accidents like that. 

Off to a promising start imo and the scenery is breathtaking.

[Blue Plastic]

Pretty good episode. The trollocs and Fade looked good, and the channeling effects were fairly pleasing. I was worried about how they would portray those since it’s a magic-heavy story and they need to keep the effects coming.  Not everything was like I imagined it but pretty close.

[thuganomics85]

Non book reader here, so was kind of confused by a lot of stuff at first and still can't remember most everyone's names without looking up IMDB (to be fair though, fantasy really makes things more complicated on that front!)  But I at least got the basic gist of there being some kind of evil about to let loose in this world (a classic!), and it can only be stopped by the reincarnation of "The Dragon."  And right now, Moiraine/Rosamund Pike thinks it's one of these four youngsters, so they're off to some kind of castle where I guess they'll find out or train?

Definitely seemed to be some shakiness in the acting department, as no one was downright awful, but a lot of it was awkward and stilted at times: especially the younger cast.  Hopefully they'll settle in soon.  Not surprised Rosamund fared better, but even she was a little bit hampered by some heavy-handed dialogue.  I thought Michael McElhatton came out best, but that could partially be because it was cool seeing him play a nice guy for once, and not be typecast as a villain all the time thanks to his Roose Bolton on Game of Thrones.

I'm guessing/hoping this isn't the last of Nynaeve, since she was probably one of the more interesting characters so far.

Did not see Perrin accidentally killing his wife.  Actually kind of liked that idea, because I imagine accidents like that are bound to happen in the middle of a slaughter/battle, where tension is high, adrenaline is even higher, and one wrong move can lead to accidentally killing one of your own.

The Trolloc attack was definitely the best part.

I know the media seems hellbent on comparing this to Game of Thrones, but it seems pretty clear to me that this will be more along the lines of Lord of the Rings (which is kind of ironic, since Amazon is suppose to be doing it's own version of that as well.)

And, finally, since I'm twelve: when we got that ass shot of Lan entering the hot tub, I was like "I guess David Henney has become David Hiney for that scene, ha ha!"

[Haleth]

I liked it but must admit to comparing it to LOTR for the whole hour.  (Oh, look!  The Hobbit village is being attacked by Orcs!  Even more parallels in the second hour.)  I have not read the books so there was a lot to unpack.  I like Rosamund Pike and her sexy sidekick.  The four kids are different personalities enough that I can tell one from the other and it's an interesting concept that we don't know which one is the Chosen One.  (It would be even more interesting if it turned out to be neither the farm boy or his girlfriend since they are the frontrunners.)

I gasped when Perrin accidentally killed his wife.  

Hello, Roose Bolton!  Surely an actor of his standing wasn't a one and done?  I imagine we'll see him again?

Edited November 20, 2021 by Haleth

[thetvpusher]

I was really worried going into this because I’d heard mixed reviews and I’m a fan of the books that I’ve read (I’m still working my way through and about halfway through the series), but I thought it was great. These books have to have been challenging to translate to the screen and the characters, settings, etc. felt right on to me despite any changes. 

Thing I didn’t love as much: The costuming is a little off? Some of it feels super modern and some of it feels traditional fantasy. I’m fine with it being it’s own thing because it’s a fictional world, but occasionally the costumes took me out of a scene a bit because I couldn’t tell what they were going for. 

But everything else I really enjoyed. The trolloc attack was INCREDIBLE. Scary and suspenseful. The characters are distinct and have their own personalities and motivations. Any awkwardness that comes with the exposition of a pilot and the building of a large fantasy world I can excuse, especially if it evens out as we go forward. 

Can’t wait to watch the rest!

 

 

 

[Blue Plastic]

6 hours ago, Haleth said:

I liked it but must admit to comparing it to LOTR for the whole hour.  (Oh, look!  The Hobbit village is being attacked by Orcs!  Even more parallels in the second hour.) 

I hadn’t read LOTR at the time I read these books and ‘twas before the LOTR movies, so it wasn’t until seeing this episode that I was like - oh!  So LOTR!  Walk, walk, walk through the woods, plains, mountains, etc.  LOL.  Now I can see where Jordan got a lot of his inspiration.

[supposebly]

Not that I'm an expert but it feels like a lot of fantasy literature is more or less repeating the story beats of Lord of the Rings. Some Chosen One or Chosen group, some big bad and a smaller one or two, a quest, side characters that help, side characters who get corrupted and die, some corrupting entity/force of some kind, one or more special swords and a wizard and/or wise guide of some kind. And the fighting bad guys are mostly faceless ugly things with little personality.

What strikes me is that fantasy stories have often a long-ago back story of overcoming some old evil that reaches into the present and despite that, people still ride horses and fight with swords. It's like the presence of magic prevents any kind of technological progress in those worlds. I'm not complaining but for some reason, when the story doesn't engage me, I start thinking about stuff like that. And so far, I don't see much that goes beyond those Tolkienian story beats.

And that's what I've been seeing here because it doesn't feel like there is anything much different. I hope I'm wrong but I'm three episodes in, and I'm not actually engaged.

[DearEvette]

29 minutes ago, supposebly said:

Not that I'm an expert but it feels like a lot of fantasy literature is more or less repeating the story beats of Lord of the Rings.

That is because Lord of the Rings itself is heavily influenced by the mythology, European folk tales (Beowulf specifically IIRC)  and follows the basic structure of the monomyth -- or the Hero's journey.  Most older epic fantasy stories all use that as a template.  LOTR just popularized it in fiction.  And many came after.  Publishing has not traditionally been fearless when it comes to acquiring properties.  If one thing sells they wants 50 more like it.

 

41 minutes ago, supposebly said:

What strikes me is that fantasy stories have often a long-ago back story of overcoming some old evil that reaches into the present and despite that, people still ride horses and fight with swords. It's like the presence of magic prevents any kind of technological progress in those worlds. I'm not complaining but for some reason, when the story doesn't engage me, I start thinking about stuff like that. And so far, I don't see much that goes beyond those Tolkienian story beats.

 

The necessity of world building, imo.  A story we are watching unfold doesn't happen without a whole heap of history that got them to that point.  Hopefully it will be addressed in future episodes, but re: the bolded, Moraine does mention that the Dragon broke the world.  Implicit in that statement but not explicit, is that this setting we are seeing now is post-Apocalyptic.  I could go on but it would be treading dangerously close to book territory and not apropes for this thread.

[Avaleigh]

6 hours ago, thetvpusher said:

Thing I didn’t love as much: The costuming is a little off? Some of it feels super modern and some of it feels traditional fantasy. I’m fine with it being it’s own thing because it’s a fictional world, but occasionally the costumes took me out of a scene a bit because I couldn’t tell what they were going for. 

I wanted more from the costumes considering how much money went into this production. Moiraine's clothes (just to name one notable example) are underwhelming and I expected more color in general. The choices are so boring. These guys had a seriously huge budget and didn't do anything cool. GoT had a much smaller budget in its first season but they still made sure to make the costumes pop. The only costumes I won't complain about in this series are what they did for the White Cloaks. Everything else? Meh.

That complaint aside, the cinematography is excellent. I'm in on this show just for the scenery porn alone. 

Hopefully the characters will grow on me.

[Danny Franks]

37 minutes ago, Avaleigh said:

I wanted more from the costumes considering how much money went into this production. Moiraine's clothes (just to name one notable example) are underwhelming and I expected more color in general. The choices are so boring. These guys had a seriously huge budget and didn't do anything cool. GoT had a much smaller budget in its first season but they still made sure to make the costumes pop. The only costumes I won't complain about in this series are what they did for the White Cloaks. Everything else? Meh.

That complaint aside, the cinematography is excellent. I'm in on this show just for the scenery porn alone. 

Hopefully the characters will grow on me.

I hope we'll see much more interesting costumes in future episodes. Right now, our youngsters are all wearing the clothes they left home in, and Moiraine seems to have an outfit that's designed for traveling practicality.

[Ottis]

On 11/19/2021 at 6:34 AM, Zonk said:

Also can, somebody, anybody please be gay in these shows? I'm so tired of watching a bunch of young straight couples and their relationshipdramas. That might just be a me-problem, but some representation would be nice. Guess there is one of the four left who could still be gay. Fingers crossed. (but that's not going to happen, is it?)

It might. But I have to say that the show's effort in adding diversity was actually distracting to me. Why, in a tiny mountain village where apparently no one leaves and has been there for a long time, would some of the characters who were villagers look like they came from another continent (including Egwene)? I get that visitors, like the peddler, might look different and that makes perfect sense to add diversity, as will people who they meet as they travel.

I've read this show was expensive to make, but aside from the Trollucs, I'm not sure where the money went. Most of the shots were of small spaces, it didn't feel very grand, and most of the landscape shots that were supposed to feel grand had a ton of CGI. And so much of it was so, so dark.

I also didn't understand the Trolluc battle. Moiraine's counter seemed to randomly attack Trollucs, some who were nearby and some who weren't, while also missing other Trollucs who were just around the corner. Seems like anti Trolluc magic should seek out any Trollucs who were nearby.

1 hour ago, Danny Franks said:

Moiraine's clothes (just to name one notable example) are underwhelming and I expected more color in general. The choices are so boring. These guys had a seriously huge budget and didn't do anything cool.

Yeah, I agree. It has been a long time since I read the books, but shouldn't Moiraine's clothes have been red leather? It looked like cloth.

I'm glad to have the show on the air. Let's see how it goes.

[Black Knight]

38 minutes ago, Ottis said:

I've read this show was expensive to make, but aside from the Trollucs, I'm not sure where the money went. Most of the shots were of small spaces, it didn't feel very grand, and most of the landscape shots that were supposed to feel grand had a ton of CGI.

You answered part of your own question: CGI is very expensive. Also I remember reading that they built a fully-functioning village for this episode. I'm not sure what something like that would cost, or what percentage of the total expenditure it ended up being, but it can't have been inexpensive in itself.

The choice to begin the series with a lot of small interior shots may be intended to parallel the lives of the Two Rivers characters before they leave, and now that they're heading out into the wider world the cinematography might open up more.

[Humbugged]

22 hours ago, Rickster said:

I’m only part way through the first episode and my impression is that there’s a huge amount of CGI enhancement to the backgrounds, to the extent it’s distracting me.

The Two Rivers village was built in Breg,Slovenia up in the mountains and that is what in looks like . It is on the border with Austria where the Karawanks are

 

[MJ Frog]

2 hours ago, Ottis said:

I've read this show was expensive to make, but aside from the Trollucs, I'm not sure where the money went.

Yeah, one thought I kept having was, "Wow. They really aren't getting their money's worth out of this."

The next Game of Thrones this isn't -- and given the rumored $10 million they spent per episode, it definitely sounds like that's what they were aiming for. Instead they got something that is shot, written, and acted like a slightly juiced up SyFy show. Makes me very afraid for the Tolkien series Amazon is working on.

[Glade]

OMFG Rand is so hot!  He's the gen Z answer to Ryan Phillipe, and I'm so here for it.  That said, all the cis-heternormative supernatural gender role stuff is kind of a drag.  Hope they push the binary a bit more as time goes on.

I still feel slightly confused as to whether 1 of the 4 youths is supposed to be the dark one (bad I guess), or a dragon that can defeat the dark one (less bad...)?  Interesting to see The Mouth of Sauron from LOTR show up in this, but I thought they spent a bit too much time on the battle against the Trollocs. 

[Haleth]

9 hours ago, MJ Frog said:

Makes me very afraid for the Tolkien series Amazon is working on.

I'm afraid any resemblance to Tolkien will be limited to the labels "hobbit" and "elf."  What I've read is not encouraging but I'm sure I'll watch anyway.  (And no doubt I'll be one of those people who complain about every little detail they get wrong.  Damn you, Jackson.  Heh.)

As for this one?  I have not read it.  No, it's not GoT, but I've seen far worse, some dreadful fantasy series.  I'm interested enough to keep watching to learn more about Moraine's sisterhood.  Any story with women who can kick butt is ok with me.  I may even pick up the first book.  

 

[Danny Franks]

7 hours ago, Glade said:

OMFG Rand is so hot!  He's the gen Z answer to Ryan Phillipe, and I'm so here for it.  That said, all the cis-heternormative supernatural gender role stuff is kind of a drag.  Hope they push the binary a bit more as time goes on.

I definitely see the Ryan Phillippe comparison. My girlfriend said the same thing while we were watching this episode. His Dutch accent creeps out a little at times, but I was very amused in some of the cast interviews, where it seems like he's spent enough time around Marcus Rutherford (Perrin) that he's picked up an odd, Northern English twang to that accent.

I hope we get some more variety to romantic pairings as well. Rafe Judkins, the showrunner, has said in various interviews that he's committed to presenting more aspects of sexuality and romance than just heteronormative.

[staphdude]

1 hour ago, Danny Franks said:

 

I hope we get some more variety to romantic pairings as well. Rafe Judkins, the showrunner, has said in various interviews that he's committed to presenting more aspects of sexuality and romance than just heteronormative.

Interesting but the key relationships in the story are well established and changes would likely require changes that should not be made if they are making the Wheel of Time.

[DearEvette]

16 hours ago, Ottis said:

Yeah, I agree. It has been a long time since I read the books, but shouldn't Moiraine's clothes have been red leather? It looked like cloth.

Moiraine would not wear red.  She'd primarily wear blue.

[SueB]

14 hours ago, Humbugged said:

Breg,Slovenia

Off to Google 

 

gorgeous

Edited November 21, 2021 by SueB

[SueB]

Response to commentary:

- When I first read the books many years ago (pre movie LOTR) I though ‘Trollocs = Orcs’; ‘Fades = Ring Wraiths’.  And while an argument can be made about the Trollocs, it’s a minor annoyance as the story quickly moves into simultaneously a ‘heroes’ journey’ and it’s own universe very different from Tolkien et al. 
 

- The title ‘Wheel of Time’, the Bel-Tine lantern ceremony, and the blatant talk about ‘past lives’ make this a VERY different fantasy where reincarnation is central and there’s mysticism in everyday life (eg Nynaeve listens to the wind).  Only a very few Wizards in LOTR and a tiny amount of witches in GoT had that mystical element.  
 

Second rewatch thoughts:

- Paden Fain KNEW Mat was coming to fence stolen goods.  Does not speak well of Mat’s history. 
-I LOVED how Rand and Perrin still love Mat anyway and knew he’s wanted lanterns for the girls. 
- So Lan is comfortable full frontal with Moraine?  Well alrighty-then. They may not be sleeping together but they clearly have no secrets. 
- They just threw Egwene into the rapids?   With ‘trust the river’ as guidance?!?!  Rough initiation ceremony.  I hop no one ever dies. 
- They BLEW UP the WineSpring Inn!  Grrr. 
- I really like how it was obvious more Trollocs were coming and decisions had to be made right on the spot. 

[silverstream]

20 minutes ago, SueB said:

- They just threw Egwene into the rapids?   With ‘trust the river’ as guidance?!?!  Rough initiation ceremony.  I hop no one ever dies.

I guess if they do, they weren't worthy anyway? Sarcasm aside, I found that an odd choice as well.

[Atlanta]

4 hours ago, staphdude said:

Interesting but the key relationships in the story are well established and changes would likely require changes that should not be made if they are making the Wheel of Time.

Yes, please don't change the core relationships on this show. I've been reading these books since early 2000s. Shows always lose their way when they stray too far from the source material.

[Danny Franks]

5 hours ago, staphdude said:

Interesting but the key relationships in the story are well established and changes would likely require changes that should not be made if they are making the Wheel of Time.

Taking this to the Book vs. Show thread.

[paigow]

6 hours ago, SueB said:

- They just threw Egwene into the rapids?   With ‘trust the river’ as guidance?!?!  Rough initiation ceremony.  I hop no one ever dies. 

The Fugitive set the bar very high...

[magdalene]

This was kind of a bland first episode for me. I can't say it hooked me  and not having read the books is not helping.  I know most of the budget went to the CGI. So that must have really been a limitation. I didn't  care for the costumes and the acting was very spotty for me too.

Unfortunately for the show I had just finished watching this new animated fantasy series on Netflix which had all the razzle dazzle, production design and emotional depth I want in my fantasy. So bad timing. I know it sounds crazy to prefer something animated over live action, but there it is.

On the plus side I do love the gorgeous scenery and I am more into this than Foundation so I'll keep watching.

[tennisgurl]

I haven't read the books in quite some time, but I think this is a really solid adaptation so far. It has a lot of the awkwardness and clumsy exposition of most pilots, especially in fantasy shows where you have to engage in a lot of world building, but they did a good job setting up the epic fantasy quest and the characters. Its a pilot, I can cut it some slack for feeling a bit off. The media is already comparing this endlessly to Game of Thrones and Amazon is very clearly throwing money at this because they want this to be their Game of Thrones, but its way more Lord of the Ring. This episode especially, Two Rivers as The Shire, the Trollocs as the Orcs, the heroes leaving on a epic quest to save the world from some ancient evil, its all very archetypical fantasy, which does make sense as it takes a lot of cues from classic European fantasy and folklore. It can come off as a bit generic now, but if it follows the books things will get a lot more interesting as we journey forward. 

Two Rivers looks like I imagined it, I liked all of the world building touches like the music and the lantern festival, and while none of the four main characters are standing out a whole lot, they all have distinct personalities and the acting is solid. They don't exactly look like how I pictured them, but they have the right feel. The Trollocs looked amazing and their attack was way more visceral and scary then I expected, especially when Perrin accidently killed his own wife. It was shocking and did feel like something that could happen in that kind of chaos, especially with people who are not trained in that kind of combat. The landscapes look beautiful and the cinematography looks great, the one thing that I didn't like were the outfits. They look weirdly modern at times, Nynaeve could have been wearing North Face a few times. 

Moiraine comes across as a bit spookier and more mysterious then I remembered her being, but I can see why she would seem like that in live action. Or it could just be Rosamund Pike, she's a great actress but ever since Gone Girl she kind of creeps me out. 

Its a bit disconcerting seeing Michael McElhatton as a good guy, complete with his Christopher Lee voice, but I thought he was great here, one of my favorite casting choices. I am really excited to see where the show goes from here.

[DoctorAtomic]

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

It has a lot of the awkwardness and clumsy exposition of most pilots, especially in fantasy shows where you have to engage in a lot of world building, but they did a good job setting up the epic fantasy quest and the characters.

The exposition wasn't as clunky as I thought it might have been. I think it helped with the action happening so fast. 

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Moiraine comes across as a bit spookier and more mysterious then I remembered her being, but I can see why she would seem like that in live action.

She seemed kind of worn out to me. I think that's a good choice, since the show was showing that she and Lan were basically hoofing it all over the place. 

[ElizaD]

I read that the showrunner originally asked for a two-hour premiere. Maybe Amazon just wanted to get the main plot going, but I feel the premiere would have benefited from at least another fifteen minutes. Now the departure felt awfully abrupt for such a big move in the lives of these village kids: it didn't feel like they got to respond emotionally to something as unthinkable as this Aes Sedai claiming one of them is the Dragon. I also wonder if there's something on the cutting room floor about Perrin and his wife, because it felt like they were on the verge of a divorce and he got by far the least characterisation of the kids.

[Zonk]

On 11/21/2021 at 2:09 AM, Black Knight said:

CGI is very expensive

Good CGI is. Bad CGI you can get in the bargain bin nowadays and this was, well middling at best. So not really sure where that money went either.

On 11/21/2021 at 4:12 AM, MJ Frog said:

The next Game of Thrones this isn't -- and given the rumored $10 million they spent per episode, it definitely sounds like that's what they were aiming for. Instead they got something that is shot, written, and acted like a slightly juiced up SyFy show. Makes me very afraid for the Tolkien series Amazon is working on.

Really, there are SyFy shows that are better in all of these aspects than this show. They are rare, but they do exist. The Expanse and nBSG come to mind.

On 11/21/2021 at 5:59 PM, SueB said:

gorgeous

Meh. Having grown up in germany's Mittelgebirge, mountains always leave me a bit cold. The ocean is where it's at!

 

 

[Danny Franks]

1 hour ago, ElizaD said:

I read that the showrunner originally asked for a two-hour premiere. Maybe Amazon just wanted to get the main plot going, but I feel the premiere would have benefited from at least another fifteen minutes. Now the departure felt awfully abrupt for such a big move in the lives of these village kids: it didn't feel like they got to respond emotionally to something as unthinkable as this Aes Sedai claiming one of them is the Dragon. I also wonder if there's something on the cutting room floor about Perrin and his wife, because it felt like they were on the verge of a divorce and he got by far the least characterisation of the kids.

Yeah, I'd have loved an extra ten minutes between the end of the trolloc attack and the group leaving Emond's Field. Just a bit more discussion, a couple more scenes about them talking to their families about the need to leave, doubting Moiraine's word and being reassured that she can't lie.

It's a shame that Amazon apparently weren't flexible on that, but I did get the feeling that quite a bit more was filmed, because the cut from them all talking to Moiraine and Lan on their horses was very abrupt.

[Black Knight]

I wonder if it's because Amazon already had the idea of dropping the first three episodes at once in their minds and so they wanted to keep it to three hours max, or if they felt that if they gave Judkins more time for the pilot, it'd be harder for them to say no the next time he wanted more time. Or Judkins might have overplayed his hand by asking for a two-hour premiere, especially when GoT's pilot was 62 minutes long; sometimes if the other side feels you're asking WAY too much it'll be a quick no and the door slammed shut rather than a counteroffer.

[Which Tyler]

I don't know how true this is, but I'd heard that WoT was originally going to be 10 episodes, and was written and shot for that; but that Amazon cut that down to 8 quite late in the day.

Leaving the 2R was supposed to be the end of the 2nd episode. So not a 2 hour first episode, but 2 1Hr episodes. Personally, I think it shows, and explains a lot of the clunkiness in E02 - especially being a late change, that would leave a LOT of stuff on the cutting room floor, and work-arounds needed for virtually every scene.

 

ETA: this seems to be the original source, at 2 hours long, I neither have, nor intend to listen: https://www.theringer.com/2021/11/19/22792149/the-wheel-of-time-premiere-with-zach-baron-and-rafe-judkins

Edited November 22, 2021 by Which Tyler

[Tachi Rocinante]

Not a book reader, but do they plan to do one book per season? Won't that take forever??

First ep was OK.  The first few of The Expanse were kinda slow too.

Edited November 23, 2021 by Tachi Rocinante

[Black Knight]

1 hour ago, Tachi Rocinante said:

Not a book reader, but do they plan to do one book per season? Won't that take forever??

The showrunner has a plan to cover it all in 8 seasons - which is the same as GoT ended up.