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The Witcher (Netflix)

I expected nothing and I was pleasantly surprised. Cavill was perfect as Geralt, Anya Chalotra was a delicious Yennifer. Triss was meh... that perm looked horrible. The kid playing Ciri was also not bad.

I have almost nothing bad to say about it, the confusing timelines are the only thing that was a bit too much, but it kinda worked in the end, overall I'd say that this is a very good adaption and I'm glad that it exists. The critics trashing this are morons.

Same deal, i didn't expect much, but i was very surprised at how much i enjoyed this show. Although i think the writing is shoddy in some scenes, also i didn't particularly enjoy some of the actors which i thought were amateurish in their delivery. But, despite the rough edges, i enjoyed the show greatly. Geralt and Yennifer were perfect, and Ciri was really good as well. I didn't plan to watch this show in the foreseeable future, but i caved because of how surprisingly great the vast majority of individuals think the show is.
 

Kadayi

Banned
That fight in Blavikan in Episode 1

source.gif


There are showier shows out there (Into the Badlands springs to mind) but as an instance to convey from the off just how good Witchers are in combat I thought it was a really well done sequence, coupled with the fact that it's clear Geralt didn't want to kill Renfri until she forced his hand, and it was kind of heartbreaking when he has to, and he's all business about it.

Bigger budget and 2 more episodes for Season 2 plz netflix.
 

Kadayi

Banned
I didn't expect that fight to be that good. While i was watching, i expect something typically amateurish, and then it began. That's one strong hook for viewers, especially since that's, by far, the best display of Geralt in battle in that entire show.

Yeah, I think it's a fair criticism. I'd have liked the fight with the reavers to have been a bit more involved, but I dare say given the location it was a tall order to deliver, plus they're supposed to be reasonably competent. Hopefully, with season 2 they will fit in some more sustained combats of similar quality.
 

Fuz

Banned
I didn't expect that fight to be that good. While i was watching, i expect something typically amateurish, and then it began. That's one strong hook for viewers, especially since that's, by far, the best display of Geralt in battle in that entire show.
Yeah, that was awesome.
Cavill is keeping all the weight of this show on his shoulders.
 
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JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
I was wrong, Anna Shafer was not the right choice for Triss. Anna should have been cast as Sabrina.

Therisa Wilson-Read who played Sabrina should have been cast as Triss.
PhIT-FHC_400x400.jpg

Give her red hair and a lighthouse scene with Geralt. Oh man.
 

Kadayi

Banned
I was wrong, Anna Shafer was not the right choice for Triss. Anna should have been cast as Sabrina.

Therisa Wilson-Read who played Sabrina should have been cast as Triss.
PhIT-FHC_400x400.jpg

Give her red hair and a lighthouse scene with Geralt. Oh man.

I hope Sabrina survived the Battle. She needs more screen time next season :)
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
I've never read the books and am only familiar with the Witcher 3.

Anyway, is the audience who hasn't read the books or played the games supposed to be aware that The Urchin who marries Pavetta eventually becomes Emperor Emhyr? In the show, he is obviously not shown but mentioned. I suspect this will be a plot twist in season 2.

Something I wasn't aware of is that the character of Mousesack is actually Ermion!
 
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Shmunter

Member
Having trouble getting past the B grade acting and writing. Not a show I can recommend to others. Did finish Witcher 3.
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
JohnnyFootball JohnnyFootball Dude. Spoiler block that! Some people haven't read the books!
Dude, as a courtesy. There are almost definitely people in here who haven't played the games or read the books.
Then it'd make sense to post it in a TW3 thread, why spoil a TV show for those who may not have even touched the games?
Fine.

But let's be real, anyone venturing into this thread should have enough sense to recognize that their could be some pretty big spoilers in it.

Now can we get back to my questions. I suspect that it will be a plot twist for season 2.
 
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PhoenixTank

Member
Now can we get back to my questions. I suspect that it will be a plot twist for season 2.
Appreciated. A bit further down the line for that twist I'd think, unless they focus hard on Nilfgaard next season but as of the last episode... the First Northern War is over. Nilfgaard lost.
Edit: That said, they are moving fast through the storylines so it might not be as far away as I think.
 
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JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
Now that I have finished the first season, I have to say that I agree that overall it is a show with a LOT of potential, and I love watching it.

I liked the cast choices. Cavill was obviously a fantastic choice. One funny thing I think they could do next season as a pure fan service moment, create a funny moment where Geralts voice is altered and have Doug Cockle provide the voice. Yennefer and Ciri's actresses were good choices. As was Dandelion. I didn't realize that Mousesack and Ermion were one and the same. The effects and set pieces were good, not great.

Having said that I'd still give it a 7 out of 10.

The reason for that is that I never believed I was in a living breathing world like I did when watching say Game of Thrones. The world of the Witcher never looked real and the timelines were hard to follow.

I'll be honest I think the Witcher should just straight up copy and make the series intro identical to Game of Thrones. One of the things that really helped Game of Thrones was the map intro where you knew where every event was taking place.

Is it fair to compare the Witcher after one season to one of the all time greats? Probably not.
 
No. Aliens empowers its male characters, even Hudson i.e. who goes on a personal hero journey of sorts from arrogant wisecracking joker to panicking "this can't be happening man!" wimp ("yeah, right man, Bishop should go. Good idea") finally to become a hero & die with honor i.e. "die motherfuckers!!!" as he blasted the hell out of the Aliens.

Netflix Witcher meanwhile takes a sexy white sorcerous with red hair & turns her into an ugly random black woman who looks like she'd be more comfortable working for US postal service. It's done on purpose. Some might choose to bury their head in the sand & ignore the insult, whilst some of us don't.

I don't think Anna Shaffer is black. She's been on UK TV for a long time, in Hollyoaks (UK soap) and Harry Potter, so I'm quite familiar with her. I might be wrong though.

anna-shaffer-attends-the-uk-screening-of-hoff-the-record-at-the-on-picture-id474115196
 

-Arcadia-

Banned
Episode 1 was surprisingly fantastic.

Episode 2 and 3 are some of the worst slogs I’ve ever had to get through. You know it’s bad when you keep needing to take breaks and check social media throughout the episode.

I’m very likely done with the show. It almost feels like a bait & switch; I don’t know that I’ve ever seen direction, writing, everything drop that precipitously before.
 

JohnnyFootball

GerAlt-Right. Ciriously.
They all saying she's perfect for the part? That would be so predictable.

I'm pretty sure some of them are complaining about Henry Cavill's casting. Some of them were hoping for Mahershala Ali.
The dude is a great actor, but he is in everything now it seems.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Just finished episode 3 last night and am really enjoying this. I was getting worried about what felt like a huge quality drop in episode 2 with the adventures of Geralt and the bard (seriously felt like schlocky 90s TV in moments), but episode 3 was quite good. Gotta say, I was skeptical initially, but I think Henry Cavill is great as Geralt. Due to the video games, though, I'm not feeling this Triss actress (like so many others have already noted). Then again, King Foltest being a fat slob is also a huge departure from the games, so I guess I'll just have to divorce the two versions of the story in my mind somehow.
 
101.248 players on Steam right now, and God knows how many through GOG and pirated copies.

I guess it's time to jump in tonight, been postponing it due to my attention being grabbed by S.T.A.L.K.E.R. mods.
 
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Makariel

Member
Loved the first season! Watched it with my wife who had no prior experience with the series, who looked at me funny when I said lines like "lilac and gooseberries" before they were said :p

I think the casting of Cavill was pretty much perfect, and offset some of the other casting choices I might not been feeling as much. Really looking forward to the second season now! Until then I can finally get back to play Blood and Wine...
 

Labadal

Member
The series wasn't bad at all. Not on my favorites list, probably not even close, but fun to watch. I'm down for a season two. Cavill makes a great Geralt. I had my doubts when he was announced, but he proved me wrong.
 

JimboJones

Member
I bought 1 2 and 3 on steam after finishing the season.

Started 2, actually remembering why I thought the game was a bit overrated at the time, still it's ok and fun, just a bit of a slog at times.
 

mayhemking

Member
The first episode put me to sleep. A bunch of boring-ass characters and lame exposition. Cavill looked silly in that wig. Monsters made me laugh, so goofy looking.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I really enjoyed it (watched the season). I bought my first gaming to play The Witcher Enhanced Edition. I've been a fan of the series ever since. I enjoyed the show. I think you have to enjoy the franchise to get the most out of the show. Its a lot to take in if you aren't familiar with the character already. It definitely picks up after the first 2-3 episodes. I started to enjoy it more after it added more to the plot and the character backgrounds.
 

bronk

Banned
Someone said it was like an R- rated Xena. I went into it with that mindset and loved it all the way through. Was it janky? Sure but it was alot of fun. I played and beat all the games but never read the books. One huge complaint Triss should have been a bombshell redhead, cmon now.
 

GreyHorace

Member
Someone said it was like an R- rated Xena. I went into it with that mindset and loved it all the way through. Was it janky? Sure but it was alot of fun. I played and beat all the games but never read the books. One huge complaint Triss should have been a bombshell redhead, cmon now.
Not like that they needed to look far too. Many fans think that Emma Appleton, who played Renfri, should have played Triss.

7692e5dc660f77028f2eb413c8ac195103f71a71.gifv
 

Bogey

Banned
Just watched this! All in all, very positively surprised. I expected a trainwreck based on the trailers, but I really enjoyed it.

The first ~2 episodes were a bit trashy imho, production quality seemed cheap. Got much better afterwards though.
I liked the story presentation & that they've kept relatively close to the books. Some of the stories would have deserved more time though, I would have probably prefered them using 2 full seasons for all of tis.

Casting is a bit of mixed bag for me. I'm very positively surprised by Cavill, amazing performance.
Quite like Yen too - maybe a bit young and "round faced" looking, but pretty bang on acting. The costume while she was still deformed looked ridiculous, glad that's gone now.
Jaskier is a perfect fit too (though his songs are a bit too modern sounding for me, sounds more like Ed Sheeran rather than medieval ballads).
Triss casting is a disaster. No, not because she's a PoC (Fringilla was great imho), there's just something about her style and acting that seems totally off to what I would have expected for Triss.

Admittedly, the "diversity" of the cast used for ordinary townsfolk was fairly misplaced for my taste. This is subjective, but I always pictured the world to be very medieval and slavic, with loads of racism. The huge amount of PoC cast, non-secret interracial relationsips among peasants etc. struck me as very out of place, given what I would have expected, that part seemed a little... americanized. Did not mind the diversity for e.g. mages though, for my subjective interpretation of the lore it makes a lot more sense they'd have come from all over the world and have different origins than anyone else.

Anyway, all in all, great show. Hoping they'll up the budget for season 2 a bit more.
 
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D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
Finally finished the last couple of episodes today. Really, really enjoyed it and thought it was a great first season to set up the show and the characters. Hope they can keep this going for a good while.

Admittedly, the "diversity" of the cast used for ordinary townsfolk was fairly misplaced for my taste. This is subjective, but I always pictured the world to be very medieval and slavic, with loads of racism. The huge amount of PoC cast, non-secret interracial relationsips among peasants etc. struck me as very out of place, given what I would have expected, that part seemed a little... americanized. Did not mind the diversity for e.g. mages though, for my subjective interpretation of the lore it makes a lot more sense they'd have come from all over the world and have different origins than anyone else.

Yeah, I certainly didn't mind it at all. I thought the actress who played Fringilla was great. With that said, it was a bit weird to have Jaskier comment about the two black warrior women being from Zerrikania just by looking at them if the TV Witcher world is supposedly some kind of multiracial society like modern day America.
 
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Chromata

Member
Loved the show and the risks they took. It made me want to read the books.

Currently reading the first law trilogy, will start the witcher after.
 
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Chromata

Member
No, this is an adaptation of the books, the games are sequels to the books.
It should be noted that they're "unofficial" sequels since the story isn't really approved/conceived by Andrzej Sapkowski.

He's making more witcher books though so let's see what's in store.
 

Fuz

Banned
Loved the show and the risks they took. It made me want to read the books.

Currently reading the first law trilogy, will start the witcher after.
He's not a good writer.

He had some luck and a few really great intuitions and ideas. But he's a poor storyteller.

CDPR took a rough diamond and polished it.
Then netflix threw it in the mud.
 
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