Talkie Tuesday: The Wheel of Time

 

"For the land is one with the Dragon Reborn, and He is one with the land." 

Hello everyone!

 

Welcome to tonight's hot topic of choice for this blog post.

 

I'm sure, if you've been following along my reviews for a while, you could probably see this coming, not to mention I practically said as much in a few of my earlier ones leading up to today.

 

But how can I NOT review what is quickly becoming one of the greatest fantasy adaptations in this day and age?

 

Sure it had a rocky start.

 

Sure it kind of stood on wobbly legs for the first season and a half.

 

But it's found the footing it was looking for now, and HOT DAMN is it sure footing.

 

Without further ado, let's dust off our Great Serpent rings and brace ourselves, because we're looking at the third season of The Wheel of Time.

 

Talkie Tuesday: The Rings of Power

 

"Three Rings for the Elven-Kings under the sky,

Seven for the Dwarf-Lords in their halls of stone,

Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die ..."

 

Hello everyone!

 

Alright so.

 

Unlike the last time I touched this story, I decided not to metaphorically undo myself every week for two months and figured I'd just do a little end-of dissertation once it was all over and done with.

 

After all, this isn't what a lot of people were expecting, although it LOOKS like there might be a lot of the positive floating around online, which is a bit of a difference from the first season, after which everyone and their mother (for the most part) was all "meh".

Of course I'm talking about Amazon's big fantasy release of the year, and no, it's not Wheel of Time.

If we're lucky we're getting the next season of THAT soon, however.

But for tonight, let's put on our thinking caps to make this all fit together in the second season of The Rings of Power.

Talkie Tuesday: The Wheel of Time

 

"The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills."

 

Hello everyone!

And welcome, once again, to the many multiple turnings of this thing we like to call ... but wait, let's rewind slightly.

I'm a little late this year with my review of the second season to this show, partly because there's just been SO MUCH to catch up on, and partly because my job keeps me from keeping up as well as I used to while jobless.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm thankful to HAVE a job in the current climate, but it's true that you're severely hampered by this stuff LOL.

So anyway, I finally literally blew through the eight episodes of the second season, and MAN is the show getting better and better with each installment. It's like someone's been reborn on the turning of the Wheel or something.

Yep, I know you know what tonight's all about: the second season of Amazon's Wheel of Time adaptation!

Talkie Tuesday: Red, White & Royal Blue

 

"It isn't what we say or think that defines us, but what we do." 

Hello everyone!

 

This week, I'm back with what's probably the most beloved or at the very least the most anticipated (at the time) movie of summer 2023.

 

Just like the book which it adapted, this movie covers the perfect story, in my personal opinion.

Why?

Well, because the world has seen a thousand iterations of ‘princess meets first son’ or ‘first daughter meets prince’, and we usually love them because we care about the stories BEHIND the amalgamation of whoever it is that’s falling in love.

Here, however, we get the prince meets the first son, and for some reason, because it’s a gay romance, it becomes even better.

In my opinion, at least.

Red, White & Royal Blue, everyone.

 

Talkie Tuesday: The Wheel of Time Origins

 

"The Wheel of Time continues to turn." 

Hello everyone!

Honestly, I can't believe I didn't review these sooner.

Like, I know I'm usually behind stuff and all that jazz, but, come on now!

I suppose I re-discovered them after digging around the internet a bit about whether or not we might see the second season of Wheel of Time at any point soon, considering.

Then I read that another batch of these webisodes was supposed to start dropping back in August 2022 - and nothing happened!

I swear, at this point I have no idea what Amazon's doing.

Their marketing strategy seems to be all over the place, and incredibly bad about some stuff. Have they never looked at other giant corporations and how they do it? Disney? The works??

Apparently not, because let's face it, announcing a season three before season two airs, dropping a teaser trailer, and then going radiosilent is NOT it, chief.

So let's drum up some hype on our own, looking back at The Wheel of Time: Origins instead!

Rings of Power: Alloyed

 

"One will always corrupt, two will divide; with three, there is balance."

 

Hello everyone!

 

Well, we finally made it.

 

The season finale is behind us, and with it, the mostly lackluster first season as a whole.

 

You may find this a harsh sort of criticism but, considering the incredibly high budget that Amazon threw at what I think they wanted to consider their flagship fantasy series purely because of the name attached to it - Tolkien - it really didn't deliver as much as it could have.

 

I've seen shows with a five time lesser budget do SO much better!

 

It felt as if, BECAUSE of the budget, the show creators thought they could do anything and people would love it precisely because of the money.

 

Newsflash, we don't watch shows for the money. We don't watch them for politics, either. We watch them for good, quality storytelling. 

The Rings of Power didn't achieve most of its goals, so let's look at the finale, Alloyed, to wrap it all up.

Rings of Power: The Eye

 

"Every war is fought both without and within." 

Hello everyone!

Well, only one more episode to go, and, dare we say a lot of us are feeling relieved?

Yes, yes, I'm sure you're wondering, but why are you still reviewing this if it's obviously a bit of a slog?

I'm a perfectionist and dislike not finishing what I start. So there.

I'll be seeing this through right to the end, though you will definitely also be getting some House of the Dragon thoughts from me when the time comes and THAT series comes to a close.

Not to mention possibly a few others.

But I'm certainly getting ahead of myself, as I first need to finish this one.

If you're wondering what you need to survive a volcanic explosion, I have to disappoint you by saying: you probably won't.

A lot of characters in Rings of Power did, though, as The Eye shows us.

Rings of Power: Udûn

 

"New life, in defiance of death."

 

Hello everyone!

 

Two more episodes to go in this show and we are done with the first season.

Will we return for a second? Remains to be seen.

Obviously we already know Amazon is committed to this project with five whole seasons, though granted I'm not entirely sure how they'll continue to excuse it if it performs poorly.

Or, maybe it won't perform poorly, not that I'm convinced it's doing well either.

It feels more like, the amount of views it's getting is that macabre sort of showing that people are only watching because they want to see the next version of a train wreck!

But maybe I'm being too harsh. However, I will say that after six episodes of barely anything happening, it's difficult to really argue against the fact that the season has just not been as gripping thus far as it could have been, and arguments of 'it'll be spread out over 5 seasons you have to be patient' are moot point as we have to wait for a long time between seasons. That doesn't translate well into the waiting period, trust me.

However, we still do have a review to get through, so here it is. The Rings of Power: Udûn.

Rings of Power: Partings

 

"Sometimes, to find the light, we must first touch the darkness."

 

Hello everyone!

 

I know I keep saying this every single week but, after watching a couple of videos about the topic, I can cheerfully say I probably know or have nailed down some of the reasons this show isn't getting the kind of universal acceptance Amazon might have wanted for it.

 

Then again, it has the misfortune of airing next to House of the Dragon.

 

ANY show, unless firing on all cylinders, would have been judged and found wanting in comparison to that!

 

But I digress, right off the bat.

 

I'll definitely go into more of the reasons once I recap what happened during last Friday's episodes, but honestly I BESEECH anyone watching this to actually pick up the books and read them.

 

I have nothing against fan fiction - I write it myself - but fan fiction doesn't usually masquerade as something official.

 

Rings of Power: Partings FINALLY gets the show moving again, at least.

 

Rings of Power: The Great Wave

 

"The Faithful believe that when the petals of the White Tree fall, it is no idle thing."

 

Hello everyone!

 

And we're back once again to dig a little deeper into Amazon's huge budget blockbuster show - I mean, we all know just how much money the company threw at this, right?

 

I feel like I keep repeating myself every single week, but I will say that, for the amount of money spent, I don't really see the results being executed all that well YET, and at this point we're halfway through the first season, which is slightly concerning.

 

I'm not the only one thinking like this, either, as there is a fair number of people who share my views, but we digress in any event.

 

Regardless of all of the above, we did witness SOME plot progression this last episode.

 

Not all of it was completely bad, and certainly not all of it was completely good.

 

Besides, the visual effects remain rather stunning no matter what one thinks with regards to the writing and characters, so you know.

 

Rings of Power's fourth episode, The Great Wave, gives a lot of pomp and substance, but the core of it is still somehow ... hollow.

 

Saturday Snippet: Rings of Power Impressions

 

Thus far ... unconvinced. We proceed.

 

xx

*image not mine

Saturday Snippet: The Rings of Power TEASER TRAILER

 

YATATATAAAAAAAAA 😍

 

xx

*video not mine

Saturday Snippet: The Lord of the Rings TITLE ANNOUNCEMENT!

 

Enter, RINGS OF POWER!

September 2, 2022.

 

I can't wait!

 

xx

*video not mine

Talkie Tuesday: The Wheel of Time

 

"There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time."

 

Hello everyone!

 

You know, I'm proud of myself.

I'm actually NOT as late to this shindig as I normally would be!

I mean, I'm still kinda late, but it's not six months or so late, only a month instead. This is an achievement as far as I'm concerned.

Considering the fact that we tend to not get these shows all that early to begin with (certainly not as early as our US or Canadian counterparts) I'm pretty pleased with how it all turned out. And I mean, it's catchy to look at, and has a second season already (currently) filming.

What more could you even want?

So without further ado I'm going to stop spinning yarn, and start weaving the One Power instead.

The Wheel of Time, show edition, is up for debate.

 

Saturday Snippet: Wheel of Time OFFICIAL TRAILER

 

Woop!

 

xx

*video not mine