HBO Game of Thrones

[Hedwig]

The premiere was yesterday.
Has anyone been able to see it? (With the time difference I will only be able to see it now)

I cannot wait to see how they adapt the wonderfully twisted books.

And I am especially interested in hearing comment from people who don't know the books and only the TV series. The books are really quite complicated and full of twists and tons of people. I wonder if it is easy to follow for people who haven't read A Song of Ice and Fire?

[rfisher]

I watched and have no idea who most of the characters are. It is visually stunning however.

[Hedwig]

I watched and have no idea who most of the characters are. It is visually stunning however.

That sounds good!! (I am counting the hours until I can get home to see it )

If you have any questions regarding the characters I am happy to answer. I know the books by heart. And that is not an exaggeration.

[VALuvsMKwan]

Link to Wikipedia page for the novel series (I suppose this could contain spoilers for the HBO series):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire

[jen_faith]

I watched it with my husband and son (adult). Neither of them had read the books but I had. They were mostly confused about what was going on. Having read the books, I had it pretty much figured out, and liked it despite the usual HBO smut and gore*


* my opinion is that HBO overdoes the sex and violence in its shows -- largely because it can sort of thing. I am not opposed to sex and violence in shows where it helps the plot along, but HBO shows seem to be gratuitous (IMHO again).

[rfisher]

There was a lot of both. Beheadings, guttings, public sex, dwarf sex, incestous sex. And that was the first 30 minutes.

[Matryeshka]

Is it wrong of me that I now want to watch this because of the possibility of dwarf-on-dwarf public sex after a beheading where it's revealed that they could be related?

I'm imagining a V.C. Andrews take on it: A Game of Dwarves In the Attic. That would be AWESOME.

[emason]

I watched it with my husband and son (adult). Neither of them had read the books but I had. They were mostly confused about what was going on. Having read the books, I had it pretty much figured out, and liked it despite the usual HBO smut and gore*


* my opinion is that HBO overdoes the sex and violence in its shows -- largely because it can sort of thing. I am not opposed to sex and violence in shows where it helps the plot along, but HBO shows seem to be gratuitous (IMHO again).

There's an awful lot of sex and violence in the books; I don't think HBO can be overdoing it in this case.

I haven't seen it yet, though, as my cable has been out since Wednesday, and Time Warner can't get here until tomorrow to fix it.

[danceronice]

I can't imagine it's possible to overdo ASoIaF as far as violence goes. I mean, what could you possibly do to make it more violent? Introduce tactical nukes?

I'll see it when it's on DVD or if they do a free preview. I'm just laughing at the one "review" that was basically like "This is such a 'guy show' and they just put in some pretty men so women might watch." Because women don't read ASoIaF. (And that was a female reviewer.) Also enjoyed the WSJ's tv reviewer (who I think is also a woman, actually) completely miss the point that it's not "the middle ages."

[jen_faith]

I agree the books are violent with lots of sex, however they are not super detailed in a "his entrails hung dripping from his abdomen" kind of way. There are ways to shoot scenes that either embrace the gore and sex or can be less than graphic. IMHO HBO always films on the side of graphic.

[Nan]

I don't have HBO so I'll be waiting to see if it gets to video. The good part is that I'll be able to hear about it here first and decide if I want to invest the time and money.

[Satellitegirl]

I watched and thought it was great, although I was joking with friends about how HBO always has to find a way to show boobs in their shows. It's sort of a "much ado about nothing" though, anymore. It was shocking back when they first started doing it, because TV was so conservative. These days it's like "eh, human body, who cares."

Love Sean Bean.

I have read part of the first book(in the middle of reading it), and thought they did the opening scene very well, although they left out the fact that he climbed a tree. Poor guy getting beheaded just because he was scared and ran .

[MarieM]

The casting is FANTASTIC. Whoohoo.
Loved it. Am gonna watch it again in an hour or so, just the time for me to shower a bit.

[Satellitegirl]

Loved it. Am gonna watch it again in an hour or so, just the time for me to shower a bit.

Watching Sean Bean requires me to take a cold shower as well

Also, tribal guy reminded me of a klingon a bit, without the forehead stuff. He was also kinda hot...if he'd only say something other than "No." lol

[dbell1]

Klingon.

We had HBO free this weekend and I normally love things like this, so I was happy to tune in. Have never read the books and had no idea there's a cult following and 7 seaons planned. After HBO and their co-funders cut "Rome" after 2 1/2 seasons due to the cost, I have no hopes for them to film all 7 seasons. Hopefully I'm wrong. They seem to be pulling out all stops for marketing this one - maybe it'll go the distance?

Thought the opening credits were visually stunning - I smell an Emmy for cinematography. Those winter zombies are pretty freaking scary. Tomboy sister showing up younger brother with the bow and arrow was funny. Gasped out loud at the ending scene (which I'll wait for Hedwig to see so I won't ruin it). Fuzzy little wolf puppies - I want one.

Sean Bean is looking haggard, but still hot. White blond sister doesn't look happy to be married off to King No. Still trying to figure out names and stuff - these characters really need name tags.

I'm now going to order HBO.

Question for the book fans - are you excited or annoyed so far?

[dinakt]

I watched it and I loved the first episode. They followed the book very closely; the casting is fantastic. Everybody is a little older than I imagined, but as it is set in alternative- Middle Ages, the "older look" makes sense. No way they could show a truly 12-year- old Dani, for example; and Jon and Rob are hardly 15-year-olds. But the "spirit" of characters was exactly right, I felt. In fact, so much so that I already can visualize these actors while thinking about the book, and that is extremely rare. Visually stunning, too. I'll certainly keep watching. It will inevitably have lots of gore and sex, but so do the books. I hope they follow the story and not stray into completely different direction, like "True Blood" did.
To answer the previous post- after last night I am definitely excited.
I was a big fan of "Rome"- one of my favorite series; this one promises to be just as visually interesting. I hope- if they keep up the quality- it is a success.

[Satellitegirl]

Gasped out loud at the ending scene (which I'll wait for Hedwig to see so I won't ruin it). Fuzzy little wolf puppies - I want one.

Sean Bean is looking haggard, but still hot. White blond sister doesn't look happy to be married off to King No. Still trying to figure out names and stuff - these characters really need name tags.

LOL @ "King No." I'm glad I wasn't drinking anything when I read that. I agree that they definitely need name tags or something lol.

Yes, the ending scene was very surprising, although a friend who read the books said that it wasn't. It sounds as if they're sticking to the books fairly closely so far.

I want a dire wolf puppy too .

ETA http://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones/e...s?cmpid=ABC794 synopsis of the first episode. Helps with the names a bit. Not that I'll remember them all until the 4th or 5th episode

[AliasJohnDoe]

I watched last night. Found it a bit confusing, but will still continue to watch.

There's nothing else worth watching at 9:00pm on Sundays.

[Allen]

While I was watching the first episode, I was reminded of what my friend told me before I started reading the books "Don't get invested in a character because most of them don't last long."

I love it though. It was more brutal than I thought HBO would do, but I think it's visually one of the best series put on the silver screen.

[Satellitegirl]

It's getting great reviews. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...ics-say-179383

I was wondering about the characters, Allen. It seems like that type of show where a lot will die.