HBO's Game of Thrones

[Maximus]

Thumbs up to this series. It was absolutely terrific this season. I didn't get into it until the 8th episode (thanks to comcast for On Demand) and it was marvelous. Terrific acting, great plot and dialogue. Some brutal and shocking things and this show does not pull punches. If you have OnDemand, check it out, its worth it.

its available on demand? how much per episode? do you need HBO to get it?

[oxcoug]

its available on demand? how much per episode? do you need HBO to get it?

I'm not sure abt the per episode. I'm making the most of HBO that I'm probably going to give up soon. I don't how long it will take them to have the DVDs now that Season 1 is over?

Anyway - it's been sensational.

The writing, the sets, the direction and the acting have just been superb. I wld pay at least $10 and possibly more for the guys who did this to re-produce the LOTR because I think that this type of world comes off much more richly in their hands than in Peter Jackson's.

And other than the scene w/ the one chick eating the heart of the horse the graphic violence hasn't been too excessive for most of it.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Thumbs up to this series. It was absolutely terrific this season. I didn't get into it until the 8th episode (thanks to comcast for On Demand) and it was marvelous. Terrific acting, great plot and dialogue. Some brutal and shocking things and this show does not pull punches. If you have OnDemand, check it out, its worth it.

I mentioned this in another thread but with hbo go you can watch every single episode of basically every show hbo has ever done. You get hbo go with a subscription on satellite or with most cable systems.

Game of Thrones was fantastic. It's in my top five TV shows of all time. But I think its also a mistake to think these guys could do a better job with Lord of the Rings than Peter Jackson. The source material for Game of Thrones is infinitely better than LOTR as far as producing a television series (in fact, I think the source material is better period). Additionally, I dont think there's enough LOTR material.to male a series out of. Also, in order to satisfy movie audiences you have to stage the big battle scenes, which cost money. You didn't have too many scenes like that in Game of Thrones, and I couldn't care less that they were largely left out.

[oxcoug]

But I think its also a mistake to think these guys could do a better job with Lord of the Rings than Peter Jackson. The source material for Game of Thrones is infinitely better than LOTR as far as producing a television series (in fact, I think the source material is better period). Additionally, I dont think there's enough LOTR material.to male a series out of. Also, in order to satisfy movie audiences you have to stage the big battle scenes, which cost money. You didn't have too many scenes like that in Game of Thrones, and I couldn't care less that they were largely left out.

Yeah I wasn't talking about a series (though there wld be plenty LOTR at least for a mini-series) - I'm just saying that the set sensibility and direction is much better than Jackson's LOTR, and it could be translated into a major motion picture or a series. I'm sure I'm in the minority on this, but I was never a huge fan of Jackson's productions. I think he did a pretty good job, but that it could have been much better.

[woot]

It's really hard to compare LotR to GoT, but I think both productions are great, and each is better than its source material.

LotR is a classic, albeit simple, story that benefits immensely from the rich world that Tolkien created. Jackson handled evil a lot better than he handled good, but I adore the movies outside of a few cheeseball nods to the kiddies.

Martin's series is much more mature and nuanced, but suffers from logorrhea something fierce (and probably won't ever be finished because of it). The prose is great for the most part, much better than Tolkien's to be sure, but the whole thing should have been scaled back to pretty much exactly what we see in GoT. All of that detail just seemed superfluous to me, and ultimately made me lose interest after the 3rd book. But the production, outside of a couple miscast actors and nudity so gratuitous as to make a C-grade horror director blush, has been quite spectacular.

[woot]

One other thing that might as well be noted at this point that may not have been evident before, is that GoT is a tale much more similar to The Wire than LotR.

GoT and The Wire: "Multiple factions, each of which include some good and bad apples, vie for dominance in an endless and somewhat pointless war."

LotR: "The totally awesome good guys defeat the mindless evil hordes"

I sure do love LotR, but it is what it is.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

It's really hard to compare LotR to GoT, but I think both productions are great, and each is better than its source material.

LotR is a classic, albeit simple, story that benefits immensely from the rich world that Tolkien created. Jackson handled evil a lot better than he handled good, but I adore the movies outside of a few cheeseball nods to the kiddies.

Martin's series is much more mature and nuanced, but suffers from logorrhea something fierce (and probably won't ever be finished because of it). The prose is great for the most part, much better than Tolkien's to be sure, but the whole thing should have been scaled back to pretty much exactly what we see in GoT. All of that detail just seemed superfluous to me, and ultimately made me lose interest after the 3rd book. But the production, outside of a couple miscast actors and nudity so gratuitous as to make a C-grade horror director blush, has been quite spectacular.

Who do you think was miscast? Baelish? Greyjoy? Jaime Lannister? I haven't read the books, but at least in the case of Baelish and Jaime Lannister, it seems like there should be more gravity with these two actors.

I don't think they could have found better actors to portray Tyrion Lannister and Joffrey. I'm also unclear as to whether we're supposed to hate Jorah Mormont and Daenarys Targarian -- the guy that plays Jorah Mormont is great.

[DapperDan]

Who do you think was miscast? Baelish? Greyjoy? Jaime Lannister? I haven't read the books, but at least in the case of Baelish and Jaime Lannister, it seems like there should be more gravity with these two actors.

I don't think they could have found better actors to portray Tyrion Lannister and Joffrey. I'm also unclear as to whether we're supposed to hate Jorah Mormont and Daenarys Targarian -- the guy that plays Jorah Mormont is great.

I'm curious as well. Baelish and Jamie are pretty spot on. Cat is the main one that sticks out a "wrong" to me, although I really like her performance.

There's the usual thing of actors not fitting their book descriptions. Robb has auburn hair, Arya is called "horseface" and laments at not being beautiful like Sansa, Tyrion is a lot uglier and more deformed than Dinklage, the Lannisters tend to have long curly hair, Jorah Mormont is bald and ugly, stuff like that. And the usual age changes that always happen. Daenerys is 13 when the book starts, Robb is 15 by the end and Walder Frey is about 90.

I don't think any of that is all that big of a deal.

I have to admit that the excessive nudity has irritated me as well, but the book is at least as bad with it if not more. You tend to not notice it as much on the page. The "last straw" scene was the "prostitute training" while Baelish gave his little speech. I hated that such an informative character moment was fighting with feigned pleasure for the viewer's attention.

Other moments, like Hodor's big entrance and the first scene with Shae, were straight out of the book.

[BigPiney]

I have been reading the Hunger Games series and I was thinking how well this would translate to a series much like GoT, as opposed to the movie that they are doing. I actually it would fit better with the aspect of how everything in the books, or at least all the action is made for tv. Someone with a big budget could really do this well.

[Flystripper]

I'm curious as well. Baelish and Jamie are pretty spot on. Cat is the main one that sticks out a "wrong" to me, although I really like her performance.

There's the usual thing of actors not fitting their book descriptions. Robb has auburn hair, Arya is called "horseface" and laments at not being beautiful like Sansa, Tyrion is a lot uglier and more deformed than Dinklage, the Lannisters tend to have long curly hair, Jorah Mormont is bald and ugly, stuff like that. And the usual age changes that always happen. Daenerys is 13 when the book starts, Robb is 15 by the end and Walder Frey is about 90.

I don't think any of that is all that big of a deal.

I have to admit that the excessive nudity has irritated me as well, but the book is at least as bad with it if not more. You tend to not notice it as much on the page. The "last straw" scene was the "prostitute training" while Baelish gave his little speech. I hated that such an informative character moment was fighting with feigned pleasure for the viewer's attention.

Other moments, like Hodor's big entrance and the first scene with Shae, were straight out of the book.

It is crazy how much they followed the book even down to a large portion of the dialogue.

[KillerDog]

Did.

Not.

See.

That.

Coming.

LOL! That is the very reason I have continued reading the series after the first book. Time and time again you think you know but you have no idea. GRRM does not follow the standard fantasy plot arcs.

[MarkGrace]

Started watching this and I'm about four episodes in. This is some seriously nerdy stuff.

[NorthwestUteFan]

Started watching this and I'm about four episodes in. This is some seriously nerdy stuff.

if you are watching a TV series while you are in Paris, then perhaps you are merely getting in touch with your inner nerd.

[Flystripper]

LOL! That is the very reason I have continued reading the series after the first book. Time and time again you think you know but you have no idea. GRRM does not follow the standard fantasy plot arcs.

True and no character, no matter how much time he takes developing them, is safe.

[MarkGrace]

If someone from the stark family doesn't chop off that little douche bag's head at some point I'm going to be pissed. Now that I got that off my chest, I'm going to flip on some led zep, bust out the dungeons and dragons board (is it played on a board?) and start studying some maps of mordor.