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ladyknight33 · 2 months

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Opinons on the New Style of Live Action Storytelling

Tl:dr: The 8 episode format for the new Live Action stories is too limited for the complex stories of the original source material. Action scenes and Magical displays are not substitutes for building tension and climatic battles. The characters and storytellers deserve better.

As much as I am enjoying this new era of small screen scripted fiction through the streaming services, I am a bit disappointed in how rushed every show feels. The six to eight episodes force the story to hit key points without allowing the story to actually breathe and endear itself to the viewers.

First of all, I do not believe all stories must be done in the Live Action format because locks the world into the physics we understand within our own physical world. This limits much of the imaginative qualities a work of fiction inspires.

Example: when watching an animated Star Wars Jedi do amazing feats accredited to the Force, it is spectacular and defies the known laws of physic. When a live action Jedi attempts the same feats, the action is dulled down to fit the current CGI limitations. This holds true for any magic or anything non-real.

This leads into a second issue live action formats fall victim to: intense focus on special effects. Storytelling is forced to take a backseat to the long sequences of beautiful CGI images or fight scenes. T.V. and Film are visual media and they thrive on fantastic imagery. These scenes are necessary when trying to tell a visual story, but not when it takes away from character development and slows the pace of the story.

Example: The epic fantasy series I grew up reading, The Wheel of TimeI, was long due for a visual adaptation. I have accepted that the show is not the book, but there are pacing issues that could have been avoided if the limited time had not been spent on the intense focus of weaving magic or on action sequences that took the majority of the episode.

The pacing issues are found when significant plot points must be achieved within a limited time, to the detriment of character development, dialogue, and space for the viewer to absorb what is happening. Plot points are the anchors of the story. They are what pulls characters across continents to fulfill destinies. But the story is what happens along the way.

The plot points of Lord of the Rings are how Frodo gets the ring, is told to destroy it, and finally destroying it. The story is the emotional and physical toll it takes on Frodo and his companions on the way to destroy the ring. The pacing must allow for this internal conflict to which is so central to Frodo’s development. Action scenes are the point where all the built up tension must break. Jumping from action to action, fight to fight, gives no time for the conflict to build.

Example: Avatar: The Last Airbender is an epic tale of young teens trying to save the world. But they encounter so much during their journey that it takes 20 episodes to tell the first part of the story. The live action is only allowed 8 episodes to introduce the four main characters and the many important secondary characters, and then take them across the four nations, improve their talents, create love interests (Sokka really has two women fall in love with him on two separate occasions in under a day? Really?), and every episode must have an epic fight scene which does little but show the impressive powers of Bending.

It doesn’t seem fair.

Why does a book that requires nearly a thousand page to tell a complex story get reduced to 8 episodes. Why does an animated series that required 20 episodes to tell a complex story get reduced to 8 episodes. Why does a manga which required a hundred chapters or 50 episodes to tell a complex story get reduced to 8 episodes.

Who decided 8 episodes was the new standard? Even at almost an hour long, 8 episodes constrain the story and leave the audience annoyed and how much potential was wasted.

The anime One Piece is another epic story I grew up with and am still thoroughly enjoying. It doesn’t seem fair that it was reduced to 8 episodes. The series still had the same trouble as all live action remakes, but they embraced the new format and retold the story with the limited time. It cut many scenes I personally enjoyed and believed to be integral to character development (I’m looking at Zoro’s fight with Arlong and Sanji rescuing Luffy from drowning) but it allowed time for the characters to interact and find a balance. The special effects are blended into the story telling and not showcased in their own long, though pretty, sequences.

Even the shows created with the 8 episode limited series in mind have trouble getting the right blend of character development and epic fight scenes.

Obi-wan Kenobi had great potential but left viewers unsatisfied. Ahsoka fell into the same pattern of long silent solo scenes or abrupt violent clashes. For me Ahsoka at least felt like a very long movie if watched in one sitting. Kenobi left me wanting to know more about the new character, Reva, but she was stuck as a one dimensional villain in favor of a Darth Vader Kenobi duel. Ahsoka spent much of its time trying to introduce the characters and plot of Star Wars: Rebels and revisiting Ahsoka’s past that they almost forgot that they were trying to tell a new story.

Each of these shows have great scenes and showcase wonderful characters. The creators of these shows have wonderful shows that came before.

The 8 episode choice is a poor one. It must be longer than a movie but shorter than a stander T.V. series. The stories chosen are far more complicated than what a movie can handle but need more time to truly develop into an epic story that is revered by audiences long after its conclusion. Yes, I’m referring to Avatar: The Last Airbender Animated Series.

A story as complex as The Wheel of Time or One Piece deserves a T.V. soap opera treatment. The Live Action Avatar: The Last Airbender needs at least twice as many episodes to follow the characters and show their development without everything feeling cramped and rushed. Ahsoka could have been a two night event. A two hour movie on each night, one before Peridia and one after. Kenobi would have benefited from at least two more episodes to allow Reva to really shine as a new villain or to have removed the character all together.

After a long drought of scripted sci/fi and fantasy, I am thrilled to see the development of all of these stories. I can’t wait for more. But I am terrified that this 8 episode format is going to kill the movement because none of these stories have the staying power or time to draw in new audiences.

Remakes are lovely, but if they are only done as fan-service or fulfillment of a single person’s desire to have their name on it, then don’t. Live action has some how become synonymous with legitimacy. As if animation is not simply a method of storytelling, but as a child only form. Live action should bring in new audiences to beloved stories, not infuriate the old. The pace of storytelling should be of prime importance, not constrained to an arbitrary number of episodes.

So I am saying farewell to the many scenes I wished could be recreated in this world of live actions remakes. We each have them. And I retain hope that new seasons and series will do better.

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aldieb · 6 months

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i wish i knew what it was like watching this w/o reading the books… like who cares about the random hot shienaran dude randomly dying in an alley if you don’t have the background on ingtar and what that meant 🥲

#wot blogging #unfortunately/luckily episode 8 slaps

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alectology-archive · 1 year

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I saw that post about tgh/tdr being adapted and like. yeah, rand has very fundamentally different journeys in the two books in ways that are very clever and dear to me but it’s alright for television as a medium to condense stuff. that’s just how adaptations work. and yes, the two endings are repetitive - to a close enough degree that although I prefer reading them as two separate books, I’m not sure it would work as an adaptation. (I think thematic explorations and narrative points that are very good on pay offs for readers but not necessarily well-translatable to the screen can tend to be a wider category than people realise.)

#and arguably the s1 ending does tackle the tdr plotline already?#the first three books are very tonally different and lotr-esque while the next chunk of the series inspired asoiaf lol and you cannot have #both vibes going! 8 episodes per season is not nearly enough for that!#I do agree that picking moiraine as the main character was a mistake even if I love her shdhsfehdh #text #this is not a vague post or anything ahdheudhdh I just don’t want to come off as discourse-y! so just. rambling.#I think the show’s quality is not as good as it could have been but an adaptation will inevitably explore the same themes in different ways #and I think they should be given the space to do so as long as they stick to the spirit of it #anyway the other characters barely do anything in those two books so it would be difficult to justify the narrative void it would introduce #wot

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llycaons · 2 years

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aw I'm almost caught up to EHR :( no point in taking a break now since I'll only get one episode a week pretty soon

#what listening at 1.5x speed because I don't care about their irrelevant personal stories does to a mfer #they're starting book 10...wow only four to go #they've been 20-30 eps per book bc each book have 50 chapters fairly consistently #and sometimes they only do one ch bc it's too long so #they're 80 episodes out at least and probably closer to 240 #okay I guess we'll be together for the next 1.5-4 years. insane #oh dear god they've been going at it since 2018 #they're spending 6 - 8 years of their LIFE doing this #the strength. the conviction. the dedication #wot lb

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butterflydm · 8 months

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wot rewatch (book spoilers edition): 2x5

Not only is this one going to have spoilers for all the aired episodes plus any teasers (including the trailer for episode 6), it will also have book spoilers through book 14: A Memory of Light.

An interesting change from the books is Suroth calling Loial a slave -- in the books, the Ogier of the elite guard are very specifically not enslaved (I wonder if they got as badly jacked up by the Longing as the ones in the Westlands but their 'solution' ended up involving the Empress and the Crystal Throne somehow?). Since this exception is never explained in the books, I don't have any issue with it being changed.

2. I also think we are getting some really good set-up here for a potential fracture in the Seanchan once we get deeper into the series -- a fulfillment of the narrative promise that Jordan set up in books 2-9 but then backed away from once we hit Crossroads of Twilight & Knife of Dreams. I'm hopeful that we're actually going to get the Seanchan civil war that the books never gave us but that they desperately needed in order for Mat's characterization to make any damn sense in CoT & KoD.

3. The idea that Ishamael is being something akin to Suroth's Truthspeaker makes a lot of sense (I think only the Imperial family has Truthspeakers in the books? but it makes sense to expand them outward).

4. That Fain plays the game so well with Turak here can serve as a hint that he's playing the subservience game with Ishamael as well (who killed the Fade? in other words).

5. The saa in Lanfear's eyes! I love that we're getting a super-charged look at the True Power this early on. I definitely approve of the change of the Forsaken getting brought back with the True Power rather than being put in new bodies -- that can work in a book, but in a show, you want to keep your actors. Especially when they're so good!

6. The Elyas scene does feel like Elyas is essentially doing triple-duty this season: he's himself (Wolfbrother lore dump); he's Hurin (sniffer who leads them after Fain); he's Noam (completely detached from his previous human life).

7. I do like how Elyas feels... somewhat amoral (not immoral!) -- he cares about his fellow wolves (including Perrin) and only his fellow wolves. Obviously, part of the reason that's there is so that viewers will wonder if Ishamael (the Father of Lies) was telling the truth about Perrin becoming closer to the Shadow the closer he gets to the wolves but that's... a good thing, I think, for Perrin's narrative arc. It gives him a grounded reason to try to avoid embracing the wolves. The show has done a really good job in giving characters believable motivations for their behavior.

Show: has Elyas diss every human that Perrin cares about because he's trying to tell Perrin that he belongs with the wolves and not the humans.

Some Book Readers: Ah-ha! Laila wasn't his pack? Darkfriend!

It was just so clear to me, in watching the episode, that Elyas mentioning Perrin's wife was the last straw that made Perrin push him away. It was not meant as a Darkfriend hint of any kind! Elyas did not know Laila as a person! He does not care about Laila as a person! It's pretty clear that he only cares about Perrin (because he's a fellow Wolfbrother). That's why he only saved Perrin from the caravan; that's why he led Perrin eastward instead of west. He has zero interest in putting himself in danger to help humans; he does not identity with humans.

8. Ooo, I wonder if we're going to see Perrin's wolf name visualized at some point by the wolves -- Young Bull with his axe that is also his horns, strong and protective. Again, the show has done such a good job in showing us the Perrin that I think Jordan wanted us to see but that he didn't quite manage -- pretty much every show-only reactor sees Perrin as genuinely considerate and empathetic and believes that he has a good heart and wouldn't leave people to suffer.

9. Brilliant choice to have Aviendha introduced here and be part of Perrin's storyline. I do really like how Elayne, Aviendha, and Min have all been part of another main character's plotline before anything implied romantic between them and Rand happens. Hopefully, the show does the same thing with Tuon in the season when she gets introduced. I'm going to guess that (rather than going along with Perrin because of Faile) Bain and Chiad are going to help Aviendha meet her toh towards Perrin once she's told that she needs to become a Wise One apprentice and Bain and Chiad will travel with him to the Two Rivers. I suspect that Gaul will be introduced next season as well.

10. I also really like the way they set up Dain and Perrin's future dynamic here as well -- Dain realizes that Perrin is from the Two Rivers, so that gives him a reason to go there after he (mistakenly?) thinks that Perrin has killed his father. I do wonder whether or not Fain will go to the Two Rivers at all. It's kinda... crowded over there, since we know that Slayer was cast (I think). There isn't, imo, any real need for Fain to corrupt the Whitecloaks in the show -- I feel like they can corrupt themselves just fine. (I kinda feel that way about Elaida too) -- and it might be good to tie Fain back into Rand and/or Mat's plotlines.

11. The Seanchan and the Whitecloaks both have a 'evil but not the evil of the Dark One' situation going on, and we kinda get that here, with the (new) innkeeper being even more unhappy with being occupied by Whitecloaks than by the Seanchan. I actually like that they have the new innkeeper here selfishly being okay with the Seanchan -- the issue that I had with various plotlines in CoT & KoD wasn't "it's unrealistic for anyone to be collaborators with the slavers", of course some/many people are selfish enough that it doesn't matter to them that some people get enslaved as long as it isn't them; it was an issue with specific characters turning collaborator without there being anywhere near enough work in the characterization or narrative to justify it. That was the issue that I had.

Especially since this same conversation does illustrate how selfish this man's PoV is, if you pay attention to the dialogue. The old innkeeper's granddaughter was kidnapped by the Seanchan -- SHE would not agree with him that they're totally chill if you only just swear the oaths.

12. Seeing Lady Suroth like this, 'dressed down', as it were, gave me quite a start. She looks almost naked without the super-long nails and the helmet and with me being able to see that she has no eyebrows. Like, it gives her a big 'pathetic and vulnerable' vibe even though she's been just as awful as she was in her introduction.

And it makes me wonder... are people who are sympathetic to Tuon in Crossroads of Twilight and Knife of Dreams also more likely to be good at visualization when they read? Because, personally, I don't see pictures in my head when I read books. I think it's part of the reason why I can so easily accept adaptations in the first place -- there's no prior image that I need to override. I had no firm mental image of how 'Rand' or 'Nynaeve' or anyone looked in the books, so the actors can easily become that person for me. It's all just... words in my head for me. The most that I ever visualize is something akin to black and white abstract sketches.

How this relates to Tuon: one of the deeply frustrating things about CoT+ Mat to me is how he behaves like Tuon is 'not like the other Seanchan' even though her behavior on the page is just as rancid and terrible as any other Blood. But, in her descriptions in CoT & KoD, she doesn't visually resemble other Seanchan anymore -- her hair is growing out, she's in Westlands clothing instead of Seanchan High Blood clothing. But as someone who doesn't visualize characters and scenes when I'm reading a book, the clothes that a character is wearing has little to no impact on my perception of them as a character.

Is it different if you do/can visualize how differently Tuon looks when she's traveling with Mat vs how she looked when she was embedded in the Seanchan power structure? Because it really does genuinely confuse me when I see people repeat what Mat says about her being different from the other Seanchan because her behavior is just... identical to all the other Seanchan Blood from what I've seen in the books -- intensely political and manipulative; firmly supports and believes in slavery; gets off on torture and abuses her slaves even while believing that she's the bestest and kindest slave owner in the world; thinks of herself as inherently better because she's Of The Blood, etc. I remember when Mat places her in the same 'better than other nobles' category as Talmanes in KoD, my brain just bluescreened because he's consistently been shown on the page that she's still just as awful as the others (the chapter where she literally collars and tortures three of his allies is certainly never anything I'm forgetting, even if Mat 'goldfish' Cauthon forgot about it five minutes after it happened). But, yeah, if you visualize characters and scenes when reading books, do those visuals have an impact on how you think of the characters?

(on a character level, I understand why Mat would lie to himself about Tuon if he genuinely believes himself to be trapped in a marriage with her -- the issue with that is two-fold though: a. with Mat's other lies to himself, we are given outside context with other PoVs and behavior from other characters to see that he's lying while in CoT and KoD, we're pretty firmly locked into Mat's warped perspective, and b. Jordan did a shit job of showing why Mat gave up so quickly and just believed that he's doomed to be married to Tuon without him making ANY attempts at fighting the prophecy)

13. Looking forward to the future... I do suspect that we'll still get Semirhage trying to shape and mold Tuon (unless we don't get enough seasons), but I think in the end (exploring @sixth-light's idea about having a split Seanchan Empire instead of having the Sharans), we may end up with Suroth in charge of one half of the Seanchan (who will fight for the Shadow) and one half led by Tuon (who will fight for the Light) and that we will, hopefully, be getting a Tuon who actually has to confront what being a sul'dam means and that the Seanchan will fracture on the issue of slavery (which would make their American accents even more apt) instead of the Westlands characters becoming friends and lovers with gleefully cruel slavers. Having Tuon's 'stubbornness' and pushback against Semirhage actually lead to her questioning the established order would be so much more powerful than her stubbornness being used as an excuse for her dodging and avoiding any character growth for the entire time that she hangs around.

14. I hope that Aviendha's amusement here over Perrin's protectiveness is perhaps going to be more of the vibe we get with Rand & the Maidens once that relationship gets going. Rand really doesn't have the same reasons (so far) to be as unreasoningly overprotective of them as he is in the books, since the Two Rivers in the show aren't Weird about women in danger the way that the books are. It's very much a Perrin hangup because of his wife and we've seen it develop over time. And if Rand feels some protectiveness, I'd like it to be tied more towards him feeling like he doesn't want to lose any of his newfound family.

15. It feels clear that Moiraine is absolutely still bound by the Three Oaths. She obviously WANTS to lie in the scene where she's introducing Rand to Anvaere and Barthanes, but she isn't able to. It's played very much the same way as when she was caught in the Oath last season (one of the funniest moments in S1 is when she wants to tell the Two Rivers' kids that she trusts them now but she absolutely doesn't trust them and can't say the words).

16. So, who in this scene is a Darkfriend. I suspect that Barthanes is and I suspect that Anvaere is not. Anvaere's information session with Moiraine last episode completely destroyed the Shadow's plans for Rand -- it could be the Shadow tripping over itself but I suspect it's just that Anvaere is what she seems to be -- a very political but non-Shadow-aligned person.

17. I wonder if the end of the next episode is going to timeskip us the few weeks to the wedding (thus making it so that Egwene spends several weeks in 'training') -- or maybe we'll timeskip between episodes 6&7. From the preview, it looks like we're going to spend some serious time showing how horrible and dehumanizing the damane 'training' is. What they might do is show us the initial beginning of it -- and then we jump forward and see how things are after several weeks? The mention of the wedding just feels... potentially significant, since it's not from the books. This would give Perrin time to travel to Falme with Aviendha; Mat and Min would have time to get to Cairhien; Elayne and Nynaeve would have time to bond; and Siuan would also have time to get to Cairhien, since we know she goes there at some point. And it might mean that, along with Egwene getting her 'training' from Renna, we might also get Rand getting some training from Logain and potentially Lan as well.

18. I love Verin kickstarting the Black Ajah Hunt so much. I already talked about this a lot in my earlier post about Darkfriends, so I won't get into it here but: fantastic choice. It does imply to me that we don't really need the Wondergirls to go back to the Tower next season to get their Black Ajah Hunting instructions, since there's already a Hunt started by full Sisters. Which I would be fine with -- they literally spend less than a week in the White Tower in book 3. They dip in for Egwene & Elayne's tests, to get more instructions from Siuan, and then dip out again. I feel like the show could easily have them decide to hunt the Black Ajah of their own accord (Nynaeve in particular has a reason to want to go after Liandrin).

19. I do not think that Sheriam knows that Verin is 'Black Ajah' or that Liandrin is (more genuinely) Black Ajah. She and Liandrin were at odds too much earlier in the season over Nynaeve imo. Joiya, otoh, I think might know that Liandrin is also Black Ajah, because she immediately backed Liandrin up in the big group discussion.

20. "We respect the One Power so much that we don't believe that anyone should wield it by accident of birth". I've seen other people (reactors on youtube) wondering if this conversation means that the Seanchan already know that sul'dam are learners, since they talk about training the sul'dam for years and them earning the right to use the One Power, but this line in particular makes me feel like they don't know. Because sul'dam are only sul'dam because of an 'accident of birth' as well. I'm sure that we'll find out, because the realization of the sul'dam secret was a pretty huge moment with Egwene in the books (even if Min & Nynaeve appeared to have completely forgotten the information when they were spending time with Rand later in the series) so it will definitely stand out if it gets played differently and Renna doesn't get that horror of realizing that she, too, is marath'damane.

21. I've also seen people wonder why the damane & sul'dam didn't catch on that Liandrin was channeling to wake the girls and free Nynaeve, but she was channeling that entire time (to hold open the Waygate) so her tiny weave would have been masked by the larger one.

22. Aviendha's attitude towards obligation and honor is going to be such an interesting contrast to how weighed down Rand is by his obligations. Looking forward to them getting some good scenes together in s3.

23. I hope Egwene gets to hit Renna over the head in this version too. And collar her to the wall. I can already tell that this is going to be painful and intense. I did notice that a lot of show-only reactors have NOT picked up on how terrifying and awful the damane slavery is yet, but I feel like the show is going to make it very clear in the next episode. (I don't know how you can look at Egwene in pain here and not already understand but... next week should make things crystal clear).

The preview did show us how... earnest (ugh) Renna is going to be in her 'training' of Egwene. The way she called the damane kennels "your new home" and the (horrifying) sincerity in her voice.

I'm actually wondering if Egwene is going to be freed in episode 7, before Rand gets to Falme, since Perrin and Aviendha are headed in the direction of Falme and it's Perrin who is attached to the Ingtar and Horn storylines and not Rand (who didn't even find out that the Horn is a thing that exists until 2x3). Because Rand isn't actually involved in her rescue in the books iirc -- that was Elayne and Egwene (with Min tagging along). He spots her and seeing her is why he refuses to leave, but since he's going there for his own purposes unrelated to the Horn in this version (I assume), then he doesn't need that extra push to stay. From the preview for episode 6, it kinda sounds like Loial & co are going to try to help her be freed but I'm not sure if it'll work that soon.

Expecting next episode to be extremely rough, emotionally.

Additional spoilers/speculation based on imdb listings (which may not be entirely accurate):

The actress who played Maigan in S1 is listed as being in the next three episodes (6, 7, 8). She was planning to go west to investigate the rumors. She has not been seen in the White Tower this season. The actress who is playing Ryma is only listed for episodes 5 & 6. Renna is listed for all the remaining episodes; Seta is listed for the final two episodes. That just all seems like interesting information to me, though again, imdb.

Complete side note, episode 7 is the episode that Hayley Mills is listed for. I wonder if she's the Queen of Cairhien that Barthanes is marrying.

#butterfly watches wot #wot #wheel of time #wot on prime #wot show spoilers #wot prime spoilers #wot s2 spoilers #wheel of time s2 spoilers #wot book spoilers #a memory of light #wot 2x5 spoilers

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alphacentaurinebula · 7 months

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WOT - Lan's storyline

I have been loving WoT s2 and feel like overall the changes they've made have been for the better. But of course I'm now going to spend ages talking about the small bit of it I DON'T like (cough, fandom), because there is one element I am really not enjoying and that is Lan's storyline.

I really like Alanna and her warders in the show (she was very much not my fav character in the books) and I enjoyed the chance to see into their world more in Ep 4 (when we saw their lives together, their relationship, Alanna's family...). I liked the insight into this different warder dynamic. And i just super love Maksim. If we had 15 episode seasons, this would feel like a brilliant way to enrich the storyworld and secondary characters.

But given how much story they are packing in for everyone else, and how little time we actually HAVE in 8 episodes, this whole plotline has just felt like treading water/wasted time.

I don't feel like we've learned anything interesting about Lan, in the way Moiraine's storyline has been filled with both character revelation and backstory. He's broody? I think we knew that already. He's not into threesomes? Disappointing for Future Nyneave, but not exactly crucial information here!

And also Lan is just like...so dumb? Everyone and their mother understands how Moiraine got around the 3 oaths to say she didn't see them as equals. I get it, he's hurt, but...dude! And I've seen complaints (from book readers) that it was wrong of Alanna et al to accuse Lan of being a darkfriend because of his background, but that is rubbish. This world is set up so that literally no one above suspicion of being a darkfriend. It makes sense they'd be suspicious of him.

Which makes it even more ABSURD that he isn't suspicious of them, and instead just blurts out this MASSIVE secret about the Dragon Reborn. I know the Alanna squad set themselves up as not dark friends by accusing Lan, but that could have been manipulation! He's ridiculously trusting to tell them about the dragon reborn.

I know he's pissed with Moiraine and doesn't understand her plans or trust her as he once did...but this revealing of a secret they'd worked 20 years for, just seems...really flipping DUMB!

I know loads of people love Lan in the books but I find him super boring and basically only care about him and his fate because I love Nyneave so much. I really wish we weren't wasting screen time on him and a pointless plotline in a season where everything else is working so well.

#wot #wheel of time on prime #the wheel of time #wheel of time #wot spoilers #wot book spoilers #wot prime spoilers #wot season 2 #wot on prime #wot 2x06

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buffyfan145 · 7 months

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Got the latest "Rings of Power" season 2 spoilers from Fellowship of Fans today but starting out with actual news about the show in general and when it'll likely air!!! :D

Amazon is planning to have the show be done in post-production by June 2024. This indicates a fall 2024 release as compared to season one they finished post-production in May and it started airing in September. Most of us have been thinking it'll be fall of 2024 due to multiple factors with the strikes, no promotion so far this year, skipping both major Comic Cons in San Diego and New York, and then Amazon also having their other popular fantasy series "The Wheel of Time" and not wanting these two shows to compete against each other. I've seen others speculate too it's likely now both these shows will air in opposite years to avoid this as 2021 was s1 of "WoT", last year was "TROP", this year was s2 of "WoT", 2024 will be s2 of "TROP, 2025 s3 of "Wot", 2026 s3 of "TROP", and so on. So likely "TROP" will be at both SDCC and NYCC next year too.

Now onto the major spoilers!!! :D

The first scoop was that Charlie Vickers and the actor playing what FOF called the "Original Form" but is likely Annatar filmed a very important scene together that the showrunners were present for. This was filmed before the writers strike happened in May too and the showrunners insisted on being present for this scene. In the YouTube video the FOF's hosts all think this scene is likely either showing either Halbrand/Sauron turning into Annatar in front of Adar before going to Eregion and the audience is in on this plot, or that Annatar shapeshifts back into Halbrand in front of Galadriel and Celeborn in the season finale battle shocking not only them but the audience which was a scoop we had a few weeks ago. :)

FOF clarified too in the YT vid that this scene is not a flashback. Also they insisted again that there's no indication that this Annatar actor is staying past this storyline and is only a recurring guest-star compared to Charlie being a series regular and the main actor as Sauron for the rest of the series. Supposed the Annatar storyline is also only in episodes 6-8 at the most. Though was funny hearing in the YT vid the hosts compare this to "Sailor Moon" transforming. LOL But realistically they think like myself that it'll be similar to how we've seen other shapeshifters like Loki, Mystique, Martian Manhunter, and more do it on-screen in live-action shows and movies.

Then the final scoop was that Círdan will make his debut in the season 2 premiere!!! :D I didn't think he would show up that early but excited for it. Very curious as to how as supposedly the premiere is Sauron centric but this could still work too to show Círdan. In the YT vid they also talked more about him and if his story will connect with the other elves and if he'll get his ring Narya this early or later, and if this will tie into the storyline with The Stranger (possibly Gandalf) and Nori as we've had very little spoilers on their storyline besides them filming in Spain. Still don't know Círdan's actor yet either but again excited to see how this plays out.

#the lord of the rings #the rings of power #spoilers #sauron #halbrand #mairon #annatar #charlie vickers #adar #galadriel #haladriel #galadriel x halbrand #celeborn #cirdan #gandalf #the stranger #nori brandyfoot

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lordgolden · 8 months

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thought I should make a post reminding ya’ll of my wheel of time tags for filtering since s2 airs TOMORROW!!!! I’ll be watching right at 8 p.m. EST

gen tags: #wot on prime, #wot s2

liveblogging: #sarah watches wot

episode tags, ex: #2x01 a taste of solitude

spoiler tags: #wot show spoilers (anything new from s2), #wot book spoilers (anything not yet covered by the show)

this blog is show only friendly btw :) just make sure you block #wot book spoilers

#wot on prime #wheel of time #wot s2 #I’ll prob do a general liveblog first watch through then a more in depth LB before ep 4 airs :)

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lavendelhummel · 3 days

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I was tagged by @onaperduamedee to do this game, thank you for that!! I obviously am not good at short questions-short answers but I will do my best ;)

Last song: I started my top100 of 2023 list from Spotify while dying my hair earlier, so there was a good mix. The last one I consciously remember was Ne m’applle pas, by Coeur de Pirate. (ah, looking for that link, I saw that there was Requiem on Water (yes, from the twilight soundtrack) Talking to the Moon, Greensleeves, Bobby, and currently River from the Sky, playing in between)

Currently watching: Star Trek Voyager! I enjoy it so much! It’s fun and I like the characters so much! I like how they care for each other and that the relationsips are so various and most of them not romantically but non the less important. They seem so real. And I enjoy the fact that it’s episodic plots and a lot slower than newer series a lot at the moment. I was overwhelmed with the fast paced dramatic stories and got stressed out by things I actually like. Voyager is calmer and let’s me actually relax, so that’s great.

Three ships: Siuaraine (Wheel of Time), Bering and Wells (Warehouse 13), and… those are the two I am hung up about. Oh, I also wrote fic for Marla/Fran from I care a lot. But not currently. I am currently positively surprised by liking a hetero ship for the first time in years, Tom/B’Elanna from Voyager, it’s cool to see that when the characters are well done, I can also like them even though they are not gay. But keeping it with wlw and also WoT, I am still sailing my little Berelain/Annoura (WoT) ship all by myself.

But yeah, I’ll leave it at those two, there is no third invading my thoughts as much as them.

Favorite color: used to be blue, but I discovered that I like red. Also yellow! Maybe that. But seriously I love colours in general, the more colourful the better, I am not choosing.

Currently consuming: The weekend. Or, ehm the plant hair-dye on my head?

First ship: ouufff, first fic I read was about was Amelia/Owen from Grey’s Anatomy. Well. Made me question a few things about myself because *I liked her so much*.

Relationship status: Very single in my little bubble, and trying not to feel bitter about my well of loneliness (ha, what a great lesbian pun I got in here 😅).

Last movie: But I am a cheerleader with @lilolilyr! I fell asleep… sorry. But we watched D.E.B.s right before, I was awake, and it was great.

Currently working on: Trying to combine two intense work things with also taking time off, to feel less burned-out while doing all of this. It’s a challenge, because time happens so fast, and it makes me feel guilty, but I am trying. Also working on being okay with that, the taking time to chill, not succeeding at things, working on being more okay with myself, less mean, which is even harder. But I try. Fandomwise, still the washing machine/mermaid AU for Bering and Wells and also still Chapter 8 of Yellow for Siuraine (both of which I thought would be long finished my now). I want to finish those so I can start other fun ideas that are cluttering my head/notebook!

The rules said to tag 9 people to get to know better, so let’s see: I am tagging @anandabrat @akittennameddaisy @incompletesong @viharistenno @woodytwig @wibblywobblyida @hecatesbroom @cozcat @masterpieceofunderstatement no pressure to answer these of course, do it if you like to and if not, just don’t ;)!

Thank you for the tag @onaperduamedee!

#tag game

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black-ajah-hq · 8 months

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Some part of me is wondering the episode 2 cold open with Rand is quite intentional and is set up to mirror a cold opening at the end of the season…Dragonmount (EoTW prologue).

They just seem suspiciously similar. Rand dreams that he killed his friends and loved ones, then wakes up to a forsaken…

#wot show spoilers #wot book spoilers #wot on prime #this is all just speculation #it could still be a coincidence #I’ve been hoping we’d see the dragonmount prologue for episode 8 cold open

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markantonys · 7 months

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i already made a joke post about it but genuinely, the whole "wot s1 sucked, which was 100% the show's fault and not the source material's, but now s2 is so much better! shocking! who could've seen that coming!" narrative is SO annoying

like, the eye of the world is boring as shit! it's generic as shit! of COURSE an entire season based on it is not going to be the most groundbreaking or thrilling fantasy television you've ever seen in your life! how on EARTH can the readers who've been saying for decades that the books don't start to hit their stride until book 2 or 3 or 4 fail to grasp the correlation with season 2 being better than season 1? but even so, s1 alone IS more groundbreaking and thrilling than book 1 alone, because the showrunners knew that book 1 is boring and generic as shit and did their absolute damnedest to pull in as many unique elements from later books as they could conceivably fit in this early on.

second, s1 had to do a HUGE amount of heavy lifting in terms of setting up characters, relationships, lore, and worldbuilding. s1 did all this groundwork so that s2 could have the payoff you're enjoying so much, s1 constructed the basic building blocks so that s2 could explore the more advanced concepts you're gushing over. s1 ran so that s2 could soar! put some respect on its name!

third, stakes tend to get higher, characters to get deeper, and plotlines to get more exciting as you go along in a story. this is how stories work. why are you shocked that s1 only built the basic foundation of the story and s2 has the space to grow and deepen that story? that's how stories work, that's how TV works, and that's most certainly how the WOT books work.

fourth, practical constraints s1 had that s2 had less of

budget: s1 was starting from scratch, whereas s2 had more budget to spare since some things could be reused from s1 AND it got a bigger budget than s1 in the first place.

experience: second seasons almost universally tend to be better than pilot seasons, simply because everyone involved in making the show has gotten into the groove and solidified how they want to do this thing. this is how television works.

covid: it should go without saying that s1 would have been One Million Times more difficult and expensive to make than s2 due to covid stuff. whatever effect we may think covid had on s1, the true effect was probably astronomically higher than what we imagine. the majority of "looks too cheap" "looks too empty" complaints likely come down to this (notice that most of those complaints are about episodes 6-8 and not the early episodes; 6 was filmed pre-covid, yes, but i wouldn't be surprised if some covid-related restrictions were starting to rear their heads before production was officially shut down).

the worst part is the people who end their above-mentioned take with "they must have listened to audience criticism of s1 and made changes accordingly." [moiraine voice] the arrogance. s2 had already been written and filming was WELL underway (if not finished or close to finished?) by the time s1 even started airing. if you're impressed by what a great season they've delivered, the credit for that lies entirely with the people who made the show, not your stupid ass.

#justice for s1!! 'every single viewer found it boring and a disappointment' your experiences are not universal!!!#will i deny that s2 is better quality in just about every respect? certainly not #but s1 did a damn good job with the job it was supposed to do even if that job is not as ~exciting~ as s2's job #and THE big difference is that THE SOURCE MATERIAL FOR S2 IS BETTER!!!!!#WHY are any readers shocked that a TGH&TDR-based season is better than an EOTW-based season. make it make sense #wot

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