HBO's Game of Thrones

[MechanicalLemon]

Peter Dinklage keeps eclipsing the rest of the cast.

 

Loved his line to Cersei: "It must be hard for you...to be the disappointing child."

 

Oh snap.

[Gfted1]

Someone drop some knowledge on me.

 

Im terrible with the character names so bear with me...The blonde girl with the three dragons was the wife of the leader of the horse people. While he was alive their numbers were huge and everyone was afraid of them invading the seven kingdoms. When he died his flock refused to follow the blonde girl and everyone left. So who is the group of people wandering the desert with her?

[Gorgon]

Various hangers on.

[Junai]

I really want to see some White Walker action now. Some swordfighting. XP-time.

[Gorgon]

Word around the campfire is the next episode has been leaked. I'm kinda getting bored with it but I'm happy to provide a moral dilemma for the rest of yous.

[Syraxis]

Peter Dinklage keeps eclipsing the rest of the cast.

 

Loved his line to Cersei: "It must be hard for you...to be the disappointing child."

 

Oh snap.

 

Book ver. Cersei would have backhanded him and let fly a barrage of mockery. Her Tv counterpart seems relatively "mature", compared to the books.

[LadyCrimson]

Dinklage is definitely in top form in this series. He's awesome.

[MechanicalLemon]

Peter Dinklage keeps eclipsing the rest of the cast.

 

Loved his line to Cersei: "It must be hard for you...to be the disappointing child."

 

Oh snap.

 

Book ver. Cersei would have backhanded him and let fly a barrage of mockery. Her Tv counterpart seems relatively "mature", compared to the books.

 

I'm glad they fleshed out her character in the show. In the books, she's just insane and paranoid.

[HoonDing]

I watched the second episode too. Not bad, but a lot changed from the book.

[Junai]

I watched the second episode too. Not bad, but a lot changed from the book.

Careful, you get piracy warnings if you discuss aired episodes of GoT. Unless you're Gorgon, then you're free to speak about it.

[Gorgon]

You just lack finesse. it makes all the difference. You can report something you have observed, you can't encourage people to do it. Whether straighforward or between the lines.

 

Gorgon : Episode 2 has been leaked.

 

Junai : look at me, I'm totally downloading episode 2.

 

The distinction doesn't seem that difficult to me.

[Junai]

Kings don't need finesse. Look at Joffrey.. *cough*

[Zoraptor]

It is perfectly possible to have seen Ep2 legitimately. It has been shown on an HBO webcast, so simply having seen it implies nothing.

I'm glad they fleshed out her character in the show. In the books, she's just insane and paranoid.

Book spoiler.

 

Presumably that's why she was a POV in book 4, to give her some depth, much like Jaime in book 3. Shame that whereas it did make Jaime sympathetic and understandable her POV just made her look more unsympathetic and bonkers. Seems the TV series is trying to balance how the depth is given more evenly compared to the books.

 

[Junai]

It's a shame they only have HBO GO in a few select countries. Streaming HD-stuff through VPN-tunnels etc. is not an alternative. Neither is waiting for months while networks battle for broadcasting rights.

 

If a Norwegian HBO GO website aired GoT in top quality - at the same time as it's aired in the US, I'd gladly subscribe.

After I started subscribing to Spotify, I never felt the need to dl music.

[Gorgon]

yeah spotify is pretty sweet. I just hate that you can't subscribe without letting them have your facebook information. Obviously a tool to ensure snowballing and momentum in the early phase, it's just that my facebook is none of their damn business. I don't want to have to bother creating a fake profile just to be allowed to sign up to a PAID service.

[Junai]

Weird. I don't even use Facebook. Maybe it's because I signed up before the Facebook-integration update.

 

Back OT; I don't feel the GoT-story progressed a whole lot in the second episode. Maybe we'll see some action next week.

 

 

Cheers, and happy Good Friday.

[Hildegard]

Hello to all GoT fans here...just watched episode 01 and 02 the other day and I'm compelled to say a thing or two. Having read all the books after season 01 ended last year I initially wanted to watch this new season without doing a critical comparison between the show and the books. But no matter how much I tried I couldn't help myself not to view the series through the prism of what I remember from the books. Before giving any criticism of the first two episodes one has to bear in mind that it's a very difficult, if not an impossible job to capture the essence of the story with high quality of the book A clash of Kings in just 10 episodes. That's actually the first thing I disagree with the HBO management, this season should of had at least 15 episodes in order to tell the story as it should be in my opinion. As a result any book reader that's gonna judge this series more thoroughly based on the book will be less impressed, vice versa. What people should understand is that this HBO series is an adaptation of the G.R.R. Martin's books, not a direct ecranization ( or what's the right word for it in English) of the piece which would require such an investment that no production company has or would be willing to make. So from the cost-benefit point of view it's pretty normal that each book be a different season for itself with limited numbers of episodes and no matter what, in the end there's always gonna be people satisfied and unsatisfied with show.

 

Back to the actual episodes...the first one was just a prologue, a set-up for the new season continuing the story of the knows characters where they left behind in the last season and introducing new ones. I myself think that this episode should of been a double one covering the same time length of the story. Why? Well, in 'just' 55 min a lot and too much was shown in too little time causing an effect, as a reader of the books, of moments where I was going: What? When? Already? How? I guess that's the result of unconsciously comparing the things I saw with the things I remember from the book. But putting that a side, various characters were shown a bit too little, too quickly, it felt like a long trailer for me, not the actual episode. On the other hand, maybe those that haven't read the book felt differently.

 

Looking at the new characters in season 2 the actor playing Davos is a total score capturing the very being of the character without having to say anything. Craster isn't much significant for the whole story, but I pictured him even more brutal and hideous regarding his looks and behavior. Stannis in my opinion isn't convincing, the actor in question doesn't radiate that unemotional, stone hard, resolved, conservative and authoritative figure like he is in the book in my opinion. This is Stannis. When it comes to Kings Landing and the new location for filming scenes in the capital it's a little funny to me to get accustomed to the idea of Dubrovnik being Kings Landing when I recognize the city in the show as I live about 200km from it. But the city itself is an excellent place for shooting GoT as the old center still has kilometers of walls and old forts standing. The problem for me is that it doesn't do justice for the large areas inside the royal castle in the Kings Landing, in the book and season 1 they are vast and royal. In Dubrovnik you don't have such areas to shoot those kind of pictures so in these two episodes everything feels a little bit to small and claustrophobic for me. I hope things will somehow be somewhat different in the episodes to come.

 

So now for the things that didn't workout so well for me is the fact that HBO yet again didn't miss the opportunity to make even Game of Thrones a sort of soft porn series. The sex scene that bothered me the most was the one between (*spoiler alert for those that didn't watch episode 02*) Melissandre and Stannis. Sex by itself is insignificant but it is a total misinterpretation of his character. Stannis is bold, decisive, old school, by the book kind of person, the one that always follows the rules to point of obsession. Now he looks as a week minded typical man that can't keep his **** in his shorts for 2.7 seconds. Sure he abandoned the old Gods, but he was never a religious nut as a honor and principle one. He accepted the Lord of the Light mostly because his wife persuaded him and he saw a mean of helping him get the crown. Also, in the book in question, there are indications the two of them maybe having something, but nothing was directly said about it and it is based only on their close cooperation. Well there is another reason perhaps why they put this scene and that is (*book spoiler alert*) to show how the wraith that killed Renly came to life. Although I still think it wasn't very necessary and it could of been shown more discretely like the very indications in the book that something was going on between them in the first place. This way, for a viewer that didn't read the book, I think they failed to picture Stannis to the audience as he really is.

 

But ok, I can live with that. And I repeat, I'm not a person that expects that everything in the book has to be shown in the series, but personally, those scenes that are done correctly by the book are mostly those that are the best ones. (*would be better not to read the following if you haven't seen episode 02*) The thing that bothers me the most is the added scenes, not because they introduced them, but because most of them look to me pointless and done very clumsy. Like some kind of futile attempts of personal interpretation of G.R.R. Martin's book by the screenwriters rather then good scenes that successfully fit in the broader picture. For an example the character of Ros Even. WTF is that chick even doing in the show? What's her purpose and significance other then the fact she has great boobs and looks attractive? If you watched episode 02 I ask you what's the point of all those sex scenes in the brothel other then to be a purpose for itself. Sure there are explicit scenes in the book, but they are totally secondary and in the series a viewer gets the idea it's one of the most important parts of the story. It's not. It looks just a cheap attempt by HBO to get the viewers count up, really pathetic. Then the slapping of Joffrey by Cersei, Cersei threatening Littlefinger with execution, what's the point of those scenes? To show a great amount of story in the book done otherwise through dialog and intrigue through these symbolic scenes? And even if they represent that they are totally inadequate and illogical because that feud between Littlefinger and Cersei is made up and doesn't hold ground. To that point Baelish is a clear ally of the house Lannister and the one that helped take out Ned Stark, there's nothing in the book A clash of Kings that says about such confrontation. And the slap is made up also and serves what purpose? To continue with Daenerys sending that member of her expedition to scout around, what's with that flirting? Just unnecessary, I thought she was gonna say: Oh **** of my Khalasar and that they were gonna do it behind the stones. Repeating for the tenth time, I don't mind the undogmatic storytelling and the new scenes that aren't in the book. But I don't mind them when they are done cleverly and with a good and precise reason, not when they are vague, pointless and actually unnecessary which some of these things I mentioned really are in my opinion. Still, I love this show and just hope things are gonna be better.

[LadyCrimson]

In terms of the way HBO is doing this series: 2nd season

 

Plot arc I'm interested in/would like to know more of: the nightwatch/other side of the Wall.

Plot arcs that I'm so far pretty neutral about: everything else. Don't care who becomes King, no reason to care yet.

 

The constant switching from chr./story arc to another every 1-3 minutes is still distracting and since this time I'm not even familiar with the book, such brevity and bouncing around pretty much divorces me from caring about all the new chrs. they're introducing/establishing. So far at least. But the first half of the 2nd episode did have some nice scenes of political intrigue dialogue. Well written imo.

 

Also liked the brief turn from the actor playing the pirate with the ship fleet and a couple other of the short introductions.

[DadeLeviathan]

The constant switching from chr./story arc to another every 1-3 minutes is still distracting and since this time I'm not even familiar with the book, such brevity and bouncing around pretty much divorces me from caring about all the new chrs. they're introducing/establishing.

 

The books are very similar in bouncing around. They stay a bit longer than the Show (at least the first season. I don't have HBO any longer, so I haven't yet gotten to see the new episodes, how I assume they will follow suit. I love the book series, but this is my complaint about them. They are an ensemble piece, but there are few "easy" transitions between the stories of each charcater unlike their was in Lord of the Rings.

[MechanicalLemon]

So...last night's episode. Wasn't a big fan, to be honest. As a fan of the books, I'm kind of boggled by some of the changes. Also, a little too many pointless sex scenes. Stannis/Melisandre I can understand as well as Theon's. Was the brothel scene (don't want to go into detail here) really all that necessary?

 

A few minor thoughts:

 

-Ros needs to go. Now. I don't understand why she's even in the show, to be honest.

-Can't believe they changed Asha's name to Yara just because it sounds too similar to Osha. While she looks nothing like how I pictured Asha, the actress has knocked it out of the park. She's captured Asha's swagger and confidence really well.

-The scenes with Arya, Gendry, Hot Pie, and Lommy were a lot of fun.

-Can't believe they killed off Rakharo even though he's still alive by ADWD.

-Did they make Davos into an atheist? Because that's the impression I'm getting.

-I'm okay with making Bronn captain of the goldcloaks.

 

/rant over

[GhostofAnakin]

I wasn't a fan of how they chose to make a lot of the characters older in the television series than they were in the books. Two stark (pardon the pun) examples are Catelyn Tully (Stark) and Cersei Lannister. Both were, I believe, in their early to mid thirties in the books. But the actresses they chose are closer to their late thirties/early fourties. Catelyn, especially, looks way older than I imagined. I pictured an attractive 30-something from the book, but instead I'm looking at a woman who looks like my mom's age.

[Calax]

I wasn't a fan of how they chose to make a lot of the characters older in the television series than they were in the books. Two stark (pardon the pun) examples are Catelyn Tully (Stark) and Cersei Lannister. Both were, I believe, in their early to mid thirties in the books. But the actresses they chose are closer to their late thirties/early fourties. Catelyn, especially, looks way older than I imagined. I pictured an attractive 30-something from the book, but instead I'm looking at a woman who looks like my mom's age.

Well, Jon Snow is supposed to be sixteen but looks to be mid20's.

[LadyCrimson]

The books are very similar in bouncing around.

Does it get "worse" in the other books? I don't remember the 1st first bouncing around so much it annoyed me overmuch. But it's been a long time. But at any rate, I think such writing methods work better in a book than series/movie. At least novels you get more exposition/inner thoughts. Not sure how they could have changed it to better, since it's not the kind of series you can probably make one chr. a main story telling pov focus or something.

 

Anyway....question - I don't want major spoilers or anything, but how much longer until we know more about the other side of the Wall? Does that happen in the 2nd book or is it quite a bit further down the line? I'm sure they give it in dribs and drabs, but I mean where it starts to become a Kingdom wide concern or something...if it ever does.

[Gorgon]

They keep hintng at it,

but there's not going to be any unded invasion

Haven't read the books, just second hand.

[GhostofAnakin]

Well, Jon Snow is supposed to be sixteen but looks to be mid20's.

 

Eh ... I don't think that's quite the same. Snow can pass for 16. Especially if a 16 year old decided to grow a full beard and had shaggy hair. I don't know if you follow junior hockey, but just watch what some of them look like come playoff time when the entire team goes with the playoff beard. You've got 16 to 20 year olds looking like they're 30 because of the extra facial fuzz.

 

Michelle Fairley, on the other hand, cannot pass for anyone lower than about 40 years old. And that's at best. Which would still put her about 5 to 8 years older than what her book counterpart is supposed to be, IRC.

 

The kids being aged a bit doesn't bother me that much, especially considering some of the stuff that is done to them or said to them. For instance, Sansa Stark's dress being torn off by Joffrey isn't quite as appalling if the actress is 17 or 18, as opposed to Sansa's book age of about 12 or so.

Edited April 10, 2012 by GhostofAnakin