Recap: Episode One

crotalidian

and Now My Watch Begins
Sep 8, 2009
676
0
0
Very Fun and Light hearted recap. Would liek to know your feelings on the whole thing so far too

FYI: I am a serious GoT fanboy who has been to 2 series related gatherings, meeting the author the king and the Bastard in the process. I am also a big escapist fan so want ot see what it looks like when worlds collide
 

Susan Arendt

Nerd Queen
Jan 9, 2007
7,222
0
0
crotalidian said:
Very Fun and Light hearted recap. Would liek to know your feelings on the whole thing so far too

FYI: I am a serious GoT fanboy who has been to 2 series related gatherings, meeting the author the king and the Bastard in the process. I am also a big escapist fan so want ot see what it looks like when worlds collide
It's tough to judge from this episode, which had a hell of a lot of work to do. One hour to cover all of those characters? Very difficult, indeed. So far, though, so good. Obviously some things got tweaked and changed - Viserys and Daenerys got the hell chopped out of their story - but I think it works well.
 

walrusaurus

New member
Mar 1, 2011
595
0
0
thats interesting to note about, the purple eyes. I found myself wondering how a family of entirely albino's would come about. They probably should have tried to find some other way to visually represent racial 'differentness.' Coming in as someone who knows nothing about the series, i thought they did a very nice job of establishing all the relationships. While i doubt i'm going to be able to keep track of any of the names for some time, that's not terribly important.

I kept hoping they'd make a more interesting choice with Jason Mamoa's character, namely a bit of empathy or compassion for albino girl; but that probably had more to do with the fact that i watched this immediately after The Borgias. Lot of rape last night :(
 

Spectrum_Prez

New member
Aug 19, 2009
1,004
0
0
I read the books for the first time in anticipation of this series. I thoroughly enjoyed the books (ok, not the fourth one so much), and so far the series has been watchably passable.

The only thing really dragging it down is the whole Pentos storyline. The whole thing was already kind of cheesy in the books, but on screen it sinks to the level of an overproduced porno crossed with a mixed bag of ethnic stereotypes.

Jaime and Tyrion are awesome so far. Unfortunately, they're not supposed to be cool characters until much further along in the story. At the beginning, you're supposed to think they are the big bads, or at least aligned with the big bads.

The Stark family casting is pretty good. Sansa is a little too whiny, but I might be the only fan who actually sympathizes with her.
 

Spectrum_Prez

New member
Aug 19, 2009
1,004
0
0
joebear15 said:
per book 4 sansa yes, alot of people like more more after she become alyane
Yeah, while Sansa got a lot more interesting, Cersei got a lot more boring and predictable. What a trade-off.

Also, I'm looking forward to who they cast for Brienne.
 

Malgan

New member
Jun 23, 2009
99
0
0
I came into this show when I had only seen a huge poster. With no knowledge about it I watched an hour, and I can already say I'm a fan. High budget, good acting and sets the foundation for a good story. Even though I did not enjoy the lighthaired people, who I just refer to as the elves due to their appearence and the kings personalit, but it showed of a bit of the broadness of the world, so I guess it was a good thing.

I'm a huge geek for good shows, and this one was quickly added to my list.
 

Soviet Heavy

New member
Jan 22, 2010
12,218
0
0
I thought it was pretty good. I haven't read the books, but what I saw intrigued me. And Tyrion is fucking awesome.
 

Spectrum_Prez

New member
Aug 19, 2009
1,004
0
0
Malgan said:
I came into this show when I had only seen a huge poster. With no knowledge about it I watched an hour, and I can already say I'm a fan. High budget, good acting and sets the foundation for a good story. Even though I did not enjoy the lighthaired people, who I just refer to as the elves due to their appearence and the kings personalit, but it showed of a bit of the broadness of the world, so I guess it was a good thing.

I'm a huge geek for good shows, and this one was quickly added to my list.
FYI: the bro and sis with the light hair are the last remains of the former ruling dynasty back across the sea in Westeros, the Targaryens. They got chased out by a rebellion led by Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark, largely sparked by the madness of the last Targaryen king. They were big fans of Dragons, too btw. King Robert wants them dead because their family killed his wife-to-be, Ned's sister, as is explained in the first episode.
 

Dirty Apple

New member
Apr 24, 2008
819
0
0
Sober Thal said:
Any Wheel of Time fans here that have read all of these? I was wondering how Game of Thrones hold up to my favorite fantasy series, even tho one seems more based in a more realistic world, and the other has more 'magic'.
I have to be careful here because I've gotten into fights about this before. I believe that A Song of Fire and Ice (the Game of Thrones series title) is superior to the Wheel of Time. Mainly due to its more solid foundation in reality (comparatively of course), and its more subtle approach to magic in said world. It's the series I recommend to people who are thinking of trying out fantasy for the first time. No series has ever kept me guessing and off balance like Martin's opus has.
 

Tdc2182

New member
May 21, 2009
3,623
0
0
Just watched the first episode.

First impression:.... It was pretty good. Definitely shaping up to be the HBO fantasy world that we need. I hope they don't hold back on the geekiness. I want magic and fireballs all up in this *****
 

teebeeohh

New member
Jun 17, 2009
2,896
0
0
so what did we learned today is: it's ok to rape your wife as long as you give her a horse first
 

Dirty Apple

New member
Apr 24, 2008
819
0
0
Sober Thal said:
Did you read the Wheel of Time and really like it tho? I want someone who likes what I do to tell me what they think of Fire and Ice.
I see what you're saying, so I'll be honest, I was deeply in love with the WoT series. I tore through the books, and enjoyed every second of them... for about the first six. It was at this point that I started to feel as though Jordan had let the story get away from him. My interest wained and eventually I stopped caring all together.

In an effort to help, though, I'll compare the books I read and their general feel to ASoFaI. Rand & Company's adventures have a very strong fantasy feel to them. The farm boy protagonist, the hand of fate in play, magic widely in use, a great supreme evil that must be stopped, these are all well known fantasy tropes. Jordan did a great job fleshing them out, but there is definitely a recognizable formula being applied.

Martin seems to be aware of these tropes and works to subvert them. The greatest subversion he employs is also his most shocking. I'm reluctant to write about it here because it's pivotal to the series, but if you like, send me a message and we'll talk. Try the series, it will consistently surprise you. Sometimes happily, often painfully, but my goodness you will remember and feel it.
 

fulano

New member
Oct 14, 2007
1,685
0
0
I loved the recap. Hopefully we'll keep seeing mor eof these as the series progresses.
 

RandV80

New member
Oct 1, 2009
1,507
0
0
Sober Thal said:
Dirty Apple said:
Sober Thal said:
Any Wheel of Time fans here that have read all of these? I was wondering how Game of Thrones hold up to my favorite fantasy series, even tho one seems more based in a more realistic world, and the other has more 'magic'.
I have to be careful here because I've gotten into fights about this before. I believe that A Song of Fire and Ice (the Game of Thrones series title) is superior to the Wheel of Time. Mainly due to its more solid foundation in reality (comparatively of course), and its more subtle approach to magic in said world. It's the series I recommend to people who are thinking of trying out fantasy for the first time. No series has ever kept me guessing and off balance like Martin's opus has.
No problems from me, I won't fight on this.

Did you read the Wheel of Time and really like it tho? I want someone who likes what I do to tell me what they think of Fire and Ice.

I'll buy the first in a week unless my friend finds his copy sooner. He told me he couldn't get into it, but I really don't care for his opinions on movies t.v. or books. He's still okay tho.
I'm a big fan of both. I first read A Game of Thrones about 6 years ago, and started on The Wheel of Time about 12 years ago, and personally I like George R.R. Martin's epic.

One of the key differences is in the writing, Martin is able to manage numerous characters with a moving plot-line far, far better. With Jordan's writing, he follows each character or separate plot-line in detail and parallel to each other. When the series gets too big and there's like 6 or 7 major plot-lines going on, the pace of the series slows to a crawl.

Martin on the other hand writes in a slightly different fashion. Each chapter is simply titled with the name of a character, and you witness the events through their perspective. But where Jordan bogs down the storyline with numerous parallel plots, Martin expertly leaves what isn't necessary unsaid and maneuvers different plot lines by jumping into the various characters POV mainly for key events. This also makes it more interesting to read, as you see the world through a variety of vary different eyes. The innocent fun loving Bran, the fairytale wannabe Sansa, the cunning but bitter imp Tyrion, the veteran leader Ned, and so on. The storyline events move on regardless but each chapter you get to see them from a different world view.