HBO's Game of Thrones

[nullbyte]

Anyone watch the premiere Sunday? What did you think?

[Invader3K]

It was kind of "meh" for me. I wasn't aware it was based on a series of books, which is I guess where a lot of the hype comes from. I thought it was OK, but kind of cliched and slow moving. I'll give it a chance with the next episode, but I found it a bit underwhelming so far.

[Raw Biz]

I was really fired up for it too but was a little underwhelmed. Probably because I didn't really know what it was about. I was picturing something along the lines of LOTR, Braveheart, Kingdom of Heaven, etc. It's got the locale but was a little too "wordy" for me. It looks like the action will pick up eventually though.

[heresrobin]

I had never heard of the books either. But I'm kind of a sucker for medieval/fantasy type stuff, so I gave it a go.

I enjoyed the opening scene. Cool opening credits/title sequence. After that, it got a little bogged down as they had to introduce a lot of characters, families, allegiances, brief histories, and whatnot - but that's part of the fun I think. That, coupled with a few strange sounding names and the British accents and I got a little confused. It's sort of hard to follow when dealing with a made-up world with thousands of years of history that you know nothing about, but you basically know what's happening. Good actors. Lots of gratuitous nudity, f-bombs, some be-headings, and some other various sexually twisted stuff going on (especially the Targaryen story line with the brother marrying his sister away and the savages).

I'll give it another shot. I enjoyed it. I agree with Invader3K though, it's pretty cliched in a lot of regards. And it was a tad slow - so far, not a ton of action.

[Menotti80]

I will keep watching. I think it will be a good show, althought the first episode didn't get me hooked like the first episode of Boardwalk Empire did.

 

I could do without the amount of nude scenes though, but that's just a personal preference. I just dont think that should be a selling point for the show like it seems to be with these HBO shows.

 

And I also would rather not have a show be so full of incest, but once again, just a personal preference. lol.

[TooLiveBrew]

I thought it was OK, but kind of cliched and slow moving. I'll give it a chance with the next episode, but I found it a bit underwhelming so far.

 

I can't think of the last HBO ensemble cast show that *didn't* seem to start off slowly. I'm definitely going to have to try to catch the premiere & DVR a rerun. I've been wanting to watch this, but forgot it was on!

[MJLiverock]

I've read all the books to date and have to rank them among my favorites, the 5th book of 7 or 8 planned is coming out this summer after a long wait. The problem HBO is going to have is trying to fit all the information and background stories into the show so that viewers will have an understanding of the characters and their old hatreds, alliances, distrusts, etc. The books' characters are very well developed with many having their chapters and storylines that will be difficult to really delve into in a dozen or so episodes. The motivations of each character change and move around quite a bit so deciding on who is good or evil is sometimes a fine line. The books also give a lot of detail about why some are the way the are, i.e tragic events or horrible upbringing. I won't give away anything that wasn't in the first episode other than a bit of background that may or may not be evident right away. Most of the story focuses on the corruption, fight for power, politics, and of course fighting, while slowly teasing out more information about each character. There aren't wizards like Gandalf, or strange non human Orc armies threatening, other than trying to figure out what is going on beyond the Wall.

 

Basically, Ned Stark and Robert Baratheon (the current King) led a rebellion against the old King, whose sole surviving family members are on the run in an another land across the sea, Daeneyrs and Viserys Targaryen. Their family ruled for many generations and are a bit mad - - incest will do that. They came to power on the backs of dragons, which have all since vanished. Viserys has delusions of granduer about returning to power. The guy who appears to Daeneyrs at her wedding and is from Westeros, her home, was once once of the King's elite guards for her father.

 

The old king was killed by Jamie Lannister who was supposed to be guarding him and his family as part of his elite guard. His father was the King's Hand, or right hand man. The Lannisters are the richest family, their home is on top of a gold mine and they crave power. Jamie and his father basically switched sides from the King to the rebels at the last minute when defeat looked real and sort of said, "See we were with you all along." Nobody trust them, but they are powerful, Robert agreed to marry the daughter ( he wanted to marry Eddard Stark's sister but she died), Jamie's twin, Cersei, to try and keep them loyal and providing gold. The incest between them in the first episode is in the books, they sort of view themselves as potential heirs to Targaryen empire and take on their incestual habits. They are the extreme narcissists. They also have a dwarf brother, Tyrion, who in the books is much more deformed than just being a dwarf. He is sort of a genius and one of the best characters in the books in my opinion. He isn't too fond of his sister but idolizes his dashing, elite warrier brother a bit.

 

The current Hand of the King, Robert's right hand man died, hence Robert trekking way north to ask Eddard to come replace him. Eddard's wife gets a note from her sister saying that the Hand of King was murdered. Her sister was married to the guy and fled to the family castle in east.

 

As the opening scene showed there is a giant ice wall way to the north. It is manned by men called "Crows" for their dark clothes. It is sort of an exile for criminals, poor, etc. They guard the wall. There are people on the other side of the wall called Wildings, they sometimes scale the wall and raid villages, etc. But there is also an old legend about White Walkers, or The Others, a sort of walking dead that inhabited the other side of the wall long ago. Most believe it just a fairy tale. The wall is very ancient and the construction of it is somewhat unknown IIRC. The people of the north where the Starks live have more contact with the Crows and tend to believe more in its importance. The further south you go the more people view it as just a bleak place to send criminals and such.

 

Eddard Stark has two daughters, three sons, and an illegitimate son, Jon Snow. He also has a brother who serves on the Wall, as well has ward of one of his underlords, Theon, who is about the same age as his oldest son and illegitimate son.

 

King Robert has 2 brothers who will appear later. There are also a number of other important families from other regions that each have their own agenda and loyalties.

[heresrobin]

Yikes MJLiverock. That was incredibly helpful toward understanding the first episode and at the same time not giving anything away for future episodes. Thank you - much appreciated.

[logan82]

That is a very brief summary. The story isn't Wheel of Time complex or confusing but there are a lot of characters with first person POV in the books at various times.

[nullbyte]

I'm a huge fan of the books and I've been following the show since before it was a show (back when Martin sold HBO an option to produce a pilot, I think) in like 2007. So, Sunday was a big night. I was very pleased with the result... especially the final scene. With the season two pickup that came today, I'm looking forward to another 20 or so episodes (and hopefully a lot more after that).

 

From all the advance reviews I read, the first two episodes were considered on the slow side -- very dialogue-heavy with a lot of exposition, introductions, and setup -- but from there it really gets going. Episodes 5 and 6 are supposed to be big. And any reader of the first book knows that there's some huge stuff to come. I encourage all you newcomers to the story to stick with it for at least a few more weeks. Invader3K, I think you'll find that you will change your mind on your "clichéd" classification!

[logan82]

Yeah I think there will be some surprises for people who have not read the books.

[MJLiverock]

As nullbyte said, the show was picked up for a second season by HBO.

 

http://latimesblogs.latim...for-a-second-season.html

[pitchleague]

I finally got to it tonight. Having never read the books (heck, I didn't even know it was a book series until this thread), I came in with an open mind and followed along with the story just fine. Yeah, I don't quite get ALL the intricacies yet but I got the gist of it.

 

Of course, I only recorded the pilot on the HBO free preview so I'll have to see how I can watch the rest of the episodes.

[endaround]

They color coded the hair for the families quite nicely. A few things that I thought they could have done better. The first is to make clear that the sigil for King Baratheon is the stag which makes the scene of finding the dire wolf cubs more potent. The lack of dire wolf cubs up until this point looks to blunt the impact of something that appears to happens in the next episode.

[JoeHova]

I've never read the books (I had never even heard of them until I read an article about this show a few months ago) but even still, I haven't found it to be nearly as confusing as a lot of people have claimed it is. That's what put me off of starting to watch it, all the talk and reviews about how many characters there are and how involved it is and everything. I was kind of forced to watch the first 3 episodes yesterday to clear some room on my tivo and I find myself wishing that the rest of the season was also on there waiting for me to watch it. That's the sign of a good show, to me, so I guess I like this. I found it engrossing. Perhaps it doesn't seem that complicated (yet) because all of the major families have pretty clear motivations (so far). The Lannisters want to maintain/increase their power. The Starks want to be left alone in their northern fief. And the Targaryens want to regain the throne by any means necessary. That gives viewers a little bit of a way into the series, I think.

[logan82]

Yeah it isn't to confusing yet. If it follows the books you will be introduced to 3-5 more houses. Who knows though, they might not get the other houses involved. I notice you left out house Bartheon.

[JoeHova]

I notice you left out house Bartheon.

Yes. I debated that, but decided that (so far, at least) the king is kind of an adjunct of the Lannisters.

[heresrobin]

I really like it so far. The acting is very strong. Peter Dinklage is an absolute pleasure - he owns every scene that he is in. I've also enjoyed the endings for all 3 episodes - for some reason, they've all really stood out to me.

[logan82]

I notice you left out house Bartheon.

Yes. I debated that, but decided that (so far, at least) the king is kind of an adjunct of the Lannisters.

He has relatives. They probably are not introduced yet though. The story is pretty straight forward so far even in the books.

[endaround]

His one brother was there on the Small Council. They haven't really dealt with Greyjoy yet or gotten to the Tullys or Freys. You can sort of tell how much they are going to deal with right now given their casting you can see in the viewer guide. Stannis Baratheon hasn't been cast yet for example. (I do think they have cast some of the roles but not for this season since I think Lord Frey has been cast)

 

The pdf also has one of the better maps

http://i.cdn.hbo.com/asse...viewers-guide-150-lo.pdf

[logan82]

I have not seen a single episode but have a good idea where they are in the story. How are you guys liking this show?

[DocBrewPack]

I know i am loving it. Different from most shows because the people who you think are the "stars" and cant die keep dieing. Im assuming thats because its from a book. I am really enjoying it

[danzig6767]

I love it also. GOT has become my favorite show on TV right now.

[TooLiveBrew]

HBO strikes again. They're the Pixar of TV.

[JoeHova]

HBO strikes again. They're the Pixar of TV.

Not exactly. They've had a few terrible shows. They do have a generally good track record though.