I haven't been able to see it yet since I had to cancel my cable while my gf is looking for work. 
I've read the first four books though (starting on Dance tonight), so I'm not worried about spoilers.
Which new folks did we meet?
@Quasadu
"We must prepare for DOOM and hope for FREEM." - SirFrederick
I enjoyed it, but I wish now I hadn't already read "A Clash of Kings" because I found myself getting distracted from the action and dialogue because I was mentally comparing it to the book.
Let's see what new characters were introduced last night...
Stannis Baratheon
Melisandre, the Red Woman
Davos, the Onion Knight
Craster
Sir Dontas Hollard
That's all I can recall ATM.
(Sometimes, I wish there could be a Dev thumbs up button for quality posts, because you pretty much nailed it.) -- Ghost Falcon
Quote:
No Brienne yet?
|
Originally Posted by mousedroid
I enjoyed it, but I wish now I hadn't already read "A Clash of Kings" because I found myself getting distracted from the action and dialogue because I was mentally comparing it to the book.
Let's see what new characters were introduced last night... Stannis Baratheon Melisandre, the Red Woman Davos, the Onion Knight Craster Sir Dontas Hollard That's all I can recall ATM. |
@Quasadu
"We must prepare for DOOM and hope for FREEM." - SirFrederick
Quote:
We watched a mini-marathon last night catching up on the last few episodes of the first season to lead up to watching the new show last night.|
Originally Posted by Mental_Giant
What did people think of the premiere?
I thought it did an admirable job of setting things up while introducing the necessary new characters. Dinklage is still the most enjoyable part of the show as Tyrion. |
All in all its been pretty good so far. I'd agree in saying that Dinklage as Tyrion is easily my favorite character thus far. I see him as the Londo Mollari of this story in terms of being the initially disadvantaged, almost comic-relief type character that no one in power takes seriously until he finally maneuvers under-the-radar into a position of being a key player in the story.
Loth 50 Fire/Rad Controller [1392 Badges] [300 non-AE Souvenirs]
Ryver 50 Ele� Blaster [1392 Badges]
Silandra 50 Peacebringer [1138 Badges] [No Redside Badges]
--{=====> Virtue ♀
Quote:
Next episode probably... we didn't even see King Renly.
|
Originally Posted by Quasadu
No Brienne yet?
|
Agua Man lvl 48 Water/Electric Blaster
"To die hating NCSoft for shutting down City of Heroes, that was Freedom."
I enjoyed it. It was definitely a "where are they now/set up for the season" episode. Love the casting and the new actors really seem to understand where their characters are coming from. Especially the scene where Stannis is dictating the letter. So uptight but unflichingly honest he can't refer to Robert as his beloved brother or won't omit Ser from Jaime's title.
A great start. Glad it's back!
@Mental Maden @Maden Mental
"....you are now tackle free for life."-ShoNuff
It's set on a series of books, so I would assume it'll have multiple seasons to cover each book. Or a good bit of them, at least.
Also the show's been too successful to NOT continue.
http://www.virtueverse.net/wiki/Shadow_Mokadara
Season 1: Book 1
Season 2: Book 2 (and some 3)
Season 3: Part of Book 3
Season 4: End of Book 3.
That's what we know so far. Season's 3 and 4 will be shot simultaneously.
@Mental Maden @Maden Mental
"....you are now tackle free for life."-ShoNuff
Quote:
I have no doubt that we'll get at least several more seasons of HBO shows out of this story. But just because it's based on an existing series of books does not automatically mean we can assume each season of the TV show will always equal exactly one book's worth of content.|
Originally Posted by ShadowMoka
It's set on a series of books, so I would assume it'll have multiple seasons to cover each book. Or a good bit of them, at least.
Also the show's been too successful to NOT continue. |
As an example True Blood stuck pretty close to that pattern during its first two seasons on HBO. But by the third season the TV show started to leap ahead and draw from elements that were introduced in much later books of the Sookie Stackhouse series. The fourth season of True Blood has now touched on some aspects that didn't appear until like the 7th or 8th novel.
I suspect we'll get at least 1 or 2 more solid Game of Thrones seasons worth of TV shows that match the books. But by the time the TV show starts getting towards the end of the book series we might see the timeline compress or stretch out depending on the needs of the TV format.
EDIT: MentalMaden basically proved the point of this post while I was writing it.
Loth 50 Fire/Rad Controller [1392 Badges] [300 non-AE Souvenirs]
Ryver 50 Ele� Blaster [1392 Badges]
Silandra 50 Peacebringer [1138 Badges] [No Redside Badges]
--{=====> Virtue ♀
Based on what I've heard and read in interviews they do have intentions of sticking "as close" as they come to the story. From what I understand not as much of a shift like True Blood. True Blood is more of an Alan Ball interpretation of the Southern Vampire Series endorsed by the author. The truth is it would be virtually impossible to shoot the books, especially into 3 and through 5 just due to their vast size and scope. Martin adds a ton of "flavor" to his stories so I'm expecting to see a lot of combined characters etc to serve the purpose that 5 or more characters do in the books. And there obviously will be omissions of characters that don't add directly to the main plot threads. And I'm ok with that. If you love the books and want to see them on TV, you either accept that or expect to be very disappointed.
@Mental Maden @Maden Mental
"....you are now tackle free for life."-ShoNuff
Quote:
If recent shows like True Blood or The Walking Dead have taught me anything it's that I'm perfectly willing to let TV shows "deviate" from their source book formats because it's obvious no one could ever film them 100% identically. Even if you somehow got some kind of animated version it's going to have whatever story spin the animators put on it.|
Originally Posted by MentalMaden
Based on what I've heard and read in interviews they do have intentions of sticking "as close" as they come to the story. From what I understand not as much of a shift like True Blood. True Blood is more of an Alan Ball interpretation of the Southern Vampire Series endorsed by the author. The truth is it would be virtually impossible to shoot the books, especially into 3 and through 5 just due to their vast size and scope. Martin adds a ton of "flavor" to his stories so I'm expecting to see a lot of combined characters etc to serve the purpose that 5 or more characters do in the books. And there obviously will be omissions of characters that don't add directly to the main plot threads. And I'm ok with that. If you love the books and want to see them on TV, you either accept that or expect to be very disappointed.
|
I realize there are people out there who get bent out of shape over things like this (especially over comic book adaptations) but I try my best to not be one of those sad folk.
Loth 50 Fire/Rad Controller [1392 Badges] [300 non-AE Souvenirs]
Ryver 50 Ele� Blaster [1392 Badges]
Silandra 50 Peacebringer [1138 Badges] [No Redside Badges]
--{=====> Virtue ♀
Quote:
There are necessary changes and there are other kinds of changes. I'm ok with necessary changes - like MentalMaden mentioned, consolidating characters, omitting ones that don't advance the plot, etc. Also Game of Thrones does a good job of creating new scenes in order to convey exposition and character development. Those are good and necessary changes. |
Originally Posted by Lothic
If recent shows like True Blood or The Walking Dead have taught me anything it's that I'm perfectly willing to let TV shows "deviate" from their source book formats because it's obvious no one could ever film them 100% identically. Even if you somehow got some kind of animated version it's going to have whatever story spin the animators put on it.
I realize there are people out there who get bent out of shape over things like this (especially over comic book adaptations) but I try my best to not be one of those sad folk. |
Other times, a show will make changes that are not necessary because, for example, the network thinks something will sell better, or because the screenplay writers or director or producers don't understand a scene or a plot element so they change it. Those are usually bad changes. Like when they decide not to kill off a character because the actor is popular, stuff like that.
To use a GoT example, imagine if they had decided that the actor who played Benjen Stark was so good that he needed more screentime, so they dropped Yoren and sent Benjen to King's Landing - but then they had to figure out why the Rangers would go north of the Wall if they weren't looking for Benjen, so they made up some other reason... Nevermind what happens to Yoren/Benjen later in the story... and what about <redacted>? And so on.
Those are the kind of changes that snowballs until the show is barely recognizable from the source material.
That's not ALWAYS bad - sometimes the source material just has a good idea at its core but the story/writing itself is kinda bad, so those kind of changes are great (see Battlestar Galactica). But when you're dealing with something that is already great, I believe you should keep it as intact as possible.
Game of Thrones, so far, has been a shining example of how you do it right.
@Quasadu
"We must prepare for DOOM and hope for FREEM." - SirFrederick
Quote:
Was that Dolorous Edd telling Jon and Sam about Craster's "wives"/
|
Originally Posted by mousedroid
I enjoyed it, but I wish now I hadn't already read "A Clash of Kings" because I found myself getting distracted from the action and dialogue because I was mentally comparing it to the book.
Let's see what new characters were introduced last night... Stannis Baratheon Melisandre, the Red Woman Davos, the Onion Knight Craster Sir Dontas Hollard That's all I can recall ATM. |
Quote:
Wiki entry for Episode 2.1|
Originally Posted by Baler
Was that Dolorous Edd telling Jon and Sam about Craster's "wives"/
|
Wikipedia shows an actor credited for playing Edd Tollett, so I guess he was. It also credits someone as Meryn Trant; was he just in the background somewhere, or did I totally miss him?
I find your lack of signature disturbing.
Quote:
True enough. The obvious assumption from my last post was that a given TV show based on a book still needs to be good in and of itself to be worth watching. A bad adaptation from even the most perfect series of books in existence would still be a bad adaptation. |
Originally Posted by Quasadu
Game of Thrones, so far, has been a shining example of how you do it right.
|
Loth 50 Fire/Rad Controller [1392 Badges] [300 non-AE Souvenirs]
Ryver 50 Ele� Blaster [1392 Badges]
Silandra 50 Peacebringer [1138 Badges] [No Redside Badges]
--{=====> Virtue ♀
Quote:
Meryn Trant was in a couple episodes of the first season and it looks like that's the same actor. |
Originally Posted by Frost Warden
Wiki entry for Episode 2.1
Wikipedia shows an actor credited for playing Edd Tollett, so I guess he was. It also credits someone as Meryn Trant; was he just in the background somewhere, or did I totally miss him? |
To refresh your memory, in the last episode of season one there's a scene where Joffrey has Trant hit Sansa - standing outside the Red Keep looking at the heads on the wall.
@Quasadu
"We must prepare for DOOM and hope for FREEM." - SirFrederick
Stannis is my favorite character from the books, and his introduction didn't disappoint. Craster is even creepier on TV, and the culling of Robert's baseborns was wrenching.
Global name: @k26dp
Quote:
Yep.
|
Originally Posted by Baler
Was that Dolorous Edd telling Jon and Sam about Craster's "wives"/
|
@Mental Maden @Maden Mental
"....you are now tackle free for life."-ShoNuff
A bit random, bit this amused me and I thought I'd share:
@True Metal
Co-leader of Callous Crew SG. Based on Union server.
Quote:
I have to agree I've grown quite fond of Stannis myself. Anyone with the judgement to recognize the importance of Davos has his head screwed on right.|
Originally Posted by RosaQuartz
Stannis is my favorite character from the books, and his introduction didn't disappoint. Craster is even creepier on TV, and the culling of Robert's baseborns was wrenching.
|
Book 6 (yeah you read that right) Spoilers below.............
2nd warning.....................................
One more warning..........................
Did you read the Stannis chapter that Martin posted for Christmas? So awesome. I think after reading that I kind of wonder if Martin doesn't have more plans for Stannis. He seems very "kingly" in it.
@Mental Maden @Maden Mental
"....you are now tackle free for life."-ShoNuff
Quote:
*** POSSIBLE BOOK SPOILERS - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED ***|
Originally Posted by MentalMaden
I have to agree I've grown quite fond of Stannis myself. Anyone with the judgement to recognize the importance of Davos has his head screwed on right.
|
I've grown rather fond of Davos, and, by extension, Stannis, as well. When it appeared that Davos was killed "offscreen", I was ticked. Then book 5 came along and made me happy again. Well, at least until the end...
I sincerely hope that Davos is fleshed out in the series; he's a very complex and interesting fellow.
I find your lack of signature disturbing.
This episode was pretty "eh" for me. It was your obligatory episode where they basically hash out where everyone's at and what they're dealing with. Hopefully they get back to meat and potatoes this week.
I should mention that I've not read the books (yet). I actually enjoy books more after I've watched a movie or show about them.
Jessie Lawrence
Assistant Community Manager
Paragon Studios
'Like' us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Circle us on Google+
Watch us Live on Twitch.TV every Wednesday!
Yeah I don't think you could have put together a first episode to introduce new characters and establish what existing characters are doing and it be any different than it was....a little "eh". I totally get it.
Where a lot of us readers are excited is we know where it's going and how awesome or anti-awesome these new characters and existing storylines are going.
As a reader just let me say. Get ready for some awesomesauce to come!
@Mental Maden @Maden Mental
"....you are now tackle free for life."-ShoNuff
Quote:
PM me if need be, but I just have to know that that lil petulant punk boy "King" Geoffery get his britches burned in end right? Please say yes.....|
Originally Posted by MentalMaden
Yeah I don't think you could have put together a first episode to introduce new characters and establish what existing characters are doing and it be any different than it was....a little "eh". I totally get it.
Where a lot of us readers are excited is we know where it's going and how awesome or anti-awesome these new characters and existing storylines are going. As a reader just let me say. Get ready for some awesomesauce to come! |
The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.
Didn't see a thread for this so I made one.
What did people think of the premiere?
I thought it did an admirable job of setting things up while introducing the necessary new characters. Dinklage is still the most enjoyable part of the show as Tyrion.
Agua Man lvl 48 Water/Electric Blaster
"To die hating NCSoft for shutting down City of Heroes, that was Freedom."