GAME OF THRONES [Book and TV Discussion (US Pace)]

titan18

Probably my favourite so far. Introduced to Renly(hot eh ), Baelish and Varys. Get to see Maester Aemon, and the Night's Watch at the wall. The shot of Jon and Benjen looking over it was fantastic.

Really strong episode.

No Hodor yet But did get to listen to one of Old Nan's stories

pljudge321

Slightly annoyed at how they are consistently referring to 'The Others' as the 'White Walkers'. It's a mix of both terms in the book but 'The Others' is more prevalent.

NSNO

pljudge321 wrote: »

Slightly annoyed at how they are consistently referring to 'The Others' as the 'White Walkers'. It's a mix of both terms in the book but 'The Others' is more prevalent.

I suppose they had to choose one for clarity's sake given the time constraints and 'The Others' does ring a bit 'Lost'-y for telly!

Scruff

very good episode, good character development but disappointed that there is no sign of Ghost with Jon Snow up at the wall which i thought odd seeing as that direwolf is very tied to Jon's story in the book...hope they arent finished in the Stark story on the tv interpretation.

Zapp Brannigan

PErfect casting for Syrio and The Bear. Exactly how I had imagined them.

They really glossed over Jon's story at the wall, no swearing the oath, no real introduction to his friends etc. but I guess that's to be expected.

Also no Samwell yet

EDIT: Also Barristan looks pretty much how I imagined him as well!

Anachrony

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

They really glossed over Jon's story at the wall, no swearing the oath, no real introduction to his friends etc. but I guess that's to be expected.

Don't they take the oath to become sworn brothers after their training? For the criminals they don't really have the option of backing out, but I think Jon still does have that option.

Zapp Brannigan

Anachrony wrote: »

Don't they take the oath to become sworn brothers after their training? For the criminals they don't really have the option of backing out, but I think Jon still does have that option.

Maybe you're right, it's been a while since I've read the books. I just thought the way that Jon offered to go with Benjen was inidicative that he was a brother. But that scene might have been in the book for all I can remember! :pac:

Dades

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

Maybe you're right, it's been a while since I've read the books. I just thought the way that Jon offered to go with Benjen was inidicative that he was a brother. But that scene might have been in the book for all I can remember! :pac:

I'm assuming they haven't even got to the stage of swearing and dishing out the roles to the brothers. The role dispersal is quite a plotpoint. No doubt Sam will be along next week.

The more I watch the more I wonder how the hell they can pull this off on TV. There's so much that works in the books that doesn't make for a compelling TV plot - unless you really are in it for the long haul. The stories are so disparate.

I've a niggling feeling watching this that it's all a bit... cheap. There's a distinct lack of wide shots. Here's hoping that now it's well received they stump up for some big sets.... and some freaking direwolves!

TwoShedsJackson

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

Maybe you're right, it's been a while since I've read the books. I just thought the way that Jon offered to go with Benjen was inidicative that he was a brother. But that scene might have been in the book for all I can remember! :pac:

The synopsis for episode 7 lists Jon taking his oath as one of the events

Scruff

Dades wrote: »

I'm assuming they haven't even got to the stage of swearing and dishing out the roles to the brothers. The role dispersal is quite a plotpoint. No doubt Sam will be along next week.

The more I watch the more I wonder how the hell they can pull this off on TV. There's so much that works in the books that doesn't make for a compelling TV plot - unless you really are in it for the long haul. The stories are so disparate.

I've a niggling feeling watching this that it's all a bit... cheap. There's a distinct lack of wide shots. Here's hoping that now it's well received they stump up for some big sets.... and some freaking direwolves!

Times sure have changed when $60million is considered cheap. Thought the sets on this episode looked really good, more importantly really realistic. Better than a bad wide angle bluescreen crap cgi shot. The biggest let down is the Dothraki sceens, barely looks like 400 rather than 40k...
Hope the direwolves arent gone but am a bit worried how a cgi one will look once they cant use those real dogs any more.

Ravage1616

My only probably so far is the Dothraki, doesn't look like there a massive hoard of warriors and they just seem a little bit cheaper then the rest of the show!

Dades

Scruff wrote: »

Times sure have changed when $60million is considered cheap. Thought the sets on this episode looked really good, more importantly really realistic.

Ah, you're probably right. The expanse of the books would be nigh on impossible to reproduce, and we are talking 10 hrs of fantasy with the budget of a small action movie.

Somnus

I really liked episode 3. It was all about the character development and setting the mood. Most of it felt straight out of the book.

I think the actors playing Arya, Jaime, Jon and Tyrion were all great in this episode. Really capturing the characters.

All though I'm starting to feel that Cersei isn't really how I imagined her. She's much more quiet than I imagined. Even in that episode when she was arguing with Jaime, I had imagined her much more animated and fiery

Paddy Samurai

Scruff wrote: »

but disappointed that there is no sign of Ghost with Jon Snow up at the wall which i thought odd seeing as that direwolf is very tied to Jon's story in the bookQUOTE]

Yeah I thought the same thing.
Overall I am enjoying the series so far.Kit Harington is doing a better job than I was expecting as Jon Snow.

A small thing that bugged me was the deserter,getting back through the wall?.

Morag

There are points along The Wall other then Castle Black which used to be manned when the Watch was bigger. So it's possible for a member of the Watch to use one of them to travel through the wall and go south.

nesf

Episode 4 was enjoyable. I'm pretty happy with the series I must admit, despite the many changes (both small and large) to the book.

Zapp Brannigan

Gaaaah, my first casting I dislike I can deal with the guy from the Tesco ads as Robert but having one of the annoying blokes from Skins as Gendry is gonna wreck my head.

Overall a good episode though, loving Viserys, the actor is really hamming it up and doing a great job!

Had hoped we'd get a glimpse of Dondarrion or Loras during the tourney but maybe next episode.

SuperInfinity

Slightly less amazing than the other episodes I think. It seems to be diverging quite a bit from the book.

I think next week's episode will be better, going by the book. But I felt there was nothing spectacular in this episode that I was blown away by.

Sleepy

Really liked episode 4 myself, pacing finally seems to be settling into itself. The added Viscerys scenes worked for me and the final scene with Catelyn and Tyrion was superbly played by Dinklage.

Kilo

SuperInfinity wrote: »

Slightly less amazing than the other episodes I think. It seems to be diverging quite a bit from the book.

I think next week's episode will be better, going by the book. But I felt there was nothing spectacular in this episode that I was blown away by.

You've got to remember that there's a fair bit of narrative and character's musings in the book, both of which need to be expressed in some way through the onscreen characters. Hence we're seeing quite a few scenes that don't exist in the book that are used to present important information.

Tenger

I agree. The added scenes are allowing the episodes to add detail that would be quite entangled if they followed the books. (EG. The tale told to Sansa by Baelish at the end of Ep.4, it provides the relevant info while skipping the need to set the scene for how the tale was told in the books. Also the Viserys bath scene conveys a bit of history without it being handed to the viewer)

The are certainly racing through the plot set up. Its episode 4 and I'm reading Book 1 at the moment. I'm 80% through it and the series isn't too far behind me. The series may make a big deal of the more 'dramatic' scenes coming.

liah

I, unlike an earlier poster , am delighted to see Chris from Skins in this - he's a fantastic actor and it's really, really nice seeing him doing something a little more international than Skins (though his seasons of Skins were brilliant.)

Not having read the books I've no idea if they actually are going to make something more of his character, but I hope they do.

Sleepy

I'd have liked to see Gendry played by someone a bit more muscular but I can live with the lad from Skins tbh. He can bulk up a bit as the series goes on

A few more pronunciations I had differently in my head:

"Gen-dree" rather than "jen dree"

"Cleh Gain" rather than "Cleh gahn"

Playboy

liah wrote: »

I, unlike an earlier poster , am delighted to see Chris from Skins in this - he's a fantastic actor and it's really, really nice seeing him doing something a little more international than Skins (though his seasons of Skins were brilliant.)

Not having read the books I've no idea if they actually are going to make something more of his character, but I hope they do.

I dont watch skins and I thought he was poor in that scene. Glad to hear there is potential for him as an actor though as a bit worried he wasnt going to be up to scratch.

WindmillWarrior

So Ghost finally made a substantial appearance (looked the part too!) - did we all wet ourselves?!

SK1979

I enjoyed the episode overall but it felt probably the weakest so far. One casting I am disappointed in is Hodor though. Its just not how I pictured him. I had him for about 20 or so year old simpleton. In fairness its going to be so difficult to portray how funny his one line can be at times during the series.

While the "bath scene" was a bit long, I thought it fleshed out Viserys a lot better. Theon seems a real pr!ck in the series and I dont remember him being so dangerous in the first book?

Scruff

yipee, a fleeting cameo by ghost!! Good to also see the 3 eyed crow for Bran's story line making an appearence. Thought Hodor actor was too old imo. I had someone more of a cross between Andre the Giant and the Sloth from Goonies in my head. Would have preferred the book version of Sansa hearing about the Hound and the Mountain.
enjoyed it but not as much as the last 3.

Tyler MacDurden

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

Gaaaah, my first casting I dislike I can deal with the guy from the Tesco ads as Robert but having one of the annoying blokes from Skins as Gendry is gonna wreck my head.

Thankfully I don't watch enough telly to recognise either of them from anything else. I did picture Gendry as bigger and swarthier* all round though, but if the guy can act it's all good.

And for some reason I felt the need to cheer when Ghost finally showed up. Smaller than I'd have imagined (presumably not for long) but the attitude was perfect.

*Is this a real word? It is now.

Sleepy

Yep, "woohoo, Ghost!" may* have been heard in our house...

Was great to see the three-eyed crow and much more of the wolves this week: Summer, Grey Wind and Ghost all had appearances... still very little of Rickon and Shaggy Dog however...


*May indicates actually woke the children...

Somnus

Really liked episode 4. I think the last two have been the best so far. Just something about them that I can't put my finger on. I think the additional scenes and changes needed to compress it into a series have all been well done.

Definitely happy to see the three eyed crow dream. I love that they're not just ignoring that stuff!

I would definitely agree that Hodor is older than I had imagined. But I still thought he was grand, even if he was only in it for a minute. Dinklage just getting better and better as Tyrion. Really capturing the character.

Overall I think each episode is just getting better.

Sleepy wrote: »

still very little of Rickon and Shaggy Dog however...

Yeah, they never even introduced him. You only hear a reference to him in episode 3 I think. I keep forgetting about him!