Wheel of Time: Winter Dragon - The TV Series (1 Viewer)

[kupcho1]

You probably slept through it (I know I did), but apparently Wheel of Time: Winter Dragon aired last night on FXX. Someone (producers?) paid to have it aired likely in order to retain the rights.

Wheel of Time: Winter Dragon - here is the pilot on youtube

Haven't watched it yet. The reviews are ... not good. I know, hard to believe given Billy Zane's involvement, but there you go.

Robert Jordan's widow (as well as Tor) has disavowed any knowledge that this existed let alone was going to air.

Should be interesting to see how it plays out. I may try and watch it later tonight.

 

[SacramentoBob]

30 minutes just for the prologue of book 1. A TV series would take about 100 years to tell the entire story.

 

[kupcho1]

http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/fxx-aired-a-stealth-pilot-for-a-wheel-of-time-series-starring-billy-zane/

 

[Sand]

http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/fxx-aired-a-stealth-pilot-for-a-wheel-of-time-series-starring-billy-zane/

A rushed hack job based on the "use it or lose it" premise. Interesting drama there.

 

[Redwes25]

I didn't see any braid tugging or skirt smoothing so I don't think that clip had anything to do with the Wheel of Time.

 

[SeveredHorseHeads]

Wow. That is pretty crazy article.

 

[dutch]

Damn, that reminds me, I need to get back into these books now that the epic is finished. Years ago I made it through the first six as they were published but got tired of having to reread them every two years when the newest installment came out. Have been curious what became of Rand, Nynaeve, Matt, Perrin, et al.

As to bringing this story to life, I say let Peter Jackson have at it so he can produce 20 four hour long epics to be released every year at Christmas. That'd be a nice present.

 

[ThreeThousand]

Honestly, read the first 3 or 4, and then skip to the last 2. You don't lose too much of the story as you can figure out what's going on, and you eliminate a ton of the suck.

 

[Gr00vus]

:clowndot:

 

[GregR]

Oof.

 

[Righetti]

In 2008, Red Eagle Entertainment sold the television rights for WoT to Universal for a seven-figure sum. The structure of the deal allowed Universal to make a show based on Jordan’s books, with the stipulation that if a show had not materialized by a certain date, the rights would revert back to the Jordan estate. That certain date is February 11, 2015, also known as “this Wednesday.”

 

[Righetti]

my wife is a HUGE Robert Rordan fan and when I showed her the video she almost puked.. she said that R.Jordan is turning over in his grave because of this

 

[Drifter]

my wife is a HUGE Robert Rordan fan and when I showed her the video she almost puked.. she said that R.Jordan is turning over in his grave because of this

The guy who directed it died from injuries sustained in a car accident. Jordan at work?

 

[GregR]

my wife is a HUGE Robert Rordan fan and when I showed her the video she almost puked.. she said that R.Jordan is turning over in his grave because of this

The guy who directed it died from injuries sustained in a car accident. Jordan at work?

Gray man, and a good choice.

Much less obvious than repeated spear-thrusts from an athletic looking red-head wearing a veil.

 

[Tick]

I watched it last night... pretty awful.

Then again, when I listened to the series on audiobook, I almost didn't make it past that prologue either - just an annoying scene.

They at least had the sense to bury this with no advertisement - if they do decide to turn it into a show, I'm sure they'll leave this buried.

 

[Sinrman]

Wow. My all-time favorite series. And this... is was horrendous. It LOOKS rushed. I mean hell, you knew the second you saw Billy Zane involved that it would be ridiculously bad.

It still baffles me that someone cannot get their heads out of their asses and turn this into a legit TV series (a la Game of Thrones). It has a huge following. Unlike GoT, this series is COMPLETE.

 

[Tick]

Wow. My all-time favorite series. And this... is was horrendous. It LOOKS rushed. I mean hell, you knew the second you saw Billy Zane involved that it would be ridiculously bad.

It still baffles me that someone cannot get their heads out of their asses and turn this into a legit TV series (a la Game of Thrones). It has a huge following. Unlike GoT, this series is COMPLETE.

Yeah, but the braid tugging...

 

[GregR]

On the positive side, it wasn't nearly as badly done as the animated movie that was made of the first Dragonlance book. The one that had a constant musical score that didn't stop, ever, and the characters who would spontaneously change heights relative to each other from one moment to another, sometimes by as much as a foot.

 

[Gr00vus]

Wow. My all-time favorite series. And this... is was horrendous. It LOOKS rushed. I mean hell, you knew the second you saw Billy Zane involved that it would be ridiculously bad.

It still baffles me that someone cannot get their heads out of their asses and turn this into a legit TV series (a la Game of Thrones). It has a huge following. Unlike GoT, this series is COMPLETE.

Yeah, but the braid tugging...

And the folding of the arms under the breasts. Pretty sure that happened every other page. I'm concerned that they won't be able to adapt that into the show faithfully.

 

[Tick]

It improved pretty dramatically when Sanderson took over. He dropped a bunch of the repetitive wool-headed sheepherder braid tugging crap.

 

[SeveredHorseHeads]

They could just skip books 8, 9, and 10.

 

[Gr00vus]

It improved pretty dramatically when Sanderson took over. He dropped a bunch of the repetitive wool-headed sheepherder braid tugging crap.

True, but I don't think the ending was that great either. Maybe that's what Jordan had written for the most part.

 

[Redwes25]

It improved pretty dramatically when Sanderson took over. He dropped a bunch of the repetitive wool-headed sheepherder braid tugging crap.

True, but I don't think the ending was that great either. Maybe that's what Jordan had written for the most part.

Last book was pretty disappointing but still much better then a string a books in the middle where nothing at all happened. Still not sure how I got through those.

 

[Drifter]

It improved pretty dramatically when Sanderson took over. He dropped a bunch of the repetitive wool-headed sheepherder braid tugging crap.

True, but I don't think the ending was that great either. Maybe that's what Jordan had written for the most part.

Last book was pretty disappointing but still much better then a string a books in the middle where nothing at all happened. Still not sure how I got through those.

That's when I stopped reading.

 

[Gr00vus]

It improved pretty dramatically when Sanderson took over. He dropped a bunch of the repetitive wool-headed sheepherder braid tugging crap.

True, but I don't think the ending was that great either. Maybe that's what Jordan had written for the most part.

Last book was pretty disappointing but still much better then a string a books in the middle where nothing at all happened. Still not sure how I got through those.

That's when I stopped reading.

You made the right call. I slogged it out just so I wouldn't feel like a quitter. Turns out being a quitter isn't such a bad thing in this case.

 

[kentric]

Though it has been in the works for years, there is at last solid news on what's happening with the TV series based on Robert Jordan's bestselling fantasy series Wheel of Time. Now Variety is reporting that Sony has bought the rights and hired Rafe Judkins (Agents of Shield, Hemlock Grove, Chuck) to write and executive produce it.

FURTHER READING

The Wheel of Time turns… into a “cutting-edge TV series”

Jordan's 14-book epic first hit bookstores in 1990 and has become one of the biggest selling series of all time, by some counts even outselling George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire. It's a classic tale of good and evil, full of a mixture of mythologies from Western and Eastern lore. And, of course, there is a mystical dragon-related quest. But that just scratches the surface of these intricate novels, famous for their deep world building and dramatic turns. The last book in the series was published after Jordan died, and it was written from Jordan's notes by bestselling author Brandon Sanderson.