So I will keep my thoughts spoiler free, but i hope to be seeing the first 2 episodes tonight on imax. There were a few cities doing a 2 episode premiere theater experience, and I got wait list tickets. They said they purposefully sell it out to guarantee a full event, but I'm going to get there 2 hours early and see if I can get a seat. I missed the twitter post by a few days but hopefully it works out. If not, it'll be Sunday before I can watch as I'll have a crazy weekend. And there's 3 dropping Friday so it's 2 tonight so I'll still eventually be behind ya'll when everyone watches on the drop Friday. If I do see it, I'll drop back in with vague and spoiler free thoughts about it. EDIT: Didn't go back and read all the chatter about this.. seems like a few others also got in. Even if I don't, I'll be back to see your guys thoughts.
I will be watching them Friday evening after I drive to Nashville. Waiting until then will make Friday immensely difficult. Jealous of everyone going tonight.
The promo game has been amazing recently. Watched a few Red Carpets and seeing the cast being interviewed and the show runners etc was just amazing. Stoked to see this come to life. I didn't get tickets unfortunately but did get COVID (yey!) so I'll be watching from my couch on Friday and hope to chat with you all afterwards. I know there will be changes, both good and bad, but damn I'm excited to just see this.
I'm curious how they'll handle the different countries, cultures, accents, etc. Such a huge aspect of the books that could be hard to pull off.
It's just a way to market the start of the series to new listeners. The other audiobook versions will always be there but I can see why they'd chosen a high-profile actor to go back in and narrate the first book only. Much like Andy Serkis going back and doing the LOTR series. I still like listening to Rob Ingles.
my buddy just texted me "I'm in Miami for work and the movie theater next to my hotel is showing the first two episodes and I just walked over and got a ticket." Ughhhhh
First two episodes reaction this is good! Loving the sets and the scenery. The music is good. The action is great. It's a lot more brutal than I expected, and seems more mature in general As far as being faithful to the books, the story beats are close so far, if moving faster than I expected. Most of the changes I've seen are in the character dynamics and gender stuff. There was one big thing in episode one that bothered me, and it's the one alluded to in the Tor article that was posted last week. There's a character in episode two I was not expecting to see anytime soon but the portrayal is so good I'm psyched It's a shame Mat was recast, I am enjoying him a lot Really love seeing these characters brought to the screen. I was worried this might be cheesy or whatever but it really seems like that isn't the case
So yea.... Overall i enjoyed it and the acting, casting, special effects, etc are all on point. There are a few very major changes that after some thought, should work with the books character arcs, but in a theater of 200 wheel of time fans, there were still some surprises. Definitely not cheesey or YA to me and just thinking about whats to come is so exciting. I think itll catch on for non book fans for sure as its done really well. Big enough for 8-10 seasons? Who knows...
Excited to see that the reactions are mostly positive, especially from WoT fans. Most have said the same thing about pacing, Mat etc but i'm still damned excited.
What were some of the complaints...??? I looked for reactions and couldn't really find much. The last stuff I could find were people getting ready to go into the premieres, but nothing really after that...
Seems like a plot point with Perrin is slightly divisive, as well as everything moving too fast compared to the books, but if that's it I'm guessing I will love it.
Complaining is the wrong word, I guess. Gripes, maybe? How certain characters start such as Rand and Egwene having a sexual relationship and Perrin being married and accidentally killing his wife during the Trolloc attack and the pacing. If that's all that people have to say negatively then I am even more excited than I was before! Heard some GOOD things about how scary the Trollocs are though![/spoiler] I also don't know the validity of these because I haven't seen it. Can't remember who but someone asked Josha what he is most looking forward to filming in the future and and he said the box which I thought was great! The red carpet premier really sold me on the cast and crew and how invested they all really are.
Also, the review embargo doesn't lift until Friday iirc, so that's why we're not seeing too much sneak out.
Yeah when I read that I was a little taken aback too. Most say it feels like a necessary beat so people have a physical representation of why Perrin is afraid of his own strength.