If you think about Lost, each character had something unique that defined them very clearly. In the 2 hour pilot, I never had a problem knowing who all the main characters were:
Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Michael, Said, Charlie, Claire, Rose, Boone, Shannon and even
WAAAAALT!
Lots of new characters were introduced one or two at a time, so it was very manageable.
Anyway, I’ll keep that chart handy so I can make more sense out of this show.
For A Song of Ice and Fire, this IS one or two at a time. Remember, too, that Lost had a regular network series commitment on number of episodes. A Game of Thrones has 10 episodes to cover a 700 page book.
Not really. No one knew, when they shot the pilot, how many episodes *Lost *would have. Still, they introduced at least a dozen characters in the pilot, and I was never confused about who was who.
Not to play the defensive fanboy (since I agree that it’s tough to keep track of everyone) but Lost’s pilot was 2 hours long. Aside from that, Lost was able to draw from varied modern cultures that you can easily identify (the Korean couple, the Southern Charmer, the blonde Australian…) where GoT basically has 2 feudal families and whatever’s going on ‘across the Narrow Sea.’
It’s confusing, but it’s worth the extra effort to figure it out.
Like I said, I’m willing to stick it out. All I’m saying is that there are ways to introduce characters so that the audience can readily recognize them. The writers haven’t done that. It detracts from enjoyment of the story when you’re listening to the dialog, and you’re not sure which character they’re talking about.
That is fair point. I **know **who everyone is, and Robb/Theon/Jon (after he shaved) tended to blend together. (and I kept confusing Arya/Brandon)
The toning down of the costume porn did give the whole thing a much more realistic, mideval look, so I’m counting it as a plus. A bit more variation, especially for actors that look alike, might have been a good idea, though. Keeping the Greyjoy kracken, for example.
Was it me, or did Robb come of as kind of a dick?
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You may also be disappointed to find out that no one, as far as I can recall, wields a mace throughout the entire thing.
Release the Kracken!
I don’t know who Robb is. 
Maybe one of the chicks can spray some mace on one of the dudes.
Sorry, that was kind of cryptic. His HERALDIC kracken. He’s a ward/noble hostage, not really a part of the Stark house.
Without knowing that in advance though, he comes off more like a guard or hanger-on.
Hopefully the heraldry will show up more later. The North is kind of a backwater.
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Robb’s the oldest Stark boy. The one with the neat haircut. Not the one who didn’t have beard scruff (that’s Jon) or the one who looks drunk. (Theon)
The Pacific had a similar problem, lots of characters and hard to figure out who was who at first. It did not help that many of the early battles were at night so it was very hard to see faces.
Yea, at least Game of Thrones has variations in age gender and dress. I’m always lost in WWII shows trying to keep track of which 20something, identically dressed, white males with close cut hair is which. Maybe thats why the older WWII movies used to rely on the cliche of having each of the different characters from a different American immigrant group.
I was pretty surprised that they didn’t rely on some character compression, combining a few of the characters from the book into one, and getting rid of a few less essential ones. I still kinda think this show is going to end up an incomprehensible mess, but I guess we’ll see.
Well in Pacific and Band of Brothers they did have guys with different hair color, accents and ranks so that helps you tell them apart.
Yes, and those night scenes were ridiculously dark. I didn’t make it to the end of that series, but I do remember thinking sometimes that I was spending a lot of time essentially looking at a blank TV screen.
Yeah, I’m kinda shocked that one character in particular was kept, since I can’t remember a darn thing that he or she did in the books that couldn’t have been done by another.
Rickon. He’s never without Bran, and he’s just a little kid. He could probably have been cut entirely and aside from fanboy outcry, nothing would change. Maybe GRRM has some great future plan for him and demanded he be kept.
Aside from that one, however, it would be tough, since each one has a part to play. But screenwriters find clever ways to compress characters from books all the time, so I’m surprised they didn’t do more here. They did dump a few, or at least turn them into mute extras. (I’m guessing we saw Jeyne Poole at the feast whispering to Sansa, and maybe in the embroidery class, but that’s probably all we’ll see of her.)
I would’ve merged the two younger Baratheon children, gotten rid of Theon altogether (someone else can sack Winterfell just as well), merged Rickon and Bran and merged Benjen Stark with someone else from the Wall (which I guess they still might do)
I think keeping Benjen is good; it gives Jon a connection to the wall that isn’t really there otherwise. And it’s not like he’ll be around long…
Ah, yes. Thanks.
Glad I’m not the only one. I saw the first episode on a crappy hotel TV and thought “I have no idea WTF I’m looking at here. It’s nothing but shouting, blackness, and muzzle flashes”.
-Joe
Those ideas would have worked if there was only going to be one season, but the first two ideas would greatly complicate later seasons when they get to the 3rd and 4th books. The third one, I agree with, as I said above. The fourth might work, but as you said, they still might.
I don’t think you really need Theon. All he does is sack Winterfell, but his sister can do that pretty well without him. You might be right about the Baratheon kids, I forgot the daughter actually did things in Feast for Crows. Not really clear if she’ll actually be important to the plot yet (which I guess is the real problem cutting characters, since the books aren’t done yet we don’t really know who will end up being important. For all we know, Jeyne Poole will end up being God-Queen of Westros in the next book, and the writers of the series will be kicking themselves for having dropped her).