What Does The Rings of Power Mean for The Wheel of Time?
The Rings of Power recently completed its first season on Amazon Prime, adding to the barrage of streaming platforms adapting fantasy books into tv shows, and it’s actually really good, too good perhaps. Not for its own well-being, or the genre as a whole, or the potential of other fantasy books being adapted (although, possibly), but rather for what could be called its neighboring show on Prime: The Wheel of Time. I don’t know if I’m alone in this assessment, but I think the overall quality of The Rings of Power means bad news for The Wheel of Time.
But first, addressing one of many elephants in the room, The Rings of Power has taken the crown as the most expensive television show ever made, with an average cost of $58 million per episode. But The Wheel of Time's $10 million per episode budget is nothing scoff at and is still on high end for modern television (for comparison, the final season of Game of Thrones averaged $15 million per episode).
I mentioned it in my 2021 recap, that The Wheel of Time was perhaps the most disappointing show of the year. Even without The Rings of Power providing in-house competition, the writing and production quality of The Wheel of Time need to skyrocket for the show to have any kind of future, let alone last long enough to tell the whole story. And when it comes to their respective stories, in regard to the source material, while the annoying purists out there will stay blinded by the reputation of The Lord of the Rings, as an objective non-fan of either, The Wheel of Time is better. Slower... like... A LOT slower, but better.
The Rings of Power
Now, The Rings of Power does have a slight advantage, being that it is not restricted by any of the books. If anything, maybe The Silmarillion. But more so, it just needs to ensure that it stays in line with established lore. Yet, counter to everything I've said, most of the reviews I've seen online are actually negative, saying The Rings of Power is "underwhelming" and "unfaithful". To me, this is a simple result of fans not knowing what they want, combined with bias purism. People holding the novels and original films on such a high pedestal, they refuse to consider the fact that something new might actually live up them, or even surpass them. In my opinion, The Rings of Power is a visual spectacle that is more than enjoyable for any audience.
The Wheel of Time
Getting back to The Wheel of Time, a prime example of its short comings can be seen in the very first episode. The village raid scene is an absolute travesty of editing, choreography, and pacing. Reliant to an absurd degree on shaky cam, this sequence is nearly incomprehensible. The camera rarely gives you a shot of actual substance, and instead has multiple instances of literally just giving you a shot of the ground. Shaky cam has only been good once, and when it’s bad, it’s horrendous.
But this is just one of many examples of the show not being visually up to par with expectations. For a series known for its world building, there seems to be a lack of effort to showcase that world. For a series known for its detail (specifically in its magic and foreshadowing), there seems to be a complete lack of... well, detail. The overall show as a whole is bland and lacks any nuance or a distinct vibe. Unless the showrunners decide to do the Hollywood equivalent of a rebuild to meet fan expectations, then The Wheel of Time is doomed to be relegated to a mere stopgap. A show to simply scratch the fantasy itch until The Rings of Power returns, or the other elephant in the room: Game of Thrones.
