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EotW movie. What would you cut to make a 2-2:30 movie? Logain Send a noteboard - 16/12/2009 07:35:41 PM
I've seen movie discussion threads come and go for 7 years now as I've followed Wheel of Time closely. A general consensus is that to make a movie, some things would have to be cut in order to fit the movie into a 2 or 2 1/2 hour time slot. But what would you cut? Most people just remark that stuff would have to be cut, but they don't make suggestions.

I think you could combine chapters 1-4 into one scene. Basically everyone is in Emond's Field and you meet Padan Fain, Moiraine, Lan, and Thom Merrillin, the boys, Egwene, Nynaeve, etc. Introduction over.

I would combine chapters 5-10. I know a lot happens, but basically those chapters deal with the attack, Rand fleeing to Emond's Field with Tam, and the decision to flee Emond's field with Moiraine and Lan.

The next 25 chapters (11 through 35) all deal with everyone fleeing either Trollocs, darkfriends, and Shadar Logoth. Some important things happen here that have to be included to make sense later on in the series. So you've got to have Shadar Logoth obviously. You've got to have everyone getting split up, Perrin and Egwene meeting the Tinkers and getting rescued by Lan and Moiraine. You probably want to include Rand and Mat and Thom in Whitebridge (or is it Four Kings?). You probably throw a scene with Rand dreaming about Ba'alzamon. But you don't need 25 chapters or 25 different scenes to make all this happen. A lot of these chapters can be combined.

Chapters 35-43 contain some important information. What happens in Caemlyn is pretty important and I don't think you could skip any of this really. Rand has to meet Gawyn and Elayne. Rand has to meet Elaida, Morgase, and Loial. Everyone has to arrive in Caemlyn and be reunited.

I would combine chapters 44 and 45. They travel through the Ways.

I'm not sure how much of Fal Dara is really needed to tell the story. Yes, there's some neat background information, and yes we find out that Padan Fain is a darkfriend. But NOTHING important really to the plot in EotW or any other subsequent book happens. Revealing that Padan Fain is a darkfriend can just as easily be accomplished in other ways (e.g. by mention by one of the characters, or at the beginning of book two). Fal Dara could be introduced at the beginning of The Great Hunt movie and nothing would be missed. I probably would skip Fal Dara entirely and just have Moiraine, et al. exit the Ways and head straight for the blight and the Eye of the World, somewhere along the way mentioning that Moiraine believes Padan Fain is a darkfriend and that he brought the trollocs to Emond's Field. If I do it that way, I've accounted for chapters 46 and 47.

I would combine chapters 48 and 49. They travel into the blight and find the Green Man.

Basically chapters 50 to the end of the book need to be shown/told in detail. Nothing can be skipped. There's only a few chapters left anyway, so no big deal.

That's how I would do the movie. I think the parts I've left out can be left out without ruining anything major. The areas for saving the most time are chapters 11 through 35. Yes, some of it has to be included, but RJ sometimes had 4 or 5 chapters of the same thing over and over (e.g. darkfriends chasing Mat and Rand). In a movie you don't need to repeat the same thing five times. Showing Rand and Mat getting chased once is enough and then having them mention later in Caemlyn that they were chased by darkfriends the whole way accomplishes the same effect in about 20 seconds of prose.

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EotW movie. What would you cut to make a 2-2:30 movie? - 16/12/2009 07:35:41 PM 992 Views
Two things cannot be cut. At all. - 17/12/2009 12:31:06 AM 628 Views
Bela and Narg would definitely be in MY version of the movie! *NM* - 17/12/2009 12:45:41 AM 259 Views
The movie just won't make sense without Bela or Narg! *NM* - 17/12/2009 05:39:01 AM 252 Views
anything not from Rand's POV - 17/12/2009 12:39:59 AM 584 Views
Interesting - 17/12/2009 12:50:15 AM 573 Views
I'd start from scratch and tell a brand new story. - 17/12/2009 01:27:12 PM 544 Views
I like it - 17/12/2009 04:21:56 AM 611 Views
I believe a 3 hour movie is called a mini-series, now. - 17/12/2009 04:38:57 AM 522 Views
A 2 hour movie would be very short for these books - 17/12/2009 05:27:13 AM 508 Views
Re: Info dumps - 17/12/2009 02:19:51 PM 565 Views
Why 2 - 2.30? Make it 3 hrs like LoTR / HP - 17/12/2009 05:32:05 AM 499 Views
Re: Why 2 - 2.30? Make it 3 hrs like LoTR / HP - 17/12/2009 02:26:36 PM 523 Views
Personally, I would take out what was probably the LotR's biggest failing... - 17/12/2009 05:52:04 AM 618 Views
Re: all the walking - 17/12/2009 02:30:24 PM 514 Views

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