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ArrylT

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Posts posted by ArrylT

    On 2/8/2022 at 6:50 PM, Andra said:

    Yes he does.

    But he doesn't say - in that context of the term - that he told Bezos this wouldn't be it when agreeing to do it.

     

    Which isn't really pertinent to what people are saying when they bring it up.

     

    Amazon wants WoT to be that blockbuster, whether Rafe ever promised it would be or not.  And they aren't getting it, whether Rafe promised it would be or not.

     

    The statements from the fans that poke fun at "Next GoT" predictions aren't for Rafe failing to deliver something he promised.  They are for Amazon not realizing that what he has delivered isn't what they have said they wanted for five years.

     

    Well in my opinion Jeff Bezos & Amazon wants LOTR to be that.    WoT was/is meant to be the appetizer.

     

    I did not pay a huge amount of attention to the WoT advertising, but I am pretty certain Jeff Bezos himself (but if he did please share and I'll admit I was mistaken) did not showcase the trailers for WoT.  Jeff Bezos personally involved in the negotiations to acquire LOTR.   Bezos personally involved in the marketing.    The show going for 5 seasons is expected to cost 1 billion (as per Vanity Fair).   No SB ad for WoT either for S1 or S2 where as LOTR gets a SB advert.  

     

    I will say, and in the end I am perfectly fine with, that I think Amazon did indeed, either intentionally or accidentally overhype The Wheel of Time to its fanbase.  I think that was necessary in that the engagement of the fanbase was necessary for the marketing of the show at first, since the books themselves are not enough of a draw (but that argument has been hashed & rehashed on other threads). 

     

    So I think that this is where some of the Amazon wants WoT to be the next GOT came from - not because Amazon wants WoT to reach GOT levels of viewership or engagement, but because if people thought it might get GOT focus, then they'd pay attention to it.   And sort of forget about the behemoth that is LOTR slowly creeping up.  

     

    And I'm perfectly ok with that.    I will hope LOTR becomes the most watched most successful most critically acclaimed show ever if it gives even a bit of support to keeping Wheel of Time going for a 8 year run.   I have no issue whatsoever with WoT being in LOTR shadow.  

     

    As long as Amazon continues to fund & support WoT as it has - then I am golden.  

     

    But no for me WoT was never expected or meant to be Amazons answer to GoT.   It was meant as the distraction while they prepped LOTR to be the answer.

    11 hours ago, Chivalry said:

    https://www.cbr.com/wheel-of-time-third-season/

     

    Has anyone posted this? Apologies if that is the case, this is the first I've heard of this.

     

    Adam Whitehead, who posts articles on DragonMount has just posted an article on The Wertzone, so perhaps we'll see one on DM soon as well.

     

    https://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2022/02/wheel-of-time-renewed-for-third-season.html

     

    Both articles are using this as part of their belief that S3 is a definite go:

     

    https://deadline.com/2022/02/criminal-minds-revival-paramount-plus-1234926358/

     

    "The Prime Video series, which films in Prague, has been picked up for two more seasons, and any potential Henney guest appearance on Criminal Minds would be subject to his commitment to Wheel Of Time and scheduling, sources said."

    On 1/25/2022 at 4:50 AM, notpropaganda73 said:

     

    Why is this such a common attitude amongst those critical of the show? It's exasperating.

     

    I don't really want to go on and on about this as I've covered a lot of what I think with posts to ilovezam already. I just don't think trying to give Agelmar a more interesting slant is the crime against the novels that it is used as. It was poorly done, like practically everything in episode 8, but I don't think it fundamentally alters the Borderlands. There is plenty of scope for a nation on the front line having a leader make mistakes. 

     

    Which it could be argued Agelmar does in the books.

     

    Not directed at @notpropaganda73 just responding off of their post.

     

    I think it is pretty clear that a lot of people on the forums put the blame on Rafe Judkins for their dislike of the Wheel of Time show - that is their choice.  However, therefore following this I think anyone who has read the beginning of the Great Hunt then has to put the failings of what happened at Fal Dara in The Great Hunt on Agelmar.  Regardless of whether it was due to DarkFriends or betrayal by subordinates or so forth - using this logic - if Rafe should be turfed as Showrunner - Agelmar needed to have been turfed as a Great Captain. 

     

    Allowing a trolloc attack to reach the keep (not just the town), the loss of the Horn of Valere, a jailbreak & death of inmates,  plus an apparent assassination on the Amyrlin Seat are all pretty grievous offences.   On top of that - did any of the party that went out to recover the horn actually return?   Yes it is a small party of 20+ Shienarans but did any of them actually ever return to Shienar?  

     

    No.

     

    https://wot.fandom.com/wiki/Agelmar_Jagad

     

    "Once the Horn is retrieved, Rand proclaims himself the Dragon Reborn and most of the Shienarans pledge themselves to him, claiming that the Dragon Reborn has freed them from their old oaths."

     

    Only Hurin returns to Shienar, and he is not a soldier.  As such basically the entire party, including the command, of a mission ordered by Agelmar never returns.  So if the buck stops at the top - then this is all on Agelmar.  I mean you can make an argument that a Great Captain should be able to count on his men not breaking their oaths.  

     

    All that would have spread throughout Randland over the  years, and yet no one seems inclined to think that maybe just maybe Agelmar has lost his edge.  And we certainly cannot blame him for being compelled during the Last Battle.

     

    Now just to be clear, I am well aware that the events in the book are controlled by the narrator rather than Agelmar himself.  I am simply treating Agelmar the way some are treating Rafe Judkins - that regardless of things outside of his control he is still at fault.

     

    Personally I found myself liking Agelmar more in the show and feel he is better portrayed than many feel, but that is their opinion vs. mine.    Btw this is NOT me saying I disliked Agelmar in the books - just that I feel his character is more one-note and mostly used for exposition (EOTW) and a foil (TGH) than a real character in of themselves.  I will say though, of the 5 Great Captains, the one that seemed the most to be riding on their reputation (and this is actually mentioned in TGH that Agelmar was worried about the effect on his honour) going into TLB was Agelmar, and imho was the least deserving to have been considered a Great Captain.    IE if I am a captain of a sports team Agelmar is the guy I pick last. Heck give me Pedron Niall raised from the dead over Agelmar.  Pedron Niall at least is shown that he can recover from having all of his plans destroyed by outside influences (see prologue of TDR).  

     

    Anyways regardless, I completely agree - whether or not there is a real change (in my eyes there isnt) to Agelmar as a character has absolutely no impact on the culture of the Borderlands themselves.  In fact I felt that the show did a great job portraying the culture & look of Fal Dara.  And Ep 8 pretty much matched what was expected to happen in EOTW - remember as Rand & Moiraine and everyone were leaving to go to the Eye portions of the civilian population was evacuating the city (exactly like they did in Ep8).   

     

    Basically the only real difference (imo) of who saved the day at Tarwins Gap was a group of women with ability to access Saidar vs. a man with ability to access Saidin.   All this talk about how they were untrained yet Rand was untrained ... in neither instance was Agelmar going to win the day.  I rather watch him fight and kill Trollocs than die off-page (like he would have if Rand was not magically portalled to the Gap).

     

    Btw the army at Tarwins gap had hundreds of fades (not to mention draghkar).  It says so directly in EOTW.  That means at a very bare minimum 200 fades.  The BARE minimum.   Each fade typically controls 1 fist.  So that is a bare minimum of 20 000 trollocs.  Do the math 200 x 100 Trollocs.  But hundreds suggest multiple hundreds.  So lets say 5.  That is 500 x 100 which is 50 000.  I guess it all depends on how many hundreds you feel are needed for the term "hundreds".  

     

    Either way the army in the book is larger than the one in the show (which depending on reliable sources was 5-10k or unreliable 10-20k).  Yet I am supposed to believe that this defence of Fal Dara / Tarwins Gap by Egewene & Nynaeve in the show, is stealing thunder from Rand in the books - when he did it basically unknowingly and with zero training, while they did it linked, and with a woman who had Aceepted level training.  Yawn not buying it.  

    https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/book-of-boba-fett-cobra-kai-streaming-rankings-dec-27-jan-2-1235082838/

     

    Neilsen streaming ratings - US only.

     

    "Prime Video’s The Wheel of Time (630 million minutes) held steady the week after its finale debuted — a rarity among streaming shows with weekly releases. It lost only 1 percent of its total viewing time from the previous week. Disney+’s Hawkeye (539 million minutes) also remained in the top 10 the week after its final episode, but in contrast to The Wheel of Time, it was down 42 percent from the prior week."

    Books & Bianca likes The Witcher S2 and gave it a grade of 8/10 despite being it being what she considered a loose adaptation (gave it a 6/10 for adaptation).   

     

    I only mention this because as always it is going to be subjective.   There are 4 broad outcomes

     

    1 - Poorly Adapted / Well executed

    2 - Well Adapted / Well executed

    3 - Poorly Adapted / Poorly executed

    4 - Well Adapted / Poorly executed 

     

    with a large range of sub-sections to work with depending on your opinion.

    IE the WA/WE category could run the gammut all the way up to Perfectly Adapted / Perfectly Executed 

     

    Put another way

     

    1-5 grade / 6-10 grade

    6-10 grade / 6-10 grade

    1-5 grade / 1-5 grade

    6-10 grade / 1-5 grade

     

    For me that would be (examples)

     

    1 -  Alice in Wonderland (2010)

    2 - The Wheel of Time (so far)

    3 - A Wrinkle In Time*

    4 - Winter Dragon

     

    However to each their own. 

     

    Also for me, Dune is a lot more SF than fantasy - but that is for each to determine. 

     

    * - I still enjoyed the film just as an adaptation of the book I felt the adaptation was weak and execution of the adaption flawed - but the movie itself was enjoyable regardless.

    2 hours ago, notpropaganda73 said:

     

    This is actually how I watch most shows. Valda is a really good example of this. I felt his introduction in the show was really well done, he is creepy, sinister and importantly, he's dangerous. To me, that scene set him up as someone to be feared, that channeling does not make you invincible. And so when he meets Moiraine et al on the road, there is a tension to that scene for me because we have already seen what he will do to an Aes Sedai. A big complaint about that meeting is "why didn't Valda just ask straight out if she is Aes Sedai", but I am not really interested in that because the scene works for me regardless as he is being so creepy and sinister. I said it at the time, I think it's in the Whitecloaks thread, but quite simply sometimes the narrative demands something happens. It then comes down to the execution of a scene and that may differ for different people. 

     

    I usually find I only start nitpicking at internal logic within a show or book if something more fundamental isn't working for me i.e the characters as a whole. 

     

    I think we get a hint at that answer in Episode 5.    It could be because he is perhaps a sadist bully who likes to play cat & mouse games.   So there is no fun in asking a question like that.   There are other potential reasons that have been previously discussed,  but like you said the narrative did not call or need for him to ask that question.   

     

    Further, I now think for Valda he chose not ask the question because there was no need for the question to be asked in his mind.   As he said, he would remember faces later.  Valda is basically (imo) the type of person who joins & subverts an organization for their own personal power/profit and not out of actual belief.  So he was quite willing to bide his time until he met some of the party later and was in a position of strength to enjoy his desire to torture Perrin (physically) and Egwene (mentally).   

    On 1/19/2022 at 7:32 PM, ArrylT said:

    https://rationalnerd62.tumblr.com/post/673681725181788160/the-wheel-of-time-screentime-s1-rand

     

    I've posted tumblr articles from this account previously - now they have done a deeper dive into Rands screentime and how much screentime he has had with each character & so forth.  ?

     

    And here is a deeper dive into the screentime for Moiraine. ?

     

    https://rationalnerd62.tumblr.com/post/674140995438411776/the-wheel-of-time-screentime-s1-moiraine

    Which is the point being made.   Always convenient to have a fall guy - which in this case was going to be Liandrin or Moiraine.   And as we saw it was schemed between Moiraine & Siuan to let Moiraine take the exile and still allow her free rein to continue.   Therefore it is a moot point whether not Liandrin or Moiraine or anyone had mentioned any other names - the target was going to be on one back.    

    ·

    Edited by ArrylT
    double post please delete

    On 1/19/2022 at 11:56 AM, Deviations said:

    This intimated that Moraine is the only blue out in the field so to speak.  Ridiculous.

     

     

     

    Sorry for the unintentional duplicate post - please delete at leisure.

    On 1/19/2022 at 11:56 AM, Deviations said:

    This intimated that Moraine is the only blue out in the field so to speak.  Ridiculous.

     

     

     

    *shrugs*  That is akin to all the people who dislike the show putting all the blame on Rafe.  We all know the show has hundreds of employees, and yet time and time all the fault is given to Rafe.  And just like Rafe, Moiraine has a higher boss to answer to.

     

    We know, thanks to WoT Wiki that the Blue Ajah has around 100 members  - one of the smallest Ajahs -  many of whom likely have to stay at Tar Valon - so it is not like the Blue Ajah has dozens of sisters spread out -  I wouldnt be surprised if maybe 60-65 of the Ajah was out at any given time at most.  Also according to wiki 22 members of the Blue were Black Ajah and therefore would have no reason to give warning..   And that is assuming the show decides to keep the same # of Aes Sedai (I think there were around 1200?) rather than a smaller number.

     

    Regardless, I dont see why an Aes Sedai would suddenly start start listing names of Blue Ajah members to put blame onto when her goal was to get the target off her back and onto Moiraines.  All shes is doing is giving individual Blue Ajah members  reason or more reason to be antagonistic towards her - and it is quite conceivable plenty of Sisters would feel resentment or jealousy to Moiraines free rein so giving the focal point of blame to Moiraine can be done without overtly attacking the Ajah as a whole - the ajah which Siuan came from - sort of like Moiraine is a "rogue" Blue Ajah that needs to be controlled.

     

    In the end, I took it as Liandrin saying that Moiraine was too busy doing her own thing without supervision to actually do what is expected of the Blue Ajah - much like General Lee felt about General Stuart for failing to  provide warning before Gettysburg.  Was it completely Stuarts fault? Doubtful - but was it partially and therefore he was the easy target to deflect blame onto - yes.   But we all see things differently.

    https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/deep-shtetl/61e06b2c55e52500217add01/your-bubble-is-not-the-culture-lin-manuel-miranda-harry-potter/

     

    This is not a WoT article per say but I think the point being made by the article is the same for any entertainment be it movie, show or music ... 

     

    Couple of interesting quotes (to me):

     

    "But just because something makes waves on Twitter doesn’t mean it actually matters to most people. According to the Pew Research Center, only 23 percent of U.S. adults use Twitter, and of those users, “the most active 25% … produced 97% of all tweets.” In other words, nearly all tweets come from less than 6 percent of American adults. This is not a remotely good representation of public opinion, let alone newsworthiness, and treating it as such will inevitably result in wrong conclusions."

     

    I think this ties into what other people have said about (a) this site and (b) IMDB/Rotten Tomatoes.   And that is while ideally one can want WoT to have a 100% grade or approval rating, that in the end, the rating/data provided is only relevant in that that is the view of those that were active on that site, not the entire population of people who have watched the show in the country/world.   If less than 6% of Americans adults are vocal on Twitter, exactly what % is it on Reddit, on IDMB, RT & so forth. Just keep that in mind the next time you feel overwhelmed by a different pov - no matter how alone you may feel, you are not - the majority of voices is simply a small small sample magnified by the size of the room you are currently in.

     

    "The deep-seated need to justify one’s own relevance is how we end up with cultural criticism that evaluates art as politics, rather than as art which also has political elements. It’s how we get Playstation 5 reviews that scold people for owning one and being excited about it, because purportedly only privileged people do things like that. I suspect that if folks felt less guilty about what they were doing, we’d get less of this sort of writing."

     

    In other words I can interpret this as that some of the people review bombing a show or movie likely do it perhaps to make themselves feel relevant, and likewise some of the people who rate something a 10 might do it to counter act that negativity and reassure that their voice is also relevant.  

     

    "After all, if anything is “cringe,” it’s culture writers telling their audiences that they should hate the things that bring them joy, especially at such a difficult time."

     

    Perhaps no different than people crashing other peoples posts of enjoyment and telling them that the show they like sucks.

    23 hours ago, Skipp said:

    And here I am having watched The Witcher Seasons 1 and 2, only having a vague suggestion of the story outside of the show and just really enjoyed it,  Same with my wife.

     

    It was nice couple of months to go from really enjoying WoT to really enjoying The Witcher S2. 

     

    In the end that is all that matters.   That hopefully the person watching the show was able to enjoy it, whether it was an original or an adaptation, remake, reboot, etc.  

     

    Personally, I think what I enjoy the most, apart from being able to rewatch/re-read Wheel of Time whenever wanted, is all the additional content being created, not just by the shows but also by people who enjoy the shows they watch.  There is a ton of WoT content out there now, and I can only imagine the same is true for S&B, LOTR & GOT now - and hopefully one day I'll have the time to delve into all of that content as well.  Seeing the volume of people interact and share their takes on a fantasy world is about as close to being inside the world itself and actually being able to read The Travels of Jain Farstrider or hear a gleeman perform songs from The Great Hunt for the Horn, at least imo.