[Werthead]

WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL

To recap: in the mid-2000s a rights-handling company called Red Eagle Entertainment bought the film and TV rights to Wheel of Time. Having just been through a lengthy and bruising attempt to get the series made at NBC, Robert Jordan was happy to hand over the project to them. Unfortunately, Red Eagle turned out to be a bit of a shady operation, more interested in making money out of the WoT name than actually seriously getting anything done. In 2008 they re-sold the film and TV rights to Universal Pictures in return for a production credit, but Universal ran into problems of its own and decided not to pursue the project. With nothing happening, the film and TV rights will revert to the Bandsnatch Group - that's the Jordan Estate, overseen by Jordan's widow Harriet - this Wednesday.

The zero-budget 'production' you see above is what is known in the business as a blocking move, a cheap production thrown together to show that the project is moving forwards, so the producers can try to hold onto the rights. It never works (see Hasbro swooping in to seize the D&D film rights back from the guy who made the awful three live-action films, or Bethesda forcibly retaking the Fallout MMORPG licence from Interplay after the latter failed to do anything with them) but does throw up delays and problems whilst lawyers fight it out. It's even more of a dick move because there has been a lot of interest from big TV and film companies in WoT, so once the rights reverted to the Jordan Estate they were going to start looking at a new project. This move by Red Eagle puts that in jeopardy.

But it's still got Billy Zane in it playing Ishamael, the Destroyer of Hope, which is the kind of bizarrely randomly chaotic casting decision I can almost respect in its utter randomness.

ETA (21 April 2017): The Wheel of Time TV show is now in active development at Sony.

This post has been edited by Werthead: 21 April 2017 - 09:27 PM

[worry]

That's inzane in the membrane.

[Cause]

Am I crazy or was that not complete garbage. With an HBO budget I could see it working one day

[HoosierDaddy]

That One Power channeling looked mighty Weird-Sciency.... Ishamael was not quite the philosopher in the 1910's era.

[Whisperzzzzzzz]

OH LOOK A LITERAL WHEEL

[heavymetaltroll]

That wasn't too bad, far from good, but not TOO bad. Still think the only way it could ever be adapted to screen would be animation, preferably Anime.

[Maark Abbott]

I don't know how legit this is, but...

Blanked for the securities yo > ‎Wheel of TimeFor all who watched this, and I am a diehard fan like you, just a note.My dear friend Seda was given an opportunity to direct this, fulfilling a dream. He was not the screenwriter and was given a crazy time line to pull this off. He wrote a screen play that was picked up and he was to leave for Puerto Rico for a year to see his screenplay filmed. He worked on this screenplay for over 10 years and was so excited to live his dream but was asked to do this project first. He just completed production on Winter Dragon last Wednesday and was in a car accident the next day. He donated his organs and is in final surgery now, saving lives. He will then be pulled off life support in the next hour or so. Please pray for my friend. While you may not like how this went down, I know he worked has ass off in a very short period of time with what he was given to do his best. He is a deeply spiritual soul and an amazing spirit. I miss my friend. The Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills...truly. RIP Seda

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

I saw that Seda thing last night.... if it's true, then rest in peace. It did cross my mind that the timing was somewhat eyebrow raising. though.

That wasn't as out and out terrible as I was expecting I suppose. Billy Zane is weird, but I have to admit what annoyed me the most is that they pronounce Aes Sedai about five different ways, none of which are correct. And they can't decide how they want to pronounce Shai'tan or Ilyena either.

It's the little things with me....

As to the whole thing, it does rather smack of "dick move". If they're not going to do anything with the rights, let someone else try. What's the point in owning them if not to use them?

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 10 February 2015 - 01:04 PM

[Raizen]

I never pictured Lews Therin in a 3 piece suit, not a terribly huge fan of that I must admit.

[Cause]

Cajun King, on 10 February 2015 - 12:17 AM, said:

That was complete shit and yet I watched the entire thing. I was waiting to see Dragonmount.

I agree, that was the worst part. When he takes that ridiculous fantasy knife and walks away to go kill himself. In the books he summons so much one power that he nukes the area, creaes dragon mount and kills himself but he is also trying to erase his mistake and kill Ishmael. I realised the budget was too small but I wondered how they would pull it off.

Whisperzzzzzzz, on 10 February 2015 - 03:10 AM, said:

OH LOOK A LITERAL WHEEL

The books use the symbol of a literal wheel all the time

heavymetaltroll, on 10 February 2015 - 07:57 AM, said:

That wasn't too bad, far from good, but not TOO bad. Still think the only way it could ever be adapted to screen would be animation, preferably Anime.

I would support this idea. There was a really cool comic series at one point, I liked it just for the animation. Don't think it ever got anywhere.

Raizen, on 10 February 2015 - 01:57 PM, said:

I never pictured Lews Therin in a 3 piece suit, not a terribly huge fan of that I must admit.

I hate it too but I think its book accurate. The age of legends was some kind of weird cross between the renaissance, and the industrial revolution but with magic. They still wore capes for gods sake.

[Maark Abbott]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 10 February 2015 - 12:59 PM, said:

I saw that Seda thing last night.... if it's true, then rest in peace. It did cross my mind that the timing was somewhat eyebrow raising. though.

That wasn't as out and out terrible as I was expecting I suppose. Billy Zane is weird, but I have to admit what annoyed me the most is that they pronounce Aes Sedai about five different ways, none of which are correct. And they can't decide how they want to pronounce Shai'tan or Ilyena either.

It's the little things with me....

As to the whole thing, it does rather smack of "dick move". If they're not going to do anything with the rights, let someone else try. What's the point in owning them if not to use them?

I always read it as though they were Canadian. Ehs, Said I. There's a moose oover there.

[Andorion]

Got about halfway through and had to stop. That is just wrong on so many levels. Has Terez seen this?

[Coco with marshmallows]

Andorion, on 10 February 2015 - 05:53 PM, said:

Got about halfway through and had to stop. That is just wrong on so many levels. Has Terez seen this?

I expect she's gone into an apoplectic coma.

[Andorion]

A suit? Lewis junior? Ilyena is called Ilyena SUNHAIR!! So we get something between brown and red? What sun did they think RJ was talking about? A Brown Dwarf?

Why does Lewis Therin look like a discounted older version of George Clooney, if Clooney spent his entire life going through trauma

[heavymetaltroll]

Cause, on 10 February 2015 - 02:42 PM, said:

I would support this idea. There was a really cool comic series at one point, I liked it just for the animation. Don't think it ever got anywhere.

Comic series? I MUST see this! Is there anywhere I can see it?

[Cause]

https://www.comixolo...ics-series/2656

[Raizen]

Andorion, on 11 February 2015 - 01:37 AM, said:

Why does Lewis Therin look like a discounted older version of George Clooney, if Clooney spent his entire life going through trauma

One failed Ocean's heist too far eh?

[McLovin]

Cause, on 09 February 2015 - 10:01 PM, said:

Am I crazy or was that not complete garbage. With an HBO budget I could see it working one day

It's a testament to the source material that even with rock-bottom production values and ape-shit casting, it kinda works.

Still, I just don't see the market bearing WoT in any film/TV form. GoT was a great fit for HBO, and Shannara probably fits regular cable (but we'll see). WoT...doesn't fit either, and a film series would be a billion-dollar project.

[Terez]

Coco with marshmallows, on 10 February 2015 - 09:24 PM, said:

Andorion, on 10 February 2015 - 05:53 PM, said:

Got about halfway through and had to stop. That is just wrong on so many levels. Has Terez seen this?

I expect she's gone into an apoplectic coma.

Nah, I just raged a bit. And not as much as a certain person who was (according to the rumor mill) poised to buy the rights when they reverted to Bandersnatch.

Andorion, on 11 February 2015 - 01:37 AM, said:

A suit? Lewis junior? Ilyena is called Ilyena SUNHAIR!! So we get something between brown and red? What sun did they think RJ was talking about? A Brown Dwarf?

Why does Lewis Therin look like a discounted older version of George Clooney, if Clooney spent his entire life going through trauma

The Junior thing was hilarious. Ilyena was just negligence. Clooney...I had the same thought, but I like your use of "discounted", like he was the thrift store version of Clooney.

I liked the creased ream paper on the wheel with the chapter icons printed on it. Or superimposed, or whatever. I doubt the latter, or they could have done better than creased ream paper. There's also some linoleum tile several minutes in that looks like it came from the 1970s.

I could go on and on about what all was wrong with it, the most important fault being the lack of Dragonmount, but aside from Dragonmount, what bothered me most was the way they tried to put it in Lews Therin's POV. It's one of the few Omni POV scenes in the entire series. That was really unnecessary, and made the whole thing more confusing than it needed to be.

The whole scene should have taken about 10 minutes, but they stretched it to something like 23.

McLovin, on 11 February 2015 - 05:21 PM, said:

Cause, on 09 February 2015 - 10:01 PM, said:

Am I crazy or was that not complete garbage. With an HBO budget I could see it working one day

It's a testament to the source material that even with rock-bottom production values and ape-shit casting, it kinda works.

Still, I just don't see the market bearing WoT in any film/TV form. GoT was a great fit for HBO, and Shannara probably fits regular cable (but we'll see). WoT...doesn't fit either, and a film series would be a billion-dollar project.

I think WoT could fit HBO if not for their strong association with GRRM. Some have suggested Netflix or Amazon. Where it lands (assuming this thing can be settled legally) I will watch it if it's done well. And I will bitch about it even so.

[Terez]

Maark, on 10 February 2015 - 03:07 PM, said:

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 10 February 2015 - 12:59 PM, said:

Billy Zane is weird, but I have to admit what annoyed me the most is that they pronounce Aes Sedai about five different ways, none of which are correct.

I always read it as though they were Canadian. Ehs, Said I. There's a moose oover there.

It's EYES Suh-DYE.

I think the narrator got it right. I'm not sure. Pronunciation was kind of low on my list of things to be disturbed about while watching. Even Harriet pronounces Aes Sedai wrong, sometimes at least.