This has been a concern of mine, given how much the books ballooned as he went along. I am pleasantly surprised at how well they’re doing.
The show has really grown on me, although some of the CGI is still oddly subpar. I look forward to seeing how it develops.
I have no idea where the money is going. It looks like a network TV show compared to Game of Thrones given the amount of money they are apparently spending.
My memory of the plot is pretty faded, but are there really only two episodes more of plot in book 1? Or does season 1 not map to book 1?
It apparently goes a bit into book 2.
I can see them speeding up the last part a bit to make it fit into 2 episodes. They travel the ways, stop briefly in the borderlands, and find the eye of the world (probably skipping the green man). Then they have the showdown and the resulting aftermath in the final episode.
I know you all have been waiting breathlessly for my opinion but I’m still two episodes behind you guys so I haven’ read the thread. I hope to catch up tonight.
As a non Robert Jordan fan, I was still looking forward to this from the early talk about we had about the show. I’ve got to admit I’m liking it quite a bit.
The FX seem a little bit on the cheap side sometimes, like with some of the Trolloc scenes. And all the main characters so far seem to be archetypes, tho that’s not unusual in books or movies.
Unless the screw this up considerably in the last few episodes, I’m going to count this one as totally worth watching.
I thought the Trollocs looked great. Certainly better than the Orcs in the Hobbit trilogy.
Are they full computer effects? I thought the Trollocs were masks.
I thought they were pretty well done too. Between Muppets and rubber prosthetics I thought the Trollocs were much, much better than the usual.
Their heads are masks, but they have backwards-bending animal legs, which I presume are CGI.
I think they are more mask than makeup or CG, which makes them capable of less movement/expression. Overall they worked well but in individual close in shots it didn’t look like the mouth could open wide enough for the lower tusks to do any good. Just a very small nitpick on my part, easy enough to ignore and doesn’t ruin my enjoyment.
When the Trollocs were running, I found myself wondering how they did that. It really looks like they had filmed the actors running in high heel shoes, or maybe swim fins, then CGIed the legs on. Not a bad thing because that gave them the unusual gait, I just wonder how they did it.
Great CGI on the Trolloc leader tho. Not having read the books I wasn’t sure what to expect from him. The roar scene at the river was fantastic. Totally unexpected (for me) and it looked great.
I thought the trollocs were pretty much the best done part of the show.
It appears Amazon has taken care of it’s HDR issues because this latest episode as visually stunning! I did read that Ep 1-6 had been filmed pre-Covid and the production was likely done during early Covid, whereas 7-8 was done later, so perhaps the first 6 episodes just had sub-standard production as a result.
I also really enjoyed the episode. The reveals of Rand’s origins and the realization that he’s the Dragon reborn by looking back at things in the season and noting he was channeling.
I have to say, I felt his “reveal” landed as a bit of a thud. I was watching closely and I’m not sure I understood how it was revealed other than “lady who sees future tells him”. I’m going to have to re-watch.
They are sure he’s the one and only Dragon Reborn? Not a shared power?
Did you read the book? (I’ve only read the first two books.)
It basically came out of nowhere. There were hints, but unless you were familiar with horseriding and stuff like that you would probably miss them. I’m pretty sure all the readers knew about this anyway.
There can only be one Dragon Reborn at a time. It’s not a power, but a reincarnation.
There was like a whole thing where he (and we) look back at everything that did this season and filled in that he was channeling while doing so. After the woman with future vision tells him about his past. And in that he came to a realization.
I must have dozed off thru all of that ‘channeling hints’ - because I missed it.
His mother was a badass tho.
I’m going to have to go back and find the clip. I missed it too.
They had a whole ass montage during the reveal…
I’ve been enjoying this adaptation a lot. That being said, I do not like at all that they were pushing a love triangle angle with Perrin holding a flame for Egwene. I hope this episode is the last we see of this, and they bury any mention to the whole thing in future seasons. Thankfully it was only a few minutes of an otherwise good episode. I don’t think they handled the fridging of Perrin’s wife well, and this only adds insult to injury.
You have to make a lot of tough choices in making an adaptation on what to include and what to cut. I don’t get how anyone thought this was a good idea.
Yeah, it was pretty hard to miss!
Here’s how you can do it with practical effects.
Another possibility is the way they did the Faun in Pan’s Labyrinth - as you can see in this still, the actor is on platform shoes with green tights that can be CGI’d out later, while the Faun legs are practical effects attached to the actor’s back and heels.
