Game of Thrones Options

[Gonzogoose]

So, the George R.R. Martin adaptation debuted last night on HBO. Any thoughts from those of you who saw it?

I've personally never read the books, but I did really enjoy the premiere. It's not your typical fantasy story here, there's some interesting things going on. It's almost a mix of straight up fantasy and King Arthur fantasy minus the magic (at least so far - have no clue if there actually is magic). Apparently there are dragons in this world, though.

I will say this - Martin seems slightly obsessed with incest it would appear, coming from two sets of siblings, one welcomed, one not so much. Very odd.

That last scene with the boy and his fate had me very surprised. Excellent lead-in to the next episode as you cared for the boy from the first few scenes.

Overall, very nicely done. So far, I'm hooked.

[Cary]

I actually managed to watch it, and being a HUGE GRRM fan, really loved it. I'd say it's probably as faithful an adaptation as they could get withing the time constraints of the show and budget wise. If it had been a feature movie they might have had a bit more grandeur with the locations and such, but I was pleased with the look and feel of it.

There is very little to no magic in the books BTW. You have a bit implied here and there, especially with the dragons and in the forging of the weapons, but it's very limited, which sets this stuff far apart from most fantasy work out there.

In fact, technically the two white haired kids, the exiled heirs to the Targaryen throne, are considered dragons as well.

As for the incest, while it exists in the books just as much if not more than in the TV version, it's not as rampant as you'd imagine. He's showing you Cersei and Jamie because that's really central to the entire story. Those two and their craziness serve to drive pretty much the entire series, at least in terms of their storyline. Jaimie killed the former king, which put Robert Baratheon on the throne, and set about his marrying Cersei when he really loved Ned Stark's dead sister. So that's all twisted. With the Targaryen kids, that's pretty minor and you won't see much more there. Daenerys takes steps to make sure of that. In their case though it's implied to be a family thing to maintain a pure bloodline, which was pretty common in many royal circles in our own history as well. You get a sense of what it has done to them too, when you see the insanity right behind Viserys' eyes. He's not obsessed with regaining his throne, he's nuts about it. That was one of the reasons the kingdom rose up and killed his father Aerys too. They called him the Mad King.

And Brandon...yeah. That was sad. I'll just leave it at that.

This post has been edited by Cary: Apr 19 2011, 08:19 AM

[Gonzogoose]

Awesome, thanks for dropping the knowledge on this newbie to the saga!

[Crazz]

I never cared for any of the Stark children. Eddard stark has only one child worth a damn, the rest are idiots because of his ridiculous wife. I think Cary has undersold the incest plot a bit though. Yes it drives the plot, but I think it is for front in the story quite a bit. Quite a bit. Definitely not for everyone.

[ChadStrohl]

I love fantasy novels and Ice and Fire has been my absolute favorite - though I have a love/hate relationship with its lack of timeliness on releases. I read A Game of Thrones in 1996.

1996!

That means I might finish this series when I'm in my fifties, providing Mr. Martin lives long enough to finish it. Anyway...

Very pleased (so far) with the show. I am curious about one thing, though. They mention the five pups for five children, but I don't recall seeing Rickon. Was this an editorial gaff? I had heard they were going to combine some characters.

I was a bit worried that the initial show came off slow. Thank God its not network TV or it might get canned by week 3. But if they stay true to Martin's vision (Brant), you have some REAL BIG surprises ahead. This series was the first books I ever read where things would happen that would make me toss the book and stare at it in disbelief. Forget the rules. They don't apply in Westeros.

Winter is coming!

[Cary]

I think Rickon is still in there, he's just not central to the plot right now and they left him out. We'll totally see him because they called out his wolf, so you know it's coming eventually.

And you know at first I felt it was a bit slow in the beginning as well, but the more I think about it, so was the first book. I think that's entirely on purpose. He's grounding us in the world, giving us the environment, and it's also somewhat of a metaphor on the Starks and Winterfel in general. They think, they don't act on impulse. They aren't a rash people because they're always prepared, because as you say, winter is coming.

And Chuck, you're crazy. Where else does he have incest?

[MasonEasley]

I knew this was going to be awesome. I should have kept HBO. I'm going to have to wait until the DVD drops. Problem is, HBO DVD series are so damn expensive.

[Gonzogoose]

Having no knowledge of these characters, I did a quick Google search and Rickon supposedly has been cast, but wasn't in the episode. IMDB doesn't have the character listed though. What I read said he's only 3 years old? Could they have aged him a little and perhaps he was the boy present when Bran was shooting arrows?

Cool on the surprises, I love it when there are surprises.

[ChadStrohl]

I knew this was going to be awesome. I should have kept HBO. I'm going to have to wait until the DVD drops. Problem is, HBO DVD series are so damn expensive.

I assume then that HBO doesn't do any webcasts. That sucks. What if I miss an episode?

[Gonzogoose]

As far as I know they don't webcast. They probably do rerun here and there, but no luck for those without HBO until the DVD or Netflix.

[MasonEasley]

As far as I know they don't webcast. They probably do rerun here and there, but no luck for those without HBO until the DVD or Netflix.

[Cary]

Yeah I don't think you can get them unless it's pirated. Which totally sucks!!

[Gonzogoose]

For those that DO have HBO and missed it, it replays on HBO tonight at 10:30pm Est I believe.

[LurkD]

So did anyone else watch this? I know it was on HBO, but that's still television.

[Gonzogoose]

I did, and really enjoyed it for the most part. Not having read the books I was really surprised by some of the events that happened here and there. Solid show. Extremely short season though.

[novaburst]

I really didn't know anything about it until the artist I'm using for this script I wrote, put the name on a shirt of one of the characters. It sounds very interesting though. I need to check it out.

Here is the page I'm talking about:

[Cary]

I'm still waiting to see the last episode, but so far I really enjoyed the season, even thought like Brant mentions, it is terribly short. The books are well known for leaving you chomping at the bit wanting more as well, so I suppose it's appropriate to some degree, but that doesn't make me like it any better. I did read where they're filming the next season already, so that's good news!

Oh, and the new book, A Dance with Dragons, comes out July 12, 2011 for those of you interested in reading the series. There's two more after this one...I just hope he lives long enough to write them!!!

[Gonzogoose]

Cary, at the end of the last episode they said it returns next Spring, so we're gonna have to wait 10 months! But it did leave on a pretty cool, but expected cliffhanger. Still a pretty cool ending.

[Crazz]

Cary, I think that this is another example of a fantastic story that isn't able to fully transfer over to another medium. Don't get me wrong, I think the show is marvelous, but it's more suited to a viewer who hasn't read the books than someone who has. There is only so much of Martin's writing that can be transferred over without each chapter turning into a Ken Burns length documentary, not that I'd mind of course. It's fun watching this with Meva, who hasn't read the series, and gauging her reactions and feeling on it. She really likes it and of course she's all up my butt with questions, but I'd say the series is very successful so far.

Oh and I think they series ended pretty damn spectacularly. For those that read the books it's not as powerful, but if you've never read them its really damn cool. Or Hot. Yeah, Hot is more appropriate.

[Cary]

Yeah see I felt the same way, that they've cut a lot from the books, but that's in everything you get going from comics or books to film, except perhaps Sin City. I really hope that watching the show inspires folks to go get the books because the world Martin has built is so rich and developed it's truly amazing.

Hot, eh? Hmm. I'll probably be able to catch the reply on HBO tonight or tomorrow if the weather holds for us out here.