I wish i could give feedback! No cable tv sadly. Can’t wait for amazon to put it up on video on demand, or someone makes it available for viewing online.
These last eight or so weeks have been torture reading all these rave reviews.
I haven’t seen the finale just yet (though I’ve read the book and know how it ends, so, yeah), but my general feeling about the series of that of disappointment. I’ll finish up my review of the series on my blog today or tomorrow. I’m throwing the last three episodes together because I have huge issues with the way they translated the latter half of the book as compared to the first. But, yeah, it started with a bang and, based on not having seen the finale, it’s going out with a whimper.
@Josiah — Hey, if I had the willpower, I’d’ve waited until the show was done so I could marathon through it! Jealous of you, in a way.
:)
@Shaun — Interesting. I felt the second half of the season was even stronger than the first. Never did warm to the Dany scenarios/characters, though (except Mormont, who I love).
I’m in the same boat as Josiah, although I’ve watched the previews HBO posted online, so I’ve seen bits and pieces. It looks wonderful. I’m planning to buy the DVDs when they come out. Since I’ve read the first two books and am now nearly 500 pages into the third, I’m not freaking out since I know what the storylines are. ;-) Still, it’ll be nice to see it on-screen.
It started particularly well. Episodes 1-3 went from strength to strength, each better than the last. It stumbled with episode 4, largely due to what I can only assume were budgetary constraints (the Hand’s Tournament looked like it was filmed in my backyard). Episode 5 was another improvement and probably the best of the series until that point. It was followed by the episode I’d been most eager to see ever since its title was revealed. And it was probably the low point of the series for me. The scenes at the Eyrie made me cringe and the Crowning itself was anti-climactic. Episodes 7-10 were hindered by the sheer amount of story that needed to be told in such a short span of episodes. In the end I think even a 12 episode run would’ve made a world of difference. The slow build the series took in the beginning was both its greatest strength and biggest failing. Well, second biggest failing. That dubious honour goes to Ros.
Been busy on childcare duty while my wife watches it :( Will get it on DVD and watch the whole lot with beers and pretzels next time we get a hospice session! My wife and boys always find something to moan about with TV series, but none of them missed an episode or even a few minutes of an episode … so it bodes well.
Absolutely Epic!! I read the book while watching the show and I was sooo pleased that the show stayed true blue to the book. Granted, there were a few parts here and there that required explaining to my husband that hadn’t read the book but overall it was a great experience for old and new fans alike! And oh, the
See, but therein lies a problem. If you have to augment a TV series by explaining what goes on in the book it’s based on, the show has failed. It would do better to range farther from the book, but be self contained.
Overall I thought it was very well done, and I found myself enjoying it more and more as the season progressed. I did find it difficult to separate my viewing experience from my reading experience, if that makes any sense. There were times when I enjoyed the show more because of the depth of detail I remembered from the book, which lends the show some unfairly positive criticism, I think. I found this to be more true with Game of Thrones than with other serious fantasy adaptations, such as the Lord of the Rings. This is probably because I think of Martin’s book as being so much more readily filmable than LotR, given its tight plotting, relatively fast pace, and good dialogue. It’s odd that the book’s readiness for TV makes it all the more obvious when the actual TV series omits, adds, or changes things — less understandable, I guess. In the end, the characters shone the strongest, and it turned out to be the plot itself and its exposition that the show sometimes had trouble dealing with. I agree with Nick that they might have been better off with 12 episodes. The feel was right, which was the best part. Syrio Forel’s last hurrah was (almost) as memorable as the original scene in the book, and Ned’s execution carried that same sinking feeling in the stomach that Martin originally produced.
I enjoyed it, both as a work on its own and as a complement to the book. Seeing the characters walk, talk and evolve without commentary led to many insights that I appreciated. I found that the different plot lines (the Wall, King’s Landing and Danerys) progressed well with a feeling like they were all significant and important which was good – nothing felt neglected. The different hues, hair/eye colors, geographies and styles were very well used letting us tell at a glance where we were without being too blatant.
My strongest lingering reaction is a sense of foreboding when I think of the coming series. I liked how it felt like we just had a few stories to follow since the POV characters were all together, and as we get more characters, more geographies and more intrigue, I fear the tv series will come unraveled and we won’t be able to follow it. GRRM and the other writers did a good job slimming this book to the key character moments so I guess I just have to trust them with the next. I don’t envy them, that’s for sure. I can’t imagine how books 4 & 5 will translate to the screen without chopping out entire POV characters. As if the task of writing these enormously complex books wasn’t enough, now they have to be slimmed down yet again for another medium! It’s an impressive achievement so far and whatever you’ve done, I hope you can keep it up!
Loved the ending episode last night, and thought the final scene with Dany rising from the smoke with the dragons was amazing!! Loved it!!
I loved it as it was happening; I hate it now that it’s over. What better compliment can I give it? ;)
So many things could have gone wrong, but in the end the season was amazing! Glad to see HBO could do such an adaptation!
Here’s an index of the posts about the show on my blog:
http://rolandscodex.blogspot.com/2011/06/game-of-thrones-index.html
Three words: AWESOME!!!
Loved it, after the Wire it is the best show HBO ever had.
I wish i could give feedback! No cable tv sadly. Can’t wait for amazon to put it up on video on demand, or someone makes it available for viewing online.
These last eight or so weeks have been torture reading all these rave reviews.
I haven’t seen the finale just yet (though I’ve read the book and know how it ends, so, yeah), but my general feeling about the series of that of disappointment. I’ll finish up my review of the series on my blog today or tomorrow. I’m throwing the last three episodes together because I have huge issues with the way they translated the latter half of the book as compared to the first. But, yeah, it started with a bang and, based on not having seen the finale, it’s going out with a whimper.
@Josiah — Hey, if I had the willpower, I’d’ve waited until the show was done so I could marathon through it! Jealous of you, in a way.
:)
@Shaun — Interesting. I felt the second half of the season was even stronger than the first. Never did warm to the Dany scenarios/characters, though (except Mormont, who I love).
I also think the second half was by far the stronger one. Also, last three episodes made me love the Dany storyline.
I’m in the same boat as Josiah, although I’ve watched the previews HBO posted online, so I’ve seen bits and pieces. It looks wonderful. I’m planning to buy the DVDs when they come out. Since I’ve read the first two books and am now nearly 500 pages into the third, I’m not freaking out since I know what the storylines are. ;-) Still, it’ll be nice to see it on-screen.
It started particularly well. Episodes 1-3 went from strength to strength, each better than the last. It stumbled with episode 4, largely due to what I can only assume were budgetary constraints (the Hand’s Tournament looked like it was filmed in my backyard). Episode 5 was another improvement and probably the best of the series until that point. It was followed by the episode I’d been most eager to see ever since its title was revealed. And it was probably the low point of the series for me. The scenes at the Eyrie made me cringe and the Crowning itself was anti-climactic. Episodes 7-10 were hindered by the sheer amount of story that needed to be told in such a short span of episodes. In the end I think even a 12 episode run would’ve made a world of difference. The slow build the series took in the beginning was both its greatest strength and biggest failing. Well, second biggest failing. That dubious honour goes to Ros.
Been busy on childcare duty while my wife watches it :( Will get it on DVD and watch the whole lot with beers and pretzels next time we get a hospice session! My wife and boys always find something to moan about with TV series, but none of them missed an episode or even a few minutes of an episode … so it bodes well.
Have to agree there.
Absolutely Epic!! I read the book while watching the show and I was sooo pleased that the show stayed true blue to the book. Granted, there were a few parts here and there that required explaining to my husband that hadn’t read the book but overall it was a great experience for old and new fans alike! And oh, the
See, but therein lies a problem. If you have to augment a TV series by explaining what goes on in the book it’s based on, the show has failed. It would do better to range farther from the book, but be self contained.
Overall I thought it was very well done, and I found myself enjoying it more and more as the season progressed. I did find it difficult to separate my viewing experience from my reading experience, if that makes any sense. There were times when I enjoyed the show more because of the depth of detail I remembered from the book, which lends the show some unfairly positive criticism, I think. I found this to be more true with Game of Thrones than with other serious fantasy adaptations, such as the Lord of the Rings. This is probably because I think of Martin’s book as being so much more readily filmable than LotR, given its tight plotting, relatively fast pace, and good dialogue. It’s odd that the book’s readiness for TV makes it all the more obvious when the actual TV series omits, adds, or changes things — less understandable, I guess. In the end, the characters shone the strongest, and it turned out to be the plot itself and its exposition that the show sometimes had trouble dealing with. I agree with Nick that they might have been better off with 12 episodes. The feel was right, which was the best part. Syrio Forel’s last hurrah was (almost) as memorable as the original scene in the book, and Ned’s execution carried that same sinking feeling in the stomach that Martin originally produced.
I enjoyed it, both as a work on its own and as a complement to the book. Seeing the characters walk, talk and evolve without commentary led to many insights that I appreciated. I found that the different plot lines (the Wall, King’s Landing and Danerys) progressed well with a feeling like they were all significant and important which was good – nothing felt neglected. The different hues, hair/eye colors, geographies and styles were very well used letting us tell at a glance where we were without being too blatant.
My strongest lingering reaction is a sense of foreboding when I think of the coming series. I liked how it felt like we just had a few stories to follow since the POV characters were all together, and as we get more characters, more geographies and more intrigue, I fear the tv series will come unraveled and we won’t be able to follow it. GRRM and the other writers did a good job slimming this book to the key character moments so I guess I just have to trust them with the next. I don’t envy them, that’s for sure. I can’t imagine how books 4 & 5 will translate to the screen without chopping out entire POV characters. As if the task of writing these enormously complex books wasn’t enough, now they have to be slimmed down yet again for another medium! It’s an impressive achievement so far and whatever you’ve done, I hope you can keep it up!