Game of Thrones

[TheLeviathan]

This board should be ashamed that only now this thread exists. The question is not just how awesome this show is and how hotly you anticipate the return......it's how many times would you throw granny off a bridge to see it now and not wait a minute longer.

 

 

At least 15 adorable elderly ladies before I even blink. (All in jest....hope that was obvious!)

 

But seriously if that would help....

[Squirrel]

I don't get HBO so I haven't watched it, but can probably catch up with last season's. Read the books?

[TheLeviathan]

I started with show so now I'm scared to read them so I don't get spoiled. But I will when the series concludes. They are way worth the rental fee!

[PseudoSABR]

Evidently the books just don't have the same aesthetic style as the show. The show is subtle and sharp. I'd catch up on teh DVDs, it's worth it.

[Mike Sixel]

1. The books are great, but very long after book three. I am about done with book 5 now, and I to re-read wikipedia a couple of times to remember everything that came before....really, really long. That said, they are really well written. Unless you hate violence and sex....

 

2. the blu rays are great. I do not have HBO, but have the first two seasons on blu ray. Once we watch the last episdoe of ROME (also good), we will re-watch season 1, then watch season 2.

 

3. Really, the books are intimidating, but good. My biggest worry (re: ASoIF) is that Martin passes before he finishes. Heck, at this rate, I might pass before he finishes.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'll be curious to see if the show turns into a hot mess like the books.

 

Too many characters, too many divergent storylines, too little payoff. Martin's idea of character development is Hydra-esque... Each character (barring 2 exceptions) remains the exact same until he/she is killed, at which point that character is replaced by two other characters. Rinse, repeat.

 

But I'm enjoying the hell out of the show. It's perfectly cast.

[Mike Sixel]

I do agree, we could lose a third of each book and characters in the books......hydraesque, love that one

[glunn]

I never have the time/energy to read novels, but I have been loving the HBO series. I especially like the blonde with the dragons.

[gunnarthor]

I loved the novels and the show. The casting has been nearly pitch perfect. Ygritte is, um, wow.

 

The show has had to simplify a lot of things - Robb Stark's second army is missing and his wife is inaccurate, Dany's overseas adventures as a few examples - but it gets the tone and atmosphere perfectly. The conversations between Varys and Littlefinger in the first season were great.

[Oxtung]

I don't think the books are that good tbh. There are other series in the same genre that are much better. The first season on DVD though was great. Perhaps the aesthetics of the visual medium make this a MUCH more interesting story line

[Mike Sixel]

Book three is a great book. The other books have high and low points, and need editing, IMO. Yes, there are many great series.....

[BrentMpls]

Love both the show and the books.

 

My disappointment with the show is the apparent lack of budget. The tourney in the first season held for the Hand of the King looked like it was setup in someones backyard and had 30 people there tops. In the book it was a monumental spectacle. The list goes on. Some changes make sense to keep the character (actor) cost down, but other stuff just seems really bizarre. The battle of blackwater was also pretty lackluster compared to the book.

 

My problem with the books is who knows when the next one will come out... or if it will finish. It doesn't help that Martin himself says stuff like "...hopefully it will have an end"

[TheLeviathan]

Honestly, I've been impressed they done this much for a pay-cable station. I marvel sometimes that they have enough to do what they've done. This isn't a several hundred million dollar movie production, you have to keep your expectations reasonable.

 

I think with that in mind what they've done is amazing.

[Willihammer]

I had to put the show on pause till I finish the book series. After watching the first couple episodes I realized much prefered my own renditions of Cersei and Daenerys to the actresses. At least they seem to have gotten someone good for Tyrion though. I'll pick it back up in a week or two probably as I'm about half through the 5th book at this point. But then again the 6th book is coming out next fall...

 

5th book is my favorite too - Reek is one of the darkest and most twisted characters I've ever encoutnered.

[BrentMpls]

But then again the 6th book is coming out next fall...

 

 

Where did you see this information?

[BrentMpls]

Honestly, I've been impressed they done this much for a pay-cable station. I marvel sometimes that they have enough to do what they've done. This isn't a several hundred million dollar movie production, you have to keep your expectations reasonable.

 

I think with that in mind what they've done is amazing.

 

Its been pretty subpar, especially in the two instances I mention above.

 

On top of that, many (all?) of the alterations the show makes in the story aren't creative choices to keep things fresh, rather done for budget reasons.

[Willihammer]

Where did you see this information?

 

I was confused. What I meant is that a sample chapter would be released this fall, according to rumors from last year anyway, not the whole book. AFAIK book six is looking at a 2014 release.

[Mike Sixel]

The Dany actress is a compromise, they could not have someone that young (as the books) play that role on screen. That's the reason for that change.

 

funny, I totally pictured the actress this time when finishing book 5 for Cersei, which admittedly is not the picture I had in my mind before.

[Willihammer]

funny, I totally pictured the actress this time when finishing book 5 for Cersei, which admittedly is not the picture I had in my mind before.

Yeah its tough to shake an actors' face and voice once you've seen it. The actress who plays Cersei especially, she just does not deliver with nearly as much venom or impact as I'd imagined her. Nothing worse than a weak villain IMHO.

[gunnarthor]

Digging this back up, but did anyone watch the Red Wedding episode last night? My wife was not happy. Poor dead Robb.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Yeah its tough to shake an actors' face and voice once you've seen it. The actress who plays Cersei especially, she just does not deliver with nearly as much venom or impact as I'd imagined her. Nothing worse than a weak villain IMHO.

 

I think Lena Headey is awesome in the role. She has a restrained coldness that I think fits the character nicely.

 

After all, the character isn't necessarily evil, only self-serving.

[TheLeviathan]

Yeah, I love how Cersei is portrayed. I think sometimes it's too easy to make a character campy or too over the top, her cold indifference is really well acted.

 

As for last night, the slow build to that gutting of the moral core of the show was brilliantly done.

[PseudoSABR]

The Starks seem so gun-ho through the entire affair, that they didn't even consider betrayal; I kept waiting for it, yes, until the point that I no longer thought it would happen. What was surprising was the casual brutality of the Freys.

[TheLeviathan]

I was more surprised by the casual brutality of Bolton. He's been presented, thus far, as a mostly loyal, ho-hum character. I mean, he let Jaime go secretly and that was a bit alarming, but he's hardly been portrayed as a ruthless turncoat waiting to happen. Frey has always been shown, at least to some degree, as a tentative/undesirable alliance.

 

I read in a review that the salt and bread thing was highlighted early in the episode because that was an ancient Westeros tradition meant to ensure safety against betrayl. So not only did Bolton and Frey betray them, they basically took a big steaming dump all over some very engrained traditions in doing so. I love the nuance and the brutality of it even more on the second viewing.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Yep, the books mention the bread and salt thing a few times.

[Mike Sixel]

The interwebs are apparently a mess over the Red Wedding. For me, that is one of the high points of the books. Everything leading up to it is so well written. Maybe I'm nostalgic or something, but I really love this whole section of the books in and around Book 3.

[Turd Furgeson]

I was more surprised by the casual brutality of Bolton. He's been presented, thus far, as a mostly loyal, ho-hum character. I mean, he let Jaime go secretly and that was a bit alarming, but he's hardly been portrayed as a ruthless turncoat waiting to happen. Frey has always been shown, at least to some degree, as a tentative/undesirable alliance.

 

I read in a review that the salt and bread thing was highlighted early in the episode because that was an ancient Westeros tradition meant to ensure safety against betrayl. So not only did Bolton and Frey betray them, they basically took a big steaming dump all over some very engrained traditions in doing so. I love the nuance and the brutality of it even more on the second viewing.

 

I know this thread is a bit old, but when a house takes people under their care and protection in their own house and then to betray that oath with murder is one of the most grave sins you can commit in the Game of Thrones universe. The North does not forget.

[TheLeviathan]

My god has Season 4 been well done. We're not even at the usual penultimate episode (typically the best) and I've been utterly shaken by a few of the recent episodes.

 

Really fantastic stuff.

[diehardtwinsfan]

yeah, I missed last night's episode, but I know it's good when my wife texts me saying it was gruesome...

[TheLeviathan]

Gruesome is an understatement. And that says nothing of the 55 minutes before that scene that were equally as captivating.