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Author Topic: Robert Jordan's "The Wheel of Time" Visible Spoilers Thread  (Read 78827 times)
Riggswolfe
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Reply #70 on: July 03, 2019, 06:34:17 AM

That doesn't exactly help with people who haven't read the books T. And there are a lot more of them than us.

Fair point, I suppose.

I'll be honest though, I only read one of the books from start to finish, the third one, and I found that pretty bloated with certain scenes that were really good, but a lot of stuff I really didnt care about. (At the time I was going through a phase of reading the last book in a series and then reading the previous books) So I decided I would wait till the whole thing was finished, as I found the final battle with the Guy that was supposed to be the Dark One but wasnt to be a bit of an insulting bait and switch. Needless to say, I never actually read any more of the books.

I think a TV series could do what Jordan didnt - keep the focus on the original characters. That alone would care out a ton of utter BS, that Jordan used to avoid finishing his cash cow. From what I've been told, the later books added so many extra characters that it reduced the original bunch to effective side characters. Doing that in a TV show would turn the thing into Lost.

It was worse than just adding extra characters. The story just utterly stalls out. An entire book would be spent doing something that could've been covered in maybe a few chapters but we'd have to know the doings of characters we didn't care about at all. GRR Martin is going down the same path which is why I wasn't terribly upset at Season 8 of Game of Thrones. At least I know in broad strokes how it'll all end.

"We live in a country, where John Lennon takes six bullets in the chest, Yoko Ono was standing right next to him and not one fucking bullet! Explain that to me! Explain that to me, God! Explain it to me, God!" - Denis Leary summing up my feelings about the nature of the universe.
Reg
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Reply #71 on: July 03, 2019, 07:19:31 AM

I really meant it when I said Brandon Sanderson should be the showrunner. Doubt they could talk him into it though. He's busy on his own stuff which all qualifies for TV series too.
Morat20
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Reply #72 on: July 03, 2019, 07:23:37 AM

Wait, those are just official and/or leaked episode titles, don't consider the number. We'll probably get an 8-10 hrs long season (more or less the standard, nowadays).
It was more that an episode called "The Dragon Reborn" could be several places in the first book's timeline -- either as a flashback (the prologue), exposition (when they encounter the False Dragon) or at the end (After the Eye of the World).

Flame of Tar Valon, though....well, perhaps it just means Moraine being kick-ass at something. Or a flashback.
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Reply #73 on: July 03, 2019, 10:56:06 AM

I assumed we were getting a ~10 episode season as well. 6 episodes per season makes it hard to cover more than one book per season, even with the later books that include a lot of skippable bullshit.
There are entire books where essentially NOTHING HAPPENS.  They could be omitted entirely and non-readers would not know.

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Rendakor
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Reply #74 on: July 03, 2019, 11:07:43 AM

The first few books are not those ones, though.

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kaid
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Reply #75 on: July 03, 2019, 02:32:18 PM

I assumed we were getting a ~10 episode season as well. 6 episodes per season makes it hard to cover more than one book per season, even with the later books that include a lot of skippable bullshit.
There are entire books where essentially NOTHING HAPPENS.  They could be omitted entirely and non-readers would not know.

Honestly it would be fine for a TV series where you could show instead of spending chapter after chapter telling and go through the slog books at a good pace possibly even a couple in a season.

The biggest issue with the wheel of time is it probably would be super expensive to film more so than game of thrones if you were trying to do it right because it is a lot more high fantasy setting than GOT is so the CGI stuff likely would need to get used a lot more.
Lucas
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Reply #76 on: July 03, 2019, 03:24:49 PM

So, considering they will probably cast a known/semi-known actor for Lan, who should play him?  Oh ho ho ho. Reallllly?

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Sir T
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Reply #77 on: July 03, 2019, 05:57:09 PM

Peter Dinkladge?  DRILLING AND MANLINESS

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Reply #78 on: July 03, 2019, 06:04:14 PM

I assumed we were getting a ~10 episode season as well. 6 episodes per season makes it hard to cover more than one book per season, even with the later books that include a lot of skippable bullshit.
There are entire books where essentially NOTHING HAPPENS.  They could be omitted entirely and non-readers would not know.

Honestly it would be fine for a TV series where you could show instead of spending chapter after chapter telling and go through the slog books at a good pace possibly even a couple in a season.

The biggest issue with the wheel of time is it probably would be super expensive to film more so than game of thrones if you were trying to do it right because it is a lot more high fantasy setting than GOT is so the CGI stuff likely would need to get used a lot more.

CGI is really not that expensive anymore for a lot of stuff. Magical fire bolts and shit is cheap. There aren’t “dragons that need to be super lifelike.”

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Khaldun
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Reply #79 on: July 03, 2019, 07:23:23 PM

Honestly, if they can think of a way to visualize the internal stuff, they're golden on expenses, considering how much of what happens is about bad spirits from an earlier era possessing (or threatening to possess) people in the present.
Lucas
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Reply #80 on: July 04, 2019, 01:55:54 AM

I assumed we were getting a ~10 episode season as well. 6 episodes per season makes it hard to cover more than one book per season, even with the later books that include a lot of skippable bullshit.
There are entire books where essentially NOTHING HAPPENS.  They could be omitted entirely and non-readers would not know.

Honestly it would be fine for a TV series where you could show instead of spending chapter after chapter telling and go through the slog books at a good pace possibly even a couple in a season.

The biggest issue with the wheel of time is it probably would be super expensive to film more so than game of thrones if you were trying to do it right because it is a lot more high fantasy setting than GOT is so the CGI stuff likely would need to get used a lot more.

CGI is really not that expensive anymore for a lot of stuff. Magical fire bolts and shit is cheap. There aren’t “dragons that need to be super lifelike.”


There are some high-fantasy landscapes/cities that would require CGI: Tar Valon is the first that comes to mind (actually, it's almost sci-fi like), but they can often keep expenses down by not always panning out the camera (just give glimpses here and there). For the Ways, just put the actors in a dark small room and let them run in circles (with a cheap LARP prop popping up here and there); after a while, turn on a fan or some shit that generates and ominous sound and 'lo and behold, you have your Machin Shin  Oh ho ho ho. Reallllly?

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Phildo
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Reply #81 on: July 04, 2019, 07:24:29 AM

So, considering they will probably cast a known/semi-known actor for Lan, who should play him?  Oh ho ho ho. Reallllly?

Henry Cavill?  He can just run back and forth between this and the Witcher and he already has the sword training.
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Reply #82 on: July 04, 2019, 08:06:56 AM

I assumed we were getting a ~10 episode season as well. 6 episodes per season makes it hard to cover more than one book per season, even with the later books that include a lot of skippable bullshit.
There are entire books where essentially NOTHING HAPPENS.  They could be omitted entirely and non-readers would not know.

Honestly it would be fine for a TV series where you could show instead of spending chapter after chapter telling and go through the slog books at a good pace possibly even a couple in a season.

The biggest issue with the wheel of time is it probably would be super expensive to film more so than game of thrones if you were trying to do it right because it is a lot more high fantasy setting than GOT is so the CGI stuff likely would need to get used a lot more.

CGI is really not that expensive anymore for a lot of stuff. Magical fire bolts and shit is cheap. There aren’t “dragons that need to be super lifelike.”

Yeah the CGI for this is barely above Star Wars lasers type stuff.

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Lucas
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Reply #83 on: July 04, 2019, 08:07:57 AM

So, considering they will probably cast a known/semi-known actor for Lan, who should play him?  Oh ho ho ho. Reallllly?

Henry Cavill?  He can just run back and forth between this and the Witcher and he already has the sword training.

A gruff, older Nikolaj Coster-Waldau would be great for Lan, but obviously you have the "that guy from that other popular fantasy show" factor.

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Rendakor
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Reply #84 on: July 04, 2019, 08:10:13 AM

I had thought of Nikolaj as well, although I think "We got someone from GoT!" would be a selling point rather than a turn off.

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Mandella
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Reply #85 on: July 04, 2019, 10:40:44 AM

I assumed we were getting a ~10 episode season as well. 6 episodes per season makes it hard to cover more than one book per season, even with the later books that include a lot of skippable bullshit.
There are entire books where essentially NOTHING HAPPENS.  They could be omitted entirely and non-readers would not know.

Honestly it would be fine for a TV series where you could show instead of spending chapter after chapter telling and go through the slog books at a good pace possibly even a couple in a season.

The biggest issue with the wheel of time is it probably would be super expensive to film more so than game of thrones if you were trying to do it right because it is a lot more high fantasy setting than GOT is so the CGI stuff likely would need to get used a lot more.

It should be noted that the GoT books are *much* more high fantasy than the TV series portrayed (Iron Throne being a towering edifice that you would have needed a crane to mount, for instance).
Rendakor
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Reply #86 on: July 04, 2019, 11:11:54 AM

They're still far less fantastic than WoT, because WoT has way more magic users and so many more supernatural creatures.

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Lucas
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Reply #87 on: July 04, 2019, 12:35:45 PM

So, about film locations: Prague (production base), Slovenia and Croatia:

https://www.kftv.com/news/2019/06/25/amazons-wheel-of-time-to-film-prague-slovenia-and-croatia-

Like the article mentions, looks like we should expect a long shoot, from September 2019 to May 2020 (so, post-production, marketing and  all, we're talking minimum nov. - dec. 2020 for S1 release).

Daily Trolloc n.95:
http://www.thedailytrolloc.com/2019/06/the-daily-trolloc-95.html

Last, a generic Q&A showrunner Rafe Judkins held about Rosamund Pike casting:
http://www.thedailytrolloc.com/2019/07/rafes-rosamund-casting-q.html
« Last Edit: July 04, 2019, 12:50:06 PM by Lucas »

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WayAbvPar
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Reply #88 on: July 07, 2019, 01:58:49 PM

Quote
I await the inevitable Dragonlance adaption.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0reHLHGyQnM

I own a DVD copy of this. Was SO excited to see it...then I watched it. Holy shit is it bad. I mean Jeremy Irons Dungeons and Dragons movie bad. Such a disappointment.

As for WoT, the idea that the Dragon and Trollocs and the Dark One and Darkfriends and Aes Sedai and all the rest are complete fantasy absolutely HAS to be given some screen time, and long enough for it to really sink in to the audience. That was the one of the best recurring themes- how the Emond's Field crew slowly start to realize that all this shit is TRUE. It plays out a bit like a horror movie (vampires aren't real!), which I thought really gave the creeping horror of realization some impact.

Trollocs attacking Rand and Tam felt like a nightmare sequence. Fleeing from EF to Taren Ferry in the middle of the night was tense. Meeting their first couple of Darkfriends is terrifying. If you hurry through these things, the audience really loses out on why the first few books were so good. Setting the proper stage for the events to come makes or breaks the rest of the series, IMO.

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Reply #89 on: July 07, 2019, 07:40:17 PM

Yeah, agreed.  They need to fully adapt the first book as well as they can without rushing, since its a great intro and build up to everything that comes next.  As I mentioned before, I think you could compact the 2nd and 3rd books by cutting out the ultimately pointless Seachen invasion (and just introducing them when the real invasion comes), but first book needs a full treatment by itself.

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Lucas
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Reply #90 on: July 08, 2019, 02:08:39 AM

Yeah, agreed.  They need to fully adapt the first book as well as they can without rushing, since its a great intro and build up to everything that comes next.  As I mentioned before, I think you could compact the 2nd and 3rd books by cutting out the ultimately pointless Seachen invasion (and just introducing them when the real invasion comes), but first book needs a full treatment by itself.

It looks like that's what they're going to do, although we're going to stay in speculation territory for a while. Judkins said that they feel free to pick elements from whatever books at least for an introduction of recurring themes through the series.

Unfortunately I can't find the link to the articles/quotes at the moment, but, for example, he also mentioned that he would like to expand Logain's role at the beginning (everything he does in Ghealdan happens "off screen" in the first book, 'til we get a first glimpse of him in Caemlyn), in order to show right off the bat what a man using Saidin does entail (beside, I imagine, a flashback scene that show us the Breaking).

Regarding the supposed title of Episode 6 ("Flame of Tar Valon") I imagine it simply means we'll get introduced to the lovely (:P) Siuan Sanche much earlier; some speculate that the group won't split at Shadar Logoth and head directly for Tar Valon, where, among others, they will meet Elayne, Gawyn and Galad (that would remove the whole Caemlyn part, which is a pity because I always like to re-read that). Morgase, Gareth Byrne and the whole lot might be introduced later to avoid further confusion and more names to remember.

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Reply #91 on: July 08, 2019, 03:32:35 AM

true story: I once re-read WoT when book 10 came out and I accidentally skipped a whole volume (I think 8 or 9) without noticing at all.

Doing WoT now is a bad idea. If they're even just semi-faithful to the original all of the bathwater-drinking, basement dwelling, 'SJWs ruined everything' types will get several aneurysms. We'll get years of people shouting into the internet how liberal feminists in Hollywood have ruined yet another beloved franchise with identity politics.

WoT is full of what is either Robert Jordan's self-hate or complexes being projected into the protagonists or borderline misandry. The whole underlying theme is basically about women castrating men to keep them from completely destroying the world and that everything male is tainted with pure evil. Women are described as being better than men in every aspect, that they are better at running things, that men are all a bit stupid and boneheaded and potentially world-endingly dangerous. Rand al'Thor is the character Robert Jordan uses to work out his own inadequacies and complexes. Rand's mission is also more or less about removing the evilness and taint from the male essence to make it be equally wholesome to the female essence.

This will trigger the incel-crowd so hard that it would probably solve global warming if we could turn it into energy.

His books are also full of all kinds of -isms (both positive and negative) in addition to being a projection of his own inadequacies and sexual issues. From the Dragon liberating the desert folk and bringing them water and civilization to the evil jaoano-arab-chinese coffee-lovers who send an invasion force over and enslave everyone. You could probably write a whole thesis on Robert Jordan's psychological issues just from WoT.

At least it will keep Op-Ed writers employed for the forseeable future.

Then you get to the actual story issues.

  • You'd need to completely re-write/re-edit all of the books and cut out vast amounts of fluff and RJ treading water to fit it into the usual 8 or 12 episode season Amazon seems to favor
  • Rand al'Thor is a rather dull and bland character that is constantly doubting himself and is usually just being driven by the plot instead of driving it forward. You'd need to shift the focus away from him and more towards the other protagonists who are at least interesting and not just moping around all the time
  • special effect work would probably be prohibitively expensive. GoT spent 10+ million dollars on single episodes and WoT would require much more effects work and a comparable amount of extras and scenery work

Also WoT is comprised of so much inner monologue that I have no idea how you'd translate that onto a television screen. There's probably entire chapters where nothing happens except people arguing with themselves in their own heads.

Going with 6 seasons you'd probably end up with something like this

  • One season for book 1 and  parts of book 2
  • One season for book 6 and parts of 5 probably
  • One or two seasons for the Sanderson books
  • One season for book 2-5 with the main focus on 3
  • One or two seasons for the remaining 5 - 7 books

Fortunately you can cut out entire swaths of the books wholesale without losing much in terms of plot or character progression. You'd still end up with something that is just 'decent' but wouldn't have the appeal of e.g. GoT though.
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Reply #92 on: July 08, 2019, 07:13:16 AM

The show has to actually be good for anyone to give a shit. The show won't be good, so no need to worry about all that.
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Reply #93 on: July 08, 2019, 01:23:47 PM

Hard to say how good it will be.  On one hand Amazon would REALLY like to have their GoT AND they have a bunch of money to throw at it. 

On the other hand I never heard of the people attached to the project and the their experience seems so-so at best.
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Reply #94 on: July 08, 2019, 01:58:10 PM

Hard to say how good it will be.  On one hand Amazon would REALLY like to have their GoT AND they have a bunch of money to throw at it. 

On the other hand I never heard of the people attached to the project and the their experience seems so-so at best.

Amazon already chose what's going to be their GoT, no doubt:
 
https://deadline.com/2019/07/the-lord-of-the-rings-j-a-bayona-direct-amazon-series-juan-antonio-bayona-1202640048/

We'll see if WoT will just pick up some leftover crumble.

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Reply #95 on: July 11, 2019, 05:18:20 PM

I was discussing casting with a friend on Facebook and got around to working up a list of who I'd like:

Rand - Dustin Clare
Mat - Colin Donnell
Perrin - Liam Hemsworth
Lan - Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Thom - Sam Elliott
Elayne - Rose McIver
Egwene - Nina Dobrev
Min - Alexis Bledel

I couldn't think of anyone for Aviendha or Nynaeve, and since Moiraine is already cast I didn't bother.

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Threash
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Reply #96 on: July 11, 2019, 06:11:46 PM

The three main guys you picked are way too old. Specially Gannicus as Rand.

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Reply #97 on: July 11, 2019, 08:38:47 PM

Rand is supposed to be like 18 when the series begins. It is unlikely any of the main “kid” characters will have anyone cast that people would have heard of.

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Reply #98 on: July 12, 2019, 05:11:54 AM

I don't recall his age ever being explicitly stated. But he sure didn't seem 18 to me. He felt maybe 16 at best.
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Reply #99 on: July 12, 2019, 06:44:12 AM

I don't recall his age ever being explicitly stated. But he sure didn't seem 18 to me. He felt maybe 16 at best.

They mentioned at some point the amount of time since the Aiel war but I don’t know if that was in the first book or a later one. I do remember vaguely that Elayne is mentioned as being 16 early in her appearances in the books.

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Reply #100 on: July 12, 2019, 10:20:41 AM

I went and looked at the timeline/dates.  At the start of the first book:

Rand/Matt/Perrin are all 20.

Aviendha is 18.

Elyane and Egwene are 17.


The three main characters all feel like young teenagers because they are all uneducated country bumpkins.



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Rendakor
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Reply #101 on: July 12, 2019, 10:25:26 AM

I don't expect them to use my cast list, but I highly doubt they're going to cast really young actors for the MCs. This isn't GoT where the characters are literal children at the start, they're all young adults who very quickly grow up.

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Reply #102 on: July 12, 2019, 11:43:10 AM

I couldn't think of anyone for Aviendha or Nynaeve, and since Moiraine is already cast I didn't bother.

Nynaeve is simple:



Bonus points:  get a drunk Peter Dinklage in a skirt to do the braid tugging, playing it in a Deadpool "Breaking the 4th Wall" style.

Let him ad-lib whatever the fuck he wants to say and just subtitle in whatever the character is supposed to be saying.
« Last Edit: July 12, 2019, 12:12:47 PM by Polysorbate80 »

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Reply #103 on: July 12, 2019, 02:56:00 PM

I was discussing casting with a friend on Facebook and got around to working up a list of who I'd like:

Rand - Dustin Clare
Mat - Colin Donnell
Perrin - Liam Hemsworth
Lan - Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
Thom - Sam Elliott
Elayne - Rose McIver
Egwene - Nina Dobrev
Min - Alexis Bledel

I couldn't think of anyone for Aviendha or Nynaeve, and since Moiraine is already cast I didn't bother.

Alexis Bledel looks like she is 50 in The Handmaid's Tale. No chance she is passing for 18-25. Although I do agree her acting style would fit Min well.

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Reply #104 on: July 12, 2019, 03:10:01 PM

You can have established actors for the older characters but all the kids should be complete unknowns at the start of the show. Just gotta hope they have someone good in charge of casting like they did in GOT.

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