I will just add this: The people and companies responsible for adapting these works of fiction should remember that the reason they're being adapted in the first place is people love them because of their inherent quality. If these weren't good in their own right, they wouldn't have massive fan-bases and they wouldn't get adapted as TV shows or movies.
So stick to what made them great in the first place and stop trying to reinvent them entirely. Changes are necessary, nobody is arguing that point, but ignoring the source material in favor of your fan-fiction is deeply irresponsible and creatively kind of chicken-shit.
As I watched the new Witcher season I realized that they also brought along a few lore changes out of another Netflix production: Nightmare of the Wolf. In my opinion, this made the series less credible and it increased the feeling of being out-of-touch with the source material.
Beware: I will post some spoilers to Nightmare of the Wolf.
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is an animated Netflix movie about Vesemir's backstory. It portrays how Vesemir became a Witcher and led up to the sacking Kaer Morhen in the final act of the movie. Vesemir's mentor (in the movie) is an old Witcher named Deglan who is (to my knowledge) never mentioned in the books, and he just so happens to be a complete bastard. Surprisingly, they changed the story of the sack of Kaer Morhen to that the Witchers largely deserved it. Here are some other backstory changes (that I noticed) from Nightmare of the Wolf:
- Wolf school is the only Witcher school on the continent
- Monsters were created as weapons against non-humans (this baffles me)
- The sack of Kaer Morhen was pretty much orchestrated by a single female mage (with a kind of understandable agenda considering how evil Deglan was)
- The sack of Kaer Morhen didn't quite succeed and actually Vesemir escaped with knowledge of how to create new Witchers (see where Season 2 got its stuff from now?)
They also made up one or two new monsters and I'm not totally sure whether the movie's time scale fits into the Witcher chronology (I am not THAT much of a Witcher nerd). This ties into Season 2 because Deglan is namedropped and they talk about the sack of Kaer Morhen as it happened in Nightmare instead of how it's portrayed in the books. Vesemir even uses his knowledge of Witcher creation (despite this not being something he should know about). Weird! Perhaps there was some corporate meddling, like trying to advertise Nightmare to the Netflix viewers? (I was not surprised that after finishing Season 2 Netflix brought up a suggestion to watch Nightmare next.)
I was really saddened that The Witcher S2 killed Eskel. One of the weirdest goddamn decisions.
I thought it was mediocre but if you liked the Netflix Castlevania series it might still be worth it. But avoid if you're sensitive to clashes with the source material. Try to view it as a different take on the Witcher franchise.
-The Hobbit movies for me are like the Star Wars prequel trilogy: I like them a lot while at the same time understanding a lot of the critiques leveled against them. Hobbit movies will never be as good as LOTR, but I enjoy them nonetheless.
-Still haven't watched Witcher season 2, and as a diehard fan I figured I would have binged as soon as it hit. Apparently I'm not missing much though...but I do want to see what they did with the Leshen, one of my favorite monsters from Witcher 3. As far as the show, I could never get behind Yennefer or Triss's casting when I watched season 1. I'm too wedded to the presentations from the games, I guess.
-Never read Wheel of Time books and the trailers for the show didn't do anything for me. I feel like we're headed for fantasy show over-saturation. A new Game of Thrones prequel, which doesn't look too interesting and a LOTR show and I just...don't care. Everybody's chasing the next GoT craze and the thing is, that show just hit at a certain time in the right place in the right way. That's how cultural phenomenons work. They come and they go, and are never replicated.
-Halo trailer looks like YouTube fan videos. Again, no interest. Geez I'm sounding like a wet blanket...
-If they want diversity, why not create a show based on African or Asian or South American mythology? That stuff is deeeeeep. Tons of material. I get it though, we have to have an established IP that has a built in fanbase but that IP is heavily white because, duh, it was created by a white dude so we have to make changes to it to ward off the anger of a bunch of culture critics and, like, five other really angry people on Twitter who spend night and day complaining about cultural things they don't even truly care for or appreciate. The fans who'll stick with you? Who cares about them, right?
Very well said all around. I agree with basically everything, though I suppose there's a GoT fanboy in me who is desperately hoping House of the Dragon will be good.
Witcher S2 is still worth watching. I actually really like the casting for Yen, but I HATE the casting for Triss (though at least they make her look more like the game version in S2; they just give her the worst role to play).
Halo was looking okay until Cortana and then...wtf? I'm not hopeful.
And yes, as for the diversity stuff, I don't think we need a "baked in" audience at all. That's just what they want us to believe. Kingdom on Netflix is a terrific example of how it can be done, even in a foreign language. More like that, please! Let's have the African fantasy epic, the Pacific Islander fantasy etc.
I concur on Yen, in a sense. I'm just too used to Witcher 3 Yen, and that's not the actress's fault. I believe she's doing her thing, and not in a bad way.
I will just add this: The people and companies responsible for adapting these works of fiction should remember that the reason they're being adapted in the first place is people love them because of their inherent quality. If these weren't good in their own right, they wouldn't have massive fan-bases and they wouldn't get adapted as TV shows or movies.
So stick to what made them great in the first place and stop trying to reinvent them entirely. Changes are necessary, nobody is arguing that point, but ignoring the source material in favor of your fan-fiction is deeply irresponsible and creatively kind of chicken-shit.
As I watched the new Witcher season I realized that they also brought along a few lore changes out of another Netflix production: Nightmare of the Wolf. In my opinion, this made the series less credible and it increased the feeling of being out-of-touch with the source material.
Beware: I will post some spoilers to Nightmare of the Wolf.
The Witcher: Nightmare of the Wolf is an animated Netflix movie about Vesemir's backstory. It portrays how Vesemir became a Witcher and led up to the sacking Kaer Morhen in the final act of the movie. Vesemir's mentor (in the movie) is an old Witcher named Deglan who is (to my knowledge) never mentioned in the books, and he just so happens to be a complete bastard. Surprisingly, they changed the story of the sack of Kaer Morhen to that the Witchers largely deserved it. Here are some other backstory changes (that I noticed) from Nightmare of the Wolf:
- Wolf school is the only Witcher school on the continent
- Monsters were created as weapons against non-humans (this baffles me)
- The sack of Kaer Morhen was pretty much orchestrated by a single female mage (with a kind of understandable agenda considering how evil Deglan was)
- The sack of Kaer Morhen didn't quite succeed and actually Vesemir escaped with knowledge of how to create new Witchers (see where Season 2 got its stuff from now?)
They also made up one or two new monsters and I'm not totally sure whether the movie's time scale fits into the Witcher chronology (I am not THAT much of a Witcher nerd). This ties into Season 2 because Deglan is namedropped and they talk about the sack of Kaer Morhen as it happened in Nightmare instead of how it's portrayed in the books. Vesemir even uses his knowledge of Witcher creation (despite this not being something he should know about). Weird! Perhaps there was some corporate meddling, like trying to advertise Nightmare to the Netflix viewers? (I was not surprised that after finishing Season 2 Netflix brought up a suggestion to watch Nightmare next.)
I was really saddened that The Witcher S2 killed Eskel. One of the weirdest goddamn decisions.
You think Nightmare of the Wolf was worth it? That's another one I haven't gotten to and probably won't without a recommendation lol
I thought it was mediocre but if you liked the Netflix Castlevania series it might still be worth it. But avoid if you're sensitive to clashes with the source material. Try to view it as a different take on the Witcher franchise.
Few things:
-The Hobbit movies for me are like the Star Wars prequel trilogy: I like them a lot while at the same time understanding a lot of the critiques leveled against them. Hobbit movies will never be as good as LOTR, but I enjoy them nonetheless.
-Still haven't watched Witcher season 2, and as a diehard fan I figured I would have binged as soon as it hit. Apparently I'm not missing much though...but I do want to see what they did with the Leshen, one of my favorite monsters from Witcher 3. As far as the show, I could never get behind Yennefer or Triss's casting when I watched season 1. I'm too wedded to the presentations from the games, I guess.
-Never read Wheel of Time books and the trailers for the show didn't do anything for me. I feel like we're headed for fantasy show over-saturation. A new Game of Thrones prequel, which doesn't look too interesting and a LOTR show and I just...don't care. Everybody's chasing the next GoT craze and the thing is, that show just hit at a certain time in the right place in the right way. That's how cultural phenomenons work. They come and they go, and are never replicated.
-Halo trailer looks like YouTube fan videos. Again, no interest. Geez I'm sounding like a wet blanket...
-If they want diversity, why not create a show based on African or Asian or South American mythology? That stuff is deeeeeep. Tons of material. I get it though, we have to have an established IP that has a built in fanbase but that IP is heavily white because, duh, it was created by a white dude so we have to make changes to it to ward off the anger of a bunch of culture critics and, like, five other really angry people on Twitter who spend night and day complaining about cultural things they don't even truly care for or appreciate. The fans who'll stick with you? Who cares about them, right?
-
Very well said all around. I agree with basically everything, though I suppose there's a GoT fanboy in me who is desperately hoping House of the Dragon will be good.
Witcher S2 is still worth watching. I actually really like the casting for Yen, but I HATE the casting for Triss (though at least they make her look more like the game version in S2; they just give her the worst role to play).
Halo was looking okay until Cortana and then...wtf? I'm not hopeful.
And yes, as for the diversity stuff, I don't think we need a "baked in" audience at all. That's just what they want us to believe. Kingdom on Netflix is a terrific example of how it can be done, even in a foreign language. More like that, please! Let's have the African fantasy epic, the Pacific Islander fantasy etc.
I concur on Yen, in a sense. I'm just too used to Witcher 3 Yen, and that's not the actress's fault. I believe she's doing her thing, and not in a bad way.