Are there any Wheel of Time fans here on Hive? Are you out there, or am I here in this void alone?
Let me know in the comments if you're a WoT fan, if you've read the books and would like to discuss the series further in more detail. I'd be interested in doing a series of in depth WoT posts in order to create discussion if there is interest out there.
In the meantime this post is my high level review of the WoT TV series produced by Amazon. All images are from the show unless otherwise mentioned. There will be spoilers along the way.
The Wheel of Time
Wheel of Time is a massive fantasy book series written by the now deceased author Robert Jordan. With 14 books making up the main story and one prequel for history, it's needless to say that its quite the undertaking to read. I started reading it late in 2019 and I'm currently on book eight.
Amazon Prime recently bought the rights to the story as well and have produced an eight episode TV series with Rafe Judkins as the showrunner. The show has a massive budget for their first season too, a whopping 91 million USD for only eight episodes. To put that into perspective, HBO had nearly half of that when it created season one of Game of Thrones, only 50-60 million for 10 episodes. In my opinion a budget like that should almost guaranteed an amazing product.
As such, I originally had very high expectations for WoT going in. Unfortunately though, I realized pretty quickly that my expectations were way too high and immediately lowered them after episode one. By the end of episode eight I had all but thrown them out the window.
I went in knowing that the TV series could not follow the books exactly and that liberties would need to be taken. As such, I treated the show as it's own separate thing and tried not to get lost or too upset with any deviations from the original source material. I did have issues with some of the showrunners choices but overall most of my gripes are about the writing and the filming of it. There were some seriously poor choices made which ultimately ruined the show for me.
My personal opinion is that even though Rafe Judkins is a self acclaimed fan of The Wheel of Time, he may not be the right man for the job and I know that others online agree. After I watched the final episode I checked the Rafe Judkins Wikipedia page to read up on his background and saw that someone had actually edited the page to say that he is
"best known for being the showrunner that ruined the WoT series."
Lmao 🤣. I wish I would have taken a screen shot because it has since been removed and reverted back to what you see in the photo below.
All that aside though, let's get on with my review of what was so bad about the show.
Bad CGI
Well for starters, the CGI was absolutly horrendous. The trolloc attack in episode 8 is so terrible and fake looking that it reminded me of a low budget film from the late 90's or early 2000s. Massadar in Shadar Logoth was also underwhelming, the one power was super campy and tacky looking and the "dark one" looked ridiculous.
I don't understand how the CGI could be that bad with such a massive budget and when so many other shows and movies have done it right under similar circumstances. Ultimately though, the poor CGI makes the entire series feel like a low budget film.
Poor Pacing
Many people online had issues with the pacing and character development of the show and I definitely agree. It's terrible, both from a per episode standpoint and for the series overall. Remember how bad season 7 and 8 were of Game of Thrones when the Showrunners got bored with the project and decided to whip through the last two seasons so they could move on to other things? Yeah it's kind of like that. Episode 8 is the best example of this. If you had the option of telling one story really well or three very poorly, which would you choose? Its a "no brainer" to choose option one but episode 8 of WoT actually chose the latter. They tried to tell multiple stories simultaneously as well as set up the next season, all within a single episode. The result was that all of the stories were told poorly and the viewer ultimately didn't care about any of them. The show probably needed two more episodes to do the episode and series properly.
Bad Acting, Poor Script Writing and Goofy Costumes
Another issue was with the acting, which was quite bad in many of the scenes. This was likely due to bad script writing opposed to the actors themselves. I basically cringed any time the women channeled. I tried to ignore the awkward little dances they made before doing magic but I about died in episode 8 when the five linked channelers were standing there with their arms out in the air, shaking their body's like they were being electrocuted or something.
Lmao 🤣. It was just so ridiculous looking. Idiotic really. A poorly written script made for acting that was forced, unnatural looking and ultimately unbelievable.
Some of the costumes were just downright goofy as well. I hope to God they fix the look of the Seanchan before airing season 2.
Inclusivity for Inclusivity's Sake
Another thing that was ripe within the series was inclusivity for inclusivity sake, or to quote a pal of mine, some "forced woke bullshit." These moments were sprinkled throughout the show and to me they just came across as contrived and in some cases, mere silly nonsense.
An example would be suggesting that the women could be the Dragon Reborn (DR), a nonsensical plot line that served no beneficial purpose to the story. It really just comes across as contrived inclusivity.
The Dragon Reborn being a man is vital to the WoT story and mythos and the characters within the world, especially the Aes Sedai, know that the DR is supposed to be a male. In fact, if the DR was a female then there wouldn't be a story to tell.
Rafe Judkins wrote that the decision was made in order to create mystery for viewers who hadn't read the books but the DR wasn't explained well in season one anyway so the benefit of that mystery was miniscule and cost could be great for continuity of the story and the mythos set out in the WoT universe. The explanation of the cycle of Heros of Legend has to be explained in a different way now and it calls into question many of the worlds prophecies about the DR. Ultimately, it was a poor choice to alter the original story with very little pay off.
There were all kinds of flat out nonsense thrown in as well. One example would be in episode 8 when Nynaeve tells Lan how to track Moraine. Here we are to believe that a warder from the borderlands needs a woman to teach him how to track Morraine, who happens to be traveling with a 6+ foot tall sheep herder who appears on film to just be tromping through the mud, moss and thick vines of the blight. What could she possibly have said in that conversation that was so ground breaking? "Follow the footprints and broken branches Lan." 🙄
Since Lan and Nynaeve could have had their confession of love conversation without that nonsensical tidbit, it really just comes across as more needless woke bullshit.
Terribly Executed False Death and Magic without Borders
In Episode 8 they literally killed off a main character and then brought them back to life instantaneously in one of the most poorly executed false death scenes that I've ever witnessed on film. A "false death" is a film trope that's meant to have an emotional impact on the viewer. This only works though if the viewer is invested in the character and feels a strong emotional attachment to them. The viewer also needs time for the moment to sink in, to mourn the loss so to speak, or at the very least to question whether or not the character is really dead or not. In the case of WoT the character was killed and then revived with mere seconds which makes the gesture, unemotional, unimpactful and ultimately meaningless. It also calls into the question the rules of magic within the WoT universe and opens the door for a sort of magic without borders scenario. If characters can be brought back to life at anytime and under any circumstances then viewers will undoubtedly question and crisisize any future death within the series. It also makes things like Morraine being "stilled" completely meaningless. If magic can bring people back to life, if it can heal a person who was "burnt out," then fixing a person who was stilled should be easy, no?
Bonus Nonsense
It seems that Rafe Judkins threw in some bonus nonsense to get you excited for season 2 as well. In the final episode the Seanchan arrive and send a 200 foot tidal wave into the shores of a nearly empty island beach. Why? To kill 1 child? To destroy a city on the other side of the mountain and then rebuild it and enslave the dead?
Will that wave bounce off the mountains and cliffs of the island and come right back at the Seanchan ships? Then what? They'll use more magic to counter their own mistake?
Obviously the Seanchan are being portrayed much differently than the books here. It seems that they are taking a pre-emptive, destroy everyone approach to conquering a land and its people. But seriously, what's the point of nonsense like that? My guess is that nothing related to that scene will be explained in the next season, it's just bonus nonsense to get the viewer excited for season 2. If that is the case though then it means that there is no thought going into the script writing and that things are being done simply to look "cool." Bad decisions are the theme here.
Conclusion
Despite my harsh criticisms above, there were many parts throughout the series that I did enjoy and I think that some of the alterations to the story (not mentioned in this article) were smart and did make sense. I think overall for me the show comes across as cheap and campy and decisions are being made by the showrunner that are poor and in some cases completely idiotic.
I have heard that Amazon has increased the budget for season 2 and I sincerely hope that they correct some of the bad decisions made in season 1 and think about what they are doing in future episodes.