Re: The Witcher TV series

by Myesyats Mon Dec 23, 2019 10:31 pm

Meh, I think some of the critics don't really watch a lot of shows which generally tend to be very shoddy. You rarely get a true 90%+ show and this is definitely one.

by Myesyats Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:31 pm

Also I feel like you never really throw everything at the first season and reveal all the cards, they were just testing the waters, dipping only the toes. I expect greater things from now onwards. And budget distribution is probably way higher for s02, 03, 04 compared to s01.

by Myesyats Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:43 pm

M99 wrote:
Spoiler:

Spoiler:

by M99 Tue Dec 24, 2019 12:00 am

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:I think the actress for Yennefer did a fantastic job honestly, my issues and most of them are minor with the show are lore and character changing related.

Rather than they are casting related, at least when it comes to the main cast. I didn't particularly like
Spoiler:

Spoiler:

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Tue Dec 24, 2019 12:35 am

M99 wrote:
Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:I think the actress for Yennefer did a fantastic job honestly, my issues and most of them are minor with the show are lore and character changing related.

Rather than they are casting related, at least when it comes to the main cast. I didn't particularly like
Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Tue Dec 24, 2019 12:30 pm

https://www.reddit.com/r/witcher/comments/eed1cb/someone_had_to_do_it/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

Absolutely dead.

by Myesyats Tue Dec 24, 2019 6:35 pm

M99 wrote:Finished it. Sorry but I did not love it like you all did. Think a lot of what critics said are true. pls dont flame me

Spoiler:

I really hope it improves. Bojack had a meh first season and ended up being one of Netflix's best shows. There is a lot of room for improvement, that is for sure.

Now that I've seen it all, I wanted to briefly respond.

Spoiler:

To sum up,

1. I like the casting apart from Triss.
2. Writing - not the best - but it never is. It's fine.
3. Score - fantastic.
4. Fight scenes - the best I've seen. No hesitation.
5. Production - no complaints. Clearly they've put a lot of work into this. Nilfgaardian armor not that bad.
6. Entertainment value - very high.

Overall: 9/10. No doubt. Hardcore book fans will have it lower, wish they would just forget about the books while judging it. Just because you think something should be a certain way, doesnt mean it has to be. Expect more in the coming seasons.

As far as comparisons to GoT go, it's very different. I was invested in the world of GoT but I found the show to be slow and quite boring a lot of the times. I'm being honest when I say I considered dropping it a couple of times due to slow pacing, much like I did with TWD. The Witcher sets a very high pace from the beggining, on the other hand, and is soooo entertaining. Incredibly entertaining. Love it.

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Tue Dec 24, 2019 6:40 pm

If you've read the books you'd understand the complaints tbh, they are not run of the mill changes. They are changes which the effect the relationship between characters and make those relationships mean less.

Like i said i enjoyed the show greatly, but there are issues which are hard for me to ignore.

by Myesyats Tue Dec 24, 2019 7:02 pm

I get that too but the way I see it is being based on the books doesnt mean it has to be word-for-word from the books. From my perspective, I don't consider it a reason to give the TV show a lower score.

by Glory Wed Dec 25, 2019 8:49 pm

Binged it. Fantastic. Have played the game in bits and parts and thats the only prior insight I have into this universe. But I do believe they got it right with so many things here. Casting for one. I mean I thought it would suck, but props to the makers for pulling it off quite capably. They actually took time to build the world and flesh out the characters properly. Top lads. Thumbs up

Cant wait for season 2. Going to be lit. And as Myesyats and all pointed out, the budget and all is only going to get better.
And ya btw fuk the critics.

by Myesyats Wed Dec 25, 2019 9:03 pm

From experience, budget for season 1 is always lowest.

GoT budget

season 1: ~$55 million
season 2: $70 million
season 6: $100 million

now, it depends on the success of the show but its safe to assume the budget for S02 will be much higher.

by Thimmy Wed Dec 25, 2019 9:15 pm

The first season reportedly had a budget of about $90million. Another source I read claims $100million, though, so I’m not sure. Definitely a lot higher than that of the average show on Netflix.

From what I can tell, people who are unfamiliar with the franchise, or only have superficial knowledge of the last game in the series, seem to generally enjoy the show, despite pointing out it’s somewhat chaotic time skips.

Book readers mostly think the creator’s interpretation is disrespectful towards the source material, which I somewhat agree with. I’ve also seen comments from people who seemed to think the interpretation of the books was somehow flawless, though. Either way, they succeeded in appealing to newcomers to the franchise, and I imagined that was their biggest hurdle, initially. Despite sprinkles of feminist politics and several references that could potentially alienate these people, the majority of them seem to have a very good impression of the first season.

by Myesyats Wed Dec 25, 2019 9:41 pm

GoT was boring imo, the slow pace could literally kill you. Witcher is way more entertaining so far. Go rewatch got s01 if you disagree. Both shows are a different beast though.

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Wed Dec 25, 2019 9:41 pm

There's a lot of good when it comes to the books and some not so good which I've already alluded to.

I would consider that part of it a mixed bag, but in general the show was very good imo.

by Thimmy Wed Dec 25, 2019 10:01 pm

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:There's a lot of good when it comes to the books and some not so good which I've already alluded to.

I would consider that part of it a mixed bag, but in general the show was very good imo.

I agree with this.

As for GoT. I only watched the first season, and it didn’t appeal to me. I’ve been told that it gets exponentially better as the show progresses, but I just haven’t been that keen on watching the rest. Some of my colleagues spoiled a lot of what happens in that show, anyway. I don’t know why the show is as popular as it is.

by Great Leader Sprucenuce Wed Dec 25, 2019 10:04 pm

Also Toss a coin to your Witcher song is permanently stuck in my head lmao.

by Myesyats Wed Dec 25, 2019 10:09 pm

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Also Toss a coin to your Witcher song is permanently stuck in my head lmao.

It's magic. It's not real.

lmao. Can't get it out my head too. I'm constantly signing it in my head.

by BarrileteCosmico Wed Dec 25, 2019 11:11 pm

Thimmy wrote:The first season reportedly had a budget of about $90million. Another source I read claims $100million, though, so I’m not sure. Definitely a lot higher than that of the average show on Netflix.

From what I can tell, people who are unfamiliar with the franchise, or only have superficial knowledge of the last game in the series, seem to generally enjoy the show, despite pointing out it’s somewhat chaotic time skips.

Book readers mostly think the creator’s interpretation is disrespectful towards the source material, which I somewhat agree with. I’ve also seen comments from people who seemed to think the interpretation of the books was somehow flawless, though. Either way, they succeeded in appealing to newcomers to the franchise, and I imagined that was their biggest hurdle, initially. Despite sprinkles of feminist politics and several references that could potentially alienate these people, the majority of them seem to have a very good impression of the first season.

Citation needed...

Book readers have problems with it, sure, but from there to disrespectful there is a large jump. Sapkowski himself has been mostly positive on the series, which we know has not been the case with other creators that took his IP.

by BarrileteCosmico Wed Dec 25, 2019 11:16 pm

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:I think the actress for Yennefer did a fantastic job honestly, my issues and most of them are minor with the show are lore and character changing related.

Rather than they are casting related, at least when it comes to the main cast. I didn't particularly like
Spoiler:

Spoiler:

by M99 Thu Dec 26, 2019 12:15 am

Myesyats wrote:GoT was boring imo, the slow pace could literally kill you. Witcher is way more entertaining so far. Go rewatch got s01 if you disagree. Both shows are a different beast though.

I was not gonna be that guy who compares this to GOT but since you posted this...

GOT S1 was miles ahead of Witcher. GOT S1-S4 is the best TV show of the decade. I did rewatch GOT S1 recently and the difference in quality is high.

by Myesyats Thu Dec 26, 2019 12:56 am

The only way I'm comparing them is pacing and entertainment value.

There's a great deal of things I could criticise GoT for too. The fact that it would bore the fuck out of you is just one of many. No show is perfect.

by BarrileteCosmico Thu Dec 26, 2019 3:32 am

M99 wrote:
Myesyats wrote:GoT was boring imo, the slow pace could literally kill you. Witcher is way more entertaining so far. Go rewatch got s01 if you disagree. Both shows are a different beast though.

I was not gonna be that guy who compares this to GOT but since you posted this...

GOT S1 was miles ahead of Witcher. GOT S1-S4 is the best TV show of the decade. I did rewatch GOT S1 recently and the difference in quality is high.

...are we talking about the same decade that gave us Breaking Bad and Mad Men?

by M99 Thu Dec 26, 2019 8:40 am

Myesyats wrote:The only way I'm comparing them is pacing and entertainment value.

There's a great deal of things I could criticise GoT for too. The fact that it would bore the fuck out of you is just one of many. No show is perfect.

It bored you, not the majority of fans or critics. Its pacing and entertainment I disagree strongly with you on it. It great and miles ahead of Witcher for me. Then again, I never expected this to be as good as GOT and that is setting a real unfair and high bar, it was an ok show for me so far. I never said it was terrible, I feel a lot of the criticism from critics are absolutely warranted. With the backstories out of the way, I am optimistic for the later seasons. The main cast is incredible and with them, the show can be something special down the line.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:
M99 wrote:
Myesyats wrote:GoT was boring imo, the slow pace could literally kill you. Witcher is way more entertaining so far. Go rewatch got s01 if you disagree. Both shows are a different beast though.

I was not gonna be that guy who compares this to GOT but since you posted this...

GOT S1 was miles ahead of Witcher. GOT S1-S4 is the best TV show of the decade. I did rewatch GOT S1 recently and the difference in quality is high.

...are we talking about the same decade that gave us Breaking Bad and Mad Men?

Well since they started last decade, I didn't really count them hmm

by Myesyats Thu Dec 26, 2019 11:15 am

2nd season will have a more focused storyline and tbh after you finish all 8 episodes you realize the timelines were a little wee bit but not all that confusing. Its not that hard to pay a little attention. The writer wanted to tell the story in a way where Ciri's, Yen's and Geralt's stories were presented as equally important and I respect that.

Also, critics are idiots, they watch 1 episode and judge the whole series on that. And critics' meter these days is more of a woke meter. Means nothing. I feel like majority of fans loved it and thats what matters.

These days when critics dislike a show/movie it's worth checking out and when they like it it's more likely to be hot garbage.

I hope Witcher S02 gets more than 8 episodes. 10 at least, or 12 best case scenario.

by Thimmy Thu Dec 26, 2019 12:51 pm

BarrileteCosmico wrote:
Thimmy wrote:The first season reportedly had a budget of about $90million. Another source I read claims $100million, though, so I’m not sure. Definitely a lot higher than that of the average show on Netflix.

From what I can tell, people who are unfamiliar with the franchise, or only have superficial knowledge of the last game in the series, seem to generally enjoy the show, despite pointing out it’s somewhat chaotic time skips.

Book readers mostly think the creator’s interpretation is disrespectful towards the source material, which I somewhat agree with. I’ve also seen comments from people who seemed to think the interpretation of the books was somehow flawless, though. Either way, they succeeded in appealing to newcomers to the franchise, and I imagined that was their biggest hurdle, initially. Despite sprinkles of feminist politics and several references that could potentially alienate these people, the majority of them seem to have a very good impression of the first season.

Citation needed...

Book readers have problems with it, sure, but from there to disrespectful there is a large jump. Sapkowski himself has been mostly positive on the series, which we know has not been the case with other creators that took his IP.

Well, that’s classic GL. I’m not going through my internet history to provide evidence for that impression. No offense intended, but you can either do your own research, or choose to believe what you want. Provide your own impressions, if you care enough to do some research of your own.

As for Sapkowski, he seems to have turned a leaf, and recently reconciled with CDPR as well. I suppose he did get his money eventually Laughing

by BarrileteCosmico Thu Dec 26, 2019 2:35 pm

It generally falls on the one making outlandish comments to provide the evidence. I've read my fair share of fan reactions and while I agree it's very mixed I haven't seen anyone call it or imply it is disrespectful.

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