"You probably know that a lot of pilots are put on the air at different times in different ways, and for different reasons," Selvage tells io9. io9 contacted Red Eagle CEO Rick Selvage for comments, and while io9 reports that Selvage was careful with the language he used in the interview, it appeared clear that the campy pilot was produced and aired specifically in order to keep the rights from expiring:
Wheel of time pilot episode series#
The company appears to have been a very poor steward of the property, with none other than series author Robert Jordan (pen name for deceased author James Oliver Rigney) expressing displeasure with the company as far back as 2007.Īccording to io9’s investigation, Red Eagle’s ownership of the rights were set to expire on February 11, 2015, unless the company actually produced something.
Wheel of time pilot episode tv#
The problem is that Red Eagle Entertainment (and, apparently, Universal) already has the TV rights for The Wheel of Time-has had them for almost a decade, in fact. The popularity of Game of Thrones has led to an uptick in studios optioning fantasy series so that everyone can get a piece of the audience pie Wheel of Time’s sprawling 15-book narrative would seem to be a natural fit for Showtime or FX or another premium channel that wants its own multi-season Game of Thrones competitor. "And featuring: Billy Zane as Ishamael, Betrayer of Hope." What the hell is this crap?
AdvertisementĮnlarge / This looks like a freeze from a sitcom intro. Worst of all, the ending diverges wildly from the book’s prologue, with Lews Therin simply walking offscreen with a knife in his hand rather than burning himself out in a massive burst of the One Power and creating the Dragonmount (though this change is perhaps understandable, given the production’s apparent budget). Moreover, the production appears to have been accomplished in an extremely short amount of time, with visual effects straight out of the 1990s and costumes that look like they came off the rack at a thrift store. Light.forgive me," he says in an emotion-free monotone), and Billy Zane (yes, that Billy Zane) as Ishamael acts less like the godhood-obsessed Betrayer of Hope in the books and more like Cal from Titanic. Max Ryan's delivery of his lines as Lews Therin can best be characterized as "ghastly" ("Light forgive me.
What makes for a relatively quick few pages in the book is stretched out over thirty interminable, plodding minutes onscreen, including three long commercial breaks.
Ishamael appears, cleanses Lews Therin of madness so that Lews Therin can behold the horror of what he’s done, and then boom, the prologue is over and we're into the first chapter. Archvillain Ishamael confronts arch-hero Lews Therin Telamon-known as "The Dragon"-shortly after Lews Therin’s defeat in a world-rending war between good and evil Lews Therin has been driven mad by an attack by the Dark One, Shai’tan, and that madness has led him to kill all of his relatives. At just about 30 minutes in length, it covers only the prologue of The Eye of the World, the first book in the series. Produced by Red Eagle Entertainment, the short program (titled "The Winter Dragon") wasn't exactly the grand on-screen adaptation that series fans have been asking for since the 1990s. Enlarge / Max Ryan as Lews Therin Telamon, The Dragon, wearing what I assume to be the latest Age of Legends fashion.
0 kommentar(er)
