So? What did y'all think? The folks I watched it with loved it, but we'd all read the books. I'd like to hear the opinion of someone who went in fresh since we're probably looking at this thing through rose colored glasses. I will say that I liked it more than Walking Dead, another series that I had read before watching. Costume design and production values in general were fantastic, and the casting and acting has been great so far as well. Any misgivings I had about Daenerys are gone, and most of the other characters are spot on. I'm really excited for next week.
I watched it with my wife and two friends. My wife & I have read the books, the two friends haven't (but have played the LCG, so at least knew some of the characters & themes).
It was good, but I didn't think it was mind-blowing. The sets and costumes were great - I liked the Wall, Ice was badass, and Winterfell was right on. The main characters were well-cast, for the most part - Ned, Cat, Tyrion, Bran, and Robert were great. And there were way more exposed boobs than I expected, which is a plus, I guess.
However, some characters weren't cast as well. Cersei isn't hot enough (but seems appropriately bitchy). Daenrys and Viserys had super-distracting dark eyebrows (though I forgot all about that when Dany started losing clothes...). Jaime isn't blond and I swear I can't stop thinking that he looks just like Lone Star from Spaceballs. Jon Snow looks kind of like some weird greasy gang member or something.
Like the book, it's slow to get started while all the different plot lines get spun up. I'm not sure how you'd follow the show if you knew nothing about the story already, since several main characters didn't even get named, or did so only tangentially (I don't think Catelyn's name was said once).
I am currently reading the second book and I thought it was good, but not great. I know they have to spice it up for TV (and I can tell of some pretty big variations in the clips from forthcoming episodes) and I don't mind that. I even kind of like when a show goes astray from the original material. That allows me to enjoy it in an altogether different manner. I noticed they pretty much aged up all the Stark children by a couple years and even Ned and Cat seem older than they are in the book. They haven't mentioned it, but I think they are glossing over Daenerys' age and she seems to be portrayed as older.
The one casting I don't love is for Robert Baratheon. He is supposed to be this huge man who has let himself run to fat as king. I just can't picture him as this fierce warrior, only a fat king. Another small thing that won't trouble me too much.
I'm one of those that went in fresh -- never read any of the books and know next to nothing about the characters and plot lines. I did a bit of research online and watched a couple of the behind the scenes clips at HBO On Demand before last night just to get a feel for who's who and what's what. I loved the first episode and am very excited for the rest of the season. Great story, great characters, plenty of intrigue. I'm also following along with a couple of other new series right now ("Camelot" and "The Borgias") and it's interesting that HBO is able to give their series that something extra special compared to Starz and Showtime. I thought the episode was very handily directed by Tim Van Patten as well. You had an episode that presented the opening of a grand saga while still presenting a concise story with a beginning and an end (and what an end it was!).
Winterfell was one bit I wasn't crazy about at all. All those wierd discs? I dunno. I thought Baratheon was great. In the books he'd become such a fat drunken sot that everyone around him had a tough time remembering when he was the baddest motherfucker in the realm, and I think they got that in spades.
The younger Stark kids were definitely written as older children for this series, but I imagine that has more to do with a four year olds acting chops than anything else. Dany does looks a bit older than 15. GRRM's gotten a lot of flack for his depictions of sex scenes involving her with some going so far as to call it borderline kiddie porn. This might have had something to do with her being cast a bit older but it's utter bullshit anyway. Kids have sex at 15. They always have and they always will, and pretending it doesn't happen isn't going to make your book any better. Either way I thought she did a pretty good job, naked or not.
I'm interested to see how they flesh this out over the next few episodes, because there's so much to get through in terms of characters and background. I'm especially psyched to see more of the hound.
I noticed they pretty much aged up all the Stark children by a couple years and even Ned and Cat seem older than they are in the book. They haven't mentioned it, but I think they are glossing over Daenerys' age and she seems to be portrayed as older.
Bran is 10 instead of 7-8, and from the preview clips it seems they just added 2 years to everything basically, saying that Robert has been king for 17 years instead of 15. That would also make Robb and Jon Snow 17 instead of 15, and altogether make everything just that bit more believable than in the books.
Daenarys was 13 at the beginning of the book (so 15 or so for the series), but of course they'll gloss it over to avoid embarrasment of having to deal with underage sex.
We all enjoyed it a lot. Went in with high hopes and they weren't necessarily exceeded, but they were met which is still pretty amazing. I think the only thing I've ever been really excited about and had my mind blow by how much better it was than I could have hoped for was the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies, those fucking ruled.
I agree that the casting was awesome with a few exceptions; said the same thing about Cersei not really being this STUNNINGLY hot babe, but she grew on me in terms of nailing her vibe as the episode went on. Jamie looked too much like a daytime soap star.
My dislike of the book is legendary around here but on a last minute whim I decided to record this. It might not be great literature but I think it has the makings of a great TV show.
We're being spoiled with great TV at the moment. Doctor Who, A Game of Thrones and The Pacific & The Walking Dead are on non-premium channels for the first time. I've also been enjoying quality home-grown programs in The Crimson Petal & The White and Campus. Those bastard TV execs are just trying to keep us indoors now the fine spring weather has arrived. Luckily for me I have small children and never go out anyway
It was excellent. No real complaints, it was a bit over edited (to be expected when you are fitting 96 pages into 60 mins) and the Wedding scene looked a bit silly (extras were too clean cut - and an orgy with your pants on? WTF). The 'new' scenes were universally great and show that the writers know what they are doing. The Imp's introduction here was much better than in the book.
I was surprised there was so little Arya.
Apparently ratings weren't that crash hot. Hopefully that doesn't impact the season 2 budget.
Apparently ratings weren't that crash hot. Hopefully that doesn't impact the season 2 budget.
Shit I'd be worried about that - so many shows in the US in the last few years that get a reasonable following and then get axed because they didn't hit the 'required' numbers, most recent was Flash Forward last year that got axed after one season right on the end of season climax. Carnivale was another and Deadwood to a lesser extent.
I'm going to have to steal it off the web as it's on Sky over here and they're in a pissing contest with my cable provider Virgin (who provides Sky channels to its customers), and their latest shot has been to create a new channel (that Virgin doesn't pay for) and move all their top/new programs over to that. So I've had to track down shows like Boardwalk Empire and Blue Bloods online.
The Imp's introduction here was much better than in the book.
I didn't like it nearly as well. I thought this was just HBO finding ways to shoehorn naked chicks into the story. Luckily for me, the positive of the naked chicks balanced out the negative of the story change
The Imp's introduction here was much better than in the book.
I didn't like it nearly as well. I thought this was just HBO finding ways to shoehorn naked chicks into the story. Luckily for me, the positive of the naked chicks balanced out the negative of the story change
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