Author Topic: Game of Thrones  (Read 97726 times)

bb6634

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Game of Thrones
« on: April 04, 2011, 11:02:48 PM »
I cannot wait for this to air. Love the books, and the HBO adaptation looks truly epic.   Here is the first 14 mins., preview. (NSFW and Possible Spoilers)

Game of Thrones - Episode 1 - Exclusive Sneak Preview
« Last Edit: April 05, 2011, 12:32:15 AM by bb6634 »

Shadrik

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Re: Game of Thrones
« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2011, 02:52:45 AM »
I'm really looking forward to this show, as it is definitely my favorite book series. So far everything I saw looks great, I approve most of the cast choices and the first reviews I've read were also helping to build up the hype. Two more weeks!

Katebo

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Re: Game of Thrones
« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2011, 05:11:06 AM »
I'm completely stoked- between this and Doctor Who coming back on 4/23, I'm going to be in Geek TV Heaven in a couple weeks. :)

smirnoff

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Re: Game of Thrones
« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2011, 03:39:57 PM »
I'm on board. Counting down the days!

sdedalus

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Re: Game of Thrones
« Reply #4 on: April 18, 2011, 02:03:33 AM »
So . . . what did everyone think?
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FroHam X

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Re: Game of Thrones
« Reply #5 on: April 18, 2011, 09:55:18 AM »
I can't say I had "high hopes", but I was definitely looking forward to watching this series. The idea of a long form take on a fantasy series piqued my interest. Unfortunately I did not care at all for the premiere.

I've heard accolades for the visuals, but to me it just looked like digitally shot TV with blown out skies and very cheap colour correction. I also didn't care at all for the "anachronism" of the word "f**k". It seemed so out of place and so HBO, and that points to my larger issue with the show. I was expecting something with a truly grand scope, not Lord of the Rings, but in that vein. Instead, Game of Thrones is basically exactly the same as any other HBO drama, tits and all, except everyone wears armour and speaks in British accents. None of the conflicts or characters were at all interesting, not even remotely so. The world of the series was not alluring in the slightest. And worst of all, it felt small. I've heard that the books replace a lot of the exposition with flashbacks, and I actually wonder whether doing the series as a more expensive mini-series, affording better production values, might have at least upped the scope to "epic". As it stands, this is just another TV series I know I'm putting on my "skip" list. I'll stick to The Killing on Sunday nights.
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sdedalus

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Re: Game of Thrones
« Reply #6 on: April 18, 2011, 01:16:17 PM »
Weird.  I think the opposite of all of that.

I'm especially confused by your anachronism complaint considering that this isn't earth, and even if it was, that particular word is one of the oldest in the English language, older even than the language itself.

I was particularly impressed with the production values, especially the fact that they built sets instead of simply relying on cheap CGI (Boardwalk Empire, I think, looks like your complaint here to me, but not this.  Everything looks made of plastic on that show).  I don't know why you expect the full scope of an epic series to be revealed in the opening episode, so your complaint about it being 'small" is also strange.

As for the characters and conflicts, with so many people to introduce so quickly, development is obviously going to suffer.  As it is, I thought it did a pretty good job of making the main characters the most interesting ones, even if it can't fully explain who everyone is and how they all relate.
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FroHam X

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Re: Game of Thrones
« Reply #7 on: April 18, 2011, 01:39:09 PM »
I'm sorry, but all the language was very ye olde, and then the use of f**k is just totally modern. Most important is that it "felt" anachronistic. It's a nitpick, but it a nit that to me is highly representative of the mentality of an HBO show. Saying the word was not necessary and it took me out of the show and it's only there because this is an "HBO drama" and it needs graphic violence, nudity and swearing.

Continued: The CGI fine. I'm talking more about the cinematic style. It looks like cheap colour correction to convey "THIS IS FANTASY!". And it looks small. Reminds me of how Lost in its early seasons looked more grand in its visual style, but as the budget went down so did that aesthetic and it became smaller and more set-based. Also, why shouldn't I expect an "epic" series to wow me with its epicness right off the bat? I don't need the full scope of the characters, but give me some more epic visuals and maybe a more clear set up. This is fantasy, so set up the stakes in more simple terms and then get into the more detailed stuff. The epic opening to Fellowship of the Ring is a good example of how to do this before settling into the smaller stuff that leads to bigger stuff. And even Lost started with an epic bang. They made it epic and set up the basic stakes and hooked me. Or how about the opening scene of The Wire? It's smaller, more low key, but it is the perfect set up for the subject matter and scope of the entire series. Game of Thrones had none of that, not counting the awesome opening credits.
« Last Edit: April 18, 2011, 01:45:56 PM by FroHam Bickle »
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Junior

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Re: Game of Thrones
« Reply #8 on: April 18, 2011, 01:54:35 PM »
I'm with Sean. I liked the first episode. The swearing was fine, it looked great. I look forward to actually knowing who these people are.
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FroHam X

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Re: Game of Thrones
« Reply #9 on: April 18, 2011, 01:56:08 PM »
Yeah. I didn't think it was a terrible show or anything, just not something that grabbed me at all. I was very bored. Probably says more about my own tastes than the quality of the show itself.
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