Game of Thrones

[Irving]

So HBO is making a series out of George R.R. Martin's The Song of Fire and Ice series. Game of Thrones is the first book, and will be the first series.

http://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/index.html#

Go here, click on the picture on the left, and watch the first 15 minutes of the first episode.

Usually when fantasy books are put on screen, I don't have high hopes for them. A great example is how Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series was put on regular television and called "Legend of the Seeker." That was a decent series, that was complete, unwatchable, garbage when it made it onto television. I read all 12 books and have watches less than 10 minutes of the series because it is so terrible.

With Game of Thrones being on HBO, and with the series being one of the best I've ever read (Top 5 for sure), I have very high hopes for this series. Even from the trailer, everything happens pretty much exactly like it does in the book. The whole first scene in snow, is one of those scenes that is important to a book, but would get cut from the screen 99% of the time.

I won't try and explain why the series is so great, you're better off just reading the books, but expect this to be awesome.

*If you're read the Sword of Truth series, I know SAFriday has, this series is MUCH better and more complex.

[Irving]

Oh yeah, and one of my most favorite quotes is right in the first 15 minutes of the whole show as well.

[Great-Kazoo]

we shall see. it premieres the 17th yet i noticed it shown in the HBOL time slot this past sunday. too bad i only comprehend poquito espanol

[cstone]

Curious as to the quote you like.

You pass the sentence, You swing the sword?

[Irving]

Curious as to the quote you like.

You pass the sentence, You swing the sword?

That's the one. I seem to remember it being a little bit more elaborate than that in the book though. At least the concept is more elaborate. Basically, don't give someone a sentence that you are not willing to carry out yourself.

Probably why the death sentence is going the way of the Dodo in this country.

[CrufflerSteve]

They had a 15 minute preview. I tend to like HBO stuff. They respect the material and do a great job. I loved the Sopranos and the Wire. Band of Brothers was amazing in its portrayal of the US citizen soldier. The Pacific was also a powerful series. It made me appreciate my Dad's good fortune to be in MacArthur's Army group. He preferred to go around the Japs and let them starve rather than going head on like the Marines.

I have high hopes for the series. I just finished the first book and it was great. It was popular enough you can find them in the used book stores.

Steve

[cstone]

That's the one. I seem to remember it being a little bit more elaborate than that in the book though. At least the concept is more elaborate. Basically, don't give someone a sentence that you are not willing to carry out yourself.

Probably why the death sentence is going the way of the Dodo in this country.

My short paraphrase takes away some of the eloquence from the writing.

I just started the book yesterday while I was at the Tattered Cover. Thanks for the link to the trailer. Boromir and Richard Sharpe...what tough guy can't Sean Bean play?

[ronaldrwl]

I didn't read the books but I liked "Legend of the Seeker". Better than most anything else on regular tv.

[Irving]

Ron, I strongly encourage you to give the books a shot, they were much, much better. You wouldn't even feel like you were just reading the same thing that you just watched either, since the series didn't really bother to follow the plot of the book much. Generally, I'd feel bad telling someone that something they liked was garbage, but I can only say that in comparison to the books. I've heard that people that didn't read the books liked the show a lot. I would literally start swearing and change the channel every time I tried watching the show. hehe. If you do end up reading the series, you'll find that it is a lot more gritty, gruesome, and adult than anything they'd dare put on regular ole television.

I'd lend you the books, but I don't really get down to Littleton much.

Cstone: I'm looking up who Richard Sharpe is, I'm not familiar with the character.

[ldmaster]

The books are WAY better than the series, which was, in my opinion somewhat better than a LOT of the series that ScyFY channel has put out. The chracters in the book are very complex and the ultimate messages and interactions make it a very satisfying series.

The biggest thing I had against the Legend of the Seeker series was that they turned it into another "pretty boy meets pretty girl" thing. And it SO wasn't about that in the books, while romance DID happen, it was never a lightly treated thing as the series portrayed it.

I don't know, Martin seems to be did a good deal of copying of subject matter from Tolkein and McCaffery. The series itself was quite a bit bloodier than I think it needed to be, he seemed enchanted by the idea that murder was ALWAYS involved in intrigue.

We'll see though.

I hope they don't do an abortion of it, the way they did with the "battelfield L.A." thing - god that sucked.