Game of Thrones

Like I said, I've only read the first one, but while some deaths disappointed me, they did seem necessary to progress the story. I know some of the other characters who die in future books (got curious and looked ahead), but I suspect that in each instance, it's less to just be a "shock" killing and more to advance the story.

Basically, though, I wouldn't trust Martin to keep anyone wholly "good" or "evil" (well, most of the time), and wouldn't trust anyone to say on one side or another, or to live or die. There aren't any guarantees, but it's not like watching a Joss Whedon show -- "Oh, look. Someone in love. $10 says they're dead in the next 5 episodes."

Found some nice propage and jewelry shots on this site:
Behind The Scenes - Winter Is Coming

I read something very interesting about Harry Lloyd- the actor that plays Viserys Targaryen- he's the great great great grandson of Charles Dickens. (I just thought that was kewl! )

Waiting on tonights ep. now..

Regarding props... I LOVE the Lannister family armor they wear..

Jayn said:

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Found some nice propage and jewelry shots on this site:
Behind The Scenes - Winter Is Coming

I read something very interesting about Harry Lloyd- the actor that plays Viserys Targaryen- he's the great great great grandson of Charles Dickens. (I just thought that was kewl! )

Waiting on tonights ep. now..

He also played one of the "Family" members in "Human Nature" and "Family of Blood" on Doctor Who.


So, as I've mentioned, I've only read the first book. But I'm noticing scenes in last night's episode (and I'm thinking about scenes in other episodes) that I'm not remembering from the book. Can anyone who's read all the books so far confirm that we're seeing stuff that is set up as flashbacks in the subsequent novels, only in real-time?

I'm thinking in particular of two scenes:

SPOILERS BELOW












The scene when Renly and Loras are shaving, and the scene when Robert and Cersei talk about Robert's betrothed.



















END SPOILERS



If that's the case, I'm thinking it'll be interesting to see how they play things out moving forward. I mean, basically, this gives Martin...what...five years or so to finish the NEXT book? Not the one that's coming out this summer, but the one after that. That's assuming, of course, that HBO doesn't cancel the series before it ends...which I really hope they don't do because I'm rather liking this.

I've not read any of the books but I'm really enjoying watching the series. The whole political scheming is reminding me heavily of the Wars of the Roses in England.
House of Lannister (Lancaster)
House of Stark (York)
It's not a direct fantasy version but it's nice to see a fantasy TV series that's moved on from the "evil overlord sits on the throne and must be overthrown by a band of plucky adventurers" or something. No prophecies about the death of the king by no man's hand or some such

Some very pretty armour, although who on earth goes jousting with an open neck helmet? Nearly as bad as A Knight's Tale!

Looking forward to seeing how it all turns out. I may even get off my arse and read the books!

BrotherWilliam said:

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I've not read any of the books but I'm really enjoying watching the series. The whole political scheming is reminding me heavily of the Wars of the Roses in England.
House of Lannister (Lancaster)
House of Stark (York)
It's not a direct fantasy version but it's nice to see a fantasy TV series that's moved on from the "evil overlord sits on the throne and must be overthrown by a band of plucky adventurers" or something. No prophecies about the death of the king by no man's hand or some such

Yeah, Martin (the author) has said that he based some of the stuff on the Wars of the Roses, although it is by no means a direct parallel. Still fun, though.

Some very pretty armour, although who on earth goes jousting with an open neck helmet? Nearly as bad as A Knight's Tale!

I had the same thought! That one foppish knight put his helmet on and I'm thinking "Where the hell is his gorget!?" Especially considering the "previously on..." scene featured a fellow with a rather large splinter in his NECK.

Looking forward to seeing how it all turns out. I may even get off my arse and read the books!

As I've said, I've read only the first book. It was good, and the series has heightened my enjoyment of the material.

HOWEVER


1.) Martin has not finished the series. There are still at least two books left to be written. And that's AFTER the one that gets published (allegedly) this summer. He took his sweet time getting the 5th book finished, so it's anyone's guess how long it'll take him to do the remaining two.

2.) As with any long-running series, I remain wary of the whole thing just fizzling or ending and me saying "That's it?! I spent how long reading these books and THAT'S IT?!"

As a result, I've held off reading any others. I really hope he wraps up the whole story soon, though, and that the ending doesn't suck. It'd be nice if he could deliver on the promise of the first book all the way through til the end.

As a side note, I vary rarely start a series until all the books have been published. This annoys my author friends but it means that I don't have to try and remember what the hell happened when I read the last instalment 2 years ago or whatever. It used to be easy when they published trilogies. Then David Eddings screwed that by making his series pentologies. They were what made me stop and wait.

As such I've never got into things like Jordan's Wheel of Time novels (though I hear the guy who finished the series has done a good job). There are always exceptions (such as Charles Stross' Merchant Princes series) but I usually wait until they've completed a series.

At least authors like Katherine Kurtz may continue a storyline but she does it in groups of three

I'm in the same boat these days. I make exceptions for things where either (A) I know the ultimate outcome (IE: the Horus Heresy WH40K books), or (B) the series doesn't require you to know what happened previously to be appreciated (IE: the Sharpe series). But yeah, with something like this? I'm gonna pass on reading further until it's all done. Here's hoping the show spurs him to faster (but still quality) writing.

Am I the only one who thinks that the sex scenes in the series are a little bit too explicit? For instance, we did not really need to hear the sounds of ******** in the last episode -- it was already implied what was going to happen. Sometimes I think that HBO is doing it in excess just because they can...

I think that the explicit sex and gore could hurt the series getting sold abroad to other networks, who are not cable networks like HBO. The national TV station in Sweden has bought the rights for many HBO series in the past, and I am afraid that they won't buy this one.

Yeah, I was a bit surprised at that, and seeing *all* of Theon Greyjoy. Hopefully the other markets will just edit out the objectionable content, rather than give the entire series a pass.

Darth Lars said:

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Am I the only one who thinks that the sex scenes in the series are a little bit too explicit? For instance, we did not really need to hear the sounds of ******** in the last episode -- it was already implied what was going to happen. Sometimes I think that HBO is doing it in excess just because they can...

I could do without some of it especially last episode. I don't care if you're a gay guy, I just don't want to hear about it. OTOH, any day a guy sees breasts that aren't his wife's or girlfriend's it makes you feel like you accomplished something that day.

Eh, they're probably trying to push the envelope a bit the way Spartacus did on Starz. And the sex in the book IS fairly explicit.


But I'm still curious as to the scenes we're seeing in the series that I don't THINK appeared in the first book. The scene with Theon is one, the scene with the King and Queen saying "Did we ever have a chance?" is another. Are these scenes from later books that take place during the first book in a chronological sense, and are being re-woven in, so that they aren't flashbacks?

BrotherWilliam said:

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Some very pretty armour, although who on earth goes jousting with an open neck helmet? Nearly as bad as A Knight's Tale!

I think that was kind of the point. He was pushed into Knighthood and didnt deserve it or KNOW what he was doing. He was handed the position and thought he was hot poopie and died cause he doesnt even know what armor to wear . At least thats what I got out of it.

Though he was supposed to have been a squire right so he should know what armor to give to a knight to joust.

Eh, whatever. lol I dont think tweezers and neosporin are going to solve that splinter though. Ick.

SmilingOtter said:

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Yeah, I was a bit surprised at that, and seeing *all* of Theon Greyjoy. Hopefully the other markets will just edit out the objectionable content, rather than give the entire series a pass.

objectionable? like the breasts and any sexually explicite or implied scenes?

whatever. TV needs more wang.

Paul Andrew said:

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whatever. TV needs more wang.

Agreed.

Sluis Van Shipyards said:

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I could do without some of it especially last episode. I don't care if you're a gay guy, I just don't want to hear about it. OTOH, any day a guy sees breasts that aren't his wife's or girlfriend's it makes you feel like you accomplished something that day.

Gays prolly get sick of hearing that you're straight. To truely "live and let live" you have to resist insisting on conditions.

I insist that you stop insisting!

Less homophobia, more about how much I want a Dire Wolf puppy.

Picard102 said:

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objectionable? like the breasts and any sexually explicite or implied scenes?

Just whatever would keep it from being shown in other places, be it nudity of any sort, foul language, or horse beheadings.

But yeah, if the summers here wouldn't kill it, I'd love a dire wolf (or more accurately one of the Inuit dogs that they're using to play the dire wolves.)

Wolfie said:

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I think that was kind of the point. He was pushed into Knighthood and didnt deserve it or KNOW what he was doing. He was handed the position and thought he was hot poopie and died cause he doesnt even know what armor to wear . At least thats what I got out of it.

Though he was supposed to have been a squire right so he should know what armor to give to a knight to joust.

I don't remember exactly what Stark said about it, but he said something about that it being the first time he'd wore that armor. I might be wrong, but I took it as him commenting on the fact that he should have practiced with that particular armor to get used to it. Like he wasn't familiar with the movement and sightlines while wearing it. Obviously he wasn't experienced, so maybe I took it wrong.

I just took it to mean that the guy was green, generally, and had the real misfortune of going up against the Mountain, who neatly dispatched him. The one with no gorget was the pretty-boy knight, as I recall.

great show hope this show lasts

AWESOME episode tonight.. wanted to make sure everyone realized that you can download next week's at hbogo.com

Agreed, very good. I'm not sure gold would behave quite like that at the end, but still a cool scene.