1525 replies to this topic

[KK.]

But I've got to say, the similarities between some of those sequences do really cry The Siege of Gondor to me.

That statement is moronic! It looks way more like The Battle Of The Hornburg than The Siege Of Gondor! Revise your classics, Merciful One!

Wake up BloodBoal! It's obviously the Siege of Gondor they're after.
Flaming arrows in the night? Attack by sea? The fact that the siege is on a city, not a fort?

[Incanus]

It's totally like battle for Narnia and not Siege of Gondor!

[BloodBoal]

But I've got to say, the similarities between some of those sequences do really cry The Siege of Gondor to me.

That statement is moronic! It looks way more like The Battle Of The Hornburg than The Siege Of Gondor! Revise your classics, Merciful One!

Wake up BloodBoal! It's obviously the Siege of Gondor they're after.
Flaming arrows in the night? Attack by sea? The fact that the siege is on a city, not a fort?

There was no flaming arrows during The Siege Of Gondor, you maple syrup eater!

Battle taking place during the night + rain all over the place + archers all over the place + a dwarf = The Battle Of The Hornburg

It's totally like battle for Narnia and not Siege of Gondor!

Yeah, but which one? There was more than one battle fought for Narnia. Be specific!!

[KK.]

But I've got to say, the similarities between some of those sequences do really cry The Siege of Gondor to me.

That statement is moronic! It looks way more like The Battle Of The Hornburg than The Siege Of Gondor! Revise your classics, Merciful One!

Wake up BloodBoal! It's obviously the Siege of Gondor they're after.
Flaming arrows in the night? Attack by sea? The fact that the siege is on a city, not a fort?

There was no flaming arrows during The Siege Of Gondor, you maple syrup eater!

Battle taking place during the night + rain all over the place + archers all over the place + a dwarf = The Battle Of The Hornburg

Neither Hormburg nor Gondor had flaming arrows. But flaming arrows are reminiscent of Grond. And Hornburg never had an attack by sea. And you can see a bunch of people freaking out in the city, like the innocents of Minas Tirith.

It's totally like battle for Narnia and not Siege of Gondor!

Rubbish! Where are the talking mice, the centaurs, the eagles and various other cute creatures in armour?!

[Incanus]

But I've got to say, the similarities between some of those sequences do really cry The Siege of Gondor to me.

That statement is moronic! It looks way more like The Battle Of The Hornburg than The Siege Of Gondor! Revise your classics, Merciful One!

Wake up BloodBoal! It's obviously the Siege of Gondor they're after.
Flaming arrows in the night? Attack by sea? The fact that the siege is on a city, not a fort?

There was no flaming arrows during The Siege Of Gondor, you maple syrup eater!

Battle taking place during the night + rain all over the place + archers all over the place + a dwarf = The Battle Of The Hornburg

Neither Hormburg nor Gondor had flaming arrows. But flaming arrows are reminiscent of Grond. And Hornburg never had an attack by sea. And you can see a bunch of people freaking out in the city, like the innocents of Mina's Tirith.

Yes that was one of Denethor's more brilliant ideas, leaving the city full of civilians. They make a good human shield in time of siege don't they and buy time for the troops when black trolls slaughter them before going after the soldiers.

[BloodBoal]

Neither Hormburg nor Gondor had flaming arrows. But flaming arrows are reminiscent of Grond. And Hornburg never had an attack by sea. And you can see a bunch of people freaking out in the city, like the innocents of Mina's Tirith.

Neither Hornburg nor Gondor had Joffrey. But Joffrey is reminiscent of Theoden. And Gondor never had rain. And you can see a bunch of archers getting ready in the city, like the Elven archers of Helm's Deep

It's totally like battle for Narnia and not Siege of Gondor!

Rubbish! Where are the talking mice, the centaurs, the eagles and various other cute creatures in armour?!

What about the Hound?

[KK.]

But I've got to say, the similarities between some of those sequences do really cry The Siege of Gondor to me.

That statement is moronic! It looks way more like The Battle Of The Hornburg than The Siege Of Gondor! Revise your classics, Merciful One!

Wake up BloodBoal! It's obviously the Siege of Gondor they're after.
Flaming arrows in the night? Attack by sea? The fact that the siege is on a city, not a fort?

There was no flaming arrows during The Siege Of Gondor, you maple syrup eater!

Battle taking place during the night + rain all over the place + archers all over the place + a dwarf = The Battle Of The Hornburg

Neither Hormburg nor Gondor had flaming arrows. But flaming arrows are reminiscent of Grond. And Hornburg never had an attack by sea. And you can see a bunch of people freaking out in the city, like the innocents of Mina's Tirith.

Yes that was one of Denethor's more brilliant ideas, leaving the city full of civilians. They make a good human shield in time of siege don't they and buy time for the troops when black trolls slaughter them before going after the soldiers.

It's a brilliant military strategy, but who can expect less from good ol' Denethor. He sees all there is to know from the White Tower.

Now I feel like listening to The Pyre of Denethor. That cue is awesome.

[BloodBoal]

Now I feel like listening to The Pyre of Denethor. That cue is awesome.

They should have call it Flight Of The Burning Man

[KK.]

Neither Hormburg nor Gondor had flaming arrows. But flaming arrows are reminiscent of Grond. And Hornburg never had an attack by sea. And you can see a bunch of people freaking out in the city, like the innocents of Mina's Tirith.

Neither Hornburg nor Gondor had Joffrey. But Joffrey is reminiscent of Theoden. And Gondor never had rain. And you can see a bunch of archers getting ready in the city, like the Elven archers of Helm's Deep

Nonsense! Joffrey is nothing like Theoden and there were archers at Mina's Tirith too!!

It's totally like battle for Narnia and not Siege of Gondor!

Rubbish! Where are the talking mice, the centaurs, the eagles and various other cute creatures in armour?!

What about the Hound?

Well played BloodBoal. But that's one creature.

[BloodBoal]

Neither Hormburg nor Gondor had flaming arrows. But flaming arrows are reminiscent of Grond. And Hornburg never had an attack by sea. And you can see a bunch of people freaking out in the city, like the innocents of Mina's Tirith.

Neither Hornburg nor Gondor had Joffrey. But Joffrey is reminiscent of Theoden. And Gondor never had rain. And you can see a bunch of archers getting ready in the city, like the Elven archers of Helm's Deep

Nonsense! Joffrey is nothing like Theoden and there were archers at Mina's Tirith too!!

Well, flaming arrows are nothing like Grond, and there were innocents at Helm's Deep too!!

P.S.: It just reminded me that I bloody want to see that unreleased scene in which some Uruks enter the Glittering Caves, and Eowyn fights them.

Rubbish! Where are the talking mice, the centaurs, the eagles and various other cute creatures in armour?!

What about the Hound?

Well played BloodBoal. But that's one creature.

I'm sure there are a few more dogs in King's Landing.

[SF1_freeze]

The soundtrack has been released by accident on itunes. I already listened to it and almost half of it is from the upcoming two episodes and these tracks were recorded with a real orchestra in prague.

In my opinion Djawadi improved and delivered some really nice tracks in the last two episodes
(especially

Spoiler

House of the Undying, Wildfire, Mother of Dragons, The Rains of Castamere and Stand and Fight

)


Tracklist (SPOILERS!!!)

Spoiler

1. Main Title (1:46)
2. The Throne Is Mine (3:15)
3. What Is Dead May Never Die (2:06)
4. Warrior Of Light (3:03)
5. Valar Morghulis (2:59)
6. Winterfell (2:42)
7. Qarth (2:11)
8. Wildfire (3:39)
9. I Am Hers, She Is Mine (2:17)
10. Pyat Pree (2:12)
11. Don’t Die With A Clean Sword (3:22)
12. We Are The Watchers On The Wall (2:37)
13. Pay The Iron Price (2:32)
14. One More Drink Before The War (2:05)
15. House Of The Undying (5:02)
16. Stand And Fight (2:04)
17. The Old Gods And The New (2:38)
18. Mother Of Dragons (2:34)
19. I Will Keep You Safe (2:17)
20. The Rains Of Castamere† Performed by The National (2:23)
21. Three Blasts (2:40)

[Incanus]

I am trying to be positive but I have very little good to say about Djawadi's music. He is RCP composer through and through, a Zimmer clone who basically repeats what his master has taught him. And since I am heavily allergic to Zimmer the mere sound of this music makes me slightly sick with few exceptions. I know Djawadi tries but alas he doesn't nail the spirit of this world in my ears.

[KK.]

Well...what can I say?! I don't know if I should make such a bold statement, but that just might have been the best episode in the series so far (or at least one of the best). Definitely the most kick-ass episode they've done yet! I don't know what micro-criticisms that BloodBoal will pull out of the hat for this one, but I look forward to them.

First thing that really catches your eye is the sheer scope of it all, especially for a TV series. There were no random cuts to any post-battle scenes, this is full out action with exploding boats, flaming arrows and clashing swords. And I bow my head in shame as I stand corrected, this battle in essence takes much after the Battle of the Hornburg, NOT the Siege of Gondor as I previously said. Its funny because I've read that the guys initially decided to cut out the entire battle sequence and only tell it from the perspective of Sansa and Cersei thanks to budgetary reasons. But luckily with a budget increase they managed to pull this off because the dramatic effect is quite potent.

Next, the character scenes are brilliant. Hats off to Lena Headey for her gripping performance of Cersei in this episode. Sansa was great too and Dinklage as the heroic captain was quite the role. Everyone was superb. And I especially liked the depth they went into for the characters. The Hound's storyline was also executed well. I was also fond of Varys' eerie foreboding tones that warmed us up for the battle at hand.

What I loved most in the ending was that bad-ass ending. Cersei's voice gave me the chills over the montage of doom and gloom, and then -BAM!-, Tywin walks in like a real badass. What a great way to end off the episode.

Ultimately the only real flaw with this episode is the music. God dammit, if any episode begged for some real, big, epic battle music, its this one. Someone should have just cut and paste "The Breach of the Deeping Wall" or "The Battle of the Hornburg". THATS the kind of music the scenes were crying out for. Instead we got the same old ostinato playing over and over again at varying tempos and the occasional key change over rambling percussion....it was ridiculous and really diminished the scope that the sequence was trying to emulate. I mean come on! For those who have been trying to defend Djawadi with the whole "subtlety is what this show needs" argument, THESE kind of scenes require much more than "subtle action music"....

Other than that, a great episode! Loved it! Can't wait for the season finale.

[Incanus]

I agree wholeheartedly. A gripping episode on all accounts. Minor quibble is that I found that the Hound, despite a great performance, was perhaps not menacing enough in the final few scenes. His demeanor has been mellowed down in the show. I remember him being a lot more threatening in the novel during these events, half-mad with fire and tired of it all. But other than that I loved it. Well played and Martin's writing has to be commended since he wrote the script for this episode, succeeding in capturing the intensity of the original novel and the outline of the plot so well in the series.

And boy were there some brilliant character moments. I loved them all. Especially Tywin (for the win!) marching in at the end like he owned the place and annoucing the battle won.

And yes the music was string ostinati and drums. This is turning out like Battlestar Galactica and those damn taiko drums. Gets boring after 2 episodes.

[KK.]

I agree wholeheartedly. A gripping episode on all accounts. Minor quibble is that I found that the Hound, despite a great performance, was perhaps not menacing enough in the final few scenes. His demeanor has been mellowed down in the show. I remember him being a lot more threatening in the novel during these events, half-mad with fire and tired of it all. But other than that I loved it. Well played and Martin's writing has to be commended since he wrote the script for this episode, succeeding in capturing the intensity of the original novel and the outline of the plot so well in the series.

Aye, I did notice the lack of intensity in the Hound's demeanour. But I let it slip. And I did not know Martin wrote this episode, thanks for the heads up. That explains the great writing behind it all.

And boy were there some brilliant character moments. I loved them all. Especially Tywin (for the win!) marching in at the end like he owned the place and annoucing the battle won.

Easily my favourite scene

And yes the music was string ostinati and drums. This is turning out like Battlestar Galactica and those damn taiko drums. Gets boring after 2 episodes.

It makes me sick really...I think overall, the quality of the music has dropped since the 1st season. Either that, or its quality and effectiveness in context has seriously diminished. I'll have to listen to the album to determine that.

[Incanus]

The episode also shows how the focus on single location with a limited set of characters is naturally more effective from the point of view of the drama. It is a luxury in a series with so many main characters do linger in one location or point of view this long.

Oh and my second favourite moment after Tywin comes marching home is when Tyrion takes out the battering ram. I love how baffled he looks, "Was this really all? Was this really so easy?" written all over his face when he suddenly spots the main body of Stannis' army charging at them. Brilliant!

And in honor of his victory I proudly present my near prophetic poem (for the plot deviates a bit from the novel which I did not know beforehand) composed for Bronn before I saw the 9th episode. And now I added a few touches to it to make it more accurately reflect the events in the series:

An Ode to Bronn

There is an inn, a brothel but inn,
beneath Aegon's High Hill.
And there they brew a swill so brown,
that Bronn the sellsword himself came down,
one night to eat his fill.

And oh the row of merry lasses,
and the throng of whores with pox.
For when brave Bronn arrived,
nearly half swooned or died,
'cause he's hung like a giant plow ox.

Inside now strides the Hound and tries,
to mock brave Bronn who has whore on his side.
Their words are cold, if truth be told,
and men look on as these warriors bold
now toss insults about, without a doubt
to end in blood, a red mighty flood.

But alas for brave Bronn
his chance for whores and fight gone,
for lord Tyrion called after him quick.
City's defenders were scarce, a cowardly farce,
and needing a strong motivational kick.

King Stannis was near, with his fleet of fear,
and he threatened the harbours and walls.
In the night so clear, it was easy to hear,
sounds of synth drums and Djawadi's ostino calls.

So our heroic Bronn to the Black Water springs,
An arrow he knocks to the bow that he strings.
He lights it with fire and lets it fly,
it sails through the air in an arc so high
and zig zaggs the ships, like demons's whips,
and sets them alight in the cool clear night.

So battle was ended with an arrow so small,
the wicked barb blasting through masts and sails tall.
Soon in fiery ruin was Stannis' fleet,
and sunk under waves beside Red Keep's tall feet.

And Bronn our sellsword, whose arrow it was,
would grunt and his weapons to ground he would toss.
So badass, so cynical, clad in ring mail,
back walked to the inn, to his whores and his ale.
And there he then stayed through his days without a care,
after shot that made even Legolas enviously despair.

But there was a rumor of one Red Keep boat,
that full of wildfire did lord Stannis smote.
Of course this is slander of lowest repute,
and let me this slander for Bronn now refute.
For arrow it was not the wildfire's might,
that on grim Blackwater set matters to right.

[tannhauser]

Anyone listened yet to the Season 2 soundtrack? I hated this score to begin with, but it's growing on me slightly. Some decent tracks on this release. Winterfell and Pay the Iron Price are good.

[SF1_freeze]

Just read my posts tannhauser, i already listened and posted about it and i agree with you. I especially liked (in addition to those two you posted) Wildfire, House of the Undying and Mother of Dragons


I respectfully disagree with Incanus and K.K.. The scoring of the brilliant Blackwater episode worked well in context and was much more than drums and string ostinatos...
look at the prominent brass for example
Djawadi improved to an average level but that doesn't mean he is a good composer. At least he developed his themes,
recorded with real orchestra for the last two episodes and amped up the orchestrations.

[Incanus]

Hey at least the Black Water music had drums in the right scene.

[KK.]

That was a REAL orchestra?!

If that's so, then the score had a terrible mixing job...

[Incanus]

It's RCP music. What do you expect?

[KK.]

Yes, but in the past RC did at the very least a decent job of mixing their synths...but Game of Thrones the synths are just so bloody awful...

I think on just the level of sound and mixing, RCP is really getting progressively worse.

[Chaac]

I just saw four episodes straight of this thing.

Great cast. I still like the locations (and the fake backgrounds somehow look cool to me anyway, it's like part of the style.) Margarey's dress thing is horrible to look at. A bit too many of different threads at the same time, I would have reorganized some parts differently.

Edit: I saw the fifth episode and I'm seeing the sixth right now.

I think it's not that I disliked Dany. I think it's that her storyline is the most painfully uninteresting of the whole lot. Her motivations are also a bit incomprehensible to me.

Despite his actions, I'm not sure Theon is completely sure of the side he had to choose.

I look forward to the scenes with Arya an Tywin. I think the whole "Tywin surrounded by idiots + Arya" is somewhat funny.

This seriously needs something awesome beyond the Wall. So much buildup.

After some of the fun plotting that characterized the story Renly's manner of death feels like a cheat to me. Also I'm not sure of it yet but it's as if they had a wanna-be-king too many that was getting in the way of where they wanted to go so they took the easy route and killed him randomly.

Edit again: shit, Jorah Mormont is loosing his cool.

Edit again: only two episodes left!

[BloodBoal]

I think it's not that I disliked Dany. I think it's that her storyline is the most painfully uninteresting of the whole lot. Her motivations are also a bit incomprehensible to me.

Agreed

Edit again: shit, Jorah Mormont is loosing his cool.

Unfortunately, agreed. He was cooler in season 1. In this season, he seems a bit more lost. But he still has more coolness than most characters.

Well...what can I say?! I don't know if I should make such a bold statement, but that just might have been the best episode in the series so far (or at least one of the best). Definitely the most kick-ass episode they've done yet! I don't know what micro-criticisms that BloodBoal will pull out of the hat for this one, but I look forward to them.

Well, you did well to look forward to them, because there are some indeed. Here we go!

Spoiler

- First thing first: the episode was too dark. Not in a "wow, that's gory!' kind-of-way. No, dark in a "I can't see a damn thing" kind-of-way. And that ruined most of it for me. Most of the time, I was like: "What the fuck is going on? Who is that? Is that a random soldier, or is it a main character? Damn, he's been hit! Should I care or not? I don't know!". Really, I'm sorry, but the battle was a bit of a mess in that regard. There was a lot of moments where I was wondering if the Hound had just been killed or not, because I saw a lot of men looking like him dying!

- The battle never felt really large. There was too much close-ups, not enough wide shots (apart from the one for the explosion, which, I must admit, was awesome!). It always looked like there was only a handful of men fighting, not a whole army, so I never really felt there was a threat for the main characters, which damaged the episode, obviously.

- One great moment: Bronn and the Lannisters dude singing The Rains Of Castemere was really cool, and so was the short confrontation between Bronn and the Hound.

- The little bit between Tyrion and Varys was also nice, adding a little bit of humor before the battle.

- Bronn is one badass archer.

- Great FX on the boat exploding... But what is the fuck with green fire? I'm not sure I like that, especially since they mixed it with normal fire. Either go one way or the other, don't choose both ways: it doesn't work!

- WTF, Where's Davos? Davos? DAVOS!!!!!!!!!!

- Cersei really is a bitch in this episode, more than in any other episode! Kill her, kill her now!

- Sansa singing:

- About the Hound, he looked more like a puppy than an enraged dog in this episode. Shame!

- Another "Oh, look at me, I'm badass on my horse!" moment for Tywin (for the win!). This man is hilarious! "The battle is over. We have won!"

- The last scene, with Cersei on the Iron Throne, really was the highlight of this episode, for me. Great scene, with great lightning and a great build-up.

- About the score... What score? All I heard were drums. I'm sorry, but I call that "Source music". I'll pass, thank you very much!

- Why is there a country singer singing over the end credits? Lame!

- Now that the season has reached its climax with this episode, I feel like, as with season 1 finale, next week's finale will feel more like an introduction to season 3 than a conclusion of the current season. Not sure if I like that...

And to conclude this post, and season 2, here is Episode 10 - Valar Morghulis trailer (By the way, this episode will be 10 minutes longer than the other episodes):

[Marian Schedenig]

Neither Hormburg nor Gondor had flaming arrows. But flaming arrows are reminiscent of Grond. And Hornburg never had an attack by sea. And you can see a bunch of people freaking out in the city, like the innocents of Mina's Tirith.

Yes that was one of Denethor's more brilliant ideas, leaving the city full of civilians. They make a good human shield in time of siege don't they and buy time for the troops when black trolls slaughter them before going after the soldiers.

In the film perhaps. But his descent into madness was handled poorly there, unfortunately (in other words: not at all). In the book, women and children are evacuated from the city in time before the siege.

[Chaac]

In the film Gondor sucks. They should have had the beacons working (as Gandalf and Pippin arrive at the city) and get the civilians out of there. One thing is going mad, other thing is condemning everybody to die for no reason without doing anything and without any expert military mind there doing anything about it. Plus, they would have one stupid scene left out (Pippin lighting the beacon), the film is already long.




Now I'm seeing episode 2.9. Fuck! Stannis has balls!!

[KK.]

In the film Gondor sucks. They should have had the beacons working (as Gandalf and Pippin arrive at the city) and get the civilians out of there. One thing is going mad, other thing is condemning everybody to die for no reason without doing anything and without any expert military mind there doing anything about it. Plus, they would have one stupid scene left out (Pippin lighting the beacon), the film is already long.

The lighting of the beacons is one of the most magical moments in the trilogy though!

[Incanus]

Neither Hormburg nor Gondor had flaming arrows. But flaming arrows are reminiscent of Grond. And Hornburg never had an attack by sea. And you can see a bunch of people freaking out in the city, like the innocents of Mina's Tirith.

Yes that was one of Denethor's more brilliant ideas, leaving the city full of civilians. They make a good human shield in time of siege don't they and buy time for the troops when black trolls slaughter them before going after the soldiers.

In the film perhaps. But his descent into madness was handled poorly there, unfortunately (in other words: not at all). In the book, women and children are evacuated from the city in time before the siege.

Of course. I was refering purely to the film there.

[BloodBoal]

[Incanus]

I bet that sells like hot cakes (or Hot Pie) in Westeros and HBO watching countries. Joffrey is someone everyone likes to hate.

[BloodBoal]

'Game of Thrones' scoop: Season 3 character list revealed

Look at that list, boys. Look closer... Closer... Closer, damn it! See? Yes, now you see! You Know His Name! He's back, and he's gonna kick some dragon's ass!

[Incanus]

Finally Tywin (for the win!) Lannister will receive a worthy adeversary, the Lightning Lord Beric Dondarrion!

[BloodBoal]

Let the bells ring! Rejoice! Rejoice! Fear no more! The Wall may fall, but Dondarrion will not!

You thought Jorah Mormont was kick-ass? Well, think again, for Dondarrion is here!

[Incanus]

I was just watching Doctor Who and what do you know, 3 GoT actors appear in the same episode, Ron Donachie (Rodrick Cassel), Jamie Sives (Jory Cassel) and Ian Hanmore (Pyat Pree himself).

[BloodBoal]

Ian Hanmore (Pyat Pree himself).

NOOOOOOOOOO WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!

[Incanus]

Yes way!

[BloodBoal]

Yes way!

, I was thinking about saying the exact same thing.

You and I, we really are...

Does he always play a creepy dude?

[Incanus]

If you look creepy you get only creepy roles. I wonder if he has that on his resume "I look naturally evil/creepy, it's one of my biggest strengths." And yes he was a creepy dude in that episode as well, but of course that is obvious from the picture.

[BloodBoal]

Hey, he doesn't look THAT creepy if you don't look at his face...

[Incanus]

Hey, he doesn't look THAT creepy if you don't look at his face...

Or if you have a paper bag over your head or if you are in a dark room with him. Face it he is creepy from head to toe. The dude looks like a walking skeleton! But that's cool. Creepy is the new cool.