[HBO] Game of Thrones

[kuhla]

I actually watched it last night also. I downloaded the SD version and then while I was watching that I let the HD version download in the background so I have both now.

[Malaphax]

[Turvy]

seems kind of contradictory...

 

I think that's the joke?

[Malaphax]

Man, this series moves so goddamn fast. I'm going to now post some material related to the books and this episode:

 

 

As I mentioned previously Renly and Loras's relationship is far more overt than in the books. Now they go so far as to make mention of Margaery also being aware and complicit with the relationship. I actually like this better, the books flat out ignore Margaery until further on in the storyline, and only mention her a few times.

Also the scene with Tyrion setting up his test of loyalty is goddamn priceless

 

 

Sidenote: When Brienne of Tarth looks like a HUGE bitch, that's actually real. She's 6'3" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwendoline_Christie

[kuhla]

I don't even care about source material accuracy at this point, can they just kill off Theon Greyjoy RIGHT NOW? PLEASE?

[Malaphax]

If you dislike Theon, you will be more than satisfied with how he is handled.

He's one of the more "tragic" characters

[kuhla]

Yeah, I'm not highlighting/quoting that....

[Malaphax]

I never post serious spoilers, I do not reveal any hard details about any of the books that haven't already been covered. The most I ever do is hint at what's to come. I would never think of spoiling the series for anyone. So don't worry about what I post or spoiler.

 

Also I do like the actor who's playing Balon Greyjoy, he is very much as described in the books. A massive hardass. I still hate that Asha (also apparently she is called Yara in this tv show to avoid confusion with Osha the wildling) Greyjoy looks super plain, she's supposed to be attractive, and honestly I have a hard time reconciling that with the books. Also for some reason the Greyjoy flag seems wrong, I thought it was supposed to be black background gold kraken, it's a blue background in this episode.

 

Grandmaester Pycelle busting out "insalubrious" this episode was fantastic. I feel a need to try and slip this word into conversation now.

 

Also here's a good map displaying the various houses and what lands they own, take note that because the Targaryans no longer hold their land that land is held by Stannis Baratheon.

http://awoiaf.westeros.org/images/3/3a/Seven_Kingdoms.png

[Jedi2155]

I was reading up on the Red Priestess, and then I saw the actress name which I recognized in the past. Because she drives an Opel Ampera and did an interview for it =D.

 

 

[Malaphax]

I really liked this weeks episode. I think they did a very good job of conveying the events unfolding. I especially enjoyed the conversation between tyrion and lancel

"Did he tell you to fuck her too? Hated every moment of it is that what you'd have me believe? Hold here, his grace will want to know of this.

 

 

Also I was very worried about how they would handle some other properties of the show. I WILL PURPOSEFULLY POINT OUT THAT SOME OF WHAT I WILL REFERENCE IS FROM THE BOOKS

 

The Melisandre portion of this episode had me very worried. This is far easier to pull off in a book where you can let the reader imagine things, instead of having to display it for them. That said, they did a fantastic job. Also if you thought that was graphic, they go into even more detail in the book, no joke. I have to admit the few "magical" elements of the series have been handled very tastefully. The backgrounds/castles have been done well, and been very accurate depictions of the various locals in the books. The other cgi elements have also been done tastefully, the wolves aren't dogs anymore and the dragons have looked good. This particular scene was also done well. I do have to mention, quite a bit of the books are "toned down" for the series. Melisandre normally has red eyes, and not to mention certain other characters are supposed to be far more fictitious looking, in the books Tyrion has heterochromia. I like that in some ways the series is more grounded, and yet they often explore more than the books themselves. For example tonight the scene with Joffrey and the whores was not in the books, but it fits his character very well and does expand upon his deviant nature. Also Tywin is a fucking boss.

 

[Jedi2155]

So one thing has been bothering me lately in this season and that is there are way too many disjointed story arc's that it doesn't give enough time in each of them. They are all loosely related resulting in me never getting enough satisfaction to feel the story has significantly progressed for each of them.

 

There are at least 7+ arcs going on right now:

- Theon Greyjoy

- Beyond the Wall

- Stannis/Renly's battle

- Tywin/Aria

- Tyrion/King's Landing

- Danerys Targaryen / Karth

- Paraylized Stark / Winterfell

- Rob Stark / Battle

 

That means each 45 minute episode can only dedicate 5-8 minutes per arc...too short IMO. Should concentrate in fewer arcs per episode and split them among the episodes.

[Malaphax]

You do realize they don't always cover every arc each episode. In fact this last episode I do not remember seeing Rob, they only reference him in Arya's arc. Stannis's portion of the story is actually told through his second in command Davos. Tyrion is a major character, more so than some of the other Lannisters (at least for now) he's the major presence at Kings Landing, which is a central location. Danerys is the only character across the narrow sea, and also one of the largest characters, they've had episodes where she's in it briefly and others where she's much more involved, last night she was more involved. Bran is a central character, and the north/winterfell is a major area. Also you forgot Catelyn Stark who is another major character, and provides the viewpoint of what happens in Renly's camp.

 

If you want full ridiculous, they add characters each book, they haven't touched the Dornish characters yet, which is one of the major houses, and the Tyrell's have only had 2 supporting characters so far. This is why I have a feeling after this season we'll see the series break up books into multiple seasons, it gets to be too much too fast to really full keep track of in a 60min show.

 

Also keep in mind that if certain arcs seem disjointed or not related, just wait. They almost always come into contact with one another at some point, even if only on a grand scale where they reference the larger changes in the world. Last season for example the only time that Danerys was mentioned in Westeros was when she was the target of an assassination attempt. Likewise what happens at the wall is only briefly mentioned in Kings Landing, but the arcs do interact, just not in a Tom Clancy kind of way.

[Malaphax]

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF I just figured something out, and now I feel a little stupid and a little angry. Here comes the not so spoilery spoilers

Jaquen Hgar tells Arya that she stole 3 deaths from the Red God, I only just now realized he was referencing that they would have been burned to death. I was actually getting mad because I thought they were implying Jaquen Hgar was tied to Rhallor the red god.

Also regardless of whether or not you hate or love certain characters, I feel as though some of the side characters are immensely awesome: Syrio, Bronn and Jaquen are all awesome.

[Malaphax]

I'll just link to this, the animated shorts do give a decent brief history of the houses, and other lore in the series.

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/garfield200777/videos

[kuhla]

Is there any special reason there hasn't been a torrent released yet?...... This is almost an hour later than I usually see some start popping up..... EDIT: and as I post one pops up but still, that's very late....

[Malaphax]

My tracker still does not have one uploaded. I do not know why it's so late this week. Maybe the release groups took a week off, or some serious computer trouble happened. It's very strange to be downloading mad men before game of thrones, normally by now I would have finished watching already.

[kuhla]

My tracker still does not have one uploaded. I do not know why it's so late this week. Maybe the release groups took a week off, or some serious computer trouble happened. It's very strange to be downloading mad men before game of thrones, normally by now I would have finished watching already.

Yeah... the one release that went up I guess got nuked, it's gone now.... an no one else has put anything up.... very weird....

 

EDIT: 9:10pm. Still no torrents. Ok, I'm going to stop looking and check tomorrow.

 

EDIT: 9:42pm. Finally. Thank the gods.

 

EDIT: And an explanation for the delay is LOL: """It was late because the scene was late. IMMERSE and DIMENSION missed the early showing and 2HD capped the second, so that was the only viable 720p source and had to be waited for. Sorry for that, but was out of my hands. If you were on the Facebook page you would have been kept appraised of the situation, so feel free to get yourself over there just in case. Address is at the bottom of my signature. Thanks to all. Enjoy!"""

[Malaphax]

The 2HD release is absolute shit. I still haven't seen an immerse/dimension release yet, my tracker put up the crap version, but I will of course download a proper later. Because the video was shit, the scenes skipped back like 4 times during the entire episode...

 

I'm still going to point out a few things relating to this episode, spoilers ahead:

 

Jaquen H'gar, that scene was so goddamn hilarious I was laughing out loud. The stuff with rioting in the streets is pretty accurate, just a heads up, the guy who was torn apart was the head priest of the sept, that will be important later. The show seems to be taking very large sections and changing them. I will actually refrain from describing the differences until I see the next few episodes because I don't want to spoil, and I want to see the complete extent of the differences. Theon was originally the one who mentions to attack toren square and then take winterfell, not his captain, they make the captain out to be a bit smarter and more major than he was.

 

 

EDIT: I think I got the one that was nuked. I downloaded a repack from 2hd, the video quality is still lower than normal. But at the vary least it doesn't skip constantly.

[kuhla]

Yeah, I got the release with the 4 skips. 2 of those skips were hilarious especially the one with Qhorin Halfhand (assuming you had it skip at the same point I did).

 

It's almost at the point now where I feel like I'm watching mad men with so many people hooking up.

 

In regards specifically to this episode, I have to agree with Richard's recent criticism, some things moved almost comically fast.

 

The Arya and Tywin scenes are good stuff. All of them. Thick atmosphere.

 

Reading the io9 recap, yeah, it sounds like some big changes were made from the books in this episode. Guess we'll see where it goes.

[Malaphax]

The comically fast speed is unfortunately necessary, you have no idea how much you have to cut out and speed up to cram 1000+ pages into under 10hours.

 

 

I also agree that Tywin and Arya do a fantastic job. I honestly think that the child actors (particularly Arya) do an amazing job, and I hope they don't replace any of them. Also I love Tywin, he's a real hardass, but you see a bit as to why that was, how he had to save his family line from becoming bankrupt because his own father was inept. So he worked as hand of the king and practically ruled over Westeros for 20 years, and during that time he rebuilt his house and managed to bring his family back to it's place as the richest in the seven kingdoms. I think it's cool they expanded upon Jamie being dyslexic, and Tywin being determined enough to teach him to read anyway. Honestly Tywin's character is one of the strange ones in the books, I really think more people will like him than if they read only the books. Also yes they changed plenty in the series. I'm glad they aren't so attached to the material that they stick to the letter of the books and change up orders and even rather large sections to present the story in their own way.

 

Also what the fuck kuhla, only 1 sex scene happens this episode and they explain in 2 minutes later, I disagree with your analysis of "so many people hooking up" If you had said that earlier I would have understood, but not this episode.

 

 

[kuhla]

 

Also what the fuck kuhla, only 1 sex scene happens this episode and they explain in 2 minutes later, I disagree with your analysis of "so many people hooking up" If you had said that earlier I would have understood, but not this episode.

 

I'm not referring to sex scenes but it seems like they are trying to pair up EVERY guy with someone. Even Jon Snow, in THE most unlikely setting is being grouped with up with someone.

[Malaphax]

Nope. Tywin, arya bran rickon and to a degree sansa. Not to mention theon fucks anybody. Also danerys does not have anyone. I honestly think you are over analyzing this and attempting to make this theme fit far more than it actually does.

[Malaphax]

I was checking the imdb for game of thrones, I did not realize that the hound is 6'6" and the mountain is 7'1" Also I think they replaced the mountain with another actor because he's playing a role in the hobbit. I hope they bring the original actor back.

[kuhla]

 

Nope. Tywin, arya bran rickon and to a degree sansa. Not to mention theon fucks anybody. Also danerys does not have anyone. I honestly think you are over analyzing this and attempting to make this theme fit far more than it actually does.

 

Two different people have tried to get it on with Danerys recently. In the last two episodes they are working on Jon and Rob. Going back to late last season we've got Tyrion paired up with Shae. Most of the ones you mentioned are too old or too young. Speaking of Tywin, I just looked up his IMDB, 6' 3". Either lots of these people have inflated stats or there are a lot of tall people in game of thrones. Xaro Xhoan Daxos is 6'6" Sticking with Tywin, something you said earlier, about people liking him, I don't think he has been portrayed negatively at all in the show so far. Stern, yes, but he doesn't like what Geoffry is doing, he wants peace, he hasn't been cruel to anyone.

 

 

I was checking the imdb for game of thrones, I did not realize that the hound is 6'6" and the mountain is 7'1" Also I think they replaced the mountain with another actor because he's playing a role in the hobbit. I hope they bring the original actor back.

I find that interesting because... no wait scratch what I was going to say, reading Conan Stevens's (original mountain) imdb trivia page has got me lolling....

 

Vice president of Engineering Fraternity at the University of Newcastle (1990).

 

University of Newcastle (Australia) School chess champion and beer drinking champion 1986.

 

12 years freestyle fighting experience.

 

12 years Professional Wrestling (Muay Plam, Catch) - Tag Team Champion, Australian Heavyweight Champion (3 times title holder).

 

Stunt expertise, 12 years basic experience including film, wire work and suit work.

 

Qualified Infantry Soldier UN Coy, Australian Army.

....WAT. He is apparently going to play an orc chieftain The Hobbit.

[Malaphax]

Everyone tries to sleep with danerys, and xaro isn't really interested in her as much as her dragons, there is a law in quarth much like california where all property is split 50/50 so he would be entitled to at least one, not to mention her title could prove useful. As far as tyrion and shae that's just part of the books and likewise with jon. As far as rob that is actually expanded on in the series more than the books, I like this version better. Yea the lannisters aren't nearly that terrible only joffry is a real asshole, and cersei to a lesser extent. I think in many ways this show portreys stannis as more "evil" than the lannisters, while in the books it's the opposite.