I casually review and compare the book and the show, noting the impact the differences make to the story and characters. As an editor, this is fascinating to me. As a writer, I am learning a lot.
The Wheel of Time (Amazon Prime)
The Eye of the World (Robert Jordan)
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Timecode:
00:00 – I Go Insane and Introduce Myself
05:49 – Lan-Aeve Autopsy
30:38 – Rand and Mat and Sting
46:02 – Traveling with Perrin and Egwene
58:04 – Call for Answers and Outro
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Haven't watched the show or read the book but I am watching all these reviews.
What irritated me, (and I am a woman!) is that it feels that the women (especially Nyneave) are propped up to such an extend that they feel like Mary-Sues instead of the actual characters from the book. I did not really like Nyneave as a first time reader, 30 years ago, but… she grew on me. What they did here however: she can't do wrong. She's powerful in the most convenient moments, does God-tier heal bombs, can track anyone and anything, defeat trollocs with a knife, can heal trolloc poison etc. I am a feminist, but I do not need women to be propped up like this. They were amazing in RJs books all on their own. I really missed the boys in S1. Rand, Perrin & Mat got the short end of the deal here. Especially due to ep 5 and 6, which truly cut into the development of the E5 imo. That said, episode 3 isn't even on the bad end of S1 yet.😅
I do think the scenes with the darkfriend (Dana) Mat & Rand met, were well-done. The actress was great! The same for the Traveling people. I did like how the show portrayed them. The scenes with them and Perrin/Egwene were very enjoyable to me.
Thom was ok, he's cooler like this I guess?😒His song however did not interest me at all, you were absolutely right. Thom is supposed to be a master entertainer, as you said, and I did not believe him to be a master entertainer from this song. The song should have been more entertaining, because it didn't do anything for storytelling or establishing Thom as an expert. Certainly not a ballad, but a catchy song (Coin for the Witcher comes to mind).
You're right about Thom and Rand being shown to be 'a-holes', which is odd to me as well. Perhaps the writers thought it would be edgy? But really, all men get some jerk comment or behavior here and there. Showrunner loves the women most apparently.
You are right to focus on how Aes Sadai are viewed in the Two Rivers. It matters in later parts of the story. No Aes Sadai have been to the Two Rivers in generations. This matters in a very genetic sort of way
You haven't seen anything yet. It gets so much worse.
Nice video! I am enjoying watching your journey. I liked the section dedicated to Nynaeve and Lan. They have one of my favorite relationships in the books and it was not done well at all in the show. Not only did they sideline Rand in this show, but there were many scenes where he is also unlikeable. It seems like the writers think they could write better because they ignore much of the source material and add their own things that are lesser in quality. The Dana the Darkfriend scene was not good either and a bit silly. How are you liking the dynamic of Mat and Rand in the books?
I love your hilarious references 🤣🤣🤣
They decided that it was too hard to cast characters like Elyas (and others that you haven't met yet) that have small parts in the first book and a larger role later on. So they rewrote those sections much to the detriment of the series.
I checked the comments to see if there were book super fans and show super fans, didn't really see any. I know they are out there, I do not count myself as one of them. The show runner has often said he is a superfan of the books, which if I take him at his word, I would be very curious about the real "non polite" reasons behind many of the shows decisions.
Because this show feels like someone saying they love broccoli, so I ask them to make me their favorite broccoli recipe and they bring out cheese soup with a single floret as a garnish.
However, it feels more like they saw this as a great opportunity to work for Amazon, and put their name on the map, and then tried to figure out how to write the story in a way that they liked, but that approach simply cannot work when you are trying to adapt a series as involved and loved as the Wheel of Time, as by its nature of adaptation much will need to be removed and condensed, so every effort must be made to try to preserve the core, the essence, the spirit of the work so it feels like the story. In this case the show runners have not only condensed, but also inserted, and instead of preserving they have altered so many things that are central such as dynamics between central characters, the essential make up and order of the world, power dynamics, really too many to list.
I will continue to watch the show, but I have shifted my hopes for the show. I no longer hope for a faithful amazing interpretation of one of my favorite book series, but now I am just looking for it to be an entertaining time, that will spur me to re-read the series again. However, I am concerned this show will make it through to end of the books, I wouldn't be surprised if there are only 1-2 more seasons.
Being a fan of the books I'm really enjoying the progression of this Book vs. Series analysis.
Ep 1: Blank slate giving both a fairly balanced chance.
Ep 2: Starting to lean towards Team Books.
Ep3: Openly indignant about how the show is destroying the original.
I think you're starting to see why so many fans of the books absolutely hate this series. But who knows? We still have 13.5-ish books to go… maybe the series will improve.
(& maybe pigs will fly)
Bad writing is the number one reason why all of the newer series are awful. It is garbage and the writers and editors and whoever else need to be removed from these positions.
Rafe’s canonizing Aes Sedai into wise revered superiors fundamentally changes their nature. Without any spoilers… the viewer is not permitted to criticize them, and they should be criticized! Simplistic fanfiction is so awful.
I am not sure if it is completely possible to love this show if you were already a fan of the book. One point, that raises my optimisim a bit for season two is that they were working around restrictions put in place around COVID-19 during filming and post production. This is tempered optimisim though, because as you have pointed out, the writing is just awful at points, and carries on being fairly awful throughout the rest of the first season here.
You hit the nail on the head. 90% of this show is "wouldn't this be cool if" and most of it isn't cool but cringe, because Rafe is a cornball.
Nynaeve isn't a warrior or commando in the books. Somehow she can defeat trollocs one on one, but rand cant defeat a tavern girl….make it make sense
Me personally, Ny'neave is my favorite female character. The reason I like her is she's motivated by concern and care for her people. Her focus is very parochial. Her story arc is most satisfying.
Thank you for doing this. As a life long fan of the books, I used to stand in line at the bookstore waiting to open for the release of the next book, I hated this show. I only watched it because I love the Universe Robert Jordan created and the fact that he has passed I might not ever get new content again. You were completely right about all of it. I hope you make it to the end of the book series but be warned R Jordan can go on for chapters about what color someone's clothes look like or what the surrounding area is comprised of….. hahaha Keep up the good work, maybe Amazon will listen!~B
In my feeble and naive mind, this series is what the lord of the rings cartoon was to Peter Jackson's trilogy – Inspiration to do it right. One can hope right?
Just something I caught: in the book, Moiraine never tells the boys one of them might be the Dragon Reborn, they (and we) only know that the Dark One's after one of them. The show throws away that mystery for the "who is the Dragon?" thing, which seems like the weaker choice because it diminished the impact those characters might feel upon learning one of them could be the Dragon.
A big problem with the terrible chase scene is from the first frame, the wolves are RIGHT behind them. Wolves will run faster than you any day of the week and the chase starts with the wolves right next to them. How exactly did they lose the wolves? With their strong sense of smell, they just gave up after a brief jaunt? Ahh so the wolves weren't chasing them, they were herding them. Sure would have been a good point to have the wolves herd Perrin toward Elyas.
The scripts on this show read like some early chatgpt beta test. So awful
Looking at that running from wolves bit, maybe they do end up right back where they started? It's impossible to tell, but the language of that scene shifts directly, implying they're running back in the same direction. The first batch of shots all move right to left, then the next batch of shots are moving left to right. This is basic filmmaking, but I wouldn't put it past this production team messing that up.
nice Firefly reference! looking forward to future videos
I personally have trouble understanding how fans of the books can say that they enjoy this show, because they are so drastically different at a fundamental level. Unless they are just a fan of fantasy in general, and don't care about the particular lore or character building. Some changes from the source material are fine and even necessary in adaptation to film, but with too many changes there is a point where it becomes unrecognizable.
Aiel is pronounced "Eye-eel". They really ruined so many great scenes just to do the whole "who is the dragon?" theme in season 1. I can't wait to see how you feel about Loial.