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

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (7803 of them)

To be fair to the fans, they were.

Frederik B, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 14:32 (four years ago) link

Like, was it here or elsewhere, or both, that someone suggested what a clever fake out it would have been had the white walkers skipped Winterfell entirely and gone straight to King's Landing, only for the good guys to discover a zombified city? That would have been pretty cool, and would have set up a better final battle that finally paid off literally years of building up the ice zombies as the greatest threat in the history of mankind.

Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 14:33 (four years ago) link

We talked about it. I was a big believer that it would be the case, it was called "The Night King Is Not Stupid" theory

flamboyant goon tie included, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 14:35 (four years ago) link

Yeah. But it was way too optimistic. When the writers are stupid, all the characters are stupid.

Frederik B, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 14:36 (four years ago) link

screen time spend building up Dany's quest for Iron Throne vs. time spent building up zombie invasion pretty lopsided though

Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 14:36 (four years ago) link

I definitely do like the "Bran is evil" theory, but maybe not-so-much "evil" as he foresaw that Thanos needed to snap and time travel needed to be invented and the stones needed to be stolen from the past so that everybody could be saved in the future

flamboyant goon tie included, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 14:37 (four years ago) link

idk maybe the Night King didn't have a map or any newspapers or history books or ability to send out spies or....

Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 14:38 (four years ago) link

Bran is basically Doctor Strange with no powers.

Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 14:38 (four years ago) link

Which is to say that I guess a parallel could be drawn between Strange giving the Chaos Emerald to Josh Brolin and Bran giving the secret dossier to Jon Snow

flamboyant goon tie included, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 14:38 (four years ago) link

Dr. Branhattan

Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 14:39 (four years ago) link

I for one can't wait for a new round of Kingdom Hearts where we've got Cloud Strife and Arya Stark and Black Widow and Captain Picard and LEGO Batman all going toe-to-toe against Saruman, Darth Maul and John Wick

flamboyant goon tie included, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 14:41 (four years ago) link

Would have liked to see Night King 1000 year empire destroyed by walker Sam’s referendum proposing representative walker democracy which it turns out does enfranchise dogs and goats etc...

Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 14:45 (four years ago) link

can bran see the future, or just the past

gbx, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 14:48 (four years ago) link

I think I read that he can see the past but only some of the future? Doesn't really matter if he doesn't tell anyone anything.

Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 15:03 (four years ago) link

"I can see the future!"

"OK, who wins the World Series?"

"I know, but I cannot tell."

Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 15:04 (four years ago) link

GoT is different than Lost in that there were many fan theories

To me the critical difference is that somewhere in season 2 of Lost it became apparent that they were just pulling more and more random mysteries out of their ass and it would never resolve satisfactorily, so I quit watching. Thrones gave the opposite impression.

mick signals, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 15:39 (four years ago) link

It's just that with some of these proposed "better" endings I'm seeing, they are so bad that I can't tell if people are being serious

Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 15:42 (four years ago) link

The mysteries/machinations in GoT were compelling, imo. If Lost suffered from an inability to reach resolution, GoT suffered from an apparent disinterest in it.

Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 15:59 (four years ago) link

Tbf to Lost, it had a few 22-episode seasons to fill and no books to fall back on, not to mention cast members bailing left and right. GOT had (almost) every imaginable advantage

Simon H., Tuesday, 21 May 2019 16:04 (four years ago) link

To me the critical difference is that somewhere in season 2 of Lost it became apparent that they were just pulling more and more random mysteries out of their ass and it would never resolve satisfactorily, so I quit watching. Thrones gave the opposite impression.
TBH GoT had lots of foreshadowing that eventually paid out in fairly satisfactory ways, like Dany's vision of the snow-covered throne, Bran's flashforwards, all the hints pointing at Jon's real parentage, Jaqen H'Gar smiling when Arya quit the Faceless Men and went back to Westeros even though he should've been disappointed, etc. Most of this is probably because Martin apparently gave the writers an outline of the plot after the published books, and they kept his ending, so they knew what hints to drop.

Personally I didn't think the ultimate ending was that bad, it was mostly quite okay and in line with the themes of the show... What was problematic was the clunky storytelling solutions and shortcuts they used to get there, such as Euron's magical plot-resolving skills.

Tuomas, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 16:07 (four years ago) link

i just realized that daenerys never actually sat on the throne. she just touched the arm of it before receiving the kiss of death

these are not all of the possible side effects (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 16:25 (four years ago) link

1) There were multiple fan theories that would have been superior to the story that we saw.

2) Even if you wanted to tell the story we saw, the creators’ decision to waste massive amounts of time on inconsequential shit for three plus seasons, then rush to truncate the story in a haphazard fashion, is indefensible.

Just so it’s clear above, I am not advocating for a longer show (dear god, no), just cutting out massive wastes of time, like Tyrion and Jorah jerking off in the gladiator pits, endless quagmire of Mereen, etc.

Now that I think about it, eliminating Dany from the show would be a vast improvement, lol.

Mazzy Tsar (PBKR), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 16:32 (four years ago) link

I've often thought Dany could have disappeared from s1 until Tyrion goes to find her and you'd lose nothing

Simon H., Tuesday, 21 May 2019 16:34 (four years ago) link

*the end of s1

Simon H., Tuesday, 21 May 2019 16:34 (four years ago) link

I've often thought Dany could have disappeared from s1 until Tyrion goes to find her and you'd lose nothing
You'd miss the entire character build-up to why she thinks of herself as the breaker of chains and liberator of people, which would've made turn into tyrant feel even more abrupt and unjustified.

Tuomas, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 16:39 (four years ago) link

Enh, you could elucidate all that with Grey Worm, Missandei and some well-written dialogue.

Simon H., Tuesday, 21 May 2019 16:40 (four years ago) link

Definitely preferable to the repetitive slog we got.

Simon H., Tuesday, 21 May 2019 16:40 (four years ago) link

Eliminate all the characters except Ned and have the last 7 seasons be a shot of his severed head as it decays

Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 16:44 (four years ago) link

Now we're getting somewhere.

Simon H., Tuesday, 21 May 2019 16:47 (four years ago) link

a lot of budding screenwriters out there!

i do think there's an inherent danger in letting showrunners co-direct the final episode. it's hard enough to tell D&D that something is dumb, probably even harder when they're the co-directors. the whole auteur thing seems to work best when the auteur is really good

these are not all of the possible side effects (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 16:48 (four years ago) link

Well yeah, but for better or worse, the writers tried to tell a story of how the thirst for power can lead even the most well-meaning people to commit atrocious acts. And clearly the idea was to make Dany into a viewpoint character, someone whose journey and hardships and victories the viewers could identify, so that her eventual decline into despotism would hit them hard and emphasise their chosen theme. It's arguable whether they succeeded in doing what they set to do, but it certainly wouldn't have worked at all if Dany wasn't one of the main characters.

(xxxxpost)

Tuomas, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 16:50 (four years ago) link

I've often thought Dany could have disappeared from s1 until Tyrion goes to find her and you'd lose nothing
I too also think this show should have had fewer female lead characters with any agency.

gyac, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 17:07 (four years ago) link

hahahah!

sarahell, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 17:17 (four years ago) link

enh, repeating the same savior arc for four seasons is a boring use of agency

Simon H., Tuesday, 21 May 2019 17:23 (four years ago) link

can bran see the future, or just the past


He can see everything, if I recall correctly. So yes, the future. But he can't share or it'd have an impact.

nathom, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 18:06 (four years ago) link

Actor Isaac Hempstead-Wright, who plays Bran in the show, admitted that the scope of his character's premonitions are limited. "As I understand it, Bran can’t exactly see the future. I think he can have inklings," he told the New York Times in an interview about Season 8. For example, when he gave Arya the Valyrian steel catspaw dagger last season, he knew she'd use it for something important, but not that she'd specifically kill the Night King with it, the actor explained.

Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 18:09 (four years ago) link

Yeah it's like when Young Ned could almost hear Bran. Maybe future Bran yells at past Bran knowing he'll get just enough of the gist.

In conclusion my spinoff idea is called The Lawnmower Bran

nashwan, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 18:12 (four years ago) link

I too also think this show should have had fewer female lead characters with any agency.

Not buying this. Cersei, Arya, Sansa, and Brienne were the best characters. You want to turn any number of male characters into female roles, I’m fine with that. Eliminating the white savior character with a single facial expression is no loss.

Mazzy Tsar (PBKR), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 18:22 (four years ago) link

Why no love for Diana Rigg?

Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 18:33 (four years ago) link

best main characters

rigg was top 3 multi-season tertiaries tho

nashwan, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 18:36 (four years ago) link

Zizek weighs in, because why not

The finale combines the rejection of a radical change with an old anti-feminist motif at work in Wagner. For Wagner, there is nothing more disgusting than a woman who intervenes in political life, driven by the desire for power. In contrast to male ambition, a woman wants power in order to promote her own narrow family interests or, even worse, her personal caprice, incapable as she is of perceiving the universal dimension of state politics.

The same femininity which, within the close circle of family life, is the power of protective love, turns into obscene frenzy when displayed at the level of public and state affairs. Recall the lowest point in the dialogue of Game of Thrones when Daenerys tells Jon that if he cannot love her as a queen then fear should reign – the embarrassing, vulgar motif of a sexually unsatisfied woman who explodes into destructive fury.

But – let’s bite our sour apple now – what about Daenerys’ murderous outbursts? Can the ruthless killing of the thousands of ordinary people in King’s Landing really be justified as a necessary step to universal freedom? At this point, we should remember that the scenario was written by two men.

Daenerys as the Mad Queen is strictly a male fantasy, so the critics were right when they pointed out that her descent into madness was psychologically not justified. The view of Daenerys with mad-furious expression flying on a dragon and burning houses and people expresses patriarchal ideology with its fear of a strong political woman.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/game-thrones-season-8-finale-bran-daenerys-cersei-jon-snow-zizek-revolution-a8923371.html

Simon H., Tuesday, 21 May 2019 19:20 (four years ago) link

Like to give a shout out to Oleanna Tyrel aka the Queen of Thorns for being the most hilarious shit talker in the 7 kingdoms

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 19:23 (four years ago) link

i don't know zizek, have you considered the pic forks posted above

http://i.imgur.com/z7iHD54.png

these are not all of the possible side effects (Karl Malone), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 19:26 (four years ago) link

haha

reggae mike love (polyphonic), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 19:32 (four years ago) link

yeah, I imagine there are/will be more academic papers on GoT than there were on Buffy.

Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 19:34 (four years ago) link

She didn't sit on the throne because it was a replica made of wax.

Surely someone has truthered the physics of whether dragon fire can melt iron.

I am still annoyed about Khal being able to melt gold jewelry using an ordinary campfire.

mitt the hoopla (Ye Mad Puffin), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 19:40 (four years ago) link

yeah, I imagine there are/will be more academic papers on GoT than there were on Buffy.

― Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Tuesday, May 21, 2019

never been more glad I got out of the game when i did

Larry Elleison (rogermexico.), Tuesday, 21 May 2019 19:51 (four years ago) link

xpost Maybe it was a magical campfire, have you considered that?

Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 20:12 (four years ago) link

Uhm I adore Zizek but to say her outbursts were not justified? I don't agree. (She was prone to outbursts. It was Tyrion who held her in check imo.)

nathom, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 21:34 (four years ago) link

10% lolz ratio minimum in the replies

just here for the memes

— Maisie Williams (@Maisie_Williams) May 20, 2019

nashwan, Tuesday, 21 May 2019 22:40 (four years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.