The much anticipated arrival of Amazon’s The Wheel of Time series, based on Robert Jordan’s fourteen novel epic, is only days away now, and hype is strong both for long-time fans of the books and those who have never read them. With Amazon hoping for the next Game of Thrones-style hit and fans of epic fantasy eager to see what kinds of larger-than-life scenery, set, and story may be awaiting them, everyone’s wondering how well the series will live up to a pile of expectations almost as high as Dragonmount.
As a fan of the books myself (you can check out my ongoing read of the series here), I’m pleased to say that the first three episodes of The Wheel of Time are, in fact, excellent. They bring much of what I love to the screen and, dare I say it, make a few improvements along the way. And if you didn’t get that Dragonmount reference, never fear, the series does an excellent job of immersing new viewers into the world, striking that balance between giving you the information you need to understand the quest without much info-dumping or long voice over explanations.
I mean, there is a voice over, but it works well, and is pleasantly reminiscent of Galadriel’s voice over in the opening of The Fellowship of the Ring. (More on that later.)
I am so pleased with the decision made to drop the first three episodes simultaneously and then go to a weekly format. Although I am a huge marathon-watcher myself, a series loses a lot when you plow through a whole season in just a few days. This is especially true if it’s a fantasy series, with an entirely new, rich world to experience along the way. The Wheel of Time is a complex story with intricate world building and a huge cast of characters, and weekly episodes allow time to connect with the material and ponder what you’ve just watched. There’s a lot of mystery in The Wheel of Time as well, and it’s often more fun to try to figure out the answers yourself rather than being immediately handed a new episode.
So I’m really pleased that at the amount of care and respect given to a series I love so much. Dropping three episodes in a row was also a great idea, because you can get really immersed in the story in just the first sitting. (You don’t have to watch all three at once, but be honest, you’re going to.) And even though I already knew the story, it took me the first two episodes to get my feet under me and to connect with the actors’ versions of the characters rather than the ones in my head. My partner, whose only knowledge of The Wheel of Time comes from listening to me talk about it, needed it even more. By the end of episode three we were both mad there wasn’t more!
Yes, I know what I said before in praise of weekly episodes. I am not above being hypocritical.
Buy the Book
The Eye of the World: Book One of The Wheel of Time
What is it they say about a great dessert? That you should be left wishing there was just one more bite? Well, that is definitely how I felt when the credits rolled on episode three.
Now, the first thing one looks for in fantasy on the big or small screen is the landscape. This was true even before Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings, but that trilogy really changed the level to which all other fantasy aspires. And The Wheel of Time does not disappoint in this arena—far from it. Most of the series was filmed in Prague, and there is no shortage of sweeping mountain vistas, ethereal woodlands, and bluer-than-blue mountain streams to delight viewers’ eyes. All the hallmarks of the traveling quest are there, visually speaking, with panning shots that show just how far our heroes have to travel, how big their world, and the stakes, really are.
I also loved the costumes. The promotional images have been a pretty big hit around the internet, but I have seen some folks complaining that they look too new, modern, or artificial. And I’ll admit that I noticed it myself when looking at the pictures. But it’s much less noticeable while you’re actually watching the show. Mostly the clothes move well, and the lighting complements everything. (Yes, there’s an occasional sweater that looks like I could find it at Old Navy or ASOS, but I didn’t find it distracting.) And the way that the lines and colors of some of the clothing felt more modern than one would expect actually made the series feel more fantastical to me. My eye is used to gritty realism, and this was new and different. It set it apart from other series, and made the actors almost seem to leap off the screen. It made my brain happy.
The casting on this show is excellent. Moiraine and Lan are the standout characters in the first three episodes (and speaking of costumes, I must give a special shout out to Moiraine’s, which feels as intrinsic and natural to her as anything I ever saw a hero wear), and I cannot praise Rosamund Pike and Daniel Henney enough. But every actor, including those in smaller roles, seems very well placed, and the show does a really good job of making everyone you meet feel like a real, three dimensional person. That’s no easy feat.
I do have a few complaints. The biggest is that there is a change made to Perrin’s backstory that I think cheapens his journey. Granted, much of Perrin’s struggle in The Wheel of Time, especially for the first five books of the series, is a very internal, cerebral one, which is more challenging to show on film than in text. However, it is the one alteration so far that feels very Hollywood; worse, it’s an overused (and sexist) trope that’s often employed as a quick shorthand to start a hero’s journey.
I was also surprised when I wasn’t drawn in by the character of Thom Merrilin. We meet him at a different point in the show than we do in the books, which is fine, but I found that the character seemed rather flat and overly-serious. Thom does have a very serious side, but fans of the book know that he is also a lot of fun. He’s dramatic and poetic and flashy to the point of flamboyance. Mostly this change worries me because I know that the majority of fantasy shows these days (and books for that matter) tend to neglect the fun side of things, to focus only on the dour. I don’t want The Wheel of Time to lose the jokes, and the joy that infuses the characters even though they are struggling against terrible dark forces and unfavorable odds. The character of Mat Cauthon also suffers some from this problem, and I hope that the show will course correct a little as it goes on.
That being said, the show also makes some great changes. Some of the outdated gender tropes have been tweaked and updated very well. A few alterations to the books’ course of events that were made to expedite the story also improve it immensely (Jordan did tend to get bogged down at times). And in a few places the show seems to make commentary on the world that, frankly, Jordan should have thought to make himself. That’s the best advantage of adapting a novel to film or television; more pairs of eyes and clever minds working on the story.
Those new to The Wheel of Time will note how much of the early episodes remind them of watching The Fellowship of the Ring. This is intentional, as the first novel in the series, The Eye of the World, pays a great deal of homage to Tolkien’s work. I felt that the show struck a very good balance with its visual references, although it did perplex my partner a few times. Existing fans who share my particular love of Nynaeve, Lan, and Moiraine will be especially thrilled, I think.
The first three episodes of The Wheel of Time drop on November 19th. I can’t wait for you all to see it.
Oh no, how will I function now that it’s Sylas who knows more about the series than me?
Anyway, I’m saddened about the changing in the Perrin story. Ever since I’ve read spoilers about it, I feared fridging (the name they give the trope now). There were some discussions in this site about if every female death would be considered fridging, but the one in the show would be, as it’s completely unnecessary to Perrin’s story, and the character that basically doesn’t appear in the books would appear kust to be killed. And I had to read show consultant Sarah Nakamura saying that all changes were thought thoroughly. Apparently not enough!
From the leaks I’ve seen so far, it appears they have made SIGNIFICANT changes to the story. Not sure how I feel about that, but holding off judgement until I see the episodes. (For spoilers of what I am referring to, highlight the text here/the Dragon Reborn is gender neutral and there is apparently no saidin/saidar split/).
I’m quite looking forward to it myself. I love the books, but there is a lot of filler that needed trimming. Jordan couldn’t help going off on tangents and many plots were introduced that just dragged on forever. I never felt the whole Sea Folk stuff ever went anywhere for instance. You could cut them out completely and I don’t think you’d notice they were gone. Hopefully we get the main plot points, but it’s tighter and more focussed.
@2, well that creates some huge, gaping plot holes!
@2, I hadn’t heard about those spoilers beyond the “one of the 5 of you” part that is mentioned in the trailers, but that second part I actually find intriguing.
If that’s how it is I remain open minded, I think they can make that work and still keep the heart of the story, I’ve read in another article that Rafe has said book readers will know who the DR is but that for the more general audience they are intentionally playing up the “Who is the DR?” mystery, also saying that mystery will be resolved by the end of season one.
@austin Just an FYI, Rafe Judkins doing the breakdown of the last trailer utterly destroys those “spoilers” you claim to “know”. The second part, at least. As for the first part, that’s asinine and based on what Moiraine is heard saying in the trailer. Which, by the way, is just her thoughts, not objective narrative fact.
I hope you’re right, Piccolo. But given modern sensibilities I wouldn’t be particularly surprised.
@8 – You are a little behind the news, my friend. Rafe has recently given an interview where he confirms that the Dragon Reborn /is gender neutral./. As for your first point, he didn’t destroy anything. You won’t find one piece of promotional material that mentions /saidin or saidar. Also, leaks from people that have seen the first 6 episodes have also confirmed that it has only been the One Power so far. Not sure if the split is still something that can be introduced, but 6 episodes seems to make that a stretch. It seems the taint, or “corruption” as Rafe called it in his trailer breakdown, will be applied to men using the One Power, rather than a male half that has been tainted./
Can you give any indication of rating: Is the violence gratuitous or just violent, is nudity shown or suggested?
Re: the 5 candidates, Moraine can include any number of people in the group and say “one of the [X] of you is the Dragon” and it’s not a lie as long as she thinks the real Dragon is in the group somewhere.
With respect to the costumes, I don’t think (based on the trailers I’ve seen) that the costumes are too modern at all.
I’ve never thought that the clothes of the inhabitants of Randland should be medieval, as they take place in an alternate world , or cycle of the universe where Mercedes, the Cold War, and Ann Landers ( or close analogies thereof) are the factual bases of fairy tales or myths (fact turns into legend, legend turns into myth, and even myth is forgotten)
For those concerned about the DR, this kind of answers your concerns.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/the-wheel-of-time-mat-cauthon-role-donal-finn-rafe-jenkins-plans-amazon-series-1234870995/
Also this for people concerned about the DR https://twitter.com/primevideouk/status/1458065571417837575
@Storman Software Pty Ltd No nudity. It is good for all ages!! Wholesome fantasy show. There will be some fighting and violence but definitely it’s more like Lord of the Rings similar rating and not like Game of Thrones or Witcher
I’m disappointed to hear Sylas’s reservation’s about the series tending to neglect the fun side of things, especially re: Mat. But to be fair, Mat does spend the first two books being obnoxious and useless before finally emerging from his self-inflicted Mashadar haze to become everyone’s favorite character and reliable comic relief, so I suppose I should be patient with the series also taking a while to work into his character.
One of the more interesting questions for any TV/movie adaptations of the WoT is how (and if) Jordan’s use of the “unreliable narrator” can be adapted! Of course it’s always a challenge to film a written work where much of the prose consists of unspoken “thought” and reflection (DUNE is perhaps the archetypal example).
I’m not too worried about Mat’s characterization tbh — he doesn’t have much beyond stealing the dagger in the first 2 books. It’s a shame that his story didn’t really get going until he’s in Tar Valon. Honestly, if people *aren’t* saying “Why is he here? Does he do anything but get in the way?” before that point they will have already tweaked his story and characterization. He’s a pretty flat trickster type at first.
The “spoiler” about there being no difference between saidar/saidin actually fits, too. Non-Power wielders don’t really “know” about the difference. To the Normies, it’s all The Power. Only when women start their training (like with Egwene in the woods in Book1) do mentors explain that men and women control different halves, and from there those who can channel call it either saidar or saidin. Those who can’t, don’t. (It’s actually a big part of what threw me out of the narrative in the last book — Perrin referring to it as “saidar” in the dream instead of “the Power”) If the show doesn’t make a Big Deal of the difference at first it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary.
Most of the “good” things mentioned here are just changes to parts of the books that the writer didn’t like. Anyone is welcome to their opinion of what they do and don’t like, but it’s important to remember that the books are already loved for what they are. There’s no need to change something that you know people already like. Even if some people like those changes, I see no valid reason to make them. It shows that the writers of the show think that the books can’t stand on their own. I seriously doubt that people who have such a view of the books are going to stay true to the qualities that make them good, and the audience that loves them.
@25 There HAVE to be some changes in the TV series adaptation. If not, it would take twenty years of the series to do justice to all the books, and few actors can sign on for that length of time. Further, the actors playing the teenagers from Emonds Field, who age perhaps three years over the course of the books, would not look very convincing as young adults by the time of that 20th season of the TV series. In fact, if Jordan had had a good editor, this should have been about an 8 book series, and an 8-season TV series.
@25 – Adhering to the books strictly because that’s how they’re written is as indulgent as leaving nothing but the characters’ names intact. There are major problems with the books that even the fans acknowledge, and that some of us have been chopping up since the books dropped or we got on the internet – whichever came first. The gender roles and the Men are from Mars/Women are from Venus discourse is going to flop. If they adjust that, great! If they change characters’ backstories to add more depth or to focus on an idea that is in the text but obscured by the internal monologue POVs instead of being said out loud, great! You’re not going to get a line by line re-reading of the text, and that’s OK.
She doesn’t just say “One of you,” she says “we don’t know if the dragon was reborn as male or female.” That is nonsense on stilts and makes a hash out of an avalanche of world building. Now the flame of Tar Valon is just as likely to represent the Dragon as the fang is. Now Osan’gar and Aran’gar are trivial rather than hidden daggers to surprise and slay the heroes. It’s just dumb. And for what? An imaginary increase in suspense about which one is the dragon reborn? The thing is the mystery about who is the dragon was more about the dread inside Rand’s head rather than a real mystery for the readers.
I’m more interested than I was before. I feel like a series could have a lot of potential. Especially if they specifically do NOT try to turn the series into Game of Thrones.
thanks for the review. i’ve seen several at google news and they all are downers for the most part. but I figure alot of it is critics not liking another story having the whole lotr homage thing going on. They seemed to poo poo pretty much everything. I’m hopeful i’ll like it though. Also hopeful that things will pick up from critics reviews as we get into season 2. because it should get further out of homage territory and any cgi mistakes, or shaky cam mistakes, or any other thing that is effecting reviews can have had time to have kinks worked out.
There is a huge difference between editing down unnecessary filler, I.e. the whole I wish I knew women like x, and changing important characters and storylines. The fact DR is a male is a key and important part of the story. It has nothing to do with sexism or tropes. Change for changes sake or to make a comment on our society is ridiculous. This is a fantasy story about another make believe world. It doesn’t have to match ours.
Well, it seems we are getting closer. To those getting all up in arms about people assuming they have made changes in regard to tDR, more and more reviews and tidbits are coming out to confirm this. / Not that they are changing who The Dragon Reborn is, it’s obviously still Rand. Just that they have made it a gender neutral role. That alone is a massive change to the worldbuilding, and changes a lot of the fear and hatred around the Dragon & male channelers in general. It has also been confirmed that, for the first six episodes at least, that there is no mention of the male/female haves of the One Power, Saidin & Saidar. This is something that was emphasized from almost the very beginning, unlike other things such as Ajahs & Aes Sedai politics. Given the change made to the potential of who the Dragon Reborn could be, I find it plausible that they might be doing away with it completely. I don’t know how you explain the Taint (or Corruption) in this new paradigm though. Of course, it may be that the show runners are seeking to avoid overwhelming the viewer with minutia and details that may confuse them and clutter up that narrative until later. But I find it hard to believe that they are going to do the “Corruption” without making the distinction between the two halves of the Power. /
While there are always changes and adjustments that are necessary to adapt sprawling stories like the Wheel of Time to the film/television, those mentioned above seem to be less than strictly necessary to adapt to a new medium.
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So, one day away from the premiere, one of the things I mentioned in my comment @2 appears to not be the case. Namely, /there is now promotional material that specifically mentions saidin and saidar. There is a featurette on IGN featuring Rafe and the cast discussing the magic system, where saidin/saidar is specifically mentioned. They are also releasing short animated bonus episodes with each episode, and one of the titles for the animated short has saidin and saidar in the title. While it still appears that the gendered split is not mentioned in the first 6 episodes, I think we can safely assume that the concept will eventually be introduced./
I am extremely excited about this series even if they made changes to the structure of the story, because I’ve been waiting for it since I was in junior high.
The most important question I have is this: did they cut back on Nynaeve’s braid-yanking?
“Jordan did tend to get bogged down at times.”
Possibly the understatement of the year.
Noooo! I need Nynaeve’s braid yanking!
@18 WOT “No nudity. It is good for all ages!! Wholesome fantasy show.”
Are you certain about that? This is the Content Advisory on Amazon Prime:
“Smoking, alcohol use, sexual content, nudity, foul language, violence”
Smoking, alcohol and violence are a given, of course. Sexual content isn’t surprising, and there is plenty of nudity in the books though it could be avoided if they want.
I find the “foul language” one a bit perplexing since Randland swearing doesn’t contain any curse words that would be counted as bad language to us. Mother’s milk in a cup, if they start throwing the f-word around like crazy that will be bloody insane. Light!
Never read a page of this series. I recognize there are fans, but what’s the elevator pitch to bring in people like me? Is this strictly fantasy, or is there any SciFi aspects to this series?
@43: People like you? What kind of people are you?
If you’re looking for ‘science fiction’, The Wheel of Time isn’t it. WOT is absolutely in the realm of fantasy–epic, high fantasy. It’s about as fantastical as it can get, featuring magical powers, reincarnation, huge civilizations, and magic systems that veer heavily towards the soft end of things–or, at least, far softer than what Brandon Sanderson fans are used to.
Are you wanting a detailed, spelled-out explanation of how weaves of the One Power are woven? So do the rest of us, but it’s not in there. There are some ‘hard magic systems,’ of sorts, in the form of magical objects and realms that are encountered throughout the series–but even then, the edges are blurred and there are all sorts of fan theories about how they’re connected to each other. (The series has been finished for several years and people are still hashing out ideas.)
The closest thing that you can get to science fiction, then, of any sort, is that the setting is supposedly // far-distant-future Earth–eons and eons later–// and the idea of magical artifacts that, in some limited way, approximate the usage of advanced technology. But I think that’s a stretch, to be honest.
Still! Do you enjoy massive conflicts and incredible settings? Do you like seeing drastically different cultures clash with each other? Do you like piecing together a huge milieu from disparate points of view over thousands of pages (or, in this case, dozens of episodes)? Then The Wheel of Time has serious appeal for that.
If, however, you want anything resembling guns, spaceships, robots, aliens, philosophical quandaries over the nature of humanity, or hard logic, you’re going to need to look elsewhere.
(…Dang, I should have checked the dates on TheoryLand… the most recent posts are from 2013! So the scene has been dead for a while now. Still, the massive penchant for theory-driven fandom was a marked aspect of Jordan’s creation and has carried over into other, similar works like The Kingkiller Chronicles and, most notably, the Cosmere.)
@43 — while the WoT series as written is usually marketed as fantasy, it at least borders upon science fiction under Clarke’s Law: [paraphrased] Any substantially advanced technology may appear to be magic.
Indeed, as the whole of the One Power is as easily explained as PSIONICS as it is as any form of “true” magic, I can make a strong case that It Just Doesn’t Matter (and there is very strong evidence in later volumes of the series that science completely co-exists with whatever it is that is used by Aes Sedai, the Forsaken, et al.)
Heck, in later books we even have serious interactions with interdimensional beings in non-Euclidean conditions!
Hi, all! As you might have seen, we now have reviews up for each of the first three episodes, starting here:
The Wheel of Time Sees Two Strangers Come to Town in “Leavetaking”
Let’s move the discussion over to the spoiler threads, in case anyone reading this discussion hasn’t seen the series yet…