Game of Thrones???

[Worf101]

I'm old school in some ways. I like my villains bad and my hero's good, however we ALL know that, with a few exceptions like Stalin and Hitler, most GOOD or BAD characters run in shades of grey. Never was that more true than in GoT. I wanted to hate the Queen completely but the love and empathy she's shown Sirsy has softened me a bit. The Imp is far more fitting to be head of Lannister clan than any other's in him family. Even Jamie shows flashes of honor when it suits him. And I wanted to hate the Spider but he's been as good a friend to Ned as any while in the dungeons.

The only true "bastards" (in that I want to boil their gizzards in oil for lunch) are Tywin Lannister and that backstabbin' bastard Littlefinger. Both of them need to die slow, horrible, dispicable deaths.

And like in all great narratives (see The Godfather) the heros have flaws as well. Ned much like my fave Klingon, allows his singular sense of honor to blind him to the fact that he who practices honor and mercy usually winds up gettin' f**ked in the end. It ain't a nice thought, but it is often true. And I also don't trust Lord Greyjoy as far as I can trust him, but thus far he's been loyal and true.

Lots to think on, lot's to digest and so far, I'm enjoying the ride.

Worf

[Woochifer]

I must say this last episode left me speechless! I read afterwards that the plot twist was in the original book, but man what daring storytelling. Even though the ending was telegraphed, I still couldn't believe it when I saw it. A series that can truly surprise me is very rare.

So many plot elements that are just now getting ripe, it's almost unfair that now we're down to the final episode! The mythical elements are now ready to enter the story, but we'll probably have to wait until next season to finally see them in full bloom -- the rebirth of the dragons, the White Walker invasion, and the bloodmagic subplot.

And all kinds of questions. With this boy king throwing a pubescent tantrum, what will happen when he finds out that his captured uncle is actually his father? And what of Stannis, King Robert's brother, the other potential heir to the throne (yes, they're casting that character for next season)?

I totally hear you on Greyjoy. With Robb now feeling his oats, Greyjoy is perfectly positioned as a backstabber.

One article that I read indicated that this series is ultimately about the Stark and Lannister children. Ned and the other adults are just the placeholders to set the chess match in motion.

Rumors are that the next couple of books might get split up into multiple seasons, because they are so thematically dense

[drseid]

I heard they might split future seasons into 2 years a piece as well. That said, while books 2 and 3 are monster length at a combined 2100+ pages in total, I think it would hurt the believability to lengthen each to 2 seasons apiece.

The reason for this is they have already aged the children in the series from where they were in the book... Sansa, for example, in the book was only 11 if I remember correctly, and Danny only a year or two older. Obviously they are much older in the tv series. Splitting the seasons will just make the "children" much less believable as time goes on. And their respective ages play a role in their decision making throughout the series, so it is relatively important.

I think if they could just up the episode count to 12 or 13 per season they could cover books 2 and 3 as well as the 1st one that is slightly shorter than those two. Book four is less long, so that could easily fit into the current format...

Should be interesting...

Dave

[Worf101]

That was special. Seems that its gonna be a loooooong wait till next Spring. But at least there's True Blood and Boardwalk Empire to keep me from breaking out in hives. Man, I hate being so easily hooked. But I did manage to pass the aflliction on. A co-worker of mine cussed me out this morning. He doesn't have HBO at home but managed to find it in a hotel he was staying in while on the road... He watched 8 episodes in a row in one night... THAT is being hooked.

Later

[Woochifer]

Great season finale last night, and wow what a final scene! Sets up the next season perfectly, and you could say that about just about every major character. Each of them went through some kind of transformation as the season rolled on, and the finale was their point of arrival/departure.

Lots of big events coming up (Sansa and Joffrey's wedding for example), and obviously, major characters yet to be introduced (Stannis is looming in the background).

Now, I'm just itching for the next season to begin (Doctor Who had its mid-season finale last week, but at least there I'll only have to wait until the fall). I might have to start reading the books to tie myself over in the meantime!

[Woochifer]

That was special. Seems that its gonna be a loooooong wait till next Spring. But at least there's True Blood and Boardwalk Empire to keep me from breaking out in hives. Man, I hate being so easily hooked. But I did manage to pass the aflliction on. A co-worker of mine cussed me out this morning. He doesn't have HBO at home but managed to find it in a hotel he was staying in while on the road... He watched 8 episodes in a row in one night... THAT is being hooked.

Later

Dang, holing up in a hotel room for 8 hours watching this?! That's hardcore for any TV series. I didn't even know that HBO scheduled this kind of sadistic marathon!

I've yet to watch True Blood (the whole vampire genre just doesn't do anything for me), and lots of HBO's other recent stuff hasn't caught on with me. Boardwalk Empire has its lapses, but overall a very good series.

You say yer easily hooked ... does that mean you confess to being one of those loyal viewers that stuck with John From Cincinnati?

[markw]

Dang, holing up in a hotel room for 8 hours watching this?! That's hardcore for any TV series. I didn't even know that HBO scheduled this kind of sadistic marathon!

I've yet to watch True Blood (the whole vampire genre just doesn't do anything for me), and lots of HBO's other recent stuff hasn't caught on with me. Boardwalk Empire has its lapses, but overall a very good series.

You say yer easily hooked ... does that mean you confess to being one of those loyal viewers that stuck with John From Cincinnati?

Many carriers of HBO and, other premium channels, offer a free service called "On Demand" whereby subscribers can avail themselves of most of their programming at their own convenience. In our case,with Comcast, we can generally access the entire season of their current serials (and fairly current movies and specials) such as Tru Blood, Game of Crowns, Boardwalk Empire, and whatever else might be out there. ...at least for a period of time.

[Woochifer]

Many carriers of HBO and, other premium channels, offer a free service called "On Demand" whereby subscribers can avail themselves of most of their programming at their own convenience. In our case,with Comcast, we can generally access the entire season of their current serials (and fairly current movies and specials) such as Tru Blood, Game of Crowns, Boardwalk Empire, and whatever else might be out there. ...at least for a period of time.

There's also HBO Go, which launched last month and allows you to stream online via browser or iOS/Android app. Of course, you have to already be an HBO subscriber, but it's pretty cool because there several series, both past and current, already loaded up that allow you to stream from start to finish. None of HBO's series have been made available on Netflix or any other streaming service.

The funny part of Worf's story is that this is somebody who does not have HBO, and planted himself up in a hotel room for 8 straight hours watching Game of Thrones.

[Woochifer]

Worf -
I thought about doing that as well, but I'd erased the episodes that were stored on the DVR after my wife finally got around to watching them. We watched first episode together, but she was turned off by how violent it was. I kept watching and saved the episodes for her just in case the series got better (which it obviously did). I finally convinced her to start catching up after the 7th episode, and she did a couple of 3 hour binges over Memorial Day weekend. Now, she's totally hooked.

Directv has the HBO On Demand option available, but I haven't tried it out yet, since our living room doesn't have an internet connection. I would need either a wireless bridge or a Powerline connection to that location, and haven't been motivated enough to do that yet.

For now, I'll have to just watch it on the computer!

[Woochifer]

Now that the waiting for Season Two has barely begun, onward goes the speculation on the casting!

One major confirmed role is The Tudors' Natalie Dormer who will take on the role of Margaery Tyrell.



Another rumored role would be Christopher Eccleston, who was outstanding as The Doctor in Doctor Who, playing Stannis Baratheon. If the producers pull this one off, I will be doing the equivalent of camping out at the box office for the premiere!



The linked article has a bunch of other suggested castings for Season Two. Wow, I didn't realize that this many major characters are coming up!

http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/game-of-thr...he-kings--3304

[Woochifer]

The Season 2 trailer for Game of Thrones has been posted. Holy schotzski!



I am so looking forward to this ... but FOUR MORE MONTHS before the season premiere?! This is freakin' cruel, HBO -- I hate you! Winter is coming ...

[Woochifer]

Time to reawaken this thread!!!!

It's back! It's been a while since a series got me hooked the way that Game of Thrones did once it hit its midseason stride last year.

For Season Two, the first episode established the narrative for this season, and points to many things to come. A lot of plot exposition, but the brisk pace that got going the latter half of Season One has not let up one bit. The series has established a whole slew of plot threads, and with Stannis entering the rhelm and House of Greyjoy about to engage as well, the space has gotten even more crowded.

Sounds like a good time to do lots of killing? Yep, that's been telegraphed quite explicitly. It's only a matter of who, and how many heads on spikes we wind up seeing.

Tyrion, once again, just steals every scene. Getting over on his sister was very entertaining.

Last season, much of the series focused on Ned Stark, but now there's no single character that the entire narrative revolves around. For now, you have all these factions making claims to the throne, and it's all maneuvering around the periphery. But, we know that things will converge soon enough, and things will get ugly. That's why the scenes with Robb Stark seemed funny -- he envisions winning a few more battles, grabbing his siblings and going home to rule the north. If only it were that simple! If only he knew how many more books remain in the series!

Nothing too exciting in the first episode. More like getting the gears spinning again and establishing the main plot points. Good news is that the ratings are way up, with a 40% uptick in viewership compared to the Season One finale.

[Worf101]

(Worf rolls over and scrathes his nethers... shakes his tangled mane and glowers into the mirror)

"I like this land called 'Westeros' there are many battles to be fought and much glory to be won!"

Welp, like Wooch said it's time to shake off the cobwebs. Episodes 1 and 2 were "alright" with Tyrion as ususal is stealing the show. Rubbed Sis's face in it real good and just de-balled the head of the gold-cloaks as slick as ever. I'm not sure about making Bran da Chief of Police" but hey... it's his show not mine. Dire Wolves get pretty big, pretty fast. Even the runt of the litter is half as tall as a man! I wish Jon Snow wasn't so impulsive and stupid. Sheesh whatta Maroon. Well the shows back, I'm back, and I'm having a good time. Good to see you all.

Worf

[Kam]

with Mad Men and Once Upon a Time (i know i know... so sue me), Game of Thrones has really made Sunday a crazy night for TV.

[Woochifer]

Season Two is now at the halfway mark and the pace has picked up considerably. As noted, there's no real dominant plot thread that the series revolves around, but the plots now in play are all headed into crisis mode. Not a weak link in the bunch.

Robb Stark, not only has to deal with Greyjoy and Winterfell (along with now all of his siblings in peril), but he also has to fight a war while getting all weak-kneed over the doc chick (while still being pledged to another woman as bridge toll payment).

It was cool to see Tyrion slap his nephew king around yet again, while the natives don't have any bread and have to resort to stuff like gang rape and zombie amputations to keep themselves entertained. Funny to see the boy king's solution to everything as more killing.

The Tywin Lannister thread was the least interesting one, well, until it intersected with Arya's life as Westeros' Most Wanted. Great stuff seeing her match wits with her family's mortal enemy, while taking advantage of her three kill-on-demand cards. And what to make of Littlefinger? It's obvious that he spotted Arya, so we'll see how he tries to take full advantage of that information -- especially after Cersei schooled him on his belief that "knowledge is power." I guess he now knows that "power is power" -- how does that now apply to Arya?



I might be off-base, but Stannis is a rather disturbed guy. I guess having your little bro mock you with his "mine is bigger" attitude is one thing, but doing the nasty with the Red Priestess and having her "give birth" to your doppelganger might enough to make anyone snap.

Now, the least interesting storyline is the march to the north, and the inevitable confrontation with the wildlings. They haven't really focused too much on that plot line, and Jon Snow has been a drag all season. So, now he's joined at the hip with a wildling he was supposed to have killed, and we're left with new adventures in spooning. I thought this would be one of the better plot lines, but we're halfway through, and Jon Snow getting handed off to Halfhand and now getting lost is all that has happened.

And then there's Dany, who holds the most powerful weapons in the entire rhelm (well, after they grow up), but only gets marriage proposals and escorting offers when she needs boats. What happens now that her dragons are lost?

Should be an interesting final four episodes. I read that the next season will indeed only cover half of the third book (Storm of Swords), and some characters that were actually in the second book will wait until next season. Game of Thrones already purportedly has the largest cast of any current TV series, and there are plenty of characters yet to be introduced (and killed).

[Ry Manchu]

I found this list of shows for people that liked Game of Thrones. If any of you have seen any of them, let's hear your feedback. If they suck, I have not seen any of them and it's not my list.

2000 U.S. miniseries 10th Kingdom
2009 U.S. TV Series Kings (supposed to be King David in modern times)

[Woochifer]

Wow, lots of news over the past week.

First off, Game of Thrones very deservedly received 13 Emmy Award nominations, including Best Drama and Best Supporting Actor for Peter Dinklage (who plays Tyrion).

Also, 4 more cast announcements were made, as filming for Season Two is set to begin shortly.

Gwendoline Christie as Brienne



Liam Cunningham as Davos



Carice van Houten as Melisandre



Stephen Dillane as Stannis (Argh! The Christopher Eccleston rumors didn't pan out!)



Finally, about 4,000 fans packed the Game of Thrones session at the International Comic Con in San Diego yesterday. Not much in the way of news, but some interesting quotes from the cast, producers, and George Martin. Looks like the third book in the series will be split into two season for the TV series, and Martin says that he wants a "bittersweet" conclusion when he hopefully/finally completes the book series.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/07/21/ga...son-2-trailer/