John Thomson

Is zero stars an option? Because I'd be thrilled to provide that rating to this less than subpar adaption of Robert Jordan's books. Overall, it has been a phenomenal disappointment. If you are a fan of the books, avoid this show like the Dark One's taint. The show is a mess from beginning to end and is nothing more than a hodgepodge of Jordan's ideas and writings produced by a drunken tv production crew and writers. There are many words that could describe Amazon's Wheel of Time, but "great", "exceptional", and "faithful to the books" would not be included. One of my major issues with this series, beyond its disjointed pace and storytelling, is its failure to adhere to the books. Robert Jordan literally provided thousands of pages of source material, plot lines, character development and interactions, and descriptions to draw from. For a show that costs roughly $10 million per episode, its inability to truly capture Jordan's books is disappointing, and frankly terrifying for future projects (Amazon's Lord of the Rings comes to mind). While it is true that some changes would need to be made in order to adapt Jordan's books to the small screen, Rafe Judkin's adaption leaves much to be desired. It moves too quickly, spends little time on the characters, and fails to capture the spirit and world-building of the books. It changes so much from the original books that it is jarring. Judkins is not creating a faithful adaption. The series feels as if someone, at some point, read the books a long time ago and is now attempting to remember the story and share it with others. And is doing so very poorly. I've watched all seven episodes, and I really wanted to like the series. The Wheel of Time is one of my all-time favorites. Sadly, it is awful and fans of the books will only continue to watch the series out of morbid curiosity for how bad the show will become.