I've never seen even a minute of it, but my whole gaming table raves about it and has invited me over to start from episode 1. My problem is that there are only two reasons so far to watch it with them:
1: it's a fantasy series.
2: they invited me.
other than that, I have little interest. I've heard of no characters I can say I would trust. it seems to be a story about nothing but political d-baggery, and that would annoy the never-ending crap out of me. is there a character who is wholesome and true who doesn't meet an untimely/disastrous death? are there good honest people who get rewarded for their deeds? these are the stories I like to hear, and I've heard nothing of this sort from game of thrones fans.
should I give it a chance? I'm not one to be bothered by spoilers, so spoil away.
I never wanted to get into either, but once I sat down and paid it attention it was really good. The conclusion of season 1 was AWESOME, and has left me really wanting season 2.
I don't have HBO, so I have to wait til it is out on Blue Ray.
Give it a couple of episodes, and I think it will pull you in.
I didn't like the series too much. Then again, I have little appreciation for the visual medium as entertainment. I've read the books, and after watching through the first season on DVD, I had mixed impressions:
On the plus side, I feel that the acting is quite good, and that for the most part, characters are well-represented visually. The environs are great, the props are good, and in general it's a high-budget, accessible series.
However, I have a couple of serious beefs. The first of which is that the show was apparently written to appeal to a sixteen-year-old male with a short attention span and raging hormones. I think every sex/nudity scene that doesn't occur with a POV character from the book is inserted just for the slack-jawed HBO viewers. In addition, they seriously water down the plot so that a 10 year old could understand it with relative ease. The killing blow for me was a major plot exposition from (in the books, mind you) a delightfully deceptive character where he just talks to himself for a few minutes, completely cheapening his role and making him transparent. At the same time, a pair of women have sex noisily on a couch for no applicable reason whatsoever.
Now I may not be the biggest fan of George RR Martin, but I thought his books were pretty enjoyable. This series, however, has been distilled into your typical dirty American HBO show. It just happens to be fantasy. It also irks me that now everyone that I work with thinks that they not only know fantasy, but that they are keenly aware of its pinnacle in Game Of Thrones.
Oh and dude, no. In Martin, most things are a wash of greys. It's a very grim and gritty series. EVERYONE gets theirs sooner or later, and the closest thing to a righteous hero is Jon Snow (or maybe in a twisted sense, Tyrion Lannister). I'm not going into plot details, but suffice to say that this is not exactly high fantasy, and the general consensus I get from readers is that over time, they burn out on most all characters being raped, maimed, or killed.
All that complaining aside, it's still a fair to very good representation of the plot sometimes, and it's easy to get hooked on.
I kind of object on principle.
I think it's pretty easy, really: Watch episode 1. If you like it and want to see more, you're good to go. If you don't, well, then nothing we say should really change your mind.
As an aside, I do find the series to be "unnecessarily pornographic" in places. Though that's largely an issue with the first half of season 2.
The great things about the series (IMHO)
Good actors. Most of the actors really nail their roles, and for the most part there are very few characters I could imagine being played by other people
Authentic feel. This isn't Xena warrior princess, and the budget and set design really transports you to the "Middle Ages" And there is really a lot of effort made on the worldbuilding front; the closest attention to detail I have seen in fantasy is probably LOTR
Characters are believable: There are very few characters who our out and out evil. People have their reasons for why they do what they do, and generally act consistently. Even the main bad guy family, the Lannisters, are pretty well rounded, and as the series progresses hopefully they will capture that feel where character you hate in book one you totally sympathize with in book 3.
The Bad things
It's HBO, so they shoehorn in sex even when not called for.
Condensing plotline from the book, and not covering details, has in some cases made for some more stupid actions on the part of characters, or in some cases just made them more annoying
Similarily, and this is from a book reader, failure to include some scenes and background really makes me wonder how they are going to play out certain facets of the story. The attempts to figure out the prophecies, or all the vague background hints, is one of the more enjoyable things from the book, and a lot of that has been cut out.
It's still TV, so a lot of battles and such occur offscreen. Although the battle that ended Season 2 was pretty badass
On a random note, I think people do play up the everyone dies angle. There are certain characters who I feel are pretty damn safe, and it's obvious that they will at least survive until the last book. And in the context of the story, most of the deaths do serve some sort of purpose
I would strongly recomend but there are bad parts as well
Good/Grey characters are John Snow,Arya, Sansa and Bran, (others i wont spoil) and some others introduced in later books/second season. At some point bad things happen to almost every character in the show/books but its not always the worse case scenario. A lot of it is War of the Roses BUT there is magic and there are monsters in the world.
The good about the series/tv show
1. characters-So detailed and every "voice" is unique.
2. Splash of fantasy/magic/mystery. This fantasy aspect is some of my all time favorite.
3. Plot/character twists that will reshape who the good guys/bad guys are.
4. locations-Details and depth given to everywhere such as Kings Landing and the Wall
5. History- World/family history is so detailed and planned out
Bad part of series/books
1. characters-So many its hard to remember all of them especially when they are not in every book.Latest book introduces new characters and seemed to derail the plot (hopefully I'm wrong).
2. Martin has dragged out the series for 2 long. At one point he had writers block and there was a huge delay between books (he called the block "Kong") .Hopefully the tv series forces him to wrap up the books before 2020.
I would strongly recomend but there are bad parts as well
Good/Grey characters are John Snow,Arya, Sansa and Bran, (others i wont spoil)
No, spoil away. I honestly would rather know. I have too much anxiety not to know. I am much more interested in the 'how' rather than the 'what' when it comes to stories.
Is there anyone who is presented as a 'good guy' but it turns out later you shouldn't trust?
I would strongly recomend but there are bad parts as well
Good/Grey characters are John Snow,Arya, Sansa and Bran, (others i wont spoil)
No, spoil away. I honestly would rather know. I have too much anxiety not to know. I am much more interested in the 'how' rather than the 'what' when it comes to stories.
Is there anyone who is presented as a 'good guy' but it turns out later you shouldn't trust?
No, but the main character of season one walks into the middle of political intrigue and blunders around as if everyone is trustworthy.
There are some presented as "bad guys" that you later on you can trust.Good guy/Woman that you cant trust is Catelyn Stark. She is presented as nice but in many ways is not.
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Thanks everyone, I may watch now. It's funny though, the problems many of you seem to have with it (random sex in every episode) is actually what I would be okay with. Its too many deaths that I mainly worry about. I don't want to get attached to someone and then have them die. I know that people due in this story, so ill just have to tell myself to not get attached.
I don't want to get attached to someone and then have them die. I know that people due in this story, so ill just have to tell myself to not get attached.
This is what my sister-in-law told me about the books that turned me off to them. Every time you get attached to a character, Martin kills them. A character becomes likable, Martin kills them.
It's not for me, at least.
Arya Stark is one of my favorite characters in the books.
I don't want to get attached to someone and then have them die. I know that people due in this story, so ill just have to tell myself to not get attached.This is what my sister-in-law told me about the books that turned me off to them. Every time you get attached to a character, Martin kills them. A character becomes likable, Martin kills them.
It's not for me, at least.
It's tough to say; hand in hand with Martin's high mortality rate is a high redemption through abuse trope, which the TV series hasn't even begun to approach. For instance, Jaime Lannister has an onscreen appearance in every episode of season one, but isn't a POV character in the books until just before he's redeemed through abuse.
I think the TV series is just about the best one they could make out of the books, but they're very different in a lot of ways.
I will say this: I got A Dance with Dragons for Christmas. I also went to see The Hobbit with my mother (generational nerd family) not too long after. At some point I couldn't help but wonder what would have happened to Bilbo if his Unexpected Journey had been across Westeros.
Then i went home and cried at the death of my childhood innocence. :P
A character becomes likable, Martin kills them.
This is a gross exaggeration. Yes, characters die, but not all of them. My favorite characters are all still alive and kicking.
This is what my sister-in-law told me about the books that turned me off to them. Every time you get attached to a character, Martin kills them. A character becomes likable, Martin kills them.
What some people missed (myself included)is that when you reread the books its easier to see who will get killed off by the choices they make early on. If they do something ill-advised there will be consequences. In my opinion there are less than 10 characters who are 100% safe in the series and these are the ones who will be safe until the end.I would argue that most of these characters are all introduced in book 1.
Yeah I don't see the "If you like a character they die thing". Most of the characters I enjoy are still kicking (or at least their death was put in vague terms which makes me think they are still kicking).
Reading the books, there are some pretty shocking deaths (some which might be even more shocking in the TV show), but yeah, like wicked cool said, most are obvious in hindsight, by the characters doing something politically stupid.
It's a TV show, it's entertaining.
That's really the only reason you need to watch something. If you don't like it, stop watching it. If you do like it, good for you.
Magic is just coming back into the world
so no wizard fights or draconic sky battles
Season 2 did have a pretty epic battle
Rather narrow definition of fantasy...
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I was skeptical at first, but I really liked the show. Tyrion the Imp is the best part by far. He is funny and witty, while at the same time, so far, has shown himself to be a decent person. Jon Snow is a very likeable character as well. You get someone very intent on being honorable and a bit more martial minded that the much beloved Tyrion.
I am reading the first book right now. So far the show has stuck to it about 97%. Most changes are the kind that obvioully have to be made for tv fliming. Frankly I'm glad they aged some of the characters. While the T&A is part of the fun of the show, it can be a bit distasteful in the book.
I love the show, personally, but I love what the show is.
It's gritty, morally ambiguous, highly political, and fairly sleazy. It has a lot more in common with the HBO/Showtime historical/political series like the Tudors or Rome or whatever else than it does with The Lord of the Rings.
If I were you, I would skip it.
It seems to be a story about nothing but political d-baggery, and that would annoy the never-ending crap out of me.
It will annoy the never-ending crap out of you. People will say it's not ALL about political d-baggery, and it's not, much in the way Lord of the Rings is not ALL about hobbits. You could make a good argument that LOTR is hardly about hobbits at all, but there are still a lot of pages in those books with hobbits on them, and recommending it to someone who is allergic to hobbits would be pretty low.
Is there a character who is wholesome and true who doesn't meet an untimely/disastrous death?
I can think of a couple of characters (in the books) who are pretty wholesome and true who haven't met an untimely or disastrous death. That said, he's still got two volumes left to fill. On the plus side, since there are very few characters who are wholesome and true to begin with, the number of them who die horribly is probably not as high as you've been led to expect.
Are there good honest people who get rewarded for their deeds?
Absolutely not. There are some good honest people who somehow manage to survive, but I would say that is despite their goodness and honesty. There is no reward for morality in the books or the show.
These are the stories I like to hear, and I've heard nothing of this sort from game of thrones fans.
Don't watch it.
You won't like it.
The dwarf is awesome.
It's mainly just snippets of softcore porn, interspersed with douchy people douching on eachother.
But the dwarf is so awesome, it's worth it to hear him popping off.
Plus, I'm sure the guy who plays him is like, "YAY! An actual serious role for a dwarf to play, instead of....Minime or a Munchkin or something equally humiliating!"
Yeah...
He was the father's gay lover that they accidentally killed in Death at a Funeral, so I don't doubt he's thought that at least once.
But he's a damn good actor.
edit
I'm tired; I tought you said he got killed in Game of Thrones.....
*whew*
I have little interest.
Go with that feeling. You're probably not cool enough to watch the show, and they'd be better off without mediocrity in the audience.
Look, I am going to watch it. The sleazy soft-core stuff I will definitely like. But I will watch alone, not in a group. I'm horrible to watch television with, especially if it's a show im not sure I'll like. I talk to myself and argue back when characters make poor decisions. If i watch alone, i can turn it off if it gets too intense. A group would not appreciate that.
I mainly just don't want to be left out of the conversation when it turns to game if thrones, just like I feel left out when it turns to warhammer, or lovecraft, or orks, or call of duty. I'm trying to increase the overlap in interests, I guess. The thing is, I do think I'll like parts of game if thrones, but i need to know the bad so i don't get disappointed and mopey when the one i fell for dies.
So, Does it have epic battles, wizard fights and draconic-sky battles?Although it seems promising.....nope.
Battle of the Blackwater? That one is pretty epic, although it's in season 2.
We might see the other stuff yet. Depends on how Martin finishes the rest of the books.
I love the show, personally, but I love what the show is.
It's gritty, morally ambiguous, highly political, and fairly sleazy. It has a lot more in common with the HBO/Showtime historical/political series like the Tudors or Rome or whatever else than it does with The Lord of the Rings.
If I were you, I would skip it.
These are the stories I like to hear, and I've heard nothing of this sort from game of thrones fans.Don't watch it.
You won't like it.
Thanks.
I quite liked Rome, I only watched a little of The Tudors, it seemed a banal attempt to 'sex-up' history.
Is it more like Rome (exploring history through the experiences of all the classes) or more like the Tudors (focus on nobility being decadent)?
It's more like a focus on the monumental dicks the nobility could be to teh exclusion of all else. To the point that they continue their pointless squabble sin the face of a world destroying threat.
I must be the only one that thinks the sexposition is just hilarious.
If only they'd given Cersei a fiddle.
Is there anyone who is presented as a 'good guy' but it turns out later you shouldn't trust?
It's really more of the other way around. At least when it comes to the books, some characters are really unsympathetic, but then you get to see things from their perspective and you may actually end up sympathising with (some of) them.
Also, the good guys are not just inherently sympathetic, just because they are on the "right" side. Also, thinking in terms of good and bad is probably a mistake. It's more 'realistic' than that (as in, everyone has a bit of a jerk in them).
Thanks everyone, I may watch now. It's funny though, the problems many of you seem to have with it (random sex in every episode) is actually what I would be okay with. Its too many deaths that I mainly worry about. I don't want to get attached to someone and then have them die. I know that people due in this story, so ill just have to tell myself to not get attached.
*cough*
Uhm. No comment.
(Although, the rumour that every likeable character is killed off is grossly exaggerated. Actually very few main characters have died over the series)
Look, I am going to watch it.
I look forward to reading your impression after you've seen Episode 1. You will share with us, yes? Please? :)
No too much happens in episode 1.
What she should do is watch the first episode, and then if she doesn't like it, skip straight to the season finale.
I'd love to see THAT reaction.
No too much happens in episode 1.
What she should do is watch the first episode, and then if she doesn't like it, skip straight to the season finale.
I'd love to see THAT reaction.
This isn't the Wheel of Time thread. :p
To be fair (at least in the books, I haven't seen the TV Show either) Daenerys Targaryen isn't a complete piece of crap, and Tyrion is probably the best of the lot, though certainly no saint.
Now, while Sansa rubbed me the wrong way for most of the series so far, I do see where she's coming from and am (slowly) coming to at least tolerate her.
So, Does it have epic battles, wizard fights and draconic-sky battles?
Not yet. But that's definately the way the story is headed.
Think of it as a world with a history of magic, but hasn't had it for quite a while, being reintroduced to magic on a high level.
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My first attempt at watching I fell asleep
My 2nd attempt at watching I wanted to fall asleep but forced myself to stay away
My 3rd attempt at watching I got up to go do something more entertaining.
I think in all I watched all of episode 1 1.75 times, Episode 2 1 times, episode 3 1 time, episode 4 t time, episode 5 1 time and said screw the rest.
I did not enjoy it at all. My BF who read the books even lost interest but I think that has to do with Martin killing everyone off as soon as you begin to like them or hate them... or just get to knowing who they are or seeing their name... i.e. kills off everyone. And he is taking way to long to write for it but writes other stuff.
We both wager he will die before he finishes the series, thus killing off everyone he had not killed off which he already killed off
I still don't understand where the "he kills everyone you like!" thing comes from, unless you're a fan of "Random nameless man Joffrey shot out of a catapult".
I can count on one hand the number of popular viewpoint characters that were killed off, and most of them had the same last name.
Same here
As far as viewpoint characters go, and excluding the epilogue/prologue characters, very few deaths actually occur. Off the top of my head, 4, although 2 of those don't show up until the last few books, and one only has maybe a couple of chapters. And another one comes back. Given the stuff that happens in the background, the main characters actually are quite protected.
I've heard of no characters I can say I would trust. it seems to be a story about nothing but political d-baggery, and that would annoy the never-ending crap out of me. is there a character who is wholesome and true who doesn't meet an untimely/disastrous death? are there good honest people who get rewarded for their deeds? these are the stories I like to hear, and I've heard nothing of this sort from game of thrones fans.
Given this, you'll hate it, because that's what it is.
As Spanky the Leprechaun says above:
"It's mainly just snippets of softcore porn, interspersed with douchy people douching on each other."
Avoid like the plague.