Game of Thrones

Tried to get into it, but just couldn't. Seems like a medieval soap opera. Which may have people going, hell yea!, but I was like meh.
 
Gillvane said:
Tried to get into it, but just couldn't. Seems like a medieval soap opera. Which may have people going, hell yea!, but I was like meh.
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Having read the books, I have liked the series, and have not had too much of a problem with how much has been condensed and collapsed (or new characters invented). The series has pretty much hit the 'major points' in the books, and left out a lot of 'trudging', that in some sense 'Lord of the Rings' sort of has... I still like those films, as the books had even more such trudging...

The only 'difficulty' is listening to the Wife yell about 'too much sex'... oddly she doesn't yell about the violence... I think there's a hidden message there, but it is far too late to do anything about it... perhaps next life...

And speaking of sex and violence... if 'soap operas' had a much, rather than interminably beating around the bush (same problem I have with Jane Austen books and adaptations...), so to speak, I'd probably have more of an interest... as it is "Soap Dish"(1991) is about the only 'soap' I can stand... oh... wait... it was just a movie...
 
Damn, I gotta give a shout out to Neil Marshall for tonight's episode. One of the best hours of TV I've ever seen, and on a par with anything Peter Jackson did in Lord of the Rings. Tense, exciting, and emotional spectacle. And Giants riding Mammoths! I've been hot and cold on this show but episodes like this make me glad I've kept with it.
 
I disagree. I am a big fan of the series, but after last week's set up with Tyrion and the fight, and then to follow up with this...a whole hour of the fight at the Wall...I was very disappointed. A fight that could have just as easily been a loop of 10 minutes of fighting played over and over. And even if you enjoyed 55 minutes of the same fight (which I didn't), I think to not show any of the other threads was a big mistake (even a moment of Arya ansd The Hound). Frankly, I don't think that's ever happened before in all of the years GoT has been airing. I thought tonight's episode was one of the weakest, but I respect your opinion, Batutta.
 
I was surprised too that the whole episode was on the Wall but I enjoyed it. The show is typically machiavellian moments done piecemeal where we barely get 10 minutes in a location before jumping away so spending the whole episode w/the same characters was enjoyable. Would I want the whole series done this way? No, but as a one off it was a nice change of pace.
 
cyclone said:
I think to not show any of the other threads was a big mistake (even a moment of Arya ansd The Hound).
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I am someone who has found the series lack of narrative focus and constant jumping around to various unrelated story threads to be a source of frustration. I don't like about half the story lines and the other half the time I'm saying to my wife 'now who the f*ck are these people?' This episode had me riveted from beginning to end.
 
cyclone said:
I disagree. I am a big fan of the series, but after last week's set up with Tyrion and the fight, and then to follow up with this...a whole hour of the fight at the Wall...I was very disappointed. A fight that could have just as easily been a loop of 10 minutes of fighting played over and over. And even if you enjoyed 55 minutes of the same fight (which I didn't), I think to not show any of the other threads was a big mistake (even a moment of Arya ansd The Hound). Frankly, I don't think that's ever happened before in all of the years GoT has been airing. I thought tonight's episode was one of the weakest, but I respect your opinion, Batutta.
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Wrong. The fight at Blackwater Bay in Kings landing was also took up an entire episode.
 
mcgeedigital said:
Wrong. The fight at Blackwater Bay in Kings landing was also took up an entire episode.
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It was also the penultimate episode of that season, just as the 'battle for the wall, Day 1" is this season.

I've liked the adaptation. The books have many more characters, and follows the 'character threading' that the shows replicate in some way. However, the show does give the 'principle' character more frequent 'round robbin' style air time than the books.
 
Batutta said:
I am someone who has found the series lack of narrative focus and constant jumping around to various unrelated story threads to be a source of frustration. I don't like about half the story lines and the other half the time I'm saying to my wife 'now who the f*ck are these people?' This episode had me riveted from beginning to end.
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One of my 'skills' is keeping up with multi-threaded processes... this helps in my 'day' job... and apparently helps with this style of story telling...
 
j1clark@ucsd.edu said:
One of my 'skills' is keeping up with multi-threaded processes... this helps in my 'day' job... and apparently helps with this style of story telling...
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You get to spend more time with the characters in the books (not to mention reading their names over and over again) so I think it's easer to keep things if you've read the books vs if you've just watched the TV show.
 
adkimery said:
You get to spend more time with the characters in the books (not to mention reading their names over and over again) so I think it's easer to keep things if you've read the books vs if you've just watched the TV show.
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I'm enjoying this season more because the story lines seem more interrelated, and things are a bit more streamlined. But I have always had the feeling with this show that I'm just skimming the surface of something much deeper, like I'm watching the Cliff Notes version of the books. Maybe that's too harsh, but it's how it feels to me. I always feel like parts are missing and I'm skipping over stuff. The show is always nice to look at though, that's for sure.
 
Batutta said:
But I have always had the feeling with this show that I'm just skimming the surface of something much deeper, like I'm watching the Cliff Notes version of the books. Maybe that's too harsh, but it's how it feels to me. I always feel like parts are missing and I'm skipping over stuff.
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I haven't read the books, but from talking with people that have I think that's a fair analogy. The books go much deeper into the characters and their relationships than the show can (but I think that's typically true of any book to movie/tv show adaptation). Even simpler stories (like the Hunger Games) are like Cliffs Notes versions of the books.

At some point I'm going to start reading the books and even though I know generally how things play out (though the TV show does create new narrative every now and then) I think I will still find the books enjoyable because of the added depth they will have.


-Andrew
 
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