Here’s a thread for the first episode. Fire away. Keep any spoiler for later story out of this thread please.
DVRing it…I’ll probably watch it tomorrow or Tuesday. Sunday is Amazing Race night and I don’t think I can handle two straight hours of TV.
Well, that stopped exactly where I thought it would.
Not too far off the storyline so far, just truncation and ellipses.
I’ve got to figure out the right sound mix for my TV; it was difficult to follow the dialogue in places.
Lots of amusing transitions between scenes. My favorite was “Rough night?” as the line immediately following the wedding consummation scene.
Yes! Awesome.
I loved it. The music made me think of a poor man’s Bear McCreary, but that’s not all bad. Also, the opening credits were quite cool.
I guess my only complaint (and a mild one at that) was the dire wolves. I kind of wanted a few seconds of all of the Stark children with their new puppies.
That, and more Tyrion!
The final scenes were brutal, but great. I only hope the folks who haven’t read the books are intrigued.
King Robert was awesome. Ned was awesome. Ayra…Bran…Benjen…Ser Jorah…the casting is just all kinds of perfect.
(takes a swig of meade)
Good stuff. Can’t wait for the next one.
I take it you’ve all read the books?
My cable isn’t installed yet, so I have to wait.
Agreed, I was kind of hoping for a happy puppy scene myself but that’s my only complaint. I also predicted that was where it would end, but it was so well done. Even though I knew what would happen, for a just a moment I thought it might go another way. I thought the scene between Tyrion and Jon Snow was particularly good.
Yes, I have.
Having thought about it for a bit, I’m not sure how much the show would have worked for someone who hadn’t read the books. (The book, I should say.) I’ll be interested to find out.
Maybe it was just our television, but I really kept wanting to see it on a bigger screen, just because it was so DARK. Yes, yes, I know, it could just be deliberately atmospheric, but…I think a movie screen would have done it more justice.
Thumbs up so far. Close enough to the book in terms of story, and very well cast. Peter Dinklage is an awesome Tyrion. He’s got the role of a lifetime here, and I think he knows it. Such swagger and confidence. The other major parts are well cast too, though. Vyseris is perfectly repulsive I can’t wait for Drogo to whack him out.
It looks like they’re upping the raunch to near Starz levels. No complaint here.
From everything I’ve seen, I think it’s going to be a successful adaptation that should please the fans.
We bought a 60-inch, 95% due to the existence of this show. I wasn’t aware a TV could look too real. It was like 3D without having 3D, especially in the scenes beyond the wall.
The wide scenes and the landscapes really are striking. I like the opening sequence with the map and the mechanical models of the kingdoms popping up as well. They’re really doing a classy job with this. They aren’t fucking it up.
Viserys is very well-acted. Just the right amount of insane swagger mixed with overcompensation from fear. I can’t wait to see Daenerys stand up to him as her confidence grown and his diminishes.
I had high hopes but it left me cold. Maybe it’s too soon after re-reading the book.
I was particularly disappointed with Dany. Her one expression – fearful, wistful, stoned (?), whatever – all I could think of was Laura San Giacomo’s rendition of Nadine in The Stand – virginal bride being fed to a monster.
The sad thing is that in the book, the wedding night was quite different, and I don’t know why the writers didn’t give us that. Viewers won’t know that Dany loves to ride, that the horse was Drogo’s wedding gift to her, or that she says to him “You have given me the wind.” They could have left out the debauchery of the wedding party, if they needed to save time.
If I keep watching, it’ll be for Arya, Jaime, and Tyrion, and the scenes at the Wall.
Yeah I was a little bummed they skipped Dany jumping her silver, but I thought the acting was pretty spot on. She was pretty much a scared 13 year old for most of the first book, more or less, from what I recall.
Ok, just finished watching it.
There have been some complaints about the Dothraki painting generic brown people as savages and I can see that. The book wedding ameliorates taht to a large extent. Dany is very pleased with the gift and Drogo is gentle during the sex.
Overall I’m very pleased. Tyrion is fantastic and I was giddy throughout. The biggest downside is the wait until next week.
I have not read the books but I loved this. The politics, the intrigue, I am very interested to see where this goes.
The scene between the Queen and the blonde guy near the beginning made me think they were siblings, then when they were caught banging I thought, “Hmmm I guess he is her step son from the previous queen” but then after reading a review of this elsewhere I see I was right the first time. Yikes!
Edited to add: I find it interesting that it is almost universal (both here and elsewhere) that the negative reviews are from people who read the book. I wonder if coming in fresh is an advantage here.
I didn’t understand why they completely changed Catherine’s stance on Eddard becoming the hand of the king. The guilt of that decision is one of the things that drives her actions throughout the book.
I haven’t read the book (books?), so it was all a great amount of stuff to take in, let me tell you. I think I’m hooked, though, and that’s saying something because I don’t usually like fantasy.
I’m a bit confused as to how everyone relates to each other. Is there so much darkness in the book? And the sibling sex… yikes! I’m betting there’s more of that to come too. The beginning had me covering my eyes - who the heck are the white walkers?! And the white/blond brother-sister duo, they seem to be of not so good ilk (esp. that brother!); I think I heard Ned mention their people as having slayed some of his kin…? It’s all very hard for me to sort out. I had a bad time sorting out Tolkien too, and C.S. Lewis. Ah well, I’ll just keep watching and see what happens. I saw tonight’s ending coming, and even so it shocked me. Poor kid! Oh yes, I’m very intrigued by Tyrion; that was a good scene between he and Ned’s “bastard” son.
And I’ll look to these threads to help me sort things out too, thanks! 