Project Geekology
Embark on an epic journey with Anthony and Dakota as they delve into the vast realms of geek culture, from cherished classics to cutting-edge creations. Join us for an exhilarating adventure of exploration and nostalgia, as we unearth hidden gems and reminisce about the moments that have shaped us. Welcome to the ultimate celebration of all things geeky!
Project Geekology
The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep (2025)
The murky depths of adaptation choices are on full display as we dive into Netflix's animated Witcher film, Sirens of the Deep. Based on "A Little Sacrifice," a beloved short story from Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher saga, this underwater adventure takes Geralt of Rivia and his bard companion Jaskier into conflict between humans and merfolk.
Our exploration reveals a fascinating divide in perspective between those familiar with the source material and newcomers experiencing the story for the first time. While the animation quality stands as a universal high point – with fluid combat scenes and dynamic underwater sequences that couldn't be achieved in live action – the narrative changes prove more contentious. The film's unexpected similarities to Disney's The Little Mermaid, including the introduction of a sea witch character and significant alterations to the merfolk appearance, raise questions about the necessity of these creative decisions.
We dissect how the film reverses a crucial character choice at the climax, fundamentally changing the thematic weight behind the original story's title. The streamlining of Essi Daven's poignant storyline represents another significant departure that longtime fans may find particularly disappointing. Yet for viewers without prior attachment to the books, these changes may go unnoticed while the core adventure remains entertaining.
Through our varied entry points into The Witcher franchise – whether through games, books, or the Netflix series – we offer multiple perspectives on how adaptation choices impact audience experience. Is faithful adaptation necessary for success, or should creative liberties be embraced? Join our discussion and decide for yourself whether Sirens of the Deep represents a worthy addition to The Witcher universe or a missed opportunity to bring one of its finest stories to life.
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Welcome one and all to our 112th episode of Project Geekology. Today, we will not be throwing a coin to our witcher, but we will be talking about Geralt of Rivia, as well as Jaskier, or Dandelion, if you prefer on an adventure that has recently been released on Netflix. It's an animated film called Sirens of the Deep, and we have a lot to say about it. I've got a lot to say about it. My name is Dakota.
Speaker 2:I'm joined, as always, with Anthony, and I know that you say we weren't going to be talking about tossing a coin to the Witcher, but are we going to be talking about O Valley of Plenty?
Speaker 1:If by O Valley of Plenty you mean like the coastline and you know, like the ocean, then yes, yes, yes, and joining us as always, now, as always is.
Speaker 3:Rich, I'm excited here, despite the siren songs that you may have heard to start the show, I think that we will all navigate these waters and come to an accord at the end.
Speaker 1:We better, we sure as hell better. Yeah, we have a lot to talk about today with the Netflix film the Witcher Sirens of the Deep, adapted from my personal favorite Witcher story, which is called A Little Sacrifice, which is featured in the first Witcher novel, sword of Destiny. I'm excited to talk about some of the pros and cons of how it was adapted because, yeah, I really love that story. But before we get into any of that, let's talk about what we've been up to this past week.
Speaker 2:Anthony, we'll start with you what have I been up to? I have been up to playing, you know, our topic of last week, marvel rivals. I've been playing more of that. I don't play it like crazy all the time, so like my rank isn't super high but like I'm almost in platinum, I've made it to gold one, so I'm getting up there, but I've been doing that.
Speaker 2:I talked to you a little bit in the beginning, like before we started recording that I have been, you know, kind of full steam on another like stint of watching one piece. You know like I'll watch a whole bunch of it and then like I'll start taking a break, which I don't want to take like as long of a break as I did like this last time. But there are some, some anime that like I want to watch this time around. I think the second season of solo leveling finished up, so I definitely want to watch that. The first season was awesome.
Speaker 2:I heard that the second season just kind of ups the ante, so I'm really excited about that. And I also talked about I also talked to like rich and dakota off of the recording, but like a few months back I had applied for a remote position. It's an it position for the bank that I work for and I did not end up getting it that first time around. The position opened up again like five months later and I applied and this time I got it. And I start at the end of this month that's awesome, dude.
Speaker 1:I'm happy for you. I was like depressed when you said that you didn't get it the first time. I was just like, oh, but they left, they kept your application right and yeah, so it's. It's good that they kept it because they clearly liked you yeah, no, absolutely.
Speaker 2:The hiring manager was the one that reached out to me when this position opened up and he was like, hey, we have a position opening up, applied now, and so so that's what I did, and they ended up hitting me up and they, yeah, they kind of like brought up points about last time. Like you know that you know we're really impressed about this and you know it wasn't like fully there like choice to like choose the last person. I think that, like as a collective, they chose the person, but they were, like you know, last time you really did make it hard and it felt a little unfair that we weren't able to pick you too, but we're glad that we get to pick you now. I'm really stoked about that and excited to kind of grow and learn a lot more. And so, yeah, man, like big moves, I feel like I'm progressing and whatnot. I'm excited about that. But, yeah, how about you, dakota? What have you been up to? I know that you haven't been feeling so well.
Speaker 1:So yeah, I, I got like really sick yesterday. I don't know what happened I don't think it's the flu or I don't know if it is the flu but I got like a really bad cold where I just had like chills on and off for the past two days. I almost like. I almost canceled the recording today because earlier today I was. I was having a hard time talking, but as of right now I can manage an hour of conversation on and off, so that's not too bad. As far as what I've been up to, I watched a little bit of Daredevil the new marvel series that is on disney plus, oh same.
Speaker 2:I watched the first episode. What'd you think it was? I feel like that there's definitely they've got something going there. They definitely shock you, like pretty quick. In the beginning there was definitely some sort of symbolism that was happening there in the meta, though like not really inside the show. Happening there in the meta, though like not really inside the show, but like in the meta. But you know, I I feel like that's something that we could probably you know, I don't want to divulge too much. It's fresh, it's new and I want to let it kind of, you know, release before we actually like talk about it.
Speaker 1:But you know, like oh yeah, in a sidebar I was trying to figure out what you were saying about yeah, yeah, yeah, like, like the first, like 16 minutes, you know okay, yeah so yeah, I enjoyed it as well.
Speaker 1:It was kind of weak compared to the original show in terms of the cinematography and the writing, but it's good to see these characters again, even only for a couple minutes I will say I mean the cinematography might not be as strong, but it's still stronger than a lot of what has been coming out recently for disney marvel stuff.
Speaker 2:But it was nice seeing charlie cox again. You know it's hard to like see anybody else in that role and I'm glad that he's, so, he's, he's.
Speaker 1:He's fantastic in that role, yeah rich.
Speaker 3:Did you give it a shot? Oh yeah, I mean, my bar is pretty low for superhero and star wars content. I think I have to be fair, kind of say that. So I really loved it. I mean, I think the only thing that you, you know, I had heard that I guess earlier versions or earlier shoots of this were more mainstream accessible, you know. So you know, when Charlie hears he's 10, he hears about a series like, oh you know, I want to watch it. And when I heard about Daredevil I was like give me a sec. I got to check it out, you know, and I remember with dr strange multiverse of madness, he, he heeded my warnings and just, he basically watched new rock stars analysis but he didn't see any live action clips of, of, of dr, you know, of scarlet witch going crazy and I'm watching this and even two episodes, and I know that he can't watch it.
Speaker 1:You know, it's just, it's like he's yeah, they're not holding back, he'll watch it.
Speaker 3:He could watch deadpool, because deadpool is kind of being ridiculous and it almost seems like it's not really it's cartoon. Yeah, it's cartoon, cartoony murder. Also, my wife fell asleep during the movie, so that helped a lot. Uh, but this is like a little too serious. You know, I'm just like I don't. I don't think I'm cool with it. I really liked it. I mean, if only to see the characters back. Definitely, I love d'onofrio's kingpin.
Speaker 1:It's just he's so good it's unbelievable, like.
Speaker 3:You know what's weird is he like, for example, lost weight, you know, and they do comment on that in the first two episodes, yeah, but with another person it would feel like, oh man, they're not in character now, right, but for him it legitimately feels like part of the psyche of the kingpin in this moment, right, like he's leaner, he's healthier, but he's weaker. You know, he doesn't, he's not as aggressive and I think, right, yeah, it's interesting, I just I love that. I'll just say that vanessa scares the bejesus out of me. I, I, she is. Wow, I mean right right now, for me, two episodes in just a villain that is understated and that makes it all the more distressing okay, so I, I really I liked, which is which is weird, because she wasn't that character in the original show.
Speaker 1:Yep, like she evolved into that character for this show. Yeah, so that's cool.
Speaker 3:So I think it's. You know. Look, I try to give all of them a pretty good shake going in and it did not feel like a. I'm not going to say it was season four, but it's not terribly different. So if this is a multiverse, this is the universe right over. You know, it's just a little off.
Speaker 3:Okay, sure, yeah, all right, you know it's like your favorite dish but you get it at a different restaurant. So it's still really good, but you know it's not the same as the other one got it well and that that's exactly what they're going for.
Speaker 2:They're not trying to make it a season four, they're really like leaning in on the whole rebirth, like name, and they're not going based off of a storyline but more of it being a rebirth of the daredevil series. You know, without them completely, you know reworking it and those like first, you know the like the beginning is them trying to like kind of move on from that. You know I feel like they could have maybe done that a little bit better, but it was still shocking enough. But you know I don't want to like reveal too much and dig too deep. You know. I know that eventually we'll talk about it at some point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'd love to dedicate an episode or two to Daredevil Born Again, because the episodes are long. The first episode is an hour long, which is unlike Disney+.
Speaker 3:I was excited man.
Speaker 1:I was excited when I saw that. That gave me a little bit of hope.
Speaker 3:And also, like you know, something that disney is and this is a crime to me is like they'll put a show. It'll be like 30 to 45 minutes and like six of it's like credits.
Speaker 2:Oh man, oh yeah, that's a crime. Dude, like I'm like dude, I see what y'all did.
Speaker 3:We didn't need to see all this yeah, I don't need to know who the icelandic typecaster is like, please right, it's so crazy like their credits are.
Speaker 1:It's really insane before I cede my time over to rich in terms of what I've been up to this past week, I want to talk about a couple books that I got that I'm excited to jump into all of them avatar related the code of the book guy.
Speaker 1:Book guy. I start with Avatar Legends, the role-playing game, uncle Iroh's Adventure Guide. Ooh yeah, it's the latest hardcover booklet or adventure guide for the Avatar Legends role-playing game. It's been out for a couple months now. This is the first I've picked it up and given a look at. Couple months now. This is the first I've picked it up and given a look at. But yeah, it expands on the lore of the Avatar universe as well as giving you like five unique stories from different eras, starting from Kyoshi to Roku, to Hundred Year War, to Aang and then Korra, all taking place within a unique setting. So, yeah, I'm excited to jump into that. Next up, another Avatar book Avatar Frontiers of Pandora, solex Journey. It may not be the Avatar that you guys were expecting to hear. I was a big fan of Frontiers of Pandora, the video game.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was pretty fun.
Speaker 1:That came out a couple probably about a year ago at this point, and the character in it that they made an overarching narrative with for this comic series. It's a Dark Horse comic series, six issues and I don't know anything about what's in this book besides that it ties in with the video game Frontiers of Pandora, so I'm excited to jump into that. And just this past week the first one-shot comic graphic novel for the Legend of Korra came out. It's called the Mystery of Penquan Island and I'm excited to jump into it. It follows Mako and Bolin as they get a tip about something going on with Penquan Island and on the cover it kind of hints at, you know, like we will probably learn more about their early life with their parents. So there's a mystery there and I'm excited to jump into that. So yeah, some some avatar content for me to read this week nice other than that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think I'm gonna cede my time to rich rich. What have you been up to this past week?
Speaker 3:I mean, I just got some work stuff going on, so that kind of takes over a little bit, but other than that, I finally finished outlaws. Well, I've completed the main quest and everything, and I'm doing like one of the dlcs now that they came out with I think there's another one on the way. Actually, if I'm reading everything correctly, just kind of in a holding pattern to mlb, the show is downloaded. That would be, uh, exactly eight days from now I will come home from work and I will be a happy man. Baseball will be in full swing, so stuff ready for that yeah, it's, it's it's uh spring training right now, right oh yeah, I'm making my family watch meaningless games taking place in this tiny little stadium in florida yeah yeah, they're, yeah it's.
Speaker 3:They're just like what already, like we're getting started like these don't count so, but it's right around the corner it's still fun to see the the players you know warming up yeah, so that's.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I did, I'm sorry, go, I was going to say like, with us being on the topic of video games, dude, I completely forgot. It's probably because I'm feeling like pretty sleepy right now, but I completely forgot that, like I've also been playing Monster Hunter Wilds.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, how is it?
Speaker 2:Dude, it's awesome. Yeah, it's awesome. The the world is like pretty open. Now there's definitely like spots where you kind of load in, but it's nowhere near how monster hunter used to be, where like every zone was like you know, like you would have to load in and load out. Monster hunter world took away a lot of that. But now, like the, the home bases that you go to you can go straight to like the zone from there. Like you don't load in from there.
Speaker 2:I mean there is loading, like you know, when you go to hop into a hunt to like help somebody else with a hunt, then like you'll like load into their game and then like you'll kind of of join them there. But it's been fun, like it's really cool. I feel like they definitely a lot of the like almost like all of the weapons. They've done a lot of TLC over the years of like certain weapons, like especially like the hunting horn and stuff, and this is like the culmination of that. You know I like monster hunter and that's why I had asked you, I think last week or like last oh yeah, last episode.
Speaker 1:If my brother was excited, yeah if he was gonna get it.
Speaker 2:And yeah, man, it, it was worth it. The weight was worth it. I've been, you know, monster hunter. Like to me is is like you MLB the show to Rich.
Speaker 1:I heard that, depending on the weapon that you choose, your gameplay style could be Devil May Cry or Elden Ring. Yes, which is so funny.
Speaker 2:For a long time it's kind of been like that, when you're fighting with something like a long time, it's kind of been like that, like when you're fighting with something like a long sword or like a great sword, you're going to be doing a lot of like slower swings. The long sword is faster than the great sword, but yeah, like it that does feel like a little bit elden, ringy or dark souls like. But then you like you use the dual swords and like it's a lot of like hack and slashing and you're like, you know, just a lot faster yeah, a lot faster.
Speaker 2:And then sometimes there's like this ability that you can use with the dual swords that allows you to do this crazy combo that, like you like attack, go into the air, use your like the, the like not grappling hook, but it's like a, you know, it's like a kind of like a grapple to, like you know, pull yourself back to the monster and then, like you do this crazy like windmill, attack down the back of it. So, yeah, that's definitely like devil may cry. And then then you have a lot of long-range weapons like bows and and bow guns. I actually have been using a lot more bow guns this time around. I dabbled with it in Monster Hunter world and rise, but I usually stuck with the insect glaive or even like the dual swords. I used to play a lot of gun Lance before that. But yeah, like I've been messing around the bow guns in this one. But yeah, it's just been fantastic. I don't know if you've heard anything about it from austin.
Speaker 1:I know austin I haven't spoken to him in a bit, yeah, so I haven't heard anything but he's probably enjoying it too oh, I'm sure he is yeah, so knowing my brother rich, we kind of cut you off.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sorry about that oh, no, no, no, I've heard of this monster hunter. I'm not there yet. Like I said, I since I have the uh, what's baseball? Listen, let me put it this way I played 1408 hours mlb the show last year, from release to you know, as a few weeks ago, where I just couldn't take the fact that the rosters weren't updated, because I'm a petulant child and I, it feels, honestly, the problem is they've got me because it feels wrong, like even if a team has just three players that are different, I'm like that's team chemistry, baby, that's different. I can't play. I cannot play.
Speaker 3:I wish I was that person who could just keep a copy of a game and play it, because you know the truth is how many changes they're going to be? Probably none. I paid an absurd amount of money. I got the digital early release because I'm a crazy person. So that's, I'm going to get that. I'm going to get digital cards that I get to open early because that'll be awesome. So I have shiny cards in a digital game but it'll, it'll have.
Speaker 1:It'll have the, the rosters that are correct so I'm telling you, you know what.
Speaker 3:You know what it comes down to the reason I play that game and nobody really knows this. I only do the baseball part so I can get the cards right. Like I play this diamond dynasty mode and I just want to get the cool cards like they. Just they come out with like a different version of francisco lindor, that's like a hologram, and I'm like, oh, that's nice, so like they really have you, this is a card collecting game where you have to play baseball to earn more fancy cards.
Speaker 3:That's kind of cool, so that's really all I'm doing right is like mindlessly grinding. It's a collection, I get it I mindlessly grind against only the computer, basically on Rookie. I don't want to challenge myself, I just want to enjoy myself, and then I just earn these cards. So that's the secret, is all my games. I'm either just playing poker in Red Dead or playing Sabacc in Outlaws or Gwent in Witcher.
Speaker 1:We've learned some new lore today Anthony about rich.
Speaker 2:The rich lore.
Speaker 1:The rich lore. Yeah, it's very rich lore that we gain once a week, it seems. Last week we learned about Lady Luck and his old car. Now we're learning about card games in a baseball game. Love it All right guys, Should we jump over and start talking about the Witcher?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Let's start by talking about our experience with the Witcher franchise over the years, where we first jumped into that, how deep into witcher lore we got. And yeah, I'll start with rich all right, let's see.
Speaker 3:So I think, yeah, my first exposure was the witcher 3. I just looked like a cool game, read, read a couple, you know, watched some reviews or whatever, and just got it, loved it right away. I mean, that's my kryptonite. I mean you know the amount of side quests. I mean it's paralyzing, but it's the kind of game I love to play. You know, it takes me forever to get through because I'm very meticulous and I but I enjoy that meticulous and I but I enjoy that so much. And then you give me some magic and you let me ride a horse, you know, like you're really. That's it, I love it.
Speaker 1:That's it.
Speaker 3:So I started I. So then I I really enjoyed it, and then I heard that they were making a series, so I decided that I might start reading the books. But so I decided that I might start reading the books, but I guess caveat is that I decided to read all of those books in spanish. So just you know, it's not my, it's not my strongest language, right? So I'm not sure if there's stuff, if there's like innuendo, that I may have not kind of picked up on in in my read it's an interesting choice, though.
Speaker 1:Why did you? Why did you? I know it's not like an english first book. It's originally a polish book, so it's translated into english, so I guess the translation would probably be just as strong into spanish. But why did you choose? Uh?
Speaker 3:just because I figured, if I'm going to push myself to read more in spanish, then I should do it with something that I'd really like that's fair, so I've only I've only really read fantasy in spanish, essentially like yeah like dragons, almost involved in everything.
Speaker 3:So I really, you know, but I did, I did really love, love all the you know. I did notice, obviously, how, like, the game is different than the story that you're presented in the book. And then the netflix series. I was very excited for that and I will say I watched all of it. I was confused. There were times where I would just like finish an episode and I would go on wikipedia and go like that's not what I remember I was, because I thought it was this language thing. I was like maybe I just read it wrong in Spanish, so let me go to the wiki in English. And sure enough, there were just wholesale changes that I didn't like, because for me it's the game and then the books that's my headcanon. So the series deviated so much from that that I I really disliked it. Well, that's why cavill left.
Speaker 2:I respect that yeah, ultimately yeah yeah, yeah, they were making changes. You know, the thing I appreciate about henry cavill a lot is that I mean he is a nerd and when he does something he will like full send into it and like he will. Like you know, he'll make sure he does his homework and he wants to stick with the stories and the books. But with the adaptation of Geralt from the game and so, like I thought he did pretty well and then they want to start to deviate and so that's why we have Liam coming out sometime. I don't even know, like I felt like that was supposed to be out like a long time.
Speaker 1:Are they still doing that? Are they still doing a season four Dude.
Speaker 2:I want to know, like I think that like now they're probably like, ooh, I don't know. I mean, even Henry Cavillill was like, trying to be like, yeah, just give him a chance, you know. But even then, like you know, most of us are like, no, we don't want to, but but yeah, I feel that a lot I've wanted to. I don't. Well, before I say anything, rich, you got any more tidbits or anything that about your connection no, that's, that's kind of just yeah.
Speaker 3:When I suggested the Netflix, this show that we're going to talk about today, honestly I didn't see a trailer. I had no. It was like I had just put Netflix on and I don't normally surf Netflix, so it's rare that I even go to my home screen on it. If we're watching Arrested Development, I even go to my home screen on it, Like if I'm we're watching a particular, we're watching, like you know, Arrested Development. I go to exactly to that. So I opened it and one day it was just right there and I was like Whoa, where did that come from? I have not heard anything about this. So I, just before I even took a look at it, I was just like, hey, you know, we should, let's take a look at this. And as we'll see, I think, as the episode progresses tonight, I think a common theme with Netflix seems to be making changes for no apparent reason whatsoever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it doesn't mean that it was a bad movie, but yeah, there were really random changes, I will say. But we'll definitely talk about that more in a bit.
Speaker 2:anthony, let's jump over to you so mine is pretty much similar to riches. I mean me being a gamer. I played the game. I I didn't play the first or second witcher, I think I had heard about them before, but I had had seen the Witcher 3, the Wild Hunt and like, I think at some point it was like the, the version that had all the DLC and it was on sale. So I got it and, you know, I took the dive into it. I feel like they do a pretty decent job with explaining things that have happened before in the game.
Speaker 2:I still think that it would be interesting to play the first two, but that was like pretty much like my first experience with it. I absolutely loved the game. The world was really interesting. I liked the idea of you know, this mutated being that's like a monster hunter that has these magic abilities. And then I hopped onto the show. I watched the first season, which, for the most part, I did enjoy. I started the second season and immediately fell off. I was just like there's just something not right about this. Fell off like. I was just like there's just something not right about this and I've always wanted to hop into the books but I've never had the chance to, but they're like in my purview, you know totally yeah so I.
Speaker 1:I have a little bit of a different introduction to the witcher because I never played through witcher 3. Um, I've only played a couple hours into it. I think you know enough to give me like a good like vibe of the game. I think at the time that I was doing I just didn't have a lot of time to devote to video games. But I would like to jump back in eventually.
Speaker 1:But prior to that, prior to having played the Witcher 3, I had jumped into the novels. I was really big into the novels leading up to the release of Netflix's show. I was excited to see how they would adapt it. Getting such a big name as Henry Cavill on board was very exciting for me. So I think I read the first five books. The first two books are short story compilations, then the the other. I think there's five other novels. I read three of them. They're like actual novels pertaining to the life of gerald's, yennefer, siri and and so forth.
Speaker 1:And yeah, I enjoyed them, but not as much as I enjoyed the first two novels, which are short story compilations. For some reason I felt like that was like the pinnacle of how good the witcher can be, you know, in terms of like. It's a short, all-encompassing story. It has a moral lesson that it tries to teach you by the end of it and it's always just like short and snappy, but it's always pretty cool because it's a different monster hunt of episode every single short story. So I like those first two novels the best.
Speaker 1:But uh, yeah, I did not like the netflix series. I tried to, I really tried to, but after the first season I think I watched the first episode of the second season and I I fell off. Yeah, like I couldn't watch anything past that point. But yeah, so I'm excited to talk about this because unfortunately, I think Netflix's show which is why I was like reading the novels was so bad to me that I stopped reading the novels. So I still have like two or three novels left and I think there's a new novel that just came out by Andre Sapkowski, like another Witcher novel Again, again, I have no idea what the chronology is between the novels into the witcher game. I know that there is probably some differences there, but I don't know how much yeah, I can't tell you that I know.
Speaker 3:I mean, I think that there were things that from the game that I definitely saw on the show, but in terms of how it's laid out I don't really recall. I do know that the beginning of witcher 3 they give you an opportunity to make decisions that you would have made at the end of witcher 2, I believe, and it kind of gives you like a history of the, of the, the game franchise. But how that plays with the novels I'm not really sure yeah, I don't know we'd have to.
Speaker 1:We have to, like, do some more research and get back to you guys on that. But what did you guys think of sirens of the deep anthony?
Speaker 2:we'll start with you I thought that sirens of the deep was pretty good. I I enjoyed my watch. I don't know, I haven't read the short story like you have, dakota, so I don't know. You know what the major changes would be from that, but for the most part I really did enjoy it.
Speaker 1:There were some aspects of it that were derivative of the little mermaid I guess that's kind of the like, the the joy of those first short stories with the witcher, because like there's a beauty and the beast short story, there's a snow white short story, you know like.
Speaker 2:So this was the clear derivative of the little mermaid, right, right, like you have this human prince that is, you know, in love with this mermaid princess, and you know they even have a sea witch that you know comes up with this like potion to like turn her into human. Like there's a lot that I'm like bro, this is like the little mermaid with a monster hunter in it. Like I'm not saying it was bad, though like I enjoyed it. You can always take a story and like put your own spin on it, and this was the spin with the witcher on it, right, and it was cool, like I I really I really liked it.
Speaker 2:I felt like Geralt was very much so the one that I remember from like the video games. You know he's this like monster hunter, but like he's very awkward and just like social interactions. You know that's just not his thing. You know his social interaction is with swords and that's it. Well, not that's it, but like that's really what he is, like that's his job. His job is to kill monsters and you know, just do his thing. So seeing his, his social interactions in the show reminds me of a lot of the social interactions from the game. A lot of it like made me like chuckle because his awkwardness is funny.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So let's break down the story a little bit of Sirens of the Deep and I'm going to try not to get it blended too much into the short story A little sacrifice. There's the Witcher and Jaskier, or Dandelion if you follow the short story. Actually, is he Dandelion in the game?
Speaker 2:Yes. Yeah, he is yeah, yeah, he is okay yeah.
Speaker 1:So the witcher is tasked to come and visit a small seaside town, basically, where there's been a series of attacks on human fishermen who are like pearl divers and stuff by mermaids and other merman-like creatures that the mermaids are in cahoots with. And we find out that there's a prince named prince aglaval who is in love with the princess of the merpeople named shianuts not ariel, it's different, it's shea nuts and yeah, so that that kind of just start starts a, not like a. That doesn't necessarily start a war, but it does. It's something that aglaval's father, the king, is incapable of getting behind. It's a marriage that would never work. So he's doing everything in his power to stop that from happening, and he does. He goes so far as to basically start a war that he knows isn't true, so that he can break these two individuals apart and eventually love persists.
Speaker 3:That's an excellent rundown, and the one thing I guess I want to start with is I don't really understand why anything from the original story had to be changed.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, so there's actually quite a bit of stuff that they changed from the original story. There are some beats that are still there and there's enough beats where it's just like well, why not just keep the rest of it? And there's enough beats where it's just like well, why not just keep the rest of it? So in the short story, anthony, it's not a prince, it's a duke, it's Duke Aglaval. It doesn't really follow like Shianauts and the merpeople at all in the book. So they definitely give a much more heavy focus to the mermaids in this one. Yeah, there's definitely a lot more of a focus towards the mer people in this. You know like they actually go into the water and show you like what they're dealing with under the water. They don't do that at all in the book and there's really not that much of a. There is a sea witch, but it's not half as like. They basically made this movie much more in line with the little mermaid than the actual story is basically. Would you take that to like be the case?
Speaker 3:which that's.
Speaker 1:I just in terms of like there was no real Ursula character in the short story, but they definitely turned it into a Ursula, you know, taking human form and corrupting the royal line, basically, yeah, I was watching it.
Speaker 3:I ended up watching it because you know what I do. So I watched it three times. The first time I just watched it too late and fell asleep. The second time I'm watching it and I remember I had flashes because I late and fell asleep. The second time I'm watching and I remember I had flashes because I'd been falling asleep the night before and I'm going man, this is, this is like the little mermaid, you know, and I don't remember feeling that again, I read it in spanish.
Speaker 3:So, you know, then half of me is like maybe I just didn't pick up on it. You know, I don't know, like that doesn't make sense to me. I can read it well enough. So, yeah, you know, by the end, you know, I obviously it dawned on me that it was really similar in a way that I don't understand. I mean, there was enough of a veiled reference to it right in the story, the way it was originally written, that I think you didn't need to, kind of like hammer home. I mean I'm surprised they didn't have a singing crab. I'm just surprised, right, like they actually.
Speaker 1:They did give the ursula character a singing role in this movie uh, which is very funny, I, I enjoyed that at least, but but there's really no reason for that. I don't know. I actually didn't hate it, but yeah, anyway, continue.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that's the thing, and this is what bothers me. I mean, I hate it pains me as an English teacher by trade to say this aloud, but this is one of those scenarios where the Netflix stuff makes me wish I hadn't read the books right like I wish I was.
Speaker 1:Yes, I wouldn't I agree, because I agree, I don't know why. Then I'd be like hey, you know what?
Speaker 3:I love this content related to this game that I have no knowledge of outside of the game. But no, I went ahead and read and I have spoiled it. So I thought this was just a random thing because, dakota, as you know, there's nothing called Sirens of the Deep in any of the books, right, yeah? So I am like, oh, this is random new content. And then, as I'm watching it, I'm like wait, this is like part, like the last little sacrifice, and I'm like you, you, you probably like realize short, like, probably like 20 minutes, in that, like this sounds very familiar.
Speaker 3:Yes, and you know but and then the little mermaid stuff, and I'm just sitting there I'm going. I'm really confused. I thought this was something different, but it's something that's already been done. But they're not doing it the same way and I, you know, I will say look, I really enjoyed my time with gerald, like anthony was saying yeah.
Speaker 1:So, anthony, they changed quite a few things, like there was no king in the original short story. Zeleste is just a character in the story. He's not like the half brother of prince aglaval in again in in the story Aglaval is just a duke and he's kind of a jerk to like. So the basic premise of A Little Sacrifice is that there are a bunch of different characters that need to basically do a little sacrifice if they're ever going to either get along with the people that they're trying to get along with. Or, you know, prince Aglaval with the people that they're trying to get along with, or Prince Aglaval, who's kind of a snooty duke, not Prince Aglaval, but Duke Aglaval is not as chivalrous as he's portrayed in this movie. He's actually a real jerk and he's very bratty. Why isn't the mermaid willing and able to come onto land? And Sheenot says why aren't you willing to give a little sacrifice of your own? The whole thing is about a little sacrifice, even from like side characters to side characters, and in the movie they actually do mention the term a little sacrifice two or three times, so they aren't like shy about hiding. That is the adapted work that they're trying to get to, but they conflated some stories like a lot and then like diluted some stories a lot like the SE Davin character is like one of my favorites ever, like she's so good, like the way that she's written in the book. Se Davin here is just, she's just a character that you know the wisher beds, basically.
Speaker 1:Another thing that they changed is yaskir, or dandelion. I don't think they ever mentioned that he's from this town but they made a very big deal about how you know bremavort was like the place that he was from, that he decided to leave in this movie and they made that a huge plot point that could have been used for other things. But I mean, I get it. They want to make yaskier seem more important to the story overall and the witcher mythos. So yeah, rich. What do you think is the change that most bothered you? Or, if there's a change that didn't bother you like, why?
Speaker 3:well, like all right, so you know at the end, when you have who has to make the sacrifice, the prince ends up making it, which I? I don't know. It's just a weird. I think it's a needless flip-flop.
Speaker 1:I think it's right, because in the book it's sheenots who decides to choose legs and come on to land, but in this story it's the prince going into the water. Yeah, I mean it. He gave a little sacrifice, like it's Huge sacrifice.
Speaker 3:It's not the same. In a world where monsters are diminishing, right, and you know, you have literally a monster hunter, right, becoming human while leaving all you know is difficult, right, it's not a bad step up, right, in terms of you know, you're kind of going from a close to extinct race Right To now part of a race that is thriving. Just on those merits alone, the switch makes no sense and I think it was just like something to do because you know it's 2025, so they just flip-flopped and I think that it's sloppy. If you're going to change something, then it still needs to be logical, and I just think that the prince, he would. I mean he's essentially leaving his royal line, right, I mean, like that's it, that's the end. I mean he's going to the ocean. I mean he's not having a human baby after that. It doesn't. It's just frustrating.
Speaker 1:They also change. They also change the look of the mermaids. I don't know if you caught that from the story, but like they're very human-esque in the books, I think in like the first, like two or three lines of the short story. It explains that She-Anot has like the most magnificent breasts that Geralt has ever seen, or something like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I mean you know you're right, these were not the most attractive mermaids I've ever seen. You know, yeah, it doesn't sell it. Like honestly, I was like that looks like I don't know, I don't know fish that well, but like I, I it's. It made it a little it did. It definitely made it less believable.
Speaker 1:I mean it definitely made it less believable I mean the only thing, that that that the prince would fall in love with. Yes, the only thing that I think makes sense.
Speaker 3:I guess right is that it like when you, when the other people are like disgusted by it, right, you're like yeah, no, I get it right, like you can, you can better understand the opposition to it, but I just don't, I don't understand the change. I mean, even in Greek mythology, like the sirens, they were attractive, but the point was that they were able to lure sailors because of their song and because they were attractive.
Speaker 1:And also it is kind of a weird stylistic choice on Netflix's part, because they aren't shy about making it like a rated r product, you know like they curse plenty.
Speaker 1:There's so much gore it's like crazy. Lots of violence. They really I don't know. I mean it's weird that they chose that to be their siren, but yeah, so let's talk a little bit about essie davven, because her character while it was nice seeing an adaptation that included her, it really missed the mark on what made her so great.
Speaker 1:I guess I don't know if that makes sense, or just some of the backstory in regards to Essie, she ends up falling in love with the Witcher and there's a long back and forth between the Witcher and her as far as, like, what they're willing to sacrifice for their relationship and ultimately she realizes that the Witcher is not capable of a little sacrifice for her.
Speaker 1:That is something that is not possible and I think that is like part of the heartbreak of the story.
Speaker 1:A little sacrifice is that, you know, like she realizes that what she wants from Geralt is not something that he can give. So she takes a gift given to her by Dandelion and Dandelion told her that this pearl was given as a gift for her birthday from him and Geralt and she takes that as like his only sacrifice really to her and throughout the story she's she says that like, the thing that she fears most is dying to some illness. And then, like the narrator of the story, which is Jaskier, he tells us that, like he'll, he'll never tell Geralerald the true. You know how, you know, several years later, after this a little sacrifice story took place, he carried her to her grave because she died of like some smallpox or something like that and she, she like, wanted to be buried with this pearl that you know she believes is from gerald. So it's, it's just such a sad ending that like goes completely, like undone I'm not undone, but like it just they, they ignore it completely in this, in this film.
Speaker 1:But yeah anyway, all that being said, I do like the movie. I think it was a fun movie but, like rich said, I wish I hadn. Rich said. I wish I hadn't read the story.
Speaker 3:It's honestly fun. It really is. I actually, if I just take that previous knowledge, I like the Little Mermaid ties. It actually made it fun. I thought to myself hey, you know what I it fun, yeah, yeah. Actually I said I thought to myself hey, you know what? Like I might be able to re-watch this with my wife and she'll catch those vibes right away and go oh, I like this right. Like it might actually make it more enjoyable for her too.
Speaker 1:So what's frustrating about it is just that they're, I don't know, like if I could see rich is like silently fuming over there, just like he's trying to like be as positive as possible, but he seems to be more upset about the changes that they made to this story than I am, and this is like my favorite Witcher story, but I feel you, man, it wasn't bad, like it's a fun movie, and I liked that they added all that stuff about the mermaids. I liked the inclusion of like a sea witch, slash kraken. That was a cool like sea battle, and they definitely took it in their own direction, though, and that's that's kind of what bothered me, and I think that that's why they didn't call it a little, a little sacrifice, just because they took that concept and cherry picked what they wanted, and went another direction.
Speaker 3:Basically, this isn't hamlet right. I don't need your reimagining. Yeah, actually this is recent modern literature. All right. You know it's not even 50 years. If you're going to adapt something that is recent in media, then you need to make it match. That's the problem.
Speaker 1:They would never get away with this if this was like Lord of the Rings, exactly. Oh no, yeah, there match that's the problem.
Speaker 2:They would never get away with this if this was like lord of the rings exactly. Oh no, yeah, there'd be riots.
Speaker 3:They'd get strung up. Yeah, it'd be so crazy, just like all these gandalfs walking down the street. Just like you shall not pass the cars on bridges. There'd be crazy yeah, everybody, nuts.
Speaker 1:Anthony, you got any final thoughts on Sirens of the Deep?
Speaker 2:The Sirens were in the deep, they were. There were other animals, like sea animals that were down there, that were humanoid, which I thought was interesting. But yeah, I'm coming into this without you know, reading that short story, so you know, I don't know, like what changes were made. I mean, you know how I feel about changes being made.
Speaker 1:I guess I'm most curious about what you think, because Rich and I have our own opinion based on some pre-existing knowledge. What do you feel about the movie having like forgetting everything that we said today? Basically, right, right. What are your?
Speaker 2:thoughts I I enjoyed it, you know.
Speaker 2:I I liked it, even though, yeah, like I said, there was definitely a lot that was ripped from the little mermaid the sea witch yeah, that musical number was interesting because I mean, anytime that there was singing in this show, it made sense like it was like you know, jess here's, he's a bard, you know, and so like that's his thing. But the sea witch, like it was like something completely out of disney, like she's singing while all this magic is happening. It was like very like I was like, okay, this is interesting. But yeah, like you know, I, I all, I I saw ursula. You know I saw Ursula. You know I saw Ariel. It was, you know, very interesting. Just, yeah, you had Witcher thrown into it, but you know, I did enjoy it. Do I feel like I might have felt differently had I read the short story? Probably, I mean, you know how I feel when they make changes to anything I enjoy. You know, I semi-ripped the Avatar Netflix series, so I probably would have felt different.
Speaker 1:I will say that the Witcher series is much further from the books than the Avatar series is from the animated series. So yeah, so yeah yeah how about y'all?
Speaker 1:well, I will say that I enjoyed it for the most part. So I didn't fully remember the story, but I knew that they had made some changes because, like some stuff wasn't clicking in my head from like. You know, when I watched it I was like, man, this seems a little off. But you know what, I'm enjoying it. I'm just gonna like go for the ride and see how this compares to the, the short story later. And then I read the short story. I was like, oh, actually, this is like completely well, not completely different, but you know there's there's quite a bit of like change. That just didn't need to happen but it happened dude.
Speaker 2:So dakota said maybe I shouldn't have gone back to read that I know I should have.
Speaker 1:I should have just enjoyed stayed the story. What I will say? I loved the animation style. I thought that was like it really really strong animation style.
Speaker 2:I did too.
Speaker 1:The animation was really well done, especially in the combat scenes like oh it looks so good to my seat and you never like didn't know what was going on on screen, which was, you know, that's rare for like something where there's like 20 plus people on screen. Very good animation. I was really pleased with it yeah overall, I would say maybe seven, seven and a half out, you know, on its own. You know, having that, having like foregoing my knowledge of what it's based off of, but yeah, I enjoyed it. What?
Speaker 3:about you, rich? I think I'm in the same boat. I did really like the animation. I thought that the voice acting was really well done. I thought that whoever voiced Geralterald, just the writing and the delivery was perfect. It made me feel like I was playing the game or, to henry kevill's credit, the show. You know, he was excellent as well, so I thought that was great. I remember there was specifically one sequence, but gerald is like running up something. It's a monster, he, and he's just like running up the steps, like like the back, like if he were going up like a stair, like a kind of an oval star, a round staircase, just the way. He's like pitter patter, and they were cutting back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, and I was thinking about how you know, this is something that's really cool.
Speaker 3:That wouldn't be done the same way if it were live action and in that moment yeah I kind of said to myself they're doing a really good job of not making an animated movie but using the medium of animation to tell a story which I thought was really cool.
Speaker 1:No, that's a good way to put it.
Speaker 3:Yes, it's not just, it's not just anime, it's not like okay, so we couldn't get the actors, we're gonna do this.
Speaker 1:You know, it was actually like they played with it, so I I enjoyed that and what's actually interesting is they did get some of the actors back from the TV series on Netflix. Like, the character who plays Jaskier on the TV series is Joey Batty and he's playing Jaskier again here, and I think there's a couple scenes with Yennefer that they actually bring back Anya Chalatra from the live-action series as well.
Speaker 3:I thought they sounded good, so that's awesome, I mean it was not Henry Cavill as the Witcher.
Speaker 1:That was a guy named Doug Cockle.
Speaker 3:Could have fooled me. Could have fooled me.
Speaker 2:He's got a good Cavill impression. I guess he just thought, you know he thought of Henry Cavill and Cross Between Him and maybe Christian Bale's Batman.
Speaker 1:Love it cavill, and cross between him and maybe christian bale's batman and love it guys. Thank you so much for listening to us here for our 112th episode of project geekology. Next week we have a fun show rich. You don't know what we're covering yet because we haven't told you, but anthony and I were talking pre-show and we've decided to cover Dungeons and Dragons. Honor Among Thieves. It's on Netflix and I'm excited. I really like that movie.
Speaker 3:Same. I'm actually very excited. I've seen that and I actually was thinking I was going to ask you guys if it was worth a watch, because I figured you guys had seen it already, you know. And then I was like ah, you know what, they've probably already talked about it and it slipped my mind. So this is, uh, really cool.
Speaker 2:I'm excited, yeah I actually had to ask dakota that if we covered it, because I forgot if we did or not. I know we did talk about it? Don't think so like in the beginning, you know yeah, I don't think we did not like a full discussion?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, but we shall make an episode of Honor Among Thieves next week, episode 113. Yes, guys, thanks so much for listening to us here for our 112th episode. If you'd like to check out any of our socials, be sure to click into our show notes down below, where you can find any of our links for other social sites. For other social sites While you're here and while you're listening, and if you'd want to contribute something positive to our day and to the show, be sure to crack open a nice juicy Slim Jim.
Speaker 2:Yes, a Slim Jim makes a return.
Speaker 1:Give us a five-star juicy review as you enjoy that Slim Jim, you will thank us later, basically.
Speaker 2:Oh, my gosh One of the driest meat sticks.
Speaker 3:I can't.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh dude this is, I guess, juicy sizzling slim jim. All right, uh, all right, guys. We'll see you in the next one already y'all gerald of rubia.
