First season
This fiction has been released in style, a new fantastic saga that aims to take advantage of the pull of ‘Game of Thrones’, although it does not seem to hook the same
On-demand online content platforms are desperately looking for a new ‘Game of Thrones’, and they don’t have it easy. Generally, these phenomena arise without waiting for them, as ‘The Squid Game’ has recently demonstrated. It is practically impossible to replicate the international success of ‘La casa de papel’ from a laboratory of ideas, but commitment is not lacking. Amazon Prime Video, in response to the express wish of its megalomaniac boss, Jeff Bezos, has just released a response to the audiovisual adaptation of George RR Martin’s books, awaiting the new version of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ that will shine in your catalog. ‘The Wheel of Time’, a medieval fantasy that draws on Tolkien’s imagery and surrogates, with Norse mythology present, is based on another best-selling literary series by Robert Jordan, with nearly a hundred million books sold throughout the world and fourteen published installments, plus a prequel. With this letter of introduction it is clear that it is not the first proposal released in streaming that follows in the wake of the popular HBO bet, which already has a prequel in the starting box, ‘The house of the dragon’, whose premiere is scheduled by 2022.
‘The wheel of time’, promoted to the maximum by Amazon, while it opens quite more interesting productions behind the scenes, competes to fill the void of ‘Game of Thrones’ with titles such as’ Letter to the King’, ‘Damn’, ‘The Last Kingdom ‘or’ The Witcher ‘, whose new season will be released on Netflix next month. This latest gamble, starring Henry Cavill, has more potential to become a really popular television adaptation, although the die is cast and the battle for the ranking has only begun. Recall that the adaptation of the novel series of ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ took time to gain its bombastic audience. The first seasons gradually accumulated followers, until the fever for John Snow and company broke out, to the detriment of the quality of the work in its outcome. The premiere of Prime Video plays with a certain disadvantage, the comparisons are as odious as they are inevitable. The first three chapters now available -the rest are released individually every Friday, up to a total of eight- take us into a world that already sounds familiar to us. It is not necessary to know the starting texts, the series is designed for the general public, but there are details that can be thrown back, such as the existence of the trolocs, beings half troll half orc. The name sounds like a parody and it is clear where the ideology comes from, although there are changes for the better, such as the appearance of a string of female characters better cared for than in other projects in the same wake.
At the helm, Rosamund Pike
Rosamund Pike, a highly charismatic face, heads a diverse choral cast, as current events dictate – which includes the presence of Álvaro Morte, the teacher of ‘La casa de papel’. Play as an Aes Sedai, a sorceress who can use magic to fight against her enemies, manipulating reality. The world where the story takes place has no name, but it resembles the scenarios seen in ‘The Hobbit’, to take an obvious example. There are villages attacked by evil forces, inns where there are vital encounters and secrets and prophecies are revealed. Some human beings can manipulate the earth, fire, wind or water in their favor, but a female organization – fashion witches -, in charge of protecting the mystical power, is in charge of controlling the ‘channelers’. Men are often exterminated, as they use their extrasensory gifts to do evil. Maintaining cosmic order is the goal, whoever falls.
A still from ‘The Wheel of Time’.
‘The wheel of time’ does not engage in its first steps, it is difficult to start and its first chapter feels like a ‘déjà vu’. The best thing is his portrait of the female roles, powerful in independent, but has a serious handicap to snatch the viewer, hardened in this type of productions. The visual effects are uneven, especially those attributed to wide shots. A disadvantage at this point, knowing the objective of its launch, and something incomprehensible considering, above all, who is behind. Art and costumes do not help, not at all flashy, shooting what has already been seen. At the moment it does not seem that the series has been creatively bet, beyond a generous budget that is not reflected in the result, with plenty of action scenes (although very bloody, yes). If we lower the expectations in terms of epic, the adventure is slightly entertaining, it is quite accessible and the main characters are already presented, waiting for how some events truffled with clichés unfold … inevitably? The second season is already guaranteed.
The first season of ‘The Wheel of Time’ is available on Amazon Prime Video.
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