[End of Disc One]

Ceda Cicero, on 13 June 2011 - 07:23 PM, said:

Westeros irritates me, I have to stop popping in over there. Tons of "hardcore" book fans just eviscerating the show because they are too wrapped up in their enthusiasm for GRRM's writing to fully grasp the idea of an ADAPTATION.

Yeah I go to that site quite a bit and it seems half the posts are people whining because the show isn't following the book 100%.

[Gothos]

Abyss, on 13 June 2011 - 07:13 PM, said:

Ceda Cicero, on 13 June 2011 - 06:59 PM, said:

Abyss, on 13 June 2011 - 06:52 PM, said:

As an aside, i wonder how many non-reader viewers (NRVs!) went looking for book spoilers online after this and proceeded to truly freak out at what's to come...

Seriously man. I have seen dozens of "OMG THAT SUCKS BUT NOW ROBB WILL AVENGE IT AND KILL EVERYONE!" ::WINCEFEST::

heh... See also:

"Don't worry, Cat will keep Robb alive!" and,
"Drogo/Dany's son is gonna be awesome!!!"

oh jeebus, people are really TRYING to find more ways to be devastated by this series, eh?

[QuickTidal]

Gothos, on 13 June 2011 - 07:50 PM, said:

Abyss, on 13 June 2011 - 07:13 PM, said:

Ceda Cicero, on 13 June 2011 - 06:59 PM, said:

Abyss, on 13 June 2011 - 06:52 PM, said:

As an aside, i wonder how many non-reader viewers (NRVs!) went looking for book spoilers online after this and proceeded to truly freak out at what's to come...

Seriously man. I have seen dozens of "OMG THAT SUCKS BUT NOW ROBB WILL AVENGE IT AND KILL EVERYONE!" ::WINCEFEST::

heh... See also:

"Don't worry, Cat will keep Robb alive!" and,
"Drogo/Dany's son is gonna be awesome!!!"

oh jeebus, people are really TRYING to find more ways to be devastated by this series, eh?

With all the revelations and deaths no one will be expecting coming up in the second series, past Ned's death (I and my gf have yet to watch the ep where it happens), my ONLY saving grace that will totally keep my gf in her seat as a fan of the show without going off the rails is that Daenerys is her fave character...and so at least she doesn't die in the foreseeable future, and with Arya as her second fave I can safely assume my gf will be a fan for as many seasons as they air...for now.

Still, LOTS of revelations coming.

[Ulrik]

Damn, my wife is pretty cynical. She expected it...

Well, I loved this episode expcet for Tyrion´s "battle". Cmon, it was funny, but he deserves his share of fight. It makes Tywin´s view of "whoring unworthy cripple half-son" more...annoying.

Baelor´s Sept was great, really great, my heart was pounding despite reading it many times:) I need to reread "pigeon cake"...now!

Scene with Shae, Tyrion and Bronn was great...and yeah, Shae is really beautiful

[Abyss]

Iirc, the only 'major' deaths in bk 2 are a bunch of Watch brothers during the mission beyond the wall?

[End of Disc One]

Abyss, on 13 June 2011 - 09:10 PM, said:

Iirc, the only 'major' deaths in bk 2 are a bunch of Watch brothers during the mission beyond the wall?

A certain homosexual king as well. And Yoren. And everyone left in Winterfell (Rodrik Cassel, Maester Luwin, Old Nan).

This post has been edited by End of Disc One: 13 June 2011 - 09:14 PM

[Abyss]

End of Disc One, on 13 June 2011 - 09:14 PM, said:

Abyss, on 13 June 2011 - 09:10 PM, said:

Iirc, the only 'major' deaths in bk 2 are a bunch of Watch brothers during the mission beyond the wall?

A certain homosexual king as well. And Yoren. And everyone left in Winterfell (Rodrik Cassel, Maester Luwin, Old Nan).

Ahh, good point. Given the tv series' effort to build up Renly a bit more, that will certainly have some impact, probably the major death of the second season actually.

[Tapper]

Ceda Cicero, on 13 June 2011 - 06:37 PM, said:

This is a pretty short read with a nice, objective analysis and hypothesis regarding the "loop," particularly in terms of how it could effect the show commercially.

If needed: I didn't mean adapting the show that Ned does not die. Instead, I meant saving the 'omfg they really snuffed Sean Bean!!" moment until the start of episode 10 to get a peak of viewers during the final ep, instead of potentially peaking right now.

When they edited the raw material into episodes, there was nothing known about the appeal the series would actually get, let alone the existence of a second season. It is therefore a really daring move to already let one of the main surprises go off one episode before the end - if the critics had said 'series is only worth watching because Bean is the absolute star of the show' (and the article you quote acknowledges that HBO's marketing team deliberately reinforced this outlook in their marketing campaign) and the GoT hardcore incrowd agreed on that, then this might have been the actual proverbial last straw.

This post has been edited by Tapper: 13 June 2011 - 09:36 PM

[Tapper]

Ceda Cicero, on 13 June 2011 - 07:23 PM, said:

Westeros irritates me, I have to stop popping in over there. Tons of "hardcore" book fans just eviscerating the show because they are too wrapped up in their enthusiasm for GRRM's writing to fully grasp the idea of an ADAPTATION.

Piss on them. They got a big budget, a very well casted team of classically trained, renowned actors and up-and-coming talents, ten hours for the first book and their author on the writing/ directing team. If Erikson ever gets half that treatment I'll be so thankful for the recognition he gets and the chance for the series to reach out to a larger public that I'll rather bite my tongue of then comment that Karsa really shouldn't sound like a californian surfer on steroids.

This post has been edited by Tapper: 13 June 2011 - 09:42 PM

[Mott]

Those video's where priceless, nice mood lifter after watching the episode itself, my favourite comment being 'Dany fucks around and goes into labour'.

The ending had me leaning forward towards the screen, I knew what was coming and yet still got insanely nervous, and the neding with the sound bleeding out and the look on Arya's face really worked.

Robb is the standout character so far for me, I think I actually prefer him to Jon even though it was the other way round in the books. The look on his face as he exited the woods and the contrast with Catelyn's joy was really well acted by both of them and his show down with Jaime, who's defiance and mocking was quite impressive, really came off well. Theon as well, his character has been built perfectly, the comments he makes, his amusement over all the blood and warfare, the diffrence in opinion between him and Robb it is subtle enough that NRVs (thanks for that abyss) will probably not read too much into it but those who know what is coming can see the developing conflict.

Tyrion and the hammer was hilarious, it was a good way of not having to actually show the battle as well, having the POV character get knocked out, although I am looking forward to hopefully seeing some Tyrion fighting in the future. They cast an excellent Shae as well and all three, her, Bronn and Tyrion have great chemistry.

Walder Frey is suitably creepy. Jon and Maester Aemon's exchange was good, the intensity and Jon's angst quickly turning round as he realised that the maester did actually understand what he was going through was well played.

Arya was just brilliant as always and Sansa looked so bloody self-satisfied that I was back to majorly disliking her but it made the proceeding speech by Joffrey even more shocking and seeing her expression change into horror at what was happening really had me feeling sorry for her again. She has come across really well in this.

Mirri Maz Durr and the creepy chanting wasn't as pronounced as I thought it would be which is a relief and it made Jorah carrying Dany back into the tent quite terrifying. The sacrafice of the horse and the blood spraying across Dany's face was a nice touch and very symbolic.

Can't wait for next week.

[Ulrik]

Tapper, on 13 June 2011 - 09:42 PM, said:

Ceda Cicero, on 13 June 2011 - 07:23 PM, said:

Westeros irritates me, I have to stop popping in over there. Tons of "hardcore" book fans just eviscerating the show because they are too wrapped up in their enthusiasm for GRRM's writing to fully grasp the idea of an ADAPTATION.

Piss on them. They got a big budget, a very well casted team of classically trained, renowned actors and up-and-coming talents, ten hours for the first book and their author on the writing/ directing team. If Erikson ever gets half that treatment I'll be so thankful for the recognition he gets and the chance for the series to reach out to a larger public that I'll rather bite my tongue of then comment that Karsa really shouldn't sound like a californian surfer on steroids.

Amen! But I fear many of them would say "rather no show, than this shit not reaching genius of our beloved Bible"... Better Im not visiting westeros, it would probably boil blood through my veins...

[stone monkey]

A friend of mine has been waiting nine episodes for that - although he is from Sheffield and an ardent Sheffield Wednesday fan, so the prospect of watching Sheffield United's most famous fan being beheaded was too good to miss...

imo if they don't start next episode with a closeup of Ned's bloody head on a spike - as if to say to the viewers "Yeah, he's dead. Deal with it!" - they really will have missed a trick. I suspect there are still a great number of people out there who haven't read the books and are completely thrown by Ned's death (in fact I know there are) But what are these people going to think about The Red Wedding and all the other stuff waiting for them? (that's if their tiny brains haven't made them switch off and try something a little more pedestrian)


I think a few people are only just now realising now that this is a little bit more than a bunch of people with silly names running around in funny costumes and waving swords about.

[Ceda Cicero]

There are shittons of people coming late to the game on this one. Twitter and Facebook are both blowing up with people watching it On Demand, DVR, etc etc. We're talking like one post every minute on FB. It's hilarious.

[worry]

Just for the record, Old Nan ain't a goner. All the Winterfell women were taken captive by Bolton Jr. while the men were slain. She's got a role to play still, I think. Or hope. I dunno, she's gotta be some kinda mystic right?

[End of Disc One]

worrywort, on 13 June 2011 - 11:35 PM, said:

Just for the record, Old Nan ain't a goner. All the Winterfell women were taken captive by Bolton Jr. while the men were slain. She's got a role to play still, I think. Or hope. I dunno, she's gotta be some kinda mystic right?

Oh, I thought she was dead. Well her actress is dead at least so I doubt we'll even see an Old Nan next seson.

[worry]

Oh man, that sucks. Also, as regards Shae, I don't know if it's been brought up, but besides being an award winning actress, she's a former adult film star.

This post has been edited by worrywort: 14 June 2011 - 12:00 AM

[End of Disc One]

worrywort, on 14 June 2011 - 12:00 AM, said:

Oh man, that sucks. Also, as regards Shae, I don't know if it's been brought up, but besides being an award winning actress, she's a former adult film star.

I have Google Image Search to thank for revealing this bit of trivia to me.

[HoosierDaddy]

Ceda Cicero, on 13 June 2011 - 07:23 PM, said:

Westeros irritates me, I have to stop popping in over there. Tons of "hardcore" book fans just eviscerating the show because they are too wrapped up in their enthusiasm for GRRM's writing to fully grasp the idea of an ADAPTATION.

It amuses me to read the responses right after the show. They've gone off the rocker after this one though with the vitriol. There are some regular Steven Spielberg's over there, or so I gather from reading how they would have so easily got in Whispering Wood and Green Trident.

Makes me almost wish nothing like this would happen to MBotF.... I'd probably murder someone acting that retarded.

[MTS]

It is getting a little ludicrous, especially people nitpicking over minor things that 'ruined' their experience for them, like one guy was annoyed because there wasn't a comment about Longclaw being a 'bastard' sword. Really?

One guy summed up the attitude perfectly though:

Quote

I don't see much substance added to a story or character in any of the battles that they could have (or could have not: $$) added to the episode, the desire for this seems masturbatory.

[Binder of Demons]

I haven't bothered to go to another site and read viewers comments, but all in all I think the series has been handled very well thus far. I do wish it was a 12-13 episode season so things didn't seem quite as rushed, and it would have potentially allowed for a few of the battles to be realised on screen. Perhaps they will do that for season 2 if HBO are really happy with the success of season1.

I know again it's probably a budgetary thing, but my major gripe with the series is actually a cinematography thing. The way it's shot, I never got the sense of grandeur or majesty I would have expected of such an epic series. It has the look of TV rather than a movie, which I don't quite get. No true wide angle shots to show the army's in the landscape, or to give a real sense of scale to "The Wall". I know the close-in shooting style can give an air of intimacy to a scene which is great for character stuff, especially any talky scenes. But when dealing with things like armies marching or any regal event (like the joust for example) I would have liked to have seen how big a deal these things are.


I was only watching Batman Begins the other night and one of the early scenes is of Christian Bale about to start climbing the mountain, and you get an awesome wide angle shot which gives you the scale of the valley and the mountain, and then it drops back to close up shooting of him climbing. But the establishment shot had already done it's job, and showed you the scope of the challenge ahead of him.

Now I'm not saying shoot everything like it was Lord of The Rings, but just a few more establishment shots would be nice. It is the Game of Thrones after all.

Apart from that, I'm enjoying it thus far. The casting has been a major triumph. Robb is really coming into his own, and Catelyn has been excellent. Can't wait for the last episode.