# The Wheel of Time: TV series discussion (open spoilers; comparison to the books allowed) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, amazon-prime\ **Created:** [November 19, 2021, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636 "2021-11-19T18:24:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2021, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/241 "2021-12-25T03:52:42Z")
This was fucking terrible. A travesty. Good acting, decent cinematography, and so far from WoT you could basically have changed a bunch of names and made an Amazon Original Fantasy series and I would recommend it; calling it the Wheel of Time is absolute bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2021, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/242 "2021-12-25T03:53:06Z")
and now, they have met Strider. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2021, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/243 "2021-12-25T06:00:56Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Ok, they mine- what? And who do they sell it to? The economy makes no sense. They mine… minerals? And sell it to people who come buy on a boat or a mule train every once in a while? Just because we don’t learn much about the town’s economy doesn’t mean it can’t possibly make sense. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2021, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/244 "2021-12-25T11:06:43Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > And they were an advanced society 3000 years prior? Spaceships or at least planes, etc.? More of an advanced magical society - flying vehicles, yes, but powered by the Power rather than by internal combustion. ---
**Author:** ![sohvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sohvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sohvan)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2021, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/245 "2021-12-25T13:30:36Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > > [@sohvan](#): > > > > …I think there’s room for different interpretations of that scene, but I didn’t get that sense of a powerful channeler sacrificing herself in a last ditch effort from it… > > Just noting that it was not me you were quoting even though it says so. Thanks for letting me know. I asked the moderation to edit it. I must have messed up the quote. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2021, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/246 "2021-12-25T16:30:12Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > They’re defining walking a tightrope of when to introduce new words/concepts/ideas to not overwhelm the new reader. For instance, they never mentioned saidar/saidin (the names for the male and female half of the true source) at all. While I was watching the scene between Lews Therin and the Tamrylin Seat, I noticed something. She says, translated “You expose the very source of the One Power to Him. If He touches and corrupts it, your Power will be out of control.” During that speech, I could swear one of the words she uses in the Old Tongue is “saidin”. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/247 "2021-12-27T05:45:37Z")
> [@sohvan](#): > > there’s no reason why they can’t do the same again and much more in future battles when Nynaeve and Egwene are better trained and linked with more powerful and more disciplined Aes Sedai. Why do we even we need a Dragon Reborn at this point? You think 10 or 20,000 trollocs is a big army? Or that the dark doesn’t have linked channelers of their own? That was basically a probing action to test the defenses. As in most series, they have to ramp up the threat and the stakes with each new installment, so the armies and battles get bigger and bigger. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/248 "2021-12-27T06:20:18Z")
I think the show wimped out on the depiction of the “big” battle in the final episode. Neither side looked like it had even a thousand troops. Kind of a let down. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/249 "2021-12-27T14:11:01Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I think the show wimped out on the depiction of the “big” battle in the final episode. > > Neither side looked like it had even a thousand troops. > > Kind of a let down Has to be budget issues. I’m sure the show is expensive, but I know the showrunner has commented that as much as Wheel of Time is costing, their budget is much smaller than Lord of the Rings, which is being made at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![sohvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sohvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sohvan)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/250 "2021-12-27T16:41:50Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > > [@sohvan](#): > > > > there’s no reason why they can’t do the same again and much more in future battles when Nynaeve and Egwene are better trained and linked with more powerful and more disciplined Aes Sedai. Why do we even we need a Dragon Reborn at this point? > > You think 10 or 20,000 trollocs is a big army? Or that the dark doesn’t have linked channelers of their own? That was basically a probing action to test the defenses. > > As in most series, they have to ramp up the threat and the stakes with each new installment, so the armies and battles get bigger and bigger. Wiping out an entire army in a single instant doesn’t get that much more impressive whether it’s 10k or 100k. It’s still essentially nuking an entire army out of existence, and the implications are the same. If you can wipe out an army instantly by what is essentially a One Power nuke, then the problem from a world building perspective is why you wouldn’t wipe out every army in the future with a nuke whether Nynaeve and Egwene wiping out trollocs or the Dark Ones channelers wiping out armies of humans. This was seemingly depicted as done unassisted too, when there are artifacts that can increase power exponentially in the setting. That should change military strategy to a far larger degree than what the books usually depict, where Channelers wreck havoc mostly on a smaller scale or much slower. Some book comparisons: Even when Rand is channeling the Saidin left by a hundred Channelers in the Eye at the end of book 1, he doesn’t just snap his fingers and wipe out the entire Trolloc army. He has lightning strike the flyers, and decimates the ground forces with earthquakes. But after doing all that the Trolloc army still outnumbers Borderlanders. There’s a huge difference in the military implications of wiping an entire army out of existence in a blink of an eye, and being generally a huge force in turning a battle around. What was depicted here should make conventional armies fighting in formations nearly pointless. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/251 "2021-12-27T17:09:17Z")
You do remember that scene is right out of the books, the only thing that changed is that it took five people to wipe out an army instead of one. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2021, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/252 "2021-12-27T17:30:20Z")
> [@sohvan](#): > > If you can wipe out an army instantly by what is essentially a One Power nuke, then the problem from a world building perspective is why you wouldn’t wipe out every army in the future with a nuke whether Nynaeve and Egwene wiping out trollocs or the Dark Ones channelers wiping out armies of humans. The other side can have their own magic users too who can thwart the nuke. ---
**Author:** ![mordecaiB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mordecaib/32/7725_2.png) [@mordecaiB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mordecaiB)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2021, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/253 "2021-12-28T19:04:12Z")
> [@Dante](#): > > During that speech, I could swear one of the words she uses in the Old Tongue is “saidin”. I think you are right. IIRC, it showed in the subtitles also. > [@Mahaloth](#): > > Has to be budget issues. I’m sure the show is expensive, but I know the showrunner has commented that as much as Wheel of Time is costing, their budget is much smaller than Lord of the Rings, which is being made at the same time. I wondered about this earlier. Is there a reliable source where you can find budgets for tv shows or is that top secret? Wiki says _Rings_ has a one billion dollar budget for five years. I didn’t see anything for _Wheel_. Movies seem to be quite open about budgets. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/254 "2021-12-29T04:33:57Z")
> [@mordecaiB](#): > > Also, where did the white crystal that Moraine had at the end come from? And what about the statue Rand used to increase his power 100 fold? Does he still have it? The Heartstone fragment came from the disk on the ground (half-black, half white). It was cracked and broken after Rand banished Ba’alzamon. I thought that Rand handed back the _Sa’angreal_ to Moiraine. It seems to have replaced the _saidin_ that formed the **Eye of the World** in the books. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/255 "2021-12-29T07:33:15Z")
I liked the depiction of the Seanchan at the end. They seemed to have replaced the physical leashes with gags, though, didn’t they? That’s probably for the best. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/256 "2021-12-30T02:57:27Z")
> [@Dante](#): > > While I was watching the scene between Lews Therin and the Tamrylin Seat, I noticed something. She says, translated “You expose the very source of the One Power to Him. If He touches and corrupts it, your Power will be out of control.” During that speech, I could swear one of the words she uses in the Old Tongue is “saidin”. I also heard that. We just finished the first season, and enjoyed it greatly. Most of the changes have been for the better, and I am really getting the sense of the narrative dragging the way it can in the books. Looking forward to season two, whenever that is. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/257 "2021-12-30T04:56:52Z")
I enjoyed the series and I thought the visual effects were pretty good for a TV series. I haven’t read any of the books; Wheel of Time and Sword of Shannara were more my brother’s speed but my favourite fantasy writer was Michael Moorcock. What I didn’t like is the stupid, arbitrary one-episode-per-week release schedule. I ended up waiting until all of the episodes were released so that I could watch the series at my preferred rate (roughly one or two episodes every other day). ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/258 "2021-12-30T19:06:22Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > What I didn’t like is the stupid, arbitrary one-episode-per-week release schedule. I ended up waiting until all of the episodes were released so that I could watch the series at my preferred rate (roughly one or two episodes every other day). I does seem as though there is no _right_ answer to how to release shows. I personally prefer the episode a week thing, allowing one to discuss the show with others as its coming out, and everyone being in the same place. I did like that they released 3 at once with the initial debut, that gave more content to get into, rather than watching the first, then waiting a week for the second, then another for the third. It started off slowly enough that it probably would have lost some interest had they released those over 3 weeks. What _I_ don’t like is when they drop an entire season at once, and then you _have_ to binge the whole thing to get caught up in order to have any discussion with others. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/259 "2021-12-30T19:31:22Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > What _I_ don’t like is when they drop an entire season at once, and then you _have_ to binge the whole thing to get caught up in order to have any discussion with others. We’re talking about what is essentially an 8 hour movie, though. When I watch a 3 hour movie, do I stop halfway through and then watch the second half a week later in order to get two separate discussions out of it? Of course not. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2021, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636/260 "2021-12-30T20:55:42Z")
Last big 9 hour movie that I saw (Lord of the Rings) had a whole year in between installments. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-wheel-of-time-tv-series-discussion-open-spoilers-comparison-to-the-books-allowed/954636.md?page=14)