Blood of Old Valyria is, in a sense, tied to dragons, and gives her that. I get the impression that the magic of it has been missing for some time. 
The dragons were essentially born in Fire and Death. (Only Death can pay for a Life blah blah) They did leave an important omen out, I don't know if it was omitted or will show up in S2.
The dragons were essentially born in Fire and Death. (Only Death can pay for a Life blah blah) They did leave an important omen out, I don't know if it was omitted or will show up in S2.
Dave
Staff member
Blood of Old Valyria is, in a sense, tied to dragons, and gives her that. I get the impression that the magic of it has been missing for some time.
They show the comet in the opening credits. It's the burning eye that shows over the map.
Joffrey's an even bigger douchebag now. I'm looking forward to seeing Tyrion put him in his place.
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/06/is_game_of_thrones_considering.html
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/06/is_game_of_thrones_considering.html
Alright, just finished watching the whole thing over the weekend.
I've never read the books, I'm thinking of going for it though.
Overall, I really, really liked it. The only things I didn't care for were: 1) The generic standard fantasy soundtrack (it had no... "identity" to it, it was just... "standard") and 2) I don't mind sex if it adds to the story but I'll agree with most here that the sex and nudity as so often and so graphic that it really seemed to be pandering to the lowest denominator.
Other than those minor quibbles it was fantastic.
I've never read the books, I'm thinking of going for it though.
Overall, I really, really liked it. The only things I didn't care for were: 1) The generic standard fantasy soundtrack (it had no... "identity" to it, it was just... "standard") and 2) I don't mind sex if it adds to the story but I'll agree with most here that the sex and nudity as so often and so graphic that it really seemed to be pandering to the lowest denominator.
Other than those minor quibbles it was fantastic.
I would say that it's another example of trying to liven up what would otherwise be simple exposition. That scene establishes two things, one, the Grand Maester has served that position since Mad King Aerys and that he gets visited by whores, suggesting he is willing to bend rules (Maester's are supposed to be celibate). Those become important later.
And that he is pretending to be feeble and most likely Little Finger knows.
I don't think either of you guys are wrong, but Dave's point still stands, there are ways that could have done the exact same thing the scene needed to do without the excess nudity/sex.
Added at: 13:35
And keep in mind, I don't care if they have nudity or sex or violence or whatever, it's all about whats most effective for the scene. You know why the didn't show a certain character lose his head? The scene had more impact without it. The reaction of the characters was more important than the action that caused the reaction. Sex and nudity, like violence should be used if it enhances a scene, but it feels like it's generally just the "go-to" thing to liven up a scene.
The show still rocks though.
Added at: 13:35
And keep in mind, I don't care if they have nudity or sex or violence or whatever, it's all about whats most effective for the scene. You know why the didn't show a certain character lose his head? The scene had more impact without it. The reaction of the characters was more important than the action that caused the reaction. Sex and nudity, like violence should be used if it enhances a scene, but it feels like it's generally just the "go-to" thing to liven up a scene.
The show still rocks though.
GasBandit
Staff member
I concur. It barely passed the sniff test for Littlefinger to monologue at whores, it goes beyond suspension of disbelief to have Grand Maester Pycelle do the same thing... no matter how funny his silly little "I'm still young and virile" dancy-jig afterwards was.
This too!
... Except the Grand Maester didn't actually reveal anything new to her in his monologue. In fact he monologued in order to further his ruse, even feigning senile forgetfulness at the end.
Likely because he's smart enough to know she can deliver any information he gives her to Little Fingers.
Still certainly out of place, but I think it actually makes more sense than the aforementioned Little Fingers monologue.
Added at: 20:01
The word monologue has now lost all meaning from overuse in my last post.
There's no such thing as an unnecessary sex scene. Each one served its point however the only thing I'm willing to debate on is the length of it. Sometimes it's just dragging on and they could have put the minutes elsewhere. However, I'm used to it with HBO with shows like Hung and Entourage.
The old man scene was exceptional. My woman said at the end of the scene "what the fuck was the point of that?"
I paused it.
Rewinded and explain it as the show ran again thanks to my sexy my HD PVR recorder, "look at this this, look at that, look at the whore, remember her?"
Than the next scene simply stole the evening, got to love those jabs the eunuch and the whore man take on eachother.
The old man scene was exceptional. My woman said at the end of the scene "what the fuck was the point of that?"
I paused it.
Rewinded and explain it as the show ran again thanks to my sexy my HD PVR recorder, "look at this this, look at that, look at the whore, remember her?"
Than the next scene simply stole the evening, got to love those jabs the eunuch and the whore man take on eachother.
GasBandit
Staff member
"Tartlettes. Tartlettes. Tartlettes. Word has lost all meaning."
But anyway, I don't want to spoil it, but Pycelle going out of his way to con Littlefinger only makes sense to me if they've made some major plot revisions down the road.
Well, it was a good scene, I thought it worked, but for a show that has so much going for it it's a shame they feel a need to add in so much unnecessary sex and nudity. Yes, yes, we get it HBO, it's "adult", but it feels like a little creative bankruptcy where they look at a scene and go, "Huh, whuddawedohere?" and just automatically go to T&A.
I bought book 4 yesterday, so now I've got books 2-4 sitting on my desk, waiting for me to finish book 1, which is in the mail. It still shocks me how many people think that fans of this show aren't going to read the books. As though they are shocked to find that fantasy fans are a demographic that reads.
My brother has read the books, and my dad is borrowing them after having seen the show. My roommate plans on borrowing them from me. Two of my other friends who watched the show have also been reading the books, and the other three friends I have who've watched the show are waiting for one of the aforementioned book-readers to finish so that they can borrow them.
We sold book 1 at my store, and we sold out in three days. To be clear, we are not a bookstore, and other than self help books, almost none of the books we stock actually get sold.
I've been to the bookstore quite frequently as of late, and they are always either completely sold out of George Martin, or have half the fantasy section devoted to A Song of Ice and Fire (In other words, they keep selling out of their entire stock very quickly) When I bought book 4 yesterday, the clerk told me that she's been hearing my story a lot lately (people buying books 2-4 and mentioning that book 1 is still in the mail because of the postal strike).
My brother has read the books, and my dad is borrowing them after having seen the show. My roommate plans on borrowing them from me. Two of my other friends who watched the show have also been reading the books, and the other three friends I have who've watched the show are waiting for one of the aforementioned book-readers to finish so that they can borrow them.
We sold book 1 at my store, and we sold out in three days. To be clear, we are not a bookstore, and other than self help books, almost none of the books we stock actually get sold.
I've been to the bookstore quite frequently as of late, and they are always either completely sold out of George Martin, or have half the fantasy section devoted to A Song of Ice and Fire (In other words, they keep selling out of their entire stock very quickly) When I bought book 4 yesterday, the clerk told me that she's been hearing my story a lot lately (people buying books 2-4 and mentioning that book 1 is still in the mail because of the postal strike).
Dave
Staff member
Without giving too much away, magic in this world exists, but it does so more subtly than in most fantasy settings. The only really truly flashy magic that we see comes from intense rituals. Mostly other than the undead and some dream things, you see very little if any magic. (Dragons notwithstanding.)
I thought the reason why it was taking so long was because he was writing the whole story-arc and then editing it into books and doing rewrites, and he kept adding new stuff during the rewrite... or something like that.
So he should have a big chunk of the next book done already...
From what I have heard, books 4 and 5 are really one volume in terms of the time that passes. He wrote Feast of Crows and only included the secondary characters (because at this point there are so many to follow). Dance with Dragons will have all the happenings that occur to Tyrion, Jon, Bran, Dany, and others over the course of Feast. The books also get longer as the series goes on so they could totally get an additional season or two out of what's been written. That should give Martin time to get another book out.
Apparently Germany missed that memo an delivered the book last week to all the pre-ordered.
Dave
Staff member
SHNELL! SHNELL!
I've been reading my roommate's copy while waiting for mine to arrive in the mail.... and it finally came today!