Talking about The Hexer (Wiedźmin) with Witcher Joker

[@FolkWalkCZ]

Take a shot every time I say “and stuff like that” 😅 And let me know if you’ve finished listening to this 😉 I'm curious if people will have enough patience for it 😁

[@gothgrrrl5873]

im more focused/interested in what you are telling. I feel like this series is always forgotten when people talk about the witcher. even tho i can't understand polish and the entire series isn't online with subtitles i would still love to know more about it. so thank you for this! i think you are doing a pretty good job with talking. (i am watching right now so i haven't seen all) i can tell that you are doing your best! i just wanted to say that i love your videos! And keep going, you can do this!

[@FolkWalkCZ]

@@gothgrrrl5873 Thank you 🙂

[@LordKeram]

As a fellow Czech who understands English perfectly, but rarely ever speaks it. I can feel your pain in this video. But from what I heard about language acquisition it gets better fast!

[@marcingluszek632]

You are OK. Just keep doing what you are doing and eventually you’ll get better 👍

[@QuolashMCDuck]

your english was great don't start thinking you need to hold yourself back. everything was clearly expressed and comfortable to listen to.

[@Dadgrammer]

About budget, spot and castles in Poland. In 1999 we filmed in Poland Ogniem i Mieczem (By sword and fire), multimillion dollar historical production, that had proper castles, props, sets and everything. In 2001 when they filmed Hexer, they definitely didn’t have money for this production. Even same actor Żebrowski was in main role, in both movies.

[@LeutnantJoker]

Should be redone :)

[@triumphtinltcomicdg]

"multimillion dollar historical production, that had proper castles, props, sets and everything" well, apparently they didn't have enough of these millions because compared to "The Deluge" or "Colonel Wolodyjowski" this adaptation was much, much worse..

[@Dadgrammer]

@@triumphtinltcomicdg still better than hexer, and created in different times when cost and commercial success wasn’t even a case

[@grasantziemibieckiej1799]

and over half of Hexer's budget was spent on advertisement

[@grasantziemibieckiej1799]

@@triumphtinltcomicdg it's beacause of systemic changes, in communism filmmaking was heavily founded by goverment.

[@Marmurienna]

Sorry for being late, but I wanted to listen to the entire podcast in one go and had to find some time for it. It was a pleasant and entertainging background for my daily duties and crafts this evening. I managed to fix a couple of tings in my flat and to cut out fabric for new trousers while listening to you two. Thank you for keeping me company. It was great ❤ Both you and Andreas had some really good takes on the topic. I could hear that at times you struggled to find proper words in english and were a bit stressed about it, but you always managed to get through it and I'm sure it will become easier for you over time 🙂

[@FolkWalkCZ]

Thanks for listening to the whole thing and for the kind words 🙂

[@mrp1326]

I will rewatch the series, but what a great cast it was. Especially comparing with the Netflix' "witcher". Main cast is great, but also for example: Agata Buzek as Pavetta - that is almost perfect casting. Also Nenneke, Borch, Stregobor - they are all top Polish actors or they are going to be (Rafał Mohr as Tailles!). There were a lot of other problems with the production, screenplay etc. but casting deserves a prize. And your English is fine, your friend was just sometimes "in the zone", and he should let you talk more. It feels sometimes like you are interviewing him :)

[@karolinakuc4783]

True. Even whem you just compare acting it was so much better.

[@karolinakuc4783]

Niektóre filmy operują na płaszczyźnie symbolicznej i tak jest w przypadku Gwiezdnych Wojen. Przykładowo miecz świetlny nie byłby najlepszą bronią jeśli spojrzeć realistycznie na światotwórstwo no ale miecze są bo miecz to symbol męskości. Tak się utarło w wielu kulturach np. dziedziczyć po mieczu to dziedziczyć po ojcu, według arabskiego horoskopu każdy mężczyzna jest bronią a ideałem mężczyzny jest miecz. Myślę, że do tego nawiązywał starszy Wiedźmin (odpowiednik Vesemira w książce) kiedy mówił do Geralta. Jego słowa są zaprzeczeniem japońskiej doktryny wojennej z czasów II wojny światowej, która jest podobna do tej jaką przyjmują muzułmanie

[@JoleneMarie123]

I’ve just started to listen to it and will continue on my breaks. Wanted to thank you again first for sending the link to the original polish episodes. Just finished the series and I have so many thoughts. I am so thankful for the English subtitles but I do see where a clearer translation could be made, especially with the last few episodes. But I enjoyed the actors who played Geralt and Jaskier so much, and with their performance, I felt the meaning and the depth of the scene even with the somewhat shortened translation.

[@FolkWalkCZ]

I'm glad that you've enjoyed it 🙂

[@pablopan001]

The first time I watched a hexer tv show, I was 11. This show introduced me to the witcher and for this day I love it! As a matter of fact, my topic to graduate Literature was, problems of film adaptations and I used this show for it. I still remember a lot of stuff, so feel free to drop me a message 💪

[@karolinakuc4783]

"Dwa Miecze I Amulet" is the best parody of the Witcher. G.F Darwin just has some really good movies

[@karolinakuc4783]

If Geralt in the show was as horny as in books that series would never be shown in daytime on TVP. So I think it is a good that they made him more chivalric

[@OskarJanczak]

Don't know. What about nude acresses in this series? I like this Polish sexual freedom. Sadly not so big for LGBT etc.

[@karolinakuc4783]

❤

[@miroslavmalivukovic1534]

Brate, your English is okay for somebody who doesn't speak it all the time. You can always take classes. You're still young. And many times, if you want something, well you'll find a way! All the best and please continue these videos!

[@FolkWalkCZ]

Thanks 🙂

[@JoleneMarie123]

😂 agreed on your comments on women loving Dandelion. For the most part, it is personality.

[@lubystkaolamonola529]

Sword and spade are two different things. Purpose of iron and silver swords were that some monster were more affected by iron, and others by silver. Not the one is for men and other for monsters.

[@hadeseye2297]

I love original serial (tv show). It feels just right. If you are Polish and you are reading the books, you are literally reading about many Polish vistas, fauna and flora, castles, countryside architecture, peasants lifestile and human mentality. No wonder in the games you have so many - too many - Slavic "accents" put in. Still only first game has that right vibe. Other two are good, yet they don't convey those things that are deeply rooted in Polish souls. When you look at western fantasy crpgs pretty often you are confronted with colourful world. While there are colour and tons of them in the world mentality plays key role here. That's why they used that greyish hue in the first game and textures are not as vibrant as in other two games. It's just down to earth. Guts and no glory.

[@VersusView1000]

This is gold. I enjoyed 👌👌

[@FolkWalkCZ]

Thanks 🙂

[@nmorek7004]

Had you guys seen the "Dwa Miecze i Amulet" by Grupa Filmowa Darwin? It is really good short parody of the show.

[@GM-gb1eu]

Dream comes True.

[@karolinakuc4783]

55:15 Wheras people would be willing or unwilling to let their children be raised by strangers is a cultural thing. For example a lot of Jews in times of WW2 would rather kill their children than let them be raised by strangers.

[@karolinakuc4783]

It is the first movie with a proper Asperger Syndrome representation. So yeah I love it

[@karolinakuc4783]

55:15 It could also be that Church of Ethernal Fire accuses them of pedophilia and that is why they are so against Witchers taking children

[@karolinakuc4783]

Honestly even parodies of Witcher such as Dwa Miecze I Amulet by G.F Darwin, Magnaci I Czarodzieje or even Wiedźmin Dziewki Goń by Studio (the last is an answer why peasants hate Witchers) have more climate of Witcher books than Netflix production

[@JoleneMarie123]

So I think it would be better if it were shortened into separate topics. It’s a bit long and I would have clicked first on the subject that interested me more. Although….you brought up interesting points I wouldn’t have thought about.

[@FolkWalkCZ]

Yeah, I'll do that next time 🙂

[@jota.a5571]

The first episode was my favorite. Baby Geralt is on par with baby Yoda. It's not great but it keep my attention and I finished wathching all the episodes, I couldn't do that with the Netflix witcher (stopped in the first chapters of the second season)

[@JoleneMarie123]

Enjoyed comments regarding Geralt and Dandelion friendship in Polish series. Didn’t like the Netflix portrayal….that Geralt was abusive toward Dandelion. Sad because Cavill has fantastic emotional range.

[@pablopan001]

Also, one of the reasons the audience complains about the quality of the show is the fact, the hexer was one of many productions used to fraud money in the big scandal, called Afera Rywina. This show was made cheap on purpose, so more money could "disappear" Most people don't know about it or, already forgot

[@karolinakuc4783]

That woman witcher that Geralt slept with kinda look like Luka Modrič as a woman

[@karolinakuc4783]

Nobody knows where the budget went in Polish production but in case of Netflix's The Witcher we sure know a big chunk went on drugs coz a lot of actors had overgrown pig like nostrills which is a sign of cocaine addiction

[@lubystkaolamonola529]

This TV series may seem cheesy and cringe, special effects are cheap, and on some occasions even dialog seems awkward but it still is better then Netflix version. It is more faithful to source material, even if some things are changed and twisted just for sake of media in which it was delivered. Casting is great, especially Yennefer and Geralt. Those two are great together and have proper chemistry. The music is so enchanting and delivers the whole bunch of emotion and a person is able to travel to that world through the music. Acting can really entertain, (with some exceptions) and you really enjoy it. I even appreciate those plastic monsters. It shows the creators put some effort into it. It resulted in quite realistic effect, like something that could actually live in the swamp. Locations and people reflect the population in the book, and nothing is pandering to "modern audience." So basically the Hexer matured like wine. First year it taste messy, but with age it gets better and better.

[@karolinakuc4783]

Comment for statistics

[@fantasywind3923]

The fanfictiony elements in the Hexer...come mostly from the fact that the series tried to create something, expand on the witcher lore, put more focus on their organization. Treating them a bit like an old order quasi knightly/monastic and relic of bygone era...which in the books witchers kind of are...so the aspects of the outdated and tradition and dogmatic teachings and whatnot are all part of that concept of trying to depict an organization in decline still clinging to old rules...obviously it's kind of large disrepancy...Sapkowski never fully explained the history of the witchers...though we learn a hint or two (like in the passing mention of the 'first witchers' that were roaming more than 300 years ago as Dandelion speaks of being mentioned in history book of Roderick de Novembre in the Voice of Reason story framing devices :) or the lore that was revealed in Season of Storm novel which places Alzur as the inventor of the mutation process) so we know very little if anything about the organization and how the witcher schools actually functioned :) this fanfic comes from attempt at fleshing them out obviously it clashes with the vision we know.....certainly the eastern influences kind of come with the whole idea of using Aikido as the basis for choreography of fights :)...witchers in books used pretty standard european style swords (and in the Hexer only the silver one is pretty straightforward european design, the steel one being this sort of katana-like. Then obviously Hexer uses the european inspirations....the runes and so on...the mask/helmet thing is actually kind of odd as it comes into play exactly twice in the series :)...but in general there is somethin to say about how Hexer manages to depict the tricks of the witcher trade, the potions and elixirs, their uses, the preparation, the effects on the witcher body, the witcher eyes at moments look fairly nice becoming slits and reptile like almost...the worst are the props and cgi and effects and the fights are hit and miss, some of the idea behind using aikido probably comes to the fact that witcher in book prefer agility and speed and hat sort of thing in combat What's funny in book lore the Nilfgaardian historians viewed witchers as offshoot of "priest-warriors" or druids :) (though obvioulsy it's part of nilfgaardian propaganda :)), the book only tells us of the renegade sorcerers being responsible for the trials and magic processes of changing boys into mutants etc. I must say one thing...I definitely like how Hexer actually depicts druids, who appear here and there (druids in witcher books are even more stereotypical kind of like...Asterix type druids in white robes and with mistletoe wreaths about their heads heheh, with leaders having some sort of golden sickle type blade :)) but druids in Hexer look quite good, these long beards, old hermit types looking guys (I definitely prefer the Hexer version of Mousesack over netflix, where I don't think they even differentiated what druids are hehe). The worldbuilding in netflix show was gigantic problem, but in Hexer while it's minimal there is something that can be said about quasi sense of realism, the sets help wiht that, the castles and ruins and so on the sets with marketplaces, villages and peasant huts and all that looking very.....viscerally real, the political aspect, the intrigue and the brutality of the world is highlighted in Hexer, but the scale is smaller, because it focuses on the drama with the characters and has more....introspective, melancholy vibe and certain philsophical atmosphere to it....which witcher stories should have! Beneath the stupid alterations and changes and certain cheapness coming off here and there, there is hiding something deeper in this series that with better production values and realization and better implementation of ideas and less alterations to source material would have made a much better product wiht some heart in it...which netflix show I think lacks....there is a lot of shortcomings of the Hexer, the polish series does have a lot of problems. Some of the changes don't work as they are intended and it's visible that they shouldn't be done...but when the series delivers is when they are actually close to source material!!! And it's surprisingly often, the entire sections of dialogue and scenes straight up adapted from the short stories! Hell as I mentioned before many of the episodes of Hexer do better adaptation of the stories than netflix first season!!! Sheer comparison of them would show.....the Witcher story, with the striga, both netflix and Hexer's Foltest casting choice may be misses :) (in netflix Foltest looks like Robert Baratheon expy, and in Hexer...well white Żentara is a good actor, he didn't fit the role in terms of looks, Foltest was always supposed to be handsome and youngish man :)) but damn the Hexer managed to depict the scenes from the book that netflix completely screwed over! There are character in Hexer ommitted entirely in netflix, like Velerad, not only in the treatment of that particular story....in the Cintra Question of Price episode in Hexer there is even Vissegerd :) a minor character entirely absent in netflix...which considering that Vissegerd should return for adapting the Baptism of Fire novel (for season 4 :)) was really weird that he got cut out :). Edge of the World story was adapted much better in Hexer....and hell even the brief section with Eternal Fire portion of story was better than nothing in netflix show or it's misportrayal of dopplers wiht that evil doppler psychopath murderer!!! :) Some of the alterations in Hexer are also annoying, some were more understandable than the pointless changes in netflix version because they served some purpose (it's the problem with netflix show is that they often make changes for the sake of changing....not to serve the purpose of the story!) like combining in Hexer backstory of Renfri with backstory of Geralt: "'I wanted to isolate her, but Aridea decided otherwise. She sent the little one out into the forest with a hired thug, a trapper. We found him later in the undergrowth . . . without any trousers, so it wasn't hard to recreate the turn of events. She had dug a brooch-pin into his brain, through his ear, no doubt while his attention was on entirely different matters.' 'If you think I feel sorry for him,' muttered Geralt, 'then you're wrong.'" ... "'My first monster, lola, was bald and had exceptionally rotten teeth. I came across him on the highway where, with some fellow monsters, deserters, he'd stopped a peasant's cart and pulled out a little girl, maybe thirteen years old. His companions held her father while the bald man tore off her dress, yelling it was time for her to meet a real man. I rode up and said the time had come for him, too -1 thought I was very witty. The bald monster released the girl and threw himself at me with an axe. He was slow but tough. I hit him twice - not clean cuts, but spectacular, and only then did he fall. His gang ran away when they saw what a witcher's sword could do to a man . . . 'Am I boring you, lola?" Hexer of course has a lot of things that make no sense too :).

[@karolinakuc4783]

Indeed. Plus music is so well fitting for Polish series while in Netflix is absolute garbage accept for some songs. Polish series is Nilfgardian propaganda while Netflix series is what Triss wrote out of spite influenced by drugs

[@karolinakuc4783]

Geralt mom a Witcher? No I think she wa just a witch with power of telepathy and knowledge of herbs. Also I am sure that female Witcher she wasn't his mom due to timeline. Perhaps some kin of her because they look alike. As for love interest going nowhere maybe at some point they didn't have anything to discuss and hence relationship ended. Geralt searches for a women who would be a challenge and a mystery

[@tonieja8814]

the Netflix show, it is so bad and devoid of atmosphere that even the short trailer of the movie "Peasants" has more of the Witcher atmosphere

[@weaklifts]

This may be a long shot, but is your friend Witcher Joker formerly known as another LtJoker. His voice sounds sooo familiar!

[@LeutnantJoker]

He is

[@weaklifts]

@@LeutnantJoker Good to see you, commander.

[@marcingluszek632]

Problem with Witcher movie is that they simply took material made for show and butchered it in editing room. Worst, they did it to extend its not coherent story anymore. Did you notice, movie is full of strange jumps and story don’t flow naturally. I remember when I watched it first time I said to myself: this was cut from something much bigger.

[@ThePariahDark]

I am the first? Nice. Yes they clearly are Samurai inspired. The mask, the swords, so on. Also they invented a female Witcher school for no reason. That sure must have a high death toll, 100 dead girls per 1 success. Samurai swords are also a good choice because they were created to cut down unarmoured opponents - sounds perfect for killing a monster, right?

[@lubystkaolamonola529]

In the saga there were no witcher school for girls . Ciri was first and only one, and only due to the twist of the destiny. Usually orphaned girls ended in temples, in druid circles or as the sorceress. Because Ciri has genes of Lara Dorren, she was able to do magic and because she is a Surprise Child destined to Geralt she becomes a female witcher.

[@grasantziemibieckiej1799]

The reason for female withers was to show in Geralts story that he has sexual needs like any human. His way to discover and believe in his humanity is really importnat in series story.

[@marcinzok8972]

BIMBALONES ARE THE REASON - pair of pretty ones even.

[@karolinakuc4783]

​@@grasantziemibieckiej1799True. Also to be fair witchers in that universum know that they arw physically weaker and don't give them very serious tasks. They only keep illusion that they can be as tpugh as them, patronize them and they do not see it. It is Geralt who broke the scheme.

[@grasantziemibieckiej1799]

@@karolinakuc4783 that's interesting take. I agree but dont know if it was made by creators on purpouse or this is how a witcher world works - ruled by strenght and ruthlesness

[@OskarJanczak]

It's like ROP from Farmazon but with low budget. And low budget is one thing but the creators of "The Hexer" (why in german? xD) like showrunners of ROP don't had rights to adapt everything, so they came up with their own nonsense.

[@genejohnson3625]

Where can I find the show?

[@FolkWalkCZ]

Go to archive.org/ and search for "The Witcher (Polish TV series)". It should be the top result. The subtitles are not that great but it's the best I could find. I'm thinking about translating the show myself sometimes in the future.

[@thespookylocker]

You could always do subbed dialog

[@JoleneMarie123]

And I hate the woke aspects of the Netflix series…they don’t respect source material.