I'm familiar with the changes that NEED to be made to bring them to screen. Game of Thrones is borderline unfilmable as it is, so the fact they're even trying is admirable. So stuff like losing secondary characters or combining characters, while lamentable, is understandable.Kendarik said:Books often don't translate well to TV/movies without some changes, especially if you want to bring in more than just the nerd-fan who has the books memorized already.
Depends on how attached you are to the source material, really. I've read and re-read ASOIAF many, many times, and I'm married to a lot of the little details in ways that a more casual viewer will not be, so stupid crap like just pointlessly changing the way a guy dies in a particular scene grinds my gears.Kendarik said:For example, I started reading the walking dead cartoons after I saw the show. I think some stuff is better in the original, some better in the TV show. I also know that the people who had nerdgasms when they heard that the show was being made get upset over all the changes and they refuse to see anything but the original as valid - which is silly.
Agreed completely. I have realized thought that big fans are big pains in the ass. The bigger the fan, the bigger the gripe most of the time. I have read both the Song of Fire and Ice series and the True Blood series. The True Blood show has gone off the deep end crazy compared to the books. Game of Thrones however is sticking very close to the book. Loving it.SecretNegative said:More often that not the deviations have been for the better (I'd take Tywin & Jaime talking over acrobatic blackflip Tyrion all day long). Actually, a lot of the best scenes from the first season wheren't in the book (prementioned Tywin & Jaime, Robert & Cersei, BAELOR!!!111, etc.)
Sure, some things are annoying, like [spoilers] killing off the Tickler so early, taking Arya's stabbing scene from her, but really, who were gonna remember the tickler from one and a half season ago?[spoilers]. Ros is a little annoying aswell, but she isn't there to give herself screentime, she's there to give other people screentime.
Really happy with season 1 & 2 thus far.
I fully acknowledge that I am the very definition of the unpleasable fan when it comes to this series. But they are no longer "sticking close to the book". True of S1. Very untrue of S2. If it goes in a True Blood direction and they just start re-writing everything that'll be it for me, alas.Thomas Guy said:Agreed completely. I have realized thought that big fans are big pains in the ass. The bigger the fan, the bigger the gripe most of the time. I have read both the Song of Fire and Ice series and the True Blood series. The True Blood show has gone off the deep end crazy compared to the books. Game of Thrones however is sticking very close to the book. Loving it.
Not sure what the discussion value is here?Actors not in costume and make-up look different to their on screen characters?TheBobmus said:They look so damn different! Apparently Sansa can actually smile??
Thoughts?
Have to agree with you here.I am enjoying the show but some of the changes just seem to be for the sake of it rather then because they add to the show.Take the most recent episode for example -BloatedGuppy said:I fully acknowledge that I am the very definition of the unpleasable fan when it comes to this series. But they are no longer "sticking close to the book".
MetalDooley said:Have to agree with you here.I am enjoying the show but some of the changes just seem to be for the sake of it rather then because they add to the show.Take the most recent episode for example -Dany's dragons being stolen.Seriously why did they need to put this in?Was the original scene where she simply goes to the House of the Undying with one of the dragons unfilmable?Or did they simply,as seems more likely,throw this in for dramatic effect?I mean the books where hardly lacking in dramatic moments so why the fuck do they need to make one up
No need to go on and on really as I agree with you on all those points.As I said I am enjoying the show and I did expect there to be changes but some of the things they've changed just really seemed unnecessary and more for the sake of it than anything elseBloatedGuppy said:The Dany scene irked (I was screaming THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN at the screen), but as you suggest I think they felt the House of the Undying sequence wouldn't translate well to television, and they're probably right. I'm a little confused as to why Doreah is the lone survivor of Dany's Khalasar at this point, though, when she was the only one who died in the book.
Robb's new love interest is going to cause serious injury to the Red Wedding unless she, as some have speculated, is actually Jeyne Westerling in disguise.
Ygritte runs instead of Jon letting her go...why? That was a significant character moment for Jon.
No Reek at Winterfell, so possibly no faux-flaying of Bran and Rickon.
The Ironmen changed from wild-eyed, battle obsessed, hulking Viking standins to lanky, bedraggled brigands.
Littlefinger telling Sansa about the Hound's backstory instead of the Hound doing it himself, turning a chilling scene into a weird, sleazy one.
I could go on and on, really.
SecretNegative said:Reply
And? I am judging it by its merits. Almost ALL of the changes have been BAD. They've NOT WORKED as well as the original text. Either the new dialogue is clunky and bad, or the new scenes aren't framed well. Often in the translation from book to screen, there's an effort to make things more cinematic, but as this is a translation from book to small screen, things have actually gotten LESS cinematic due to budgetary constraints. And that's fine, I understand that. The other shit they're changing...a lot of it has absolutely no reason to be changed other than they felt like changing things. And as they're cramming ENORMOUS books into extremely short seasons, the scenes have no time to breathe and develop. The second season is moving at a crippling pace and much of the subtlety and subtext that makes the books so excellent is being completely lost.SecretNegative said:I don't understand this, why do people seem to compare book and TV when the series should definetly be judged by their own merits. The book were adapted because they would make good television, not because readers needed images for the characters and sets. That would be like in Sopranos was based on a book, and people would go "They got Carmelas personality wrong", or "It should be Silvio who says that, not Tony!". It's one of those things I will never understand.
As long as it's good, it really doesn't matter, George won't do a Lucas and re-write the books, so I see no reason to worry.
Some of those things bother me, some do not. For example, the Ironborn thing doesn't bother me at all, mostly because I imagined them like that already. I mean, they come across as hard to me, although I think Cleftjaw should have a much larger scar (its things like that that really bother me personally). Also, the Hound losing that scene you mentioned,I felt really undermined his character, I mean, it makes him a little more sympathetic, but you don't really get that he is a really traumatized person to the extent that he is.BloatedGuppy said:MetalDooley said:Have to agree with you here.I am enjoying the show but some of the changes just seem to be for the sake of it rather then because they add to the show.Take the most recent episode for example -Dany's dragons being stolen.Seriously why did they need to put this in?Was the original scene where she simply goes to the House of the Undying with one of the dragons unfilmable?Or did they simply,as seems more likely,throw this in for dramatic effect?I mean the books where hardly lacking in dramatic moments so why the fuck do they need to make one upThe Dany scene irked (I was screaming THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN at the screen), but as you suggest I think they felt the House of the Undying sequence wouldn't translate well to television, and they're probably right. I'm a little confused as to why Doreah is the lone survivor of Dany's Khalasar at this point, though, when she was the only one who died in the book.
Robb's new love interest is going to cause serious injury to the Red Wedding unless she, as some have speculated, is actually Jeyne Westerling in disguise.
Ygritte runs instead of Jon letting her go...why? That was a significant character moment for Jon.
No Reek at Winterfell, so possibly no faux-flaying of Bran and Rickon.
The Ironmen changed from wild-eyed, battle obsessed, hulking Viking standins to lanky, bedraggled brigands.
Littlefinger telling Sansa about the Hound's backstory instead of the Hound doing it himself, turning a chilling scene into a weird, sleazy one.
I could go on and on, really.
I saw Dagmar as a hulking warrior with a mutilated face and a fearsome reputation born of an enormous body count. Show Dagmar looks like my co-worker, Marc, who has a little pot belly and enjoys Rush.GrimTuesday said:Some of those things bother me, some do not. For example, the Ironborn thing doesn't bother me at all, mostly because I imagined them like that already. I mean, they come across as hard to me, although I think Cleftjaw should have a much larger scar (its things like that that really bother me personally). Also, the Hound losing that scene you mentioned,I felt really undermined his character, I mean, it makes him a little more sympathetic, but you don't really get that he is a really traumatized person to the extent that he is.
Overall, I'm enjoying it, I just wish each episode was two hours long, so that they could put more in.
Amusingly enough, they guy who plays Dagmar in the show, is the same guy who plays David's (Ricky Gervais's character) best friend Finch (the equivalent of Packard from the US version) in the UK version of The Office.BloatedGuppy said:I saw Dagmar as a hulking warrior with a mutilated face and a fearsome reputation born of an enormous body count. Show Dagmar looks like my co-worker, Marc, who has a little pot belly and enjoys Rush.GrimTuesday said:Some of those things bother me, some do not. For example, the Ironborn thing doesn't bother me at all, mostly because I imagined them like that already. I mean, they come across as hard to me, although I think Cleftjaw should have a much larger scar (its things like that that really bother me personally). Also, the Hound losing that scene you mentioned,I felt really undermined his character, I mean, it makes him a little more sympathetic, but you don't really get that he is a really traumatized person to the extent that he is.
Overall, I'm enjoying it, I just wish each episode was two hours long, so that they could put more in.
Yeah, I wish that the Hound got more screen time, he is such a great character who slowly becomes a bigger part of the story as the books go on. Hopefully after the riot this weekend they will give him more screen time because now Sansa has a reason to interact (to a certain extent).Yeah the Hound thing really rankled me. It was my one major problem with S1, which was otherwise fairly loyal to the books. It didn't help that Aidan Gillan inexplicably chews the scenery like a maniac in that role.