Could the showrunners have made a more generic looking show? Netflix and the executive producers behind The Witcher continue to debase the amazing source material with yet another bad, half-assed project with the imminent release of The Witcher: Blood Origin.
Netflix does realize that nearly every single great, long-living franchise in existence today actually had completed, beloved anchor material finished and completed before releasing its numerous spinoffs and sequels.
You didn’t see George Lucas release the Prequel trilogy before Return of the Jedi came out, or J.R.R. Tolkien release the Lord of the Rings novels before he wrote The Hobbit, and finally HBO and George R.R. Martin creating House of the Dragon prior to Game of Thrones concluding.
And for good reason. Not only did these respected franchises have to establish a well-thought story with critical and audience acclaim, but they also needed to build repertoire with said audiences and critics to even have the opportunity for sequels and prequels. If they didn’t, then they would have ended up like The Witcher and this stupid prequel series will turn out as: a water down, generic, copycat borefest.
I’m saying it now, this show is going to suck! MASSIVELY!
Like I said, The Witcher: Blood Origin has absolutely no standing to even exists as a show given how lukewarm its flagship show’s reviews have been. The Witcher franchise executives should be worrying about how to fix the main show, let alone establish an ‘origin’ story to The Witcher universe that has absolutely no reference to any of the primary characters.
Yes, a television franchise that has barely grown its own wings to fly in the entertainment world is already showcasing a prequel series without its main stars, Geralt of Rivia, Ciri, Yennefer of Vengerberg, its secondary characters, Emperor Emhyr var Emreis, Triss Merigold, Vesemir, Tissaia de Vries, Fringilla Vigo, Francesca Findabair, etc., or even the same world space, ex: Kaer Morhen, Cintra, Nilfgaard.
There’s no anchor to latch onto for newcomers or casual fans, or hardcore fans of The Witcher as this prequel series is taking place 1,200 years BEFORE The Witcher events with a cast of characters that have been long dead when Geralt was wetting his bed as a toddler.
Just…why? Who asked for this stupid, copycat prequel series?
Netflix should have spent the money this series cost to produce on Henry Cavil’s contract to bribe him into staying as Geralt of Rivia. I mean, it would have been a better use of the millions of dollars this abomination of a show cost.
So, you’re probably wondering why I’m so harsh on this show? It hasn’t even come out yet and I should give it a chance, right? Well, I would have given this abomination a chance if it didn’t blatantly reveal that it is nothing more than a copycat interpretation of the most famous fantasy/sci-fi works of all time in its reveal trailer.
This latest trailer for The Witcher: Blood Origin (the show can’t even have its own name without The Witcher needing to be attached to it) already showed that it stole the 7-man fellowship from Lord of the Rings with its seven-man team of ‘destined heroes’ and Star Wars’ ‘Evil Empire’, with the show even imitating Emperor Palpatine himself with a bad-looking Lenny Henry character.
(Netflix-The Witcher: Blood Origin-Official Trailer)
Lenny Henry has really picked the worst series to be a part of lately, hasn’t he?
Plus, the show even copied the very video games the writers of The Witcher infamously despised by bringing in Dandelion to serve as some sort of narrator. Don’t ask me how or why this is happening.
Anyway, back to the show, I get that the writers were inspired by these excellent works. In fact, I’m glad they were as it a necessary process of developing and coming up with one’s own creations by looking to others for inspiration and ideas.
Nothing great or of any consequence, such as the Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, Star Trek, The Witcher novel and game series, Stranger Things, Marvel, DC, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, etc. would have been created if the writers of said projects didn’t look to past works for inspiration.
But I draw the line when inspiration turns into blatant copying to the point of the plot and character archetypes looking exactly like ones we’ve seen from better material. Did the writers really think no one would pick up on the Star Wars, Witcher 3, and LOTR rip-offs?
Plus, this show just looks really, really, really bad.
When I said that Netflix should have paid Henry Cavil the money spent on this series to stay, that actually might not have been that much as this trailer showcased some of the cheesiest and goofy special effects, camera angles, and set designs I’ve seen from a major Hollywood studio/streaming service.
If the final product of this show looks anything close to this trailer, then they’d actually make Amazon’s Wheel of Time look like a well-made show. The set designs looked like what you’d see from bad fanmade movies, the special effects looked like they came from the late 90’s, and the camera angles were what I would have expected to see from a college student.
(Netflix-The Witcher: Blood Origin-Official Trailer)
If you don’t believe me, then just watch the trailer. You’ll see for yourself how bad of a light it casts on this show. And trailers are almost always better than the actual product.
I’m tempted to just give it a 2.0/10 right now and call it a day, but I’ll give this series one chance to impress me. If the 4-part series premiere is as horrific as I’m expecting, then the 2.0 is my official score and I’m not watching a minute more.
I don’t pay a Netflix monthly subscription to be tortured by bad fanfiction-esque shows.
Man, Netflix’s The Witcher franchise is burning to the ground fast, isn’t it?
Images Source: Featured Image: (Netflix) (The Witcher: Blood Origin | Official Trailer | Netflix – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Netflix) (The Witcher: Blood Origin | Official Trailer | Netflix – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Netflix) (The Witcher: Blood Origin | Official Trailer | Netflix – YouTube)
