HBO's Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire)

[wolfboy]

Been watching every episode -- still love how they're handling the source material faithfully while still keeping every episode well-paced and interesting.

Wish we saw more of the direwolves, though.

My wife is a big fan of the books. Her number one complaint is the lack of direwolves.

[bucksfan2]

I have just started Game of Thrones. The book really isn't up my alley but I had a friend recommend it. Is HBO going to do it like one book = one year?

[medford]

I have just started Game of Thrones. The book really isn't up my alley but I had a friend recommend it. Is HBO going to do it like one book = one year?

I believe they've already started shooting season 2. I don't know how long it takes to turn around a series from shooting into "ready to show", but it wouldn't surprise me to see them try and slip this series into the old "Big Love" time frame of Jan-March.

[bucksfan2]

I believe they've already started shooting season 2. I don't know how long it takes to turn around a series from shooting into "ready to show", but it wouldn't surprise me to see them try and slip this series into the old "Big Love" time frame of Jan-March.

I guess my post was a little misunderstanding. I meant does season 1 of "The Game of Thrones" follow the first book? Then will season 2 follow the second book?

Thanks for the info though. I figured I will have to wait until the season comes to DVD as the wife made me cancel HBO.

[Caveat Emperor]

I guess my post was a little misunderstanding. I meant does season 1 of "The Game of Thrones" follow the first book? Then will season 2 follow the second book?

It looks like that's the way it's going to go -- season 1 looks like it'll cover everything in book 1.

[MikeThierry]

This is currently my favorite show on TV. The acting is superb and the writing is excellent. I have also been surprised at how good the sets and special effects have been. My only fear with this series is that it is going to get too expensive to maintain over a long period of time. This is what happened with another of my favorite HBO Series, Rome. It got very good ratings but it eventually got too expensive to maintain.

[_Sir_Charles_]

I seriously considered getting HBO simply for this show. I loved the books. Just a notch below the Wheel of Time for me in that genre.

[_Sir_Charles_]

The first 5-6 books of the Wheel of Time series were fantastic -- right up until the point where Rand started interacting heavily with the Aiel (sp?) guys from out in the Wasteland. It seemed, from that point onward, virtually every part of the books involving Rand was unbelievably tedious to read. It went from focusing too much on their culture (which was dull and tedious -- honor/bravery/Klingon nonsense) to focusing too much on Rand being chased by 3 women (despite being a moody, self-pitying ass) to focusing too much on Rand being crazy.

I finally punched out of the series for good when I read an entire book ("Winter's Heart" -- I think) where absolutely no major plotlines where moved forward or resolved.

Maybe I should give the series another shot someday -- but Wheel of Time really seems like a series that collapsed under the weight of all the ongoing plotlines and took it's characters down strange and odd pathes.

Or, really, maybe it's just me. I tend to lose patience with long fantasy series at some point -- I also dropped out of "The Sword of Truth" after 5 or so books. That series made the mistake of hooking the main characters up too quickly and then had to constantly do annoying things to split them up and create drama. Plus I got the sense the author had a lot of odd fetishes based on some of the subject matter.

Just for an update concerning the Wheel of Time...Robert Jordan passed away after a long illness just prior to the final 3 books. Brandon Sanderson's taken over (with TONS of notes from RJ) and the first 2 books he's done (Crossroads of Twilight and Towers of Midnight) have been absolutely fantastic. Right up there with the first few books of the series. The very last one should come out later this year and finally put a cap on this series that has eaten my life the past 20 years. I have traditionally gone back and re-read the series each time a new book has come out. So yes, I'm retarded and I've read the Eye of the World 13 times...so far.

[medford]

My only fear with this series is that it is going to get too expensive to maintain over a long period of time. This is what happened with another of my favorite HBO Series, Rome. It got very good ratings but it eventually got too expensive to maintain.

I loved Rome as well. I have no idea if money issues brought that show to an end, but IMHO, there wasn't really anywhere else to go with that show other than to drag it out. It would have worked as a 1 season show, and while the 2nd season was solid, it felt like they used up all the story lines of that era. The only place left for them to go, which they kind of hinted at, was bringing the birth of Jesus and that period into the works. That doesn't seem like a topic that HBO would have delved into as the it would have been demanized by the religious right as well as the anti-christianity left.

Better to end a season too early than a season too late.

[Brisco]

I'm picking up the second book today (putting my planned next reading project, the "John Carter of Mars" series, on hold) -- when I get a little further through the series, I want to start a thread and discuss.

CE:

I read Games of Thrones the day it was released by pure happenstance, but I have become a devoted fan of the series. I am writing to WARN you... there will be a point when you are reading Book 3 that you will have a dramatic emotional reaction.
When that happens, close the book and please post here immediately.

I have bought the first book for close to 20 other folks and always given the the warning (above) as well as a warning that they will not be able to stop reading the series and will eventually be stuck with the rest of us waiting impatiently for the next book to come out. Every single one of them has contacted me when they hit the point in Book Three to curse me out for making them read and experience that.

It will be interesting to ready your reaction when you hit that point.



Brisco

[Brisco]

I loved Rome as well. I have no idea if money issues brought that show to an end, but IMHO, there wasn't really anywhere else to go with that show other than to drag it out. It would have worked as a 1 season show, and while the 2nd season was solid, it felt like they used up all the story lines of that era. The only place left for them to go, which they kind of hinted at, was bringing the birth of Jesus and that period into the works. That doesn't seem like a topic that HBO would have delved into as the it would have been demanized by the religious right as well as the anti-christianity left.

Better to end a season too early than a season too late.

I agree. I do not believe Rome was ever planned to go further. They told the story they wanted to tell and ended... which is rare in the modern entertainment world that only see dollar signs in sequels.

The plan for Game of Thrones is a minimum five year run with a book per season. From what i have heard, the only thing preventing years six and seven will be martin's inability to actually finish those books in time.

The problem with the series is that the Characters and Plot are so well developed that martin has created a very high expectation of quality among the readers and he has become a perfectionist trying to live up to it, thus the longer and longer delays.

[Brisco]

Just for an update concerning the Wheel of Time...Robert Jordan passed away after a long illness just prior to the final 3 books. Brandon Sanderson's taken over (with TONS of notes from RJ) and the first 2 books he's done (Crossroads of Twilight and Towers of Midnight) have been absolutely fantastic. Right up there with the first few books of the series. The very last one should come out later this year and finally put a cap on this series that has eaten my life the past 20 years. I have traditionally gone back and re-read the series each time a new book has come out. So yes, I'm retarded and I've read the Eye of the World 13 times...so far.

Sir charles:

If you have not already done so, pick up Sanderson's "The Way of Kings"... it is amazingly complex and totally enjoyable. It promises to be a turly excellent series once he gets back to it after finishing Wheel of Time for jordan.

Brisco

[Caveat Emperor]

CE:

I read Games of Thrones the day it was released by pure happenstance, but I have become a devoted fan of the series. I am writing to WARN you... there will be a point when you are reading Book 3 that you will have a dramatic emotional reaction.
When that happens, close the book and please post here immediately.

I have bought the first book for close to 20 other folks and always given the the warning (above) as well as a warning that they will not be able to stop reading the series and will eventually be stuck with the rest of us waiting impatiently for the next book to come out. Every single one of them has contacted me when they hit the point in Book Three to curse me out for making them read and experience that.

It will be interesting to ready your reaction when you hit that point.



Brisco

Will do -- I've gotten a bit sidetracked on Book #2 due to work picking up the last efw weeks, but I'm about halfway through and I'll be starting #3 as soon as I finish.

[_Sir_Charles_]

Sir charles:

If you have not already done so, pick up Sanderson's "The Way of Kings"... it is amazingly complex and totally enjoyable. It promises to be a turly excellent series once he gets back to it after finishing Wheel of Time for jordan.

Brisco

I've already got it, but haven't read it yet...I've just got a few books in line before it is all. I'd never heard of Sanderson prior to him taking over for Robert Jordan, but I must admit, his work on the W.o.T. series got me intrigued. I'm not sure if it was Brandon's writing that I liked or Jordan's. Because Sanderson's stated that quite a bit of these books were already written...just in outline-type of format. Lots of paragraphs he put in there were verbatim from Jordan. Considering that fact, he managed to mesh them together flawlessly to the point that you simply can't tell where he started and Jordan ended.

[bucksfan2]

CE:

I read Games of Thrones the day it was released by pure happenstance, but I have become a devoted fan of the series. I am writing to WARN you... there will be a point when you are reading Book 3 that you will have a dramatic emotional reaction.
When that happens, close the book and please post here immediately.

I have bought the first book for close to 20 other folks and always given the the warning (above) as well as a warning that they will not be able to stop reading the series and will eventually be stuck with the rest of us waiting impatiently for the next book to come out. Every single one of them has contacted me when they hit the point in Book Three to curse me out for making them read and experience that.

It will be interesting to ready your reaction when you hit that point.



Brisco

I am only about 150 pages into the first book and at least it has caught my attention. Now grated there are about 700 more pages to go so there is time for it to pick up.

I am having a couple of difficulties with the book so far. First of all there are so many characters being introduced to the book. I feel like I am constantly flipping back to the Appendix to see who is who. Secondly I don't like how the chapters start with the name of a character. It kind of throws me off. Its nothing major just start the chapter with a number.