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Post by blueshift on Mar 19, 2014 20:51:35 GMT
So I can never remember which book is which, especially as the UK split one of them. I can't remember which I felt were weakest. I know one was less interesting because that was down to the books only featuring half the characters and the later books felt as though they had ground to a halt in places. Book 4 is the one that picks up what's happening in Westeros, and book 5 is the one that picks up what is happening with all the popular characters. Obviously they'll merge them ,as you can't go and put half your cast on retainers for a season! |
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Post by Bogatan on Mar 19, 2014 21:39:02 GMT
That sounds right. Which book was it that was split here but released as one giant one in the States?
They wont split the cast for a whole season, but they could replicate the format a little by having whole episodes focusing on select groups. Walking Dead has been doing it for the second half of the current season to very good effect.
The biggest issue I see is that the show will overtake the books long before the book series is done.
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Post by blueshift on Mar 19, 2014 21:43:07 GMT
That sounds right. Which book was it that was split here but released as one giant one in the States? They wont split the cast for a whole season, but they could replicate the format a little by having whole episodes focusing on select groups. Walking Dead has been doing it for the second half of the current season to very good effect. The biggest issue I see is that the show will overtake the books long before the book series is done. Book 3 (Storm of Swords) and book 5 (dance with dragons) are the split ones |
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Rich
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Post by Rich on Mar 20, 2014 19:21:11 GMT
The last one was better, but still a long way short of Storm of Swords. My concern is the tv people will pad rather than overtake the books.
I fear I could OD before it's done. I hadn't planned to reread the series until it's finished, but it's becoming an itch I may have to scratch as all the detail is becoming rather dim. I've only watched the tv show when it was broadcast, and again, I'd quite like to rewatch.
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Post by legios on Mar 20, 2014 19:42:49 GMT
On the other hand, given that they have G.R.R Martin on the shows writing staff we might get into the situation which happens with some of the more organised adaptations of manga, where the show gets given the roadmap for the future and then proceeds to do its version of that story whilst the original work proceeds to do its version. I can see Martin being happy with that kind of arrangement, with his experience as a screenwriter he has always seemed pretty comfortable with the idea that adaptations are their own animal compared to the original work (my impression from other forums is that he seems more sanguine about that fact than some edges of his audience)
Karl
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Rich
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Post by Rich on Mar 20, 2014 20:43:07 GMT
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Post by blueshift on Mar 20, 2014 20:45:01 GMT
I hope he doesn't fall again into the trap of setting himself deadlines he can't keep. I think we're already well into that! |
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Post by Toph on Apr 5, 2014 18:32:23 GMT
DirecTV unlocked HBO to promote the GoT season premier this weekend.
Just to see what the fuss is about, I tracked down the "Red Wedding" episode (which weren't easy! Neither wikipedia or IMDB really mention it in their synopsis.)
And I have to say, THAT'S IT??? That's this horrible, sickening, shocking, mindblowing thing everyone's been going on and on about for months, that has spawned dozens of internet memes???
I've seen worse on Walking Dead!
(Please note this is a commentary on the considerable fan over-hype on this episode, and not on it's enjoyability, the writing, or the series as a whole)
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Post by blueshift on Apr 5, 2014 18:34:55 GMT
Well, you are missing the context. It is not shocking because OMG MY GOD ALL THE BLOOD AND GORE EXPLODING OUT OF PEOPLES HEADS, it is shocking because of what the major characters go through.
Like uh, if Rick and Carl die randomly in a mid-season episode of Walking Dead. If you just watched that episode it would be 'whatever'. If you'd watched the whole thing you would be shellshocked.
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Post by Toph on Apr 5, 2014 19:25:20 GMT
I've watched enough to be familiar with the characters. The entire first season, and a good chunk of the second.
I guess maybe I don't shock easily, because it wouldn't surprise me at all if rick or carl died in WD. Especially since both of these shows are built around main characters being axed "unexpectedly."
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Post by Pinwig on Jun 16, 2014 22:39:18 GMT
If anything I thought that end of episode 8 of this series was the most shocking there has been in terms of violence, if only because the screaming was so protracted.
Anyway, so season four is done and the wait begins again. I have thoroughly enjoyed every second of this show. Fantastic stuff. I'm now thinking given it'll be what, about 42 weeks until season five, that it's time to start from the beginning again, one a week. That'll fit nicely.
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Post by blueshift on Jun 17, 2014 0:12:38 GMT
If anything I thought that end of episode 8 of this series was the most shocking there has been in terms of violence, if only because the screaming was so protracted. I will never be cruel to a watermelon again. |
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Post by Toph on Jun 17, 2014 1:09:38 GMT
But Sledge-O-Matics are fun!
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Stomski
Fusilateral Quintro Combiner
YOU INTERRUPTED MY SPEECH!! But don't worry. It won't happen again.
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Post by Stomski on Jun 19, 2014 8:42:29 GMT
Only started watching a few weeks ago and after a confusing start it wasn't long before I was totally hooked. I can understand how it may be difficult to enjoy when the episodes are all spaced out though, glad I did 37 episodes back to back in time to be up to date for the last 3 of this series. Wife kept coming in for random episodes and I'd have to fill her in on who was planning what or done what to who. I did this half arsedly as I didn't think she was really that interested. Strangely, when she did sit down to watch she seemed quite engaged - a testament to the show I think, normally she's not into fantasy or shows I like at all. I will never be cruel to a watermelon again. lol |
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Apr 7, 2015 3:01:37 GMT
Now watching season 4 on Blu-ray and loving it.
Here's the Muppetised version:
Martin
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Apr 7, 2015 17:16:59 GMT
Love it.
Andy
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Post by The Doctor on Apr 7, 2015 20:24:59 GMT
So many people have told me that I should watch this that I have decided never to do so. See also: Breaking Bad.
I am an old man. Get off my lawn.
-Ralph
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Post by Philip Ayres on Apr 7, 2015 20:26:28 GMT
And mine too
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Post by Pinwig on Apr 7, 2015 21:42:36 GMT
Foolish if you have any interest in Fantasy. It is the best thing on TV. Yes, it's trendy to like it, but it's also undeniably excellent.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Apr 11, 2015 8:09:33 GMT
Finished season 4. I want my season 5 box set now, not in a year's time, dammit!!! The season finale wasn't as memorable/iconic as seasons 1 or 3, but still excellent, and they have clearly got a much bigger budget on tap now, what with doing the Battle of Helm's Deep GoT-style, and everything. The plot looks like going in interesting directions, with major characters who have never previously been on the same continent leaving their traditional groups and heading out across the sea where their paths may cross. And the Iron Bank also adds a new dimension to the story that wasn't there before. One other thing I have to mention is that the locations are just blowing me away, easily rivalling anything in Middle-Earth.    Martin |
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Post by legios on Apr 12, 2015 21:00:35 GMT
I have to say that I quite like having the boxed sets hitting at one year intervals - it makes them sort of "event rentals". I would agree that in places this season closer didn't quite hit with the same "oomph" as previous ones, but I think that was because it had so much to do functionally in moving bits and pieces into place.
It has been an interesting season though - watching one of the few remaining "untainted" characters take the plunge headfirst into the shark pool which is Westeros politics, and some interesting domino-chain effects through the season of earlier decisions. I do like that finance has become an issue in terms of driving some of the plot - the need for cash to pay armies is an important part of medieval history that most High Fantasy series tend to completely ignore (although money is often very important in the Swords-and-Sorcery genre by contrast. Conan after all did most of his adventuring due to having run out of money for his drinking-and-wenching bill).
Karl
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Post by Bogatan on Apr 12, 2015 21:05:43 GMT
I still haven't picked up the boxset, I had a voucher for Tesco that would have made it £27 for the bluray, but it expired before I could use it now I don't want to pay more than the £27 I could have gotten it for. But not having rewatched series 4 recently is going to make season 5 all the more confusing while I try to recall where everyone is and how they got there.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Apr 13, 2015 6:38:45 GMT
I read that the TV series expects to run for seven seasons and finish in 2017 in more or less the same place that the books will finish... except the books won't finish being written this decade. I'd like to read the books eventually, but don't want to start on them until I know they tell the story to the end.
Meanwhile, a spoiler-heavy spin-off sketch, worth watching after season 4:
Martin
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Post by Bogatan on Apr 14, 2015 13:07:10 GMT
I don't blame you for not starting the books. I read all the so far published books 9 years ago and since then I think only 2 have been released.
Watching a new season while trying to remember what happened 12 months ago is bad enough, but the books are bigger and contain way more characters and there are half decade gaps between releases.
I'm quite happy for the TV series to over take the books. The story deserves an ending and it's hard to be 100% positive that Martin will ever get to the end of it. As long as he's heavily involved in the final few seasons and preferably write the final episode it'll be fine.
Anyway one episode of season 5 down. A good start. It already seems further removed from the books than previous seasons, which is neither a good or bad thing, but probably a sign of things to come.
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Post by legios on Apr 14, 2015 16:41:28 GMT
It amuses me to think back to when George R. R. Martin first mentioned that the RPG Campaign that led to the Wild Cards series had happened when he was terminally writers blocked on a Fantasy Novel which was meant to be his next book, and that got sidetracked as his television career gained momentum. I wonder what that book would have been like if it had come out in 88 - 89, instead of percolating away in his head for another eight to nine years and emerging as an enormous sprawling series.
I must admit I do want to get around to reading the "Song of Fire and Ice" series at some point. I quite like him as an author, and as a screen-writer. Having been burned before by series which have suffered from termination by author death I am not entirely sanguine about investing time in very large doorstops if the whole thing is just going to smack into a wall without ever ending. Besides, from what I have heard from DVD Commentaries the TV series is very much its own animal now so although they are going to arrive at the end earlier it is because they are travelling by somewhat different routes between here and there.
Karl
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Post by Bogatan on Apr 14, 2015 17:20:31 GMT
It isnt massively different. Compared to almost anything else I can think of its pretty faithful to the books.
As far as I understand it early on it was about simplifying things. Why have 5 different Lannister cousins each do one thing when one cousin can do 5 things. Then the odd plot point gets cut here and there and in later episodes certain characters seem to get a bit of extra screen time just because people like seeing them. All the small changes will probably add up to larger differences from this point on, but I'm still expecting quite a similar story.
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Post by blueshift on Apr 14, 2015 18:33:43 GMT
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Post by legios on Apr 14, 2015 22:17:12 GMT
Ah! Interesting! Ta for the link. Interesting that by 1993 it had morphed out into a trilogy. (I like seeing authors journey to where they get to. It can be quite fascinating).
Karl
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Stomski
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YOU INTERRUPTED MY SPEECH!! But don't worry. It won't happen again.
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Post by Stomski on May 6, 2015 13:57:12 GMT
Re this week's episode... {Spoiler}So much for the Unsullied being these bad ass killing machines... |
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Post by blueshift on Jul 31, 2017 19:11:02 GMT
Season 7 ep 3... FFS DANY LEARN TO SCOUT!!!!!! |
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