How to create (and spoil) a fantasy production – review of the 1st season of the “Wheel of Time” series

We’ve already seen a few attempts to expand the epic fantasy niche since TV fans raved about Game of Thrones . There were the Shannara Chronicles , Dark Materials , Shadow and Bone or the more gloomy Carnival Row series , and the well-known Witcher and the unlucky Cursed . So far, however, we have not experienced any title matching the HBO phenomenon.

Until someone at Amazon said “hold my beer” and gave the go-ahead to make an epic fantasy series based on the fifteen-volume series by Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time . A cycle so large that Brandon Sanderson, who is well known to many fantasy fans, had to be completed by the author who died in 2007.

The chosen ones who can save the world or destroy it

The action of the series takes place in a world where magic exists, but only women, Aes Seade trained in the White Tower, can use it. In the hands of men, the One Power becomes dangerous. In this world, everyone is preparing for the rebirth of the Dragon Reborn – a creature of immense magical power. It can take the side of the ever-fighting forces of good or evil, save the world or destroy it. The first episode is also the beginning of the fight for which side will ultimately stand for the Reborn Dragon.

Moiraine Damodred (played by the star of the production – Rosamund Pike) sets out to find a new incarnation of the Dragon hand in hand with her guardian, Lan Mandragoran. They find five young people endowed with One Power, but it turns out that three of them are young men. This poses a deadly threat, because the previous Dragon – the one who led the world to complete ruin – was male. In the wake of the chosen ones, suddenly torn out of a small mountain village, there are terrible powerless riders, bloodthirsty beasts, greedy peasants and smartly dressed soldiers, whom in another universe we would quietly call witch hunters.

The cast is fine, but something is missing

Our heroes will not only travel through breathtaking lands, escape from dangers, but also temptations and manipulations by the mighty Black – the main antagonist of the series. Additionally, they experience betrayals, nascent romances, love trials and the departure of friends. It’s just hard for the viewer to believe that they are going through it, because they can’t play it.

Halfway through the season, it was revealed that Rosamund Pike is the show’s biggest star and… well, also the best actress. The actors, who play the role of the unique five, may well reflect the confusion and fear in connection with the new situation at the beginning, but already in the middle of the season the viewer realizes that it was not the creators’ intention. It’s just a lack of talent, charisma and chemistry between the actors, including the main romantic couple. Perhaps only Zoë Robins, who plays the healer Nynaeve, and Barney Harris, who plays internally torn Mat, coped with the roles entrusted to them. In the background, a good level was also shown by Kate Fleetwood, who I saw earlier in the quickly deleted Brave New World , and known from the Paper House Álvaro Morte.

A good start, then just… downhill

The first episodes of The Wheel of Time announced a really great production, both visually and in terms of the presentation of the world, magic and customs. I liked the plot about using magic – an ability that is as powerful as it is exhausting, it gives you control, but also requires great strength and responsibility. Of all the heroes, the most interesting turned out to be Moiraine herself, an ambiguous character, hiding a whole range of emotions behind a sense of mission, and acting according to its own, hidden agenda. What she did must have been difficult to belong to a law where only the truth is to be told.

The scenes in the open air are impressive, but when the heroes enter the field of the greatest battle of the season, you can clearly see that it is the floor in the film studio and the green screen . This spoils the effect, makes the great battle of the last episode, which takes place in the last episode, looks quite poor. This is all the more frustrating as the attack on the mountain village in the first episode was really impressive – it was violent, action-packed and bloody. Then everything looks as if the creators slowed down sharply in the implementation of their vision, in the end they burst the floor with their heels. The main antagonist, Black, and the encounter with him were so disappointing that all of the tension building from the previous episodes subsided in an instant. Thus, the creators wasted the potential of the season.

Throughout the season, I had the impression that the creators of the Wheel of Time were using the school car “How to show a fantasy production” and ticked off subsequent items. They knew that there had to be sorceresses with complicated hand movements, warriors with swords, beautiful costumes and frilly hairstyles, marble halls, great battles, dark forests and dream visions, but they did not give it all an original visual style that would allow this production to stand out from the background. others and letting one frame at a time recognize that it is the “Wheel of Time”. Although it all looks beautiful, it doesn’t have that “something”, character and style. As if someone was painting a picture by numbers and was afraid of confusing the colors.

Is this a foretaste of what’s to come?

Despite my reservations, I am not surprised that the Wheel of Time was among the most-liked series of last year. It was watched first by – it is obvious – fans of Jordan’s books, but not only. Many viewers were hungry for a good fantasy, especially after the disappointing final season of Game of Thrones (I know it’s three years this year, but this season still hurts) and a very average Netflix Witcher . Some viewers probably tried to find out how Amazon Studios approaches this genre, since the series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power will be released on the platform in a few months , for which Tolkien fans are already sharpening their claws.

Is there still a chance for the Wheel of Time to become a better series? Surely, after all, the creators of many productions learn from the mistakes of the first seasons and change them for the better. If the creators dare to change, maybe even a recast , maybe it will be better. However, some viewers will definitely leave this series and will not come back to it.