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Ars Technica has a series-recap-thing going on for "The Wheel of Time" series on Amazon: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/11/two-book-readers-recap-the-first-three-episodes-of-amazons-the-wheel-of-time/
In the event that you dislike people ruining great books for stupid political agendas, perhaps you should steer clear of this review of Amazon's TV Series.
These recaps won't cover every element of every episode, but they will contain major spoilers for the show and the book series. If you want to stay unspoiled and haven't read the books, these recaps aren't for you.
#1 The way magic works in the Wheel of Time (WoT) is crucial to the plot of the entire series. This is ignored entirely in the first three episodes. Which makes me think, they're going to be doing even more stupid things.
#2 Being inclusive and trying to say, but the girls should also be included as possible main plot "Dragon Reborn" hype is stupid. Egwene goes from village girl to badass quite well on her own in the books, thank you very much.
#3 Lan in the first few episodes sucks. In the books, he can take a few dozen trollocs on his own. Whereas in the first few episodes, Moiraine is barely able to take down a nice grouped up bunch? That is stupid beyond words. (We will gloss over the deliberate destruction of the town's property, because apparently it's easier to throw bricks.)
#4 Mat is a thief and his parents are evil, essentially. His Mom is a drunk, apparently driven to it by his Dad who is shown as unfaithful and essentially a deadbeat.
#5 There is a lot of sexing going on. This is a long ways away from Perrin and his lady falling down the stairs on top of each other and being embarassed.
#6 Where is Elyas?
This is no faithful adaptation from the books. In the event that you happened to like "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", but were put off by "The Silver Chair", because they turned Peter into a whiny brat... you will be even more put off by the random stupid changes they made in this book. Rand wasn't always a brooding semi-sociopath and Mat is a lot more honorable than portrayed by these first few episodes.
[...] Probably the most annoying things to me are the twisting of characters and plot to make them more "woke". Like, if they'd added a scene in Lord of the Rings where someone asks, if Frodo and Samwise are gay. You know, because they are traveling together, so you must be gay. What kind of stupid?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 26 2021, @09:02PM (16 children)
You puds are predictable. Misogyny in scifi/fantasy has a long standing tradition. So the show makes it possible a woman can be the dragon and you find that intolerable? Says a fuckload about you that it pisses you off and consider a political motivation. TV and movies always fuck things up, but only when there is any sense of feminism do you react this way. The reviewers themselves didn't much care, just noted it as a change from the books. Such insecurity, much wow.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by MostCynical on Friday November 26 2021, @09:25PM (13 children)
I think you have mis-read the complaint.. and, I suspect, from your comment, you haven't read the books..
The Dragon reborn could NOT be female - it is intrinsic to the entire way magic works in the books - fundamentally different for males and females - this is an essential plot point that matters as a key issue for the entire 2 billion* pages - you can't change this without fundamentally changing the mechanics of the whole story universe. This reviewers may not care - but the people who have read the books and hoped for a 'reasonable' version of the story to make it to screen certainly do.
This is not about "insecurity" or 'fairness to women'. Women in the story are powerful - they run the place -even the non-magical women have more positions of power than men.
Magical men go mad - this is very important to the every aspect of the world, as men with magical powers can't be trusted - at all. Now turn this on its head (as in the show) and suddenly the basis of the entire political structure, hundreds of years of backstory are all... redundant. When an author spend as much time as Robert Jordan in world-building, and someone comes along and breaks it so casually.. in the name of 21st C 'fairness' and 'equal opportunity'..
"Why shouldn't a girl be able to do it too?" is not only redundant, but ridiculous - read the books.
*actually 15 books, 704 total chapters and 4.4 million words source [towardsdatascience.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 26 2021, @10:38PM (11 children)
https://dragonmount.com/forums/topic/110440-a-female-dragon-examining-the-evidence/ [dragonmount.com]
There is a mentally healthy take. Movies and shows always change stuff, but for some reason gender changes are the ones that garner outrage the most. If there was a more balanced approach to such complaints that would be fine, but the angry shrieking about "woke politics" is an immediate indicator of misogyny. In my search I also found reference to Amaresu as the female counterpart to the dragon called upon when a woman is needed to fight the great evil.
Thank you for your reply, it was well grounded and not ranty, unlike the submitted story commentary. I only watched some of the first epusode, it didn't hook me, but the very first scene was two men hunted for being channelers, so that cultural aspect remains intact. As the review I posted theorizes they might maintain that the Dragon is male, though I expect they'll maintain the possibility. It hardly changes the entire context of the books.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by MostCynical on Friday November 26 2021, @11:28PM (8 children)
if your world-view is based on "all men with magic go mad", then there is a basic, inherent issue with trust.
Most of one continent's governments are managed, controlled, influenced.. by female magicians.
Other continents have enslaved female magicians, and killed male magicians outright.
If a female could use the tainted (book: male) magic, they could be tainted, and also go mad.
Removing this separation does change the entire context of every aspect of the world-building.
The show could be good - but it is only 'based-on' the books.
Some have forgiven Lucas for Midichlorians and R2D2 flying.. some will enjoy this show despite the revisions.
I have only watched 4 minutes, so haven't made up my mind.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 27 2021, @12:04AM (6 children)
Yes, I didn't much care for that aspect. I didn't read all the books, maybe just 1 or 2 so I don't know how it actually played out. That said, making it possible for women to be the Dragon would make a decent shift away from the "men go crazy" aspect and add a little more equality. Men and women go crazy with power, we simply aren't that different once you remove cultural influences.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 27 2021, @02:23AM (5 children)
It had nothing to do with going crazy with power. Male and Female accessed different sources of power to use magic. The male source was tainted and drove its users literally insane. It's the basis for most of the world building and social structures of the story. Making the "Dragon Reborn" female just doesn't fit in that world. It is cramming woke bullshit in where it doesn't fit.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 27 2021, @02:32AM (4 children)
"It is cramming woke bullshit in where it doesn't fit."
There is a place where it actually fits?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 27 2021, @02:42AM (1 child)
Up SJWs' assholes.
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 27 2021, @06:52AM
RWNJ incel total headburst alert! Oh My God (who is male, by the way), how could they have gender swapped a main character, because now, you heartless bastards, I am homosexually jacking of, to a Woman? Ewwww! I only do, well, you know. We fascist incel homos are rather "exclusive" if you know what I mean. Now, get me khallow on the vid-phone, stat!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Saturday November 27 2021, @08:09PM (1 child)
Its their prep work and practice task for rewriting the history books to make them the good guys.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 28 2021, @01:32AM
TIL a racist prick that wants to murder political opponents thinks he is the good guy. I'm not shocked, just disappointed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 27 2021, @06:41AM
Except they didn't? I mean I get it, you watched 4 minutes, that's enough to judge everything. If you do, however, watch more, you'll see that they still say men that channel go mad.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by khallow on Saturday November 27 2021, @12:09AM (1 child)
Why would there be gender changes? Some stuff is obvious because you're compressing a large book into a small movie. You can't squeeze in every oddball subplot or scene. But gender changes too often are transparently ideological and/or prurient - attempts to shoehorn the story into the usual oppressive or lucrative channels that Hollywood has peddled for generations. From the discussion above, it appears this is a problem with this series as well.
These things are often the more noticeable ways that the soul of Hollywood leers at the audience.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 27 2021, @01:43AM
Captain Marvel
Black Oanther
Nuff said
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 27 2021, @07:53PM
"in the name of 21st C 'fairness' and 'equal opportunity'.."
The Cultural Marxists (Jews and their Shabbos Goy) have moved on from "equal opportunity" and now insist on "equity". So, equal *outcome* by whatever means necessary. Or so they think.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 26 2021, @10:16PM
Fragile egos on display, QED.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 27 2021, @07:13PM
... about Albert Einstein, as a white supremacist lesbian woman.
May i ask for a donation? U can pick the color of the hair on the biatch =)
-zug