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GAME OF THRONES


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Saw a commercial for this yesterday since I was in a place where HBO was on (so didn't hear it, just saw it) - it looks pretty awesome! (I don't get to view many youtube clips since I mostly browse JWFan at work and youtube is blocked here)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've recently started to read the book, and now I can't wait to see the show (but I guess I'll have to buy an extremely expensive blu ray set to do so - HBO, sigh... ). The preview suggests a quite faithful adaptation with alterations only where necessary because of the different medium. Interesting that they chose to call "the others" "the white walkers" instead. It also seems to be much bloodier than the book. The music is unfortunately nondescript... certainly nothing to look forward to so far. Otherwise very promising

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I did watch the first 15-ish minutes, and I gotta say, even though I knew what was coming, having read the first 2 books (so far!), I got major goosebumps at one specific point. Not gonna spoilerize it, but man, very well done.

Agreed on the music, very "meh" so far.

I hear the opening credits (not talking music) are pretty cool.

BTW, Dish Network has a free HBO preview weekend the very weekend GoT debuts. Other providers may have it too but I can only say Dish for sure. Cannot wait!

(Then 6 days later is the start of Series 6 (or 32) of Doctor Who! What a week!)

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Breathtaking Making Of Video released for the show.

It also contains the main title theme at 22:38 till the credits start to roll. Concerning the music consider me not particularly impressed but it could have been much worse.
The show will be utterly amazing, no doubt anymore after this vid.

Check out 03:27, 12:50, 12:57, 13:00, 16:55 for feature film quality Visual effects, just mindblowing to see such things on TV!!! No show i know of had effects in that kind of quality, not even BSG.

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I'm a bit scared that, at the moment, I'm anticipating Game of Thrones a bit more than Doctor Who. I've been a fan of Doctor Who since 1982, and only started reading A Song of Ice and Fire a year and a half ago. Maybe just because I've "been there, done that" with Doctor Who season premieres? I don't know. Or maybe just because GoT is only 5 days away, as opposed to 11 for Doctor Who.

Either way, bring em' both on! I prefer a great TV series as opposed to all this waiting around. :)

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Well? What did everyone think?

Will try to avoid spoilers...

I think it tackled the source material extremely well, as much as a TV series can adapt such a massive, complex novel as GoT. New bits worked fine, the changes I noticed were OK too.

I do wonder, however, how many people who have not read the books will walk away from this thinking it was very slow. It was a bit "quiet" for most of the middle right up to the ending of the episode. The tricky bit is, there's so much *good* stuff coming up that it'd be a shame for them to miss it all. I remember when I first read the book a few years ago thinking, this is interesting but let's get moving. Until... until the one *massive* plot twist somewhere in the middle-ish of the book. Which I think will be a fantastic twist for non-book fans watching the TV series, too.

The cast felt really well-suited to their roles, so far. No one stood out as, "Hey, this person just does not work" for any particular role. I don't know why people were fretting so much about Mark Addy as the King. He was great! Even the kids did really well. Arya's gonna be fun. I hear some fans were also not keen on the fella playing Jamie Lannister, but I thought he did a fine job in such a tricky role.

The music... meh. The main theme was OK, the opening title graphics were very cool stylistically. But not much of the incidental score stood out, apart from maybe when King Robert arrives at Winterfell.

Anxiously awaiting the next 9 episodes!

...And the actress playing Danaerys...Yummy!

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I thought the opening episode was terrific. As far as I can remember the plot of the first book (I read the books few years ago and am in the process of re-reading them) the material was very well adapted and did the Martin's novels justice. It was a very faithful dramatization and if they keep it up then I'll be a happy viewer. The cast was strong, no obvious weaknesses and some great performances (Mark Addy as the king), ever dependable Sean Bean as Eddard Stark, the whole Lannister brood and the children as well.

The creators of the series have also done superb job in creating the world of Seven Kingdoms in vivid colour and detail from set design to the imposing landscapes and costume design.

I would say this pilot presented a kind of microcosm of the whole novel series tone and style wise. It had to provide a sort of basic background, feel and lay the big picture and I thought they managed it well without there being too much outright exposition. These books are so full of all kinds of information that I have to applaud the writers for not overloading the episode with long explanations. They also planted the seeds for things to come in a nice fashion. It is truly a calm before the storm, a starting point for the actual events.

And now for the music. I was truly disappointed when I heard that Ramin Djawadi had been hired to score the series and I have to say I was right. While music in this first episode presented some surprisingly good passages, the majority of it was pretty standard Remote Control material. I do not know if Djawadi had a small budget or what was the reason but using largely strings and drums provided a bit flat soundscape. Missed opporturnities abound. It would have been wonderful to have a bit more pomp and circumstance in the form of brass when the king arrives for example. The title music was a bit repetetive of his older work of scant melody and repetetive ostinatos although I think the film makers had the idea of constant motion to convey the mechanized (or should I say machinated) world of Game of Thrones. Let's hope Djawadi pulls himself together for the following episodes and presents something memorable.

Bring on the next episode! :)

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I absolutely loved the opening episode. The cast is astonishing and the detail of the world breathtaking. There are feature film level effects and cinematography.

And everyone who read the books knows that the story gets better and better with every page turned. I am so looking forward to the back half of the episodes where

everything storywise falls together and creates highpoint after highpoint.

Concerning the music consider me positively suprised. It did not distract me in a negative way and i even liked three or four cues. The main theme is ok and works well in the context of the credit sequence. The pieces i liked most were the King's Arrival and the the piece in the end leading up to the cliffhanger. By the way i thought i noticed lots of brass in the King's Arrival cue and i also considered it quite powerful.

I'm sure hiring a composer like Bear McCreary would have been a better choice but as of now i can live with Ramin Djawadi.

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My viewing party for the first episode was postponed for a couple of days, so I haven't seen it yet...but I just finished rereading the books. Took me only slightly longer than it did last time, which is surprising, given that last time I was unemployed. I'd forgotten the empty feeling I get upon completing watching or reading something as great as this. It's like when I finished The Wire, or Breaking Bad...it's all downhill from here. Though I finally feel like I have a firm grasp on all the particulars of the world. I can imagine the show failing to connect with many people who'll be frustrated by the amount of details (kind of like the way I feel about the massive history presented in LoTR).

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On a whim, I watched the first episode online just now. I dunno, this genre isn't really my thing, but I might continue to watch for a few more episodes to see if I feel compelled to keep going. If it keeps getting better and better, as y'all who've read the source material are saying, it might be worth my while. For now...I can appreciate the fact that it's a quality production, but I haven't yet seen anything to convince me that the results are amazing. We shall see!

Oh, and the music sucked. :P

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Holy cow, Ginia Bellafante is BRUTAL in her NY Times review of the series!

http://tv.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/arts/television/game-of-thrones-begins-sunday-on-hbo-review.html

Even G.R.R. Martin, who usually does not care to comment on such things had his say on the matter: G.R.R.Martin's site

Apparently there was a bit of a backlash to the NY Times writer's assesment that the series had nudity and sex only for women viewers' sake and that women in general do not read fantasy.

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I can't wholly disagree with that review. But hopefully those sentiments will no longer resonate with me after a few more episodes. We'll see!

You disappointed me, Data. But hopefully those sentiments will no longer resonate with me after a few more episodes. We'll see!

;)

:lol: I know, I wanted to like it more than I did. Fingers crossed for improvement in my taste or theirs! It's not like I've given up on the show or anything.

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Just watched this, very impressed. Haven't read the books so this is all new, but so far so good. Music was worst part but even that wasn't terrible, just generally bland.

Bring on the next episode.

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And here is a four-part interview with G.R.R. Martin for TIME magazine. Lot of interesting stuff, here :

Part 1: Game of Thrones, from Book to TV

Part 2: Fantasy and History

Part 3: The Twilight Zone and Lost

Part 4: Personal History

A very interesting and enlightening interview indeed. My respect for this man is steadily growing. That he is a Tolkien fan (shows in his books quite clearly) is a good reason for starters. :)

And the fact that he has worked as a writer for TV shows in the structure of his books in a good way and that is why I always felt this novel series would be suitable for TV adaptation. It has the feel and pacing that lends itself for it.

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Ok, this show really needs to start being bi-weekly.

It's interesting, especially as the official website has brought it up. I'll spoiler it:

Cersei's speech about her first son. Is this real? Is this an actual glimpse into who she is and why on a genuine level, or is this more of the manipulation that has led her to where she is?

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The second episode was a great one with more character building and adding a more to the background and plot of the story. This story obviously is not told in haste which a thing I like about it but it may alienate some viewers with what they perceive as slow pace.

Djawadi's score did not improve enormously from the first episode and a certain synth-cheapness is audible at times. The absence of real brass and wood winds is very noticeable. He certainly supports the mood of the scenes but that's about it.

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The episode was another great one with appropriate and mostly true to the book character moments

Folks, this is a (albeit feature like) TV show and for that the music is absolutely ok.

It even improved a bit in this episode and there appears to be a nice Winterfell / Stark theme which is far better than the Main theme

( for example most poignant at around 16:34 and at 52:11 in episode 2 and in another variation at 9:30 in episode 1 )

And i cant agree with Incanus here that Djawadi only supports the mood, because the Stark theme with its appearance starting at 16:34

enhanced the scene and made it better. As well the piece that accompanied the

Jon and Ned Goodbye scene

.

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Just watched the second episode. Slow indeed, although that's not necessarily a bad thing. I feel like I'm starting to get a better handle on who the characters are and whatnot, which is good. Still not hooked, but the production values remain high, and the acting is pretty good, and everyone says the story starts getting really good a little while later, so I suppose I'll keep watching...

For a TV show, yeah, the music is okayish. But this genre begs for acoustic instruments and an approach that is not too overbearingly modern.

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BTW, I like Sean Bean a lot better in this than in LOTR. I guess a part of me was expecting to get the same sort of performance, and this has been a pleasant surprise. Actually, I find this show's overall style of acting to just be a lot more convincing than that of LOTR, which always feels bloated and artificial and pompous to me. I know part of that is that they couldn't stray too far from the original writing style of the books, but still. Game of Thrones feels more natural to me, and I appreciate that, even though I'm not totally hooked yet.

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Thusfar I have to say the cast of the whole show has been excellent. Sean Bean plays the role to the stark perfection (pun intended) and Mark Addy is just awesome in the role of a lively but often grim monarch. My own mental pictures of the characters have faded a lot since I first read the books (which must be over 3 years ago) so the actors do not intrude horribly with my own conceptions of the characters. Plus the books have literal armies of characrters so no wonder some of them blur into the background in your mind.

And I have to say I am waiting with interest for the appearance of Tywin Lannister who will be played by none other than Charles Dance, one of the greatest British villain actors. Funnily I always pictured Tywin Lannister looking like him when I read the books so casting him for the show was for me a happy surprise. Now my mental image is not disturbed at all. And yes Charles Dance plays aristocrat villains all the time so it will be interesting what kind of little nuances he can bring to the role.

:P

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Really enjoyed episode 2, maybe a bit more than episode 1, perhaps since the anticipation/hype has died down a bit. Also perhaps because we're seeing more of the world instead of (mainly) Winterfell. Great fun seeing events from the book unfold on screen. Even though I knew what was coming, when Ned went to do what he had to do at the end of the episode (no spoilers), it was still heartbreaking. It almost feels like 10 episodes isn't enough to cover this first book... though part of that may be because I have events from books 1 and 2 running together in my head. (Just started reading book 3 this week, hooray!)

Aha! I knew Maester Luwin seemed familiar. He was in an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures. (speaking of heartbreaking, RIP Lis Sladen :( )

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