History YMMV / TheHexer

* ValuesDissonance: A double-whammy, both in Poland and internationally. When aired in Poland, the series and its ratings are an inversion of an [[UsefulNotes/MotionPictureAssociation American-style]] rating system: swearing is a total non-issue and scenes with sex and nudity (which is never [[ModestyBedsheet covered]]) are usually 12+, rarely 16+... but scenes of graphic violence routinely are either flagged as 16+ or even "adult-only". Upon first airing, the entire series got a uniform "parental supervision" rating, which is nowadays equal with 12+ - and on top of that, it was aired during Sunday afternoons, aka ''the'' most safe and sanitised hours in Polish TV[[note]]In fact, it was aired directly after a highly-popular... medical soap opera, creating quite a dissonance with all the violence and nudity[[/note]]. This might lead to some confusion when watching any of the bootleg copies, as they will be clearly displaying the age-restriction icon on screen. On top of that, the original Sunday time slot would be ''illegal'' just 3 years after the first airing, since anything containing even a single scene with a 16+ rating can't be aired before 8 PM from 2005 onward.

* AnticlimaxBoss: The final clash between Geralt and Falwick may be seen as a disappointment, given the latter's status as a former witcher and Geralt's nemesis in the series' continuity.

* {{Misblamed}}: While the script prepared by Michał Szczerbic is far from perfect, most people openly ignore (or don't even know) he was forced to [[WritingAroundTrademarks write around copyrights]], since [[Creator/AndrzejSapkowski Sapkowski]] only sold rights to specific short stories and even ''bits of them'', as he was not satisfied with the offered money. This obviously made filming them as they are in text impossible, forcing a lot of creative changes to still keep the basic premise and, most importantly, fill the contracted 13 episodes with ''something''. For example, that's how the two {{Origins Episode}}s came into existence. In the first draft, they've existed as a few minute long sequence of young Geralt being taken away from his parents, itself told as a NightmareSequence, and that was it. Szczerbic also created an original script for ''Film/{{Rose}}'' which is widely acclaimed as one of the best movies made in post-commie Poland and his script won an entire collection of awards, so it's not him being an incompetent writer.

* WTHCastingAgency: Marek Walczewski, a well-established drama actor was offered a role of [[KnightInShiningArmor Eyck of Denesle]], a no-nonsense knight on a quest to slay a dragon. Thing is, it was right after Walczewski was affected by LeslieNielsenSyndrome, playing a nearly-blind alcoholic police officer in ''13. Precinct'' sitcom. This turned all his serious and pompous lines into unintentional comedy gold, since vast majority of viewers were simply unable to think about him as anything else than [[IAmNotSpock Stępień]]. What makes the whole thing even weirder is the fact Heritage Films, a co-producer of ''The Hexer'', was the company behind ''13. Precinct'', so one would expect for them to realise the problem.

** Ask the average Witcher fan from Poland what Dandelion looks like. The most likely description you will get will be that of Zbigniew Zamachowski, who looks ''nothing'' like the book counterpart. The game adaptation changed that slightly, but it's still there.

* ValuesDissonance: A double-whammy, both in Poland and internationally. When aired in Poland, the series and its ratings are an inversion of an [[UsefulNotes/MotionPictureAssociation American-style]] rating system: swearing is a total non-issue and scenes with sex and nudity (which is never [[ModestyBedsheet covered]]) are usually 12+, rarely 16+... but scenes of graphic violence routinely are either flagged as 16+ or even "adult-only". Upon first airing, the entire series got a uniform "parental supervision" rating, which is nowadays equal with 12+ - and on top of that, it was aired during Sunday afternoons, aka ''the'' most safe and sanitised hours in Polish TV. This might lead to some confusion when watching any of the bootleg copies, as they will be clearly displaying the age-restriction icon on screen. On top of that, the original Sunday time slot would be ''illegal'' just 3 years after the first airing, since anything containing even a single scene with a 16+ rating can't be aired before 8 PM from 2005 onward.

** Ask average Witcher fan from Poland how does Dandelion looks like. The most likely description you will get will be that of Zbigniew Zamachowski, who looks ''nothing'' like the book counterpart. Game adaptation changed that slightly, but it's still there.
** The series managed to portray Zerrikania with heavy steppe and Far East influences, mixed with other bits, creating the classic "weird fantasy" typical for early 90s Polish fantasy. It migrated to the [[TabletopGame/TheWitcherGameOfImagination tabletop game]] (which went further and made it into LadyLand) and was so prevailing interpretation many fans found the {{Qurac}} version from video games to be unacceptable and just plain wrong. What's important for the case is there is not a single description of Zerrikanian culture in the books aside the fact dragons are treated there as deities.

* BrokenBase: The quality of the adaptation itself aside, the concept of using aikido moves for choreography and Geralt's combat training is a divisive subjest, to say the least. Part of the fandom mocks it as taking the "machine" part of witchers' behaviour too literally and against existing descriptions from the books, the other considers the fluid moves that never drop momentum what really solds Geralt as an absolutely awesome combatant.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: As always, Dandelion. In a pool made by Heritage Films (one of the co-producers), he went from generally negative reaction when the casting choice of Zamachowski was announced to overwhelming positive reaction when the film was released. And since there is even more of him in the series, he firmly secured the status of fan favourite.
** The nameless old witcher is probably the only thing changed for the adaptation that doesn't suck and managed to secure his place in the fandom. A lot of it is related with being CoolOldGuy and being the closest character to book's Vesemir.
* GrowingTheBeard: Happens quite literally. In the first three episodes, Geralt is either still a kid and then clean shaven. Those episodes are coincidently considered the weakest, as they are almost entirely made out of original content and suffer from minor case of RomanticPlotTumor. The series starts for real by 4th episode, where Geralt emerges from some dungeon - bloodied, bearded, scarred and as hardened witcher with some serious experience behind his belt.
* HilariousInHindsight: When Netflix announced [[Series/TheWitcher2019 its own adaptation]] of the Witcher short stories, it was a running joke in Poland that people will end up re-evaluating ''The Hexer'' and treating it in an endearing way, mostly intended as a jab that something so outlandish just can't happen. Fast forward to the contentious reception of the second season of the Netflix series (along with voices raising up already during first season) over its BroadStrokes approach to the material and ''The Hexer'' indeed got re-evaluated as, ironically, TruerToTheText.
** In particular, Torque the devil was almost traditionally torn apart for being just an actor in basic make-up in ''The Hexer''. On announcement that ''The Witcher'' is going to have him started the jokes about people talking praises about the make-up from ''The Hexer''... which happened once the version from ''The Witcher'' turned out to be crappy CGI (further made worse due to the fact it was added in post over an impressive make-up).

** "''Miecz przeznaczenia ma dwa ostrza – jedno z nich zostało wyszczerbione"'' [[labelnote:direct translation]]"The sword of destiny has two edges – one of them has been chipped"[[/labelnote]] is a paraphrase of the saying taken from the book series: "the sword of destiny has two edges - one of them is you" and an untranslatable pun on Michał Szczerbic's (the screenwriter) last name. This phrase circulated throughout Polish Usenet groups and mailing lists in the early 00s.
** "Witcher is real-life medieval history" - a more recent meme, started in early 2010s. It is based on the fact TVP Historia, a sub-channel of Polish public TV dedicated to historical fiction and documentaries was not only airing ''The Hexer'' (and ''still'' has regular reruns), but the most popular bootleg version was ripped with their logo in it.
* {{Misblamed}}: While the script prepared by Michał Szczerbic is far from perfect, most people openly ignore (or don't even know) he was forced to [[WritingAroundTrademarks write around copyrights]], since [[Creator/AndrzejSapkowski Sapkowski]] only sold rights to specific short stories and even ''bits of them'', as he was not satisfied with offered money. This obviously made filming them as they are in text impossible, forcing a lot of creative changes to still keep the basic premise and, most importantly, fill the contracted 13 episodes with ''something''. For example, that's how the two {{Origins Episode}}s came into existence. In the first draft, they've existed as a few minute long sequence of young Geralt being taken away from his parents, itself told as a NightmareSequence, and that was it. Also, the very same Szczerbic created an original script for ''Film/{{Rose}}'', which is widely acclaimed as one of the best movies made in post-commie Poland and his script won an entire collection of awards, so it's not him being an incompetent writer.
* NarmCharm: As mentioned below under VindicatedByHistory, over the years the approach to the series moved toward this trope. People became far more forgiving to the technical quality of a shoe-string budget fantasy series, rolling with the crappy special effects and hamtastic delivery of certain cast members.
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Zbigniew Zamachowski proved to everyone that the choice to cast him as Dandelion was the best thing imaginable, even if he managed to gain haters just for the fact he was picked to play the role. More details under AbilityOverAppearance.

** There is also Adda in her striga form, which is ''very'' obviously ''very'' male Zbigniew Modej, the stunt double inside the costume. Further contrasted with the "[[LittleBitBeastly mostly human]]" make-up on Magdalena Górska, who played Adda in her human form.

* ValuesDissonance: A double-whammy, both in Poland and internationally. When aired in Poland, the series and its ratings are an inversion of an [[UsefulNotes/MotionPictureAssociation American-style]] rating system: swearing is a total non-issue and scenes with sex and nudity (which is never [[ModestyBedsheet covered]]) are usually 12+, rarely 16+... but scenes of graphic violence routinely are either flagged as 16+ or even "adult-only". Upon first airing, the entire series got an uniform "parental supervision" rating, which is nowadays equal with 12+ - and on top of that, it was aired during Sunday afternoons, aka ''the'' most safe and sanitised hours in Polish TV. This might lead to some confusion when watching any of the bootleg copies, as they will be clearly displaying the age-restriction icon on screen. On top of that, the original, Sunday time slot would be ''illegal'' just 3 years after the first airing, since anything containing even a single scene with a 16+ rating can't be aired before 8 PM from 2005 onward.
* VocalMinority: The fandom of the books toward the TV series, all things considered. Professional critics enjoyed it, fully understanding the technical difficulties of such production, budget restrains and the concept of BroadStrokes. The series never went below 2.5 million viewers per episode (with some reaching close to 4 million mark) during premiere run, making it one of the most viewed TV series of 2002 and 2003, no matter how loud book fans were booing. To put that into perspective - that's the viewership rate you can expect in Poland from a prime time foreign TV series at peak of its popularity.
** Specifically, there was a self-appointed fan committee to "protect the true spirit of The Witcher", organised during the late phase of the production. Despite making a ''lot'' of fuss about everything being completely wrong about the incoming film and series, it consisted of ''86 people'', being ridiculed even within the fandom itself for their over-the-top reaction.
* WTHCastingAgency: Marek Walczewski, a well-established drama actor was offered a role of [[KnightInShiningArmor Eyck of Denesle]], a no-nonsense knight on a quest to slay a dragon. Thing is, it was right after Walczewski was affected by LeslieNielsenSyndrome, playing a nearly-blind alcoholic police officer in ''13. Precinct'' sitcom. This turned all his serious and pompous lines into unintentional comedy gold, since vast majority of viewers were simply unable to think about him as anything else than [[IAmNotSpock Stępień]]. What makes the whole thing even weirder is the fact Heritage Films, a co-producer of ''The Hexer'', was the company behind ''13. Precinct'', so one would expect from them to realise the whole problem.

* VocalMinority: The fandom of the books toward the TV series, all things considered. Critics enjoyed it, fully understanding the technical difficulties of such production, budget restrains and the concept of BroadStrokes. The series never went below 2.5 million viewers per episode (with some reaching close to 4 million mark) during premiere run, making it one of the most viewed TV series of 2002 and 2003, no matter how loud book fans were booing. To put that into perspective - that's the viewership rate you can expect in Poland from a prime time foreign TV series at peak of its popularity.

* VindicatedByHistory: In a rather odd case, a share of the fandom dissatisfied with the [[Series/TheWitcher2019 Netflix series]] turned back towards ''The Hexer'', seeing its faults as NarmCharm rather than DarthWiki/SoBadItsHorrible. Not to mention, just read through this very page and you will notice that the fandom's much-mentioned burning hatred for ''The Hexer'' is nowhere to be found in here.

** In particular, Torque the devil was almost traditionally torn apart for being just an actor in basic make-up in ''The Hexer''. On announcement that ''The Witcher'' is going to have him make start to the jokes about people talking praises about the make-up from ''The Hexer''... which happened once the version from ''The Witcher'' turned out to be crappy CGI (further made worse due to the fact it was added in post over an impressive make-up).

** In particular, Torque the devil was almost traditionally torn apart for being just an actor in basic make-up in ''The Hexer''. On announcement that ''The Witcher'' is going to have him make start to the jokes about people talking praises about the make-up from ''The Hexer''... which happened once the version from ''The Witcher'' turned out to be crappy CGI (further made worse due to the fact it was added in post over impressive make-up).

* HilariousInHindsight: When Netflix announced [[Series/TheWitcher2019 its own adaptation]] of the Witcher short stories, it was a running joke in Poland that people will end up re-evaluating ''The Hexer'' and treating it in an endearing way, mostly intended as a jab that something so outlandish just can't happen. Fast forward to the contentious reception of the second season of the Netflix series (along with already voices raising up during first season) over its BroadStrokes approach to the material and ''The Hexer'' indeed got re-evaluated as, ironically, TruerToTheText.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Zbigniew Zamachowski proved to everyone that the choice to cast him as Dandelion was the best thing imaginable, even if he managed to gain haters just for the fact he was picked to play the role. More details under AbilityOverAppearance.

* VindicatedByHistory: In a rather odd case, a share of the fandom dissatisfied with the Netflix series turned back towards ''The Hexer'', seeing its faults as NarmCharm rather than DarthWiki/SoBadItsHorrible. (Not to mention, just read through this very page and you will notice that the fandom's much-mentioned burning hatred for ''The Hexer'' is nowhere to be found in here.)

* VindicatedByHistory: In a rather odd case, a share of the fandom dissatisfied with the Netflix series turned back towards ''The Hexer'', seeing its faults as NarmCharm rather than SoBadItsHorrible. (Not to mention, just read through this very page and you will notice that the fandom's much-mentioned burning hatred for ''The Hexer'' is nowhere to be found in here.)

* MemeticMutation: "''Miecz przeznaczenia ma dwa ostrza – jedno z nich zostało wyszczerbione"'' [[labelnote:direct translation]]"The sword of destiny has two edges – one of them has been chipped"[[/labelnote]] is a paraphrase of the saying taken from the book series: "the sword of destiny has two edges - one of them is you" and an untranslatable pun on Michał Szczerbic's (the screenwriter) last name. This phrase circulated throughout Polish Usenet groups and mailing lists in the early 00s.

* WTHCastingAgency: Marek Walczewski, a well-established drama actor was offered a role of [[KnightInShiningArmor Eyck of Denesle]], a no-nonsense knight on a quest to slay a dragon. Thing is, it was right after Walczewski was affected by LeslieNielsenSyndrome, playing a nearly-blind alcoholic police officer in ''13. Precinct'' sitcom. This turned all his serious and pompous lines into unintentional comedy gold, since vast majority of viewers were simply unable to think about him as anything else than [[IAmNotSpock Stępień]]. What makes the whole thing even weirder is the fact Heritage Films, a co-producer of ''The Hexer'', was the company behind ''13. Precinct'', so one would expect from them to realise the whole problem.

** On meta level, the utter failure of the film and the quality of special effects used in it made Polish players really snarky toward the sole concept of first The Witcher video game when it was still in development. They've been wrong. Boy, they've been wrong.

* BrokenBase: The quality of the adaptation itself aside, the concept of using aikido moves for choreography and Geralt's combat training is a divisive subjest, to say the least. Part of the fandom mocks it as taking the "machine" part of witchers behaviour too literally and against existing descriptions from the boks, the other considers the fluid moves that never drop momentum what really solds Geralt as absolutely awesome combatant.

* GrowingTheBeard: Happens quite literally. In first three episodes, Geralt is either still a kid and then clean shaven. Those episodes are coincidently considered the weakest, as they are almost entirely made out of original content and suffer from minor case of RomanticPlotTumor. The series starts for real by 4th episode, where Geralt emerges from some dungeon - bloodied, bearded, scarred and as hardened witcher with some serious experience behind his belt.

* {{Misblamed}}: While the script prepared by Michał Szczerbic is far from perfect, most people openly ignore (or don't even know) he was forced to [[WritingAroundTrademarks write around copyrights]], since [[Creator/AndrzejSapkowski Sapkowski]] only sold rights to specific short stories and even ''bits of them'', as he was not satisfied with offered money. This obviously made filming them as they are in text impossible, forcing a lot of creative changes to still keep the basic premise and, most importantly, fill the contracted 13 episodes with ''something''. For example, that's how the two {{Origins Episode}}s came into existence. In the first draft, they've existed as few minute long sequence of young Geralt being taken away from his parents, itself told as a NightmareSequence, and that was it. Also, the very same Szczerbic created an original script for ''Film/{{Rose}}'', which is widely acclaimed as one of the best movies made in post-commie Poland and his script won an entire collection of awards, so it's not him being an incompetent writer.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Aside from wooden acting of certain members of the cast and SpecialEffectFailure, this is one of the reasons why fans hate the movie and TV series.

** And the mentioned above fan committee? It consisted of ''86 people'', ridiculed even within the fandom itself for their over-the-top reaction.

** Ask average Witcher fan from Poland how does Dandelion looks like. The most likely description you will get will be that of Zbigniew Zamachowski, who looks ''nothing'' like the book counterpart. Game adaptation changed that slightly, but its still there.

* InternetBackdraft: Just ''mentioning'' the series and especially the film among Polish fandom is a guaranteed way to start a FlameWar, even if you don't take any stance toward it and simply remind people it exists. It makes just about any conversation directly about either the series or the film impossible.