[TV] The Wheel of Time

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

The story gives them the perfect excuse to "make changes" because portal worlds exist and they could have said "this is a similar world to WoT, or a different way the Wheel could have turned"..... anything to say "this is not THE story but a SIMILAR story" and people probably would have accepted it.

They did say that.

"We may have said 1000 times that this is not a 1-for-1 adaptation and another turning of the Wheel. It simply is. I hope that you still enjoy though, or that if you don't, you can go back to the books and read again. They make for a great re-read."

[rhorle]

they could have said "this is a similar world to WoT, or a different way the Wheel could have turned"..... anything to say "this is not THE story but a SIMILAR story" and people probably would have accepted it.

They did say it was a different turning and people have not accepted it almost 4 years later, lol.

[Gumble]

They did say that.

Only after the backlash caused by them making changes Rafe said he did just to ruin the experience for book fans.

If I call you a name then "kinda" say I meant something else by that after you get upset it probably isn't going to do much for you.

This show feels like it was designed out of spite. It would be like if a trans woman made the Harry Potter show just to spite JK Rowling. MAYBE the people in the show were capable of making something better, but it feels like the goal was spite over story.


I feel for my wife. Harry Potter is her favorite and it looks to be going the way of WoT.

[rhorle]

Only after the backlash caused by them making changes Rafe said he did just to ruin the experience for book fans.

They made no secret that they were making changes from the books. Calling it a different turning of the wheel might have came after the season launch but it doesn't mean they were hiding it or were revisionists because of backlash.

The below is from December 2023 and is just one of many things that say they had to drastically change the story from the books. Cutting cities, characters, etc all have ripple effects.


https://wheeloftime.fandom.com/wiki/...from_the_books
Question 10 - Difficult necessary changes
"Have you made changes that hurt you/Sarah to make, but were necessary for the screen?"
Judkins
"The writers room floor is littered with my tears. Truly though, I don't want people to be unprepared for how different the show is to the books. To do a proper adaptation, it has to be. As a thought exercise, just imagine we can only do four of the cities from EoTW. So from Emonds Field, Taren Ferry, Baerlon, Shadar Logoth, Whitebridge, Four Kings, Breen's Spring, Caemlyn, Fal Dara, which do you choose? What are the knock-on effects for character and story from the ones you don't go to? Which characters haven't met each other now and how can you reconnect them? We have amazing writers and hugely helpful support in Brandon and Harriet to tackle these changes. But they're not small. Gird your loins, my friends."

From 2021 at the trailer release prior to the start of Season 1 which implies it was always clear it was different turning of the wheel even if they didn't use that term:

Question 4 - Book content
"How much will Season 1 cover? Book 1 or spread acrosss [sic] several? Looks amazing!!!"
Judkins
"Season One will cover Book One, plus some of Book Two and even Book Three. But also not all of Book One, as some of it is in Season Two. Cryptic enough?"

[Corvus]

A different turning of the wheel uses the same beats of the story, roughly, not the exact same name, countries etc. You could have done a similar story but rename everything and get away with it, but they are trying to have it both ways and not really succeeding.


More than likely the show will get old dropped with no announcement. It's been a year since filming ended and there had been no decision made - not even the show runner knows if they will get a 4th season. The cast and crew are going to sit around twiddling heir thumbs waiting to see. Pike had bought a house where the filming was taking place to live there but has sold it and moved and is working on a new things. Even if they do decide to go for a 4th season, it'll take a long time before it is out.

[rhorle]

A different turning of the wheel uses the same beats of the story, roughly, not the exact same name, countries etc. You could have done a similar story but rename everything and get away with it, but they are trying to have it both ways and not really succeeding..

Things can be really similar with only small differences or they can have a lot of differences. Anything is possible with enough iterations and the Wheel is always turning.

Robert Jordan

He seemed to like this question. He likened it to a tapestry. When seen from a distance, each Third Age (to make it easy to track) has exactly the same pattern as the previous Third Age. However, when seen up close, there are differences. Threads are different, different nations exist, geography is different, different personalities rise to prominence. These changes, while minute in the grand scale of the Pattern, affect the Pattern enough so that while two iterations of an Age are almost the same, the first "Third Age" may be wildy different from the hundredth "Third Age". https://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=646#4

[MrLachyG]

I've not watched the show before but I've seen that reviews are a bit mixed. some people say it's wheely good, others say it's wheely bad. I'd read through some of the mid range reviews but they just make me tyred

[rhorle]

Bummer that the show is cancelled. I wonder if Sony, as the lead studio, will try and get another network to pick it up since it is said to be a purely financial decision and Amazon couldn't find a plan that worked for them.

[Syegfryed]

Bummer that the show is cancelled.

Great news, Thanks rhorle;

With luck amazon cancel rings of onion power after S3 as well.

[ItsRainingMetal]

Hopefully someone competent decides to do The Wheel of Time at some point.

[kenn9530]

Great news, Thanks rhorle;

With luck amazon cancel rings of onion power after S3 as well.

Only idiots want shows to be cancelled, the wheel of time books are not all that great story telling wise anyway, many of the characters are too whiney all the time, rand spends the first 3 books being a whiney ass child, most ppl dont read books at all but shows allow everyone to experience at least some of the worlds in those books, thats the whole point in tv shows and films to begin with.

[Syegfryed]

Only idiots want shows to be cancelled

If the show is garbage it need to be cancelled, only idiots want a bad show, that is not giving proffit and their views were decreasing to keep going.

the wheel of time books are not all that great story telling wise anyway, many of the characters are too whiney all the time, rand spends the first 3 books being a whiney ass child,

And the show manage to be worse than the books, that should say a lot.

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Hopefully someone competent decides to do The Wheel of Time at some point.

If it happens it will be in at minimum 10 years time, if ever. Most of the fail attempts at adaptations never come back

[Pyrophax]

Let it be lesson for future adaptations. Not only WoT - any adaptations. Make shit - take shit.
You must follow general fantasy, idea and atmosphere of your source and not making porn parody of it and hopes it goes well.

WoT have much feminism on its own, they do not have to add even more of it.
Changes sometimes are necessary, but changes should be considered as necessary evil, not story writter right.

Oh, and most impotant lesson - team should be professionals, not woke shitstormers just for agenda sake.

[rhorle]

You must follow general fantasy, idea and atmosphere of your source and not making porn parody of it and hopes it goes well.

Lmao, what? The show is no where near a porn parody. The show followed the general fantasy, idea, and atmosphere of the source material.

[Corvus]

No big surprise the fanfic that barely paid attention to the books got cancelled. Diverging from the books can work (Starship Troopers and Blade Runner both have little in common with the books they were based on but both are still good movies. Most aren't though.)

They wanted it to be their game of thrones, but failed to learn the most obvious lesson - the show was good when it followed the books but fell down when it didn't. Mostly because the books didn't exist at that stage, but WoT didn't have that problem.

[Gumble]

Only idiots want shows to be cancelled, the wheel of time books are not all that great story telling wise anyway, many of the characters are too whiney all the time, rand spends the first 3 books being a whiney ass child, most ppl dont read books at all but shows allow everyone to experience at least some of the worlds in those books, thats the whole point in tv shows and films to begin with.

Book 1 - Rand (and friends) being chased from their homes and forced to endure terror and hardship without knowing why.
Book 2 - Rand is told he is the most hated man in history, nearly everyone will want to kill him or use him, but please help your friend not die before you are forced to go crazy.
Book 3 - After enduring a psychedelic battle over Falme and gaining an unhealable injury that you can be reasonably sure is what will kill you eventually, while enduring taunting and torture in your dreams by someone you thought you killed TWICE now, you go to try to fulfill your destiny.


Given all of that, I'd say Rand is shockingly UNwhiney about his lot in the world. Maybe read the books more and watch crappy TV shows less?


Nobody is at all shocked this got canceled. Most companies buy 3 seasons of big shows like this to justify the set/prep/actor retention cost. This show never got good views past the first 3 episodes (and even that was crummy compared to anything comparable).

They should be happy Amazon paid for this shit for 3 seasons..... it didn't deserve 1. It can be appreciated for one thing though.... the people that worked on this, especially Rafe, are to shows what Sweet Baby Inc is to video games. You see it in something, you know to save your money and avoid it.

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No big surprise the fanfic that barely paid attention to the books got cancelled.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Can't wait to see how they fanfic Harry Potter.

[Arikara]

Bummer that the show is cancelled.

Good. And may this desecration be forgotten.

The show followed the general fantasy, idea, and atmosphere of the source material.

It undermined the metaphysics, made unacceptable retcons to the characters, failed to understand the setting, and was helmed by a producer who wanted to tell his own story instead of respecting Jordan's work. It could never have been anything but a betrayal of the source material.

[rhorle]

It undermined the metaphysics, made unacceptable retcons to the characters, failed to understand the setting, and was helmed by a producer who wanted to tell his own story instead of respecting Jordan's work. It could never have been anything but a betrayal of the source material.

It did not undermine the metaphysics. It made changes to characters because it is a different turning of the wheel. It respected Jordan's work but was not bound by it. It, and any other adaptation of the work, could only be a betrayal of the source material because some people have unrealistic expectations of what it could be.

Any creator of an adaptation, including Peter Jackson, tells their own story. Adaptations are rarely 1:1 because it just wouldn't work for the format. Very few people would want to watch an entire season of the gang chasing Rand down the mountains all the way to Tear. Or spend a few episodes on the Kin Farm. Path of Daggers spends 4+ chapters just to cover that set.

[bledgor]

The rafe of time got cancelled? I am so completely and utterly shocked, how could this be?

Only surprising it got to even 2 seasons, such a bastardization of the story Jordan built, I can only hope in 10+ years someone comes in with the love and passion this series deserves.

[Foolicious]

Really too bad it got cancelled. I think the show did a pretty good job adapting the material with the constraints they had to work with. It still baffles my mind that amazon only gave it 8 episodes per season and thought it would work.
And to be honest the most disappointing part is that they had a lot of really great actors that carried the show. But rings of power continues with actors that are stiff as a cardboard and add nothing to the series.