Witcher series for Netflix confirmed!

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The show is frustrating 😣😫😭

Cavill acting isn't the only one that isn't good. There is a lot of bad, badness, and worse decision going everywhere in this show. It's not the actors and actresses fault. Feel it is more the director and writers.
Bad acting of Cavill is Cavill's fault. All other problems on the show - people responsible. Be it writers, directors, the showrunner, costume designer...
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Never been a fan of his acting either, to be honest. In this case I don't think it's terrible. Keeping in mind Geralt always rubbed me as kind of distant, a man of few words and the polar opposite of overtly expressive. The character in the show kind of fits that description. As does the acting of him. If I'd poke any holes in his performance it would be more related to the script. It's probably difficult to "act" when a large part of your material consists of one liners or grunts here or there. None of this is to say he could perform if this were not the case.
It's not the first distant, withdrawn, loner type anti-hero in fiction. Snake Pliskin, Bruce Wayne or whatever... There's many. Script or direct line from a book, Cavill messes it up in 95% cases. Watching him perform is like watching stage play in kindergarten.
 
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I'm a bit baffled how you can have fully realized book source and extract only "that" from it. Writers are among the worst things about the TV adaptation. Granted, writers here also tools. It's on the showrunner and people who define the way the show should be.
 
Aside from the monsters being hokey I'm enjoying the story (about 4.5 episodes in). It probably helps that I know little beyond what I experienced in TW3.
 
Just finished the first episode. Screenplay was all over the place, really confusing, even for me, that had read the books. Some of the costumes looked not in place or cheap. But they've put A LOT of effort in the battle scenes, especially that last Butcher of Blaviken sequence was a piece of art - beautifully shot and executed (Guy Ritchie much). Loved it.

Now the acting, I couldn't tell much out of the first episode, but as I've pointed before - screenplay was all over the place and the fact that the series started in the middle of nowhere was really confusing and helping, but I thought HC was great - he had nailed Geralt' posture from the games to perfection, even the smallest things in the background. Calanthe was OK, I guess, Ciri's screaming was a bit too much, though. Looked out of place. To draw a better conclusion, I'll have to watch the rest of the season.

So, again - screenplay was a drawback, acting was up and down, mostly OK, though, some of the costumes are definitely questionable (and I am not even speaking of the NG ballsack armor), music was... trying, but seemed as a cheaper copy from the games.

I'd say the first episode was above average (6, maybe 7 out of 10 if I want to be generous, though it will be pushing, as 7 is actually a high score, but that Geralt sequence at the end was sick).
 
(Episode 2 spoilers)> There's something in this episode that I don't understand...
What's with the transformation of some of the student sorcerors into eels, and Yennefer pushing them into the water?
 
(Episode 2 spoilers)> There's something in this episode that I don't understand...
What's with the transformation of some of the student sorcerors into eels, and Yennefer pushing them into the water?

Yen says something about them being "Aretuza's transmitters" or something like that. The way I understood it is that those sorceresses that are not chosen as suitable enough for the job are turned into "batteries" for Aretuza, using their magic as "power cells"
 
Finally, I just finished the last episode. I have to admit that I'm frustrated. As this was to be a books adaptation, I've got 3 major problems with the series:

1. Storytelling / unnecessary changes to the original story:
Writers & Mrs. Showrunner had just one, simple task. They already had "ready to go" material written by A. Sapkowski. But no, they decided to "improve" it, to add something from their side. Their own interpratation. Why? Seriously, why? The final outcame is terrible. This is a perfact example how it ends when a low skilled apriantance is trying to add something new to already finished product, where there is really no need for any extra improvements.

2. Casting:
What a beautiful disaster we've got in here. And just to be clear: I'm not even bothered by Henry Cavill as a Geralt. Actually, if this was to be the greatest flaw of the series, than the whole show would be magnificent. Henry is doing his job as a Witcher. Also Yenn, Ciri and even Jaskier - they should be a gold standard for all other casting decisions.
But when we look at Triss, Foltest, Fringilla, Borch, Eithne actors - what the f.... ???? What was the reason of such poor personal choices? For sure it wasn't anything related with mentioned above storytelling, or to highlight some scenario important aspects. And please don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against the actors or their acting skills. It's just all about fully incorrect visuals of the characters. They just don't fit - especially if you produly anounce that this is going to be book adaptaion.

3. Attention to details:
Geralt's eyes - why no vertical pupils? Nilfgaardian armors look like they ware made of cheap paper mass. Dryads of Brooklyn Brokilon and their spears and crossbows - apparently bows are already passe?

And despite all of these things - I am fully aware, that this Netfilx show is going to be the best Witcher adaptation that we are going to ever get. But in my opinion the first series is maximum 6/10 points.
 
Finally, I just finished the last episode. I have to admit that I'm frustrated. As this was to be a books adaptation, I've got 3 major problems with the series:

1. Storytelling / unnecessary changes to the original story:
Writers & Mrs. Showrunner had just one, simple task. They already had "ready to go" material written by A. Sapkowski. But no, they decided to "improve" it, to add something from their side. Their own interpratation. Why? Seriously, why? The final outcame is terrible. This is a perfact example how it ends when a low skilled apriantance is trying to add something new to already finished product, where there is really no need for any extra improvements.

2. Casting:
What a beautiful disaster we've got in here. And just to be clear: I'm not even bothered by Henry Cavill as a Geralt. Actually, if this was to be the greatest flaw of the series, than the whole show would be magnificent. Henry is doing his job as a Witcher. Also Yenn, Ciri and even Jaskier - they should be a gold standard for all other casting decisions.
But when we look at Triss, Foltest, Fringilla, Borch, Eithne actors - what the f.... ???? What was the reason of such poor personal choices? For sure it wasn't anything related with mentioned above storytelling, or to highlight some scenario important aspects. And please don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against the actors or their acting skills. It's just all about fully incorrect visuals of the characters. They just don't fit - especially if you produly anounce that this is going to be book adaptaion.

3. Attention to details:
Geralt's eyes - why no vertical pupils? Nilfgaardian armors look like they ware made of cheap paper mass. Dryads of Brooklyn Brokilon and their spears and crossbows - apparently bows are already passe?

And despite all of these things - I am fully aware, that this Netfilx show is going to be the best Witcher adaptation that we are going to ever get. But in my opinion the first series is maximum 6/10 points.
Also finished the season today.
I'm not as frustrated as you but share most of your points.

Would give it a 7/10 which is not bad. It's a good series but a far cry from what could have been.
 
On the whole I rather enjoyed the show (although I would have kept the original story beats from the short stories in some instances).
The acting is pretty good. Henry Cavill channels a convincing Geralt, Anya Chalotra nails Yennefer's vulnerability and selfishness, Freya Allan is believable as Ciri acting as part vulnerable child, part spoiled little brat, and Joey Batey gives an instantly lovable Jaskier.
The storyline may feel a bit muddled to some, but personally i had no trouble following separate timelines, especially with hints (i.e. Older Foltest in Geralt's timeline, kid Foltest and Adda in Yennefer's timeline from episode 3).
The only thing i didn't quite like is inconsistent VFX (some creatures look fantastic, while some - especially the dragons look cheap and unnatural, and bad if compared to the dragons in Game of Thrones, for example).
Overall, the series gets a solid 8 from me. And certainly, there's room for improvement in future seasons. I hope there will be many of them.
 
Finished it too and would give it a 6.5/10 overall. I enjoyed it for the most part but it could have been so much more with some better writing. (spoilers for all episodes)

Things I liked:

- Acting was pretty good overall. Cavill did a fantastic job as Geralt. Yennefer and Ciri were spot on. I also liked Jaskier, Mousesack, Tissaia and Calanthe+ almost all of the other supporting cast. The only ones that were miscast imo were Triss (the worst offender), Foltest, Fringilla and Ethnie.

-The music was awesome. I'm still listening to all the Witcher soundtracks and I will add the series soundtrack to that list once it's released.

-A few of the fightscenes (like blaviken) were some of the best fight scenes I have ever seen on tv

- A lot of the scenery was gorgeous. Really liked Thanedd Island



Things I didn't like

- I didn't have any issues following all the timejumps but I have the knowledge of all books, games, comics and everything witcher related that was ever released. I can see people who are new to the world having a hard time.

- While I understand why they added Ciri's and Yennefer's backstory I don't like the price the adaption paid for this. Several short stories were cut and others were rushed. Especially Ciri's backstory was boring and in many parts pointless.

- Not having Geralt and Ciri meet in Brokilon was one of the short stories butchered. It made the ending moment emotionally way less impactful. Furthermore without them meeting they should have cut Brokilon completely . It was just a waste of time, which should have been used on more important things.

-Some cringe scenes like Yennefer going full Xena and duelwielding swords or the way Eyck died.

-Vilgefortz. He was supposed to be the leader of the battle of sodden hill. The whole battle was the reason why he rised in fame and became the defacto leader of the brotherhood. In the show he was knocked out by Cahir (I would mention this seperately but I suspect Vilgefortz did this on purpose as he already worked with Nilfgaard) and missed the whole battle.

-Nilfgaard. They were straight up evil, giving some religious cult vibes. This couldn't be further from their portayal in the books.

- CGI ranged from mediocre to straight up bad.

I believe season 2 will be better, as from the 3rd book forward everything is way more straight forward. The writing team should have less issues adapting it. This being sad, they really need step up the writing if they want to do the books justice. So far it's both inferior to the books and even more so to the games (especially Witcher 2, which I personally think is the best written witcher story)
 
Finished watching the last episode this morning, and then thought about it for a while.

There have been significantly worse book adaptations (e.g., Shannara Chronicles), but this one isn't good. Being somewhat vague to avoid spoilers:

A few of the actors are good, but almost none of the characters are.
  • Cavill isn't given much to work with, which is somewhat appropriate, and other than look angry most of the time, does poorly even with what little he is given. I appreciate him trying hard to recreate the voice we all know.
  • The main female actors do a good job with what they're given, but they're either inappropriate for the role, or the role as written and directed is just bad.
  • The Yennifer actress is great, but she lacks the intrinsic strength of personality to be convincing. But that's minor. The big problem is that the character herself is written more as being petulant than just plain overpowering badass.
  • As for Triss -- there was so little of her that I don't have much opinion either way.
  • The actress who plays Ciri is great. I think the character is written terribly. I've always cursed Peter Jackson for turning Arwen into Xena warrior princess. But here, they've taken a warrior princess, and turned her into a street urchin who's so clueless that she'll blindly follow anyone offering to lead her, and always looking to someone else for strength. But the actress is so good that she almost makes it work anyway.
  • I keep going back and forth on Dandelion. Sometimes I think that he channels the character pretty well. Other times he seems way too tame. Maybe inconsistent writing?
The story itself -- it was already written for them. How could they have messed it up so badly? I was half way through the second episode before I realized that they had multiple timelines going on, and hadn't simply made up their own idiotic timeline in episode one. I was several episodes in before I fully figured out the timelines. What they did was actually pretty cool if they had done it right, but the way it's implemented, people who aren't already familiar with the stories are probably still trying to figure out what was happening by the end of episode eight. And also without already knowing the stories and characters, I don't think that I could produce a coherent plot summary of the season.

The end of the final episode left me with no desire to see how this crew continue with the story.
 
They replaced Geralt with a black kid and ruined the finale of the first season. It's just third-rate writing.
 
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