A Game of Thrones

[twaddington]

new trailer
http://www.makinggameofthrones.com/

[dnwilliams]

oooooooooooooooooh

Verdict?

[twaddington]

I think it looks great, they've stuck to the book's realistic/historical vibe. It will be interesting to see how the magical fantasy elements fit in. There isn't that much of that sort of stuff though, particularly not in the first book.
Some of the dialogue sounds a bit cheesy, but I guess that's inevitable with epic fantasy(seeing it out of context, in trailer form, probably makes it sound even cheesier). Generally though, i'm impressed with what i've seen so far, looks like they've done a great job. 

[twaddington]

i'm not 100% convinced by it after watching this. The guy playing Jon Snow seems very wooden and uncharismatic.
In my head the story is movie sized, but this looks kind of small. I know it is a TV show but there's something about it that doesn't feel quite right.

what's everyone else thinking of it?

[dalmatianjaws]

Looks too much like Lord of the Rings. The great thing about the books is how gritty and worn they are, this looks like Tolkien on a shoestring. Clean and digital.

Also, can you all weight in on Peter Dinklage's accent? Cause it sounds like crap to me.

[Sheridan Passell]

Are you guys beating up on the dwarf again?

[twaddington]

lol. It's a little bit hammy but I've heard worse. It's more the words he's saying that worry me. The dialogue seems so self conscious and stilted.  I think you were right about him having to look more deformed as well.

'Tolkien on a shoestring' should be the tagline.

[dnwilliams]

I had misgivings when I saw the trailer, but this featurette has made me more optimistic. TV is better suited to longform storytelling and I'm impressed by the ambition and scope of the thing.

Only DJaws could say 'looks like LotR' as an insult  I know what you mean though if you were expecting The Wire and got Miami Vice, but I haven't read the books so that doesn't affect me in the slightest. All the desaturated stuff looks like the opening of Gladiator and all the bright soft focus stuff looks like Council of Elrond stuff and I'm very cool with that. I think you guys should be satisfied too so long as the actual content is relatively unchanged, no?

Big picture: this has got to be better than Xena, Hercules, Legend of the Seeker, Merlin and various other fantasy shows that have graced our screens. But that dude's accent is weeeeiiiiird.

[dalmatianjaws]

Yeah, it's definitely sleek and professional. It just looks like they glammed it up, which is counter to all the book's strengths. If they are changing the way Tyrion looks then they are stripping away the power of future character moments, so unless they have something different up their sleeves it tells me they are on the wrong track.

Still, trailers and promos are not made by the show creators, so it's moot at this point.  All I know is I will NOT watch this on HD where it will be painfully obvious all the sets are brand new and the clothes are unworn.  When are people going to learn more lines of resolution can actually lower quality?

[twaddington]

check out the videos in this article

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/108057-What-Does-Game-of-Thrones-Smell-Like

I want one of those boxes so bad. That's the coolest marketing I've ever seen.

[dalmatianjaws]

That's incredible. Also, I want to beat the shit out of that man, I had no idea a single person could be so annoying.

[twaddington]

Enjoyed the second episode much more.

[dnwilliams]

I honestly do not understand why they didn't go the feature-length pilot route...

[twaddington]

Good point. An hour wasn't long enough to introduce all the major characters in a satisfactory way.

DJaws is staying mysteriously quiet...

[dalmatianjaws]

Haven't seen it. Don't get HBO and hate waiting for weekly episodes. Rather ignore it til it's on DVD then have a marathon weekend.


In other news, book 5 is done and publishing date set for July. Time to finally read number 4!

[dalmatianjaws]

He. Sounds. Like. The. Joker.

[dnwilliams]

He really does!

[dalmatianjaws]

Snagged someone's Emmy screener of the first two eps, I'll post thoughts soon!

[dalmatianjaws]

Watched the first two episodes and really liked them a lot. Production value looks MUCH better on screen that in PR stills. Casting is generally top notch. It's impossible for me to disassociate them from the world I had in my head but I thought Tyrion and Arya were BRILLIANTLY cast, the rest were pretty damn good, and Jon Snow and Sansa and Jaime were all pretty weak, though they aren't given much to do. The show really seems to be focusing on Ned and Dany as the two main story threads, so far the rest of the characters are underdeveloped form the samepoint in the book, but that's to be expected. Hopefully they'll get episodes focused on them soon.

As with all HBO stuff, they are obsessed with the sex and nudity contained in a story without a REAL understanding of why it's powerful. And Van Patten, a Sopranos vet, continues his strange obsession with Doggie Style.

The two things I thought were pretty damn bad were the green screen when Bran is climbing around Winterfell and the laughable fight and rape choreography at Dany's wedding. Felt campy and staged and stupid as all hell. Generally, everything in Dany's story is too clean, sleek, and sexy for my liking. And the dragon eggs look cheap.

The opening scene past the Wall is FAN. TASTIC. Great production value and directing and VFX. LOVE how they did the Walkers and the zombies.

[dnwilliams]

And the dragon eggs look cheap.

The skulls don't though. I agree, it was a good start, and gets better. Jon Snow is one of my favorite characters, but not really due to the actor's performance, I just like his place in the world. And he generally seems to be the most righteous dude at this stage. Dany's bro is awesome too.