posted
Well, through some sort of (apparent) screw-up, I currently have HBO, so I got to see the first episode. It seemed really good, but it suffered from one major drawback - I have read the book. Multiple times. The fact that I know what is going to happen kind of kills a lot of my interest. (I had the same problem when I watched "Gone With the Wind" last year.)
Another thing - Martin managed to pack many characters into the books without making them seem overcrowded. The film version seems really crowded though.
Finally, is anyone watching the show who hasn't read the books? Can you follow what is going on? Just curious.
From: Cincinnati | Registered: Jul 2003
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^ I find that having read a book (and therefore knowing what's going to happen) usually gets me more excited while watching a film of that book because I'm anticipating how they're going to adapt the important scenes or events or characters that the book contained. Often, of course, that just leads to disappointment when the scenes in my head are often so much better than what I see on screen. But occasionally there are a few happy surprises.
I haven't read any of these books though - or seen the first episode. I'm trying to decide whether I should read the books first or just dive straight into the show.
From: Australia | Registered: Dec 2003
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He finished the book today (hooray!) so it looks like the July date will hold up. It looks to be quite a long book, so DOUBLE YAY!
From: Cincinnati | Registered: Jul 2003
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Just kinda funny - Amazon in Germany started shipping their books early. According to Martin's website, 180 copies of ADWD were sold before it was caught. Other distributors around the world then thought they should be able to sell their books, too. Anyway, apparently this has all been stopped; still, you might see some spoilers from those lucky enough to get an unintentional advance copy.
I have checked my local library's site every day - they don't seem to have the book in their records yet. I'm not worried; they will eventually get it in and I am sure I will have it read before GRRM kicks out his next book.
From: Cincinnati | Registered: Jul 2003
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I finally got this book from the library and read the 959 pages in 8 days. Martin still tells a great story! While it was a wonderful read, there was a lot of build-up for very little payoff. Ah, well, maybe in another decade we will get the last book.
From: Cincinnati | Registered: Jul 2003
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I suppose it is a little early to whine about when the next book will be out, huh?
By the way, I did watch the first season, which is out on DVD. I really enjoyed it! I can't wait till season 2 comes to DVD.
From: Cincinnati | Registered: Jul 2003
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Never read any of the books but both seasons of GAME OF THRONES have been astronomically compelling!!! True Blood is no longer the reason I want HBO, Game of Thrones is!
Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
I love a lot of the characters we don't see a lot of. Ayre's fencing instructor was my favorite character in the show, until her new mysterious friend came along.
"And what do we say to Death?"
"Not today."
I don't usually 'love to hate' even the most despicable characters, but wow, Joffrey just has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, does he?
I love the face of the actress they picked for Margery. She seems to be ambitious, mercenary and opportunistic, but I'm willing to overlook that, and just stare at her face some more. (Brienne of Tarth or whatever her name is, has an unconventional beauty that I dig, as well.)
On another message board, there was a thread from before the show first launched titled 'Sean Bean heads cast for Game of Thrones!'
After the first season, it was changed to Click Here For A Spoiler Sean Bean's head cast for Game of Thrones....
Registered: Aug 2006
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^ Natalie Dormer plays Margaery--she's unbelievably, fall down on your face beautiful! She played Anne Boyelin on Showtime's The Tudors series. She was stunning there as well. She's also a great actress.
I realize I never posted in this thread before. Last year I read all five Game of Thrones books and they dominated my life for a few months. Like many, I became super-obssessed with them because they are just so damn good. I'm not a huge fan of multi-novel sagas, but this is a major exception. I could go on and on and on about it but I won't. My brothers and sister and I would email each other for days about various characters and parts of the larger story.
Also, the show has been fantastic too! So many actors nail the characters perfectly: Tyrion (my favorite), Littlefinger, Cersei, etc.
Click Here For A SpoilerI have high hopes for Sansa, Arya, Bran, etc really shining in coming seasons. This isn't much of a spoiler but part of what's so great about these books is never knowing who will die. Ayra is my absolute favorite of the children, though Jon Snow is close. But I've come to love Sansa as well.
Much like comic books, I love the ancillory characters. Whenever they show up--and usually each character gets a major scene--I eat it right up.
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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Set
There's not a word yet, for old friends who've just met.
posted
I haven't read the novels yet. I find that, for the most part, I enjoy TV/movie versions of books better if I don't read the book first, and tend to really enjoy reading the books *after* seeing a TV/movie-i-zation, as it feels like I'm getting a greatly enriched and expanded version of what I've already seen, and can carry over the visuals of the on-screen version to what I'm reading, kind of getting the best of both worlds.
(Lord of the Rings being an exception, in that I think Peter Jackson did a great job of trimming down the books a bit, although I didn't love every one of his choices.)
Novel and movie, IMO, have very different strengths, and it's generally a mistake to try too hard to make a movie *too* faithful to a written source. It might be a *perfect* adaptation of the source material, but who needs that? Better to change what's necessary to play to the strengths (and limitations) of the new medium, IMO.
Registered: Aug 2006
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Arya is my fave character on the entire show (after the end of season 1)!! Dany is a close second, Brienne is way up there and of course all the handsome guys-!! But really there's FAR too many awesome characters to even begin a faves list. All of the child actors are BEYOND amazing... not a single dud in the whole young bunch, which is surprising because some of them are REALLY young.
I am *so* glad I gave this show a chance... that first episode is almost overpowering with the new characters and without the recaps on EW.com, I might have been lost at times, but there was no way I wasn't returning for episode 2 after the shock end of episode 1!
Now that I'm vested in the show, I probably won't try to read the books until the show ends-- which will hopefully not be for a long while-- but I have heard the show is pretty faithful to the books (unlike Walking Dead and True Blood).
quote:Originally posted by Set: Novel and movie, IMO, have very different strengths, and it's generally a mistake to try too hard to make a movie *too* faithful to a written source. It might be a *perfect* adaptation of the source material, but who needs that? Better to change what's necessary to play to the strengths (and limitations) of the new medium, IMO.
Agree 100%
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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And yeah, the show is very faithful to the books. So far, the show basically just cuts out a lot of parts (otherwise it'd be 30 episodes a season...though sounds awesome). I'm curious as to how much this will continue since later books are outright huge in content.
Both books & show are of such high quality that you can't go wrong no matter how you approach them.
(PS - I haven't seen season 2 of the show yet, though I of course know what is going to happen).
From: If you don't want my peaches, honey... | Registered: Sep 2003
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