HBO's adaptation of Game of Thrones - Thread 2. There are a lot of nerds.

Despite how close they are to freezing the frame and having an older version of Bran voiced by Bob Saget explain who everyone is directly to the audience.

Yeah, I totally saw that as Walder Frey still being very proud of having pulled that off and therefore referencing it whenever possible

xxp

it's almost as if such a sloppy and convoluted narrative is not suited to television

i got walder frey confused with the caster guy from north of the wall

i got jaime lannister confused with lancel lannister

xxp and that's why it was cancelled after one season and nobody watches it, the end

but then it was resurrected by mysterious forces no one understands

The white watchers

despite walder kindly playing the role of narrator i still didn't really know who anybody was, could be doing with some vh1 pop up video style accompaniment

Edmure appears to be in some sort of Chris Gaines phase, hair-wise

i'm guessing (hoping as it's such a great moment in the book) that he'll absorb a big of quentyn martell's as well.

― balls, Tuesday, May 31, 2016 9:32 AM (1 hour ago)

yes! also looking forward to the riverlands storyline, unless they make dorneshit out of it

i've often wondered, since so many of the best episodes are the ones that are largely or solely one setting/storyline, if the show would have been better if it more closely followed the structure of the books. might also allow them to work in that frequent uncertainty or misinformation or skewed perspective that lends alot to reading the books (the show touched on it something w/ varys' snark about the various red women thinking they've got the one true prince of light). considering how much ppl have difficulty following plotlines or remembering characters even w/ the 'previously on game of thrones' and 'after the thrones' (and some ppl on this thread asking for a 'during the thrones') i guess it's best they didn't.

yeah that would've been cool

Didn't they kill Quentyn Martell on the show already?

To be honest I follow this easier than most things. I enjoy David Simon's shows but I rarely know exactly what's going on in them. But in most things, as long as I know the character relationship dynamics I'm okay.

i've often wondered, since so many of the best episodes are the ones that are largely or solely one setting/storyline, if the show would have been better if it more closely followed the structure of the books.

i think this would solve a LOT of problems with the narrative, particularly in some of the previous seasons. it would be a much more satisfying show. i really dont understand why checking in with each sprawling storyline for 5 minutes a week seems like a better idea, though i understand why they think that's what the audience wants.

Maybe the audience does want that!

they killed a different martell son on the show (though maybe they named him quentyn, i forget). real quick backstory since it probably doesn't matter now (god knows when we see dorne again): the targaryeans had never been able to really subjugate dorne (not for long in any case)(this is why the martells still have/use titles like prince etc instead of lord, they're the most distant and autonomous politically and culturally of the seven kingdoms) and so they made a peace thru marriage, rhaegar - dany's brother who robert killed in a big battle that basically decided the war - was married to a martell who was killed along w/ their two children by the mountain under orders from tywin lanister after the lanisters took kings landing. the martell's had a marriage pact w/ viserys targaryean to aid him when he came back w/ his dothraki army (plus varys was scheming behind the scenes)(there's a theory that all of this is some grandscale version of a con that varys and the trader dude that viserys and dany are staying w/ at the beginning and tyrion briefly shacks up w/ after he goes on the run, wherein they would steal things from ppl then sell them back to the ppl they stole from) but viserys got his head melted. so doran, the guy w/ the gout, who in the books really is a tywin level schemer though underestimated by nearly everyone, sends quentyn to mereen to try to get the pact going again by marrying her. she's like 'nah' though. then some other stuff happens.

yeah I remember most of that. I just thought there was only the one son on the show and they killed him. I remember that whole portion of the books, the dating game where there were like 100 characters all on their way to try to marry Dany.

A whole 60 minutes with a single POV character every week would kill it. At the very least you'd need the promise of a second POV character to keep people from just tuning out. Which brings us back to the thread title, two flavors in each box

http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_uploads/Nerds-wonka-candy-638708_389_361.jpg

yeah like i like the last two books more than most i think (it helps that i wasn't waiting years for them) and even then there were times i'd be in a chapter and look ahead to see how much longer until i got to someone more interesting.

The irony is that while I'm happy to stick with it, the convoluted stuff is starting to shut my wife/watching partner out. I do my best to follow what is happening, or to remember who everyone is and where they're from and where they're going and why, but it's a struggle, and that's factoring in following things like this thread, or Ask the Maester. And when we watch it I really do literally have to pause it to explain things to her, and explain motivations/relationships based on fan theories and what little of the books I once read (which makes me feel really silly and self-conscious). I do have a couple of non-nerd friends who watch it as a thing to watch, I should check in with them and see if they know what's going on, or if they care. I know one of them dismissed the confusion by just saying the show will air forever, so they're in no hurry to tie things up, and I had to tell him that as of right now, that's not the case, that there is an end-point in mind. He was a little surprised to hear that, tbh.

Speaking of Ask the Maester, why is it so hard to find on the Ringer Facebook page? Does anyone have a link to this week's?

I know one of them dismissed the confusion by just saying the show will air forever, so they're in no hurry to tie things up, and I had to tell him that as of right now, that's not the case, that there is an end-point in mind.

I was similarly surprised they had announced how many more seasons they were. Has there been a dropoff in audience? Why wouldn't they just milk it forever?

there were

that should say

I am also looking for Ask the Maester. is it locked down to HBO?

Ask the Maester is on Wednesday this week

The plan at the beginning was to have 7 seasons (probably since there will be 7 books). Don't see how this show could continue indefinitely or why anyone would think that.

why do i keep watching that "After the Thrones" bit? So dumb.

xpost surely the cast has a lot of straight to Netflix films to star in

who do u think will have the best post-got career? feel like a lot of the possibilities are just too limited re acting ability to really make the leap to big hollywood star, but surely some of them will. (peter dinklage imho doesn't count tho i'm sure got has boosted his profile significantly)

Don't see how this show could continue indefinitely or why anyone would think that.

truckloads of money?

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i've often wondered, since so many of the best episodes are the ones that are largely or solely one setting/storyline, if the show would have been better if it more closely followed the structure of the books. might also allow them to work in that frequent uncertainty or misinformation or skewed perspective that lends alot to reading the books (the show touched on it something w/ varys' snark about the various red women thinking they've got the one true prince of light). considering how much ppl have difficulty following plotlines or remembering characters even w/ the 'previously on game of thrones' and 'after the thrones' (and some ppl on this thread asking for a 'during the thrones') i guess it's best they didn't.

― balls, Tuesday, May 31, 2016 2:33 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

if they moved to a netflix, release all the episodes at once model this could work. but i think they need to do 'big things' each episode otherwise you get a bunch of complaints.

truckloads of money?

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 31 May 2016 21:06

It'd be far too difficult to pull off. There hasn't been a big modern drama that goes past 9 or 10 seasons. How would they string the story out, how would they keep the cast and maintain the same audience engagement? Are some viewers expecting this to follow into the next generations?

I go in and out of Walking Dead but I'm curious about how long that'll last because there's potentially a lot of seasons to go but I doubt the audience will stay long enough for a proper conclusion

i think for a lot of GOT alums you'll see them pop up in good character roles. most of the best actors on the show were already established, dinklage and headey coming to mind first. alfie allen had his john wick role, i actually think he's got some chops. more than some of the others. sophie turner is doing pretty well for herself. i would like to see michelle fairley in more films, i thought she was pretty incredible.

Maisie Williams isn't going to starve for roles.

maintain the same audience engagement?

hey I'm mystified as to how they've managed it for this long! Keeping the cast not as much of an issue when ppl are regularly killed off or recast left and right. Stringing the story out is super-easy obviously, just keep sending people on journeys.

xp

i think someone like liam cunningham has earned himself some pretty nice avuncular gent roles going forward. also maybe some roles as euro villains that Rade Serbedzija would have taken ten years ago.

Don't see how this show could continue indefinitely or why anyone would think that.

Because many people don't follow all the inside-baseball stuff, and also because many people who are watching the shows have likely never even read the books, let alone followed all the writing the books drama, etc.? I think it's a relatively new phenomenon to announce how many seasons of a show there will be, certainly in line with the nu-wave of quality TV post-Sopranos. I imagine lots of people only know a show is ending when they announce it's the final season.

xpost

I go in and out of Walking Dead but I'm curious about how long that'll last because there's potentially a lot of seasons to go but I doubt the audience will stay long enough for a proper conclusion

I think when I was watching the Walking Dead or at following the thread we talked about this a bit, right? That the show really has only a couple of ways to "end," either with everyone dead or a cure (both sort of unsatisfying) so I can see them dragging it on as long as they can and then ... I don't know, rebooting it from the beginning? Then again, no one really likes/watches the spin-off, right?

i like the spin-off.

But at large? I thought the ratings were considered disappointing?

The plan at the beginning was to have 7 seasons (probably since there will be 7 books). Don't see how this show could continue indefinitely or why anyone would think that.

Haven't they said that they've only got about 13 episodes left after this current season and so we could be looking at two final shortened seasons?

Imagine that might change though if viewing figures remain high (although HBO so maybe not).

Natalie Dormer should at least get a boost from "attractive woman seen briefly on-screen" to "romcom lead's kooky best friend." Although she deserves more!

part of the attraction of the show is the idea that it is going somewhere and then you can stop. without the promise of resolution they'll lose a _lot_ of the audience.

hey I'm mystified as to how they've managed it for this long! Keeping the cast not as much of an issue when ppl are regularly killed off or recast left and right. Stringing the story out is super-easy obviously, just keep sending people on journeys.

xp

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 31 May 2016 21:18

No way would it be easy. There's no reason to believe it would go well after Martin's book storylines had finished. You could conceivably start new storylines after the main ending (like a sequel) or entirely change the existing plots but both would be huge gambles that a lot of people would resent. Audiences are very easy to lose, especially when shows start to feel like they could go on forever or get overconfident about how long people will follow.

Even if I knew nothing about the books or the production plans, knowing the type of tv drama it is, it doesn't seem like an ongoing thing. There's not much precedent for that.

Soap operas, CSIs, Law & Orders, etc.

You could conceivably start new storylines after the main ending

the ending (winter) never comes, you just extend it indefinitely until people stop watching/until you stop making money. this is how the majority of narrative TV works.

There's not much precedent for that.

I mean wtf literally every show prior to the Sopranos was ran into the ground until it stopped making money, narrative/cast coherency be damned

the ending (winter) never comes, you just extend it indefinitely until people stop watching/until you stop making money. this is how the majority of narrative TV works.

― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 31 May 2016 22:51

That would be shit. This is clearly a post-Sopranos show, very different from regular soaps, crime, even Doctor Who, Buffy, Xena and X-Files. Completely different template. When I said there is no precedent, I mean there aren't many shows that show how Game Of Thrones could successfully continue for many more seasons. They're juggling so much and doing it on an unusual scale for tv.

The studios might want to churn them out as long as they make money but the cast/crew and audience are more invested in satisfying story arcs. That's what makes this type of tv work.
As great as Sopranos and Oz were, they were bridging into the era of tighter, shorter arcs and can't help but seem a bit too long now.