[TV] Wheel of Time series

[hepcat]

I think I'm just not a fan of this type of fantasy show. At least to a point where I feel compelled to watch. I mean, I'm watching this latest season, but I'm not really paying attention to it. Last season seemed a bit more focused to me.

[YellowKing]

This season has been more entertaining to me than the past two, but I'm kind of in the same boat. I loved the books, and I'm just continuously distracted by things I hate about the adaptation. Like how some of the costumes look less like something I'd imagine in a fantasy world and more like something they got off the business casual rack at JCPenney. A lot of things about the production look/feel cheap, and I can't quite put my finger on it.

[Jaymann]

This season has been more entertaining to me than the past two, but I'm kind of in the same boat. I loved the books, and I'm just continuously distracted by things I hate about the adaptation. Like how some of the costumes look less like something I'd imagine in a fantasy world and more like something they got off the business casual rack at JCPenney.

Or the Salvation Army.

[Zaxxon]

I'm enjoying it. I think partially because like GoT, I assumed we'd never get a WoT show that didn't totally suck. This one has been hitting the spot for me, warts and all. I'm 2 eps into season 3.

[Isgrimnur]

Remember, wardrobe is important in the books.

[Zaxxon]

Honestly, the lack of skirt-straightening and hair-pulling has earned quite a few credits that the show uses against wardrobe issues for me.

[Blackhawk]

I just finished the latest episode (S3E4), where a group of characters visit Rhuidean, and it was an extremely well done episode...couldn't have asked for a much better way to depict that critical portion of the story. While the first two seasons had their ups and downs, I think they're doing a great job with season 3. I'm really enjoying the show right now and am eager to see what they show us next.

I haven't watched past season 1 (it made me want to punch the TV), but I've heard that they really hit their stride this season.

I don't remember the costuming very well, but one thing a lot of people miss about the books are that they're not medieval fantasy. They're not even renaissance. They're written based (roughly) on the 17th century - the early modern period. The Pilgrims. The Three Musketeers. That era.

[Jaymann]

I just finished the latest episode (S3E4), where a group of characters visit Rhuidean, and it was an extremely well done episode...couldn't have asked for a much better way to depict that critical portion of the story. While the first two seasons had their ups and downs, I think they're doing a great job with season 3. I'm really enjoying the show right now and am eager to see what they show us next.

I haven't watched past season 1 (it made me want to punch the TV), but I've heard that they really hit their stride this season.

I don't remember the costuming very well, but one thing a lot of people miss about the books are that they're not medieval fantasy. They're not even renaissance. They're written based (roughly) on the 17th century - the early modern period. The Pilgrims. The Three Musketeers. That era.

When pant suits were all the rage.

[Blackhawk]

Like I said, I don't remember the costuming. It's still got to be better than the Shannara hoodies-made-of-pleather look.

[YellowKing]

Here are some examples of what I find so distracting:

Is this pic from Wheel of Time, or Sex and the City?


Sometimes Perrin dresses like a medieval peasant, sometimes he wears this fashionable collared relaxed fit from J. Crew:


Here's Min. Is she from a magic-filled fantasy world, or is she currently interning at an advertising firm?


I'm sure there are some extremely talented costume designers working on the show. And I'm sure someone, somewhere, has some sort of vision of what this world is supposed to look like. I just can't wrap my head around what they're going for. At times it looks like Game of Thrones, sometimes it looks like The Hunger Games, and other times it looks like Dawson's Creek.

[Smoove_B]

"The Wheel of Fashion turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again."

[hepcat]

What I didn't quite understand was why one of the White Cloaks was out of Labor Day?

[Zaxxon]

I don't remember the costuming very well, but one thing a lot of people miss about the books are that they're not medieval fantasy. They're not even renaissance. They're written based (roughly) on the 17th century - the early modern period. The Pilgrims. The Three Musketeers. That era.

And also that it’s not even that—Lanfear et al are from a modern-ish era and tel’aron’rhiod (and even the post-Breaking to some extent) would quite likely reflect that.

It’s complicated.

[Smoove_B]

They're written based (roughly) on the 17th century - the early modern period. The Pilgrims. The Three Musketeers. That era.

[YellowKing]

Yeah I didn't know the time period stuff either. Was that apparent from the books and I was just dense, or was that found out secondhand from other sources?

At any rate, I'm just poking fun. I'm glad this season has been better, and one slightly flawed Wheel of Time adaptation is better than none I suppose.

FWIW - I really liked this latest Rand-centric episode. As I mentioned earlier, I think the show is much better when it has a tighter focus instead of jumping all over the place.

[Blackhawk]

It was semi apparent from the books if you have a background that made certain things stand out.

But the 17th century detail came directly from Jordan.

[Isgrimnur]

I suppose the late-book-series tech:

Spoiler:

cannon and steam engines

certainly suggest it's not Middle Ages.

[Smoove_B]

I think I just have the cover of the first book imprinted on my brain (right or wrong)



and I just mentally defaulted to medieval fantasy world.

[Isgrimnur]

They were leaving a farming community at the ass-end of a kingdom near the border mountains. Tweren't nobody following Caemlyn fashion trends.

[Jaymann]

That cover cracks me up because it makes Perrin look nine feet tall.

[Isgrimnur]

Then there's him looking like a refugee from The Warriors on The Dragon Reborn

[Blackhawk]

That cover cracks me up because it makes Perrin look nine feet tall.

The giant is Alan Mandragon.

I mean, A'Lan Mandragoran.

[Zaxxon]

That cover cracks me up because it makes Perrin look nine feet tall.

The giant is Alan Mandragon.

I mean, A'Lan Mandragoran.

The sizing makes more sense once you realize Moiraine is 4' 2".

[Jaymann]

Haha, When I looked it up without the ' there is a RL dude with that name.

[Blackhawk]

[Zaxxon]

Or a harder one.

[Isgrimnur]

Or a harder one.

Yeah, that's not right.