Game of Thrones

[Atreides]

Anyone else excited for HBO's upcoming fantasy series? Sean Bean stars as Boromir Eddard Stark in this tale of power, lust, magic, and treachery. I could eat stuff like this for dinner and can't wait to see what HBO does with their first ever (AFAIK) fantasy series.

I'm reading the first novel now and am about a quarter of the way through. Pretty juicy stuff so far. I can see the chess pieces beginning to be moved, so to speak. For those familiar with the Song of Ice and Fire series, the next novel is coming out this July.

"Iron Throne" trailer

[Karen]

It does look like it's going to be the best of the three new epics this spring. The Borgias looks surprisingly bad in the clips and Camelot's first episode wasn't promising.

I'm curious to see how this works on TV. It's George R. R. Martin's skill at writing his characters and creating suspense that has made me keep reading the books, even though they're like misery porn where in the name of realism horrible things keep on happening to the protagonists and the people responsible get a slap on the wrist once in a while; it's old-fashioned and doesn't fit the the current trend of edgy fantasy, but I'd prefer some justice too since if I want to see people get away with being horrible human beings I just need to watch the news or check Facebook, the response of some to the events in Japan being a good example (Spartacus the series isn't highbrow, but it's been great at combining terrible things happening to good people with good people striking back - lose some, win some). Mild spoiler: if the child actresses playing Arya and Sansa are as good as Martin has said, I expect their stories in particular will be difficult to watch if they follow the tone of the books and from season 2 onwards consist of violence and becoming a child soldier (Arya), and violence and degrees of sexual/sexually charged abuse (Sansa). The book series is only halfway through so it hasn't yet got to the point where the protagonists hopefully show what they've learned from their troubles and start becoming major players, and I'm anticipating the next book in the hopes that it'll finally have some of that. But I actually think the TV series could end up toning down some of the things that keep me personally from considering the book series one of my favourites. It'll still be violent and edgy since it's HBO, but I think they'll keep out some of the horrifying stuff that, for example, Gregor Clegane and his men do that Martin describes so well I'm raging at the injustice of it. They'll also have to account for the change to TV from the book structure of one chapter = one point of view character: it'll keep things fresh to see new scenes or ones that were only implied in the books.

So I do look forward to it, even though I'm not the kind of fanatic fan who says there's no hope for TV if this flops.

[Atreides]

Did anyone see the 15 minute preview last night before Mildred Pierce? This looks incredible and is just how I pictured it in my mind while reading the book. The reviews from critics are rapturous as well.

[petitesuite]

I am so very, very excited. I actually think the books suck (yeah, I'll turn in my geek card now) because Martin got far too bogged down in too many characters and too many plots, but I am super excited for this series.

[ikmccall]

I've never read the books but was intrigued when I read about this mini series and that Sean Bean would be in it. After reading the EW article, I might have to buckle down and go to the library.

[smitten]

I can't wait for this to start. Mr s and I have been following the news of this for what feels like years. I will say I'm very glad they went with someone other than Jennifer Ehle as Catelynn Stark - I felt she wasn't strong or old enough.

I have high hopes because of Martin's huge involvement, even in casting, even if it did delay his next book for years.

I'm always scared when a series of books I love gets a film treatment. For example, I'm dreading any potential adaptation of the Outlander series. But HBO buying the rights to this thrilled me.

[Karen]

Apr 4, 2011 19:04:49 GMT -4 smitten said:

I will say I'm very glad they went with someone other than Jennifer Ehle as Catelynn Stark - I felt she wasn't strong or old enough.

I was thrilled to hear that Tamzin Merchant as Dany was recast after the pilot. I imagined her stopping the Dany story dead in its tracks for me; even GRRM praising her on his LiveJournal didn't convince me when she'd just been absolutely ghastly to watch on The Tudors. Emilia Clarke is a much more promising Dany. And I'm really liking the glimpses at Michelle Fairley's Catelyn. A lot of people seem to be saying she's too old. However, I think she's got a great non-botoxed look for a dignified lady who lives far from the court. Lena Headey's Cersei is the only major character who still causes me a bit of pre-airing worry; she seems like she fades a bit too much into the background.

It's probably never going to be discussed out of courtesy, but I do wonder about the Dany and Cat recasts. I think True Blood's pilot with the original Tara actress leaked; it would be interesting to watch the GOT pilot and get an idea of the original performances to see what the show meant by wanting to take the two recast characters "in a different direction", as I think they said.

[Deleted]

I'm excited, and we actually got HBO for this. Mr. Newt has read all the books, and I've read the first two. It's been a few years, and I think I remember all of the major details, but there's definitely a lot I've forgotten.

[Deleted]

This is my favorite fantasy series, and after a lot of trepidation on hearing it was going to be adapted I am actually really psyched. The previews look awesome, and in watching some of the cast interviews it seems like everyone has really put some thought into what makes the story work. I especially liked Emilia Clarke talking about the way Dany really adopts the Dothraki culture as her own, learns their language and mores, complies with customs that are strange to her, etc, as opposed to the way her brother behaves, because that was one of the things that really distinguished her and made me like that character.

I admit, I initially thought that Catelyn looked older than I expected, too - which I guess is fair enough since in the book-world these people are getting married and having kids at like 15 and could easily have teenagers in their early thirties - but given the harshness and austerity of the North and the fact that the kids have been aged up, I think it works. Besides, a woman in that kind of medieval setting isn't going to look like a twenty-five-year-old starlet from the CW even if she is relatively young. And the acting is obviously most important, particularly because Cat is going to be a difficult role to play, IMO. (I personally really dislike her in the books, although I know opinions vary widely - it'll be interesting to see how they portray her choices and character.)

[Atreides]

I've got my eye on Lena Headey as Queen Cersei. I think she's totally going to be the Atia (from Rome) of this series as the vicious bitch you love to hate.