Secondly, the American cover art for Terry Pratchett's new, non-Discworld novel, Dodger, due on 13 September.
Sunday, 4 March 2012
New cover art: Pratchett & Tchaikovsky
Some upcoming new cover art. First up is the British cover for Adrian Tchaikovsky's The Air War, the eighth book in the Shadows of the Apt series. The book is due out on 2 August 2012.
Secondly, the American cover art for Terry Pratchett's new, non-Discworld novel, Dodger, due on 13 September.
Secondly, the American cover art for Terry Pratchett's new, non-Discworld novel, Dodger, due on 13 September.
The Wheel of Television Part 2: Structure and Season Length
In Part 1 (which you can find here) I argued that a screen adaptation of The Wheel of Time would work much better as a TV series than a series of films, the option currently being pursued by Red Eagle Entertainment and rights-holders Universal Studios. As discussed in that article, the story would have to be substantially gutted to work even as six 2-3 hour films, and much of the story from the books would be lost. My conclusion was that a TV series would be the only viable way for the books to be adapted to the screen.
Cable or network?
Once the conclusion is reached that the story must be adapted to television, the next question is whether a deal should be pursued with one of the big, universally-available TV networks in the USA (such as ABC or NBC), or with one of the smaller, but usually more flexible, cable networks. If we assume that HBO would not be interested because of their commitment to Game of Thrones, that leaves stations such as Starz, AMC and Showtime as possible contenders. The smaller cable stations, like SyFy, would almost certainly lack the resources to tackle the project with adequate funding.
This question is important for practical reasons. Most notably, the networks usually have longer seasons than cable. If this was the sole issue, in fact, it would be a no-brainer to go with a network. With 20-24 episodes per season, it would be easy to cover two or maybe even three books a season, easily enough to tell the whole story. This would even include the duller moments later on, though I would still argue in favour of condensing events in the third quarter of the series to maybe half the length of narrative they currently span, if not less, to improve pacing.
Of course, there are drawbacks to being on a network. The biggest are money and how much of a chance the series would be given to prove itself before cancellation. Networks are notoriously trigger-happy on cancelling shows early, even when prior evidence shows this to be a self-defeating practice. For example, Seinfeld was almost cancelled at birth due to low ratings, but given another chance and went on to become one of the biggest American TV shows of all time. This tendency increases exponentially the more money is poured into a project. The head of ABC was fired for profligacy after greenlighting Lost's pilot with an astonishing $15 million budget, even though it rewarded that investment by going on to become the biggest thing on TV for a couple of years. A Wheel of Time TV show would require more than the standard $2 million-per-episode budget common to network genre projects (Game of Thrones's budget is more like $6 million per episode, for comparison's sake), which would make it much more likely to be dropped should ratings not match expectations almost immediately.
That said, networks have become more willing to give shows a chance in the last few years. Fox gave both Dollhouse and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles two seasons each to prove themselves before cancelling them, apparently learning from the short-termism that led to the premature cancellation of Firefly several years earlier (later shown to be a mistake after impressive DVD box set sales). They've also shown a willingness to invest more money if the show is a success: Lost's budget (after the generously-budgeted pilot) reached $5 million per episode by the final season, whilst Heroes enjoyed $4 million per episode until its final season, when the budget was slashed in the face of sharply dropping ratings. Still, the greater risk of immediate cancellation makes the networks an uneasy choice to pursue.
On cable, the issues are different. First off, the success of Thrones on HBO means that the other big cable networks will almost certainly be receptive to having a fantasy TV project of their own, especially one where the books are (or were, before Game of Thrones started on TV, anyway) even more popular with an even larger fanbase and an even greater name awareness. Also, whilst the other cable companies don't have HBO's impressive financial resources, they can usually muster up larger budgets than most of the standard networks. Shows like The Tudors (on Showtime), The Walking Dead (on AMC) and Spartacus (on Starz) enjoy significantly more resources than most network shows, whilst not quite being in HBO's league.
The trade-off for more money is shorter seasons. 8-12 episodes per season is normal on a cable network, and 16 episodes (for Season 3 of The Walking Dead or Season 4 of Oz) is the absolute maximum, usually only possible after the show has been a proven success. This is a major limitation in adapting The Wheel of Time for a cable network. If we assume 12 episodes (probably the maximum realistic figure for the first season, at least), that means either hoping the series goes for 10+ seasons (highly implausible) or condensing the story down, which, if not handled right, could takes us back to the movie problem of the project not being worthwhile in the first place.
Length of the seasons
So the question becomes, how much time is necessary to tell the Wheel of Time story on TV? How many episodes should each book cover? Looking at Game of Thrones on HBO, the 800-page first novel had to have a noticeable number of minor plots (mostly flashbacks) and characters shaved off to fit into ten episodes. If for Wheel we accept that we have to cover a minimum of two books per season (meaning a seven season show) and, on cable, only twelve episodes per season will be available, that gives us the prospect of fitting each Wheel of Time novel into just six hour-long episodes.
This initially looks dubious, until several things are factored in. First off, six hours is still twice the absolute maximum length of a potential Eye of the World movie, and more likely closer to three times. So it's still the better option from a time perspective. In addition, Robert Jordan's natural verbosity and tendency towards detailed descriptions means that fitting 800 pages into six hours is actually more straightforward than it appears. The Eye of the World is marginally longer than A Game of Thrones (306,000 words to 298,000) but a plot summary of the former is much more straightforward. The plot is more linear with considerably fewer characters overall, and certainly far fewer 'main' characters (at least at this point). Unlike Thrones, the narrative doesn't need to cover three distinct and major storylines (and several smaller ones) unfolding thousands of miles apart. There is a section mid-book where the characters divide into three groups and reconvene a few chapters later on, but this is still less problematic than the issues faced by Thrones in its first season. The Great Hunt, which would form the remainder of a first season, would be slightly more challenging (due to the characters being apart for a much larger part of the book), especially from a budgetary standpoint given the action that takes place at sea, but time-wise it could fit into six episodes even more easily than the first book (it's somewhat shorter, to start with).
In short, although it would still be something of a squeeze, it should still be possible to fit The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt into twelve episodes. Given the superior budgets available on cable, and the greater likelihood of the show at least making it to a full season before cancellation is a danger, this leads me to conclude that pursuing an adaptation on one of the bigger US cable channels is the logical way to proceed, despite the tighter time constraints.
With HBO unlikely to want to have a show competing with Thrones on their own network, one of these three is the most logical choice to make a Wheel of Time series.
Next time (and hopefully not a year down the line!): shaping the entire story into a TV series and how future seasons would face the challenge of adapting both the longer books in the series and also handling the 'slower' books later on.
Cable or network?
Once the conclusion is reached that the story must be adapted to television, the next question is whether a deal should be pursued with one of the big, universally-available TV networks in the USA (such as ABC or NBC), or with one of the smaller, but usually more flexible, cable networks. If we assume that HBO would not be interested because of their commitment to Game of Thrones, that leaves stations such as Starz, AMC and Showtime as possible contenders. The smaller cable stations, like SyFy, would almost certainly lack the resources to tackle the project with adequate funding.
This question is important for practical reasons. Most notably, the networks usually have longer seasons than cable. If this was the sole issue, in fact, it would be a no-brainer to go with a network. With 20-24 episodes per season, it would be easy to cover two or maybe even three books a season, easily enough to tell the whole story. This would even include the duller moments later on, though I would still argue in favour of condensing events in the third quarter of the series to maybe half the length of narrative they currently span, if not less, to improve pacing.
Of course, there are drawbacks to being on a network. The biggest are money and how much of a chance the series would be given to prove itself before cancellation. Networks are notoriously trigger-happy on cancelling shows early, even when prior evidence shows this to be a self-defeating practice. For example, Seinfeld was almost cancelled at birth due to low ratings, but given another chance and went on to become one of the biggest American TV shows of all time. This tendency increases exponentially the more money is poured into a project. The head of ABC was fired for profligacy after greenlighting Lost's pilot with an astonishing $15 million budget, even though it rewarded that investment by going on to become the biggest thing on TV for a couple of years. A Wheel of Time TV show would require more than the standard $2 million-per-episode budget common to network genre projects (Game of Thrones's budget is more like $6 million per episode, for comparison's sake), which would make it much more likely to be dropped should ratings not match expectations almost immediately.
That said, networks have become more willing to give shows a chance in the last few years. Fox gave both Dollhouse and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles two seasons each to prove themselves before cancelling them, apparently learning from the short-termism that led to the premature cancellation of Firefly several years earlier (later shown to be a mistake after impressive DVD box set sales). They've also shown a willingness to invest more money if the show is a success: Lost's budget (after the generously-budgeted pilot) reached $5 million per episode by the final season, whilst Heroes enjoyed $4 million per episode until its final season, when the budget was slashed in the face of sharply dropping ratings. Still, the greater risk of immediate cancellation makes the networks an uneasy choice to pursue.
On cable, the issues are different. First off, the success of Thrones on HBO means that the other big cable networks will almost certainly be receptive to having a fantasy TV project of their own, especially one where the books are (or were, before Game of Thrones started on TV, anyway) even more popular with an even larger fanbase and an even greater name awareness. Also, whilst the other cable companies don't have HBO's impressive financial resources, they can usually muster up larger budgets than most of the standard networks. Shows like The Tudors (on Showtime), The Walking Dead (on AMC) and Spartacus (on Starz) enjoy significantly more resources than most network shows, whilst not quite being in HBO's league.
The trade-off for more money is shorter seasons. 8-12 episodes per season is normal on a cable network, and 16 episodes (for Season 3 of The Walking Dead or Season 4 of Oz) is the absolute maximum, usually only possible after the show has been a proven success. This is a major limitation in adapting The Wheel of Time for a cable network. If we assume 12 episodes (probably the maximum realistic figure for the first season, at least), that means either hoping the series goes for 10+ seasons (highly implausible) or condensing the story down, which, if not handled right, could takes us back to the movie problem of the project not being worthwhile in the first place.
Length of the seasons
So the question becomes, how much time is necessary to tell the Wheel of Time story on TV? How many episodes should each book cover? Looking at Game of Thrones on HBO, the 800-page first novel had to have a noticeable number of minor plots (mostly flashbacks) and characters shaved off to fit into ten episodes. If for Wheel we accept that we have to cover a minimum of two books per season (meaning a seven season show) and, on cable, only twelve episodes per season will be available, that gives us the prospect of fitting each Wheel of Time novel into just six hour-long episodes.
This initially looks dubious, until several things are factored in. First off, six hours is still twice the absolute maximum length of a potential Eye of the World movie, and more likely closer to three times. So it's still the better option from a time perspective. In addition, Robert Jordan's natural verbosity and tendency towards detailed descriptions means that fitting 800 pages into six hours is actually more straightforward than it appears. The Eye of the World is marginally longer than A Game of Thrones (306,000 words to 298,000) but a plot summary of the former is much more straightforward. The plot is more linear with considerably fewer characters overall, and certainly far fewer 'main' characters (at least at this point). Unlike Thrones, the narrative doesn't need to cover three distinct and major storylines (and several smaller ones) unfolding thousands of miles apart. There is a section mid-book where the characters divide into three groups and reconvene a few chapters later on, but this is still less problematic than the issues faced by Thrones in its first season. The Great Hunt, which would form the remainder of a first season, would be slightly more challenging (due to the characters being apart for a much larger part of the book), especially from a budgetary standpoint given the action that takes place at sea, but time-wise it could fit into six episodes even more easily than the first book (it's somewhat shorter, to start with).
In short, although it would still be something of a squeeze, it should still be possible to fit The Eye of the World and The Great Hunt into twelve episodes. Given the superior budgets available on cable, and the greater likelihood of the show at least making it to a full season before cancellation is a danger, this leads me to conclude that pursuing an adaptation on one of the bigger US cable channels is the logical way to proceed, despite the tighter time constraints.
With HBO unlikely to want to have a show competing with Thrones on their own network, one of these three is the most logical choice to make a Wheel of Time series.Next time (and hopefully not a year down the line!): shaping the entire story into a TV series and how future seasons would face the challenge of adapting both the longer books in the series and also handling the 'slower' books later on.
Saturday, 3 March 2012
GAME OF THRONES S2 trailer: Seven Devils
HBO and EW have surprisingly unveiled another Game of Thrones trailer. This marks the first time that HBO have used licensed music for a trailer, in this case Florence and the Machine's track 'Seven Devils'.
The trailer is notable for featuring a bit of verbal sparring between Robb and Jaime, whilst Tyrion makes a promise to Cersei that he may later regret.
The Wheel of Time So Far: Part 2 - The Breaking and Beyond
For Part 1 of this recap, see here.
As usual, spoilers for those unfamiliar with the books.
The Breaking of the World
At the end of the War of the Shadow, Lews Therin Telamon and the Hundred Companions launched a near-suicidal strike on Shayol Ghul, the site of the earthly link to the Dark One's prison. In a pitched battle, Telamon and his forces were victorious and the Dark One's prison was re-sealed. But at the moment of triumph the Dark One's final counterstroke tainted saidin, placing a rotting curse across the male half of the One Power. Those male Aes Sedai present went insane on the instant, laying waste to large tracts of the world. Lews Therin himself destroyed his own home and slaughtered his family. Ishamael, strongest of the Forsaken and not immediately imprisoned alongside the rest of them (though he was soon drawn into the prison as well), Healed Lews Therin and revealed the horrific truth to him. Lews Therin killed himself with the One Power, causing a cataclysmic eruption of the Truth Source that created a huge mountin, Dragonmount, in the process.
A somewhat grim representation of the Breaking of the World.
The ripples of the curse spread across the world, gradually affecting all male channellers over the course of months. The female Aes Sedai undertook a number of projects to Heal or protect their male colleagues, but nothing worked. Although it was possible to create an untainted stockpile of saidin using the female half of the Power, saidar, to filter it (this was done to create the legendary Eye of the World), it was not possible to remove the taint or protect someone indefinitely from the corruption. As the male Aes Sedai succumbed to the taint and unleashed death and destruction on a huge scale, it became eventually clear that the only way to end the problem was to kill or gentle - remove the ability to channel - from every last male channeller in the world.
Some of the men managed to avoid this fate, some by taking refuge in Ogier groves or stedding, where channelling was not possible. However, once someone had started to channel it was impossible to stop for long, and ultimately many of these men felt compelled to leave the stedding, where they succumbed to the taint. Unfortunately, this compulsion also meant that men cut off from the One Power were unable to live without it, some killing themselves and others wasting away. However, some male channellers gave a gift to their Ogier hosts before departing, creating a transdimensional series of passageways connecting the stedding together, the Ways, allowing the Ogier to cross vast distances in a matter of hours or days. Ultimately, the chaos of the Breaking led many Ogier to abandon the stedding for decades before they rediscovered them. In this time they developed a malady known as the Longing, which resulted in an Ogier's death if he spent more than a few years out of a stedding. Although they were reunited with the stedding, this malady later resurfaced in any Ogier who spent more than a couple of years away from their homes.
The crazed male channellers ultimately destroyed the world, sweeping away the glories and achievements of the Age of Legends in three centuries of floods, earthquakes and fire. Great seismic disturbances wracked the world as the male channellers flattened mountains, drew others out of the ground, shattered entire continents and sank them beneath the waves and dragged others out of the ocean depths. Untold millions died.
The Horn of Valere, an object of unkown origin but formidable power.
At Paaran Disen before its destruction, the last remnants of the Aes Sedai made contingency plans to protect whatever future human civilisation may arise, including giving them a warning. A series of Aes Sedia Foretellings had revealed that the Dark One had only been defeated, not destroyed. Worse still, the breach in its prison - the Bore - was only sealed off, not completely healed. Eventually, though it might take millennia, the Dark One would be able to escape. But the Foretellings also revealed that the Dragon would be Reborn to fight and defeat the Dark One at the Last Battle. The Last Battle would destroy and wrack the world a second time, for the Dragon Reborn would not be immune to the taint on saidin. To help prepare for this day, the Eye of the World (the untainted reservoir of saidin) was given to Someshta, last of the Nym (later known to legend as the Green Man), to protect in a remote location. Also given to him was the Horn of Valere, an ancient device of unknown origin, said to be able to summon great heroes from beyond the grave to fight for the sounder of the Horn.
The Aes Sedai also created a powerful sa'angreal, a crystal sword called Callandor. The last surviving sane male Aes Sedai helped created powerful wards around the sword, wards that only the true Dragon Reborn could breach. The sword was placed within a mighty redoubt, a huge mass of rock shaped with the One Power into a fortress known as the Stone of Tear.
Another collection of artifacts of the One Power was given to the safekeeping of a small number of Aes Sedai, who decided to take them into the east. The Da'shain Aiel, who were being persecuted because of their association with the now-cursed name of the Dragon (they had served him as couriers and servants in the War of the Shadow, their pacifistic nature meaning they could not fight directly), accompanied the Aes Sedai on their generations-long journey. Ultimately, the Da'shain found it impossible to maintain the Way of the Leaf. Some Aiel turned to violence to defend themselves, taking up the spear. A small number of Aiel remained true to the Way, becoming the Jenn Aiel, the True Aiel. Another group who retained the Way decided it could not stomach the presence of the 'fallen' Aiel and turned away, becoming a nomadic race of travellers known as the Tuatha'an, the Travelling People (or, later, the Tinkers).
The city of Rhuidean in the Aiel Waste.
The Aiel and their Aes Sedai charges encountered hostility wherever they went, with the exception of one incident. As they approached the foothills of a vast mountain range, the Spine of the World, they were helped by the inhabitants of a small town. Many generations later, the Aiel discovered that the town had grown into a mighty city, called Cairhien, and vowed to repay the kindness that was shown to their ancestors years earlier. Ultimately, the Aiel passed over the Spine into a hostile land of heat, rocks and little water. In the shadow of a great mountain, Chaendaer, the Aes Sedai with them founded a city called Rhuidean. In this city they stored their precious artifacts of the Power, including a number of crystal columns containing the true history of the Aiel race. These they bequeathed to the Aiel, charging that their clan chiefs and Wise Ones (many of whom were channellers of the One Power) come to the columns so they would always remember the truth of what they had lost when their ancestors abandoned the Way of the Leaf. The Aes Sedai also left behind a prophecy that, one day, an Aiel would come from Rhuidean with the dawn at his back and would unify the Aiel. He would be the Car'a'carn, the Chief of Chiefs, who would take the Aiel back into the fertile westlands and save them, but in doing so, wouldd destroy them, saving only a remnant of a remnant. These Aes Sedai, now ancient, passed away, as did the Jenn Aiel, leaving behind an increasingly proficient race of spear-wielding warriors, most of whom never learned their true history.
The Breaking of the World lasted between 239 and 344 years, and left the world completely changed. When the last male Aes Sedai died (or was gentled), the earthquakes and floods that had wracked the world for decades finally ended, and peace was restored.
After the Breaking
Arguably the first civilisation to arise after the Breaking was that of the Athan'an Miere, the People of the Sea, or Sea Folk. Early in the Breaking they took to the sea in flotillas of boats, and managed to ride out the worst of the chaos either at sea or on remote islands. They quickly established a civilisation spanning multiple islands in what would become known as the Aryth Ocean and the Sea of Storms, trading between islands and with the mainland.
On the mainland, the first city to arise after the Breaking was Tear, which was built up around the Stone of Tear. Other cities rapidly followed, including Tanchico (at this time called Mainelle) and Hai Caemlyn, not to mention Al'cair'rahienallen near the Spine of the World.
During the Breaking, the organisation of the Aes Sedai had broken down and ultimately been lost. Individual women trained such girls as they found who had the potential to channel, resulting in many small, separate bands of female channellers forming. As the chaos of the Breaking subsided, these bands began to ally together. Forty-seven years after the accepted end of the Breaking (47 AB), the sixteen largest bands of female channellers met to decide on their future. They agreed to refound the Aes Sedai, now a sisterhood of female-only channellers. The goals they set themselves were to hunt down and kill or still male channellers wherever encountered, to fight Shadowspawn (which still existed in remote corners of the world) and to prepare the world for the Dragon's Rebirth and the Last Battle with the Shadow.
Tar Valon, home of the Aes Sedai. The White Tower is visible near the city centre.
With the Aes Sedai refounded, they also needed a base of operations. Knowing that Dragonmount marked the last resting place of Lews Therin Telamon, they established their stronghold on an island in the River Erinin, almost within reach of Dragonmount's shadow. They contracted the finest Ogier stonemasons to build their city, which they named Tar Valon. Construction of the city began in 98 AB, by which time the Aes Sedai had reached a level of organisation similar to their present structure. Seven Ajahs - permanent political and ideological factions rather than the temporary ajah of the Age of Legends - had formed, with one sister from each Ajah advising their leader, the Amyrlin Seat, in a council called the Hall of the Tower. Later, as the Aes Sedai expanded their numbers into the thousands, this expanded to three sisters from each Ajah. Elisane Tishar was the first Amyrlin Seat, taking up the role circa 90 AB.
The Aes Sedai stronghold, the 500-foot-tall White Tower, was completed in 195 AB. The city itself was finished in 202 AB. Created by the Ogier and Aes Sedai using the One Power, it was the most structurally and aesthetically-pleasing city in the known world.
The Ten Nations
By 209 AB, the Westlands - the subcontinent defined as lying between the Aiel Waste, the Aryth Ocean, the Sea of Storms and the Great Blight - had become home to ten powerful nation-states arising out of the ashes of the Breaking. High technology had been lost, plunging humanity back to a medieval level of technology, but some of the unity of the Age of Legends remained and each of the Ten Nations proved to be vast, spanning many thousands of square miles of territory. Hoping to quickly rebuild and reclaim the glories of the Age of Legends, the Aes Sedai invited representatives from the Ten Nations to meet at Tar Valon for a conference. The result of this was the Compact of the Ten Nations, where the individual kingdoms agreed to support one another and work together (with Aes Sedai advice and guidance).
This plan worked. Some minor border skirmishes aside, the Ten Nations - Jaramide, Aramaelle, Safer, Aelgar, Eharon, Essenia, Almoren, Manetheren, Aridhol and Coremanda - existed alongside one another in peace for more than eight centuries after the signing of the Compact. The only problems in this time were the emergence of the so-called 'false Dragons', men who could channel the One Power. Rather than admit they were doomed to insanity and death, they believed they were the prophecised Dragon Reborn. In some cases they raised great armies and attempted to take the Stone of Tear to prove their claims, but in each case were defeated. The first false Dragon was Raolin Darksbane, who arose in 335 AB before being defeated in battle and stilled by the Aes Sedai.
During these long centuries of peace, the Aes Sedai took up the practice of swearing the Three Oaths (to utter no word that was not true, to not use the One Power as a weapon except in defence and to never make a weapon with which one human may kill another) and bonding Warders, formidable male warriors who would defend their charged Aes Sedai to the death. Aes Sedai were seen as valuable advisors and mediators at this time, and in some cases rose to high office, including ruling nations.
Outside of the Westlands, humanity also thrived on remote continents. Beyond the Aiel Waste lay a vast land called Shara, which was unified into a single powerful nation-state shortly after the Breaking (at least according to the natives). Highly secretive and isolationist, the Sharans traded with Sea Folk ships that visited their south-western coasts and with Aiel traders at trade towns along their western borders, but undertook no further contact with outsiders.
More than five thousand miles to the west, across the Aryth Ocean, the two vast, adjoining landmasses that existed there become divided into a shifting patchwork of small nation-states, almost constantly at war or at least in strife with one another. Female channellers, taking the name Aes Sedai, became rulers and warlords themselves and fought one another in wars rather than trying to unify as in the Westlands. This land, Seanchan, became a land of war and strife for almost two thousand years.
However, in the Westlands this was an unusually long period of peace and enlightenment in which humanity grew again in numbers and strove to recapture what had been lost in the Breaking of the World.
The Ten Nations on the eve of the Trolloc Wars, c. 1000 AB.
The Trolloc Wars
Circa 1000 AB, the Westlands suffered a brutal and overwhelming invasion of Shadowspawn out of the Great Blight. Vast hordes of Trollocs, led by Myrddraal and channellers sworn to the Shadow - Dreadlords - struck south into the northern-most nations of the Westlands (the term 'Borderlands' did not come into vogue until some centuries later), Jaramide and Aramaelle. The great city of Barsine in Jaramide was destroyed, as was the fortress-city of Mafal Dadaranelle in Aramaelle (in later years it was refounded under the name Fal Dara). The Ten Nations were caught by surprise. Though the Aes Sedai encouraged military cooperation and the founding of vast armies in the hundreds of thousands to oppose the Shadowspawn, the reaction was not as fast as might be hoped. Large tracts of territory were lost - including the entire nation of Aramaelle - before the Ten Nations managed to respond in force.
The Trolloc Wars raged for three and a half centuries. Initially, the Trollocs seemed leaderless, but a leader named Ba'alzamon (presumed to be a Dreadlord, though some held him nonsensically to be the Dark One himself) soon arose to guide them to victory after victory. The nation of Aridhol, thanks to the advice of a mysterious counsellor known as Mordeth, took the step of becoming hardened, cold and ruthless, even moreso than the Shadow according to some legends, to stop the Trolloc attacks. Though this was successful, Aridhol was instead consumed by its own evil and destroyed in an event not fully understood by either Aes Sedai or the Shadow. Aridhol City became a forbidding ruin known as Shadar Logoth, haunted by a living mist called Mashadar which killed all it touched. With the Aridholian army removed from the equation, the Trollocs bypassed Shadar Logoth and were able to attack the nation of Manetheren to the south.
Manetheren was one of the smallest of the Ten Nations, but also one of the most renowned. Its army was formidable, and noted for its mobility. King Aemon al Caar al Thorin was himself a formidable warrior, and his elite bodyguard, the Band of the Red Hand, was famous for its deeds of valour. Aemon and his army were fighting in the east when word came of an impending Trolloc assault on Manetheren. They turned round and made a forced march, successfully intercepting the Shadowspawn at the banks of the River Tarendrelle. Communicating with the Amyrlin Seat, Tetsuan, King Aemon received assurances that reinforcements would arrive within three days. However, this proved not to be the case. In a huge battle lasting almost a fortnight, the army of Manetheren used the river as a defensive line which the Shadow could not breach. Repeated assaults on the only bridge over the river and vast exchanges of missile fire results in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Shadowspawn and maybe tens of thousands of defenders before the Shadow's vastly superior numbers finally achieved a breakthrough.
A fanciful depiction of the Fall of Manetheren, conflating the Battle of the Tarendrelle with the destruction of Manetheren City (which actually lay days from the battlefield).
Aemon and the Band of the Red Hand led a fighting retreat to a field a couple of days' travel east of Manetheren City. Exhausted, they turned and fought, killing thousands more Trollocs and Myrddraal before they were overrun. Queen Eldrene, who was Aes Sedai and bonded to her husband as a Warder as well as in marriage, was driven to despair by his death. Channelling more of the the One Power than was safe, even as Lews Therin had done more than a thousand years earlier, she killed herself but in the process unleashed a storm of the Power that destroyed the invading Trolloc armies as well. Unfortunately, Ba'alzamon survived.
Later, the Aes Sedai discovered evidence that Tetsuan had deliberately delayed the arrival of reinforcements at Manetheren out of jealousy of her rival Eldrene, whose strength in the One Power was superior. Horrified, the Hall of the Tower stripped Tetsuan of her position and rank and had her stilled (the female equivalent to gentling), the first time this had happened in the history of the Aes Sedai.
The End of the Wars
The Fall of Manetheren allowed Trolloc armies to penetrate into the deep south of the continent, reaching the southern coastal nation of Eharon. They destroyed the capital city at Londaren Cor before sacking the port of Barashta (later rebuilt as Ebou Dar), but were turned back by the increasingly proficient human armies. By this time Ba'alzamon had disappeared, leaving the Shadow's forces leaderless and increasingly easily divided. The remaining armies of the Ten Nations, on the other hand, gained a powerful and charismatic leader in Rashima Kerenmosa, famed 'Soldier Amyrlin'. A formidable general and battle commander as well as a powerful Aes Sedai, Rashima personally led forces in combat as well as designing strategies of division and encirclement, using mobility to draw out the Trollocs and destroy them piecemeal where their overwhelming numerical superiority did not count for much.
After defeating the fourth and final Trolloc assault on Tar Valon during the wars, Rashima enacted a series of offensives against the Shadowspawn, scoring numerous victories culiminating in the massive Battle of Maighande in 1301 AB. In this engagement, the largest of the Trolloc Wars, the armies of humanity finally broke the back of the invading hordes, unleashing slaughter on a scale not seen since the height of the War of the Shadow. At the end of the battle Rashima's corpse was found surrounded by the bodies of her five Warders, a veritable wall of Trollocs and no less than nine Dreadlords. Despite her death, the surviving nations were able to complete her victory. Over the next fifty years, the remaining Trolloc bands south of the Great Blight were weeded out and destroyed.
The Trolloc Wars had been won by humanity, but only at a terrible cost. Five of the Ten Nations fell during the wars and the remaining five fell to internal disputes not long after. The cost of three and a half centuries of constant warfare have proven devastating, destroying much of the progress that had been made since the Breaking of the World. The Aes Sedai, who had fought on the front lines during the conflict to counter the Shadow's Dreadlords, were terribly reduced in numbers by the conflict. Ultimately, humanity had survived but the progress it had made towards regaining the glory of the Age of Legends had been lost.
Next: Artur Hawkwing, the invasion of Seanchan and events leading up to the start of the books.
As usual, spoilers for those unfamiliar with the books.
The Breaking of the World
At the end of the War of the Shadow, Lews Therin Telamon and the Hundred Companions launched a near-suicidal strike on Shayol Ghul, the site of the earthly link to the Dark One's prison. In a pitched battle, Telamon and his forces were victorious and the Dark One's prison was re-sealed. But at the moment of triumph the Dark One's final counterstroke tainted saidin, placing a rotting curse across the male half of the One Power. Those male Aes Sedai present went insane on the instant, laying waste to large tracts of the world. Lews Therin himself destroyed his own home and slaughtered his family. Ishamael, strongest of the Forsaken and not immediately imprisoned alongside the rest of them (though he was soon drawn into the prison as well), Healed Lews Therin and revealed the horrific truth to him. Lews Therin killed himself with the One Power, causing a cataclysmic eruption of the Truth Source that created a huge mountin, Dragonmount, in the process.
A somewhat grim representation of the Breaking of the World.The ripples of the curse spread across the world, gradually affecting all male channellers over the course of months. The female Aes Sedai undertook a number of projects to Heal or protect their male colleagues, but nothing worked. Although it was possible to create an untainted stockpile of saidin using the female half of the Power, saidar, to filter it (this was done to create the legendary Eye of the World), it was not possible to remove the taint or protect someone indefinitely from the corruption. As the male Aes Sedai succumbed to the taint and unleashed death and destruction on a huge scale, it became eventually clear that the only way to end the problem was to kill or gentle - remove the ability to channel - from every last male channeller in the world.
Some of the men managed to avoid this fate, some by taking refuge in Ogier groves or stedding, where channelling was not possible. However, once someone had started to channel it was impossible to stop for long, and ultimately many of these men felt compelled to leave the stedding, where they succumbed to the taint. Unfortunately, this compulsion also meant that men cut off from the One Power were unable to live without it, some killing themselves and others wasting away. However, some male channellers gave a gift to their Ogier hosts before departing, creating a transdimensional series of passageways connecting the stedding together, the Ways, allowing the Ogier to cross vast distances in a matter of hours or days. Ultimately, the chaos of the Breaking led many Ogier to abandon the stedding for decades before they rediscovered them. In this time they developed a malady known as the Longing, which resulted in an Ogier's death if he spent more than a few years out of a stedding. Although they were reunited with the stedding, this malady later resurfaced in any Ogier who spent more than a couple of years away from their homes.
The crazed male channellers ultimately destroyed the world, sweeping away the glories and achievements of the Age of Legends in three centuries of floods, earthquakes and fire. Great seismic disturbances wracked the world as the male channellers flattened mountains, drew others out of the ground, shattered entire continents and sank them beneath the waves and dragged others out of the ocean depths. Untold millions died.
The Horn of Valere, an object of unkown origin but formidable power.At Paaran Disen before its destruction, the last remnants of the Aes Sedai made contingency plans to protect whatever future human civilisation may arise, including giving them a warning. A series of Aes Sedia Foretellings had revealed that the Dark One had only been defeated, not destroyed. Worse still, the breach in its prison - the Bore - was only sealed off, not completely healed. Eventually, though it might take millennia, the Dark One would be able to escape. But the Foretellings also revealed that the Dragon would be Reborn to fight and defeat the Dark One at the Last Battle. The Last Battle would destroy and wrack the world a second time, for the Dragon Reborn would not be immune to the taint on saidin. To help prepare for this day, the Eye of the World (the untainted reservoir of saidin) was given to Someshta, last of the Nym (later known to legend as the Green Man), to protect in a remote location. Also given to him was the Horn of Valere, an ancient device of unknown origin, said to be able to summon great heroes from beyond the grave to fight for the sounder of the Horn.
The Aes Sedai also created a powerful sa'angreal, a crystal sword called Callandor. The last surviving sane male Aes Sedai helped created powerful wards around the sword, wards that only the true Dragon Reborn could breach. The sword was placed within a mighty redoubt, a huge mass of rock shaped with the One Power into a fortress known as the Stone of Tear.
Another collection of artifacts of the One Power was given to the safekeeping of a small number of Aes Sedai, who decided to take them into the east. The Da'shain Aiel, who were being persecuted because of their association with the now-cursed name of the Dragon (they had served him as couriers and servants in the War of the Shadow, their pacifistic nature meaning they could not fight directly), accompanied the Aes Sedai on their generations-long journey. Ultimately, the Da'shain found it impossible to maintain the Way of the Leaf. Some Aiel turned to violence to defend themselves, taking up the spear. A small number of Aiel remained true to the Way, becoming the Jenn Aiel, the True Aiel. Another group who retained the Way decided it could not stomach the presence of the 'fallen' Aiel and turned away, becoming a nomadic race of travellers known as the Tuatha'an, the Travelling People (or, later, the Tinkers).
The city of Rhuidean in the Aiel Waste.The Aiel and their Aes Sedai charges encountered hostility wherever they went, with the exception of one incident. As they approached the foothills of a vast mountain range, the Spine of the World, they were helped by the inhabitants of a small town. Many generations later, the Aiel discovered that the town had grown into a mighty city, called Cairhien, and vowed to repay the kindness that was shown to their ancestors years earlier. Ultimately, the Aiel passed over the Spine into a hostile land of heat, rocks and little water. In the shadow of a great mountain, Chaendaer, the Aes Sedai with them founded a city called Rhuidean. In this city they stored their precious artifacts of the Power, including a number of crystal columns containing the true history of the Aiel race. These they bequeathed to the Aiel, charging that their clan chiefs and Wise Ones (many of whom were channellers of the One Power) come to the columns so they would always remember the truth of what they had lost when their ancestors abandoned the Way of the Leaf. The Aes Sedai also left behind a prophecy that, one day, an Aiel would come from Rhuidean with the dawn at his back and would unify the Aiel. He would be the Car'a'carn, the Chief of Chiefs, who would take the Aiel back into the fertile westlands and save them, but in doing so, wouldd destroy them, saving only a remnant of a remnant. These Aes Sedai, now ancient, passed away, as did the Jenn Aiel, leaving behind an increasingly proficient race of spear-wielding warriors, most of whom never learned their true history.
The Breaking of the World lasted between 239 and 344 years, and left the world completely changed. When the last male Aes Sedai died (or was gentled), the earthquakes and floods that had wracked the world for decades finally ended, and peace was restored.
After the Breaking
Arguably the first civilisation to arise after the Breaking was that of the Athan'an Miere, the People of the Sea, or Sea Folk. Early in the Breaking they took to the sea in flotillas of boats, and managed to ride out the worst of the chaos either at sea or on remote islands. They quickly established a civilisation spanning multiple islands in what would become known as the Aryth Ocean and the Sea of Storms, trading between islands and with the mainland.
On the mainland, the first city to arise after the Breaking was Tear, which was built up around the Stone of Tear. Other cities rapidly followed, including Tanchico (at this time called Mainelle) and Hai Caemlyn, not to mention Al'cair'rahienallen near the Spine of the World.
During the Breaking, the organisation of the Aes Sedai had broken down and ultimately been lost. Individual women trained such girls as they found who had the potential to channel, resulting in many small, separate bands of female channellers forming. As the chaos of the Breaking subsided, these bands began to ally together. Forty-seven years after the accepted end of the Breaking (47 AB), the sixteen largest bands of female channellers met to decide on their future. They agreed to refound the Aes Sedai, now a sisterhood of female-only channellers. The goals they set themselves were to hunt down and kill or still male channellers wherever encountered, to fight Shadowspawn (which still existed in remote corners of the world) and to prepare the world for the Dragon's Rebirth and the Last Battle with the Shadow.
Tar Valon, home of the Aes Sedai. The White Tower is visible near the city centre.With the Aes Sedai refounded, they also needed a base of operations. Knowing that Dragonmount marked the last resting place of Lews Therin Telamon, they established their stronghold on an island in the River Erinin, almost within reach of Dragonmount's shadow. They contracted the finest Ogier stonemasons to build their city, which they named Tar Valon. Construction of the city began in 98 AB, by which time the Aes Sedai had reached a level of organisation similar to their present structure. Seven Ajahs - permanent political and ideological factions rather than the temporary ajah of the Age of Legends - had formed, with one sister from each Ajah advising their leader, the Amyrlin Seat, in a council called the Hall of the Tower. Later, as the Aes Sedai expanded their numbers into the thousands, this expanded to three sisters from each Ajah. Elisane Tishar was the first Amyrlin Seat, taking up the role circa 90 AB.
The Aes Sedai stronghold, the 500-foot-tall White Tower, was completed in 195 AB. The city itself was finished in 202 AB. Created by the Ogier and Aes Sedai using the One Power, it was the most structurally and aesthetically-pleasing city in the known world.
The Ten Nations
By 209 AB, the Westlands - the subcontinent defined as lying between the Aiel Waste, the Aryth Ocean, the Sea of Storms and the Great Blight - had become home to ten powerful nation-states arising out of the ashes of the Breaking. High technology had been lost, plunging humanity back to a medieval level of technology, but some of the unity of the Age of Legends remained and each of the Ten Nations proved to be vast, spanning many thousands of square miles of territory. Hoping to quickly rebuild and reclaim the glories of the Age of Legends, the Aes Sedai invited representatives from the Ten Nations to meet at Tar Valon for a conference. The result of this was the Compact of the Ten Nations, where the individual kingdoms agreed to support one another and work together (with Aes Sedai advice and guidance).
This plan worked. Some minor border skirmishes aside, the Ten Nations - Jaramide, Aramaelle, Safer, Aelgar, Eharon, Essenia, Almoren, Manetheren, Aridhol and Coremanda - existed alongside one another in peace for more than eight centuries after the signing of the Compact. The only problems in this time were the emergence of the so-called 'false Dragons', men who could channel the One Power. Rather than admit they were doomed to insanity and death, they believed they were the prophecised Dragon Reborn. In some cases they raised great armies and attempted to take the Stone of Tear to prove their claims, but in each case were defeated. The first false Dragon was Raolin Darksbane, who arose in 335 AB before being defeated in battle and stilled by the Aes Sedai.
During these long centuries of peace, the Aes Sedai took up the practice of swearing the Three Oaths (to utter no word that was not true, to not use the One Power as a weapon except in defence and to never make a weapon with which one human may kill another) and bonding Warders, formidable male warriors who would defend their charged Aes Sedai to the death. Aes Sedai were seen as valuable advisors and mediators at this time, and in some cases rose to high office, including ruling nations.
Outside of the Westlands, humanity also thrived on remote continents. Beyond the Aiel Waste lay a vast land called Shara, which was unified into a single powerful nation-state shortly after the Breaking (at least according to the natives). Highly secretive and isolationist, the Sharans traded with Sea Folk ships that visited their south-western coasts and with Aiel traders at trade towns along their western borders, but undertook no further contact with outsiders.
More than five thousand miles to the west, across the Aryth Ocean, the two vast, adjoining landmasses that existed there become divided into a shifting patchwork of small nation-states, almost constantly at war or at least in strife with one another. Female channellers, taking the name Aes Sedai, became rulers and warlords themselves and fought one another in wars rather than trying to unify as in the Westlands. This land, Seanchan, became a land of war and strife for almost two thousand years.
However, in the Westlands this was an unusually long period of peace and enlightenment in which humanity grew again in numbers and strove to recapture what had been lost in the Breaking of the World.
The Ten Nations on the eve of the Trolloc Wars, c. 1000 AB.The Trolloc Wars
Circa 1000 AB, the Westlands suffered a brutal and overwhelming invasion of Shadowspawn out of the Great Blight. Vast hordes of Trollocs, led by Myrddraal and channellers sworn to the Shadow - Dreadlords - struck south into the northern-most nations of the Westlands (the term 'Borderlands' did not come into vogue until some centuries later), Jaramide and Aramaelle. The great city of Barsine in Jaramide was destroyed, as was the fortress-city of Mafal Dadaranelle in Aramaelle (in later years it was refounded under the name Fal Dara). The Ten Nations were caught by surprise. Though the Aes Sedai encouraged military cooperation and the founding of vast armies in the hundreds of thousands to oppose the Shadowspawn, the reaction was not as fast as might be hoped. Large tracts of territory were lost - including the entire nation of Aramaelle - before the Ten Nations managed to respond in force.
The Trolloc Wars raged for three and a half centuries. Initially, the Trollocs seemed leaderless, but a leader named Ba'alzamon (presumed to be a Dreadlord, though some held him nonsensically to be the Dark One himself) soon arose to guide them to victory after victory. The nation of Aridhol, thanks to the advice of a mysterious counsellor known as Mordeth, took the step of becoming hardened, cold and ruthless, even moreso than the Shadow according to some legends, to stop the Trolloc attacks. Though this was successful, Aridhol was instead consumed by its own evil and destroyed in an event not fully understood by either Aes Sedai or the Shadow. Aridhol City became a forbidding ruin known as Shadar Logoth, haunted by a living mist called Mashadar which killed all it touched. With the Aridholian army removed from the equation, the Trollocs bypassed Shadar Logoth and were able to attack the nation of Manetheren to the south.
Manetheren was one of the smallest of the Ten Nations, but also one of the most renowned. Its army was formidable, and noted for its mobility. King Aemon al Caar al Thorin was himself a formidable warrior, and his elite bodyguard, the Band of the Red Hand, was famous for its deeds of valour. Aemon and his army were fighting in the east when word came of an impending Trolloc assault on Manetheren. They turned round and made a forced march, successfully intercepting the Shadowspawn at the banks of the River Tarendrelle. Communicating with the Amyrlin Seat, Tetsuan, King Aemon received assurances that reinforcements would arrive within three days. However, this proved not to be the case. In a huge battle lasting almost a fortnight, the army of Manetheren used the river as a defensive line which the Shadow could not breach. Repeated assaults on the only bridge over the river and vast exchanges of missile fire results in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Shadowspawn and maybe tens of thousands of defenders before the Shadow's vastly superior numbers finally achieved a breakthrough.
A fanciful depiction of the Fall of Manetheren, conflating the Battle of the Tarendrelle with the destruction of Manetheren City (which actually lay days from the battlefield).Aemon and the Band of the Red Hand led a fighting retreat to a field a couple of days' travel east of Manetheren City. Exhausted, they turned and fought, killing thousands more Trollocs and Myrddraal before they were overrun. Queen Eldrene, who was Aes Sedai and bonded to her husband as a Warder as well as in marriage, was driven to despair by his death. Channelling more of the the One Power than was safe, even as Lews Therin had done more than a thousand years earlier, she killed herself but in the process unleashed a storm of the Power that destroyed the invading Trolloc armies as well. Unfortunately, Ba'alzamon survived.
Later, the Aes Sedai discovered evidence that Tetsuan had deliberately delayed the arrival of reinforcements at Manetheren out of jealousy of her rival Eldrene, whose strength in the One Power was superior. Horrified, the Hall of the Tower stripped Tetsuan of her position and rank and had her stilled (the female equivalent to gentling), the first time this had happened in the history of the Aes Sedai.
The End of the Wars
The Fall of Manetheren allowed Trolloc armies to penetrate into the deep south of the continent, reaching the southern coastal nation of Eharon. They destroyed the capital city at Londaren Cor before sacking the port of Barashta (later rebuilt as Ebou Dar), but were turned back by the increasingly proficient human armies. By this time Ba'alzamon had disappeared, leaving the Shadow's forces leaderless and increasingly easily divided. The remaining armies of the Ten Nations, on the other hand, gained a powerful and charismatic leader in Rashima Kerenmosa, famed 'Soldier Amyrlin'. A formidable general and battle commander as well as a powerful Aes Sedai, Rashima personally led forces in combat as well as designing strategies of division and encirclement, using mobility to draw out the Trollocs and destroy them piecemeal where their overwhelming numerical superiority did not count for much.
After defeating the fourth and final Trolloc assault on Tar Valon during the wars, Rashima enacted a series of offensives against the Shadowspawn, scoring numerous victories culiminating in the massive Battle of Maighande in 1301 AB. In this engagement, the largest of the Trolloc Wars, the armies of humanity finally broke the back of the invading hordes, unleashing slaughter on a scale not seen since the height of the War of the Shadow. At the end of the battle Rashima's corpse was found surrounded by the bodies of her five Warders, a veritable wall of Trollocs and no less than nine Dreadlords. Despite her death, the surviving nations were able to complete her victory. Over the next fifty years, the remaining Trolloc bands south of the Great Blight were weeded out and destroyed.
The Trolloc Wars had been won by humanity, but only at a terrible cost. Five of the Ten Nations fell during the wars and the remaining five fell to internal disputes not long after. The cost of three and a half centuries of constant warfare have proven devastating, destroying much of the progress that had been made since the Breaking of the World. The Aes Sedai, who had fought on the front lines during the conflict to counter the Shadow's Dreadlords, were terribly reduced in numbers by the conflict. Ultimately, humanity had survived but the progress it had made towards regaining the glory of the Age of Legends had been lost.
Next: Artur Hawkwing, the invasion of Seanchan and events leading up to the start of the books.
Chuck: Season 2
Chuck Bartowski continues his double-life, working at an electrical goods store in Burbank whilst also helping the CIA and NSA deal with threats to American national security. Chuck has the Intersect - the USA's combined database on all known terrorist and criminal threats - downloaded into his brain and is now an invaluable resource to the American government. However, Chuck is desperate to return to his old life and sets out on a mission to locate the creator of the Intersect and get him to remove it from his head...
The second season of Chuck picks up after the events of the first season (truncated by the 2007-08 Writer's Guild of America strike) and, for a while, it's business as usual. The Chuck formula - Chuck solves a spy problem whilst dealing with a more mundane crisis at home or at the store - is intact and remains entertaining, but also risks becoming stale after a few episodes. Luckily, the writers have taken steps to minimise that problem by bringing in a sequential series of multi-episode storylines. In short order, Chuck has to deal with the reappearance of an old girlfriend, try to track down his missing father so he can give his sister away at her wedding, find the original scientists who created the Intersect, deal with a CIA investigation into Sarah's ability to be his handler (given their growing closeness) and deal with a head-on confrontation with FULCRUM, a shadowy and criminal intelligence organisation.
This structure allows the series to sustain 22 episodes without becoming too tedious or repetitive, helped by enjoyable writing and great performances from the regulars and guest stars (Scott Bakula! Tricia Helfer! Chevy Chase!) alike. The writers aren't afraid to give real character development and growth to their recurring actors, particularly Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski as Chuck and Sarah. Their will-they, won't-they relationship may be a long-running series cliche, but is given a few twists here (particularly the fact that Sarah is well aware of Chuck's feeling from the start) that makes it a bit more interesting. Particularly well-done is that it feeds Chuck's character growth, turning him from a listless nerd into a much more capable spy by the end of the season. Adam Baldwin also develops a bit more as action man John Casey over the course of the season, though surprisingly he doesn't have many episodes that focus on his character. Instead he is mainly used for macho comic relief, aside from some nice moments in the final episodes where he grudgingly admits to, if not liking, than at least finding Chuck mildly tolerable and useful.
As usual, the dramatic storylines are counterbalanced by a strong humour quotient. This usually manifests in storylines in the Buy More. Over the course of the season there are multiple changes in management, culminating in the power-crazed Emmett rising to dominance late in the season. We also encounter Lester and Jeff's synth-rock cover band (whose covers are...interesting, to say the least) and feel Morgan's pain as his mother embarks on a noisily passionate relationship with Big Mike. As with the first season, though it's not as prevalent this time around, there is the feeling that you could set a whole series in the Buy More with these characters and it would be just as much fun without the spy stuff.
Overall, the second season of Chuck (****½) is relentlessly entertaining. There are a couple of episodes that don't work quite as well as the others, but otherwise this is a terrific season of television which rarely flags or lets up the pace. The only problem is that by its end if feels like the series is pretty much over, and the addition of a few moments at the end of the finale establishing the direction of the third season feels a little incongruous: the series was very nearly cancelled after Season 2 and renewed at the last minute, explaining why the end of the season wraps everything up and then rather abruptly opens up again. The series is available now in the UK (DVD) and USA (DVD, Blu-Ray).
The second season of Chuck picks up after the events of the first season (truncated by the 2007-08 Writer's Guild of America strike) and, for a while, it's business as usual. The Chuck formula - Chuck solves a spy problem whilst dealing with a more mundane crisis at home or at the store - is intact and remains entertaining, but also risks becoming stale after a few episodes. Luckily, the writers have taken steps to minimise that problem by bringing in a sequential series of multi-episode storylines. In short order, Chuck has to deal with the reappearance of an old girlfriend, try to track down his missing father so he can give his sister away at her wedding, find the original scientists who created the Intersect, deal with a CIA investigation into Sarah's ability to be his handler (given their growing closeness) and deal with a head-on confrontation with FULCRUM, a shadowy and criminal intelligence organisation.
This structure allows the series to sustain 22 episodes without becoming too tedious or repetitive, helped by enjoyable writing and great performances from the regulars and guest stars (Scott Bakula! Tricia Helfer! Chevy Chase!) alike. The writers aren't afraid to give real character development and growth to their recurring actors, particularly Zachary Levi and Yvonne Strahovski as Chuck and Sarah. Their will-they, won't-they relationship may be a long-running series cliche, but is given a few twists here (particularly the fact that Sarah is well aware of Chuck's feeling from the start) that makes it a bit more interesting. Particularly well-done is that it feeds Chuck's character growth, turning him from a listless nerd into a much more capable spy by the end of the season. Adam Baldwin also develops a bit more as action man John Casey over the course of the season, though surprisingly he doesn't have many episodes that focus on his character. Instead he is mainly used for macho comic relief, aside from some nice moments in the final episodes where he grudgingly admits to, if not liking, than at least finding Chuck mildly tolerable and useful.
As usual, the dramatic storylines are counterbalanced by a strong humour quotient. This usually manifests in storylines in the Buy More. Over the course of the season there are multiple changes in management, culminating in the power-crazed Emmett rising to dominance late in the season. We also encounter Lester and Jeff's synth-rock cover band (whose covers are...interesting, to say the least) and feel Morgan's pain as his mother embarks on a noisily passionate relationship with Big Mike. As with the first season, though it's not as prevalent this time around, there is the feeling that you could set a whole series in the Buy More with these characters and it would be just as much fun without the spy stuff.
Overall, the second season of Chuck (****½) is relentlessly entertaining. There are a couple of episodes that don't work quite as well as the others, but otherwise this is a terrific season of television which rarely flags or lets up the pace. The only problem is that by its end if feels like the series is pretty much over, and the addition of a few moments at the end of the finale establishing the direction of the third season feels a little incongruous: the series was very nearly cancelled after Season 2 and renewed at the last minute, explaining why the end of the season wraps everything up and then rather abruptly opens up again. The series is available now in the UK (DVD) and USA (DVD, Blu-Ray).
Friday, 2 March 2012
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Once again, Batman has defeated his arch-nemesis, the Joker, and returned him to incarceration at Arkham Asylum. Unfortunately for Batman, this turns out to be a trap. The Joker's men take over the prison and release the insane inmates, including several of Batman's most dangerous foes (such as Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Poison Ivy and Bane). Evading capture himself, Batman has to regain control of the prison and stop the Joker's plan to create an army of insane and powerful soldiers loyal only to him.
Ah, Batman. The Dark Knight, who takes on a host of villains with a combination of martial arts, impressive gadgetry and cool vehicles. You can't get a superhero (even if his superpower is merely being incredibly rich) better-suited for computer games. It's a surprise, then, that very few games based on the character have been much cop.
Arkham Asylum makes up for a lengthy run of mediocre to poor Batman games by being very good indeed. The developers, Rocksteady, haven't hit upon this by accident, but have apparently looked in depth at a whole host of titles whose game styles could be adapted for a Batman title. Playing Arkham Asylum, it's impossible not to be struck by echoes of older titles. The physicality of the combat recalls Starbreeze's superb Riddick games, whilst the drug-induced hallucinatory levels are reminiscent of the Max Payne series. The use of Batman's growing repertoire of skills and gadgets to cross seemingly impassable areas, complete with the camera hinting at what to do next, has more than a touch of Prince of Persia (circa the Sands of Time games) to it. The heavy emphasis on stealth and silent takedowns also hints at influences from the Splinter Cell and Thief series. Yet, whilst Rocksteady clearly have been making notes, they have still created a game that feels like it builds on what has come before, rather than ripping it off.
Gameplay-wise, Arkham Asylum is a third-person action game where the player guides Batman through the asylum and the surrounding buildings on Arkham Island, which the Joker has sealed off from the mainland. The main storyline sees Batman pursuing the Joker through the Asylum, but being sidetracked by confrontations with both the Joker's allies (most notably Harley Quinn and Scarecrow) and other supervillains he has put away over the years. Most notably, Killer Croc, Bane and especially Poison Ivy also interfere with Batman's mission. Though the game has a linear plot, the setting is open, allowing Batman to deviate from his main mission to revisit previously-explored areas. In addition, Batman is not alone in his mission. Commissioner Gordon is also trapped on the island, along with a large number of security guards and Asylum personnel, whilst Batman is helped with certain puzzles and objectives by Oracle (a former Batgirl paralysed in a shooting, who oversees Batman's progress from the Batcave).
The game has a notable combat focus, which allows for complex fighting moves to be executed using a simple system (one button to attack, another to counter an enemy's moves, telegraphed by symbols appearing over their head). This system is well-implemented, with combat given a heavy, physical feel to it. Unusually for an action game, there is no option to use firearms. This is of course in keeping with the Batman mythos, but it means that a strong emphasis must be placed on stealth and the use of gadgets to separate and overcome enemies, especially those armed. Batman can take a few bullets but is relatively fragile compared to many gaming protagonists. Refreshingly, there is no in-combat regenerating health (though his health does return once the area has been cleared of enemies), forcing players to adopt a more thoughtful approach to playing Batman.
Arkham Asylum's greatest success is making the player actually feel they're playing Batman (perhaps to the point of screaming, "I'M THE GODDAMN BATMAN!" after pulling off a particularly awesome 25-move combo. Erm, not that I ever did that). He's formidable but not immortal, and solves a lot of the problems through ingenuity and detective work rather than head-on confrontations. There's also a lot of use of gadgets, including grappling hooks, hacking tools (to short-circuit control panels and open doors), ziplines and batarangs. Vital to the game is a visor which allows Batman to see enemies through walls and doorways and assess their threat value before engaging them in combat. Particularly satisfying - if somewhat implausible - is the ability to hang upside down from ceilings and snatch passing enemies, knocking them out without alerting other foes nearby. Entering a room with a dozen gun-toting villains and then taking them out one-by-one, hiding in the shadows, executing stealthy knock-downs or hiding under floor grills and then emerging to strike, is ridiculously good fun.
The game features universally great voice acting, particularly from Batman: The Animated Series regulars Kevin Conroy (as Batman) and Mark 'Luke Skywalker' Hamill, whose performance as the Joker is nothing short of stunning throughout. Arleen Sorkin also hits the right note between annoying and accomplished as the deranged Harley Quinn. Paul Dini, a veteran writer for both the animated Batman series and DC Comics, does an excellent job with the dialogue for the game, tailoring it to be more expositionary than normal (for the benefit of gamers not particularly versed in the intricacies of the Batman world) whilst still feeling relatively natural. It's one of the more accomplished transitions of a prose writer to gaming we've seen recently (certainly better than Richard Morgan, whose gaming work on Crysis 2 was unremarkable).
The game is also brave for not trying to establish a new canon for the Batman mythos. Instead, it takes place firmly in the DC Comics universe, making continuity references to earlier comics and stories (the Joker references the events of the Alan Moore-penned The Killing Joke several times). Yet the game does not expect players to be fully versed in the backstory. Instead, it provides fact files on Batman's allies and enemies for the player to read, and interview tapes from psychiatric evaluations of the villains can also be found lying around the Asylum. These do an excellent job of bringing the player up to speed on events without bogging things down with lengthy explanations of what's going on. The tone is also well-established, with things definitely being more grandiose, funny and colourful than the Christopher Nolan films, but avoiding a descent into out-and-out camp.
It's hard to think of any major problems with the game. It's well-written, well-acted and relentlessly enjoyable. Combat is well-executed and the use of stealth and gadgets is perfectly executed. It has a plethora of optional side-missions, achievements and collectibles for those who want as much game as possible for their money, but the central plot is compelling and long enough (at roughly 10-12 hours by itself) and features some genuinely surprising twists (including a late-game event that completely changes the nature of the environment). A repetitive nightmare mini-game featuring Scarecrow feels a little bit out of place, and the running battle with Killer Croc in the sewers is a bit tedious, but neither are particularly major features of the game.
Batman: Arkham Asylum (*****) is terrific fun from start to finish, an accomplished and smart game that distills 100% pure comic book fun into a great gaming experience. Recommended. The game is available now in the UK (PC, Mac, X-Box 360, PS3) and USA (PC, Mac, X-Box 360, PS3). A sequel, Arkham City, was released last year.
Ah, Batman. The Dark Knight, who takes on a host of villains with a combination of martial arts, impressive gadgetry and cool vehicles. You can't get a superhero (even if his superpower is merely being incredibly rich) better-suited for computer games. It's a surprise, then, that very few games based on the character have been much cop.
Arkham Asylum makes up for a lengthy run of mediocre to poor Batman games by being very good indeed. The developers, Rocksteady, haven't hit upon this by accident, but have apparently looked in depth at a whole host of titles whose game styles could be adapted for a Batman title. Playing Arkham Asylum, it's impossible not to be struck by echoes of older titles. The physicality of the combat recalls Starbreeze's superb Riddick games, whilst the drug-induced hallucinatory levels are reminiscent of the Max Payne series. The use of Batman's growing repertoire of skills and gadgets to cross seemingly impassable areas, complete with the camera hinting at what to do next, has more than a touch of Prince of Persia (circa the Sands of Time games) to it. The heavy emphasis on stealth and silent takedowns also hints at influences from the Splinter Cell and Thief series. Yet, whilst Rocksteady clearly have been making notes, they have still created a game that feels like it builds on what has come before, rather than ripping it off.
Gameplay-wise, Arkham Asylum is a third-person action game where the player guides Batman through the asylum and the surrounding buildings on Arkham Island, which the Joker has sealed off from the mainland. The main storyline sees Batman pursuing the Joker through the Asylum, but being sidetracked by confrontations with both the Joker's allies (most notably Harley Quinn and Scarecrow) and other supervillains he has put away over the years. Most notably, Killer Croc, Bane and especially Poison Ivy also interfere with Batman's mission. Though the game has a linear plot, the setting is open, allowing Batman to deviate from his main mission to revisit previously-explored areas. In addition, Batman is not alone in his mission. Commissioner Gordon is also trapped on the island, along with a large number of security guards and Asylum personnel, whilst Batman is helped with certain puzzles and objectives by Oracle (a former Batgirl paralysed in a shooting, who oversees Batman's progress from the Batcave).
The game has a notable combat focus, which allows for complex fighting moves to be executed using a simple system (one button to attack, another to counter an enemy's moves, telegraphed by symbols appearing over their head). This system is well-implemented, with combat given a heavy, physical feel to it. Unusually for an action game, there is no option to use firearms. This is of course in keeping with the Batman mythos, but it means that a strong emphasis must be placed on stealth and the use of gadgets to separate and overcome enemies, especially those armed. Batman can take a few bullets but is relatively fragile compared to many gaming protagonists. Refreshingly, there is no in-combat regenerating health (though his health does return once the area has been cleared of enemies), forcing players to adopt a more thoughtful approach to playing Batman.
Arkham Asylum's greatest success is making the player actually feel they're playing Batman (perhaps to the point of screaming, "I'M THE GODDAMN BATMAN!" after pulling off a particularly awesome 25-move combo. Erm, not that I ever did that). He's formidable but not immortal, and solves a lot of the problems through ingenuity and detective work rather than head-on confrontations. There's also a lot of use of gadgets, including grappling hooks, hacking tools (to short-circuit control panels and open doors), ziplines and batarangs. Vital to the game is a visor which allows Batman to see enemies through walls and doorways and assess their threat value before engaging them in combat. Particularly satisfying - if somewhat implausible - is the ability to hang upside down from ceilings and snatch passing enemies, knocking them out without alerting other foes nearby. Entering a room with a dozen gun-toting villains and then taking them out one-by-one, hiding in the shadows, executing stealthy knock-downs or hiding under floor grills and then emerging to strike, is ridiculously good fun.
The game features universally great voice acting, particularly from Batman: The Animated Series regulars Kevin Conroy (as Batman) and Mark 'Luke Skywalker' Hamill, whose performance as the Joker is nothing short of stunning throughout. Arleen Sorkin also hits the right note between annoying and accomplished as the deranged Harley Quinn. Paul Dini, a veteran writer for both the animated Batman series and DC Comics, does an excellent job with the dialogue for the game, tailoring it to be more expositionary than normal (for the benefit of gamers not particularly versed in the intricacies of the Batman world) whilst still feeling relatively natural. It's one of the more accomplished transitions of a prose writer to gaming we've seen recently (certainly better than Richard Morgan, whose gaming work on Crysis 2 was unremarkable).
The game is also brave for not trying to establish a new canon for the Batman mythos. Instead, it takes place firmly in the DC Comics universe, making continuity references to earlier comics and stories (the Joker references the events of the Alan Moore-penned The Killing Joke several times). Yet the game does not expect players to be fully versed in the backstory. Instead, it provides fact files on Batman's allies and enemies for the player to read, and interview tapes from psychiatric evaluations of the villains can also be found lying around the Asylum. These do an excellent job of bringing the player up to speed on events without bogging things down with lengthy explanations of what's going on. The tone is also well-established, with things definitely being more grandiose, funny and colourful than the Christopher Nolan films, but avoiding a descent into out-and-out camp.
It's hard to think of any major problems with the game. It's well-written, well-acted and relentlessly enjoyable. Combat is well-executed and the use of stealth and gadgets is perfectly executed. It has a plethora of optional side-missions, achievements and collectibles for those who want as much game as possible for their money, but the central plot is compelling and long enough (at roughly 10-12 hours by itself) and features some genuinely surprising twists (including a late-game event that completely changes the nature of the environment). A repetitive nightmare mini-game featuring Scarecrow feels a little bit out of place, and the running battle with Killer Croc in the sewers is a bit tedious, but neither are particularly major features of the game.
Batman: Arkham Asylum (*****) is terrific fun from start to finish, an accomplished and smart game that distills 100% pure comic book fun into a great gaming experience. Recommended. The game is available now in the UK (PC, Mac, X-Box 360, PS3) and USA (PC, Mac, X-Box 360, PS3). A sequel, Arkham City, was released last year.
Westeros in MINECRAFT
A bunch of gamers are on a mission to recreate all of Westeros in the Lego-like computer game Minecraft. They've already completed work on King's Landing and the Wall and hope to do the rest of the continent over the next few months (which seems very ambitious).
Follow the link for a whole load more screenshots.
Follow the link for a whole load more screenshots.
Thursday, 1 March 2012
New HBO cover art for A CLASH OF KINGS
The American HBO tie-in edition of A Clash of Kings now has a cover. As expected, it's heavily based on the Season 2 promotional artwork revealed yesterday.
The new edition is out on 6 March in the USA and in the final week of March in the UK (likely with a tweaked cover design).
The new edition is out on 6 March in the USA and in the final week of March in the UK (likely with a tweaked cover design).
New Terry Pratchett novel given a title
Terry Pratchett's new book has a title. It's called Dodger and is not a Discworld novel, instead being set in the same alterno-Victorian world as Nation.
The book will be published in September this year. Pratchett is also working on his autobiography and is planning the next Discworld novel, which will possibly be Raising Taxes, the conclusion to the Moist von Lipwig trilogy.
Pratchett's next-released book will The Long Earth, a collaboration with SF author Stephen Baxter, due on 21 June this year.
The book will be published in September this year. Pratchett is also working on his autobiography and is planning the next Discworld novel, which will possibly be Raising Taxes, the conclusion to the Moist von Lipwig trilogy.
Pratchett's next-released book will The Long Earth, a collaboration with SF author Stephen Baxter, due on 21 June this year.
China Mieville's London
China Mieville has written an interesting essay about modern London for The New York Times, touching on the recent riots, the increasingly desperate housing shortage and the impact of the upcoming Olympic Games on the city. It's a bleak, but not totally hopeless, piece.The highlight for me is Mieville's depiction of mayor Boris Johnson as a "ninja of bumptiousness."
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