Prime Video's other sweeping fantasy epic returns with more good vs. evil action
Release schedule:
Friday, September 1: Episodes 1-3 "A Taste of Solitude," "Strangers and Friends," and "What Might Be"
Friday, September 8: Episode 4 "Daughters of the Night"
Friday, September 15: Episode 5
Friday, September 22: Episode 6
Friday, September 29: Episode 7
Friday, October 6: Episode 8
I'm really struggling to take this show as it is. I've read the books multiple times and can accept that things need to change for the screen, but some of the decisions the writers are making here are making are baffling.
Fundamental changes to the core systems of the world. Major character motivations and events.
I find myself asking, "What?" More then being sucked into the world. People are having things happen to them at such a breakneck place it's a little hard to comprehend.
I'm in the same boat. It's as if they wanted to do original work but we're scared of going "alone" without the bankability of big-name IP. They changed too much; the names are the same, but it's not the story I recognize.
Same. I’m willing to give season two a shot but I’m not sure how far I’ll watch since they did in my boy Uno. That man is supposed to be at the last battle, not suck starting a golden rhino horn.
You've read 14 book series multiple times? That's enormous investment that's probably setting unrealistic expectations.
I've only started the first one to die out of boredom quickly so I can't imagine repeatedly getting through a slog first few books supposedly are. My girlfriend read everything after the first season and once she was finished she did a re-watch which she enjoyed, in part because it's different. Second season has higher production value but seems to be confusing with the amount of changes so far. I'm following along because the themes are interesting and there's nothing so bad that would discourage me.
Even without reading everything it's fair to assume that this couldn't be a faithful adaptation. They'll likely have to merge more story lines, characters, then remove some things entirely and it'll still be a challenge to fit this into amount of seasons that's reasonable to produce. The Expanse did plenty of that but it still had roughly a season per book, and that was with a book series that Bezos personally enjoys.
I hardly see how my enjoying the entire arch sets unrealistic expectations. As I said, I can accept changes for the medium's and natural limitations sake. This show has gone beyond that, both in the first and this far in this season.
It's a different story with the same names. That's more my beef, than that things needed to be cut or merged.
Even the explanation of the One Power in the S2E1, drawing things out of what is already there is a pretty major shift from the books themselves.
But also ... to all the book-readers ... my sympathies.
Thank you. The show was a colossal disappointment for me. I couldn't even finish the season. It was so boring, and had a very different tone than the books.
I'm a huge book fan, and I have to say that book purists are the worst.
The show has made some changes that I don't love, and some of the characters aren't portrayed as I imagined, but for the most part it has been wonderful to see one of my favorite fantasy series brought to life, and to be able to enjoy this world with new fans. I always expect screen adaptions to make creative changes, since things that work in a book just don't work on screen sometimes, and I'd say the changes and presentations have been pretty sensible for the most part.
For every change I dislike there's at least one I appreciate, and all of the actors are killing it (with what they are given at least, looking at you weird Lan funeral scene). I'm looking forward to how they handle the story going forward!
I hate all the instant hate and the martyrs out there crying about the changes they made. I feel like most of them were necessary. The actors are killing it. And book two onwards will have a far better story than the first book which in my opinion is one of the worst ones. Very excited for this season
Book purists in general are at least the definition of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. I think my "favorite" group is Halo fans. For some of them, you'd think their multiplayer centric FPS franchise and work-for-hire pulp tie-in novels were some glorious combination of Frank Herbert and James Joyce. The show was a bit silly and the plotline on the desert planet took WAY too long to say only a little, but it's a perfectly acceptable space opera show that took the aesthetics and basic setting of Halo and kept it completely recognizable.
They went with the game of thrones final season strategy of hoping everyone is watching in a very dark room with a good high contrast TV for so many scenes. I love playing the squint my eyes and try to figure out who's talking game.
Yep ... I've watched episode 1 and most of episode 2 ... so far ... I'm in. The writing and directing seems tight and effective and you get the strong sense of momentum in the plot.