Game of Thrones 14-minute Sneak Peek (HBO) *spoilers!*

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I get both Showtime and HBO on my current service. Some of the shows are really awesome -- it's nice not to have to deal with laugh tracks, and it's nice to get some really gritty stuff. Chandos, you said you've not heard of Oz -- I highly recommend getting hold of the DVDs and watching at least the first two seasons. Great acting, compelling storylines, just kick ass stuff all the way. I feel the same way about Dexter. There's a few other series I wouldn't mind getting into, but man, time is short these days, and the problem with a lot of these shows is that you can't really miss an episode or you totally lose the plot.

 

Waiting for it to arrive in Sweden, approximate ETA 30 minutes. I have been waiting for someone to do a *proper* fantasy series for ages now. It is an affront to the genre and humanity that the horrible "Sword of Truth" was first and managed to be even sillier, stupider and worse than the books. They have more to work with now, let's bless the rest of the world with real fantasy goodness.

Watched it and thought they captured everything really well. So far so good but I must say that I find the nakedness to be a tad gratuitous there more for "edge" value than a real purpose. I would be interested in seeing how someone who hasnt read the books find the show. My thought would be that it could be hard to follow exactly what is going on.

 

Thanks for the spoiler BTA!! It's not in the UK until tonight! Thanks very much!!

 

It's there in the pictures, but you'd have to be really, REALLY on the ball to catch that if you hadn't read the books.

I was less than happy with Dany and Khal Drogo --

Spoiler

It still made it look like the guy was a selfish, forceful douche and that she was more raped than married -- in the book it was made clear that his decency and sensitivity let her relax and she boinked him with some degree of willingness and even enjoyment.

Other than that, I think that it's fairly straightforward and easy for the unread to follow along with the story. All the other changes I saw were for ease of comprehension.

 

I refuse to get excited about this and will not watch it unless that lazy Martin finishes the rest of the books.

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The trailer says "This video is private" so I can't even watch the clip. My frustration with this series knows no bounds.

 

I was just winding you up, I know what happens, I've read and re-read the books .

I thought it was amazing. Some bits had to be changed, of course, because some things just wouldn't work, film and book are two totally different mediums. The classic example is The Shining - read the book and then watch the film. The differences are very obvious, but the changes were required to make a good book into a good film. It's also why Watchmen is a bit **** - Snyder copied the graphic novel almost page for page, and it didn't work as a film because of that.

I thought Game of Thrones was quality.

 

I watched it this morning and enjoyed it very much. However, I'm curious how it is tracking with people who haven't read the book. I can't help but think that they would have found it boring and/or confusing. Maybe that is why they relied on nudity

The episode must have shattered the record for number of beheadings in an hour.

 

I caught a rerun at my parent's house. As someone who hasn't heard of the books before I thought it was excellent, really well made. While I wouldn't call it boring per se it's definitely valid to say that the entire episode was basically just introducing characters rather than actually having anything happening. It's understandable though for a first episode, I presume they'll get on with the plot now. I heard that they wanted to do an extra long episode to start but were turned down by the network.

I thought there was a big difference when they went across the water to the other country. The characters seemed a lot more simple, with the savages being completely one dimensional. They seemed out of place for a grown up political drama, like something you'd find in an action series. Maybe they'll evolve as it goes on but the main country seemed far more interesting.

One thing that was really bugging me throughout was the climate. Unless the area involved is continent sized rather than country it made little sense that it varied so much. The capital seemed to have nice weather but across the water was a harsh desert. And Sean Bean's place was a mix of sunshine and cold. They usually had heavy furs on but at other times characters were fine just wearing normal clothes.

 

That's about two and a half times the length of Britain. I suppose you would see some difference in climate at that scale. I pictured the country as being the size of an old European country like Britain. Looking at that map the place is enormous.

 

I thought that it was the most interesting thread of the entire novel. However, I only read the first two books, and was hoping for a lot more development of that particular thread. I really like high fantasy. Instead, Martin sort of shoved the thread aside [except as a plot device] and focused on his take, lifted from the historical English civil war, of The War of Roses combining it with a fantasy setting, and the first two novels developed into a medieval soap opera, rather than something more original, at least IMHO.

 

...And you have hit on the problem with that particular thread; it is not developed in a meaningful way. It is as if Martin had this idea, a very good idea, but then left off on it for something different. I completely agree with your frustration, Tal. And I'm not surprised that even his ardent fans can't answer your very astute questions.