This is an utterly horrendous attempt at a crap studio to keep film rights they never should have had. Every aspect of this spits on the work it is supposedly derived from.

"Winter Dragon" is an American 22-minute live action short film from 2015 and there is a chance these novel-based stories may get an own series at some point in the near future. 2 years ago, it did not work out and you can see that this one here got some really harsh criticisms. The director is James Seda and the most known cast member is probably Billy Zane. As this is a little fantasy film and that is really not my favorite genre and also because of the low rating, my expectations here weren't too high. And it was pretty much what I expected: a bit pretentious at times and also takes itself more seriously than it should. But then again so does Game of Thrones and you could see that the makers here were heading into that direction making it an interesting watch for GoT audiences. I can't say if they succeeded, probably rather the opposite. In any case, I personally thought this was not a good watch, but also not a failure as some may say it was in terms of acting, story and the project as a whole. I must say that my review comes from the perspective of somebody who has not only not read the books, but doesn't even know them. A thumbs-down and I'd probably not watch it as a serious if the quality is the same as in this potential pilot episode. Watch something else instead.

Understanding the circumstances of this Short, created in a tight deadline to retain the rights to the story, is key to appreciating its value. It is a stylistic portrayal of the series prologue and fully stands alone as a short. The remaining 13,000 pages aren't needed to explain this short, and the characters and actors in this short aren't needed to create a TV series which would likely skip the prologue completely. I thought the directing and writing was a very good adaptation and really captured the spirit of the prologue. I found it entertaining. If you're expecting a 'Game of Thrones' type of pilot, don't watch.

Why. Why would you deliberately sabotage an entire series with this travesty. Wheel of Time has the potential to be an outstanding television series, with engaging plots and strong characters- male, female, people of color- it has it all and you did this. We know you did it in order to hold on the film and TV rights, however you just shot yourself in the foot, because if this is what you have to show people interested in making a show, you have no idea how badly you have screwed up. It was nice (and incredibly lazy) of you to incorporate so much of the book's original dialog, but that won't save the kindergarten level acting and complete disregard for basic plot elements- like, I dunno- never naming the Dark One? Ever? It's a thing? You did actually read more than the prologue, yes?