Netflix: The Witcher

Who needs another lame Star Wars movie when you can binge on Netflix's new series, "The Witcher?" For those of you who aren't familiar with this property, the Witcher is a series of video games created by the Polish firm CD Projekt Red. There have also been several books written, which are based on the characters from that world as well.

The title character is Geralt of Rivia, a human who has been mutated into a monster hunter. Henry Cavill of Superman fame plays the lead and does an excellent job of bringing Geralt to life. There are two main female characters on the show, Yennefer and Ciri, which results in this being a show, which revolves around the 3 main characters and how they interact. The rest of the cast is solid and very diverse.

The production values are very high and I'd say they rival that of Game of Thrones. As with GoT, there is plenty of nudity and tons of bloody violence, so this definitely isn't family fair. The first episode sets the table for the show and is a bit slow, but once it gets going I promise you that you'll be hooked.

I won't discuss any of the plot here, but I will tell you that a number of reviewers have made negative comments about how the show bounces along the timeline of the story so be warned, you'll need your thinking caps on for this one.

Never played the games or read the books.
I must admit your GoT comparison has me deeply intrigued.

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Originally Posted by ncexnyc

Who needs another lame Star Wars movie when you can binge on Netflix's new series, "The Witcher?" For those of you who aren't familiar with this property, the Witcher is a series of video games created by the Polish firm CD Projekt Red. There have also been several books written, which are based on the characters from that world as well.

The title character is Geralt of Rivia, a human who has been mutated into a monster hunter. Henry Cavill of Superman fame plays the lead and does an excellent job of bringing Geralt to life. There are two main female characters on the show, Yennefer and Ciri, which results in this being a show, which revolves around the 3 main characters and how they interact. The rest of the cast is solid and very diverse.

The production values are very high and I'd say they rival that of Game of Thrones. As with GoT, there is plenty of nudity and tons of bloody violence, so this definitely isn't family fair. The first episode sets the table for the show and is a bit slow, but once it gets going I promise you that you'll be hooked.

I won't discuss any of the plot here, but I will tell you that a number of reviewers have made negative comments about how the show bounces along the timeline of the story so be warned, you'll need your thinking caps on for this one.

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I'm not familiar with the source material but it's caught my eye on Netflix. Is it just the production value and blood and nudity that rivals GoT or is the storytelling on par (excluding the final 2 seasons), too? Thanks in advance.

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Originally Posted by bundabergdevil

I'm not familiar with the source material but it's caught my eye on Netflix. Is it just the production value and blood and nudity that rivals GoT or is the storytelling on par (excluding the final 2 seasons), too? Thanks in advance.

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I thought the story telling was on a par with GoT, but honestly I'm biased having logged several hundred hours on Witcher III: Wild Hunt and the expansions.

The Netflix show is an adaption of the original series of books, which were written in the 1990s by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. CDPR bought the rights to the series to make the games, so the games are based on the books (not the other way around), although the games tell new stories that take place after the events in the books. So if you played the games, the Netflix series serves as a sort of prequel.

I am only a few episodes in, and I can understand the criticism regarding the narrative structure, as things are being shown out of order (taking parts from the first two books and also sprinkling in some backstory for one of the characters that happened well before the events of the books), without always doing a good job of signposting the fact that the story is not linear.

Watched the first two episodes and thought it was ok not great. It's a little too fantasy/sci fi for my taste buds but to each his own.

Enjoyable a few episodes in.

The time switches are not obvious for me (except in at least one obvious instance) and so I guess there are nuances which I am missing/not following.

Enjoyed it.

I am sure most of the nuances from the books and videogames are completely lost on me.

After reading an article this week that suggests Netflix own research indicates that the first 2 seasons of a show drive subscriber growth, and cancellation after that doesn’t impact subscriber growth or retention, I suspect this will last the two seasons and no more.

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Originally Posted by fuse

After reading an article this week that suggests Netflix own research indicates that the first 2 seasons of a show drive subscriber growth, and cancellation after that doesn’t impact subscriber growth or retention, I suspect this will last the two seasons and no more.

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Maybe. However, the first two books are basically just collections of short stories that introduce the main characters, concepts and setting but are mostly discrete mini-adventures rather than a single cohesive story (although a few of the stories have some common narrative threads connecting them). Season 1 covered several of those short stories and ended pretty much where the second book ended. The series proper really consists of books 3-7 (which were written as a series of novels telling an overarching story rather than the short story collections of books 1 and 2), and the show is now set up to take on that story starting in Season 2. The difference in source material means the constant time jumps will not be needed going forward like they were in Season 1, and it SHOULD be a much smoother ride in that sense.

I guess what I am saying is that, based solely on the source material, starting with Season 2 the show should be more focused, linear and subdued than Season 1, and I would expect Season 2 to get better reviews than Season 1. So if they do it right then it should be well positioned to get picked up for a longer run.

Just started watching and already finished it in 2 days. I understand that the time jumps are confusing but they start clearing up halfway through. I also think deciphering the time line during season 1 adds to the show rather than take it away. Now knowing the timeline I wanna full rewatch this weekend, excellent show.

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Originally Posted by JNort

Just started watching and already finished it in 2 days. I understand that the time jumps are confusing but they start clearing up halfway through. I also think deciphering the time line during season 1 adds to the show rather than take it away. Now knowing the timeline I wanna full rewatch this weekend, excellent show.

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I've already done my rewatch and it definitely helps, especially if you do it in private without any distractions. I found the first time through, I was focusing more on the action scenes and how the show related to the games thing paying attention to the plot.

The good news is we've already got a green light for season 2.