[IAmtheFMan]

(ACOK/early ASOS): Given the show's disregard for subtlety, I think they'll just move the ASOS prologue up to this season's finale. So you won't just get the three horn blasts, you'll get the beginning of the camp attack

ACOK/ASOS

Nah. Sam made a point of stating outright what it meant the last episode, and they lingered on it for a few beats. I think the 3 horn blasts will definitely be in, even if they have a shot of Sam saying "Walkers" under his breath immediately after or something.

And though it's probably more fan-service then any definitive proof, the first teaser for S2 ended with the 3 horn blasts anyways.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKsP4fi3jL0

[Pai Pai Master]

I just finished ASoS. Glad I can finally click the spoiler tags, but fuck the world. :(

[IAmtheFMan]

I just finished ASoS. Glad I can finally click the spoiler tags, but fuck the world. :(

Some but not all. Major events still happen in AFFC and moreso in ADWD.

[Pai Pai Master]

Yeah. I meant those specifically tagged for that book, but arggghggggggg.

[blainethemono]

(ACOK/early ASOS): Given the show's disregard for subtlety, I think they'll just move the ASOS prologue up to this season's finale. So you won't just get the three horn blasts, you'll get the beginning of the camp attack

(ASOS) Thats pretty much all that happened in the prologue of ASOS though, it ended with the three horn blasts and then we didnt see what happened after that until the first Samwell chapter with him remembering the attack

[PhoenixPause]

ACOK/ASOS Nah. Sam made a point of stating outright what it meant the last episode, and they lingered on it for a few beats. I think the 3 horn blasts will definitely be in, even if they have a shot of Sam saying "Walkers" under his breath immediately after or something. And though it's probably more fan-service then any definitive proof, the first teaser for S2 ended with the 3 horn blasts anyways. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKsP4fi3jL0

I do expect the horn blasts to occur, I just also think we'll see white walkers as one of the final shots in the finale

[mochuuu]

Did anyone else love Jorah's little speech to Dany? Something along the lines of: “Centuries come and go without someone like that coming into the world. There are times I look at you and still can’t believe that you’re real.” I just thought that it was a perfect reminder that Dany is something special in the presence of other awful, terrible kings and contenders. Man, 20 scenes or so in this ep. Is that a record for the show?

Yeah I thought that was a standout out of many awesome scenes in that ep.

[Puddles]

Finally got to watch the episode. That was easily the best of the season.

Tickler dying early... meh. It made sense given the constraints of the medium, but I'm still a bit disappointed.

(series)I'm pissed that my favorite Arya moment of the entire series can't happen. They can always give her someone else to kill, but it'll be hard to replace "How many, how many, how many, how many, how many?" I used to dream about what that scene would be like on the tv series, and now it's never going to happen.

[-Pyromaniac-]

I never mentioned this before but I really like the guy playing Jaqen. He has just the right level of mysteriousness when he speaks.

[Speevy]

The previous page looks like some top secret CIA document.

[suzu]

I never mentioned this before but I really like the guy playing Jaqen. He has just the right level of mysteriousness when he speaks.

Yeah, he's pretty great. I just like listening to him talk, haha.

[Puddles]

I never mentioned this before but I really like the guy playing Jaqen. He has just the right level of mysteriousness when he speaks.

He really is just about the best conceivable live action representation of Jaqen.

[-Pyromaniac-]

Yeah, he's pretty great. I just like listening to him talk, haha.

it's strangely alluring in a totally heterosexual way. He just sounds interesting.

[Arment]

I never mentioned this before but I really like the guy playing Jaqen. He has just the right level of mysteriousness when he speaks.

A man tries.

[Speevy]

I love the way the following words sound when they're said by certain actors


"King"
"Joffrey"
"Baratheon"
"God"
"Grace"
"Winterfell"
"Stanis"
"Direwolves"


It's like a Scotsman is making love to your ears.

[-Pyromaniac-]

A man tries.

hehehehe

I love the way the following words sound when they're said by certain actors "King" "Joffrey" "Baratheon" "God" "Grace" "Winterfell" "Stanis" "Direwolves" It's like a Scotsman is making love to your ears.

I enjoyed Stannis saying "sir davos". His accent is coo'

[RatskyWatsky]

You mean the whole "I am a hair stylist from the 24th century." vibe?

This is so true.

ENUFF OF THIS ARGUING!!!! STARE AT IT! STARE AT IT!!!

Who is this?

[-Pyromaniac-]

Who is this?

Tywin Lannister

[RatskyWatsky]

Tywin Lannister

I'm on that 90 day no fap thing, and that image isn't helping me at all. >:/

[Loofy]

hehehehe I enjoyed Stannis saying "sir davos". His accent is coo'

I think stannis has the best voice on the show. Second would be tywin.

[Snake]

Finally caught up!

- Arya's sections were wonderful. I agree that people overrate Maisie's performance at times, but she was great all over in this episode. Jaqen at the end was awesome as well (also reminding me of )

- Loved Michelle Fairley in this episode. I think Catelyn finally crossed the line into genuinely being a character that I like to watch. Never believed the day would come!

- As for Littlefinger: It's really weird how his accent has been shifting and slipping even in mid-scene at times. If he just keeps this [welsh?] accent and sticks with it, I'll be fine with his performance, since I already feel that his visual presence when in non-brothel scenes is pretty great.

- Dany finally had a good episode in this season! Pyat pree was appropriately weird, and her scenese with Doreah/Irri?/Jorah were good. I think the show really hits its stride when Dany doesn't feel like a worthless appendage dragging the show down.

- Could have spent a little more time establishing how matters have changed now that many of Renly's bannermen have switched to Stannis, but I enjoyed how Davos got Stannis to make the coming battle his own and not Melisandre's. This definitely resonated with the show-only person I was watching this with.

- lmao Rickon. The Best Stark.

Probably liked the previous episode a little more, but this episode felt "full" in a way that no other has so far this season. A huge plus. And I definitely appreciated that things are speeding up in many of the plot threads.

[Cake Boss]

LTTP party here on this series. Never read the books and just got caught up on all of the episodes., friends kept reccomending it, so I caved in.

I love everything about it except I was disaapointed to see the low budget the cgi was and the lack of a big scale combat scenes I always expect from a medievle setting show or movie.

Seeing how I thought the show and the books are so popular I expected a bigger budget and ambition on those fronts, hopefully they are saving it all for a one big scale finale war with dragons flying around, like out of LOTR or something.

I can dream, because Dragons are koooooollll. Want more of her character, so sexy, enough of that bastard Ranger, more sexy dragon girl please.

[Magnus]

I'm gonna chime in and say how satisfied I am with the CG so far; the direwolves, the dragons and The Wall all being my perennial standout :o face moments.

[Arment]

LTTP party here on this series. Never read the books and just got caught up on all of the episodes., friends kept reccomending it, so I caved in. I love everything about it except I was disaapointed to see the low budget the cgi was and the lack of a big scale combat scenes I always expect from a medievle setting show or movie. Seeing how I thought the show and the books are so popular I expected a bigger budget and ambition on those fronts, hopefully they are saving it all for a one big scale finale war with dragons flying around, like out of LOTR or something. I can dream, because Dragons are koooooollll. Want more of her character, so sexy, enough of that bastard Ranger, more sexy dragon girl please.

This show needs like triple the current budget to come close to accurately representing the books, unfortunately.

[Cake Boss]

If only I was a rich man, I would throw money at this series so it could please me.

If only Dave Cameron was interested in something awesome like this instead of stupid ass 100 year old sunken boat. OK WE GET IT, ITS WAS A BIG SHIP AND IT SANK. THATS WHAT SHIPS DO. Now get the fuck over it and move on.


Sorry about the rant. the Titanic annerversary last week forced me into watching hundreds of documentaries about a ship sinking. I almost blew my brains out at my cousins place.

[apana]

LTTP party here on this series. Never read the books and just got caught up on all of the episodes., friends kept reccomending it, so I caved in. I love everything about it except I was disaapointed to see the low budget the cgi was and the lack of a big scale combat scenes I always expect from a medievle setting show or movie. Seeing how I thought the show and the books are so popular I expected a bigger budget and ambition on those fronts, hopefully they are saving it all for a one big scale finale war with dragons flying around, like out of LOTR or something. I can dream, because Dragons are koooooollll. Want more of her character, so sexy, enough of that bastard Ranger, more sexy dragon girl please.

Well it is a television show but they are being judged by the standard of films in production quality. I've been impressed overall with it, the CG is good right now but they will get better. The definitive version of Game of Thrones will probably be 40 years from now when HBO reboots it and the technology and budget are much better. The books are so dense that if you did another show you could fill it with completely different scenes and still have it be a faithful adaptation.

edit: The budget is actually pretty high right now, something like 70 million.

[-Pyromaniac-]

If only I was a rich man, I would throw money at this series so it could please me. If only Dave Cameron was interested in something awesome like this instead of stupid ass 100 year old sunken boat. OK WE GET IT, ITS WAS A BIG SHIP AND IT SANK. THATS WHAT SHIPS DO. Now get the fuck over it and move on. Sorry about the rant. the Titanic annerversary last week forced me into watching hundreds of documentaries about a ship sinking. I almost blew my brains out at my cousins place.

Yeah that damn Dave.

[brianjones]

FINCHY

[Steelyuhas]

Totally forgot about this, but no Fist of of the First Men in the opening credits. :/

[GT Vespene]

The budget is actually pretty high right now, something like 70 million.

HBO spent 200 million on ten episodes of The Pacific and averaged about a million less viewers than Game of Thrones.

[Amir0x]

LTTP party here on this series. Never read the books and just got caught up on all of the episodes., friends kept reccomending it, so I caved in. I love everything about it except I was disaapointed to see the low budget the cgi was and the lack of a big scale combat scenes I always expect from a medievle setting show or movie. Seeing how I thought the show and the books are so popular I expected a bigger budget and ambition on those fronts, hopefully they are saving it all for a one big scale finale war with dragons flying around, like out of LOTR or something. I can dream, because Dragons are koooooollll. Want more of her character, so sexy, enough of that bastard Ranger, more sexy dragon girl please.

Just wanted to say that the lack of shown battles so far is actually not that far from the book. In the book, up until the point we are right now, it's very similarly done to the show - we hear about the aftermath of battles, but don't read the battles themselves.

This gets more complicated as the books go on because battles start being shown, so we'll see where it goes from here.

[Famassu]

HBO spent 200 million on ten episodes of The Pacific and averaged about a million less viewers than Game of Thrones.

The Pacific doesn't have to go on for 7+ years, I guess it's easier to commit to only ten episodes with that kind of funding than to having to commit to that kind of budget per season for what could easily end up being more than 10 seasons.

[Lothar]

Just wanted to say that the lack of shown battles so far is actually not that far from the book. In the book, up until the point we are right now, it's very similarly done to the show - we hear about the aftermath of battles, but don't read the battles themselves. This gets more complicated as the books go on because battles start being shown, so we'll see where it goes from here.

This is true but the book had good reasons for not showing the battles, because they didn't have POV characters in them. The TV show shows literally everything happening to all characters except the battles. It comes off as a little cheap.

But the bigger issue is not even making CGI to show the size of the armies. Renly pointing to beyond off screen and saying "Look at the size of my army" was beyond ridiculous.

It's like that South Park episode where they go "Wow, this battle is huge! It's like 10x bigger than the battle in Lord of the Rings!" and only show someone talking about it the whole time.

[Keen]

I don't think so, I'm pretty sure Renly got his throat slit. I recall Loras even saying that he tried to cut through a gorget like whatever it was that killed Renly had done and couldn't do it.

You're right, looked in the book! Although it sounds more like his head was half cut off, than "just" a slit throat!

On the ground, Renly's head rolled sickeningly to one side, and a second mouth yawned wide, the blood coming from him now in slow pulses.

[scosher]

I never mentioned this before but I really like the guy playing Jaqen. He has just the right level of mysteriousness when he speaks.

Casting has been phenomenal for this series. Even ones that I disliked in S1 have proven better this season, like Cersei and Renly. So far, the only casting I still despise is Asha/Yara, but considering how I've changed tunes before, I'm willing to wager she'll prove me wrong once she's given meatier lines than bullying Theon.

[Cornballer]

- Via WiC.net: Emily Nussbaum talks GoT in The New Yorker
- Thronecast Series 2 Episode 5 (youtube)
- Thronecast: Uncut Gemma Whelan Interview (youtube)
- Adam WarRock "When the Winter Comes" ("unofficial hip-hop anthem", youtube)

[Cornballer]

- Ratings up slightly this week

Game of Thrones rose a tenth vs. last week and tied the NBA playoffs for the Sunday lead cable with adults 18-49 with a 1.9 rating.

3.9M total viewers for the first airing.

[LegendofJoe]

- Ratings up slightly this week3.9M total viewers for the first airing.

Damn! Raise that budget HBO, the viewers demand it!

[The Lamonster]

- Thronecast: Uncut Gemma Whelan Interview (youtube)

She is cute after all. Discussion over.

[JGS]

I'm not too concerned about the lack of battles. It is TV and the production values overall are high. The battle sequences we see in the movies are more than budget. They're choreography, length, & germain to a plot usually lacking in polictical intrigue andmaneuvering which is what GoT thrives on right now.

To see one good battle would be awesome, but they would take time away from the show better spent on its strengths.

[Kwhit10]

Just watched the newest episode last night, and I'll have to say this one had the best pacing.

The prior episodes seemed to move to fast and shoehorn all these characters into every episode. I felt this one had good chunks of (uninterrupted) screen time for each story rather than jump all over the place.

[Cpt.Underpants]

Damn! Raise that budget HBO, the viewers demand it!

Budget and more episodes

[Gen.Grievous]

You really need to watch each episode multiple times to get all the details. I totally missed Ghost in this episode. He's on top of the Fist looking around the frozen waste for a few seconds.

This episode made me realize how much I've forgotten. Which makes sense I guess since I haven't read the books in like five years (still waiting for ADWD MMP). I feel like some of this stuff happened way later in the books?

Don't start reading again. Judging by the amount of whining I see from people who have recently read the books about the tiniest changes made by the producers of the show your enjoyment will probably be ruined. Or maybe it's just the mindset that some people watch
the show with.

[Duane Cunningham]

Gotcha, yeah. The scene was definitely built to imply (at first) that the Vault was still a problem for Xaro, and Dany might have been the solution. I honestly thought he wanted her dragons to melt it down, or something. Can dragonfire melt Valyrian steel?

Xaro's actually claimed his vault was made of something called Valyrian STONE. Did anyone else catch that? I'm pretty positive that there's no such thing in the books and they just made it up.

[Lactose_Intolerant]

yeah its made up. They probably didn't want to spend money on a metal door.

[Forsaken82]

The Pacific doesn't have to go on for 7+ years, I guess it's easier to commit to only ten episodes with that kind of funding than to having to commit to that kind of budget per season for what could easily end up being more than 10 seasons.

The pacific also didn't have the veteran Cast that GoT has. (The Jurassic Park kid hardly qualifies :P)

On topic, (ACOK/ASOS) I am assuming at this point that Sam will be the one to find the cache of Dragon glass since Jon clearly hasn't found it yet? If no one finds the dragon glass than it sort of defeats the purpose of the battle with the white walkers... unless i missed the part where Jon found it?

[gutshot]

Xaro's actually claimed his vault was made of something called Valyrian STONE. Did anyone else catch that? I'm pretty positive that there's no such thing in the books and they just made it up.

In the book, Dragonstone is said to be made out of "black stone" using Valyrian masonry techniques. Also (ADWD) Tyrion notices and admires the Valyrian stone roads when he is traveling in Essos. So it is something from the books, just not as prominent as Valyrian steel.

[WARP10CK]

Budget and more episodes

Well season 3 is confirmed to happen it will be interesting too see if HBO will raise the budget when season 3 airs.

[sixteen-bit]

Is it just me or was there no nudity in the most recent episode?

[Cornballer]

- More on the ratings from EW:

HBO’s Game of Thrones matched its series-high performance on Sunday night. The fifth episode delivered 3.9 million viewers at 9 p.m. and 4.7 million viewers total for the night (in fact, digging deeper into the digits, Thrones had more viewers than ever for a premiere episode, but not quite enough to roll over the rounding from its previous high of 3.9 million to 4.0 million … I bet it will happen this season, though).