Sulphur on 30/12/2019 at 14:55
So is anyone going to talk about the quality of the adaptation? I'm sure all of us could nitpick the cinematography and costuming to death, or what the names sound like (Subjeff wut the eff), but I'm more interested in whether the voice and spirit of the original stories come through strongly enough or not.
SubJeff on 30/12/2019 at 23:40
Quote Posted by Sulphur
Subjeff wut the eff
What filthy piece of... shit... did I do now?
Renzatic on 31/12/2019 at 00:02
You know what you did. :mad:
Gryzemuis on 2/1/2020 at 11:40
Quote Posted by icemann
Currently watching The Witcher tv series. Excellent, excellent stuff. Music, acting, the set, battles, all great. They completely nailed it.
I think so too.
I've watched all 8 episodes. I was entertained. The story is reasonably faithful to the books. I think. I've only read the first 2 books, and that was 8 years ago. And the vibe of the games is sometimes noticable. The Witcher has the same choreographer for the sword-fights as GoT. (The Night's King, btw). But I've read that the first sword-fight, in Blaviken, was choreographed by someone else ! It shows. I liked the first sword-fight a lot better than the others. The Night's King will not be in season 2, so I have high hopes that the fights will actually be better.
I don't like Netflix's practice of releasing a whole series at once. I think it would be smarter to release one episode per week. That would increase the hype. And I think it would make watching more enjoyable for most people. (You'll have time to think about each episode). Weird that Netflix doesn't realize this themselves.
I've read a little bit about the tv-show on the net. But not too much yet. I've only watched the last episode yesterday. What surprises me is that nobody talks about the fact that
The Witcher is in fact a girly tv-show. It's about the women. The men only play a small part in it. It's like those old tv-shows Flipper and Skippy. Those shows were not about a kangaroo or a dolphin. They only lend their names. The shows were about everyone else. The Witcher is the same. The show is about Yennifer and Ciri. And Tisseia, Fringilla, Triss and Calanthe. Geralt is just a mascot. Stumbling around the set, clueless, with very little impact on what happens.
I think this is smart. I've got a rl friend who made a living for the last 10+ years playing as a professional musician in a band. They don't release albums, they only do live shows. They do "mash-ups", where they take a few popular songs, and mash them together into one song. Combining pop, dance and even (well-known) heavy metal songs (Metallica, AC/DC). I sometimes made suggestions of what new songs to combine. But the my friend often answered: "we can't combine those songs, because we need music for the ladies too". When they write/compose their songs, they always keep in mind that their music has to appeal to women too. So they try to not sound too heavy, and always have some dance or pop tones in their songs.
Game of Thrones did a similar thing. They have women (and girls) in the show. Compare that with LotR. LotR has only male heroes. Except Liv Tyler maybe, and she hardly has any screen-time. GoT has Daenerys, Cersei, Arya, Sansa, Brienne, Melisandre, Ygritte, and many more. Not all of them are heroes/fighters/warriors. But about 1/3rd of the characters listed on the got-wiki page are female. GoT had an appeal to men and women alike. I know a few women who were never into fantasy. But who were big fans of the tv-show.
So The Witcher seems to take it one step further. (Over?) half the cast are women. The women have the political power (direct, as queens, princesses, or indirect, as political advisors). And they are the superior warriors (good luck fighting a sorceress, with your sword or spear). I'm not sure this is intentional by Netflix or Schmidt Hissrich (btw, the show is produced by a woman). Or maybe they just follow the books. But I do find it remarkable. And I think it is a factor that can help make the show popular with a large audience. The Witcher has one other huge plus over GoT: the books are finished ! GoT turned out to be a huge fuck-up in the end. GoT has set a record. Namely: the most disappointing tv-show ever. The 2 producers who took over the story and script in S7 and S8 are two huge idiots who didn't understand why S1-S5 were so popular. And GRRM is the biggest idiot, for letting his legacy slip away. Deep away in the mud, and shit, to a place where nobody will remember the show in a few years. Chances that this will happen with The Witcher are much smaller. (Although I don't think The Witcher has the potential to be another LotR, like ASOIAF/GoT had 10 years ago).
I'm gonna rewatch all episodes later this month. I might read a few more books. And then we'll have to wait a whole frigging year for season 2. :(
Yakoob on 2/1/2020 at 21:09
Quote Posted by Sulphur
So is anyone going to talk about the quality of the adaptation? I'm sure all of us could nitpick the cinematography and costuming to death, or what the names sound like (Subjeff wut the eff), but I'm more interested in whether the voice and spirit of the original stories come through strongly enough or not.
I kind of alluded to it in my OP but it's been nearly a decade since I read the books, and I played games after, so my impressions are skewed.
I feel Geralt is too gruff, in the books he's more of a.... normal guy desperately trying to be an unemotional un-human, because that's what he's been told he is his whole life. I think his characters grows into that role better towards the end.
Jaskier is also a bit off imho, and is missing his hat. The Geralt<->Jaskier relationship isn't as developed as it is in the books, and is portrayed bit more antagonistic than it should be (as my friend put it).
Yen is great, imho, tho I think the books don't focus on her backstory as much.
Ciri, IIRC, is more of a kid in the books than the series, but I do like her more mature and determined character in Netflix.
Triss Merigold is just WTF
That being said, I feel many of the bigger themes for the books are well represented, such as racism/elf genocide, corruption of power, sexism, the sorcerer league trying to manipulate things behind the scenes, the "who is a real monster?" question. Tho some of the lines feel bit hamfisted (like the first episode when geralt is saying "lesser/bigger evil is all the same" - same line in the books but here it felt a bit forced or too early?).
Quote:
I've read a little bit about the tv-show on the net. But not too much yet. I've only watched the last episode yesterday. What surprises me is that nobody talks about the fact that The Witcher is in fact a girly tv-show. It's about the women. The men only play a small part in it. It's like those old tv-shows Flipper and Skippy. Those shows were not about a kangaroo or a dolphin. They only lend their names. The shows were about everyone else. The Witcher is the same. The show is about Yennifer and Ciri. And Tisseia, Fringilla, Triss and Calanthe. Geralt is just a mascot. Stumbling around the set, clueless, with very little impact on what happens.
Yeah, the social commentary is heavy in the books and it's one of the reasons I love them. Definitely talks about sexism, women's role, feminism and (later on) even issues of abortion. It's surprisingly progressive and deep for a fantasy series.
SubJeff on 8/1/2020 at 03:26
Quote Posted by Renzatic
You know what you did. :mad:
I'm still waiting for an answer from Sulphur!
Quote Posted by Gryzemuis
Game of Thrones did a similar thing. They have women (and girls) in the show. Compare that with LotR. LotR has only male heroes. Except Liv Tyler maybe, and she hardly has any screen-time.
Well you forgot Eowyn (in terms of "heroes" this is a massive oversight), Galadriel and Rosie Cotton of course, but besides that - isn't this just about adaptations of the books? There are a few women in LotR but it's a story about about a bunch of dudes really. Make of that what you will but there aren't going to be many women in the "show".
Matthew on 1/2/2020 at 23:51
Have I (
https://www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mods/4179) got a mod for you then.
We're only 5 episodes into the show at the moment, but we're absolutely loving it. The references to Xena and Hercules above are spot on in my opinion, but given that I adored those shows I am very much on board for this adaptation.
Renzatic on 2/2/2020 at 00:34
MATTHEW'S BACK! HOLY SHIT! BEST PONY! :D
