GAME OF THRONES

[A. A. Ron 1,014]

8 hours ago, Chen G. said:

 

Who?

I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking GOT has a ton of characters you don’t bond with right away, but grow to care for over time. I like Ned and Arya Stark, Tyrion, Tywin and Jaime Lannister, Olenna and Margaery Tyrell, Bronn, Brienne, Podrick, Gendry, Davos, Shireen, Varys, Jorah Mormont, Oberyn Martell and the Hound.

[Pellaeon 581]

Unfortunately, in the later seasons, the show more and more became like WWF: faces and heels. Make sure the bad guys are really cartoonishly odious so you know to cheer real big when the fan-favorites kill them off. Honestly I couldn’t stand Brienne or Arya by the end because they were just such unrelenting Mary Sues.

[Stark 189]

I’m looking forward to more Djawadi music in this universe, and I’m also glad he’s composing it because that makes him less likely to be hired for LOTR!

[Jay 32,102]

LOL

 

 

[toothless 955]

On 06/10/2021 at 9:47 AM, Arpy said:

The show needed more time to develop. 

 

 

 

I've never seen a pitch meeting SO on point.

[Disco Stu 15,475]

It feels very "era defining" that Thrones Season 8 and TROS were the same year.  Or at least just coincidental 

[Jay 32,102]

end of one era, start of another...

[Disco Stu 15,475]

Well more that both were incredibly anticipated but were rushed and haphazard in execution for no good reason.

 

Of course the same year was Endgame, an anticipated finale (of sorts) that pretty much hit out of the park in terms of fan reception.

[Edmilson 4,984]

Don't forget the finale for The Big Bang Theory, which also happened in 2019!

[Disco Stu 15,475]

How could I forget...

[bruce marshall 1,261]

On 05/10/2021 at 10:07 PM, GerateWohl said:

I seem to be one of the very few who was completely ok with the finale of the show.

Yes, in season 6 they began perticularly to repeat themselves. But season 7 and eight were again quite strong again. And yes, this whole night king plot was never really explained until the end. It was somehow just ... there. And then finished. Maybe we will learn more about it in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

 😊

[Holko 8,228]

HttYD3 was 2019 too... everything collided and crashed!

[Bilbo 3,706]

On 6/10/21 at 5:04 AM, blondheim said:

When George finishes the books

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Chen G. 3,216]

12 hours ago, Disco Stu said:

It feels very "era defining" that Thrones Season 8 and TROS were the same year.  Or at least just coincidental 

 

It is curious that both certainly suffer from the same main issue: pacing that's too fast.

[GerateWohl 2,856]

4 hours ago, Chen G. said:

 

It is curious that both certainly suffer from the same main issue: pacing that's too fast.

I am grateful that this TROS desaster didn't last longer than it already did.

[Chen G. 3,216]

I dunno - it was fairly long by Star Wars standards, wasn't it?

 

Its just that everything in that 2.5 hours flashed-by with very little chance to actually settle into situations, characters, feelings and so forth.

[Bilbo 3,706]

TROS was JJ’s caffeine catching up on him. 

[Disco Stu 15,475]

Somehow cocaine has returned

[Edmilson 4,984]

Agree or disagree?

 

I particularly disagree; as awful as the GoT finale was, it wasn't nearly as detestable as Dexter's final season(s).

[blondheim 1,034]

None of those other shows had the potential of early Thrones so yes, it is the greatest offender.

[Docteur Qui 1,459]

3 hours ago, Edmilson said:

Agree or disagree?

 

I particularly disagree; as awful as the GoT finale was, it wasn't nearly as detestable as Dexter's final season(s).

 

Lost shouldn't even be on that list. So many people who hated it completely misunderstood it. Or didn't realise that the show was never going to answer all its questions before it finished its run.

 

For what it's worth, the finale of Game of Thrones isn't that bad. There's far worse episodes earlier in the season, and all through seasons 5-7, but the final two episodes as a singular finale are actually pretty good (give or take a few scenes). The action in "The Bells" is rollickingly good fun, and there's some real melancholic beauty to the aftermath scenes in the finale.

 

The worst finale of all time will always be Dexter. What an insult to a once interesting show. That was a show that completely and utterly misunderstood its core premise by the end of things, tone-deaf and borderline irresponsible.

[Jay 32,102]

I've never seen a single episode of 2 1/2 Men, and had no idea the finale was considered to be disappointing.

 

The LOST finale was perfectly fine, and has no need to be on a poll like this.

 

I watched every episode of Game of Thrones, Dexter, and How I Met Your Mother.  And all 3 finales were, indeed, utterly and astonishingly disappointing, on multiple levels for each of them.  All three deserve to remain in the conversation for a very long time about how not to end a long running show with lots of dedicated fans.

 

So, while all 3 are absolutely very bad and disappointing endings, I would say that yes, GOT still manages to stand tall above both of the others. 

 

Dexter was, in the end, only really good for its first 4 seasons (and within that, only season 1 and maybe season 4 were something truly special).  Starting with season 5 the writing quality just continued to go down and down and down, so by the time the season 8 finale (series finale) came, it was atrociously bad, yes, but it wasn't exactly a surprise, because the writing had already been so bad.  The finale was extra bad even compared to all that, but the love was long lost by that point so it was kind of hard to be too disappointed.  It was more of a petering out than a swift drop.  So, I'd put Dexter as the "lest terrible" of the 3 bad finales in question.

 

How I Met Your Mother was basically just a Friends-ish sitcom, so the overarching story wasn't terribly important to enjoying any given episode.  But there was an overarching story, and they utterly and completely screwed it up at the end.  The gimmick of the show was that while all the action took place in the modern day, it was narrated by one of the main characters from the future, who is presumably telling his children the long version of how he met their mother.  They don't even introduce the mother until the season 8 finale, and then they spend almost of of season 9 with them still not having met each other, except in the occasional flash-forward, until the finale when they finally meet in the modern timeline.  The actress they cast for her was fantastic, and she had great chemistry with the main character.  In addition, the show had gotten 2 of the other characters together and married.  They undid all of this good stuff in the final minutes of the finale, having the other 2 characters get divorced, having the mother die, and then having the main character go pursue the divorced friend in the future setting.  So this was worse than Dexter, because it didn't really slowly peter out, it was fairly consistent until that strange final season... and even then, it felt the whole season like they had a grand plan, and were building toward a fulfilling finale.  Instead, the ending they went with was so out of left field, so tone-def to what the fans wanted, and what was working on screen perfectly fine that they could have went with instead of their idea for a finale they came up with in season 2.  Really lame.

 

Game of Thrones, what more needs to be said.  For 4 seasons they did a great job of adapting a beloved trilogy of books.  For the next 2 seasons they hastily and sloppily adapted the next two, lesser beloved books.  For the final 2 seasons, they made up their own endings to what the books were setting up and really screwed it all up.  So again like Dexter, it's not just the finale episode that was bad, but the entire final season.  And yet, within that terrible final season, the final episode did manage to elevate to another higher level of disappointment than the season was already at.  There was enough to cling on to that they could maybe turn things around and have something interesting to say or reveal, but no, the finale was just.... bad upon bad upon bad.  The way the whole show ended was so bad, the whole GOT franchise seems to be in pretty rough shape and the prequel series is going to have to be really special to elevate it back up I think.  And really it all comes down to "it didn't have to be this way" for GOT.  You have the HBO execs stating they wanted more seasons, that it was entirely D&D's idea to end it in 8 seasons instead of 10, and to make those final 2 seasons so short.  It really seems like they got their Disney and Netflix money, decided spending 5 more years on GOT was too much for them, so got out as quickly as possible, ruining all the good will.  You really feel for the actors to, who could barely hide publicly that they were disappointed in the way it all ended too.  What a joke.  I'm still made about it!  Luckily, the FreeFolk subreddit continues to provide nice memes to help ease the pain all these years later.

[Positivatee 323]

2.5 Men died with Charlie Sheen's character. 

[Edmilson 4,984]

I always hated Two and a Half Men. It wasn't funny or entertaining, just a bunch of sexist and homophobic sex jokes that a teenager could've written.

[Disco Stu 15,475]

2.5 Men makes Big Bang Theory look like Citizen Kane

[Jay 32,102]

Brian Cox was offered the role of Robert Baratheon but turned it down

 

He probably woulda been good, but Mark Addy was great!

[Docteur Qui 1,459]

I really want to read Cox’s book, every time one of the excerpts makes headlines it’s very funny. He rags on self-important Hollywood types and is just generally an unfiltered delight. Think I might reactivate my audible account for it.

I’m so glad he’s gotten the role of a lifetime as Logan Roy. It must be satisfying and joyful after a long and distinguished, though relatively low-profile career. A wonderful actor.

[blondheim 1,034]

His Lector never gets any attention, which is unfortunate.

[AC1 3,903]

I'm glad it was Mark Addy. I didn't know him so to me he is Robert Baratheon.

[Jay 32,102]

Same! 

[Jay 32,102]

Tons of spinoffs are still in the works

[Pellaeon 581]

I thought I would do a quick-and-dirty analysis of the popularity of the books vs. the seasons of the show.

 

 

A Storm of Swords was the basis for seasons 3-4 of Game of Thrones.

The book has a 4.54 rating on Goodreads, and those seasons each have a 97% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

 

A Game of Thrones was the basis for season 1 of Game of Thrones.

The book has a 4.44 rating on Goodreads, and that season a 96% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

 

A Clash of Kings was the basis for season 2 of Game of Thrones.

The book has a 4.41 rating on Goodreads, and that season a 96% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

 

A Dance with Dragons was the basis of season 5 of Game of Thrones.

The book has a 4.32 rating on Goodreads, and that season has a 90% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

 

 

So far so good.

 

 

Season 6 of Game of Thrones comes in at 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a bit surprising to me, as I thought the season was really flailing. Some of the story material was mined from the not-well-regarded A Feast for Crows, which comes in at 4.14 on Goodreads. However, at a much-touted meeting with the showrunners, George R.R. Martin apparently poured out the answers to various mysteries and the direction of various storylines — for example, things to do with Bran, the origin of the White Walkers, Hodor, Aerys and wildfire, Jon, and Stannis—and these beans were all unceremoniously spilled in Season 6. I will say the finale of this season was magnificent, and probably colored the generally favorable reception of this season.

 

 

Seasons 7 and 8 of Game of Thrones are not based on any books at all, and they fall to 82% and 30%, respectively.

 

 

There are two remaining books which are being used as the basis for spinoffs. Fire & Blood is the basis of the upcoming House of the Dragon, but the book is a real snoozer with a 3.92 rating at Goodreads. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is better-liked but still no phenomenon, with a 4.21 rating at Goodreads. It will be the basis of the Tales of Dunk and Egg series.

[Edmilson 4,984]

2 hours ago, Pellaeon said:

Seasons 7 and 8 of Game of Thrones are not based on any books at all, and they fall to 82% and 30%, respectively.

 

S7 is still pretty high, in my opinion. That season was as bad as the eight one.

[Jay 32,102]

George RR Martin says he's still writing Winds Of Winter

 

https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2022/06/01/good-stuff-bad-stuff-strange-stuff/

[Edmilson 4,984]

My grandkids will love reading both this and A Dream Of Spring, which will be finished by an android powered with Martin's conscience.

[Edmilson 4,984]

‘Game of Thrones’ Jon Snow Sequel Series in Development at HBO (Exclusive)

Kit Harington is attached to reprise his fan-favorite role in the first potential 'Thrones' project to take place after the events in the original series.

[bruce marshall 1,261]

Have fans calmed down yet over season 8?😅

 

Maybe, someday, they will realize that Kaleesi turning into a tyrant was the only logical conclusion.

 

Napoleon Bonaparte

Alexander the Great...

 

There is no such thing as a ' benevolent dicatator'.

 

 

 

[Positivatee 323]

The show was going off the rails before the decision to make Dany break bad. 

[AC1 3,903]

2 hours ago, Edmilson said:

‘Game of Thrones’ Jon Snow Sequel Series in Development at HBO (Exclusive)

Kit Harington is attached to reprise his fan-favorite role in the first potential 'Thrones' project to take place after the events in the original series.

 

That sounds like Season 9 to me, lads!

[Yavar Moradi 1,822]

13 hours ago, bruce marshall said:

Maybe, someday, they will realize that Kaleesi turning into a tyrant was the only logical conclusion.

There is no such thing as a ' benevolent dicatator'.

 

It's not where she ended up that was the big problem. It was how quickly and awkwardly she ended up there. It was *almost* as bad and clumsily done as Anakin's turn to the dark side in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

 

Breaking Bad and Babylon 5 (with the character of Londo) did this gradually, believably, even sympathetically. Fewer people would have been angry about it with Game of Thrones if it had been executed better. Hell, the show had me on its side (though admittedly I forgave more than I normally would in season 7 and season 8 episode 1) all the way up to season 8, episode 3.

 

Yavar

[bruce marshall 1,261]

" Quickly"?.

Go back and listen to Tyrians speech to Jon Snow in the last episode.

You werent watching closely.

[Yavar Moradi 1,822]

6 minutes ago, bruce marshall said:

" Quickly"?.

Go back and listen to Tyrians speech to Jon Snow in the last episode.

You werent watching closely.

 

Don't even get me started with stupid things Tyrion says in the last episode, lol... there's a good reason that episode is rated so shockingly low!

 

Yavar

[bruce marshall 1,261]

The truth hurts!

😅

[Jay 32,102]

On 16/06/2022 at 10:30 PM, Edmilson said:

‘Game of Thrones’ Jon Snow Sequel Series in Development at HBO (Exclusive)

Kit Harington is attached to reprise his fan-favorite role in the first potential 'Thrones' project to take place after the events in the original series.

 

An update from GRRM himself, along with a Winds of Winter update

[Edmilson 4,984]

GRRM is working hard on the book, which will be different from the TV show:

 

George R. R. Martin Warns Final ‘Game of Thrones’ Novels Are Very Different from Story on TV

 

Quote

“Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin just clarified that his upcoming novels are moving “further and further away” from the events of his saga as depicted in HBO’s TV show which ran from 2011 to 2019. The sixth and seventh “A Song of Ice and Fire” series installments are respectively titled “The Winds of Winter” and “A Dream of Spring.”

“I have been at work in my winter garden,” Martin wrote in a blog post on his website. “Things are growing…and changing, as does happen with us gardeners. Things twist, things change, new ideas come to me (thank you, muse), old ideas prove unworkable, I write, I rewrite, I restructure, I rip everything apart and rewrite again, I go through doors that lead nowhere, and doors that open on marvels.”

Martin joked that while his writing process “sounds mad, I know,” he can promise that his “gardening” will foster the blooming of new story paths separate from the TV show.

“What I have noticed more and more of late, however, is my gardening is taking me further and further away from the television series,” Martin hinted. “Yes, some of the things you saw on HBO in ‘Game of Thrones’ you also will see in ‘The Winds of Winter’ (though maybe not in quite the same ways)…but much of the rest will be quite different.”

“Not all of the characters who survived until the end of ‘Game of Thrones’ will survive until the end of ‘A Song of Ice and Fire,’ and not all of the characters who died on ‘Game of Thrones’ will die in ‘A Song of Ice and Fire.’ (Some will, sure. Of course. Maybe most. But definitely not all.) (Of course, I could change my mind again next week, with the next chapter I write. That’s gardening.)”

 

[bruce marshall 1,261]

TWO more books?!😳😳😵😵

On 16/06/2022 at 8:49 PM, Positivatee said:

The show was going off the rails before the decision to make Dany break bad. 

She was " bad" from the time she decided she was the rightful heir to the throne.

That was always her main motivation.

She could afford to be altruistic and idealistic I.e. freeing the slaves, because it didn't stand in opposition to that goal.

 

[A. A. Ron 1,014]

9 minutes ago, bruce marshall said:

TWO more books?!😳😳😵😵

 

That's been the plan for 10 years now...

[bruce marshall 1,261]

I'll wait for the audio books.

[Positivatee 323]

18 hours ago, bruce marshall said:

I'll wait for the audio books.

 

Narration by Jim Dale or bust. 

[bruce marshall 1,261]

5 hours ago, Positivatee said:

 

Narration by Jim Dale or bust. 

Even better!