The Witcher series (Netflix)

[timebomb26]

One thing I will say is the violence tames after the first episode.

Spoiler

The bit where he kills all those guys in the street in episode 1 was brutal. After that though we don’t get much more on that same level.

 

[Destination]

I very much enjoyed this story, fights were good, well made, people looked the part.
I warmed to Cavill considerably, and thought describing an 'emotionless' witcher as wooden might be missing the point.

 

[TonTom]

Just watched the first episode. I like it.

 

[Gray2233]

I very much enjoyed this story, fights were good, well made, people looked the part.
I warmed to Cavill considerably, and thought describing an 'emotionless' witcher as wooden might be missing the point.

I agree with this.

I found the skipping back and forth in regards to the timeline a bit jarring at first, and there were one or two areas that felt a bit too much like a soap opera rather than a fantasy epic.

I grew into it, the final two episodes especially made me glad I stuck it out.

Henry Cavill I think did a fine job, it took some adjustment as I had the game version of Geralt pretty much hardwired into my brain.

The high point for me was Yennefer's story as a whole, low point would be Ciri as a whole as I found myself disinterested in her scenes much of the time.

 

[krooton]

It has actually prompted me to reinstall TW3, as I stopped playing after completing the first main area due to new relationship stuff and never picked it up again.

 

[TonTom]

Watched it all. Far better than I’d expected it to be. I found it a lot more enjoyable than Mandalorian.

Looking forward to further seasons.

 

[Vern1961]

Well first season ended on a bit of a cliff-hanger so hopefully there will be more. Also being Netflix hope there will still be a Blu-ray release later in the year.

Still struggling a bit with the timelines, Ep8 jumping around all over the place. I'm assuming the battle with the Nilfgardians was set in the "present"?

 

[Steampunk]

Well first season ended on a bit of a cliff-hanger so hopefully there will be more. Also being Netflix hope there will still be a Blu-ray release later in the year.

Still struggling a bit with the timelines, Ep8 jumping around all over the place. I'm assuming the battle with the Nilfgardians was set in the "present"?

Spoiler

By the end, everyone is at "now". I expect the next series will be Ciri training, flashbacks to Geralt's training as a Witcher, the relationship between Geralt and Yennifer, the continued fight against Nilfgaard expansion. They've moved from the short stories into the novels.

Generally I thought it was very good, though if you didn't have some kind of background in the books/games, you might have been a bit lost by the time jumping. I thought Triss was a bit wasted and looked wrong, as she's such a strong character in the books/games with a distinctive look. I originally thought that Yennifer was miscast as (again from the games/books) I wanted her to be very fair with dark hair, but Anya Chalotra did the role very well, though she's a little too emo for someone who's so world-weary. I guess they needed someone who could play her as a young, twisted girl, as well as the grown up, cynical sorceress, which she does fantastically. She plays the part of using her sexual power as a (now) beautiful woman, as well as her magical power as a sorceress, but still doesn't understand how to make herself happy

Spoiler

(hence now chasing after a child she can never have, and the rejection of Geralt for fear it wasn't her own choice).

MyAnna Buring (Tissaia), Joey Batey (Jaskier) and Johdi May (Queen Calanthe) get special mentions for just being fantastic on screen. I'm not sure about Freya Allen (Ciri), but she's not bad, which put her well ahead of most young actors and child characters (she is nineteen, so she's not as young as she looks). As for Henry Cavell... he totally embodies Geralt, and nails the role perfectly.

I also like how little they've diverged from the source material. The stories and feel of the world from the books (and the games) just work, they don't need to be "re-imagined" into something else that doesn't work, and they've resisted messing with the stories for no good reason. That is a good thing at a time when so many directors and showrunners think they know better than the already established and successful source material.

 

[robgmun]

I'm watching it but don't think it's that great. Cavil's half turn with raised eye brow is way overused. All the girls have nice boobs.

Finished it a couple of days ago, MUCH better from Ep5 onwards. Found it's feet and i would give it a 7/10 for 5-8, a 5/10 for 1-4.

I was disappointed about the blonde witch with the nice boobs dying and thought she looked a heck of lot more like Triss we all know than the actress they choose

 

[Steampunk]

Finished it a couple of days ago, MUCH better from Ep5 onwards. Found it's feet and i would give it a 7/10 for 5-8, a 5/10 for 1-4.

I was disappointed about the blonde witch with the nice boobs dying and thought she looked a heck of lot more like Triss we all know than the actress they choose

Spoiler

We don't know if Sabrina is dead. She was hurt by the fall and being blown off the tower, and had a brain worm take control of her, but Yennifer tells Tissaia that Sabrina "needs her help". The keep is then burned and Yennifer goes nuclear, but Sabrina could have been rescued and pulled out through a portal by one of the escaping mages if they want to bring her back in series 2.

 

[Vern1961]

Johdi May (Queen Calanthe)

I had to do a double take this was the same actress who played the younger sister in the Last Of The Mohicans movie.

 

[SPG]

Watched it all. Far better than I’d expected it to be. I found it a lot more enjoyable than Mandalorian.

Looking forward to further seasons.

Very much this.

The only negative i think is the budget and that is only apparent in the large scale battles they just felt a little underwhelming but then GOT raised the bar on how large scale battles need to be done, just was not enough people on set.

 

[CFD_cray]

confirmed for season 2. Might spend more money on the goodies like battles.

 

[B1gbeard]

Struggled to episode 4 now and it's no better.

I thought the story about Urcheon and Pavetta was brilliant in the books but is very poor in episode 4 with how it plays out. Just seemed to be used as an excuse to have a big fight and lost all of the suspense from the original story. Shame really as it is one of the highlights from the first book. It's a low point for TV Geralt as well if memory serves as in the book he defends Urcheon but goes out of his way to not slaughter loads of people (although after the fight there doesn't seem to be any body's strewn all over the floor anyway strangely).

So much social studies student level man's bad messages throughout Ep. 3 and 4 as well which again is a shame as the books deal so much better with social issues and politics that reflect real life. The people writing this stuff come across as placard bearing loonies.

Overall so far the acting, writing, direction and editing pales in comparison to GOT and it feels like they would have been better served following the books more with regards to story details as GOT did. Maybe a bigger budget in series 2 will help and many people seem to think the final episodes are the best so will get to the end.

 

[Converge]

I enjoyed it on the whole, some bits were overly silly/whimsical, but Cavill really helped bring the material together, Jaskier was a fun character and I thought the Yennefer actress was actually really good and not exactly hard on the eye... Some of the effects were cool, and the set design and costume design was well done for 95% of it (Nilfgard armour and hedgehog aside)
Triss on the other hand... was frickin' awful. I seem to also be the only person who thinks the actress who plays Queen Calanthe(Johdi May) was atrocious as well.

It was just getting going as a series at episode 8 and it finished! Definitely needs a longer run as it seems pretty rushed and they could have fleshed things out further.
Hopefully take a lot of the criticisms on board for series 2. Looking forward to it

 

[Sankari]

 

[uncle_rufus]

Just got the series finale to go tonight but have enjoyed it well enough... my two main criticisms (one is not really a criticism of the show):

I am already so sick of "toss a coin to your witcher"... we get it - you've seen the show, it's not a badge of honour or a little secret handshake... happens with everything though... "this is the way" "the cake is a lie" "pickle rick" "I am the one who knocks" hurr hurr yes I know, "fun police" reporting for duty - I don't know why it annoys me so much but it does

I think the acting across the board is really good, but not sure how I feel about the hugely difficult topic of the casting decisions... it's similar to the whole female thor/ghostbusters thing except those characters being male/female has virtually no bearing on the story/lore, but in the Witcher universe the differences between people from different regions does often factor into the way those groups interact and fuels much of the violence. So it's sort of like on the one hand I don't care who is cast in what role and appreciate that inclusivity is a good thing for the TV industry and culture in general, but on the other they've chosen material to base this on that by design wasn't very inclusive to begin with (and itself was based on a fantasised version of a historical point in time that also wasn't very diverse)

 

[Glanza]

 

[xaldub]

I enjoyed it on the whole, some bits were overly silly/whimsical, but Cavill really helped bring the material together, Jaskier was a fun character and I thought the Yennefer actress was actually really good and not exactly hard on the eye... Some of the effects were cool, and the set design and costume design was well done for 95% of it (Nilfgard armour and hedgehog aside)
Triss on the other hand... was frickin' awful. I seem to also be the only person who thinks the actress who plays Queen Calanthe(Johdi May) was atrocious as well.

It was just getting going as a series at episode 8 and it finished! Definitely needs a longer run as it seems pretty rushed and they could have fleshed things out further.
Hopefully take a lot of the criticisms on board for series 2. Looking forward to it

Count me as another - I didn't like her as Calanthe either. Overall I enjoyed the series but the acting was one of the weak elements for me, in the supporting cast at least anyway.

 

[kurosagi01]

I overall enjoyed watching the Netflix series, Henry Cavill I had doubts over but overall liked his performance, really enjoyed Jaskier actor and Yennefer actress performance aswell.
Seems both the netflix and CDPR have issue adapting Triss to TV/Game or rather presenting her to her book counterpart?
I'm currently playing Witcher 1 and Triss VA in english is different to 2&3 from what i've watched from videos and played briefly of 2 before jumping on 1. She sounds mature and acts very mature in 1 compared to 2 and of course they changed her appearance completely in the game.
The Netflix show got the appearance correct with the whole chestnut hair and freckles but she appeared very weak in battle on Sodden Hill, though lot of them look weak compared to Fringilla, Yennefer and Tissaia.
Hopefully in season 2 we will see a better Triss and have a slightly bigger role while Yennefer goes MIA.