Netflix's Worst Adaptation? The Witcher: an Autopsy

God this video sucked

Nah, Witcher 3 is garbage. Boring quests, terrible gameplay, and characters I don't give a fraction of a dookie about.

My first exposure to the Witcher was actually through the show. I enjoyed the first season, but the second turned me away from it, and I refused to watch the third. I recently played the game and love it

Its not a character flaw that he sleeps with renfri, just common sense. Did you see her?!

I just can't shut up about it - I hate the current standard in modern media to overexplain everything. Some things are better left in the dark, good writing doesn't mind a few mysteries here and there, and MANY stories thrive on well-placed unexplained things just to wonder about them.
We did not need to see Yen suffer first hand, as all that mattered was how she was both hardened by her class & surroundings in the book, but still having her softer side and THAT softer side was what made her special. Her being bitter and egotistical was THE norm, and circumstances that shaped her like that were less relevant (albeit hinted at to push readers in the right direction). Her overcoming that bitterness, bonding with Ciri and than becoming a mother figure to her while also staying true to her nature is what makes her character great.

I also really wish to see more soft magic systems. Witcher series didn't need an explanation for the cost of magic - a soft hint + Chekhov's gun we had in the books was JUST enough. Overexplaining it first makes it a) fall apart b) shifts our focus away from what was supposed to be the meat of the story - our protagonists' HUMAN stories.

love this!

Jaskier doesn't age. This is because he Moisturizes ✨️

I stopped watching for a few different reasons, namely cause of how season 2 started to differ so much from the books and how I realised I was just using the series as white noise while I did something else because what was happening was either uninteresting or I knew it would be spelled out for me to catch up later

I can kind of see the Yennefer transformation as being mirrors rather than parallels. One is a monster becoming human and the other is a human becoming a "monster," that is to say someone that is more magical than mortal. But, I have a feeling they meant your interpretation more than mine.

i’m partial to tissaia as a lesbian who loves milfs but the way they characterized her in the first season was just plain evil and to see them try and switch it up later with little to no build up was…strange

If you've tortured yourself this much, I NEED to see you break down Blood Origin lmfao

Season 1 had major flaws but it was a fun and faithful(ish) adaptation that had me genuinely excited for season 2.
Season 2 was such a nightmare. I will never understand why the writers chose to completely rewrite Blood of Elves in a way that made it significantly worse in every way.

Recently Done watching the Series. Yeah, I understand the critics, but come on, at least season 1 and half of season 2 it is way more entertaining than GoT and the Rings of Power. Then it drops off and becomes a mid 1980's soap opera with swords, just like GoT. It is also funny how such a badly aged book like Moorcook's Elric has been the inspiration of so many antiheroes (Dritzz, Gerald, etc).

I know it's pretty minor compared to everything else this series eventually fucked up but their treatment of Jaskier (thanks to them for at least keeping the name. Dandelion is NOT a correct translation) is still upsetting to me.
Ngl, when I first saw Joey Batey in the role I was a bit skeptical because his whole vibe seemed different to the book version, way more muted. Batey ended up being one of the highlights of this production for me, he's pretty much an actual bard. But most thing about the character ... horrendous. He's not supposed to be a Donkey to Geralt's Shrek, an "annoying hanger on". Geralt teases and roll his eyes at his antics but actually values his friendship a lot and doesn't try to hide it behind grunts. He certainly doesn't punch Jaskier for talking shit, wtf. WHO thought it was a good idea to first make him cartoonishly annoying and then "add depth" by making him desperate and unwanted?
Batey and Chalotra do the best they can with the material but, oh man, their storylines can't be salvaged.

Boeing a mother is Yennefer on book motivation. She is unable becouse most of sorceresess lose furtilyty as a concecuense of using magic.

I think there's a simple explanation. STOP GIVING ADAPTATIONS TO PEOPLE WHO DISLIKE THE SOURCE MATERIAL

You have brilliantly articulated how I feel about this show! Great video!

Cavill did such a good job as Gerald and fought for the show to be pulled in the right direction.

The show runners were having none of it, hence why he stepped down.
Such a shame.

I loved the fact that the two timelines weren't explained in season one. It was definitely confusing, but the slow realisation was a great experience and probably my most positive memory of the show. I was watching it with friends and we'd been picking up on discrepancies but couldn't explain them, until suddenly it fell in place. If they'd explained the concept from the start then I wouldn't have had that fun moment of discovery.

I watched all 3 seasons of this show and I couldn't tell you what the story has been for the life of me. I just know that I kinda liked season 1, thought season 2 was kinda meh and found season 3 to be utterly shite.

My problem with Calante in the show is that it is the stereotypical women that has to act like a men for them to respect her, when in the book she is respected just for who she is, she is very elegant and very well spoken and smart, in the book she doesn't need to enter the room in armor for her to comand respect, she was the one that made the party for Paveta, she planned the timing of the bells for everyone to see Dunny's transformation but at the end she decides to upheald her husbands promise an later Dunnys promise to Geralt regarding Ciri. her future husband talks to her with love and reverence, not like in the show that they introduced them making sexual jokes in front of they're granddaughter 🤦

Man Season 1 was so promising :(

Apart from Cavill, who is literally the wild hunt Geralt, and Ciri, they cast everyone else just entirely wrong.

I have no idea about the books or the game, for me Season 2 was the most entertaining, 1 was meh, 3 was very irritating.

i remember thinking season 1 was alright, then i watched episode 1 of season 2, though it was fantastic, and then the rest of the season was so horribly trash. I didnt even really know that it wasnt accurate to the books, it was just so obviously garbage

That spoiler though lol, I always just assumed he made it out alive after not bothering to buy the final book's English edition after it came out.

That first cut to forty years later in Witcher season 1 was so rough I rewound it twice the first time because I thought I missed something

I’ll never forgive the butchery of this show. It could’ve been perfect.

Worst part about all of this though? Those dope ass newer covers for the paperbacks that have "Now a Netlix Series" like printed on them.

I was honestly hoping the Netflix series was going to do the “monster of the week” episodes more.. like Supernatural did a lot at first before I got into the uhhh bigger stuff.

They had a passionate lead, an overall decent cast, a Netflix budget and everything from the beginning and end of the story laid out for them.

It's not a perfect parallel, but I'm reminded of the Halo TV series adaptation. You have a writing team that seems to hold the beloved source material in contempt and just wants to make up their own universe while wearing the skin of something currently successful. The meterial, the cast and the fans deserved better.

This show made me finally admit that I don’t think Henry cavill is a good actor

I think the series seriously lacked nuance, it just all was flat. (I’ve watched 1st and 2nd season)

For all the shit Sapkowski gets for his writing, the women were so much more complicated, with so much personality. Milva, Renfri, Calanthe, Tissaia were the stars.
Same with men, of which Cahir was done especially dirty.

The adaptation was a big thing in Poland and idk if its just culture difference or overall mediocrity of the series, but it was a disappointment.
There are so many things you can blame the Netflix series for but the main one, it was tone-deaf.

In the pilot, people who attack Geralt are Renfri's gang.

That last battle was soooo cool. If you don’t think about how shit this show is overall, that’s a great episode. The battle was incredibly shot and it was a very exciting episode to watch.

The thing is, Netflix writers are all egotists who think they can always do it "better" and they end up fucking it all up cos they have no idea what they're working with.

Same thing happened with the halo series, the lead writer thought he was "above" the storytelling of the games and figured he could "re-imagine" it and make it how he wanted it to be instead of what it was, and he completely shat the bed and fucked it all up.

All streaming and movie studios need to stop hiring these out of touch egotists amwho think they're inherently better than the original story writers.

Eskel dying was my last straw I really tried to watch just because i like Henry Cavil but they deviated so much from the og material

“We can make it better” should be the giant red flag for fans of any piece of media that’s about to get a remake or adaptation.

It was honestly shocking how much they screwed up the Witcher IP on Netflix. From the characterisations to the abysmal casting of almost everyone and the stories in general I have no idea how Netflix is that incompetent

Nah. Resident Evil is the worst Netflix adaption. But the Witcher is seriously close. If you have any love for your IP don't hand it to Netflix.

I was introduced to The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt by my CHOIR TEACHER 😂 He was such an interesting dude that had so many life experiences. We used to suggest songs for the choir class to listen to, and he always always always played “Oats in the Water by Ben Howard” at the beginning of the year. He told us that he had gotten to work on a team that chose that song for the trailer of a video game: which was The Witcher. He told me not to go and look it up because it “wasn’t appropriate” for a young a high schooler haha but that definitely didn’t stop me. 😂

Why did it go wrong?
1. It went woke.
2. It went woke.
3 It went woke.

the netflix adaptation spits on the series' fans in every way possible.

It’s so suspicious to me that the most book accurate season got critic 68% and the absolute dogwater atrocity to the books of s2 got 95%

It's hard to believe Geralt is ca comically ugly when women have to ask HIM for consent

The casting is a mess and the wigs get progressively worse. I liked the actress for Yennefer, I think that was a good choice, but also I feel like a more mature looking actress would have done the character better justice. Yennefer is forever stuck in her mid twenties, yes, but I didn't really feel like she had that 200 years old maturity in the show, which you get the sense of in the books and games. Apart from her being Not A Good person of course. Yennefer would also never ever hurt Ciri, which she sets out to do for some reason in season 1 of the show. Just a mess.

I really wanted to like this show so badly since fantasy is my favorite genre, but I gave up 3/4 of the way into Season 2. My wife(who also loves the fantasy genre) didn’t care to continue it beyond there either.
Really too bad since I loved Witcher 3 and its expansions

I won't front. I was introduced to The Witcher from AO3...