An adaptation completely botches the original theme and message

[u/Morr4Seiya]

Mulan(2020)-They give Mulan superpowers which is not only lame it goes against the message of the original about equality and struggle,plus they removes Shang because apparently having Mulan date her superior was "problematic" even though Shang genuienely respected Mulan and their rank was never brought up

I am Legend(2007)-You know why the story is called "I am legend"? SPOILER ALERT the protagonist is the actual monster,humanity is gone and the vampires have a actual society and the protagonist kills and terrorize them

Animal Farm(2026)-On the very slim chance that Andy Serkis ever sees this,here's the thing Andy,Animal Farm was not a children work it was not supposed to have a happy ending,you never heard of cautionary tales before?

[u/Mordetrox]

The Wheel of Time series has a complicated magic system where each gender has a  different manifestation with different specialties, and the male half of the system had been horrifically disfigured in a way that anyone who uses it will eventually go mad, leading to societies where woman hold a lot more power as they're the only ones to use magic safely.

The chosen one prophesized to save the world is specifically a man, creating an interesting contradiction where he's supposed to save everyone but is also doomed to go mad. As such people are less eagerly awaiting his coming as they are fearing the coming of this incredibly powerful wizard who might level a country when he snaps. It leads to an incredibly hostile environment for our protagonist when he learns he's the chosen one and shapes much of the series.

But in the Amazon series they throw that out the window and make the chosen one unisex so they could have their stupid mystery box plot where they tease every important character as being potentially the chosen one to generate buzz on social media. This also involves neutering great moments from our protagonist so it's not too obvious, leaving him feeling like a complete wimp even if he hadn't spent the entire first season whining about his girlfriend (which also wasn't in the book). God these books deserved better.

[u/Omatzus → u/Mordetrox]

Honestly fuck the WoT showrunners. They disregarded input from Brandon Sanderson. Unforgivable what they did to Perrin. The arrogance.

[u/HerniatedHernia → u/Omatzus]

Honestly fuck the WoT showrunners.  

Guy also felt the need to use the show as a vehicle to create acting highlight reels for his boyfriend. 

[u/No-Suspect6005 → u/Omatzus]

Perrin deserved so much better, especially when you know how much potential that character had in the books.

[u/pentachronic → u/No-Suspect6005]

lol what? Perrin is 100% insufferable wire to wire in the books

[u/Ummah_Strong → u/pentachronic]

PUT SOME RESPECT ON AYBARRAS NAME.

[u/pentachronic → u/Omatzus]

They made Perrin as terrible in the show as he is in the books, what's the problem?

[u/spade030 → u/Mordetrox]

I actually like the fact that it was so bad it got cancelled. This being my favorite series ever, I was extremely disappointed after S1 thinking the general public will now forever relate this wonderful tale with whatever happened in the show.

Luckily, they made it even worse, got cancelled, and everyone ever completely forgot about it.

I’m optimistic that in 20, 50, or even a 100 years, the entertainment industry will evolve to the point where they will be able to adapt fantasy series (any other genres as well) as good as LotR was done.

[u/Typhtheoriginal → u/spade030]

I didn't even bother to watch, I knew I'd be so disappointed.

[u/Wurzelrenner → u/Typhtheoriginal]

Season 3 was ok and had one amazing episode.

So at least it got better. But it is hard recommend if you go from horrible(S1) to bad(S2) to ok(S3).

And then it got cancelled.

[u/Das_Autobot → u/spade030]

Nah mang I was really enjoying it. I was sad that it got cancelled.

[u/ChocoPuddingCup → u/spade030]

It wasn't canceled because it was bad. Holy fuck this thread has a bunch of whiners in it that want to do nothing but complain about shit that never happened to push their own agenda.

[u/Tankanko → u/ChocoPuddingCup]

So it was cancelled because it was good then? Hmmm...

[u/ChocoPuddingCup → u/Tankanko]

It was canceled because it was expensive, and there were three parties arguing over the direction to take it: iWoT (who we can all agree shouldn't own the rights to WoT), Amazon, and Sony. Season 3 was actually the best season it had, and it was much closer to the books. So piss off with your bookcloak bullshit.

[u/Tankanko → u/ChocoPuddingCup]

It was very widely panned and only had a strong opening release to show for it. It was canceled for multiple reasons, but it was not good, if it was they'd resolve these issues.

[u/spade030 → u/ChocoPuddingCup]

“I liked something that’s objectively bad and now whenever someone mentions it was bad on the internet, I get offended.”

[u/ChocoPuddingCup → u/spade030]

Or "I liked something that somebody else doesn't like, therefore I am wrong because they don't like it."

[u/ReReReadit → u/Mordetrox]

I feel your pain. I love those books. The first tattoo I ever got was the heron mark on tams sword. I still want to get rand's dragon tattoos someday as well. I just found it by chance one day when I was young and couldn't put it down, it was the first book that really meant something to me.

I had a rough childhood and this book is in part responsible for getting me through it. To see something so incredibly special destroyed because Amazon can't be bothered to look away from their profit margines long enough to realize that staying true to the source material would ironically have made them more money just feels like witnessing a child die on the playground because they tripped and broke their neck.

There's no meaning or reason behind it, just a selfish company in a selfish world eating up everything decent that isn't left untouched.

[u/Cyberbug7 → u/Mordetrox]

God don’t remind me I fucking hated that shit

[u/badpebble → u/Mordetrox]

WoT is very progressive (apart from authorial focus on women's chests) and is set in a matriarchy as women are the only safe magic users. Men with magic go mad and kill people, so are rightfully accepted as deeply dangerous. Leaving women to all that political and magic power is massive, and the main character's rise is by definitions against their wishes. If you just want to handwaive the issues of sex dynamics, you shouldn't adapt WoT.

Taking key moments from Rand to give to the ladies doesn't rightfully empower the women, it cheapens the power because it seems pedestrian and easy, rather than something that only the Chosen One can do, and it weakens the MC and massively sets back his story in a way that they never recovered from.

[u/AngeryMongoose → u/Mordetrox]

First one that come to mind for me too

[u/MostlyAlways47 → u/Mordetrox]

I've never watched the series but while reading the books I genuinely thought thats where the story was going for a bit because some of the prophecies of the dragon end up getting fulfilled by other people like the horn being blown.

Not specifically stating it was a man who would fulfill the prophecy makes zero sense because why wouldn't they just gentle every dude they come across.

[u/Due-Quote4091 → u/MostlyAlways47]

Yeah they do gentle every man they can find that can be gentled, but they need to be able to channel to be gentled. Its not something that can be done preemptively.

[u/MostlyAlways47 → u/Due-Quote4091]

My point is that even within the series of books the majority of Aes Sedai were very wary of Rand even after he'd fulfilled multiple prophecies and that was with unequivocal proof that the chosen one would be a man. If that prophecy was more ambiguous then pretty much everyone would have defaulted to the chosen one definitely being a woman because of the tainted male half of the source. There would be no chance of them accepting Rand as the chosen one.

[u/Due-Quote4091 → u/MostlyAlways47]

No hate, but I have no idea what point you are trying to make.

Are you saying it made 0 sense for the prophecies to not state the Dragon would be a man in universe? Or that it makes 0 sense for Robert Jordan to not write them that way?

And either way, people rejecting Rand as the Dragon Reborn despite mounting proof over the series is a pretty deliberate theme, and not particularly innaccurate to how people behave irl when presented with proof to an idea they disagree with. Not inaccurate at all

[u/MostlyAlways47 → u/Due-Quote4091]

Robert Jordan did write it that way? Did you not read the comment I replied to?

We are talking about the difference between the show and the books.

Within the books people are still skeptical despite the prophecy explicitly being about a man.

Within the show apparently they made it ambiguous which makes no sense because given the context of the world literally nobody would have believed him ever. Even average Joe's knew the dragon would be a man which is how logain and taim were able to aquire followers. Without that unequivocal certainly people would have, as I said before defaulted to believing an Aes Sedai is definitely going to be the chosen one cause they don't tend to go insane and break the world.

There's so many plot points including the infighting of the Aes Sedai that wouldn't be reasonable without that seed of doubt that the prophecy explicitly provides.

[u/WalkerCalvert → u/MostlyAlways47]

They DID gentle every man they managed to find, especially the ones who claimed to be the Dragon. The only reason Rand didn't get gentled was cause two people knew about a prophecy that he had been reborn and went digging.

The Dragon being female (I.e.; plot twist, Amaresu was reborn instead of Lews Therin Telamon) doesn't change the fact that they have a bunch of prophecies about someone being reborn and destroying the world, it just means that since it's a woman they aren't worried about Saidin-madness, they're worried about breaking the world again and contaminating the other half of the power.

Instills some of the uncertainty Moiriane and Siuan would have felt while hunting into the plot of the mainline series.

But most importantly: it's the Wheel of Time, it turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. Who knows what gender and sex and magic are like in this turning of the Wheel?

[u/Matrix010 → u/Mordetrox]

At least it made the old Unreal game available to acquire legally.

[u/EarthenEyes → u/Mordetrox]

Never heard of it, never saw any buzz for it. I don't use amazon and I am incredibly against amazon and supporting any of their services.

[u/Budsygus → u/Mordetrox]

After watching a few episodes I just convinced myself it was not an adaptation of WoT. After that it wasn't so bad.

As an adaptation it's downright awful. Abysmal. Irredeemably bad. As a generic sword and sorcery show it's fine.

[u/ihavewaytoomanyminis → u/Mordetrox]

Bear in mind that it's a 36 year old book series at this point and our view of gender has changed in that time. That's one of the same issues we saw in Y: The Last Man adaptation.

These books are kind of an answer to the earlier fantasy novels, some of which have the problem, as Amy Pohler puts it, The Women's Parts Are A Little Thin On The Ground.

[u/Fair-Confection4411 → u/Mordetrox]

The thing with doomed to fall and people disliking him because he's a man and can be corrupted could have still happened, just with then starting it after a certain point, it wouldn't have been that much of a change. 

[u/ChocoPuddingCup → u/Mordetrox]

The only reason they kept a secret who the Dragon was was for first-timers, who hadn't read the books. It was to keep the suspense throughout the season. You're acting like it was some conspiracy to ruin it. Yes, the show had some issues, but it's not nearly as bad as you bookcloaks make it out to be.

[u/Mordetrox → u/ChocoPuddingCup]

Yeah no, I don't care about suspense if keeping it requires such alterations to the power system and ruining of moments. People reading the book for the first time are kept plenty in suspense, there was no need for any of this mystery box nonsense if the sole objective was simply to keep suspense. I'd think the scene of Rand vaporizing part of a tavern by channeling lightning would have made for great suspense considering what happens to male channelers, instead of "This ordinary door prop is really strong, how'd you kick it down?" that they replaced it with to maintain the mystery box.

And no, there was no conspiracy to ruin it, that's asinine and I never acted like that was the case. What there was was a bunch of suits who thought the story wasn't marketable enough as it was and needed the mystery box added so they could do their social media campaign with their posts and widgets all dangling the keys of "ooo, which one of them is the dragon" to wring out every engagement they could get.

And comparing people who didn't like a show to the whitecloaks is real classy.