tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post4483115757574626468..comments2024-03-17T00:00:13.417+00:00Comments on The Wertzone: The Wheel of Television: Bringing the WHEEL OF TIME to the ScreenAdam Whiteheadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.comBlogger42125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-71084683647589876442015-01-04T23:01:44.601+00:002015-01-04T23:01:44.601+00:00A good approach to putting it on screen is the ani...A good approach to putting it on screen is the anime way, a lot like The Last Airbender cartoon. Nothing gets cut out, it will last several seasons and then get put on DVD at the end. Shouldn't be expensive to do it either.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-43360005671539724242014-09-20T00:37:25.017+00:002014-09-20T00:37:25.017+00:00To be honest, there should be no "rush" ...To be honest, there should be no "rush" to reach story climaxes, agreed fans would love to see the series complete but going from a tv perspective you are looking primarily for viewers, game of thrones with it's 13 episode format is great in that it really isn't trying to bottle a story into each individual episode. And if the show manages to keep it's viewership high then the series will continue. So with a focus on cutting out story points should be based not on trying to squish the story into proper sized seasons but rather on keeping viewer interest. Season 1-5(6?) could conceivably handle 1 book each with bleeding from one book into the next as appropriate, further seasons needed to greatly quicken the plot of books to keep them watchable (seriously, book 8 and 9 could have been written as one very small book and even book 10, where it starts to get interesting again, could have been a lot shorter). Let's call the last half seasons 6-10 which is manageable if the series manages to be popular. <br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03317096527588833555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-61853345280557073122014-03-27T21:51:52.305+00:002014-03-27T21:51:52.305+00:00Well now that ASOIAF series adaptation is in its f...Well now that ASOIAF series adaptation is in its fourth season and has been a huge success, i think that the best way t proceed for a WoT adaptation would be through a tv series too... infact it might be the only way (if an anime is out), movies are just not the way to go, as for the objections that a tv budget is just too small, i think HBO would be willing to invest any amount as long as it gets the suitable returns like it did in Game of Thrones, plus WoT has just so much more potential, with epic fight scenes, new creatures, a new world and most of all magic with almost no restriction or rules to its usage.. i mean some of those fight in the dream-world just beg to be put on-screen in some way... i am not a fan of cutting much of the source material, especially the seanchan part, though the shaido and prophet part and mat and tuon part may be cut a little but enough so as to not let them drag on... as for elayne and egwene's rise to power, i think that kind of politics is exactly wha would give WoT another edge.. so really, once HBO is done with GoT in 5 or so years, i would them to take up WoT..Javin Goyalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09769051110118141643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-36986715991834988522014-03-01T01:05:49.354+00:002014-03-01T01:05:49.354+00:00What ever they do please don't let the horribl...What ever they do please don't let the horrible people behind Legend of the seeker anywhere near it.<br /><br />Best would be HBO or some well respected anime studio IMO.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-61553996077884047862013-10-04T17:31:42.056+00:002013-10-04T17:31:42.056+00:00I think it could work as a mini movie series make ...I think it could work as a mini movie series make each movie around 1 hour and 30 minutes book one would be around 5 mini movies they could make 5 in one year release them in theaters etc then after they've completed the five of them before brining the first mini movie of second book to the big screen make a blu ray set of the first five. do each accordingly. they would make money from tickets and blu ray sales both.bigmikatkynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-9740136864644171782012-12-19T01:16:03.850+00:002012-12-19T01:16:03.850+00:00With HBO's obvious success with Game of Throne...With HBO's obvious success with Game of Thrones, and the fact that a Premium cable channel like HBO would have the budget to handle such a task, the TV series would be the best way to serve such a great series of books. The key would be Mid-Season Finales. A full 1 hour episode without commercials, would allow for a book to be covered in half a season, say 6-7 episodes, with a 1 1/2-2 hr "season" finale if needed for the major battles. this would give the network 7 full seasons of potential income, and allow a shorter amount of time for the actors/actresses to age.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03840923278055418527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-28998573589983175032012-12-18T19:23:32.615+00:002012-12-18T19:23:32.615+00:00I feel like I need to compare this series to a few...I feel like I need to compare this series to a few others right now in regards to whether a movie or TV series would be better.<br /><br />First off, movie option is a definite no, WAY too many books and it would not feel like the series it already is. Especially if you were to compare it to Lord of the Rings, the books are about the same size, but the Wheel of Time series is easily 5x as long. 3x if you include The Hobbit in there.<br /><br />Now for the TV idea, definitely more viable, but instead of making each book its own season like what HBO is doing with Game of Thrones, take say the first 3 books and turn that into a season. That takes the series from being 14 seasons long, to about 5, around the same length of Game of Thrones (that one will be 7 seasons I believe).<br /><br />Now here we can combine some movie aspects into it. I agree, the special effects won't be totally stellar due to budget on a TV series, however if you figure a book on its own can make a 3 hour movie (again, comparing to Lord of the Rings here, particularly the 3rd original movie, not the extended version which is 4 hours long), then you have 9 episodes for your first season across 3 books (3 episodes per book, each episode about an hour long).<br /><br />I noticed someone else commented with the same idea with the TV arc, however I disagree with cutting the Seanchan out from the first season. The reason: We have the Horn of Valere being uesd, which will play a later role. Same with why we can't cut out the Eye of the World "side quest" either, that's where it's discovered, and it ties in to Mat, as well as later when Birgette is ripped from tel'aran'rhiod. It's hard to say what can be cut out because later they come back to play a pretty major role. And with Season 2, the Shaido play a part in how the Aiel are involved with Rand, Tanchico gives you more information with the Black Ajah. The Salidar journey though I agree can probably be drastically shortened. <br /><br />I definitely disagree with the people saying there's a lot of subplots that can be cut, because I've been re-reading the series quite a bit and every time I do I notice a connection between a seemingly random subplot with the greater story. Especially when bits of the Prophecy of the Dragon are mentioned. And we still have one more book to go. I have a feeling all these subplots will prove to have a significant impact on how this last book will play out.Glonkablenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-73378581971311772072012-12-13T07:53:01.617+00:002012-12-13T07:53:01.617+00:00I think the idea of a tv series with some movie m...I think the idea of a tv series with some movie makes sense thats how SG-1 did it they had 2 movies and 10 seasons. They could combine some of the books into the same season with 2-3 movies and be able to it in a similar amount of time.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07643762807496529192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-27039562859647054992012-10-18T03:44:53.140+00:002012-10-18T03:44:53.140+00:00i,m not a big fan of reading. i never read a serie...i,m not a big fan of reading. i never read a series of books in my life, but....... my father introduced me to the wheel of time and i,ve read them all so far and am waiting for the final book. i'm a HUGE fan of the wheel of time, and i would love to see a successful tv series come from this awsome story. and i would like to congradulate branden sanderson on doing such a great job continuing the story.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-68763888040195759252012-08-29T20:57:34.189+00:002012-08-29T20:57:34.189+00:00Hey from what I myself have seen of the great exam...Hey from what I myself have seen of the great example Game of Thrones I think that parts of the WOT series should be put into TV format with no issue, but there are certain major parts, whole books in fact, that this format would not be compatible. For instance, spoiler alert, I think that the Battles at say the end of book Two with the Ever Victorious Army the White Cloaks and the Heroes of the Horn and the Battle for Caemlyn, whatever book that’s in, are large enough and important enough to be made into full scale films, not to mention the Last Battle. So rather than having to choose from two totally different options, I think it would be better to have a balanced mix, the practicality of this kind of setup is questionable, but if say Universal and HBO teamed up they could create something that has never been successfully achieved: A continuous story that crosses from TV to movie without a mountain of series contradictions. I do however agree that T.V. would be the primary for the series.Andrew the Authornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-56210537989637534102012-07-31T15:38:15.069+00:002012-07-31T15:38:15.069+00:00A lot of people focus on the sheer number of pages...A lot of people focus on the sheer number of pages that make up the books. In the case of RJ, this is very misleading since he is a very descriptive writer. Turning this to a visual medium will remove all descriptive parts and the reintroductions of many characters in every book. This alone will decrease the material by hundreds of pages in one stroke. Dynamite turned this series into a comic and adding pictures makes a lot of difference<br /><br />Personaly, I also favor the option for an animated series. An artform that is alas underestimated by many, including the major studios.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15419828437790589774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-83141031497137959482012-06-20T20:38:42.888+00:002012-06-20T20:38:42.888+00:00Its said they want to stray from the traditional &...Its said they want to stray from the traditional "family friendly" aspect other fantasy genre movies followed. (i.e. Harry potter, Narnia, Erigon etc). but aside from Blood and gore, little about the series is Mature other than the sometimes confusing plot, but the plot confounds just about everyone at times.<br />point being, does this mean in-book phrases like "Burning" or "Bloody" will be replaced with actual curse words in the movie?<br />would it even make sense to INCREASE the maturity?Johnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-83009231733060220002012-06-20T20:25:49.770+00:002012-06-20T20:25:49.770+00:00I just hope the creation of a movie or series will...I just hope the creation of a movie or series will inspire more readers to try the books than turn away new readers with a poorly made project.<br /><br />It will be interesting to see how they put it all together, but Im not holding much hope for an adaptation that holds anything close to the experience of the Wot books. Be it TV, or film.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-62133429064588972442012-05-02T03:35:16.509+00:002012-05-02T03:35:16.509+00:00It's too big of a task and too much risk invol...It's too big of a task and too much risk involved to remake the books into TV or movies. I think something similar to how True Blood has done is what should be done. A Game of Thrones of just far too predictable for me to really love, although it is worth watching. However I just love True Blood because you don't know what's going to happen.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-12532550788878967262011-07-16T14:14:32.920+00:002011-07-16T14:14:32.920+00:00"cut out parts? hell no. why dont we change e..."cut out parts? hell no. why dont we change everbodys name and make it a kids movie while we are at it?,give me six 3 hour, rated R movies."<br /><br />So you don't want parts cut, but you want the entire story condensed into 6 3-hour movies? You can't have both. 6 3-hour movies would amount to, maybe at absolute best, 7 or 8% of the story from the novels.<br /><br />If you want to do WoT properly on screen, you have to do it on TV. Film is not a realistic option unless you want the story gutted.<br /><br />This reminds me that Part 2 of this article is a couple of months overdue. Need to get back to that.Adam Whiteheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11383677312079611311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-23011104058662742732011-07-16T03:44:28.037+00:002011-07-16T03:44:28.037+00:00cut out parts? hell no. why dont we change everbod...cut out parts? hell no. why dont we change everbodys name and make it a kids movie while we are at it?,<br />Movie producers dont have a problem<br />making scream 5 or final destination 5 or 6 or what ever part they are on, look up new movies coming in 2012, all remakes and parts 4s and 6s. stupid. t.v. serries= bad graphics. give me six <br />3 hour, rated R movies. this story deserves it. and every movie would make more money than the last...<br />gold mine for 6 years..... comment supzloco@yahoo.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-24330645537443121302011-05-22T17:10:23.940+00:002011-05-22T17:10:23.940+00:00How do you cut out the Sanchan? Way too big a part...How do you cut out the Sanchan? Way too big a part of the plot/Mat's character arc and we still don't know what part they will play in the Last battle.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-45087948267880006922011-05-21T02:18:26.950+00:002011-05-21T02:18:26.950+00:00TV would be the best medium, but the model is brok...TV would be the best medium, but the model is broken. The 10-13 episode seasons of HBO could work, but would they be committed to it? They aren't even sure Game of Thrones will be back for season 2 despite pretty big numbers. You could do a lot with a full 24-26 episode runs on primetime TV, especially on NBC who really needs a hit - look at their desperation with renewing the terrible "Heroes" and running shows like "Bionic Woman" and "The Event".<br /><br />For TV, the problem becomes ratings and cost. We've seen successful Sci-fi in primetime but not Fantasy. With DVRs ruining the income-through-commercials-based-on-ratings model, it's hard to determine if costs would be covered.<br /><br />Even more problematic are executives who meddle when they think they know what's best for a show. "Make Perrin the goofy sidekick to Rand! Let's get a romance going between Matt and Egwene! Where are the cute and cuddly pets?" You're dealing with marketing people who have no clue about what fans of the show want, only what they think has "worked" over the years because it fits a formula.<br /><br />What you need is a screenwriter/director in Hollywood with the passion to be true to the story, and a studio willing to take a risk, like Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema did with LotR (and look where NLC is now). Obviously you can't make 14 movies, but with some tight script writing you could cut it down to 6 or 7 movies...that's Harry Potter-ish and certainly doable, but the movies would have to be no more than 2 years apart to keep actors from aging too fast and plot threads forgotten.B.T.http://hippogriff.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-51434990310336834242011-05-20T21:19:15.879+00:002011-05-20T21:19:15.879+00:00Mud?Mud?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-87205940060574412742011-05-20T17:56:47.502+00:002011-05-20T17:56:47.502+00:00but the last thing died. The one with the plucky g...but the last thing died. The one with the plucky girl, and the white tower, and all the fucking dragons at the end.<br />Killed by Hollywood.<br />Award winning script too.<br /><br />Do I care if Wheel of Time comes to the screen? NOT EVER.<br />I want to read the ending.<br />POSTMAN at least did some good (orange revolution).<br /><br />I hope hollywood, in total, rots in hell before they start killing good series that don't work on TV or Movies.<br /><br />Wheel of Time works best as a Mud. There are several. Go, play them.<br /><br />Game of Thrones works horribly as a Mud. Hope nobody's doing it, because it would suck!<br />But it makes grand TV.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-77136885895684835662011-05-20T02:20:51.721+00:002011-05-20T02:20:51.721+00:00I'd say a TV series is certainly the best idea...I'd say a TV series is certainly the best idea. But plan it out with extreme economy to take no more than a set number of episodes, say 150, split into 7 seasons of 21-22 episodes.. <br /><br />They would need to be mindful of what I felt to be the cardinal sin of the first season of Legend of the Seeker. Adding in too many filler episodes. When the first season should have adapted both "Wizard's First Rule" and "Stone of Tears" to completely finish up the Darken Rahl storyline, and set up the Chimes storyline. They didn't, it turned into monster of the week, people didn't watch it, and by the time they fixed it with season 2 it was too late. <br /><br />Having it on Sunday afternoons was a terrible idea too.Jordanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00811418102763353838noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-62756431250433201842011-05-20T01:26:51.141+00:002011-05-20T01:26:51.141+00:00Here's the thing... while a load of the tertia...Here's the thing... while a load of the tertiary characters may be unnamed in a movie or a TV series, a lot of secondary characters will have to be kept in. However, in a TV series, these people will have just a few scenes in one season and many scenes in another (expecially important Aes Sedai like Verin and Sheriam, as well as the Foresaken). The same is the case with making a movie. You can't change the actors who play these characters for each installments, and I think keeping them all active for the huge nuber of years it would take to film this would be impossible. <br /><br />I think a performance capture 3-D film, ala Tintin, made by a big name director like Spielberg or Jackson or Cameroon is what we need. <br /><br />You're right that WoT is indeed an epic story. And I think the subtexts involved in Rand's descent into madness, Egwene's politicking, Mat's reluctance to take responsibility, and the Seanchan will be something that a lot of people may appreciate in the current world of terrorism and the fight against it. I know Jordan intended none of this, but those themes work really well in the context of today's world, something that is usually not easy to see unless you read the books all <br />together.<br /><br />But I think live action movies would pose too much of a challenge. Forget the magic and the battles. Hoe will you create iconic places like Caemlyn, Tar Valon, Tear, Ebou Dar and Rhuidean? GRRM restricted himself to magestic castles. Jordan has huge cities, and all of them are very well described and most readers would want to see them on screen. The best option is to give up live-action.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-25284338504871843222011-05-19T18:46:54.478+00:002011-05-19T18:46:54.478+00:00The entire Shaido storyline, post-Couladin (includ...<b>The entire Shaido storyline, post-Couladin (including Faile's abduction and Perrin's endless quest to retrieve her).</b><br /><br />That pretty much eliminates most of Faile, which opens the (great) possibility of simply eliminating the character altogether. She mostly exists as something for Perrin to deal with and chase after anyways. Give him something else to do in the movies/television show. <br /><br /><b>The entirety of Elayne's struggle to hold on to the throne of Andor.</b><br /><br />You could move the events of that earlier into the whole storyline.<br /><br />In fact, you could do both. Move Elayne's struggle to get control of Andor earlier into the story, and possibly move Perrin's defense of the Two Rivers later on.Bretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05741738070067590221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-58858227905432436712011-05-19T07:18:27.918+00:002011-05-19T07:18:27.918+00:00The could make the series much shorter if they edi...The could make the series much shorter if they edited out all the romance- I did a blog post on that ( http://www.iamcurrentlyreading.co.uk/2011/02/22/the-wheel-of-time-is-a-romantic-drama-masquerading-as-fantasy/ ).<br /><br />Additionally they could also edit out all the time Elayne spends in the bath, that would saves hours, or if HBO were making it, add hours :-)Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09622441892958864311noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7703856341303488608.post-76580024707792528732011-05-19T03:28:17.667+00:002011-05-19T03:28:17.667+00:00A great post, and a great discussion.
I am one of...A great post, and a great discussion.<br /><br />I am one of those (who Adam mentioned in passing) who feel that much of the series would be vastly improved by cutting certain parts of it. In particular, I would love to see a heron-mark sword taken to large swaths of books 7 - 10. <br /><br />Adam, your point about the similarity of the bones of Rand's story is well taken - which is one reason why I think the Seanchan need to be kept in. They are one of the more original elements of the story and set it apart in many ways. <br /><br />An (incomplete) list of things I would like to see disappear from a movie adaptation (not to mention the books themselves), in no particular order:<br /><br />The entire Shaido storyline, post-Couladin (including Faile's abduction and Perrin's endless quest to retrieve her).<br /><br />The Bowl of the Winds / climate change subplot (the concept doesn't bother me, but it took way too long to tell and could be cut or vastly shortened).<br /><br />The Prophet. (The Prophet might have been interesting if, again, it didn't take such an extraordinarily long time to wrap up his subplot.) Granted, taking away the Masema entirely essentially takes away Rand's reason for calling Perrin back from Emond's Field...<br /><br />The entirety of Elayne's struggle to hold on to the throne of Andor.<br /><br />The entirety of the Salidar sequence, other than the bare minimum necessary to show Egwene taking power and heading for Tar Valon.<br /><br /><br />I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting. Keep in mind also that these are just things that I think would improve the series if they were removed entirely -- there are obviously many other portions that could be cut or shortened for length's sake.<br /><br />I also say this with all the love, as I still think of this series as one of my favorites. Reading the Eye of the World for the first time is one of the defining moments in my memories of reading fantasy.James D. Cormierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11780841044583146786noreply@blogger.com