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Wheel of Time

Hari Seldon

Member
As I said in the other thread, if you are not completely hating the first episode, watch at least the beginning of the second one. Episode 2-3 are significantly better than the 1st episode as it gives the characters and the world time to breath.
 

Nester99

Member
Starting watching the first episode. Seems rather man hatey.

That is a leading principle in the story from the book written 25 years ago. Men’s greed and arrogance broke the world 2000 or so years before the events in the show. Only ladies can be mages as men go insane if they use thier magic.

it’s not work for the sake of woke, it’s baked into the source material.
 

Hari Seldon

Member
Starting watching the first episode. Seems rather man hatey.
In Episode 1 the women dressed in red are part of a faction that "deals with" men as you see in the opening. There are a lot of factions in this show but they are introducing you to this one early as a conduit to teach a bit about the lore (they are seemingly back in the beginning of Episode 4). Don't worry, this is not something added for wokeism, it is a coherent part of the lore that you will understand if you stick with it.
 

Nester99

Member
I really enjoyed the books, show seems a little CW so far. I really hate long poorly done battle scenes that don’t stay consistent with power levels or battle flow.
 

Cimarron

Member
That is a leading principle in the story from the book written 25 years ago. Men’s greed and arrogance broke the world 2000 or so years before the events in the show. Only ladies can be mages as men go insane if they use thier magic.
it’s not work for the sake of woke, it’s baked into the source material.
That’s not how it went down at all! In fact it was the female Aes Sedai that were being obstinate about uniting with the males to seal the Dark One. They were running out of time So Lews Therrin decided to act. 🤦🏾‍♂️
 
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GreenAlien

Member
That’s not how it went down at all! In fact it was the female Aes Sedai that were being obstinate about uniting with the males to seal the Dark One. They were running out of time So Lews Therrin decided to act. 🤦🏾‍♂️
Would Aes Sedai spread and acknowledge a fair view of those events? I'm not sure the truth is widely known, in the books we know what happened from Lews Therin Telamon, right?

Edit: Also.. further book knowledge stuff should probably be under spoiler tags...
 
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Vlodril

Member
Would Aes Sedai spread and acknowledge a fair view of those events? I'm not sure the truth is widely known, in the books we know what happened from Lews Therin Telamon, right?

Edit: Also.. further book knowledge stuff should probably be under spoiler tags...

They definitely twisted history to make them look good. I agree though spoiler tags should be used i personally never finished all the books for example.
 

Pilgrimzero

Member
Is it any wonder all the magic ladies like to hang out at Tar Valon

tar.gif
 

LordOfChaos

Member
Episode 4 was pretty good

Some of the early show had some weird changes that didn't seem necessary, but some of it is sort of fair because there's so much book to get through. Now that I'm acclimatized to some of it not being like how I imagined I'm definitely excited for more and hope it gets to a good high budget ending after many seasons
 
Moment by moment this is a pretty average fantasy show with writing and acting that is a mixed bag. I was hoping they would take more of a cue from Game of Thrones making it a bit more realistic and darker. But I'm gonna keep watching because I know there is much more to the story, and I don't see myself reading all those books. Production values are very nice too and carry me through some of the mediocre sections.

Also disappointed they didn't include Rand escaping from the Trollocks with his father which was maybe the best part of what I've read of the first book.
 
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jason10mm

Gold Member
Ep 4 shows the strong disconnect between the writing and the casting. Several cases of someone saying "my people" as if they are referring to an ethnicity or race yet they are surrounded by a fantastic mix of folks. There is no distinction between two rivers, the traveller's, the aes sedai (that one makes more sense). I'm ery curious how the Aiel Wil be represented.

The show has done one thing right, I'm as disgusted with aes sedai superiority in the show as I was in the books, happy to see them get defeated. Long live the Dragon Reborn!!!
 

JBat

Member
Just noticed something in episode 1 while watching it with the wife that makes the diversity of the Two Rivers a little less of a big deal. Hair color if more important than skin color. That kinda sorta almost stays in line with the books a little bit. But maybe I'm just reaching for justification lol
 

Wildebeest

Member
The reverence to LotR conventions stays strong even though the world building ramps up, and we get to see more of what magic is in this world. I feel like a darker modern fantasy would emphasize just how disruptive magic can be to your instinct of how things should go down, but it still looks chaotic and bad. I can believe people would support a regime that vows to only allow use of healing magic, even if it means murdering all firstborns.
 

Kimahri

Banned
That was a good episode.

Lol at that family Rand and Matt camped with though. Mother and father is dark haired and brown of skin, while their two kids are blonde and light skinned.

The diversity obsession this show has is a damn joke.
 
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IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
That was a good episode.

Lol at that family Rand and Matt camped with though. Mother and father is dark haired and brown of skin, while their two kids are blonde and light skinned.

The diversity obsession this show has is a damn joke.

I haven't read the books, but I understand they're diverse in a more organic way.

The show runners for this series didn't want that. Instead, their vision was for, and I quote:

"As much as possible, our cast should look like America will in a few hundred years — a beautiful mix of white, brown, black and everything in between"

This would explain why the show is so diverse.
 

Kimahri

Banned
I haven't read the books, but I understand they're diverse in a more organic way.

The show runners for this series didn't want that. Instead, their vision was for, and I quote:

"As much as possible, our cast should look like America will in a few hundred years — a beautiful mix of white, brown, black and everything in between"

This would explain why the show is so diverse.
brown parents won't make white kids no matter how much the showrunners would like that to be the reality.
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
Ep 4 shows the strong disconnect between the writing and the casting. Several cases of someone saying "my people" as if they are referring to an ethnicity or race yet they are surrounded by a fantastic mix of folks. There is no distinction between two rivers, the traveller's, the aes sedai (that one makes more sense). I'm ery curious how the Aiel Wil be represented.

The show has done one thing right, I'm as disgusted with aes sedai superiority in the show as I was in the books, happy to see them get defeated. Long live the Dragon Reborn!!!

And he wasn't the dragon reborn. He was gentled.

My people can just as easily refer to the people in his village/community. "My people" doesn't have to mean race or ethnicity.

Why are you triggered by this?
 

Kimahri

Banned
Yes, it has happened. Probably on the same frequency that someone is albino, if not less. It's exceedingly rare, a freak mutation, a latent gene from generations past suddenly coming back around. But this show's logic is of the kind where a crow could hatch from a duck egg. Not just once for the sake of creating a fairy tale, but frequently.
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
Yes, it has happened. Probably on the same frequency that someone is albino, if not less. It's exceedingly rare, a freak mutation, a latent gene from generations past suddenly coming back around. But this show's logic is of the kind where a crow could hatch from a duck egg. Not just once for the sake of creating a fairy tale, but frequently.

Lighter skinned kids come from darker parents all the time. It isn't a freak occurrence. The opposite also happens. My daughter is darker than both me and her mom. I have a friend who has two parents darker than she is and she's pretty light skinned. I actually have a good number of people I know who aren't mixed but look it and their parents are all darker than they are. None are mixed.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
brown parents won't make white kids no matter how much the showrunners would like that to be the reality.

No, but the show runners had little choice.

If they made the adaptation with characters envisioned by Robert Jordan, then the main cast would be majority white.
 

jason10mm

Gold Member
And he wasn't the dragon reborn. He was gentled.

My people can just as easily refer to the people in his village/community. "My people" doesn't have to mean race or ethnicity.

Why are you triggered by this?
Because in English at least the phrase "my people" refers to a specific ethnicity or shared cultural background that encompasses a narrow range of ethnicities like 99% of the time. If ANYONE walked up to you on the street and said "my people.... Xxx" you would 100% think they meant their specific enthicity, don't try to lie.

Within the show is Lan says "this ritual is from my people" is he referring to Warders, some town he is from, or some Asian group within the continent? The casting of the show erases the concept of locality, so it is silly to have the script written the way it is. Are the Aiel gonna be all diverse but with dyed red hair? Possibly. Will it look kinda silly? Yes. Will I stop watching the show if they do that? Probably not.

I don't care if populations are non white, I just want it to look like and feel like any non mobile civilization since the dawn of time. Two rivers should be relatively homogenous because A. they are kinda isolated and inbred and B. the book mentions this. It breaks immersion to have people from the same country with accents all over the place.
 

Hari Seldon

Member
I thought episode 4 was really good on a first viewing. I’ll have more thoughts when I watch it a second time. I think moving Logain to season 1 is a good choice. The backstory gives a good intro into what being The Dragon means in this universe. Episode 4 also was a good primer on Aes Sedai and Warders. The visualization of shielding and linking was cool.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
brown parents won't make white kids no matter how much the showrunners would like that to be the reality.

Which brown parents made a white kid again?

No, but the show runners had little choice.

If they made the adaptation with characters envisioned by Robert Jordan, then the main cast would be majority white.

The Two Rivers folk being largely dark apart from Rand is an important plot point. I wouldn't say the main cast would be majority white, I don't know how that could be said actually as it largely follows Two Rivers folks, and people from outside lands were often a blend of many real world nationalities with none you could pinpoint.

If anything there seems to be more light skin in the Two Rivers than there was in the books
 
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Kimahri

Banned
Lighter skinned kids come from darker parents all the time. It isn't a freak occurrence. The opposite also happens. My daughter is darker than both me and her mom. I have a friend who has two parents darker than she is and she's pretty light skinned. I actually have a good number of people I know who aren't mixed but look it and their parents are all darker than they are. None are mixed.

Did you see the episode?

No, but the show runners had little choice.

If they made the adaptation with characters envisioned by Robert Jordan, then the main cast would be majority white.
I'm not asking for white. I like that it's different. I want coherence. Just make people look like they're from the same place.
 

IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
The Two Rivers folk being largely dark apart from Rand is an important plot point. I wouldn't say the main cast would be majority white, I don't know how that could be said actually as it largely follows Two Rivers folks, and people from outside lands were often a blend of many real world nationalities with none you could pinpoint.

If anything there seems to be more light skin in the Two Rivers than there was in the books

I'm just going by Robert Jordan's own dream cast list he had for a film adaptation and the US first edition covers.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
I'm just going by Robert Jordan's own dream cast list he had for a film adaptation and the US first edition covers.

I don't know about his cast list but it's pretty clear in what's written canonically in the books

Egwene is described as being "Of a height with Nynaeve, and with the same dark coloring", as are most of the two rivers folk, there's many descriptions of it to give you the hint. They're not as ebony as Seanchan royalty but I had always thought around Indian or ME brown. Especially when she adopts the Bindi it kind of sets off the image

06a615fc74fb47cd2708e59b92be3e4f1b1c4979.jpg


Something something maiden something something and light skin is an important contrasting plot point canonically. I think some of the cover art also messed up the idea tbh, but the writing is there.
 
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Fools idol

Banned
have to be honest I am lukewarm to the show, it's kind of cheesey, but I do think the story is interesting. Is the book series worth while?
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
Did you see the episode?


I'm not asking for white. I like that it's different. I want coherence. Just make people look like they're from the same place.

Yes, I saw the episode. I actually didn't notice anything about the family's skin colors until y'all said something. They aren't that radically different.

The final scene was EVERYTHING I wanted to see in these possible dragon reborn characters.
 
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Yes, I saw the episode. I actually didn't notice anything about the family's skin colors until y'all said something. They aren't that radically different.

The final scene was EVERYTHING I wanted to see in these possible dragon reborn characters.
You have to be blind to not notice the diversity casting. My wife and I dropped it after the first episode. No good dialog, no fun, bad acting. And as I always say if you don’t respect the source material, you cannot make a good show. Also the CGI was crap and the image quality was the worst I’ve seen in ages. I looked it up online and plenty of people on 4K TV and HDR having this issue.
 
You have to be blind to not notice the diversity casting. My wife and I dropped it after the first episode. No good dialog, no fun, bad acting. And as I always say if you don’t respect the source material, you cannot make a good show. Also the CGI was crap and the image quality was the worst I’ve seen in ages. I looked it up online and plenty of people on 4K TV and HDR having this issue.
The funny thing about the shocking image quality is that when they advertise it on tv it looks pretty good! They were running ads for it on sky last night when I was watching the NFL on shitty 1080p NowTv in the UK and it looked far better than the 4K HDR version that amazon are streaming. Dunno what amazon are playing at. It's supposed to be a service seller and it looks terrible. A lot of their 4K shows look pretty good if not apple tv good so it's perplexing.
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
You have to be blind to not notice the diversity casting. My wife and I dropped it after the first episode. No good dialog, no fun, bad acting. And as I always say if you don’t respect the source material, you cannot make a good show. Also the CGI was crap and the image quality was the worst I’ve seen in ages. I looked it up online and plenty of people on 4K TV and HDR having this issue.

I'm not white so the diverse cast didn't phase me. I was talking about the family in episode 4, not the whole cast as a whole, which, as stated, didn't phase me. They look like America.

That said, it looks like, according to multiple people in the thread, the books actually have the characters as largely non-white.

I haven't read the books but I'm enjoying the show.
 

Kimahri

Banned
The funny thing about the shocking image quality is that when they advertise it on tv it looks pretty good! They were running ads for it on sky last night when I was watching the NFL on shitty 1080p NowTv in the UK and it looked far better than the 4K HDR version that amazon are streaming. Dunno what amazon are playing at. It's supposed to be a service seller and it looks terrible. A lot of their 4K shows look pretty good if not apple tv good so it's perplexing.

Weird. I have no issues outside of how horrible the sending looka.

I'm not white so the diverse cast didn't phase me. I was talking about the family in episode 4, not the whole cast as a whole, which, as stated, didn't phase me. They look like America.

That said, it looks like, according to multiple people in the thread, the books actually have the characters as largely non-white.

I haven't read the books but I'm enjoying the show.

Nobody is having a problem with diversity. I repeat again. NOBODY is having a problem with diversity.

But this isn't america. It's not modern day. People don't have cars, bikes, planes and choppers to move vast amounts of people fast. People are isolated, need to travel by horse or foot and unless you live in large towns with lots of travel, like ship travel, diversity will be lower. In a place like Two Rivers you wouldn't find every ethnicity on planet earth. Even if the place started out like that, over a 1000 years that diversity would gradually lessen. You'd find mainly one maine "look" , and maybe the odd one out here and there. Nobody wants them to be white. But people should look like they come from the same place. Nobody in this show does.

And as for families having different ethnicities within them, Matt's parents are a different ethnicity than him, so it's not like it's a one time thing.
 

Wildebeest

Member
If you are put off by grainy images, then some people are saying there might be a problem with the Prime Video App and how it handles compression. Try watching it with a web browser at 1080p to see if it looks better then, I dunno, mess around with some settings or complain or something.
 
If you are put off by grainy images, then some people are saying there might be a problem with the Prime Video App and how it handles compression. Try watching it with a web browser at 1080p to see if it looks better then, I dunno, mess around with some settings or complain or something.
I'm using the ap on my TV and it looks fucking terrible. Like a combination of overuse of grain effect and extremely low bit rate. The other 4k content they have is all fine to good.

Edit: just to add my pc is so shite it cant handle amazon streaming! I really need to get a new one.
 
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Wildebeest

Member
I'm using the ap on my TV and it looks fucking terrible. Like a combination of overuse of grain effect and extremely low bit rate. The other 4k content they have is all fine to good.

Edit: just to add my pc is so shite it cant handle amazon streaming! I really need to get a new one.
The reddit I read said their HDR handling might be shite, so turn it off. Maybe try watching at a different (lower) bitrate.
 

JBat

Member
This is probably just bitching that things aren't like the books but I don't like how they are using the one power in the show. They seem to be breaking a lot of the rules from the books. Like not having to physically touch someone to heal them or Logain's brighter than the sun moment
seeing Nynaeve channeling and heal everyone in a 50 foot radius
. Not distinguishing visually between different flows bothers me too. If they are going to comment about specifics elements, i.e weaves of air, give us some way of knowing what's going on instead of this white smoke looking stuff makes things explode and fixes boo-boos. Also the comment about harder to hold a shield than break out seems like an unnecessary change.
as for the family in episode 4, the mom was fairly pale. I could believe she was the kids mother at least. What did bother me was how groomed dad was. His beard was perfectly shaped and not a hair out of place. Even had the mustache waxed with a little curl at the end lol.
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
Weird. I have no issues outside of how horrible the sending looka.



Nobody is having a problem with diversity. I repeat again. NOBODY is having a problem with diversity.

But this isn't america. It's not modern day. People don't have cars, bikes, planes and choppers to move vast amounts of people fast. People are isolated, need to travel by horse or foot and unless you live in large towns with lots of travel, like ship travel, diversity will be lower. In a place like Two Rivers you wouldn't find every ethnicity on planet earth. Even if the place started out like that, over a 1000 years that diversity would gradually lessen. You'd find mainly one maine "look" , and maybe the odd one out here and there. Nobody wants them to be white. But people should look like they come from the same place. Nobody in this show does.

And as for families having different ethnicities within them, Matt's parents are a different ethnicity than him, so it's not like it's a one time thing.

Wait... Mat's parents all look white, like him. You mean ethnicity as in different regions of Europe?
 

Kimahri

Banned
Wait... Mat's parents all look white, like him. You mean ethnicity as in different regions of Europe?
I mean, yeah, ethinicity is more than the color of your skin. Matt looks like he's from south eastern Europe closer to the middle east, while his parents look like they're from Northern Europe. Europe's pretty varied. It's easy to tell with a lot of people where they're from.
 
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