'Game of Thrones' on HBO HD *** WARNING - Spoilers allowed *** - Page 19

Dance is great in this role.

I disagree

Fantastic show, really enjoying watching them again on BR. Solid LFE was a nice surprise for me.

I disagree too. The beautiful Lena Headey is perfect as the bitch goddess ice queen Cersei. I can't imagine a better choice for the role. Speaking of casting, I was a bit disappointed when I learned that Michelle Fairley got the Catelyn Stark role only after one of my all time favorite actresses, Jennifer Ehle, dropped out. Fairly is a fine actress but I was nonetheless disappointed when I learned that Ehle almost took the part.

Watching it on DVD for the first time, though I've already read everything. Personally, I think the show is a very good adaptation of the book. However, I've also always thought that there's nothing wrong with Westeros that couldn't be fixed with a few well-placed nukes (or the magical equivalent.) Much like with Walking Dead, if Martin keeps on dragging things out like crazy, I may start rooting for the zombies.

Despite my great love for the Song Of Ice And Fire saga, I have a hard time disagreeing with your criticism of Martin's constant failure to wrap things up or even come close. I am past ready for Daenerys, her grownup dragons, and her warrior hordes to cross the narrow sea and destroy Cersei and her minions root and branch.

If the upcoming seasons of the HBO series come close to matching the quality of Season 1, though, I may forgive Martin.

As I've said before, I gave up on the books. GRRM will devote chapters and hundreds of pages over several volumes on characters that he eventually stamps out. That's fine, but he leaves other arcs going that have little impact on the main storylines (but might someday) that just aren't that interesting. He's better than the guy who tried to complete the Wheel of Time clusterfu*ck. But that one started out so well and just went off the rails adding more and more characters and never tackled tying up any plot threads. I'm a big admirer of world building, but even more so of taut writing styles that take you somewhere and deliver something. Martin and Jordan are like the writers of Lost...they get tangled during the journey.

Both writers need(ed) to FIRE THEIR EDITORS!

I agree that A Game of Thrones is by far the best book in the Song Of Ice and Fire series. Still, Martin has created such vivid characters, I have found something compelling in all of his books. That's why I am looking forward to Season 2 of Game of Thrones. By the very nature of the television medium, the writers will have to tighten up the story, which would be a good thing it seems to me.

ok did season 1 marathon last weekend and have now seen all 10 eps.

love it. very well done.

can't wait for season 2. when can we expect it?

4/1/12!!

Replayed the season for the second time and it holds up very well.

Similarly, after watching the BDs I am about 80 percent of the way through rereading the book. It is a terrific story, both on the printed page and on film.

I agree with most. Also thought Varys was perfectly cast.

The three characters that I viewed differently, even if their description fits how they are on the show:

Barristan Selmy- I thought of a cross between Patrick Stewart in Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Liam Neeson in Batman Begins

the Hound- for some reason I imagined Wade Williams character from Prison Break (although taller)

Ilyrio (supposed to be so fat that he cannot ride a horse, yet in the show he is smaller than King Robert).

I mostly agree, too. Like Trackman, I can't quite make up my mind about the casting of Jon but think the actors playing Cersei, Daenerys, King Robert, and the others mentioned above could hardly have been better.

I thought the Catelyn character could have been better cast. Although Michelle Fairley, who plays Cat, is a wonderful actress, I think she looks far too old for the role and lacks the great beauty of the Cat described in the books. On the other hand, I think I understand what the casting directors had in mind when they cast Fairley. Cat is tough and stalwart, traits that Fairley handles wonderfully well.

I agree that Conleth Hill, who plays Lord Varys, is great. I also think that Sean Bean was perfectly cast as Ned Stark. Perhaps the best casting choice of all was Mark Addy as King Robert. I am rereading the novel now and every time the King speaks, I hear Addy's voice. All in all, Season 1 of Game of Thrones was remarkable in every respect.

A problem that I have with the tv series is the fact that they left out the character of Ser Bryndon Tully or "The Blackfish." Ser Bryndon is an extremely important counselor and commander to The Young Wolf's campaign. I checked HBO's website and there is no mention of him on the Tully family tree and no information about casting him. If they keep this up what happens in season 4 when Jamie arrives at Riverrun?

Yeah, don't hold your breath!


I'm not a huge fan of Leda Headey (hated her in the Terminator TV show), but I do think she looks the part. There are some rather unflattering physical descriptions of Cersei in the later books that befit a "not in her 20's anymore" mother of three.


I do wish they had the Blackfish in the show, but I wish the books had more of him as well. He played an important role in the story, but didn't really appear all that often in the books. I guess I can't remember, but did he ever get his own chapter?

I don't think the Blackfish has ever been one of Martin's Point of View characters, like Tyrion, Arya, Daenerys, et al., so my recollection, like yours, is that he hasn't had any chapters devoted to him.

On another issue, I'm not at all confident that we are going to see another book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series from Martin very soon. With the exception of Books 2 and 3 of the series, which came out two years apart, no later book in the series has been published in fewer than 5 years after its predecessor. Given that Book 5, A Dance With Dragons, was published in 2011, I suspect it will be quite a while before we see Book 6. I hope I'm wrong but it doesn't look good.

Great Start for season 2. Melisandre's necklace glowed when Cressen tried to poison her. So starts a character with 'Powers'. Loved the comet. Sign of dragons?

He claims he has 200 pages done with The Winds of Winter and it will be done in two years...we shall see.
As well he said he has told the producers of the show how he envisions the story to end so if anything happens to him they can go on with the series as long as HBO sees it to the end.

Yeah Bran was told by his old Nan that Coments was the sign of Dragons. They cut part of the book out but keep that comment in.

Anyone else disappointed in the casting/portrayal of Craster? I say that, because my image of him was a fat, greasy, unkempt savage. Certainly not a well-groomed older gentleman.

Perhaps they are doing this to contrast him with how he treats his wives, which would make his behavior all the more reprehensible.

Your description matches my imagined view of him when I read the book. I was thrown off for a second or two when they first showed him.

The image I had of davos was much different than Liam cunninghams portrayal. I always pictured him to be skinny/lanky with longer hair and much more pirate like if that makes sense. He looks too much like a noble and not someone who was born in flea bottom.

It's old but have you guys seen this one?

Tyrion Slapping Joff

You only need to watch the first minute or so. I got a good laugh out of it.

Neither Crastor nor Davos were anything like I imagined.

Davos didn't look like I'd pictured, but I think his acting is spot on.

Episode 2 just appeared in the ether, supposedly from the Dutch HBO Go site. In English.

Nielsen Notes (Cable)
'Game of Thrones' returns to series high ratings
By James Hibberd, EW.com's 'Inside TV' Blog - Apr. 3, 2012

The second season premiere of HBO's Game of Thrones delivered series-high ratings Sunday night.

Thrones returned to 3.9 million viewers. That's up a massive 74 percent from its series debut last year. It also improves upon the show's previous all-time high, which was just over 3 million viewers. Including all three airings, the show delivered 6.3 million viewers. The numbers mean a third season renewal is pretty much guaranteed.

Despite airing on a network with fewer subscribers, HBO's Thrones stomped the season two premiere of AMC's The Killing and the latest episode of Mad Men.

http://insidetv.ew.com/2012/04/03/ga...ings-season-2/

Maybe they could up the budget a bit and have actual battle scenes.

That was the thing with Rome, where they had to refer to some famous battles after the fact, because of the budget.

I thought they filmed in Iceland and Malta to save some money. How about spending some on CG? Most of the actors aren't big stars who would be commanding big salaries.

First, not showing the most of the actual battles is consistent with the source material; POV characters are usually somewhere else (or unconscious). I expect to see a heckuva naval battle in the river at King's Landing in a few weeks.

Second, the CG on the is series is so good that you're rarely aware of it. But it's expensive, and it accounts for much of the budget. This is not a cheap show. However, you are getting your wish: the show's budget was increased specifically to pay for the climactic battle this season.