Game of Thrones [SPOILERS]

[Paelos]

Having not read the books. Rome, Spartacus, and a number of others were better pilots.  I'm not felling this, seems like some generic fantasy, oh, and rapeings.

The first episode of Spartacus was horrid, if you remember correctly.

[Hoax]

I thought this looked good. Good opening, managed to help me not get lost with the geography. My only real gripe was that the eye make up guy bits were confusing. I'm not sure what his name is and if he's even the supreme leader of that tribe or whatever. It felt as if sometimes they were talking about him and sometimes someone else. I'd rather watch it when the series is done and I can watch big chunks in one sitting if I want to but I'm always that way.

[WayAbvPar]

It felt very pilot-y- uneven and strange. Shows have a tendency to improve from their pilots though (see my earlier musings), so I still have hope.

Good-
Others and wights were fucking creepy
Peter Dinklage was pretty good as Tyrion (a massively important character going forward)
The girl playing Arya is good
Show did a decent job of showing the Starks in a warm sympathetic light- they did feel like a family
GOD puppies are cute, even if they are dogs instead of direwolves
Emilia Clarke is gorgeous and spends a lot of time in various stages of undress  

Bad-
Jaime Lannister...ugh. Actor's accent is awful, and he is wooden as a weirwood
I usually like Lena Headey, but she wasn't too good here either
Why was Ned carrying a longsword in the scene when they find the puppies? Is Ice only used for executions? That is not the impression I got from the books, but oh well
Was it just me, or was Benjen Stark's head in constant motion, especially when he was talking to Jon in his first scene? Watch it again- the actor is constantly moving his head up and down. It is incredibly distracting
Episode needed to be 2 hours long to get things up and running- too much being crammed in/thrown at the viewer
Dothraki wedding by the sea- the books make a big deal of how afraid of the 'poison water' the Dothraki are- I doubt they would choose to celebrate there. It was damned pretty though


I will obviously keep watching, but unless some of the actors really pick up the pace and the plot does the opposite, viewers will flee.

[Threash]

I thought this looked good. Good opening, managed to help me not get lost with the geography. My only real gripe was that the eye make up guy bits were confusing. I'm not sure what his name is and if he's even the supreme leader of that tribe or whatever. It felt as if sometimes they were talking about him and sometimes someone else. I'd rather watch it when the series is done and I can watch big chunks in one sitting if I want to but I'm always that way.

The horse guy? his name is Kal Drogo.  Actually his name is Drogo, Kal is his title.  He is a horse warrior who has never been defeated in battle and thus commands a huge army.

[Bunk]

It was a first episode, so I'll give the pacing and how much they threw at us a bit of a pass. I do hope it actually slows down a bit and focuses more.

I may be in the minority, but I actually like Jaime and the casting for him. Just the right amount of smarm.

[Morfiend]

I also felt Kal Drogo was sort of under done in a way. Also they seemed to downplay a little bit how horsey they where. I will fully second the fact that it should have been 2 hours and explained a few things a bit better.

[Ghambit]

[Morfiend]

You know that guy is also playing Conan in the upcoming remake?

[Arthur_Parker]

I thought he was pretty good, the scenes weren't great because he's meant to have an army of 40,000 warriors with him, plus hangers on, trying to suggest anything like that just isn't worth the effort for the pay off. 

Viewers are going to have a hard enough time just understanding the main Direwolf, Stag & Lion nobles, I think the Dragon's can take a back seat for while, especially as they are across the sea.

[Mrbloodworth]

Kal Drogo

The dude from Stargate Atlantis?

Having not read the books. Rome, Spartacus, and a number of others were better pilots.  I'm not felling this, seems like some generic fantasy, oh, and rapeings.

The first episode of Spartacus was horrid, if you remember correctly.

Hoked me more than Generic Fantasy 12537 complete with LOTR Elves getting raped.

Just saying.

[Ingmar]

"White dude" is perhaps a bit of an overstatement, he's half Hawaiian. It isn't like John Wayne playing Ghengis Khan or something.

[Merusk]

Kal Drogo

The dude from Stargate Atlantis?

I've decided to share my own mental scaring Re: this character wtih everyone since the SGA mention triggered it again. Every time I read the books or saw the character's name I wind-up reading it as "Kal D'argo" and mentally visuallized the character from Farscape. While this made the Dothraki scenes much more exotic it also made the Dany/ Kal sex scenes very disturbing.

[Teleku]

It was a first episode, so I'll give the pacing and how much they threw at us a bit of a pass. I do hope it actually slows down a bit and focuses more.

I may be in the minority, but I actually like Jaime and the casting for him. Just the right amount of smarm.

Yeah, I'm with you.  I actually thought they translated Jaime better than anybody else as a matter of fact.  Perfect casting, and good acting.

Overall I enjoyed it, though I will agree it could have been better.  Felt a bit meh'ish.  I'm hoping that they'll spend the next episode giving detailed explanations for everybody, and the history leading up to this point.

And Bloodworth, where the hell was this elf raping scene you keep talking about?  I seem to have missed it.....

[Arthur_Parker]

2nd series seems like a safe bet.

In a latest sign of international success, the premium pay network’s newest show, Game of Thrones, premieres on Sunday, but has already become HBO's best-selling series abroad ever, fetching more than $2.5 million an episode, more than 50% above the international price tag for The Sopranos, the paper said.

Ratings out tomorrow apparently.

[FatuousTwat]

Why was Ned carrying a longsword in the scene when they find the puppies? Is Ice only used for executions? That is not the impression I got from the books, but oh well

I thought that was something they got right, Ice was an executioners sword for Ned. I could be wrong.

[Johny Cee]

2nd series seems like a safe bet.

In a latest sign of international success, the premium pay network’s newest show, Game of Thrones, premieres on Sunday, but has already become HBO's best-selling series abroad ever, fetching more than $2.5 million an episode, more than 50% above the international price tag for The Sopranos, the paper said.

Ratings out tomorrow apparently.

Ratings for the first 3 or 4 episodes don't matter.  There's a ton of hype and promotion behind the series, and it's a well know property, so you'll have lots of people checking it out.

Midway through will be the clincher, to see if people who aren't familiar with the books hang around or drop the program.

[Teleku]

Why was Ned carrying a longsword in the scene when they find the puppies? Is Ice only used for executions? That is not the impression I got from the books, but oh well

I thought that was something they got right, Ice was an executioners sword for Ned. I could be wrong.

Yeah, as I recall the sword was only used ceremonially.

[Lucas]

Yep, "Ice" has been passed through generations (valyrian steel) as some sort of relic/ceremonial sword.
---

As a reader, I really liked this Pilot, but I understand it must have been quite hard for a neophyte. The actor portraying Jaime, beside the similarities with Shrek's Prince Charming, also bears a resemblance with LOST's Josh Holloway (Sawyer)

[adjunct]

"White dude" is perhaps a bit of an overstatement, he's half Hawaiian. It isn't like John Wayne playing Ghengis Khan or something.

Or Charlton Heston playing a mexican.

[Threash]

He looked like all the other horse warriors to me, i don't see what the problem is.

[Tale]

I knew nothing about Game of Thrones but I watched this 25-minute HBO video before I watched the first episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OofPjpBVvEA

I think that video brought me up to speed, so I could enjoy and follow the first episode without any other knowledge. Maybe everyone should watch that first?

[Tannhauser]

Why do all the men have fairly normal names (Eddard, Jamie) but the women have exotic names?

[Tale]

Because they are a nerdy fat man's fantasy women?

[Rasix]

He looked like all the other horse warriors to me, i don't see what the problem is.

Sharp knees.

[raydeen]

I'd never heard of the books before so I don't know if it's doing them justice or not but I like it.

[Ironwood]

Watched the first episode last night and it was utter tripe from start to finish.

It has 2 episodes to get good, then it gets dumped.  I don't really care how many bare breasts you throw on my screen, I'm a grownup.

It really, really needed to explain itself a little more in ways that could be understood. 

[Tebonas]

I liked Sean Bean in it, but everything else was just "Look, we are edgy. Here is some blood. Here is some implied sibling sex. Look, we are really edgy. Here is some not so implied sibling sex. See you next week."

Maybe it does the books justice. But it seems like a show that lives for shock effects that are frankly not shocking anymore after Rome and Spartacus desensitized everybody. So they better get some good actors and a good story going. I give them the benefit of the doubt though, this is a setup episode afterall. And maybe I am supposed to hate almost every main player. Hell, since doggystyle is all the rage in this world the Horselord is one of the more sympathetic characters (if you accept medieval gender roles for the series). At least he doesn't prattle on all the time.

[Ironwood]

My Gimmick is entirely right.  Except for making up the word "desensibilized".

Also, I spent ages trying to figure out who the wee chap from Doctor Who reminded me of.  When he gave the 'hey, I'm driven and whatnot, so it's fine for a multi-pile up horse rape to happen to you, you vacuous wee shite" I finally got it.  They've put Raistlin up on my screen and not even bothered to give him gold skin and freaky eyes...

[Arthur_Parker]

The show is based on the first in a series of fantasy books, released in 1996, it's an unusual series and reading it you can tell that halfway through the first book.  It doesn't follow "normal " rules and that's a good thing no matter how shock proof you think you are after watching Rome and Spartacus.  

I have no problem with people not liking the tv version but saying it's trying to be edgy with "implied sibling sex" is silly, considering 1, it's not implied at all & 2, it's being true to the book.

Rome and Spartacus probably helped this get made, but those shows didn't spring fully formed into the minds of their creators free of outside influence.

As for why I personally like the story.  I think LoTR worked well because the history of middle earth was applied with a light brush under a compelling story of good versus evil.  GoT has underlying history as well but the battle lines aren't drawn in such simple good/evil terms, I like the extra focus on phrases that are memorable and echo throughout the series adding an extra layer each time.

A minor non spoiler one being "A Lannister Always Pays His Debts".

[Tebonas]

Yes, I'm a naughty gimmick. Serves you right for impersonating a foreigner, though.

Obviously desensibilisiert translates to desensitized. I'm sorry about that.

[Arthur_Parker]

As Johny Cee said the ratings for the first few episodes don't indicate which way this will go but posting them anyway, just so we have a benchmark for later.

Game of Thrones scores Sky Atlantic ratings record

Game of Thrones: Sky Atlantic, 9pm – Fantasy epic Game of Thrones took the crown as Sky Atlantic's most popular show to date for its launch episode on Monday, 18 April.

The big-budget HBO spectacular starring Sean Bean averaged 743,000 viewers between 9pm and 10.10pm, with a peak of 823,000.

It beat the Sky channel's previous highest overnight audience, believed to be the first episode of Martin Scorsese's Boardwalk Empire, which averaged 438,000 on its opening night.

Game of Thrones' audience is likely to be around 50% higher when viewing on timeshifted viewing on Sky+ is taken into account.

Sky Atlantic comes as part of paid for packages with Sky in HD, it's only been going for a few months, the Mrs watches thirtysomething on it.

[Ironwood]

I liked the dwarf.  He said 'bastard' a lot.  He could have been Scottish.

[Arthur_Parker]

The link Tale put up is well worth a watch Ironwood, it's a good introduction to the characters and they drive the story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OofPjpBVvEA

[Mrbloodworth]

I liked Sean Bean in it, but everything else was just "Look, we are edgy. Here is some blood. Here is some implied sibling sex. Look, we are really edgy. Here is some not so implied sibling sex. See you next week."

+ LOTRO Elves, and rapeings.

[Arthur_Parker]

She wasn't raped (although that could have been a lot clearer) and she's not an Elf, if you want to make shit up at least make it funny.


I could have done without the sex scenes on TV but two of them were central to the story & the Tyrion one was a pretty accurate way to introduce him.