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I really disliked it, they rushed through what is arguably the best part of the three books and left a terrible mess of the story. If it was a two episode mini series then i could sort of understand it, why rush through everything when you have 12 episodes to fill? Making Quentin some sort of special saviour goes against everything the story is about, and the scene at the start of the episode was really dumb. The one thing i did like was the "monster" at the end, i am not sure why they chose moths instead of a leaf, and the eyes were silly. But they perfectly nailed the feeling of an entity that is so much more powerful than anything else in the room, and the magic gestures were amazing. I will check out the second episode, but i can't imagine it will be any better.
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Dec 17, 2015 12:10
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They are really rushing the plot so parts of the story don't quite make sense.Tiggum posted:And there's the whole Narnia thing, which I assume is meant to be obviously Narnia by a different name, except that in this world it's some obscure series no one cares about. Does that mean something? It just seems weird and dumb. It is this worlds version of Narnia, it is a bit more popular and has some more debt to it. It is an important part of the series that will be revealed as time goes on.
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Dec 17, 2015 15:44
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Grimwall posted:Hey, I loved the books. Hard to get over that protectionist instinct on seeing your beloved story adapted on a different medium, but please get over it. The author did! Stories change, evolve all the time. That is not true at all, there is nothing about the medium of tv that says you need to rush stories, you can adapt a book while stile respecting the story. The problem is that the producers wanted to rush through the book and that meant cutting a lot of corners. None of the characters have much of a personality, we know almost nothing about Brakebills and they feel a need to shove Fillory down our throats because they can't take the time to let the story flow naturally. They could have covered the first book fully in season one, while still keeping the story intact.
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Dec 18, 2015 08:57
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What i like best about the book is that only the best of the best get to go to Brakebills, and even then magic is super hard to learn and some people just can't handle the pressure.
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Dec 18, 2015 16:46
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I really hated the first episode because of pacing issues and stupid story changes, this one was a little better but i think it is pretty clear that The Magicians is never going to be a good show. The book is often described as the anti-Harry Potter story, in the book we are shown that only the best of the best even have a chance to go Breakbills, and when they are there learning magic is super difficult. The show has done nothing to tell us this, in fact it makes Harry Potter with its wands and magic words seem complicated. All that is interesting and unique has been sucked dry and what we are seeing on screen is a dull lifeless version made for the average viewer with little attention span. The only thing i did like about the first episode was the Beast, but it has already been neutered now. Good job show!
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Jan 26, 2016 15:01
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At its heart The Magicians is a pretty depressing book and a big part of that is finding out that magic is not just waving a wand and saying a few words, but a tough and gruelling process. So far the series just seems like a generic low budget fantasy show with pretty people, all the flavour is gone.
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Jan 27, 2016 08:30
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gohmak posted:Pretty good? The Expanse is shaping up to being one of the greatest scifi shows ever. I think it is decent so far, but it is only barely interesting enough for me to keep watching, but it is certainly good to have a solid science fiction show on tv.
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Jan 27, 2016 14:04
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The bits with Charlie were pretty decent, it is the first time that the show has shown glimpses of what makes the book good. Too bad that the rest of it is so bland, nothing feels special or important, it is just pretty people going to school.
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Feb 2, 2016 11:49
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Have we seen Quentin do actual magic? He has done slight card tricks and the such, but i mean actual finger twisting magic.
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Feb 4, 2016 20:26
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muscles like this? posted:Renewed for a 13 episode second season so yeah. Syfy is pretty happy with how it's been going so far. I can't imagine that it costs much to make.
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Feb 9, 2016 07:29
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So they rush through the best parts of the book because they don't think the viewers are able to handle a slower pace story (despite all evidence to the contrary), but then decide to devote a whole episode to a super generic plot that they just made up themselves. I really don't get why you would make a tv show based on a book when you clearly don't care about anything that is in it.
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Feb 9, 2016 12:06
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It makes sense that you can't adapt the book word for word, you need to make some changes. But we have a ton of examples of tv shows that aren't afraid of going at a slower pace in order to tell a good story. If it is a matter of the show not having a big enough budget, then they are going to have a big problem later on when they get to Fillory.
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Feb 11, 2016 10:54
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I do like that they are starting to use more magic, the system of bending your fingers at crazy angles is one of the cooler concepts of the books.
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Feb 13, 2016 20:18
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It is probably for the best, Josh is too good for this sad imitation of a show. For a moment I thought they were actually going to show a Welters game, but boring brain cancer story was clearly more important (and much cheaper).
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Feb 17, 2016 06:56
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WarLocke posted:The big black hole spell wasn't in the books. Not quite, but close to it. There is an ongoing thing about Josh's power level varying wildly, and at one point the gang is practising Welters and he accidentally conjurers this dark globe that sucks in all light and it really freaks everyone out. The tv writers decided to ruin it by giving the scene to Quentin and have it be an actual black hole.
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Feb 17, 2016 19:09
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Tiggum posted:Still not clear on what is the actual difference between real magicians and hedge witches. It is a difference between self taugh and school trained.. In order to even be considered for Breakbills you have to be best of the best, they teach you magic under relatively safe conditions and you have access to teachers and knowledge. Hedge witches teach themselves magic they don't have anywhere near the same amount of resources as the students at Breakbills.
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Feb 18, 2016 19:31
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I would be curious whether the producers of the show looked at street dance when coming up with the magic hand movements on the show, they remind me quite a lot of tutting.prak posted:About The Magicians books; are they actually any good or do they just do some decent world building with a pretty terrible actual plot? The comments here are giving me the impression it is the latter but I might just be mixing it up with the ones about the show. The first book is very flawed, it has some really interesting ideas and world building, but you pretty much hate all the characters (apart from Josh who is not in the show). It is called the Anti-Harry Potter for many reasons, but mainly because it is pretty depressing. It is a book you either love or hate. I don't like the other two books anywhere near as much, since they for the most part take place in Fillory, which is a boring place (apart from Julia's story).
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Feb 23, 2016 12:23
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Besides all my complaining about it being so different from the books, i still think it is bad on its own terms. Quentin doesn't really do anything, things just happen to him while he stands around looking like a sad puppy, and it annoys me that he is attending magic school but never does any magic. They set him up to be this important figure in the first episode, but then spend the rest of the series having him mope around. There is no sense of urgency or importance to anything that happens, it feels like an average college drama just with a little magic added.
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Feb 24, 2016 07:40
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I think it is very flawed even when ignoring the books, but it is hard for me to judge.
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Feb 26, 2016 22:51
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To be fair, anyone that gets admitted to Breakbills is already super smart, so it makes sense that Quentin (and everyone else) comes in thinking that they are hot stuff and better than everyone else.
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Feb 27, 2016 08:57
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So if i remember the book correctly they completely skipped the final test where they have to reach a certain part of Antarctica using only magic, unless it comes later. It means they skipped one of the best scenes in the book. What is even the point of going to Antarctica, just to have the characters stand there awkwardly and talk about how weird it was to be transformed into birds? It was such a horrible scene. If you don't have the budget or the will to adapt the novel why even try? What is gained by half assing it? Also the actors who play Quentin and Alice really have no chemistry together.
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Mar 1, 2016 11:52
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If it was a budget issue then they could at least have spent the entire episode there, and dropped the pointless Elliot and Julia storylines Quentin, Alice and Penny are the main characters, so why not use the Antarctica set to full effect and further the story with them?
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Mar 2, 2016 10:09
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The dead rabbit looked hilariously bad, and choking someone so hard that their neck explodes is also pretty hard to take seriously. The fight at the end was a little neat, but overall nothing really happened in this episode. They seem to be planning to stretch Julia's story to two seasons based on how slow it is going.
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Mar 9, 2016 05:24
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They seriously need to do something with Julia, either move her story forward or kill her, what is the point of her being in every episode when her story doesn't progress? She has been in a holding pattern for 3-4 episodes now. That being said this was actually a pretty decent episode, the show really works best when they just follow the book, instead of taking short cuts or making up meaningless plots. For example in the Narnia books the kids are invited to this amazing land, and then Aslan decides that they can't come there any more, when they get too old. The Magicians runs with that and shows Martin being frustrated and hurt that he has been shut out of Fillory, and it is his desire to get back there that turns him into the Beast, there is a good solid story there, it doesn't need ghosts or torture dungeons, just tell it like it is.
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Mar 16, 2016 18:02
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Tiggum posted:He story has moved forward. It's the Brakebills stuff that's still at the same place it was by the end of episode one. Well, except for Penny disappearing at the end of the last episode, that might go somewhere. Or he might just reappear next episode and they'll do nothing again. I have many problems with all the changes they have made to the story, but the Breakbills story is essentially following the first book, and it will come close to to being finished this season. Julia's story is half a books worth of material and they are trying to stretch it over two seasons, which is why she just hangs around not really doing anything, there really was no reason why she should have been a part of this season, other than the first episode.
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Mar 17, 2016 05:53
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The show has definitely improved in the last few episodes. I find that the closer it sticks to the books the better it is, apart from Penny I can't think of any change that hasn't made the show worse than the books. Julia's story has especially been bad and has just skipped everything that made it interesting. It is too bad that they are nearing the end of the first book, I don't think the two others are really on the same level. I am also afraid of what they are going to do with Fillory, the show seems to be running on a shoestring budget, not exactly ideal for where the story is going.
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Mar 30, 2016 04:45
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coyo7e posted:Naw, you're really not supposed to like anybody in the books. Apart from Josh, he is the best.
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Mar 30, 2016 08:18
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I really hope they saved up some money for the last episode, because Fillory looked pretty darn bad.
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Apr 6, 2016 16:32
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This was definitely the best part of an overall bad season, though it did significantly improve over time. The joke about not having the budget to do the castle was funny, but i still don't get the point in trying to adapt a book that you know you will have to half-rear end because of budget issues. Penny was an improvement over the book, but other than that i can't think of a single change that didn't make the show worse. The one good thing i can say is that the have adapted pretty much all of the best material from the books, so now they have an actual chance of telling a good story for season two, where the book won't automatically be much better.
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Apr 12, 2016 12:29
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