So I finally watched the series.
Actually I watched it months ago. I just, had to digest it first. Come to terms with my sorrow and I lament what they've done.
I watched the series with two friends. I had to promise them not to squirm, shout, comment or in any way destroy the experience.
So, instead I had my phone ready, furiously taking notes on errors and what not(trying to be discreet). Today I can't quite read my furious scribbling.
No matter, within a couple of episodes, both my friends were commenting and squirming themselves, and finally I was released from my promise.
Christ...on..a...crutch.
It's bad. Beyond bad.
Now, I say nothing about the actors or the acting. I think they did a good job tbh...with what they got(I really liked Anya Chalotra as Yennefer). With what the actors got however...
I also say nothing about the famous armour because...it didn't bother me as much as the...artistic creativity that was implemented.
Normal artistic creativity I support. I do. I understand book to film/series adaptation may/will suffer.
But the sheer and forced adaptations the makers of the series did...wow.
Off the top of my head...and my almost undecipherable scribbled notes:
Character changes, like Renfri, Stregobor, and Caldemeyr to Marilka. Eyck of Denesle is
nothing like this in the books.
Just no. I don't like the adaptations and changes done to many.
Triss is tossed in to give a contract that Foltest gave in the books.
Foltest was exceptionally bad. In the books he was never embarrased or ashamed regarding his love for his sister.
Fighting the Striga Geralt seem unprepared(?). Like he's not sure what he's up against until he's up against a wall. In the books Geralt is anything but. Surprised at times but certainly not unprepared.
Cahir...my God...he's evil. A scheming mastermind, demanding obedience and authority. In the books he's nothing like that. Nothing. F***, he even bested Vilgefortz!
Vilgefortz use a sword sheath as a quiver, drawing magic discardable swords, losing them(?)! all the time, instead of using his cool staff. Until his nose starts to bleed. That means he's exhausted, you see.
To see him duelling Cahir...with swords...was just painful. I just don't know why. Why???
As if poor Cahir(book Cahir, not the asshole in the series) would last two seconds against Vilgefortz.
Not even Geralt lasted more than a minute.
Is Cahir better than Geralt then?
And no bullshit about they were "faking it because Yennefer was watching."
It was sheer stupidity.
As if Yen, and other sorcerers, would not know how brilliant and powerful Vilgefortz is.
The whole battle in fact...I mean mind-altering worms...used by Nilfgaard?
Seriously?
Regarding magic in battles. Magic is changed and it seems you can't cast a fireball without nature exacting a heavy price and you have to sacrifice yourself to literally become a fireball. What?
Also, pupils of Aretuza are turned to electrical batteries to prevent them from losing control. True, in the books you may lose control and go on a mad power trip/killing spree(Falka)but the battery idea was terrible.
Magic does not cause atrophy(as it does in the books) of reproducting organs. No, instead it's a ceremony and a surgical procedure, where a glorified ripperdoc(yes, or maybe even Dr. Steinman from Bioshock) "dive right in" to rip out wombs as it is "the price" you have to pay for change.
Let's see, more stupidity.
Oh! Geralt LOOKING for a genie in a bottle...by a lake...thrashing about in the bushes...instead of him and Dandelion fishing and accidentally catching the container. It's so stupid. And yes, I said Dandelion. Because that's the translation in all the books. Are they gonna change that now?
Instead of being a major expansionist empire, Nilfgaard, with all the correct scheming and spywork, look more like a zealot cult.
Again, I really don't give a **** about the armour, as compared to all the plot/character/world changes it's a minor thing.
I could go on and on...but I won't.
I will say this though, how can the creators of the series make a mess of such good writing? Yes, it's their choice to make, but still?
Regarding the analepsis and prolepsis of the series, it's even worse than Ciri's many accidental time/world leaps in the books.
My friends were very disoriented. So was my sister(who, in spite of that, loved the show).
One of them have played the games, none of them read the books.
Yet none of them didn't quite...get it.
I quickly understood the creators had tampered with a lot, and crammed four books into one season! Or is it five?
Who does that?
Sure, they give clues, Calanthe's comment on how long ago a battle was, characters being children in one scene, and adults in another. But I ask again...why?
Have you read The Last Wish?
Well, if you haven't, you should.
The book is sheer genius.
It builds upon folk tales, and Sapkowski making his own interpretation, making it his own creation. Grittier but interesting and believable.
It builds through analepsis and prolepsis, and the adventures that led Geralt to Nenneke's care in Ellander.
Every subject they speak of is on point, lays a foundation that gradually builds a world with believable characters and monsters in it.
Following the pace of the book would have been an excellent season 1. It. Would. Have. Been. Excellent.
But no, they had to force events from four(!) books in there. Change magic, change plots, change characters.
The doppelganger creature reminded me more of a Baldur's Gate plot and not something from the Witcher books nor the games.
Oh, in earlier discussions about character appearance I got perplexed. Yes, I am biased towards the games, I played them first after all, but I always admit being wrong. Now, could I be that wrong regarding characters appearance?
Well, with Triss I was wrong, interpretations and that. But Toruviel has "raven hair." The end.
Why not own up and say that they don't give a shit?
I say nothing about the acting or actors though. In fact I am impressed in that regard. And yet it saddens me of what could have been.
Hell, they could all be blue-haired for all I care, but they seriously made a mess of this series.
A mess that could have been avoided.
Wait what?
Sapkowski was a consultant on this?
And to think Sapkowski, once upon a time, didn't care enough about getting a good contract with a small studio called CDPR, only to realise his loss of income, years later, when CDPR turned their games into a success(also leading myself and others to Sapkowski's books.)
They settled a lawsuit because of that, even if it was a shitty contract from the start. A contract signed.
But it was because of CDPR and The Witcher game, the Last Wish got translated to English in the first place.
It's sad, really, that it didn't happen until 2007. The books deserved earlier recognition and translation.
But Sapkowski was a consultant on the series? Well, is he suing them for changing and altering his masterpiece?
What, they made tons of money out of it?
Oh, so it's fine then.
Toss a coin to your witcher?
Nope, not likely, I won't give a toss about the series from now on.
Will not watch season two. Time is too precious to waste on that.
The only good thing about this is that even more people have discovered the books and the games.
Sadly, my sister, and many others, will only learn of and know the series. A series that could have been so much better.
It's sad, that they didn't make it equivalent of the books and games.
I mean, they had all the right tools all along.
My two cents and a weight off my chest.