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Witcher (TV Series; Netflix)

David Plankton said:
Earlier this year the Teesdale Mercury* in Barnard Castle, County Durham ran a story about High Force and Low Force waterfalls being closed to the public.
This wasn't to do with lockdown, security guards had been deployed and one keen-eyed reporter spotted a camera crew. Rumours about Henry Cavill being seen out and about in the Durham Dales and the Lake District were confirmed.
One security guard admitted it was a Netflix production, after a thorough grilling by one of the Mercury's finest.

Sky filmed a few scenes from the last series of Britannia at High Force.

* their website is very basic and not worth searching. I saw this story in actual print!
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Oh, exciting. That's my neck of the woods!

Found the scene at Low Force on YouTube. Looks like Ciri's eye test didn't go so well.

 
SleepyPanda said:
Oh, exciting. That's my neck of the woods!

Found the scene at Low Force on YouTube. Looks like Ciri's eye test didn't go so well.

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I was born up there. A Witcher wouldn’t last 10 minutes.
That test that girl was going through, that was like our local playground except the ground wasn’t covered in broken glass. Multiply that by about 2 miles, on ice, in a blizzard, then do a full day at school with a cross country P.E. Lesson through a farm full of cow shite and then back home… uphill through freezing cold all the way….

These fantasy superheroes don’t know how lucky they are.
 
Analogue Boy said:
I was born up there. A Witcher wouldn’t last 10 minutes.
That test that girl was going through, that was like our local playground except the ground wasn’t covered in broken glass. Multiply that by about 2 miles, on ice, in a blizzard, then do a full day at school with a cross country P.E. Lesson through a farm full of cow shite and then back home… uphill through freezing cold all the way….

These fantasy superheroes don’t know how lucky they are.
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I grew up a little further down the dale. Plenty of ogres in the taverns of Middleton spoiling for a fight on a Friday night.
 
Just watched episode 7.
Extremely brutal and some surprising plot developments, with a couple of characters showing their true colours (bit like that Daenerys finale in Game of Thrones).
Thought I recognised some of the scenery too. Checked the filming locations and see that Frensham woods and both ponds were used. That's just the other side of Farnham, 6 or 7 miles from where I live. Some scenes in series 1 were filmed in Hawley Woods, literally just down the road from me.
 
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I loved S2. More monsters, battles, intrigue, Ciri coming into her own as a Warrior Princess. What's not to like.
 
ramonmercado said:
I loved S2. More monsters, battles, intrigue, Ciri coming into her own as a Warrior Princess. What's not to like.
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Yes S2 pulled things together nicely. I even went back and re-watched S1 afterwards in case I missed anything subtle. I remembered finding that guy who writes and sings songs to be annoying so, I tended to tune out when he was on screen. lol

What's not to like you ask? It wasn't long enough. :chuckle:
 
Henry Cavill has quit the Witcher series for unspecified reasons, according to the Independent.
Looks like Aussie actor Liam Hemsworth is in the frame to replace him.
 
The Witcher: Blood Origin: Set 1,200 years before the events The Witcher we learn how the plames of existence collided and humans and monsters came to the world of the Elves and Dwarfs. A treacherous Mage (Lenny Henry), an unhinged princess (Mirren Mack) who through a palace coup becomes Empress. A band of elves and a dwarf who set out on a quest to avenge their slain clans, led by warriors Laurence O'Fuarain and Sophia Brown who previously served rival kings. They gradually build up their group with the help of Michelle Yeoh who had been Brown's sword teacher. Conspiracies abound and old scores are settled. O'Fuarain and Brown first meet up on Inis Dubh, which bears some resemblance to Inisherin, I almost expected Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell to appear and join in the fighting, singing and music making. A lot of Irish, Scottish and Welsh place names and accents. Some great tunes and songs. Great sword, ax and hammer play. Minnie Diver plays the Seanchai who reveals this tale to Jaskier (Joey Batey) in sequences which bookend the series, I liked it more than most viewers and critics, seemingly it's not faithful to the Canon of the books. (Some think the Elves are not Elven enough,) Foul language and a line of dark humour infuse this violent and gory tale. Also some possibly scientific machines which are indistinguishable from magic. Created by Declan de Barra and Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, Directed by Sarah O'Gorman and Vicky Jewson, Screenplay by Declan de Barra, David French, Tasha Huo and Aaron Stewart-Ahn. Four episodes on Netflix. 8/10.
 
ramonmercado said:
The Witcher: Blood Origin: Set 1,200 years before the events The Witcher we learn how the plames of existence collided and humans and monsters came to the world of the Elves and Dwarfs. A treacherous Mage (Lenny Henry), an unhinged princess (Mirren Mack) who through a palace coup becomes Empress. A band of elves and a dwarf who set out on a quest to avenge their slain clans, led by warriors Laurence O'Fuarain and Sophia Brown who previously served rival kings. They gradually build up their group with the help of Michelle Yeoh who had been Brown's sword teacher. Conspiracies abound and old scores are settled. O'Fuarain and Brown first meet up on Inis Dubh, which bears some resemblance to Inisherin, I almost expected Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell to appear and join in the fighting, singing and music making. A lot of Irish, Scottish and Welsh place names and accents. Some great tunes and songs. Great sword, ax and hammer play. Minnie Diver plays the Seanchai who reveals this tale to Jaskier (Joey Batey) in sequences which bookend the series, I liked it more than most viewers and critics, seemingly it's not faithful to the Canon of the books. (Some think the Elves are not Elven enough,) Foul language and a line of dark humour infuse this violent and gory tale. Also some possibly scientific machines which are indistinguishable from magic. Created by Declan de Barra and Lauren Schmidt Hissrich, Directed by Sarah O'Gorman and Vicky Jewson, Screenplay by Declan de Barra, David French, Tasha Huo and Aaron Stewart-Ahn. Four episodes on Netflix. 8/10.
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Lost me a bit at Lenny Henry.
Hated his hammy Leprechaun in The Rings of Power.
May give this a look though, as I was a big fan of the Witcher game.
 
OK, true confessions time. I watched the Witcher series on Netflix; but not the Blood prequel. I have not read the books. I was completely lost from episode 4 to the end. The dialogue jumps seemed to me to indicate a condensed script based off the books I have not read. WTF. Game of Thrones was more comprehensible and had greater internal consistency.

.... and that last sentence was hard to write with a straight face, but it is true.
 
Watched episode 1 of Blood Origin last night.
Full of action from the start - which rates it way higher than the execrable Rings of Power IMHO.
Lenny Henry, probably aware of the criticism his cringeworthy Leprechaun character received in RoP, seems to keep the hamminess mostly in check thankfully!
Not having read the Andrzej Salkowski books, I cannot comment on the authenticity of this Netflix series to the source material, but I would say that Blood Origin does feel rather like a generic swords and sorcery fable, rather than an exploration of Slavic mythology which, I gather, was Sapkowsk's intention.
Feels like it's worth sticking with. Certainly not as compelling as GoT House of the Dragon, but much more entertaining so far than The Rings of Power.
 
Watched all 4 episodes now.
Thought it lost its way a bit trying to wrap things up rather too quickly and some characters seemed to do a radical and incongruous personality switch towards the end. The conceit that it's all being told to the bard Jaskier too felt like a clumsy attempt to shoe-horn in a character from the main series.
I note some of the professional reviews are a bit mixed, with some calling it a formulaic re-run of the Seven Samurai.
I did enjoy it overall though, with battle scenes and a couple of gruesome CGI monsters being very well done.
The two songs that closed the mini-series: Two Standing Stones and Song of the Seven, were pitch perfect too.
Overall a 7.5/10 from me.
 
It was through reading one of the negative reviews of Blood Origins that I discovered the original Polish Witcher movie from 2001 is available in its entirety on YouTube:


It's supposed to be more faithful to the books and the whole Polish/Germanic (not Slavic, as I originally thought) folklore than Netflix's interpretation.
I'll give it a try tonight.
 
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blessmycottonsocks said:
It was through reading one of the negative reviews of Blood Origins that I discovered the original Polish Witcher movie from 2001 is available in its entirety on YouTube:


It's supposed to be more faithful to the books and the whole Polish/Germanic (not Slavic, as I originally thought) folklore than Netflix's interpretation.
I'll give it a try tonight.
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Definitely worth a look, if you want to immerse yourself in what feels like the genuine Witcher world for a couple of hours.
The cast seem to be all Polish, which gives it far greater authenticity than the incongruously cosmopolitan (tokenistic?) players in the Netflix versions. The sets - taverns, castles, torture chambers, temples, snowbound passes etc. all look good and add to the heady medieval atmosphere.
Most of the characters we know are in here, with Michał Żebrowski doing a decent job as a subtly nuanced Geralt. Yennifer is suitably alluring, the young Ciri is feisty and Jaskier the bard gets to punctuate the action with some jolly songs. Several of the myriad storylines I recall from the Witcher 3 game are in here - some of them though merely mentioned in passing, as a lot of dialogue serves as narration and explanation. The dwarves look pretty convincing and there are several memorable scenes - I particularly liked Geralt having to fight a duel blindfolded and, amusingly, kicking a man when he's down. The swordplay throughout is competent, if rather bloodless.
On the downside, the limited budget obviously didn't stretch to any competent CGI, so the monsters, which are sparingly used thankfully, are clearly animatronic/puppets and do look slightly iffy (especially the velociraptor lookalikes near the end). As my Polish is non-existent, I was relying on the subtitles, which are full of typos (sword becomes word etc.) and rather stilted use of English, but are just about adequate to follow the plot. For a couple of minutes near the end, both the sound and subtitles disappear, which was irritating. This seems to have been filmed before the translation of the Polish term Wiedźmin became standardised as Witcher, as Geralt is referred to as a "Hexer" in the subtitles.
Overall, If you approach it in the right spirit and accept that this has an Eastern European rather than Hollywood vibe, I'd rate it as a 8/10 for accurately recreating the Witcher world, but maybe a 4/10 for the not-so-special effects.

Geralt.png
 
I just watched Blood Origin. It really does feel like a generic fantasy story. The part I was most interested in, was really dealt with in around two minutes. "Ohh, and then this happened." I preferred Nightmare of the Wolf.
 
I only just discovered that Joey "Jaskier" Batey is in a band called The Amazing Devil. Those guys should do the soundtrack for the series, their style could work well.
 
Witcher series 3 ep.1 wasn't bad.
Nicely gory sword fight at the start, then it acquired a road movie vibe with Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri on the run.
A few old friends and enemies encountered along the way and quite an epic battle near the end.
Think I'm going to enjoy this series!
 
Witcher S3, E2 maintains the high standard with clever use of cosy one minute and creepy the next, an hilarious scene with a dominatrix, quite a profound insight into Jaskier's character, a truly hideous monster and a WTF revelation at the end.
Great stuff!
 
No-one else watching this?
It really is excellent - comparable to Game of Thrones and streets ahead of Amazon's The Rings of Power.
Along with the Machiavellian intrigue and the expected swords and sorcery stuff, there is plenty of witty and inspired dialogue.
I chuckled out loud at a servant declining the offer of a doughnut because he was wheat-intolerant, Jaskier reluctantly admitting to a bromance, someone, in response to "are you a druid", confessing "No - a werewolf" and the drunken gang in the tavern singing "The Wild Rover".
OK so, given that The Witcher is based on Polish/Slavic folklore, the multicultural cast may be a bit questionable but overall it is amongst the best TV realisations of the fantasy genre that I have seen.
And don't the sets look amazing?
Anyone else enjoying it as much as I am?
 
Watched the finale of series 3 tonight and it was truly epic!
Along with the revelations as to who have been the really powerful players in the whole tangled web, it included probably the best choreographed sword-fight I've seen since The Princess Bride.
Sadly though, it looks like Henry Cavill is bowing out and The Witcher series 4 isn't likely to hit our screens until the summer of 2025.
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
Watched the finale of series 3 tonight and it was truly epic!
Along with the revelations as to who have been the really powerful players in the whole tangled web, it included probably the best choreographed sword-fight I've seen since The Princess Bride.
Sadly though, it looks like Henry Cavill is bowing out and The Witcher series 4 isn't likely to hit our screens until the summer of 2025.
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I've watched 2 episodes io S3, really enjoying it. Already some good sword fighting.
 
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Purchased the book box set, started off very strongly, the first book of short stories was very good, but now I am well into the first full length book, gawd elp me.

Lord fluffy, sir bacon ear and lady del Monte du dunce are talking about provoking a war with the nibblers of ploppy bum, for about 30 pages.

Last night I bought the first game for £7, I hope it is better then the books have managed to be so far.
 
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