Television Game of Thrones

[Kenickie]

Now that the honeymoon phase is ending a bit

Here's some gripes of mine:

NSFW:

The battle of whispering woods is one of the most important things that happens because Jaime Lannister is taken and the effects of that are far reaching. I wish they had shown that. Furthermore, I'm not a fan of how it went down in the series (oh surprise, 18k of our troops went the other way). In the books they send out raiding parties and Jaime keeps leading parties to clean them up. Then they trap him and butcher his men and he still nearly gets to Rob to kill him. That would have been a really awesome episode.

Overall it makes me wonder how they'll even attempt book 2 at all..

hey now, i've been complaining about things since the pilot. The sheer amount of shit that had to go into this last episode wouldn't have done well with shortening anything to add two lengthy battle scenes in. It also is a ridiculous amount of money to shoot those, or CGI them.

We received answers pretty quickly. Nelson McCausland, a government minister, shared that the per-season budget was expected to be circa £30 million, equivalent to $45 million U.S. With a ten episode order, this would average at $4.5m an episode, a significant amount of money by most standards in the industry. On top of this, we had additional reports that the production was estimated to inject as much as £20m ($30m) into the economy, an interesting figure that has provided one of our own estimates regarding just what this budget means.

That's exceptionally expensive, and the pilot alone was 10m. So far, I'm fine without seeing major battle scenes for book one play out. I'd rather them save the money, and then put it to good use for when

NSFW:

Tyrion has to kick some Baratheon ass etc etc,

then see it go to waste here, when things moved along just fine without them.

i've got another question for the book readers; what is the meaning behind bran's recurring dream with the 3 eyed raven, and the slain dire wolf with enough pups for each of ned's children? i feel like those are omens or something but i can't really figure out what it means... i don't wanna google anything anymore, i was reading up on the different houses to understand the backstory more and i stumbled upon what happens to daenerys, drogo, and ned accidental spoilers ftl

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The Gods and Magic in the world are starting to become more important, as we'll see later in the series. The world is kind of waking up so to speak (thus the title "A Song of Ice and Fire" - Ice and Fire being 2 of the major elements/magics with their respective creatures - white walkers and dragons). One type of magic concerns dreams. A 'greendream' is a prophetic dream and some characters will have this power. Another thing we may see later on are shapechangers (also called Wargs) which are animal-human spiritual hybrids (kind of) but not to be confused with face-changers which are people who can change their physical appearance at will.

Hopefully that's enough of a hint but not too much of a spoiler (and hopefully I got all the details correct).

Close enough, I think, but also kind of confusing. I would say it was more like possesion than anything else:

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Bran shares the body of his wolf, kind of like his wolf's soul made some extra room for him and Bran jumped in. Bran is himself inside the wolf, but also knows and feels and understands what Summer wants, fears, etc. 'Shapechangers' gives the idea that Bran's body transforms into a wolf, when really it's more like astral projection imho.

As for the deer thing, I think it worked on two levels. Firstly, it shows Tywin as a hands on kind of guy who doesn't hesitate to do the dirty work himself, and secondly because the Baratheon sigil is a stag, which ties in well with the events of the next few episodes.

Yes, and Catelyn understands that too, in the beginning of the book she says something along the lines of:

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They were omens. A direwolf, dead with an antler in it's throat, the five direwolf pups, one for reach Stark child, etc etc. Ned thinks it too, when he has to kill Lady, he knows they were given to them for a reason, for protection, and he regrets taking Sansa's away from her (perhaps explaining why she is the only Stark, left alone and bare in the court?)

 

[Crankinit]

They were omens. A direwolf, dead with an antler in it's throat, the five direwolf pups, one for reach Stark child, etc etc. Ned thinks it too, when he has to kill Lady, he knows they were given to them for a reason, for protection, and he regrets taking Sansa's away from her (perhaps explaining why she is the only Stark, left alone and bare in the court?)

I thought the same thing. They kill Sansa's wolf, and she becomes cut off from her family, losing the support of the north and the things that made her a northerner.

Arya forces her wolf to flee, and like her wolf, is forced to flee in turn.

 

[marissaaaaaa]

very interesting info about the wolves, thanks guys i started reading online a bit about the wargs, but i didn't want to find out too much about what's to happen to bran, so i had to stop myself haha. is there any house that has a deer/stag as it's animal?

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as far as the wolf-stark connection, the fact that the mother of the wolf is slain, leaving it's children to sort of fend for themselves could be looked at as foreshadowing what happens to ned and the stark kids, if you look past the gender

 

[Crankinit]

Yup, that too. There are quite a few small interesting things he's foreshadowed throughout the series. Some of them people pick up on they go on to develop all sorts of theories about what it could mean, others I'm sure we've missed entirely and will only notice with the advantage of hindsight.

The man really is an amazing author. The only other fantasy author who comes close to writing such deep, interesting and above all, believable characters, is Robin Hobb, imo.

 

[Kenickie]

Marissa -- yes.

left to right

Arryn, Baratheon, Greyjoy, Lannister, Stark, Targareyn, Tully

 

[Oxycondone]

Hey everyone I love reading through this thread but I wanted to post a suggestion.

I'm currently watching the show but haven't read the books, like many. I have chosen not to read the books until their relevant season is over because I don't want spoilers and don't want to 'ruin' the show. Anyway so since I watch all the episodes as they come out, I want to hear peoples thought and discuss them in this thread. To do that I have to expand NSFW tags. Unfortunately every second or third tag will have book spoilers in it that give away things (I close them as soon as I notice).

I think it would be really handy for a lot of people who read this thread and are in my position if everyone could just put a simple (book) tag before the NSFW section so people reading know that section contains book spoilers.

Comparing scene in the movie to the book is fine and doesn't need this, but upcoming events should have this tag.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks.

 

[Cyc]

(book}

NSFW:

Speaking of dire wolves, has anyone noticed that aside from the odd camera shot, we actually never see them? In the books, the wolves were a big part of the Stark's lives, but aside from Bran's dog mauling the intruder, and Robb's dog biting off two fingers, I almost forget the wolves are there for any reason but to bite people.

 

[Kenickie]

^^^ not a book spoiler, or a spoiler in anyway (at this point in the tv show, even if you haven't seen episode eight)

Cyc:

{spoiler for episode 8 and the end of episode 7 specifically for jon snow}

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what about when Ghost saves Mormont?

 

[Belisarius]

Latest episode:

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I just want to say that I thought the whole knocking Tyrion out for the battle was comic brilliance. When he woke up, I could almost hear the writer going, "We only have so much fucking money in the kitty. Read the goddamn book." :D

 

[belarki]

(book}

NSFW:

Speaking of dire wolves, has anyone noticed that aside from the odd camera shot, we actually never see them? In the books, the wolves were a big part of the Stark's lives, but aside from Bran's dog mauling the intruder, and Robb's dog biting off two fingers, I almost forget the wolves are there for any reason but to bite people.

Again I'd say this is either a budget or time constraint. It'd be easy to have wolf-sized direwolves while they're puppies (for example as Kenickie pointed out, the scene with Ghost & mormont) but when they're bigger they'd have to turn to CGI right?

 

[Escher's Waterfall]

More minor rants (written vs television):

Really, I think it would have been better if the HBO series explained the whole "why Timmet has one eye" thing. It would better set up the strange bedfellows that Tyrion has allied himself with.

{Book}

NSFW:

Timmet is a member of the burned men, a tribe that goes to extremes, even by the standards of the other tribes. Their coming of age ceremony is basically ritually mutilating yourself. Most opt for a finger or some other minor part of the body. Timmet went for the eye, putting the rest of the tribe in such awe that they basically gave him war-chief status.

 

[Escher's Waterfall]

Also, another minor rant, but the HBO series has yet to have a "Promise me, Ned" flashback.

Doesn't look like it will either.

Is this not going to be a plot point?

 

[Crankinit]

I agree about the wolves, we'll probably see more of them in the future, especially in regards to Bran/Rickon, I'd imagine it was budgeting/effects restraints that limited their presence in the show.

 

[Oxycondone]

I really hope HBO gives the show a budget boost after all the praise the show has been getting from critics and the public. We need epic battle scenes!

On another note @aanallein, who questioned the acting, I think some of the actors are great, most of the main characters are acted well. However I'm not sure if I am convinced by the acting from Kit Harington, who plays Jon Snow. In my opinion he always looks as if he's going to cry. I think he should man up, and be a bit of a stronger character. Of course I haven't read the books so I don't know how the character is portraid in them. Maybe someone could enlighten me.

What does everyone else think of the acting? I think Maisie Williams, playing Arya Stark does a wonderful job fulfilling that character role.

 

[Crankinit]

Jon Snow is actually much worse in the books, I'm not sure if it's the writing or the acting, but they're doing far better at making him an interesting character in the TV series. His chapters in the books were just bogged down in the worst sort of whining and self pity, not very interesting at all.

I agree about Arya, the actress they found is perfect. The flip side of that is that I can't stand Sansa, she's not very well acted and without the insight into her thought process that allows us to understand the stupid shit she does, she comes across as a selfish bitch of a teenage girl, instead of just naive and ignorant.

I'm loving Aiden Gillen as Littlefingers too. One of my favorite characters in the novels and he's just as fun to watch on screen.

Also, Jaime. I forgot the name of the actor, but he pulls off Jaime's arrogance perfectly.

 

[Oxycondone]

I hated Sansa because I thought she was an selfish bitch. Maybe it is just a bad portrail. What you said makes more sense, I was wondering how it is possible that Sansa could be soooo different from the rest of her family.

I agree with you on the good acting of littlefingers and Jaime.

 

[marissaaaaaa]

good idea about differentiating between book spoilers and show spoilers, i was going to suggest that but forgot haha. hmm, so a stag was found dead, then a wolf with the antler in it's neck. total foreshadowing about the king and ned. love it!

 

[Kenickie]

Sansa in the books is definitely a naive, confused, lost girl who's stupid maybe, but not near as evil as she comes across in the tv show.

do we agree?

where do these gifs come from?? where's the fucking promo????

nevermind it's here, some asshole on tumblr just hasn't made a dany gif which obviously is the most important because she's my horse in this race. i said it on the first page so when the series ends and she's on the throne, you heard it from me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ5p18wIQEI

 

[aanallein]

I hated Sansa because I thought she was an selfish bitch. Maybe it is just a bad portrail. What you said makes more sense, I was wondering how it is possible that Sansa could be soooo different from the rest of her family.

I agree with you on the good acting of littlefingers and Jaime.

I think losing her dire-wolf Lady could be a part of why she's so much different.

 

[Kenickie]

but Arya isn't that different.

has anyone read the Dunk and Egg tales?

and the samples from DWD?

eta: can we get a poll going here? i wanna see where we are on reading/not reading.

options like:

I have read book one/reading book one
I have read up to book 2/reading book 2

all the way to book 4

and i'm planning to read & i am not planning to read?