A Game of Thrones - TV Show Discussion Thread

[Dinner]

Yeah, we get a whole lot of additional information on the point of view characters in the form of thoughts, dreams, extra chit chat which helps us really figure out what they're thinking & feeling. That means when ever you compare a POV character to a non-POV character the nPOV is always going to look a little flat. You just don't have the extra information which helps you really get into their heads.

[DaShi]

Now that the whole horseshagger sub-plot has mercifully receded and the quality of the show has picked up, a new weak point has been revealed.

The senior Starks. Aren't they boring?

In series 1 they got away with it. Sean Bean carried them along nicely, and all of the Stark kids have been turning in really spirited performances across both series. But let's just take a look at Kate Stark. This is a woman who has seen-

1- A husband spirited away, betrayed, imprisoned and decapitated.

2- A son rebelling against superior forces and facing death on the battlefield or assassination on a daily basis.

3- Another son maimed.

4- A daughter held hostage by the family's arch-enemies and facing marriage to a monstrous little pervert.

5- Another daughter missing, presumed dead.

6- A king murdered by a mystical smokeyvaginademon in front of her, and getting implicated as his murderer.

And she's reacting to all this by steadily maintaining an expression of mild anxiety as if she can't shake a lingering suspicion that she's left the iron on. Come on, woman! Emote! Go Lady MacBeth for a bit!

Senior Stark son is no better, except he replaces the anxious expression with a slightly petulant Emo teenager sulk, like someone's stolen his bicycle. A leader of men he is not. The Lannister family are managing to be many times more interesting.

What's especially galling in the case of young Lord Stark is that they've got an excellent young actor of similar age in Joe Dempsie. Dempsie has amassed a track record of compelling performances in challenging roles, but in his criminally under-written role he's been asked to do nothing more stretching than sit in a puddle or take his shirt off. He should be playing the Stark role.

I thought she was British.

[MOBIUS]

Virtually the whole cast is British...

[Zoetstofzoetje]

at least one Dutch and one Turkish...

[Krill]

The whole story regarding Stannis is being rewritten, isn't it?

[Flubber]

The whole story regarding Stannis is being rewritten, isn't it?

Not really

So far he seems pretty darn close to the books

[Krill]

spoilers:

Spoiler:

Margery isn't introduced - she stayed at Bitterbridge, and only half of the banners went over to Stannis.

OK, that isn't even the start. Stannis sieges Storms End. Catelyn meets Renley at Bitterbridge, and then Renly finds out about the siege. Renly and Cate go to Storms end, but before they get there Davos and Melisandre go under storms end and use 1 Shadow to kill Courtenay Penrose to take over the castle. Renly turns up, minus his wife and a second shadow kills him, so Briene and Catelyn run away, and half the bannermen and the Tyrells run back to Bitterbridge.

Only then, did Littlefinger leave KL to go to Bitterbridge to talk to the Tyrells.

So right now we've seen Storms End and Bitterbridge condensed into one area, and mixed up a bunch of the stories together. M Tyrell has been developed in such a fashion that isn't seen at all until aFfC...

[Asher]

Virtually the whole cast is British...

Dinklage ain't, and he's the best part of the show.

[Guynemer]

Krill: they're just condensing the story. They have to, they're only got ten episodes per season.

[Krill]

I understand condensing, but seriously...what can I say, I think it should have been done differently.

[MikeH]

Now that the whole horseshagger sub-plot has mercifully receded and the quality of the show has picked up, a new weak point has been revealed.

The senior Starks. Aren't they boring?

In series 1 they got away with it. Sean Bean carried them along nicely, and all of the Stark kids have been turning in really spirited performances across both series. But let's just take a look at Kate Stark. This is a woman who has seen-

1- A husband spirited away, betrayed, imprisoned and decapitated.

2- A son rebelling against superior forces and facing death on the battlefield or assassination on a daily basis.

3- Another son maimed.

4- A daughter held hostage by the family's arch-enemies and facing marriage to a monstrous little pervert.

5- Another daughter missing, presumed dead.

6- A king murdered by a mystical smokeyvaginademon in front of her, and getting implicated as his murderer.

And she's reacting to all this by steadily maintaining an expression of mild anxiety as if she can't shake a lingering suspicion that she's left the iron on. Come on, woman! Emote! Go Lady MacBeth for a bit!

All very fair comments, but she is playing it very much like the character in the book seems to react.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

I feel a bit cheated by that whole Mystical TwatNinja incident.

It smacks of a pressing editorial deadline. "OMG OMG! I'VE GOT 3 HOURS TO WRITE HOW A DYNASTIC SCHISM IN THE HOUSE OF BARATHEON DEVELOPS! THE PUBLISHER'S GOING TO HAVE ME STRUNG UP!! Oh, **** it. A mystical smokey TwatNinja climbs out of Witcypoo Hippytits' vagina and kills one of them. Will that do?".

Seeing as it looks like the level of plot resolution you'd normally associate with an episode of "Skippy", I hope they keep this gynaecological newcomer working in a similar way throughout the series. "What's that you say, Mystical TwatNinja? The Stark kids are trapped in the old mineshaft and need rescuing? Crikey!".

[Hauldren Collider]

Who is Mystical TwatNinja? Is that the fire witch?

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

No, it's what clambered out of her mimsy.

[Guynemer]

I understand condensing, but seriously...what can I say, I think it should have been done differently.

They ain't gonna introduce Ser Penrose and have two separate shadowbaby assassin incidents when they've only got ten episodes to work with. Moreover, they need to show Margaery, instead of just talking about her until she shows up in book three; TV is visual.

[Hauldren Collider]

I could honestly care less about the books. I started reading them and don't like them much at all. I find the show a) much less depressing and b) way more fun.

[MOBIUS]

Dinklage ain't, and he's the best part of the show.

Are you and Zitboy Siamese twins or something?

[Imran Siddiqui]

I could honestly care less about the books. I started reading them and don't like them much at all. I find the show a) much less depressing and b) way more fun.

This is because you suck. The books are so much better than the show it's ridiculous (only natural since even with 10 eps, the show can't really talk about the backstory).

[Hauldren Collider]

I am picking up the backstory just fine from the show. It spares me the details I don't care about.

[Imran Siddiqui]

No you aren't. I will say no more due to spoiling possibility.

Ok, maybe two words hint of something you are missing out much on:

Rhaegar Targaryen

[Hauldren Collider]

Given the fact that I'm enjoying the show, it seems I can do without him.

[Krill]

They ain't gonna introduce Ser Penrose and have two separate shadowbaby assassin incidents when they've only got ten episodes to work with. Moreover, they need to show Margaery, instead of just talking about her until she shows up in book three; TV is visual.

Spoiler:

I don't really care about Penrose TBH, I care mostly about the bit where Davos is told he will command the fleet. That's the exact opposite of hte books and if TV Davos is the same charactor as the book Davos, then the Blackwater would have gone differently. How they make Davos not look like a moron is going to be really hard, and that's important in his development as a charactor.

[Asher]

HC does have a point -- the show has far more gay sex than the books ever did. It does have its pluses.

[Hauldren Collider]

It also has about 20 times as much straight sex as gay sex. In the first season, I only saw one gay encounter. Haven't watched the second yet, it has to come out on dvd.

I'm sort of wondering if HBO is doing this to pump up ratings or just because it can.

[rah]

Sex sell, no real surprise there.
I read the books and while there was some sex scattered through, it didn't seem as highlighted as in the series. Of course seeing it is always more memorable they reading about it.

[Dinner]

Virtually the whole cast is British...

GRRM insisted on it because for some odd reason in the US when you're doing "medieval" stuff audiences seem to expect characters to have some sort of vague British accent. Remember what happened when Robin Hood Prince of Thieves had a main character with a midwestern accent? Everyone from the movie critics to regular movie goers made fun of it but if they use a guy with some sort of British or Irish accent viewers seem to accept it as correct. Odd but true.

[Dinner]

I could honestly care less about the books. I started reading them and don't like them much at all. I find the show a) much less depressing and b) way more fun.

HERESY! BURN THE HERETIC!

[Asher]

GRRM insisted on it because for some odd reason in the US when you're doing "medieval" stuff audiences seem to expect characters to have some sort of vague British accent. Remember what happened when Robin Hood Prince of Thieves had a main character with a midwestern accent? Everyone from the movie critics to regular movie goers made fun of it but if they use a guy with some sort of British or Irish accent viewers seem to accept it as correct. Odd but true.

It could also have to do with the fact that the lore was inspired by Medieval English, with your Lords and your "sers" and your King.

An American accent would rightly be out of place.

[Hauldren Collider]

I think Dinklage's fake British accent needs help.

[regexcellent]

I bet you could get away with a Charleston, SC type accent.

American accents wouldn't sound as off as Aussie or Kiwi ones though.