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

Somnus

The production video is good too.

Looks like Martin himself is happy with how it's looking, so that's always a good thing :P

Zapp Brannigan

Is Ned Stark supposed to have a beard? Can't remember cos it's been so long since I've read GoT.

AnCapaillMor

Always pictured him with a beard. Dunno why but for some reason i picture him looking like Kyle Katarn from the jedi games.

And Martin better spend more time finishing off those books and less time commentating on how the new show goes.

Corsendonk

Moving away from the HBO series whats the latest on the "book" or is he too busy playing with models or attending conventions? I gave up checking out his website because so much missed deadlines there. Please not another Robert Jordan were he pops his clogs.

AnCapaillMor

Amazon had it down for around now, which obviously ain't happening. just checking now again and its april 2012 and september 2011, gah!!!! His website is a joke last update was jan 1 2008, probably got sick of people asking when's it ready.

Dades

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

His website is a joke last update was jan 1 2008, probably got sick of people asking when's it ready.

He has a blog he updates regularly.

I find it's all in the anticipation.

5starpool

If the TV show is a hit, all seven (ish) series will have been broadcast before he finishes the books at this rate. Really looking forward to this show though.

AnCapaillMor

At the rate he's going the holodeck versions of the movies will be out.

Corsendonk

Writers block perhaps? He seems fairly easily distracted and the series gives him another excuse to be distracted.

OwaynOTT

Id say he realized that he cannot finish it in three books and cant decide what to cut.
Honestly at the rate the story is going I cant see how he would squeeze it in.
It says summit that a author who is sadly dead and still can have his series, which is longer in length and years of publication, finished before the next book in GRRM's series even gets a deadline.
He's at a convention in Dublin this year.

Jumpy

Dr.Poca wrote: »

It's definitely his kinda character :P

A key character? I suppose I've only finished the first one so don't spoil anything
But I was imagining he won't be in it that much really. I mean apart from a few conversations with Caetlyn and Ned he's not in the first one that much.

He isnt always at the front, but he is definitely key.

Dades

OwaynOTT wrote: »

Id say he realized that he cannot finish it in three books and cant decide what to cut.
Honestly at the rate the story is going I cant see how he would squeeze it in.
It says summit that a author who is sadly dead and still can have his series, which is longer in length and years of publication, finished before the next book in GRRM's series even gets a deadline.

Go off and read his anthology Dreamsongs while you're waiting (it's brilliant) and give the guy a break.

When we've written incredible works of fantasy we can reprimand him for not writing fast enough. :pac:

super_furry

Dades wrote: »

When we've written incredible works of fantasy we can reprimand him for not writing fast enough. :pac:

That's just daft. "You can't do it, so don't criticise!"

I have serious doubts that the series will ever come to a satisfactory conclusion. Martin has killed off so many crucial characters that he appears to have left himself with little room to maneuver and if A Feast for Crows was any indication of the future quality of the series, then I don't hold out much hope for it.

AnCapaillMor

super_furry wrote: »

Martin has killed off so many crucial characters that he appears to have left himself with little room to maneuver.

Its one of the things i love about the series, nothing\noone is sacred. 2-3 times i'd to go back a chapter or 2 because could'nt believe X had just died.

Major

Book 6 will go Dallas and will end with Catelyn going for a shower and Eddard stark is inside there, and it was all a dream.

Dades

super_furry wrote: »

That's just daft. "You can't do it, so don't criticise!"

More close to home - I've spent a year on the first 10 pages of my own "novel"...

There's always something else that needs doing.

super_furry

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

Major

Book 6 will go Dallas and will end with Catelyn going for a shower and Eddard stark is inside there, and it was all a dream.

You know, I fear you may not be too far from the truth.

It's already started with Catelyn being brought back from the dead so there's precedence and the ability to do it engrained in the series' mythos now. I bet there'll be at least two or three others that are brought back before it's over.

Paddy Samurai

Froggy would like to hint around with you madmen some more, but Andy is too damn tired right now. It's less than a week before I fly off to Ireland, and I'm still exhausted from the long trip to Australia... so I will forgo the games this time around and just tell you straight out that David & Dan and HB0 have filled two more roles for GAME OF THRONES.

Looks like hes paying us a visit.

pljudge321

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

Looks like hes paying us a visit.

He's guest of honour at some convention.

nesf

pljudge321 wrote: »

He's guest of honour at some convention.

Octocon in Dublin this month. I so want to go but it looks like my health will prevent it.

OmeGar

www.octocon.com

me-skywalker

Aybody following the updates on the HBO website? Im about to order Tales of Dunk and Egg now to help appease my appetite.

Dades

Keeping an eye on George's "Not A Blog", instead.

Just finished listening to the Storm of Swords audiobook (as part of an ASOIAF catchup...) but can't get into A Feast for Crows because it's narrated by some American guy rather then the brilliant English dude who did books 1-3.

The HBO trailers/production vids look great.

me-skywalker

Dades wrote: »

Keeping an eye on George's "Not A Blog", instead.

Just finished listening to the Storm of Swords audiobook (as part of an ASOIAF catchup...) but can't get into A Feast for Crows because it's narrated by some American guy rather then the brilliant English dude who did books 1-3.

The HBO trailers/production vids look great.

Audiobooks? tut tut... even if it is a catch up theres so much you could be doing rather than wasting your time listneing to some geezer read what you should be reading or you should be reaidng something else yourself.

Branoic

me-skywalker wrote: »

Audiobooks? tut tut... even if it is a catch up theres so much you could be doing rather than wasting your time listneing to some geezer read what you should be reading or you should be reaidng something else yourself.

Ever try reading while driving? I wouldn't recommend it.

Dades

Branoic wrote: »

Ever try reading while driving? I wouldn't recommend it.

Yeah, or while walking to work.

me-skywalker - think outside the box. I have two kids and it would take me a year to re-read ASOIAF. This is a perfect solution for me as I'm on the move every day - and the narration of these books is superb.

me-skywalker

Dades wrote: »

Yeah, or while walking to work.

me-skywalker - think outside the box. I have two kids and it would take me a year to re-read ASOIAF. This is a perfect solution for me as I'm on the move every day - and the narration of these books is superb.

Hmm ah yea, I just was being very naive about it. Never have used one myself (except for learning German) but your right people can't always get the time or freedom to sit and read for hours and in that way, and other determining circumstances, then it is a great alternative.

I have downloaded a version of the audiobook for A Storm of Swords but couldnt take to it and it sounded like it was recorded in the 30's.

I have 2 hopes for the TV series;
1: That it is fantastic(obviously) and remains true to the books and just as gritty and humanistic.
2: That it reaches out to the general public and the viewing figures are good enough to make sure we get at least 3/4 seasons out of it.

Im really hoping some interest peaks closer to the airing as there doesn't seem to be much of a buzz. Not many following it on this site and also on other sites Ive seen there is only a couple of hundred posters/comments. Maybe Im reading too much into that but with otehr TV series there was always a great buzz and community building up prior to the airing.

me-skywalker

http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20385926_20442931,00.html

HBO takes the task of bringing George R.R. Martin’s bestselling epic fantasy series, Game of Thrones, to the small screen quite seriously. Witness: Dozens of staffers sewing and embroidering Medieval-style dresses, hand-crafting chain mail, drying and aging fabric, and hammering armor. A crew member spending an hour meticulously skimming a lagoon before it could serve as the setting for a talk between Lord Eddard Stark (Sean Bean) and his wife, Catelyn (Michelle Fairley) — and this after set designers found the perfect tree in the middle of a Northern Ireland forest, painted it white, and dressed it with red leaves. In pouring rain. In ankle-deep mud.

There’s good reason for the attention to detail. The wildly popular book series — which chronicles the battle for the throne of King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy) of Westeros and the soapy goings-on among the kingdom and its enemies — boasts legions of obsessed fans, who’ve hung on every detail of HBO’s forthcoming adaptation. They’re the ones most likely to notice that a key scene has moved from Catelyn Stark’s bedroom to a meeting place in the forest or to geek out on the entire new tongue that the Language Creation Society has whipped up just for Dothraki chief Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) and his countrymen. “It’s better than Klingon,” executive producer D.B. Weiss says. “And you can quote me on that.” EW visited the Belfast set — in the historic Paint Hall Studios — for an exclusive first look at the series. Among the tidbits we uncovered:

* Something for female fans to look forward to: “I lie naked in furs,” Momoa says of his Genghis Khan-like character’s standard operating procedure. “I think I’m naked more than I talk.”

* Weiss and co-showrunner David Benioff first considered Martin’s books for feature film treatment, but “within a week of the time when I finished it, we said we didn’t know how to do this as a movie,” Benioff says. “To do the first book even as a three-hour movie, you’d have to cut 90 percent of it. I’m used to adapting books, and sometimes you have to be ruthless, but in this case we loved all the storylines and the characters. We weren’t interested in that kind of mutilation. So the only way to do this would be as a series.”

* Even non-fantasy fans can get into Thrones, Benioff says, “because it’s not about unicorns and sorcerers. There’s magic in this, but it’s on the fringes.” Quips Weiss, “To be fair, season 2 is going to be all about unicorns. So the characters will all die and be replaced by unicorns. Don’t tell George.” (Note to fans: Seriously, he’s kidding.)

* Speaking of the author, he’s intimately involved in the project: “It’s a lot of late-night emails,” Weiss says. “George watches all the casting videos and tells us who he likes.” Martin was also on set for the pilot as well as for some filming this fall, and he wrote episode 8.

Check out our exclusive sneak peek gallery at ew.com/gameofthrones, and for even more Game of Thrones photos pick up this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands Nov. 19.

my oh my Lena headey looks amazing! also Nikolaj Coster-Waldau looks exactly like how I imagined Jamie. Dang gotta wait so long!

me-skywalker

My fav pic so far

me-skywalker

me-skywalker wrote: »

Audiobooks? tut tut... even if it is a catch up theres so much you could be doing rather than wasting your time listneing to some geezer read what you should be reading or you should be reaidng something else yourself.

I can't do audiobooks, I hate being read to and I need to see the words written in front of me, but they are very handy for people on the go.


The pictures of this look interesting, I thought the series was a bit dark and depressing for me but I'll be curious.

Dades

me-skywalker wrote: »

http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20385926_20442931,00.html

my oh my Lena headey looks amazing! also Nikolaj Coster-Waldau looks exactly like how I imagined Jamie. Dang gotta wait so long!

Great pics.

The caption (lazy journalism) under Tyrion's pic annoyed me though:

Entertainment Weekly wrote:

Peter Dinklage's Tyrion Lannister, known as the Imp, is constantly getting into trouble because of his marauding ways.

Marauding ways? He's one of the smartest, least prone to violence characters in the books.

Incidentally, regarding the audiobook - the narrator for books 1-3 is playing Grand Maester Pycelle! Not a coincidence as his voice work is held in very high esteem by many including George himself.

I also think there is a huge amount of excitement building underground about the series - it's still early days - when the marketing starts in earnest we'll really see the enthusiasm.