Toss a coin for your Witcher
I tend to be more of a science fiction fan than a fantasy one, but I watch a fair bit of the latter. In both you enter world that are not quite like our own and I enjoy that sort of escapism. Creating a world that actually works whilst telling a story is not so easy. Firstly I will say that I have not read any of the books this Netflix show based on and not played the video games either, so I came it to with no real expectations.
It is a very dark and dangerous world where the Witcher of the title is Geralt who has been trained and mutated to fight monsters. As well as the monsters there are wielders of magic and competing kingdoms.
The first season jumped around in time a bit, which could be confusing, especially as some characters can live for a long time. We are introduced to lots of characters and it is easy to lose track of who is who and which side they are on. Geralt is doing his monster killing thing whilst a powerful army sweeps across the continent. They seem to have an interesting in young princess Ciri, which has some magical powers of her own, but is not in control of them. We also see how Yennefer goes from crippled farm girl to powerful mage at a magical school that makes Hogwarts look like a holiday camp. Eventually their paths cross.
We get some light relief from bard Jaskier whose songs have gained a bit of a following. I have performed one myself at my local ale houses.
The second season is more linear as the established characters try to survive the tumultuous events. It is more about the people than monsters now. We get to see the base of the Witchers too. This was featured in an animated prequel that is also on Netflix and gives some background.
We are left on a bit of a cliffhanger that will have to be resolved in the next season.
I would say this is not a show for young kids. The violence is brutal and graphic, plus there is some sexual content. The effects are pretty good, but then we take that for granted even with TV shows now. The cast are great with the imposing figure of Superman Henry Cavill in the title role. Quite a few of them are British and it is filmed all across Europe. It is comparable in some ways to Game of Thrones (which I have not seen much of) in the rich mix of cultures and locations with everyone plotting for power. I expect that show has helped drive the demand for more of that sort of thing, but I think The Witcher stands on its own qualities.
I am keen to see what happens next. If you struggle to follow it then there are plenty of Youtube videos to help you out. That seems to be common for lots of shows now. It depends on how deep you want to go.
The game was incredibly good, the books are fantastic.. I have listed (audiobooks) to them all. The series.., I got bored halfway through S1, maybe I should give it another do.
Your expectations were probably different to mine then. I do tend to persist with a show once I start unless it's really bad or just depressing.
Yeah it's not a movie for the young ones. I fell in love with it when I watched the first season. The first was quite confusing though with them swapping stories of the past and present.
I have the principle that I (try to) always read the books before I see the films. It os because I saw, Interview with a vampire and then tried to read the book afterwards and it wasn't any fun. The other way around is no problem - That is just interesting to see which images other people can put on the tale. So I just read all the witcher novels which is quite good actually. Just finished the last one a couple of weeks ago. So now I am ready to see the show :)
My brother sent me this when it was internet-new:
Love the song! I have read a few comics after seeing the movie. Usually they are quite different anyway. I tend to treat the different media as separate things. I am reading Sandman at the moment and it will be interesting to see how Netflix do that.
My other half was not at all happy with the recent Terry Pratchett adaptation as they had changed too much, but I enjoyed it for what it was.
My daughter has read the Game of Thrones books and we have some here. I am not sure she is too bothered about watching the show. She is more into reading generally.
I seldom mind if the film and the book is very different, I actually find it refreshing when something new is put into it.
Haven't seen the Pratchett adaption, but I do not use much time to see films and series these days. I am more into books and wasting my time on the internet :) For example learning all the African countries and such :)
https://online.seterra.com/en/vgp/3163
I watch some TV, but I am quite selective. I spend more time online. Mind you, some of the TV quiz shows can be educational. One of them has a round where you have to pick out locations on a map.
There is just so much of every kind of medium out there that it is impossible to keep up. You have to focus on what matters to you.
TV can be very educative, and internet can be trash. I just seldom use much time on television. I sometimes read some context to things that are discussed online, and I like to write with people from other places... I waste my time on politics, I think. But I guess we have to think a bit about what is happening in the world. Quarrels over a thing like this war is something that doesn't bring any good.
As for the Africa geography, I have actually had good use of it when talking to Africans. Often they start saying that I don't know where it is when they mention their country... but I do :) and that is always appreciated.
There is good quality to be found in various places. I have watched so much trash TV in my life already, but try to avoid it now. I tend to do my political rants on Twitter as there is more going on there. Hive does eat a lot of time though and I have to decide if that is a good use of it.
On the quiz I mentioned I think one question was to locate where the pyramids are on a map of Africa and some of the celebrities could not even local Egypt. I like to think I have some knowledge of other parts of the world. I have visited over 20 countries. I like that Hive is global, so I see something of other cultures there.
Love this! Had to watch both in a oner!