The Wheel of Time (book wankery OK, see OP for rules)

Did it look weird for anyone else? The colour grading seemed odd and kept popping in and on peoples faces and things.

But, yes, this didn’t set my world on fire. Felt a bit cheap for something so expensive. Just that little bit of a lack of attention to detail. Like everyone’s costumes looked like they were the first time they had worn them. Bar the poor person who had to be smeared in dirt because he’s poor.

Aha, glad it’s not my eyes!

Watching the first episode at the moment and it’s doing my head in.

If you all watched it PauperVision like me, with 1080p and SDR, you would not be burdened by such First World problems.

Here's that smeared in dirt poor person, Joe was referring to. What's he doing in our 4k thread? It's quite frightful the sort of person they let in these days. Standards have just gone.

It was just a bit dull; even when it all kicked off it was all fairly insipid. I dunno, I hope it picks up a bit, it’s not like WoT to be slow going.

Also I don't agree that it's slow-moving. At least no moreso than the "characters walk from place to place" episodes of GoT.

I was making a sly dig at the slowness of the later books!

Anyhoooooo. It’s not a bad way to spend an hour. It’ll be interesting to see how they do the Ways which were always one of my favourite bits from the first book. There are bits of it that look a bit Netflix Historical Doc, and I’m not convinced by the jumpers. Perrin looks to be really decent, and Moraine and Lan are great. The rest of the cast we shall see. If Rosamund Pike wasn’t in it I’m not sure I would be so generous with a 7/10 score.

Heron mark blade !

I watched the first three episodes last night. It was fine. The books, as already stated, are massive and there is a lot of lore to pack in. I think it did a passable job of converting that into TV.

If ever a series could benefit from the streamlining a TV show format could provide it would be this, but I'd be concerned that the opposite is more of a risk - that they will need to fly through the content to keep things feasible. Its a tricky path to weave. I've read a lot of negative from fans of the books, but I don't think its realistic to expect the TV equivalent of the books. Mainly because that would take about 50 years and involve lots of shots of people tugging irritably at their braids.

But I didn't hate it. The characters felt okay, bar some odd changes to them here and there. The special effects were a mixed bag but I quite liked how they visualised the weaving. I'd be interested to see how well it does, it feels like they want to target that GoT market, but GoT did not start as overtly fantastical as this, so I guess time will tell. I hope it does well enough to see itself to conclusion.

It would help if it didn't look like something off CBBC.

I switched it off after 20 minutes. But now I'm going to watch it all and complain about it right in your face.

Complain? On the internet?

That'll make a change. It's about time someone did it.

I think it's a lot better than Shannara (not that the bar for that is very high). More "better than expected" rather than good, but there's plenty of room to grow.

(assuming it doesn't get cancelled)

There’s a nod to The Witcher at one point.

/rubs thighs

Watched first episode.

I really liked it! Granted my tastes are poor, but I liked it. On to the second!

More updates to follow. Stay tuned.