Game of Thrones

[Marie August]

The departures from the books are getting staggering with the latest few episode, and I like it. It keeps me on my toes.

I don't. It makes me worry they're going to mess it up. Like HBO eventually did with True Blood by altering it too much from the source material.

[FanboyStranger]

Ok just watched yesterday's episode and whoa for a harsh ending, though I don't believe it's them. Anyway Cercei actually seemed alright in this episode the way she talked to Sansa and later with Tyrion. Arya's arc is getting increasingly interesting and I think I agree that Jamie is probably a psycopath, but I think he might just be on the right track on this one:

He knows, chances of him leaving alive are slim and he's nothing worth dead as compared to a hostage. Without him the Starks pretty much lose their one bargaining chip.

If he killed himself it'd be seen as weakness on his part, but if he manages to make them kill him they're his murderers. It's odd so far he seemed to be an emotional man with no restraint, but the way he talked to the boy just to be able to kill him was way too smart, it makes me think he knew exactly what he was doing and what consequences it'd have Oo

The other side of this is that the Lannister cousin would be considered somewhat of a coward and traitor for bringing Queen Cersei terms that she would never agree to. If he had courage, he would have told Robb to shove it up his ass when he heard the terms, but he chose to leave prison and deliver them. The rules of diplomacy meant that the Cersei couldn't have him killed for bearing the message, but there's no reason why Jaime couldn't when presented with the opportunity. It sends a message to other Lannister bannermen who are willing to collude with the Starks: "Lannisters always pay their debts... wherever they may be." They haven't gotten into it on the show, but the Lannisters are fond of humming "The Rains of Castermere" whenever they meet with troublesome allies in the books, a song about Tywin having a noble line formerly loyal to the Lannisters exterminated for turning against him.

[Chiasm]

That scene with Tyrion and Cersei was really great. She's really vulnerable, Tyrion actually feels some sympathy for her, that moment of awkwardness as he walks up to her, a big silent pause as neither of them know how to actually care for each other. Brilliant.

And I took that totally different. She was basically threatening to take away someone that Tyrion cares for by saying she hopes that he find someone to care for and then has her ripped away. Obviously we were all supposed to think about Shae and what might happen when Cersei figures out her connection to Tyrion. I thought Tyrion was walking up to threaten her but thought better of it because there wasn't much he could say without tipping off that there was someone in his life at the moment. This is also one of those times I'm glad its been a long time since I've read the books and haven't read the most recent at all since I can't remember what happens with Shae.

[Chiasm]

I don't. It makes me worry they're going to mess it up. Like HBO eventually did with True Blood by altering it too much from the source material.

Sometimes they improve things though. It could happen here as well and has happened in a few places. For instance I think Theon is much better developed character on the TV series than the book. In the book I never really understood why he turned on the Starks but the TV show did a far better job of demonstrating his conflicted feelings on the matter.

As another example, Dexter the TV show is far better than the books. Vampire Diaries as well. Both shows have taken elements from the books and adopted them but they've also seen where the mistakes were made in the books and avoided those.

[Vibranium]

I agree on Theon...in the books, he kind of turns out of nowhere

as in the show, you get why he does what he does

[Eliseu Gouveia]

And I took that totally different. She was basically threatening to take away someone that Tyrion cares for by saying she hopes that he find someone to care for and then has her ripped away. Obviously we were all supposed to think about Shae and what might happen when Cersei figures out her connection to Tyrion. I thought Tyrion was walking up to threaten her but thought better of it because there wasn't much he could say without tipping off that there was someone in his life at the moment. This is also one of those times I'm glad its been a long time since I've read the books and haven't read the most recent at all since I can't remember what happens with Shae.

Different scennes
You´re referring to the one last wweek at the docks when Myrcella sails away.
Conn is referring to last night´s conversation between Tyrion and Cersi at the palace where she discloses way too much about her affections and the Targareans costumes..

[Superbeast]

I don't. It makes me worry they're going to mess it up. Like HBO eventually did with True Blood by altering it too much from the source material.

Martin is executive producer and is writing an episode per season as well as getting script approval and attends the writers meetings either in person or via Skype. He's much more involved with Game Of Thrones than Charlaine Harris has been with True Blood where Alan Ball got the rights and she took a cheque to let them have more or less free reign creatively aside from her couple of cameos.

[Titan76]

Perhaps you didn´t read my previous post?

They didn´t´use CG direwolves

They used northern inuit dogs.





I´d say it´s a small price to pay. ^_^

HBO doesn´t have the money to make a CG direwolf, so they use the cheapest next best thing.
They grab regular northern inuit dogs and they beef up their size.

The fake feel you get comes from them trying to composite the bigger dog into the scenne.

The composition is not always seamless.

Alright, now I understand what you're saying. You couldn't have said this to begin with. Do you have a link that says this, because every article I have read, says they CGI the wolves. Which made me think they CGI the wolves, the same way they did the dragons.

[Marie August]

Sometimes they improve things though. It could happen here as well and has happened in a few places. For instance I think Theon is much better developed character on the TV series than the book. In the book I never really understood why he turned on the Starks but the TV show did a far better job of demonstrating his conflicted feelings on the matter.

I'm ok with them adding some extra scenes that give characterization. Like I really loved the scene in the first season where Cersei and Robert talk about how there was no way Robert could have ever loved her. And how the realm is held together by their strenuous marriage. I like the additional scene with Theon as well. These scenes enhanced the story, and didn't contradict what was written in the books.

I don't like the extra scenes with Dany. I like her threatening to burn her firey vengence on people. But not over and over again every time she's talking (alternating occasionally with begging), it makes her threats seem empty and childish. Also, this extra stuff with Xaro Xhoan Daxos is contradicting his character in the book.

I've already mentioned my issues with replacing Jane Westerling...

And I, like others, do not see how they're going to be able to pull off future plot lines without the Reeds and Edmure Tully. I don't see why they keep cutting things out. It's not like they have time constraints since they keep adding things...

As another example, Dexter the TV show is far better than the books. Vampire Diaries as well. Both shows have taken elements from the books and adopted them but they've also seen where the mistakes were made in the books and avoided those.

Game of Thrones has a far better piece of source material than Dexter and Vampire Diaries. And they never pretended to be a close representation of their original books. Season 1 of Game of Thrones was very accurate to the novel, and left me with the expectation that it would be true to George R. R. Martin's vision.

Martin is executive producer and is writing an episode per season as well as getting script approval and attends the writers meetings either in person or via Skype. He's much more involved with Game Of Thrones than Charlaine Harris has been with True Blood where Alan Ball got the rights and she took a cheque to let them have more or less free reign creatively aside from her couple of cameos.

You're right. He is much more involved. And I'm sure this show won't go as badly as True Blood for those reasons. But my faith in the show has been shaken a bit from all the changes in Season 2.

[Titan76]

Up to this point like 99.9% of the arya/tywin scenes weren't in the book right?

Arya never meets Tywin.

I'm unsure that Tywin was ever at Harrenhal. Perhaps in passing. That part was Amory Lorch.

Tywin was at Harrenhal when Arya was there, but they never met each other. The closest Arya got to Tywin was when he either first came to Harrenhal or when he left, as she ran to gate to see who was coming or going.

It's a bit of both. Jaime is an odd character. As the "finest knight of the land", he's pretty sheltered from people beyond the court and his family, but when he does encounter people beyond his circle, all he encounters is hatred and mistrust because he is the Kingslayer. He reflects that back at people, which is why the lives of others holds no value to him beyond those that he's close to. They hate him, and he hates them. Outside of his family-- close family I mean: Cersei, Tyrion, Tywin-- everyone else is cannon fodder.

At the same time, he's so incredibly lonely. He has no friends, he has no peers, and the only way he defines himself is through battle, because, as he will attest to, he's not particularly clever like his father or Tyrion. You take that battle away, and he feels worthless. Being chained up is worse than death in battle because if he had fallen in battle, at least he would die doing what he loves. Getting killed in a daring escape is better than living in a cell.

This pretty much sums up Jamie. However, I think its worth adding that, when Jamie killed the Mad King, of all the people in Westeros who Jamie thought would neither judge him or hate him, would be Ned Stark. But the total opposite happen, Ned Stark hated and judged Jamie worse then anyone did, at least in the books.

[Titan76]

I actually think that the Tywin-Arya interactions and Dany in Qarth as depicted on the show have actually improved those stories. Obviously, Arya serving Tywin gives us more of a depiction of Tywin at this stage of the story (which is awesome), adds another level of education to Arya's evolution as a character, and has generally been the best part of this season so far. The theft of the dragons and the murder of the 13 (or 12, I guess) adds a whole other level of intensity to Dany's journey into the House of the Undying, which was weird and cool in the books, but absolutely urgent as it's depicted on the show.

I'm not as fond of the changes to Bran's and Jon's stories. Bran I can sort of roll with, but spoilers:

Jojen Reed as Greenseer is pretty important as far as explaining what Bran's becoming, so I would have liked to see the Reeds in that role rather than Osha.

end of spoilers The changes to Jon's story are a bit harder to swallow as spoilers:

you don't get the same connection to Quorin Halfhand as you get in the books, so if he orders Jon to fight him to death as a means to prove his loyalty to the Wildlings as in the books, it's not going to mean as much.

end of spoilers

I'm with you. I like how they have handle everyone's story, and yesterday's episode was good, but I feel they are not handling Jon's and Bran's stories very well for the same reasons you just mention. Them and now Cat's, becausespoilers:

she just released Jamie for even dumber reasons then she did in the book. In the book, you can at least said she did it, because the suppose deaths of her two sons broke her down mentally. This show's reason was just flat out retard. If she was that worried about Jamie, the best thing to have done, would have been to put enough guards that are loyal to her or Robb and him them guard Jamie, until Rob comes back. Or hell, have Jamie tied up in her tent, the same way he was tied up in his cell.

end of spoilers

[Titan76]

Also, this extra stuff with Xaro Xhoan Daxos is contradicting his character in the book.

Which is a very good thing, imo. Daxos was annoying as hell in the books. If he wasn't crying(I mean literally, crying with tears in his eyes), over every little thing, he was begging Dany to either marry him or to give him one of her dragons. King Daxos kicks so much ass, I actually like the character now.

[Marie August]

I'm with you. I like how they have handle everyone's story, and yesterday's episode was good, but I feel they are not handling Jon's and Bran's stories very well for the same reasons you just mention. Them and now Cat's, becausespoilers:

she just released Jamie for even dumber reasons then she did in the book. In the book, you can at least said she did it, because the suppose deaths of her two sons broke her down mentally. This show's reason was just flat out retard. If she was that worried about Jamie, the best thing to have done, would have been to put enough guards that are loyal to her or Robb and him them guard Jamie, until Rob comes back. Or hell, have Jamie tied up in her tent, the same way he was tied up in his cell.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

I'm kind of hoping that they're going to reveal that she already knew about Theon burning those two boys to a crisp before she entered that cell.

end of spoilers

[Titan76]

spoilers:

I'm kind of hoping that they're going to reveal that she already knew about Theon burning those two boys to a crisp before she entered that cell.

end of spoilers

Considering, that this happen at the end, I doubt she know before hand.

[Marie August]

Considering, that this happen at the end, I doubt she know before hand.

Yeah, but they haven't shown the conclusion of the scene. In the book, spoilers:

it wasn't revealed what she was doing with Jaime and why until afterwards. Maybe they're doing the same on the show.

end of spoilers