f13.net

Apparently FXX aired a pilot last night because they were about to lose the rights.  You can watch it on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvNYIEN1vIg).

... the fuck?

EDIT: BILLY ZANE?

... THE FUCK????

What?  First I heard of this. That probably means it's dire.

Well they showed it at 1:30am without any publicity at all.  Their rights were about to expire so they had to throw something out there.  I wouldn't call it dire, it is a very faithful low budget retelling of the prologue.  Billy Zane is not how i picture Ishamael, but he sold it well. Edit: http://io9.com/the-real-story-about-that-wheel-of-time-pilot-that-aire-1684773094

Yeah not dire I just finished watching. Zane was too reset Ed for the half crazy Ishmael and Lews' actor was far too reserved for having just discovered be killed his family.  The ending should have been a fade out to white then a smoldering mountain but whatever. It was good   for four days and zero budget.

Though taking a half hour for each chapter would give us a series to rival the Simpsons in length.

Just watched as well and was frankly surprised it wasn't worse.  I thought they did a decent job showing Lews and his craziness, gave a creepy vibe to it.  Zane looked all right for Ishmael but his voice was all wrong to me.  It should have been deeper and not so.. off-hand.  Haven't read any background though so didn't know it was done in only 4 days or whatever.  Illya should have been blonde or strawberry blonde, though, not dark or red haired.  That part didn't fit.

I agree on the fade to white and a smoldering mountain instead of how it did end, but I guess that could be shown in the follow-up showing the Dragonmount and hearing the legends about it.

Is it worth watching as a stand alone, given that a series is likely to be an hour long and this will end up being half of the first hour?

It's just the prologue for the first book, kinda of like the story of the war of the ring at the beginning of FOTR.


They even called her Ilyena Sunhair, the actress was very pretty though.

Well maybe they have a red sun, like Krypton or something!  :why_so_serious:

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when it airs at 1:30 in the morning on a Monday.

10/10, would read again.

It feels like one of those low budget Shakespeare productions made for TV. Long-winded overacting, but tolerable.

So what you are saying, exactly like the source material?

That first little bad CGI symbols montage made me realize just how goddamn overblown and complicated the whole backstory for Wheel of Time was.

Billy Zane with a beard is glorious.

Good luck to them. They will need it.

I'd watch it, but I'm really unsure if I'd like it.  I wish I were one of my two other friends.  They're so much better at watching things like this...