The Witcher

[Khaldun]

Full trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndl1W4ltcmg


I think it looks pretty good.

[Cadaverine]

Trailer makes it look better than I expected. 

[slog]

Full trailer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndl1W4ltcmg


I think it looks pretty good.

Looks good to me.  Looking forward to December 20th!

[Cyrrex]

Is this one of those where they will dump a whole season on us?

[Trippy]

Yeah, 8 episodes all at once.

[Brolan]

Looks awesome.  Much better than I expected.

[Khaldun]

Yeah, I'm pleasantly surprised at how good it looks. And sounds--Cavill seems to me to have settled into Geralt very nicely.

[Lucas]

New official photos of Anya Chalotra as Yennefer 

[Lucas]

Renewed for Season 2 ! (personally, I found S1 really enjoyable) 

https://twitter.com/witchernetflix/status/1194662873869496320

[Riggswolfe]

Netflix must have a lot of confidence in this.

[Lucas]

Netflix must have a lot of confidence in this.

Yep, that sounds encouraging; for now it's also a matter of metrics: thanks to the already established fanbase, both trailers have a huge amount of visualizations, which builds hype etc.

Regarding the potential new viewership, some will be turned off by the greater amount of magics & monsters compared to GoT (writers already mentioned there's going to be a lot of magic involved, and you know how it goes: court intrigues & sex = adult and serious ; magic & monsters = kids and immature stuff for manchilds only),  but much depends on how each episode will flow, of course.

[Riggswolfe]

Netflix must have a lot of confidence in this.

Yep, that sounds encouraging; for now it's also a matter of metrics: thanks to the already established fanbase, both trailers have a huge amount of visualizations, which builds hype etc.

Regarding the potential new viewership, some will be turned off by the greater amount of magics & monsters compared to GoT (writers already mentioned there's going to be a lot of magic involved, and you know how it goes: court intrigues & sex = adult and serious ; magic & monsters = kids and immature stuff for manchilds only),  but much depends on how each episode will flow, of course.

Well, both the Witcher novels and games have court intrigue and sex. So maybe it'll lure in people who like that too.

[Lucas]

Best of both worlds, really! 

[Lucas]

Nice to see how two different media captured the atmosphere from the books (new photos):






Witcher 4 looking great. Dat Raytracing 

[Lucas]

14 days to go.

Among exclusive premieres with the cast in attendance, interviews etc. ,  today Indiewire published an interview (or rather, part of the full one which is going to be published on Dec. 20th) with the OST creators, Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli:

https://www.indiewire.com/2019/12/the-witcher-song-premieres-exclusive-1202194676/



'Lo and behold, we also get to listen to two pieces from the series for the first time ever (TV series won't have a standalone title track/intro)!

"Geralt of Rivia":
https://soundcloud.com/giona_ostinelli/geralt-of-rivia

"Toss a Coin to your Witcher":
https://soundcloud.com/giona_ostinelli/toss-a-coin-to-your-witcher
---

For those among us who played the games, first one is definitely "witcher-y", there is actually a hint of the "Geralt" theme from the games, although the creators insisted on the fact they never looked into the music from the games while creating their own thing.

Second one is sung by Joey Batey, who actually plays Jaskier (Dandelion) in the tv series; it's catchy and very well done, IMO (and apparently it should be performed by the actor during an episode.

[Riggswolfe]

Actually, it does have a title track. Geralt of Rivia is the title track. The only thing they said is it'll change sometimes to set the tone for the episode.

“Geralt of Rivia” is one of the first pieces of music viewers hear in “The Witcher,” and it is set to become one the series’ most identifiable elements. Every episode’s title sequence features an arrangement of the theme, and the track will vary depending on the overall tone and soundscape of each episode.

I'm not sure what to think of that song. It's good but feels almost...90s fantasy in a way I can't quite put my finger on.

[Sky]

Character introduction: Geralt

[Lucas]

...And Yennefer (lots of spoilers about her past/background):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZDPuYeQQNM


...And Ciri:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQPxD-GbF2c


We already knew Cavill is obviously invested in the character, but DAMN, Anya Chalotra is INTENSE as Yennefer of Vengerberg. Whoa.

P.S. Finally a glimpse of Joey Batey as Jaskier  

[Sky]

Yeah, this is shaping up to be pretty darn interesting. Looks like the Flix gets another reprieve in the post-Disney+ world...

[disKret]

Final trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb90gqGYP9c

[Cyrrex]

I keep thinking "shit, this is like releasing today or tomorrow!" only to find out that it totally isn't and then I get annoyed.  For no reason, have tons of other shit I have to get through.

[Sky]

There was a front of warm, moist air developing as the fiancee saw the most recent teaser...Cavill reading from The Last Wish :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUST_IQYp-o

[Lucas]

Well, he makes ME moist and I consider myself straight, so....

[Brolan]

Is Netflix screwing with Disney?  Dropping this on the same day TRoS starts?  You have to guess some genre folks will be binging this instead of going to the theaters.

[TheWalrus]

Some. Enough to make the difference between an ant fart and a hurricane? No.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Is Netflix screwing with Disney?  Dropping this on the same day TRoS starts?  You have to guess some genre folks will be binging this instead of going to the theaters.

Why would they conflict with each other?  It's not like either is only going to be available for that day only and people won't be able to just watch on their TVs whenever for the Witcher or goto the theater after the opening day rush is past.

[WayAbvPar]

I am genuinely excited for this, which means it will be a giant disappointment. Sorry, everyone.

[Brolan]

It’s the opening weekend that Disney wants to go well.  After that word of mouth might kill it in its tracks.  It will be interesting to see how it goes.

[Riggswolfe]

Is Netflix screwing with Disney?  Dropping this on the same day TRoS starts?  You have to guess some genre folks will be binging this instead of going to the theaters.

TRoS tickets went on sale before the release date was officially announced I think. I think they were on sale a full month before we got the trailer that officially gave us the release date.

[Lucas]

Season 1 releases worldwide in about 9 hours, wherever you live.

Doug Cockle, who dubs Geralt in the english version of the games, is ready too, already fighting...monsters!  

https://twitter.com/DCockle/status/1207725668995358720

Meanwhile, yesterday at the polish premiere in Warsaw, Freya Allan (Ciri) 's dress tried to devour her (seriously, what was THAT?!):




They're all gorgeous anyway  

[Lucas]

Remember when I told you about the attitude you might notice for some reviewers, considering how much more "fantasy" this show is compared to Game of Thrones?

No? Oh, ok. Anyway 

Review on EW.com:
https://ew.com/tv-reviews/2019/12/20/netflix-the-witcher-review/

Review on The Guardian:
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/dec/20/the-witcher-review-netflix-henry-cavill


Notice any similarities? Yeah, exactly.
----

Anyway, looks like, beside these two, show is getting quite a lot of praise, with all its shortcomings (I'm sure there are, that's not the point; still have to find some time to start watching it), somewhat dubious VFX etc.

[lamaros]

I can’t imagine this series will be any higher quality than those two reviews.

[Hawkbit]

I enjoyed the first two episodes quite a bit. I don't have a major stake in the franchise; played some of all three games and read a book's worth of stories.

The wife enjoyed it, too.

[Hoax]

finished it.

i guess you have to decide if the show was done bravely or poorly. there is zero babysitting or hand holding for normies that can't just accept they don't know wtf is going on and roll with it. in my mind that's either through bravery or incompetence, probably the latter but it made for a much more enjoyable watch so i'm not complaining. kinda funny unintentional homage to the jank of the first game i guess.

i won't pretend i know what its like to go into a show that was quite confusing in its build up without the sketchy broad strokes knowledge i had from playing 1&2 and just generally knowing who/what Geralt is.

IF this is a big success for Netflix and i certainly hope it is then perhaps i may be in for another decade of feeling like i'm squarely in the target audience.

someone should make a quick little refresher on some of the kingdoms and put it in spoilers for people that need a bit of help probably. i would but im drained and i need to feed the cat and im lazy.

[Lucas]

Ok, first of all, let me help a bit with the geography (no spoilers)

Reminder: the author never commissioned a map for his books, because he wanted to make you feel a sense of fabled displacement or something, not giving you an exact picture of what happened where, in line with the short stories atmosphere, that is more akin to the old ones by Andersen and others.

Nonsense? Yeah, probably, but hey, that's Sapkowski for ya  
----------------------------

Anyway, a few years into the books (1990-1999), amateur artists started to draw maps indipendently. Here's a very straightforward one:

https://i.redd.it/f4x7oeqkr0721.png

Basically, at the beginning of our story, everything below Cintra/Sodden is already under the influence of the Nilfgaard empire, which now wants to conquer the remaining, northern lands...Or is that their main objective? (Toussaint is a whole other thing, ignore it for now).

Of utmost importance, especially later in the saga, are the nations of Temeria and Redania (and Cintra, of course).

That's all you need to know, for now.
--------

Now, VERY IMPORTANT regarding the TV series:

The showrunner and the writers took a big decision: in the books, everything is narrated through the eyes of Geralt, we meet all the protagonists through him. In the TV series, there are 3 POV and 3 different timelines which is currently (and rightfully so) confusing both the viewership and reviewers.

Geralt point of view skip forward and backwards through his "monster of the week" story; Yennefer is the one that gets you backward the most compared to the other two; Ciri is always the "present" timeline. They could have portrayed that better, that's for sure.

Now, it's easier to tolerate this jumping around for those of us who read the books because, in S2, at least in the middle (if not sooner), everything should get sorted out. But of course, not knowing that will turn off some and even get negative reviews for bad writing and planning.

Hopefully we'll get more episodes in subsequent seasons.