I largely thought it was quite crap. I then rewatched it with the commentary from Brandan Sanderson over the top, and enjoyed it a little bit more the second way through. It is interesting hearing from him and others as to why they did or didn't do stuff, why the left bits out, etc. as well as what he thought worked. I agree with him that you can't adapt it stage by stage, and have episode after eipsode of X, Y and Z going from one town to another on their way to Camelyn - it would be utterly boring and appeal to a very small portion of the audience they're trying to reach.
Also, as Sanderson quite rightly pointed out, the ending to the EOTW is really quite a poor one compared to the next five books, and is also very confusing seeing as a fair bit happens that we never really hear of again. The girls don't really get involved in the final chapters much, so it would be difficult to translate like for like onto the screen, and I thought some of what we saw on screen was an improvement on the book - (Ishy a better character to introduce than Aginor and Balthamel at this stage - although I sincerely hope we don't miss out on the Forsaken throughout the series)
I can understand why they left out characters (Bayle Domon, etc.) or rearranged parts (Camelyn in S2 due to a lack of episodes in S1), but of the stuff they added in or included from scratch I really didn't like much of it. I thought Mat's character and family backstory was awful, the warder eposide was really poor, etc.
One thing that's not really their fault, but I don't think they helped themselves much, was that they only got 8 episodes from Amazon rather than the 10 they wanted. It meant that everything was rushed - characters, relationships, dialogue, etc. It was clunky and OTT most of the way through - there was very little showing us but loads of telling us. None of the EF5 were really that bothered about one of them being the DR, which is kinda nuts if you think about it given the significance of the role in the world/books, etc.
In terms of the finale, there were a few things I did enjoy and a few things that seemed shoe-horned in there:
All in all I'd give the series a generous 6/10, but more realistically a 5/10. I felt that as long as they kept much of the soul of the books then I'd be content, but they've changed so much of it that I'm struggling to find stuff I really like about it. I think they've overdone the new plots and were too ambitious for the budget they were given, seeing as so much of it was seemingly eaten up through VFX. I hope these are just first season growing pains, as there's plenty of work with over the next two books for them to put out a great season two... but not if they try to squeeze everything into 8 episode.
I must admit it looks, sounds and feels very different from the show I anticipated, and I genuinely hope it improves as I'd like to see them get to the end of the books.
Also, as Sanderson quite rightly pointed out, the ending to the EOTW is really quite a poor one compared to the next five books, and is also very confusing seeing as a fair bit happens that we never really hear of again. The girls don't really get involved in the final chapters much, so it would be difficult to translate like for like onto the screen, and I thought some of what we saw on screen was an improvement on the book - (Ishy a better character to introduce than Aginor and Balthamel at this stage - although I sincerely hope we don't miss out on the Forsaken throughout the series)
I can understand why they left out characters (Bayle Domon, etc.) or rearranged parts (Camelyn in S2 due to a lack of episodes in S1), but of the stuff they added in or included from scratch I really didn't like much of it. I thought Mat's character and family backstory was awful, the warder eposide was really poor, etc.
One thing that's not really their fault, but I don't think they helped themselves much, was that they only got 8 episodes from Amazon rather than the 10 they wanted. It meant that everything was rushed - characters, relationships, dialogue, etc. It was clunky and OTT most of the way through - there was very little showing us but loads of telling us. None of the EF5 were really that bothered about one of them being the DR, which is kinda nuts if you think about it given the significance of the role in the world/books, etc.
In terms of the finale, there were a few things I did enjoy and a few things that seemed shoe-horned in there:
- I really liked the scenes with Ishamael, and thought his interaction with Rand was very interesting
- I actually quite liked the ending with Rand legging it and Moiraine powerless to stop him - not out of character from book Rand
- I thought Padan Fain walking off with the HoV a good way of introducing that plotline
- The introduction of the Seanchan was a good cliffhanger for non-book fans
- The big battle scene with the trollocs, Agelmar and the linked channels was rubbish - perhaps partly a casualty of the VFX budget for season one
- The girls didn't really have much to do, whilst Perrin had even worse - they've done him a big disservice so far
- WTF would the HoV be kept under a chair, and that loads of people knew about it??
- Be interesting to see what the Seanchan tidal wave was for... because if it was just for that little kid then lol
All in all I'd give the series a generous 6/10, but more realistically a 5/10. I felt that as long as they kept much of the soul of the books then I'd be content, but they've changed so much of it that I'm struggling to find stuff I really like about it. I think they've overdone the new plots and were too ambitious for the budget they were given, seeing as so much of it was seemingly eaten up through VFX. I hope these are just first season growing pains, as there's plenty of work with over the next two books for them to put out a great season two... but not if they try to squeeze everything into 8 episode.
I must admit it looks, sounds and feels very different from the show I anticipated, and I genuinely hope it improves as I'd like to see them get to the end of the books.
