Dammit. Thought I was onto something
Television The Witcher | Netflix | There are book spoilers here
- Thread starter Revan
- Start date
Watched this over last two days and whilst I enjoyed it, 80% of it went over my head. I can’t name more that 3 characters and I swear I’d need to watch it through 3 times to actually understand what the hell happened in it!
I think they are really good and quite unique in the genre. About the writing, you need to know that unless you read them in Polish, you will be reading translations. I thought the writing was decent enough but not the strongest point of them.
I think the translations aren’t amazing, but the actual content is very strong. I’m not a big fantasy reader, but I’m fairly sure Sapkowski and The Witcher series is held in fairly high regard.
Okay. Not sure I'll be learning Polish anytime soon. So probably I'll just watch the series and play the games.
I kind of interpreted it as things that needed to be prepared in advance and couldn't necessarily be thrown out at will and that they were draining so wouldn't be used unless necessary to some extent. They were overly convenient and inconsistent and robbed the world of an element of drama i suppose. I guess what i was expecting and hoping for didn't make it entirely necessary. It felt more like a series of short fables that weren't particularly relevant beyond the episode they were in than a world spanning universe with hundreds of moving parts all of which were important and relevant and needed to be somewhat consistent.
They are well worth reading, despite the translation. I would rate it as one of the most enjoyable fantasy series I've ever read. Anyone who is even remotely interested in Witcher lore should read them in my opinion.
Got to episode 7 and finally given up for good
This is a rather standard, cliched mediocre fantasy show. Entertaining at times, and a few things they objectively did well, such as yen's characterization and the burgeoning romance between her amd geralt
Too bad i read the books first i guess. They changed so much, and pretty much all the changes were for the worse, the show basically lost everything that made me like the books in the first place
This is a rather standard, cliched mediocre fantasy show. Entertaining at times, and a few things they objectively did well, such as yen's characterization and the burgeoning romance between her amd geralt
Too bad i read the books first i guess. They changed so much, and pretty much all the changes were for the worse, the show basically lost everything that made me like the books in the first place
Agreed with this especially as there arent spoilers about it. Dont really want to try figure out which parts of peoples posts to ignore, as it talks about whos going to be a protagonist, who will get more of a role, etc.
I get they are different mediums and will have changes, but im guessing it will follow a lot of the same stuff.
I just found out r/freefolk, the spoiler-happy GoT nerds, turned full Witcher 
I just found out r/freefolk, the spoiler-happy GoT nerds, turned full Witcher
Almost enough to make me not wanna continue watching.
Episode 6 for me, it's ok, perhaps if I'd continued with the momentum I'd have finished it, but there's just not enough for me to get back into it.
Just finished watching and I enjoyed it on the whole. Definitely grew on me as it progressed. Was slightly hard to follow at the beginning, and some of the plots seemed a bit rushed, but I was well into it towards the end.
I enjoyed it a lot - though I think it tried to cram too much into 8 episodes.
Think this first season might have been better off just being spent with the Witcher (and maybe Yen?) and just explaining the world and the lore a bit more - as well as doing more monster hunting. The first seasons could have actually ended at the Law of Surprise reveal and then the first episode of season 2 could have shown Ciri.
But yeah, the strong bits of the show are definitely when its on Cavill/The Witcher... Yen's is alright, and whilst I think she's well acted, they've made her totally unlikable as a character - and I can't speak for the books, but she was never like that in the games.
Also, mage's seem massively overpowered.... they can seemingly do anything?
Think this first season might have been better off just being spent with the Witcher (and maybe Yen?) and just explaining the world and the lore a bit more - as well as doing more monster hunting. The first seasons could have actually ended at the Law of Surprise reveal and then the first episode of season 2 could have shown Ciri.
But yeah, the strong bits of the show are definitely when its on Cavill/The Witcher... Yen's is alright, and whilst I think she's well acted, they've made her totally unlikable as a character - and I can't speak for the books, but she was never like that in the games.
Also, mage's seem massively overpowered.... they can seemingly do anything?
Just finished season 1 and personally found the show quite average with some good moments.
Different timelines were a bit confusing at first but after the first few episodes it makes sense. Casting of the secondary characters is not so good, find it hard to relate to anyone in their roles except maybe Tissaia.
Ciri plotline is so similar to Arya in GOT where she sees her protector (grandma) here get murdered and has to run through the woods finding her 'destiny'. Honestly I just fast forwarded her parts as it was mostly pointless.
Yennifer was the most interesting character development from where she came to how powerful she became.
Henry as Witcher grew on me as the season progressed. First episode he was a bit underwhelming except the sword fight.
Different timelines were a bit confusing at first but after the first few episodes it makes sense. Casting of the secondary characters is not so good, find it hard to relate to anyone in their roles except maybe Tissaia.
Ciri plotline is so similar to Arya in GOT where she sees her protector (grandma) here get murdered and has to run through the woods finding her 'destiny'. Honestly I just fast forwarded her parts as it was mostly pointless.
Yennifer was the most interesting character development from where she came to how powerful she became.
Henry as Witcher grew on me as the season progressed. First episode he was a bit underwhelming except the sword fight.
I read the wiki before and after each episode to make sense.
I like the casting of secondary characters on the whole... particularly Ciri's Grandparents, Fringilla, the mage that Yen loved, Stregobor and Jaskier... thought they're all played very well.
The weakest are probably Triss and the leader of Nilfgaard...
Yeah the casting was well done. Liked all the side characterers. Triss was obviously a let down but the rest left a good impression - Stregoborg, everyone at Cintra, Cahir, Mousdsack, rat boy, Jaskier. Even the really small characters such as the Elven dude and the chap whose brother was killed by the Striga were nicely portrayed. And in this sort of show that's important.
The forest part was the one odd side adventure. It wasn't bad but didn't really seem to mean much.
Watching it right now. I am always in for a nicely done Fantasy/historic series/movie.
The production values are high as expected.
That being said I miss a bit of the grit and the folkloric mysticism that made the books and the game so interesting. Cavill is a bit too young and handsome/slick for my taste and the action too stylish.
I understand that this season is based on the short stories of The Last Wish but somehow it all seems a bit randomly pieced together and the missing overarching plot takes away some of the power and epic scale of similar series like GoT, Vikings or The Last Kingdom.
Nevertheless pretty solid overall and easily worth a watch. Looking forward to season 2.
The production values are high as expected.
That being said I miss a bit of the grit and the folkloric mysticism that made the books and the game so interesting. Cavill is a bit too young and handsome/slick for my taste and the action too stylish.
I understand that this season is based on the short stories of The Last Wish but somehow it all seems a bit randomly pieced together and the missing overarching plot takes away some of the power and epic scale of similar series like GoT, Vikings or The Last Kingdom.
Nevertheless pretty solid overall and easily worth a watch. Looking forward to season 2.
That's because they've basically skipped the complete storyline. That isn't how it works in the books at all.
They've used parts of the story from the books to set the scene and introduce the characters, but being only a 8 part series they've not fleshed it out. From the 2nd series it'll be more linear with their own story IMO.
As a book reader i'd personally give the series a solid 6.5/7 out of 10. It does have potential to be a really great show if they nail it.
Hey everybody, nobody cares that you've read the books. Make another thread.
Too much book talk in here
Bad bad GoT thread vibes
Bad bad GoT thread vibes
Not quite the same thing.
People are quite right to talk about the books as they are following the book story, but they've missed chunks out and rewrote certain areas to suit the tv show.
It's certainly not "spoilers" as we aren't giving away secrets for the future like in the GOT thread, it's just helping people understand what they've missed or not understood.
Like the guy asking about the forest scene - the Scoia'tael (forest people) storyline seems a bit pointless because they've left half of it out and reworked it.
I disagree. If you read the books, make a new thread and discuss it there. No different to GoT.
I agree too the title of the thread even says Netflix.
OK fair enough - but a fair few people are asking why it's unclear and confusing, it's because they've chopped a lot of the story.
Anyway, i'll stop answering.
Yes I'm aware of that but the GoT thread was a fecking minefield of book readers coming in and saying "oh I'm not spoiling anything, I'm just discussing what's happened in relation to the books!" whilst spoiling shitloads for people and annoying everyone in there. No point in this turning into the same thing imo. If people want answers to questions they can either google it or ask in the book thread.
If that's not a book spoiler (that pissed me quite a bit off), then I don't know what is.
As a non book reader I'd give an 8.5. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
It's a slippery slope, you can be in here talking about books with no intention of spoiling something, someone else will pop their head in, see that book discussion is happening, and proceed to spoil something. Just create another thread to talk about the books.
Potentially, but I feel they are going to move away from the book storyline so i'm not sure it'll matter.
I'm really glad many non book readers have taken to it so well. I did fear with the time hoping it might get a bit confusing but that seems to be the only major complaint, in season 2 lets hope they stop that and make it easier to follow.
Fair point, we should probably do that with season 2.
It's a bit like LOTR, isn't it? Film goers loved it but book readers were divided because it had so many changes to the source material. And also a little like when the Hobbit trilogy was made, but only slightly because everyone thought those were shite.
Really? Can't say I visited the internet much back in 2001 but the LotR films seemed to be pretty unanimously loved by just about everyone; critics included. It's only now that people seem to look back on them and be critical, which is easy to do with a near 20 year old trilogy.
The Witcher on the other hand.. I mean.. I get why people who read the books like it, I'm sure having a feature length, eight hour adaptation of a series they adore is probably really enjoyable in itself, but the show was pretty fecking meh overall. Some promising elements but let down by poor a poor script, terrible pacing and a really confusing timeline.
What GoT did great in the early season's was honour the source material so book reader's would love it but also make it easily accessible to anyone who hadn't read them. Anyone could watch the show and not feel like they were missing anything important if they didn't read the books. That became less the case in later season's as things got more complex and the character count increased tenfold, but by then everyone was hooked. With The Witcher on the other hand I constantly felt like it was far more difficult for me to follow because I hadn't read the books.
I dont really feel like ive missed anything by only watching the show. I didnt find it difficult either although I figured the different timelines around ep3 or 4 (whichever had the Queen trying to hire the Witcher).
Book talk by the way should be banned (should be put into the thread title - although I dont think that will help cos that was still happening in the GoT thread 8 seasons later and people were still confused by that concept, people really are the worst thing about this world).
Isnt that an issue though. You arent sure, and thus it could or could not be a spoiler. So anything that hasnt happened on the TV should not be brought up by anybody.
Book talk by the way should be banned (should be put into the thread title - although I dont think that will help cos that was still happening in the GoT thread 8 seasons later and people were still confused by that concept, people really are the worst thing about this world).
Isnt that an issue though. You arent sure, and thus it could or could not be a spoiler. So anything that hasnt happened on the TV should not be brought up by anybody.
I agree about future tense yes, that shouldn't have been said. I've only brought up stuff that has "already happened" according to the tv storyline, but they've neglected to show it. If you haven't read the books you'll never know that stuff (un;ess the revisit it with flash backs).
The director basically said they didn't have time to fill the whole story before the main characters met, and they didn't want to waste 8 episodes before that happened which is fair enough. To me that shows they'll create their own version.
Anyone any idea when Season 2 might be released? I've not read the books or played the games but really enjoyed this.
2022
Feck off, really?
Pull your finger out, Netflix. HBO released Game of Thrones every year. Witcher has the same 10 episode format.