I assumed you were just making a straight faced joke, since there's a lot of fans in the WoT community who would borderline say book 1 is objectively the worst (before the slump at least), and ofc a lot of people who would disagree.
@@davidlovesyeshua Speaking for myself; I liked the first book a lot. The series started to become more unique in the later books -- but the foundation for all of that was laid in the first book. You can't have a successful epic fantasy series without hooking an audience -- and the first book absolutely succeeded at that. I don't think that trying to measure the value of a book in the series by 'least derivative of previous fiction' should necessarily be the bar. The first book was extremely competently written -- even if it's story could be broadly viewed as a rehash of the Fellowship of the Ring; most people love a good hero's journey.
@@gilian2587 I personally like the first book a *lot* as well, but when I try to "think more objectively" there's more to it than "it's just a Tolkien-esque hero's journey." For example Mat is basically not a character, the ending of the book is barely reconcilable with the worldbuilding/lore of the later books (at best), and unlike book 2 which is skill very hero's journey, there's just not as much setting the world apart as interesting in comparison to other Fantasy. That being said, I agree completely about least derivative not being the be all end all of fiction quality evaluation and there being nothing wrong with a good hero's journey. Some people criticize starting from hero's journey and only later moving to epic political drama, but like you said the first few books were what got people reading in the first place. And the overall just writing quality, characterization, pacing (after the first chapter or two maybe), etc., is all there in book 1.
@@davidlovesyeshua The part that talked about Mat setting a badger loose on the Women's circle gives you a pretty good introduction and sense into his character. Sounds exactly like something a mischievous young rascal would do.
Madeline Madden is going to ruin us this season. She was so good as Eggy escaping the Whitecloaks and seeing her this season is going to annihilate us. Great video- and t shirt… Hope you’ve bought your ticket to MCon and see you soon!
I think a lot of the problems with season 1 were because of the need to hide who the Dragon was. I'm not saying it was a bad choice, it definitely hooked a lot of non book readers, but it prevented us from learning what made each of the Two Rivers 5 special.
It wasn't even a real mystery. Rand was the only one without his own storyline or anything unique about him. No Incredible power, no wolves, and no dagger. All that was left for him was that he was the dragon reborn. They tried so hard to hide it by taking away all his moments from the book and making him boring that it became obvious that he was the dragon.
The problem when adapting a book series with 14 books and like 1200 named characters into 8 seasons is that different parts of the story are going to speak to and be more important to different people. So if someone besides the viewer is adapting it they are going to get some stuff “wrong” in the eyes of the viewer. My only REAL gripe about season one was them seeming to buff all the women and nerf the men. The story is feminist enough to begin with without forcing it to feel more feminist, that doesn’t help the story at all. IMO.
Too be fair, the ending of season 1 was full of problems wich noone could predict, 1 main cast quiting which resulted in rewrites and re-shots during a pendamic
That's not Fair at all, Barney getting fired does not excuse anything. Bad CGI not part of a rewrite. they did not decide to take away Rand's hero moment with the lightning and give it to the women because an actor was fired. They did not decide to Still Moraine (according to the show) because of an actor leaving. They did not make a novice with no skill in healing use her tear to raise the dead because of an actor leave. they did not make Perrin a complete ballless coward because an actor left. The show did not make all females let the men die before trying to use the one power to save the gap because an actor left.
@michaeldault2860 Barney wasn't fired, he didn't come back when all the others did. They had to change anything to do with Mat for 7 and 8. Moiraine is not stilled, the CG looks exactly like when Logain is shielded. Rand's confrontation vs Ishy mirrors his battle at the very end so I thought it was a great choice.
@@ElliotEdits i would argue there were no good storytelling principles, they show did mystery box storytelling bad, the show did everything in its power to remove balance from the world by character assassination's of pretty much ever male character, removal of any male group with in the world. Added plots which make the world feel smaller, going to Tar Valon in season 1 was a bad idea it makes the world too small, they should have gone to Camlyn. Bad casting choices is so many place. To many girl boss moments which when looked at objectively only make all the women look evil women. take the women's circle practicing what i assume is child sacrifice in the two rivers by pushing girls in to a clearly dangerous mountain river they either hope the dead girls are sacrifices to the dark one or they join their evil coven. so many other evil times throughout the shows they try to have girl boss moments but they come off as evil
@@Hangry_Sasquatch I mean, I said the same thing about Caemlyn in my rewriting season 1 video. An example of good storytelling principles is using Steppin to show, not tell the viewer about the warder bond. Good use of visual storytelling to explain something complex and introspective. But, was all that screentime explaining it well spent in a first season with so much exposition and character development to deliver? That's the question.
@@ElliotEdits The Warder story like most of the stuff added by the hack writers who hate or have never read the source material all fell flat. The Warder arc was a waste no one cared about Steppin. all of that story line was added for agenda, lets make sure we have interacial gay relationships and poly ones. that is more important that being faithful to the source material. Now i understand more than most that when taking a written story and putting that on film there have to be changes. In a short season you cant have baleron, white bridge, the 4 kings, camlyn, and every town in between. We cant have the boys running into dark friends every town they go to and show them all. we cant spend as much time with the tinkers or traveling places. changes like added wolf stuff would have been better with elias added and cut out the stupid wolf chase and lick wound crap. Elias talks about it, then have the wolves try to save perrin and allow perrin to wolf out and kill some bloody white cloaks. but instead we have to have poor sad wussy perrin get saved by a little girl casue he cant do anything right. the entire first season was character assassination.
I have a hard time not comparing RoP and WoT as Amazon's 2 big fantasy shows. The writing for both greatly suffered from trying to make one of the main titular characters a mystery box and letting plot and theme drive characters rather than characters drive plot. WoT did wind up doing a lot better job and I think that a lot of that came down to having more actual text to hang their story around. I just hope they rely much more on Sanderson given that I think he's by far the most talented writer associated with this project - his summary for how to fix season 1 episode 8 (mine and I think many people's least favorite) was genius.
I've never clocked that comparison before but you're right. When will everyone learn, JJ Abrams mystery box is not good screenwriting! Think the Star Wars sequels would have proved that by now.
I think this season is going to be better too. The quality looks better, and viewers will have a better expectation of how much has to be cut, condensed, and reworked to fit the series into 8 seasons.
I hope the battles feel more grand and mirrors the intensity and size of the battles in Vikings Valhalla. You need the extras to make it feel daunting.
Extras, clever camera work, and intelligent combinations of CGI and practical effects. If LotR can do it 20 years ago, Amazon should be able to handle it
One thing I can’t say enough tho that needs to improve is we need more lore and terms from the books No more dumbing down names to appease casuals and new fans Use the book terms and everything else will fall into place When you dumb down terms and fantasy words you end up confusing both sides
It's honestly a spectacle to behold, watching folks cling to unwavering faith in this woefully lackluster adaptation, as if the writers and showrunner didn't serve up their intentions- as thin as a bubblegum wrapper, through interviews and the inaugural season. Yet, here we are, marveling at the audacious enthusiasm laid bare in this video. Fasten your seatbelts, we'll rendezvous here in a few moons, hoping your so-called "clairvoyance" proves on point. And in the event reality strays from your magical crystal ball, rest assured, I won't hesitate to serenade you with a well-deserved, "I told you so."😐
@@gilian2587 Your generous appreciation is greatly valued. It's truly lamentable that a significant number of content creators appear averse to unvarnished candor. This reluctance to face the harsh truths may well be the very reason why those behind these lackluster adaptations persist in their seemingly malevolent endeavors, imperiling the sanctity of the beloved franchises we hold dear. Darned Pollyannas! So, my friend, I extend an invitation to join me in revisiting this conversation a few months hence, where we may find ourselves serenading a resonant "I told you so" chorus regarding our prognostications on this matter.
@@bido573 At least ElliotEdits appears to be open to dissenting opinions. This puts him far above many other youtubers in my book. It will be interesting to hear if Rafe and team actually implement a 'Texan style drawl' for the Seanchan accent based on an offhand remark made once by Robert Jordan which very well may have been in jest.
@@ElliotEdits i agree with you. By the way I had the same edition. I loved that huge trip the main characters did through the continent and I won’t spoil but the end was great. I read so far until the lord of chaos. I hope the rest of the books are epic
@@didounindidounin9434 Oh exciting! So many great plotlines to go! I think from A Knife of Dreams onwards the series is a non-stop thrill ride to the end
I think having only eight episodes and the two shutdowns due to COVID really hurt Season One. Nevertheless, it was still pretty good and I expect Season Two will be excellent.
The FOMO for WoTCon this year was really bad. Just try and stop me going to MalkieriCon (that's not an invitation for the train companies to go on strike). Are you heading to Manchester?
So, basically, it's going to get better because the respective story from the books gets better after book 1. True-ish, obviously the story gets richer and more interesting after eye of the world, but it's not like they followed the book strictly in the first season. It could still suffer from bad writing very easily. Though personally I didn't think season 1 was bad at all. People demanding a faithful adaptation have no idea how serialized story telling works on television. The difference between a book and a visual medium is enormous.
100% agree the seanchan are where the series pops off big time. and exactly what you said about worldbuilding-- that's a rough patch for so many fantasy shows TBH. where a book can drop a prologue or character list or spend more time showing-not-telling the world structure (look at the locked tomb series for a great example) a show has to get all its viewers on the same page pretty much from the jump or ppl will just stop watching. but i really think s1 showed that the showrunners understand the heart of what makes WoT special, and i really loved the changes they made bc it shows an understanding of how to make a good adaptation of a series that by definition can't be brought exactly as-is to the screen. i'm super stoked for s2!
- better villains: the books don't shine in that area, so an easy win - the second book is better: but how much of it will we get? from where the season ended, they can't lean into the second book because none of its primers have happened. - exposition done: really? Saidin/Saidar, the horn, the dark one... While I concur with many critics that writing was subpar, pacing clumsy and lore change mostly counterproductive, I mainly left season one feeling like the editors had to make to with only a _third_ of what was shot on location; I've seen it happen before, and the kind of disjointed sequences we got throughout season 1 (wolf chase scene, or Nyneave appearing in the Inn in Tar Valon to name the most notorious ones) felt very symptomatic of an editor being forced to throw away most of the rushes and trying to still string up a story with the leftovers. I appreciate your hopeful outlook, though. We need more of you to balance out my negativity in general. Nice video!
There were indeed many places in the show where the editing was noticably sloppy (Ep 4 battle is a stand out example of a really bad battle sequence). Funny you should call out the editing, with a fan edit I managed to cut out 3 hours of material and make the story MORE coherent (in my opinion) and more tightly focused on the EF5. It actually works very well.
Thanks! Fair play, there is a lot of exposition still to cover, but I feel like after series one it can feel more organic and tied in with the current storyline playing out.
The production of season 1 was a nightmare. A raging pandemic causing many last minute changes and big scenes being cancelled. A major character's actor departing the show, provoking desperate rewrites in later episodes. Sanitary protocols stretching the budget to it's breaking point. Many of the things people are complaining about were out of the producers' control. We'll see how things turn out this time.
Great video, Elliot! The Eye of the World - particularly the conclusion - is a bit of a mess. It was not surprising to me that it wasn't 100% satisfying (especially in view of C19 restrictions, an actor quitting at the worst possible time, etc.) I'm expecting a big improvement in S2...
Thank you! Completely agree about the ending to EotW. Makes a lot more sense once you've read the whole series, but the first time is feels like a lot.
Hate to say it, but when the bar is set as low as the first season, it's not hard for season two to be better. And it will probably only be better in some of the ways you mention, in that there can be more emphasis on story telling rather than hashing out the world, (which they did an exceptionally poor job of doing in S01). I feel like most people with hope forget; S02 was finishing filming and going into postproduction by the time S01:E08 aired. There was no chance for Rafe and Co. to hear the feedback and make changes in what they were doing to the story and the characters. I'm afraid S02 will be much of a carbon copy of S01, with lore breaking changes, main characters being sidelined or rewritten into a fallacy of what they were in the books, etc. Maybe...just maybe, S03 will give more hope. Rafe has repeated often that S03 will bring the show more in line with the books. But he's fooled us all before with all his talk of loving the book series and being a true fan.
If season 3 gives us a faithful depiction of the events in Rhuidian, I can see the series making it to the end and watching the past battle on TV/prime ready device of choice
Kudos for the positivity. I have a hard time thinking how some of those complaining about the show with absurd relish can really be fans of the series. This is a very difficult story to translate to the screen and fans should be very happy that a serious attempt with a large budget is being made. Lots of places where constructive criticism can be made but a lot of the complaints I've seen leveled at the series are the kind I'd expect from a more uptight crowd I'd associate with fans of other fantasy series. I think you may have meant subjective rather than objective, but I would say The Great Hunt was better than The Eye of the World so maybe not.
Not sure if you're watching the same season 2 I am, but the one I'm watching is so far a massive improvement on the first. Better pacing, better writing, better action. A lot of changes that I'm enjoying right now but will have to wait to see if they pay off
I do think I will enjoy this season more. And I had fun with season one. That dark friend chase scene is classic b movie camp and I live for it. I hope the haters find something they enjoy, I suggest they re read the books cuz it won’t be better for them. Nothing will be made for haters henceforth.
@@ElliotEdits This is why I get so annoyed with show fans jumping through hoops to say how great the show is. With 10 million per episode, it could have been a cultural phenomena with the right creative team. I don't believe the people writing it have a clue about why people watch and read fantasy. It's like they are ashamed of the source material and set out to fix it. I cannot see this getting the viewership to take us to Tarmon Gai'don
I think a lot of the criticism of Season 1 went much too far. I do buy the critique that making Egwene potentially the dragon robs her of being the one that makes the decision to leave and go explore the world. Egwene is the one that embraces different cultures and learns from the broader world more than any other character and its a strength. I also think that they robbed us of character building by trying to make a mystery box out of who the Dragon was and I hate the way the escape from the Whitecloaks went down (Valda drops his knife so Egwene can be the one that stabs him and not have Perrin hit him? really??) and that the Dragon didn't walk Tarwin's Gap as a pillar of fire and instead we learn that Egwene's tears bring people back from the dead. I do hope that rather than pushing back against a lot of these criticisms, they can learn from them.
100% agree with everything you've said here! Egwene and Perrin are the ones whose development felt lacking at the end of season 1 for me. Definitely feel like season 2 could make up for that with the storylines from The Great Hunt, especially is they move Elias into the hunt for the horn plot.
@@ElliotEdits I strongly agree with what you said in the video about having a lot of reason to believe season 2 will be better and your logic. I'd rate season 1 a 7 or 8 out of 10, but I think the ceiling is clearly still 10 out of 10 and I really hope they can hit it. I do like some of the changes they're making - fewer, scarier and smarter Forsaken, accelerating development of some characters, etc...
@@mwill8248 Always aiming for 10/10! Changes are part of adaptation. No getting around them. Fewer Forsaken is one I think most book-readers can get behind.
@@ElliotEdits definitely! COVID caused so many issues as did the actor for mat leaving. I think the CGI will be much better and I also think there will be more straight from the book (despite the changes, the clip was clearly the bors scene) I hope people will give it a fair chance
I think you're giving the haters too much credit re flat uninteresting villains. Yeah, through all 15 books the villains are multidimensional, but in Book 1 it IS mostly mute monsters. Ba'alzamon talks, but is a cartoon villain compared to Fares Fares (and similarly with Fain). Dana is not only a complete surprise and badass, she gives us as sophisticated a speech about nihilism as a darkfriend motivation as can be found in any of the books. Even the Whitecloaks get both some nuance and some elevation beyond cartoonishness, and the misogynistic side (stripping and scrubbing Egwene, for instance) is chilling. So tldr yeah, next season villains will be better but I think they were already much better than the haters would like to admit, maybe even better than EOTW.
I am glad you are enjoying the show. However nothing you listed here will help me change my mind about the show. I found it to be on the same level of bad as "True Blood". It is a soap opera. Which has its place, and fans, but not my cup of tea. I only clicked on this in hopes that maybe you were going to say they understood how bad season one was so they scrapped it and started over. Anyway, I hope you continue to enjoy it. Be well.
I sincerely hope that you are right. You are probably right though as S1 did set a low bar to clear for "better." Either way, I'm here for the memes. 👍
Sorry, but not convinced. Bad writers room will not change. And the writing in S1 was atrocious. The show got my hopes up leading up to S1. It’s a kind of “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” kind of deal here…
@@ElliotEdits I will avoid it as I don’t think it’s worth it ruining my head canon. However I have friends that will watch it, I will check in with them and if they tell me it’s has magically turned around and worth the while I’ll give it one more chance. 😄
@@ElliotEdits I can tell you for sure that I won't be watching it. Robert Jordan's books focused on the theme that the balance and cooperation between the two sexes was the true path to forward progress. In Rafe's Wheel of Time -- the men are in comparison to the women uniformly bumbling idiots; Lews Therin Kinslayer's actions unnecessarily brought about the tainting of Saidin. We can look forward to more of the women walking around performing miracles while the menfolk try their darndest to not walk into every inconsiderately placed wall in the city -- and inevitably fail. Looking forward to Mat, Rand, and Perrin trying to solve all of the problems in front of them by exacerbating every single one of them? I'll save myself the pain and do something more productive with my time.
Why should I care for this season, just tell me that? I'm not from those groups, who seek representation or care about it. All I care is about sticking to the storyline. Did Rafe do that? Haha. His view on this adaptation is: Man=bad, woman=good. His view on the power structure is? Women are more powerful than man. Tell me, in which part of the story, you thought that Rand al'Thor is a Dragon Reborn? And be real, don't push the line with the: ''They hid it'', because they didn't. What about prophesy and fact that everyone knows that male Ase Sedai had ''destroyed the world'''? Why pushing the agenda and saying: ''Woman can be Dragon Reborn'', how can you push that inside this narrative? This show is a clear parody of the Wheel of Time..
I hope that limb you’re out on is sturdy Elliot, because you’re really making a big statement with this😂 Seriously though… It wouldn’t be hard for Season 2 to improve on Season 1, relatively. Mainly because Season 1 was (never mind the epithets) what it was. Unlike you, that extra scene only increases my disdain, the longer it goes. ‘The Dark One’ should be expelling soap bubbles with every word that comes out of his mouth. Nevertheless, one hopes a lesson has been learned about narrative trickery and how incapable they are to utilise it effectively. As a result, a more linear narrative with Antagonists who are fundamentally different and easy to portray hatefully, would imo be, the basic difference that could save the TV Show Creators from themselves. This talk of actors growing into their roles is arrant nonsense given the actors weren’t the problem in season 1 and the number of key performers who are new to the Show and will be pivotal to Season 2 success. You touched on unnecessary narrative additions in Season 1, rightfully highlighting the ludicrous plot line that you did, but for whatever reason you’re touting another unnecessary corruption to book lore as a reason to be hopeful of improvement. The first time a full scene was previewed in this fashion was Moiraine’s arrival at the Winespring Inn. For me, this Season 2 version is just as poorly staged with just as painfully earnest dialogue. The guy playing the Role has promise, but I fear his quality is being buried in a creative bubble bath. Those making this show would be better off filming Mr. Matey commercials.
The limbs with the biggest drops usually have the better views 🤣 Appreciate your detailed comment. May not agree completely, but can't deny your criticism is well thought out.
Honestly, I feel really bad for Josha Stradowski. This series should have made his career. I think he has the acting chops to be an outstanding Rand al'Thor; the problem is that the writing team and Rafe appear to be intent on turning all of the male characters in the series into Larry, Moe, and Curly Joe and the female characters into messiahs.
Wrong… poorly acted, poorly casted, and poorly written. A triple threat. Like 2-3 characters hold the show together with acting. Incredibly frustrating to have liked the books and have to be obligated to watch this steaming pile. What a waste of good material…
Really? I feel like Season 2 was so much better than the first. I'm of the opinion the casting is one of the best elements of the show. I'll give you, it's not the best written show I've seen which can make the acting tough sometimes. But overall, it's TV. It doesn't need to blow me away with every episode. Just be an enjoyable addition to the books I can discuss with friends.
The show runners have ruined the adaptation with laziness amd poor writing. All the female characters are stock characters, and all the guys are ether weak simps, over the top arrogant, or are so far from the book characters they are not worth getting invested in.
@ElliotEdits welllll I'll recant a little bit because I did watch the 2nd episode last night..... It's not too bad....I actually liked it. I still feel a little predictable and are still trying to force a connection between the viewer and the characters. Like the clips with paren fell....clunky. I feel like they are going to have egwene elaine and maybe avienda(still looking for clues) to be the ones that are in love with rand. Because of the conversation with what's her name about being on a threesome. Do you remember the conversation with Nynaeve and Liandrin in the first season when liandrin tells nynaeve to check out the flowers, Persimmon? I'm guessing they said this become that flower is both male and female. That leads me to believe they are going to make nynaeve and rand both the dragon reborn.
@@timfm33 Glad you're finding season 2 an improvement. I personally don't think they'll make Nynaeve another dragon reborn, but she probably does have the second biggest contribution to saving the world by helping to heal the taint. So her importance is up there!
The argument that the first book is not the best one would only work if they followed the first book closely. The writes made large, and bad, changes to the story. Season one failed in character development, story telling, CGI, direction, and over all production. I hope the second season will be better, but I doubt it.
@@ElliotEdits the previews really haven't changed my mind on it being a complete butcher job. Perhaps if I'm so bored I am considering putting my head through a wall I might watch it before I try that. There are a couple of streamers out there who have opinions of this show that I trust and did not hate it simply because it was 'woke'. If they give it positive reviews I may.
@@Book_Cloak I gave you a thumbs up just for the anti woke comment LOL. I'm sick of these people using that term and word the wrong way everyday just because it's the new buzz word and they think it's a gotcha.
There is no chance season 2 can be good. season 1 ruined the story by destroying the magic system, destroying the male characters, casting that makes no sense. If everyone things rand is an Aeil and you can tell an Aiel only from the thier eyes and hair then how the funk are most of the Aiel not looking anything like rand.
Don't agree with you on the Aiel aspect, but season 2 does have some retconning to do with the magic system. Got to somehow make trollocs a threat again.
@@ElliotEdits Everywhere Rand goes he looks like he does not come from the two rivers. he is constantly mistaken for an Aiel because of his height, hair, eyes, and pale skin. This would mean that is how all Aiel should look. if the Aiel are diverse in appearance, like the show is portraying, then there is no way someone can look Aiel if they are not dressed for war. All the loser paid shill youtubers will call that racist, but its a fact. there are 3 groups in this world that should be lacking in diversity, the seafolk, the two rivers, and the Aiel. each of these groups at the start of the books and shows are closed populations. One could argue that the borderlands should also be less diverse as people would not be moving there for a good time.
@@Hangry_Sasquatch Can't lie, I love the look and casting for the Aiel in the TV show. I saw Ayoola in a play and have full confidence she will be a great Aviendha!
@@ElliotEdits She is not Aviendha, not one bit of her is Aviendha. the other shield maidens look correct. but Aviewndah is pure casting garbage. I don't care if she can act she does not fit the character or culture
*Subjective 🤦♂
I assumed you were just making a straight faced joke, since there's a lot of fans in the WoT community who would borderline say book 1 is objectively the worst (before the slump at least), and ofc a lot of people who would disagree.
@@davidlovesyeshua I wish I was that funny 😅
@@davidlovesyeshua Speaking for myself; I liked the first book a lot. The series started to become more unique in the later books -- but the foundation for all of that was laid in the first book. You can't have a successful epic fantasy series without hooking an audience -- and the first book absolutely succeeded at that. I don't think that trying to measure the value of a book in the series by 'least derivative of previous fiction' should necessarily be the bar. The first book was extremely competently written -- even if it's story could be broadly viewed as a rehash of the Fellowship of the Ring; most people love a good hero's journey.
@@gilian2587 I personally like the first book a *lot* as well, but when I try to "think more objectively" there's more to it than "it's just a Tolkien-esque hero's journey." For example Mat is basically not a character, the ending of the book is barely reconcilable with the worldbuilding/lore of the later books (at best), and unlike book 2 which is skill very hero's journey, there's just not as much setting the world apart as interesting in comparison to other Fantasy.
That being said, I agree completely about least derivative not being the be all end all of fiction quality evaluation and there being nothing wrong with a good hero's journey. Some people criticize starting from hero's journey and only later moving to epic political drama, but like you said the first few books were what got people reading in the first place. And the overall just writing quality, characterization, pacing (after the first chapter or two maybe), etc., is all there in book 1.
@@davidlovesyeshua The part that talked about Mat setting a badger loose on the Women's circle gives you a pretty good introduction and sense into his character. Sounds exactly like something a mischievous young rascal would do.
"More balls in the air than an A grade gleeman" lmao
Won't lie, was quite proud of that line when it came to me
@@ElliotEdits That is a great line! Good job!
@@ElliotEdits I second the OP's sentiment. That was an outstanding line!
Madeline Madden is going to ruin us this season. She was so good as Eggy escaping the Whitecloaks and seeing her this season is going to annihilate us.
Great video- and t shirt… Hope you’ve bought your ticket to MCon and see you soon!
Thank you!
Ticket purchased, hotel booked, praying for no train strikes 🤣
Love the Malkieri Con T-shirt. A great design and good to let European fans know there’s a fan convention in England.
The cotton count is really top notch too!
I think a lot of the problems with season 1 were because of the need to hide who the Dragon was. I'm not saying it was a bad choice, it definitely hooked a lot of non book readers, but it prevented us from learning what made each of the Two Rivers 5 special.
Agreed! I know a few non-book readers who did enjoy the mystery.
And they made Rand the least interesting one, so the reveal was pretty lackluster.
It wasn't even a real mystery. Rand was the only one without his own storyline or anything unique about him. No Incredible power, no wolves, and no dagger. All that was left for him was that he was the dragon reborn. They tried so hard to hide it by taking away all his moments from the book and making him boring that it became obvious that he was the dragon.
There was no need to hide who the dragon was, though...
@@EvenGodsDie I personally agree, but a lot of non-book readers I know really enjoyed that mystery, so maybe Amazon got some smarts.
The problem when adapting a book series with 14 books and like 1200 named characters into 8 seasons is that different parts of the story are going to speak to and be more important to different people. So if someone besides the viewer is adapting it they are going to get some stuff “wrong” in the eyes of the viewer. My only REAL gripe about season one was them seeming to buff all the women and nerf the men. The story is feminist enough to begin with without forcing it to feel more feminist, that doesn’t help the story at all. IMO.
A very good point. It will always look different from the version in the reader's head
The Seanchan are going to steal S2. Everything we've seen of them looks amazing.
Can't argue with that assesment!
Too be fair, the ending of season 1 was full of problems wich noone could predict, 1 main cast quiting which resulted in rewrites and re-shots during a pendamic
Very true! Season 2 was no doubt a smoother production which is another good sign
That's not Fair at all, Barney getting fired does not excuse anything. Bad CGI not part of a rewrite. they did not decide to take away Rand's hero moment with the lightning and give it to the women because an actor was fired. They did not decide to Still Moraine (according to the show) because of an actor leaving. They did not make a novice with no skill in healing use her tear to raise the dead because of an actor leave. they did not make Perrin a complete ballless coward because an actor left. The show did not make all females let the men die before trying to use the one power to save the gap because an actor left.
@michaeldault2860 Barney wasn't fired, he didn't come back when all the others did. They had to change anything to do with Mat for 7 and 8. Moiraine is not stilled, the CG looks exactly like when Logain is shielded. Rand's confrontation vs Ishy mirrors his battle at the very end so I thought it was a great choice.
The Scooby Doo reference was hilarious!
Thank you!
And we have a Mat that made it through the whole season.
More Mat immediatly equals better season
That was an incredibly kind way of saying, S1 writing was muck! 😂
It had its moments, and you could see good storytelling principles behind it, but on the whole, all the good work was focussed on the wrong areas
@@ElliotEdits i would argue there were no good storytelling principles, they show did mystery box storytelling bad, the show did everything in its power to remove balance from the world by character assassination's of pretty much ever male character, removal of any male group with in the world. Added plots which make the world feel smaller, going to Tar Valon in season 1 was a bad idea it makes the world too small, they should have gone to Camlyn. Bad casting choices is so many place. To many girl boss moments which when looked at objectively only make all the women look evil women. take the women's circle practicing what i assume is child sacrifice in the two rivers by pushing girls in to a clearly dangerous mountain river they either hope the dead girls are sacrifices to the dark one or they join their evil coven. so many other evil times throughout the shows they try to have girl boss moments but they come off as evil
@@Hangry_Sasquatch I mean, I said the same thing about Caemlyn in my rewriting season 1 video. An example of good storytelling principles is using Steppin to show, not tell the viewer about the warder bond. Good use of visual storytelling to explain something complex and introspective. But, was all that screentime explaining it well spent in a first season with so much exposition and character development to deliver? That's the question.
@@ElliotEdits The Warder story like most of the stuff added by the hack writers who hate or have never read the source material all fell flat. The Warder arc was a waste no one cared about Steppin. all of that story line was added for agenda, lets make sure we have interacial gay relationships and poly ones. that is more important that being faithful to the source material. Now i understand more than most that when taking a written story and putting that on film there have to be changes. In a short season you cant have baleron, white bridge, the 4 kings, camlyn, and every town in between. We cant have the boys running into dark friends every town they go to and show them all. we cant spend as much time with the tinkers or traveling places. changes like added wolf stuff would have been better with elias added and cut out the stupid wolf chase and lick wound crap. Elias talks about it, then have the wolves try to save perrin and allow perrin to wolf out and kill some bloody white cloaks. but instead we have to have poor sad wussy perrin get saved by a little girl casue he cant do anything right. the entire first season was character assassination.
I have a hard time not comparing RoP and WoT as Amazon's 2 big fantasy shows. The writing for both greatly suffered from trying to make one of the main titular characters a mystery box and letting plot and theme drive characters rather than characters drive plot. WoT did wind up doing a lot better job and I think that a lot of that came down to having more actual text to hang their story around. I just hope they rely much more on Sanderson given that I think he's by far the most talented writer associated with this project - his summary for how to fix season 1 episode 8 (mine and I think many people's least favorite) was genius.
I've never clocked that comparison before but you're right. When will everyone learn, JJ Abrams mystery box is not good screenwriting! Think the Star Wars sequels would have proved that by now.
I think this season is going to be better too. The quality looks better, and viewers will have a better expectation of how much has to be cut, condensed, and reworked to fit the series into 8 seasons.
I think combining books 2 and 3 is a sensible move for the series.
I hope the battles feel more grand and mirrors the intensity and size of the battles in Vikings Valhalla. You need the extras to make it feel daunting.
Extras, clever camera work, and intelligent combinations of CGI and practical effects. If LotR can do it 20 years ago, Amazon should be able to handle it
One thing I can’t say enough tho that needs to improve is we need more lore and terms from the books No more dumbing down names to appease casuals and new fans Use the book terms and everything else will fall into place When you dumb down terms and fantasy words you end up confusing both sides
I always say this when recommending the books... Ride the wave of confusion, and I promise you'll be surfing by the time it matters.
It's honestly a spectacle to behold, watching folks cling to unwavering faith in this woefully lackluster adaptation, as if the writers and showrunner didn't serve up their intentions- as thin as a bubblegum wrapper, through interviews and the inaugural season. Yet, here we are, marveling at the audacious enthusiasm laid bare in this video. Fasten your seatbelts, we'll rendezvous here in a few moons, hoping your so-called "clairvoyance" proves on point. And in the event reality strays from your magical crystal ball, rest assured, I won't hesitate to serenade you with a well-deserved, "I told you so."😐
Your prose is mad impressive, if a little flowery
Prose worthy of Alan Dean Foster, I'd say. Quite skillfully crafted. I happen to agree with the thesis, as well.
@@gilian2587 Your generous appreciation is greatly valued. It's truly lamentable that a significant number of content creators appear averse to unvarnished candor. This reluctance to face the harsh truths may well be the very reason why those behind these lackluster adaptations persist in their seemingly malevolent endeavors, imperiling the sanctity of the beloved franchises we hold dear. Darned Pollyannas!
So, my friend, I extend an invitation to join me in revisiting this conversation a few months hence, where we may find ourselves serenading a resonant "I told you so" chorus regarding our prognostications on this matter.
@@bido573 At least ElliotEdits appears to be open to dissenting opinions. This puts him far above many other youtubers in my book. It will be interesting to hear if Rafe and team actually implement a 'Texan style drawl' for the Seanchan accent based on an offhand remark made once by Robert Jordan which very well may have been in jest.
@@ElliotEditsand I'm here to say: I told you so
The great hunt was an amazing book
Fantastic sequel that really cemented The Wheel of Time in the epic fantasy genre!
@@ElliotEdits i agree with you. By the way I had the same edition.
I loved that huge trip the main characters did through the continent and I won’t spoil but the end was great. I read so far until the lord of chaos. I hope the rest of the books are epic
@@didounindidounin9434 Oh exciting! So many great plotlines to go! I think from A Knife of Dreams onwards the series is a non-stop thrill ride to the end
I will watch season 2, even though I feel like they massacred the last few episodes in the first season.
The cinematography looks good at least.
Top true! I didn't even mention the cinematography. I kinda hope it's not as circle-centric as season 1 was. Started to feel a bit on the nose.
I think having only eight episodes and the two shutdowns due to COVID really hurt Season One. Nevertheless, it was still pretty good and I expect Season Two will be excellent.
Do you think season 2 will have more episodes?
LOVE the MalkieriCon T-shirt!! Will you be there in person this year? Missed you at WoTCon!
The FOMO for WoTCon this year was really bad. Just try and stop me going to MalkieriCon (that's not an invitation for the train companies to go on strike). Are you heading to Manchester?
So, basically, it's going to get better because the respective story from the books gets better after book 1. True-ish, obviously the story gets richer and more interesting after eye of the world, but it's not like they followed the book strictly in the first season. It could still suffer from bad writing very easily. Though personally I didn't think season 1 was bad at all. People demanding a faithful adaptation have no idea how serialized story telling works on television. The difference between a book and a visual medium is enormous.
No argument with this analysis on my end
I’m also really looking forward to the second season and the improved larger battles
Less CGI, more Rand in the sky
@@ElliotEdits But, but... Rand in the sky is CGI? ;P
@@davidlovesyeshua I'm glad someone called me out on that
100% agree the seanchan are where the series pops off big time. and exactly what you said about worldbuilding-- that's a rough patch for so many fantasy shows TBH. where a book can drop a prologue or character list or spend more time showing-not-telling the world structure (look at the locked tomb series for a great example) a show has to get all its viewers on the same page pretty much from the jump or ppl will just stop watching. but i really think s1 showed that the showrunners understand the heart of what makes WoT special, and i really loved the changes they made bc it shows an understanding of how to make a good adaptation of a series that by definition can't be brought exactly as-is to the screen. i'm super stoked for s2!
Very much agree with you view on s1! Bring on September!
- better villains: the books don't shine in that area, so an easy win
- the second book is better: but how much of it will we get? from where the season ended, they can't lean into the second book because none of its primers have happened.
- exposition done: really? Saidin/Saidar, the horn, the dark one...
While I concur with many critics that writing was subpar, pacing clumsy and lore change mostly counterproductive, I mainly left season one feeling like the editors had to make to with only a _third_ of what was shot on location; I've seen it happen before, and the kind of disjointed sequences we got throughout season 1 (wolf chase scene, or Nyneave appearing in the Inn in Tar Valon to name the most notorious ones) felt very symptomatic of an editor being forced to throw away most of the rushes and trying to still string up a story with the leftovers.
I appreciate your hopeful outlook, though. We need more of you to balance out my negativity in general.
Nice video!
There were indeed many places in the show where the editing was noticably sloppy (Ep 4 battle is a stand out example of a really bad battle sequence).
Funny you should call out the editing, with a fan edit I managed to cut out 3 hours of material and make the story MORE coherent (in my opinion) and more tightly focused on the EF5. It actually works very well.
Thanks! Fair play, there is a lot of exposition still to cover, but I feel like after series one it can feel more organic and tied in with the current storyline playing out.
A better book won't matter when they continue to treat the main character as an afterthought.
I agree, Perrin was definitely left on the side lines of season 1
The production of season 1 was a nightmare. A raging pandemic causing many last minute changes and big scenes being cancelled. A major character's actor departing the show, provoking desperate rewrites in later episodes. Sanitary protocols stretching the budget to it's breaking point. Many of the things people are complaining about were out of the producers' control. We'll see how things turn out this time.
Would be a big statement if season 2 is a seminal piece of television without those setbacks
@@ElliotEdits I don't think it will be a masterpiece, but I'm confident there's going to be a big leap in quality.
Great video, Elliot! The Eye of the World - particularly the conclusion - is a bit of a mess. It was not surprising to me that it wasn't 100% satisfying (especially in view of C19 restrictions, an actor quitting at the worst possible time, etc.) I'm expecting a big improvement in S2...
Thank you! Completely agree about the ending to EotW. Makes a lot more sense once you've read the whole series, but the first time is feels like a lot.
I mean, if it is worse than season 1, we are in deep shit ;D
Don't want to be moving in the wrong direction
It still has a chance to succeed with the casual audience who hadn't read the books; possibly.
Hate to say it, but when the bar is set as low as the first season, it's not hard for season two to be better. And it will probably only be better in some of the ways you mention, in that there can be more emphasis on story telling rather than hashing out the world, (which they did an exceptionally poor job of doing in S01).
I feel like most people with hope forget; S02 was finishing filming and going into postproduction by the time S01:E08 aired. There was no chance for Rafe and Co. to hear the feedback and make changes in what they were doing to the story and the characters. I'm afraid S02 will be much of a carbon copy of S01, with lore breaking changes, main characters being sidelined or rewritten into a fallacy of what they were in the books, etc.
Maybe...just maybe, S03 will give more hope. Rafe has repeated often that S03 will bring the show more in line with the books. But he's fooled us all before with all his talk of loving the book series and being a true fan.
If season 3 gives us a faithful depiction of the events in Rhuidian, I can see the series making it to the end and watching the past battle on TV/prime ready device of choice
Such a great MalkieriCon t-shirt!
The cotton count is really soft too! Are you heading to Manchester in September
@@ElliotEdits not this time 😔 being an adult involves making sad responsible financial choices...
@@anaritamarcal1626 I feel that 😢 same reason I had to skip WoTCon this year
Kudos for the positivity. I have a hard time thinking how some of those complaining about the show with absurd relish can really be fans of the series. This is a very difficult story to translate to the screen and fans should be very happy that a serious attempt with a large budget is being made. Lots of places where constructive criticism can be made but a lot of the complaints I've seen leveled at the series are the kind I'd expect from a more uptight crowd I'd associate with fans of other fantasy series.
I think you may have meant subjective rather than objective, but I would say The Great Hunt was better than The Eye of the World so maybe not.
Thank you! Totally did mean subjective 😂 but as far as hills to die on go, I'll stand for The Great Hunt being better than Eye of the World.
Guess what season two is not any better. If only amazon hired writers who respected the books.
Not sure if you're watching the same season 2 I am, but the one I'm watching is so far a massive improvement on the first. Better pacing, better writing, better action. A lot of changes that I'm enjoying right now but will have to wait to see if they pay off
I do think I will enjoy this season more. And I had fun with season one. That dark friend chase scene is classic b movie camp and I live for it. I hope the haters find something they enjoy, I suggest they re read the books cuz it won’t be better for them. Nothing will be made for haters henceforth.
That's what I don't understand about the hate - it's not like the show can ruin the books.
@@ElliotEdits I blame the Dark One. He's obviously trying to turn fans against each other. The signs are there if you look for them. :D
Why is there so little chatter online about the show? It doesn't seem like there is much pent up expectation
Fingers crossed season 2 will fix that. Book readers know how epic this show could be given a bit of patience and a sizable budget
@@ElliotEdits This is why I get so annoyed with show fans jumping through hoops to say how great the show is.
With 10 million per episode, it could have been a cultural phenomena with the right creative team. I don't believe the people writing it have a clue about why people watch and read fantasy. It's like they are ashamed of the source material and set out to fix it. I cannot see this getting the viewership to take us to Tarmon Gai'don
@@robinirie98 That would be a big blow considering how well they've done with the casting in my opinion
Going to watch it of course, but not holding my breath.
Would be a long time holding your breath till September, probably easier to cross your fingers 😉
At this point it would have taken more skill to make it worse
🤣 would be something special
I think a lot of the criticism of Season 1 went much too far. I do buy the critique that making Egwene potentially the dragon robs her of being the one that makes the decision to leave and go explore the world. Egwene is the one that embraces different cultures and learns from the broader world more than any other character and its a strength. I also think that they robbed us of character building by trying to make a mystery box out of who the Dragon was and I hate the way the escape from the Whitecloaks went down (Valda drops his knife so Egwene can be the one that stabs him and not have Perrin hit him? really??) and that the Dragon didn't walk Tarwin's Gap as a pillar of fire and instead we learn that Egwene's tears bring people back from the dead. I do hope that rather than pushing back against a lot of these criticisms, they can learn from them.
100% agree with everything you've said here! Egwene and Perrin are the ones whose development felt lacking at the end of season 1 for me. Definitely feel like season 2 could make up for that with the storylines from The Great Hunt, especially is they move Elias into the hunt for the horn plot.
@@ElliotEdits I strongly agree with what you said in the video about having a lot of reason to believe season 2 will be better and your logic. I'd rate season 1 a 7 or 8 out of 10, but I think the ceiling is clearly still 10 out of 10 and I really hope they can hit it. I do like some of the changes they're making - fewer, scarier and smarter Forsaken, accelerating development of some characters, etc...
@@mwill8248 Always aiming for 10/10! Changes are part of adaptation. No getting around them. Fewer Forsaken is one I think most book-readers can get behind.
S1 had real issues (i am also a bookie) but i think some are going over the top with writing off s2. I have an open mind myself
Definitely some big issues, but I think given all the production issues season 1 faced, the show deserves a fresh take going into season 2 👍
@@ElliotEdits definitely! COVID caused so many issues as did the actor for mat leaving.
I think the CGI will be much better and I also think there will be more straight from the book (despite the changes, the clip was clearly the bors scene)
I hope people will give it a fair chance
I think you're giving the haters too much credit re flat uninteresting villains. Yeah, through all 15 books the villains are multidimensional, but in Book 1 it IS mostly mute monsters. Ba'alzamon talks, but is a cartoon villain compared to Fares Fares (and similarly with Fain). Dana is not only a complete surprise and badass, she gives us as sophisticated a speech about nihilism as a darkfriend motivation as can be found in any of the books. Even the Whitecloaks get both some nuance and some elevation beyond cartoonishness, and the misogynistic side (stripping and scrubbing Egwene, for instance) is chilling.
So tldr yeah, next season villains will be better but I think they were already much better than the haters would like to admit, maybe even better than EOTW.
A fair point. Ba'alzamon is a bit cartoony in the first book, but he doesn't have a pumpkin for a head so... Swings and roundabouts
I am glad you are enjoying the show. However nothing you listed here will help me change my mind about the show. I found it to be on the same level of bad as "True Blood". It is a soap opera. Which has its place, and fans, but not my cup of tea.
I only clicked on this in hopes that maybe you were going to say they understood how bad season one was so they scrapped it and started over.
Anyway, I hope you continue to enjoy it. Be well.
So this is what failure feels like. Thank you for your leveled comment, soapy tea is not for everyone. I too wish you well.
I sincerely hope that you are right. You are probably right though as S1 did set a low bar to clear for "better."
Either way, I'm here for the memes. 👍
Things Wheel of Time fans never say: "the memes in this community are subpar at best"
@@ElliotEdits You were right. Season 2 episodes 1-3 were killer.
@@nathanharmon8971 Totally agree! Such an improvement. Thank you for coming back to comment. New non-book reader reaction out tonight!
Sorry, but not convinced. Bad writers room will not change. And the writing in S1 was atrocious. The show got my hopes up leading up to S1. It’s a kind of “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” kind of deal here…
Fair enough. I understand not necessarily getting involved with the marketing hype. Will you watch it if it's well reviewed?
@@ElliotEdits I will avoid it as I don’t think it’s worth it ruining my head canon. However I have friends that will watch it, I will check in with them and if they tell me it’s has magically turned around and worth the while I’ll give it one more chance. 😄
@@henriktronstad7050 Fair play. My head cannon is Cuendillar, so I kind of like seeing some bits done differently.
@@ElliotEdits I can tell you for sure that I won't be watching it. Robert Jordan's books focused on the theme that the balance and cooperation between the two sexes was the true path to forward progress. In Rafe's Wheel of Time -- the men are in comparison to the women uniformly bumbling idiots; Lews Therin Kinslayer's actions unnecessarily brought about the tainting of Saidin. We can look forward to more of the women walking around performing miracles while the menfolk try their darndest to not walk into every inconsiderately placed wall in the city -- and inevitably fail. Looking forward to Mat, Rand, and Perrin trying to solve all of the problems in front of them by exacerbating every single one of them? I'll save myself the pain and do something more productive with my time.
Book 2 IS *objectively* better! No notes, lol
Just spittin' straight facts 😅
Why should I care for this season, just tell me that? I'm not from those groups, who seek representation or care about it. All I care is about sticking to the storyline. Did Rafe do that? Haha. His view on this adaptation is: Man=bad, woman=good. His view on the power structure is? Women are more powerful than man. Tell me, in which part of the story, you thought that Rand al'Thor is a Dragon Reborn? And be real, don't push the line with the: ''They hid it'', because they didn't. What about prophesy and fact that everyone knows that male Ase Sedai had ''destroyed the world'''? Why pushing the agenda and saying: ''Woman can be Dragon Reborn'', how can you push that inside this narrative? This show is a clear parody of the Wheel of Time..
Did you enjoy the Barbie movie by chance?
@@ElliotEdits Why would I watch that? I'm not a little girl nor have I played with Barbies as a kid...lol.
I would highly recommend Oppenheimer. Even if the Trinity test ended up being pretty lackluster, the story was pretty interesting.
I hope that limb you’re out on is sturdy Elliot, because you’re really making a big statement with this😂
Seriously though…
It wouldn’t be hard for Season 2 to improve on Season 1, relatively. Mainly because Season 1 was (never mind the epithets) what it was.
Unlike you, that extra scene only increases my disdain, the longer it goes. ‘The Dark One’ should be expelling soap bubbles with every word that comes out of his mouth.
Nevertheless, one hopes a lesson has been learned about narrative trickery and how incapable they are to utilise it effectively. As a result, a more linear narrative with Antagonists who are fundamentally different and easy to portray hatefully, would imo be, the basic difference that could save the TV Show Creators from themselves.
This talk of actors growing into their roles is arrant nonsense given the actors weren’t the problem in season 1 and the number of key performers who are new to the Show and will be pivotal to Season 2 success.
You touched on unnecessary narrative additions in Season 1, rightfully highlighting the ludicrous plot line that you did, but for whatever reason you’re touting another unnecessary corruption to book lore as a reason to be hopeful of improvement.
The first time a full scene was previewed in this fashion was Moiraine’s arrival at the Winespring Inn. For me, this Season 2 version is just as poorly staged with just as painfully earnest dialogue.
The guy playing the Role has promise, but I fear his quality is being buried in a creative bubble bath.
Those making this show would be better off filming Mr. Matey commercials.
The limbs with the biggest drops usually have the better views 🤣
Appreciate your detailed comment. May not agree completely, but can't deny your criticism is well thought out.
Honestly, I feel really bad for Josha Stradowski. This series should have made his career. I think he has the acting chops to be an outstanding Rand al'Thor; the problem is that the writing team and Rafe appear to be intent on turning all of the male characters in the series into Larry, Moe, and Curly Joe and the female characters into messiahs.
God i hated season 1 tho
Enough to write off season 2?
You don't know what you are talking about.
Me? Nah, I just read the blurb for all the books and started a UA-cam channel about them
@@ElliotEdits It shows. This show shits all over the books but I guess that doesn't matter to you.
Wrong… poorly acted, poorly casted, and poorly written. A triple threat. Like 2-3 characters hold the show together with acting. Incredibly frustrating to have liked the books and have to be obligated to watch this steaming pile. What a waste of good material…
Really? I feel like Season 2 was so much better than the first. I'm of the opinion the casting is one of the best elements of the show. I'll give you, it's not the best written show I've seen which can make the acting tough sometimes. But overall, it's TV. It doesn't need to blow me away with every episode. Just be an enjoyable addition to the books I can discuss with friends.
The show runners have ruined the adaptation with laziness amd poor writing. All the female characters are stock characters, and all the guys are ether weak simps, over the top arrogant, or are so far from the book characters they are not worth getting invested in.
Still feeling this way after episodes 1-3 of season 2?
@ElliotEdits welllll I'll recant a little bit because I did watch the 2nd episode last night.....
It's not too bad....I actually liked it. I still feel a little predictable and are still trying to force a connection between the viewer and the characters. Like the clips with paren fell....clunky.
I feel like they are going to have egwene elaine and maybe avienda(still looking for clues) to be the ones that are in love with rand. Because of the conversation with what's her name about being on a threesome.
Do you remember the conversation with Nynaeve and Liandrin in the first season when liandrin tells nynaeve to check out the flowers, Persimmon?
I'm guessing they said this become that flower is both male and female.
That leads me to believe they are going to make nynaeve and rand both the dragon reborn.
@@timfm33 Glad you're finding season 2 an improvement. I personally don't think they'll make Nynaeve another dragon reborn, but she probably does have the second biggest contribution to saving the world by helping to heal the taint. So her importance is up there!
The argument that the first book is not the best one would only work if they followed the first book closely. The writes made large, and bad, changes to the story. Season one failed in character development, story telling, CGI, direction, and over all production. I hope the second season will be better, but I doubt it.
I don't think the changes will stop in season 2, but I hope they work for the overall medium
@@ElliotEdits Changes, necessary and unproblematic. Bad changes, what we got in the first season. I am hopeful, but I guess we will see soon enough.
@@flin4557 Bring on September!
To be perfectly honest they would have to go out of their way and make true effort to make it much worse.
So yeah nowhere to go but up I guess.
I mean, I guess you could consider this a form of optimism 🤣 Will you be watching?
@@ElliotEdits the previews really haven't changed my mind on it being a complete butcher job. Perhaps if I'm so bored I am considering putting my head through a wall I might watch it before I try that.
There are a couple of streamers out there who have opinions of this show that I trust and did not hate it simply because it was 'woke'. If they give it positive reviews I may.
@@Book_Cloak On behalf of walls everywhere, I can't question your caution
@@Book_Cloak I gave you a thumbs up just for the anti woke comment LOL. I'm sick of these people using that term and word the wrong way everyday just because it's the new buzz word and they think it's a gotcha.
@@Book_Cloak Characterizing this show as a hatchet job of the story it was based on is accurate, in my opinion.
There is no chance season 2 can be good. season 1 ruined the story by destroying the magic system, destroying the male characters, casting that makes no sense. If everyone things rand is an Aeil and you can tell an Aiel only from the thier eyes and hair then how the funk are most of the Aiel not looking anything like rand.
Don't agree with you on the Aiel aspect, but season 2 does have some retconning to do with the magic system. Got to somehow make trollocs a threat again.
@@ElliotEdits Everywhere Rand goes he looks like he does not come from the two rivers. he is constantly mistaken for an Aiel because of his height, hair, eyes, and pale skin. This would mean that is how all Aiel should look. if the Aiel are diverse in appearance, like the show is portraying, then there is no way someone can look Aiel if they are not dressed for war. All the loser paid shill youtubers will call that racist, but its a fact. there are 3 groups in this world that should be lacking in diversity, the seafolk, the two rivers, and the Aiel. each of these groups at the start of the books and shows are closed populations. One could argue that the borderlands should also be less diverse as people would not be moving there for a good time.
@@Hangry_Sasquatch Can't lie, I love the look and casting for the Aiel in the TV show. I saw Ayoola in a play and have full confidence she will be a great Aviendha!
@@ElliotEdits She is not Aviendha, not one bit of her is Aviendha. the other shield maidens look correct. but Aviewndah is pure casting garbage. I don't care if she can act she does not fit the character or culture
@@Hangry_Sasquatch Stop whinging.