HBO's Game of Thrones (Partial SPOILERS)

[SadisticCynic]

I had a good chuckle at that part, so I hope not.

[Mandy]

Via Twitter:

HBO HBO
THIS JUST IN: HBO renews Game of Thrones for a second season. @gameofthrones #gameofthrones

[Spicelon]

I love you Mandy!!

[A Thing of Eternity]

So the second season would be the second book I presume? I wonder if they'll change the title, or just keep adding to it, or just leave it the same throughout the whole thing?

There's going to be a very real limit to how long they can keep this going with the same actors. The books themselves don't cover that much time, up to where we are with what's published now I think only about 1.5 years have passed (am I wrong?). Considering that book 5 is coming out soon, then there are 2 more books, potentially with years between their releases - the younger actors in the series are simply going to grow up!

[Mandy]

Yeah, they'll need to hurry or they'll have to get new actors to play the kids! I read on either WiCnet or Tower of the Hand that they're already getting the production team back,so I guess they're not going to waste any time. Hopefully we'll have the second season by the same time next year.

I can't wait to see who'll play Brienne! Will she be a big ugly girl, or only TV ugly? lol

[A Thing of Eternity]

Oh yeah, I forgot about her! That'll be a tough role to cast.

Of course, they found someone to play The Mountain who was actually the same size in real life as he is in the book, so I guess they can find an actor for just about anyone!

[Robspierre]

Finally got around to watching the first episode. Very much in the setting things up mode. I like how instead of showing the entire range of the characters we only saw snippets. Leaves room for us to watch them grow through out the rest of the season. I wouldn't be surprised if some scenes were cut due to length, the wedding in particular. The firs episode was 62 minutes in length and most HBO dramas run 52-55 minutes, I bet we see extended cuts of some episodes when the season is released.

Love the casting of the kids. Music was good, plenty of gratuitous sex, needs to up the violence factor. Dinklage is awesome and I could watch Lena Headey wear a burlap sack and read the IRS tax code.

Rob

[DuneFishUK]

Surprisingly, this episode played very well with the "haven't read the book" people.

As a "haven't read the book" I can confirm this - Very good telly

[Spicelon]

Ok, the Targaryn hair really bugs me. They look like wigs for crying out loud. Never mind that they actually are wigs, but you'd think they could have done a better job making it look authentic. Danerys white hair with brown eyebrows just doesn't cut it. If the creators really wanted white hair as thematic of being a Targaryn, I think a Lucius Malfoy look would have been much better.

Good episode, pretty darn true to the book. I was sort of hoping they would have somehow incorporated Bran's conversation with the crow during his fall, but I concede that would be a hard scene to pull off.

Tyrion is already stealing the show, but in a good way. Love the Imp!

And did anyone else think that The Wall looked like bad CGI? Yes? Ugh.

Not too thrilled with the mauling that Bran's direwolf did on the assassin. Looked poorly shot. But still, lots of blood.

Great scenes with the children again. John and Arya's farewell was beautiful. And The Hound and Sansa's first meeting was good as well. They have what should be some very interesting scenes together coming up down the road. This was a good introduction.

I don't know who said it in this thread, but I agree...Joffrey isn't enough of a prick. He really needs to up his assholeish demeanor.

2 eps in and all I can do is nit pic a few things. So far I'm digging it, very worthy TV.

I'll give it
1 Goblet of Blood out of 5 for the Hounds face and the assassination scene.
2 Bouncing Boobies out of 5 for Dany's sex lessons.

[Ampoliros]

Yeah I'm still getting an irritating vibe from it, and can't put my finger on it exactly.

-hair? agree, it actually looked worse in this one.
-I can understand the poor direwolf shots, since they need to make a normal wolf look bigger and badder. They had better not screw up Ghost at least, since he's the one Direwolf they can't just totally ignore. In Season 2 they absolutely can't screw them up.

-Bran's crow dream. Yeah, WTF. If its not in the next episode as a flashback then the audience has no reason to connect with Bran other than as the poor cripple, and connects more with his mourning family.

I wonder if the actor they got to play Joff is a really nice guy in real life, or just a bad actor. Douchy Prick seems very alien to him.
He certainly has the look down, just not the response.

The way they shot the scene where Ned arrives at the inn was so overhanded that if I had been Ned in that scene, I would refuse to kill Lady and instead sent her back North. I'd tell Robert I'd not punish an innocent for another's crime, all the time staring Joff down. I'd say the price of me being Hand would be Joff admitting he lied, then pack up and head north.

I mean that was a battle line being drawn right there, with it obvious that Robert didn't really rule, Cersei and the Lannisters could bend him. It made me question how Robert doesn't see that Joff isn't his son. As much as a lazy bastard Robert is, he seemed to me like someone who wouldn't want a son who was royal prick. Its like he already knows that Joff isn't his and doesn't care.


That being said:


TYRION / HODOR 2012!!!!

[A Thing of Eternity]

Ok, the Targaryn hair really bugs me. They look like wigs for crying out loud. Never mind that they actually are wigs, but you'd think they could have done a better job making it look authentic. Danerys white hair with brown eyebrows just doesn't cut it. If the creators really wanted white hair as thematic of being a Targaryn, I think a Lucius Malfoy look would have been much better.

It's the dark eyebrows that bug me, the hair I don't have a problem with - but they really should have changed the eyebrow colour too.

And did anyone else think that The Wall looked like bad CGI? Yes? Ugh.

I thought it looked decent enough really, not perfect though that's for certain.

Not too thrilled with the mauling that Bran's direwolf did on the assassin. Looked poorly shot. But still, lots of blood.

I thought so too, the shooting could have been improved quite a bit.

I don't know who said it in this thread, but I agree...Joffrey isn't enough of a prick. He really needs to up his assholeish demeanor.

Man, couldn't dissagree with you guys more on this one, I think he's f-n perfect, what a little tool.

Cersei is the one that's bugging me as far as casting goes. She's just not convincing me of her evilness, or her general paranoia, the actor just has too kind of an expression on her face the whole time.

[Mandy]

I'm with you, Thing. The kid playing Joffrey is doing a great job portraying a spoiled brat with a mean streak. Actually I think all the kids in the show are great so far.

CGI doesn't bother me much, I tend to ignore that sort of thing as long as the story and acting is good.

[A Thing of Eternity]

I do wish some of the CGI was better, Bran running on that rooftop was the one that bugged me a little, not the wall though. It's not even that the CGI is bad, it's just that they're using so little of it, most of those sets are real (when you're in closer anyways) and look so fantastic that you just never get used to the CGI and "tune it out" like one normally would watching this kind of thing.

[A Thing of Eternity]

Just watched the last episode, it's definitely starting to improve as far as pacing is concerned. It's still a little rushed, no avoiding that with a story of this size, but they're starting to do a lot more cutting rather than rushing, which is good. Everything looks really killer - I've revised my opinion on the Wall too. The far off shots from the earlier episodes looked a little cheap, but the closer up ones look pretty right to me.

It's a shame so little of the real action happens in the first book, I think the show will lose some viewers due to this. A friend of mine watched the first episode and thought the into was great, asked me when more of the monsters showed up. I told him it'll be a while! It does start picking up more soon though, so I think that'll draw more people back in.

Shit, I cannot wait until that 5th book comes out!

[Robspierre]

I run a week behind due to responsibilities, I bet we see an extended cut of the first episode at least.

With world building as dense as GRRM's, I think the writers are doing a good job of parsing details out.

Rob

[A Thing of Eternity]

I really hope there are extended versions that will be available later. This first book is already going to be 10 hours on film, extended would make marathons much more insane!

[Ampoliros]

Where is Bran's Dream, or even a mention of it.

WHERE THE FUCK IS GHOST? We've seen him once, as a pup.

Still, I'm enjoying it, even if it still feels very rough to me.

Its funny seeing actors from other roles playing characters here, namely Walter Donovan/General Veers playing Grand Maester Pycelle.

Is there a good web resource online that shows relationships from the books? I keep forgetting things like The old Bear is Jorah's father, or why X family hates Y family or Z cousin.

[A Thing of Eternity]

Where is Bran's Dream, or even a mention of it.

WHERE THE FUCK IS GHOST? We've seen him once, as a pup.

I'm with you on both of these, Bran's dream isn't something they're going to be able to avoid for much longer certainly it would be impossible to cut from the story. They may have legitimate reasons for delaying it though.

Ghost, totally weird, should at least be walking around in the background and such.

Still, I'm enjoying it, even if it still feels very rough to me.

Doesn't feel "very" rough to me, just not perfect. I think the problem is that all this set-up plot was simply much more interesting in written form than it is on film. That's kinda the curse of filming books, so much of the important shit simply doesn't make interesting video. Once the plot heats up I think this will solve itself though, as a lot of that stuff is perfect for film.

Is there a good web resource online that shows relationships from the books? I keep forgetting things like The old Bear is Jorah's father, or why X family hates Y family or Z cousin.

Not sure, but you can just ask here. To be honest I'd forgotten until just this moment that Jorah's father is also the commander of the Night's Watch... took me a minute! I almost wrote that he doesn't really come up in the story! Ha...


The family stuff is pretty straight forward though, at least at this point in the books. Once they bring in the Karstarks and that southern desert family it gets a little messier.

[Ampoliros]

That's where I am in the books, about 1/5th of the way through Book 4. Storm of Swords was bad in the sense that after 300 pages you don't remember half the bannermen when they say so and so won this battle, or that's why I'm mad at House Whatserbutt. Don't get me wrong, I loved the book! I read somewhere that Book 3 and 4 were really supposed to be one book, and he was forced to split them, so he put all the minor characters in book 4.

Oh and I totally retract my statement about the score. I love the intro. I also love Arya, that was a great scene with her first dance lesson.

[A Thing of Eternity]

A lot of that stuff doesn't really matter, it's enough to remember who's on who's side. There are a few major players like the Freys who are important, and the Karstarks, but it's not really very difficult to keep all the important ones straight. All the minor houses and their affiliations/reasons are just embellishment really, in my opinion.

The only book I've really ever had trouble keep straight was Excession by Banks, remembering all the ships/Minds names and what side of which group/conspiracy they're on was really hard on me the first time I read it, not quite as bad the second time.

[Mandy]

This site http://www.westeros.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and this one http://www.towerofthehand.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; have good character information.

Great episode, keeps getting better. I love Tyrion.

[Ampoliros]

Mountainsign! Hodorsign!

Definitely getting better. I wish they had had time to show more of the tournament, but they showed the scene that was the most important, and did it brilliantly.

I do wish they had The Hound tell Sansa the story of his face rather than Littlefinger. We really don't get to see enough of the Hound, or of The Spider.

I loved Robert's line: "We've been waiting for days, have a go at em before I piss myself!"

A good pic of The Mountain:

[A Thing of Eternity]

I thought it was supposed to be the Hound telling Sansa that story, I couldn't remember though. I guess they just felt that was important to show that she knew that story, but didn't have time for a scene with her and the Hound. That's the nature of filming a book I guess.

And we got to see Ghost properly, finally!

Definitely getting a lot stronger. I thought the scenes with Jon really showed his personality perfectly.

[Spicelon]

Even though they didn't do a full dream sequence, they still did a good job, I think so at least, of introducing the Bran/Crow relationship. I also like how it was just enough to make the non-book readers think WTF? The seed has definitely been planted that "something's up" with Bran.

EDIT to add: Every episode I am loving more and more the opening sequence. Just brilliant. Very clever with the toy-like graphics and the music is perfect. Bravo!

[Mandy]

HODOR HODOR!

I'm even more impressed with GoT now. Samwell is just as adorable as I always imagined