Game of Thrones

[smeags]

yeah this season is going to be great not knowing anything that is coming.


ps - i'm  glad im not the only that gets this geeked out over the show.

[Munson]

Re: the assassin sent to kill Bran--Didn't the show still have Joffery drop the "I'm no stranger to valyrian steel" line when Tywin gave him the sword as a wedding gift? I feel like he definitely said it, but they didn't do anything with it. Maybe I'm just imagining it.

Sunny--If you have nothing to do Sunday, they're gonna marathon the entire Season 4 starting at 11 AM leading up to the new episode. They did the first 3 seasons the last 3 sundays.

[SunMo]

good to know... of course i'll probably be sick of the show by the time the new ep comes on. 

[QB Eagles]

Re: the assassin sent to kill Bran--Didn't the show still have Joffery drop the "I'm no stranger to valyrian steel" line when Tywin gave him the sword as a wedding gift? I feel like he definitely said it, but they didn't do anything with it. Maybe I'm just imagining it.

Nah, that's just the book. In truth I felt that line was a rather lame pretext to have Tyrion suddenly think back to Book 1 and reach a conclusion (and also rather lame to have Jaime independently deduce it a few chapters later, too). Maybe the show would have edited out the assassination attempt entirely if it hadn't been needed to advance the main plot.

I think the wedding gift scene works better on the show than in the book. [No offense to Martin, as he wrote the episode too.] I enjoyed the one time per season they have Joffrey say something uncharacteristically kind, only for him to undo it quickly. Actually I would say the whole wedding was better done on the show. Joffrey's cruelty is somehow even more amplified, Tyrion's barbs back to Joff are harder hitting, and the show gets to show some fun combinations of non-POV characters. Just seeing pissed-off Varys getting conked on the head during the "War of the Five Kings" act is worth the price of admission.

[SD]

Are the books worth reading? I'm so invested in the show I almost feel like they'd ruin it.

[QB Eagles]

Are the books worth reading? I'm so invested in the show I almost feel like they'd ruin it.

I've enjoyed them. I've actually listened to them as audio books on my commute.

You get extra depth on some of the characters, and a few fun side characters who didn't make it into the show. Also you can see where the show writers have improved on or detracted from the source material. Some of the book-first people might disagree, but I think the adaptation choices have been largely successful to this point.

I don't intend to read ahead of the TV show. I think a couple chapters at the end of Book 3 are ahead of where the show is now (not by much, I'm guessing), but otherwise the first three books are good to go.

[Eagles_Legendz]

I still love the books but the show has made smart decisions for the most part. 

You get a lot of interesting history and backstory from the books that the show just doesn't have time to get into, especially with things like Rhaegar and the kingsguard.   

It's also interesting just to compare where things improved character wise (Tywin/Varys to me) or didn't (Jon/Stannis).  Dany is equally whiny and entitled to me both on the show and books (after season 1 anyway).

[Diomedes]

Are the books worth reading? I'm so invested in the show I almost feel like they'd ruin it.

Yes.

I say that with some qualms, as Martin over-indulges himself with ever expanding character/plot additions in 4 and 5, but I'll still read the next one when it's finally published, so yes.

[QB Eagles]

It's also interesting just to compare where things improved character wise (Tywin/Varys to me) or didn't (Jon/Stannis).  Dany is equally whiny and entitled to me both on the show and books (after season 1 anyway).

I agree with all of these. Show Tywin and Varys are incredible. Show Jon is finally starting to grow on me, but he's an overwhelmingly epic character in the books. Stannis seems much more conflicted in the books (although I do like the casting/acting of Stephen Dillane). The Danaerys storyline in both bores the hell out of me after Season/Book 1. Leave the farging slave cities already.

I love everything they've done with Arya and the Hound. I can't imagine a better adaptation of those characters.

Book Tyrion is both much more physically mutilated and morally ambiguous. Both directions have their merits, but I think a straight adaptation would have made him a much less popular character.

Although it's still quite subtle (since the chapters are told from her perspective), I think the books did a better job of hinting at just how many times Catelyn completely farged up and ruined things for her family, while trying to do her idea of the right thing. You might like that angle, SD.

[Eagles_Legendz]

Catelyn is better in the books.  More rational...her decision for freeing Jaime made more sense.  Michelle Fairley was good in the show but she's better in the books.

Dillane is good as Stannis but the Dragonstone writing isn't as sharp as the rest of the series.  It also was clear in the books, I thought, that Stannis used Mel equally as often as she uses him.  She's a useful tool to further his ends in the books.  I think the show veers a bit too much into putting him under her thumb.

They definitely make a few more characters "good" in the show.  Book Tyrion has some serious flaws that are entirely whitewashed on the show.  You could make a very arguable point that by book four he's more grey than Jaime in the book in terms of their track, but the show doesn't want him doing anything that's immoral really.  Same with Varys who is decidedly more of a good guy on the show.  To be fair though, Cersei is more nuanced and interesting on the show.  I feel like she's pretty crazy in the books, and while far from a "good" character in the show, she's sympathetic at times. 

[SD]

I heard in the books Robb never actually speaks in first person he's just talked about. That is odd to me since he was such a major character.

Also felt the Hound got s bad deal. Sure he did some zesty things but he saved both Stark girls.

[Eagles_Legendz]

each chapter is told from a character's point of view. Robb is the only Stark to not have a POV other than Rickon.  GRRM said he didn't want a point of view directly from any of the kings.   But yeah he's not a minor book character but he's also not as major of one as the show depicts.  The Red Wedding is told from Catelyn's perspective.

[QB Eagles]

I heard in the books Robb never actually speaks in first person he's just talked about. That is odd to me since he was such a major character.

He has dialogue but he is not a "POV character" as Legendz described.

It's a really great device for keeping the very long books fresh and for getting across character traits like Sansa's naivete and Jaime's nihilism. A lot of things are referred to as "stupid" in Arya's chapters.

[Munson]

I think the show runners also said that they decided to make Robb a more central character after the fan reaction to him was so positive, and Madden did a great job with the character.

By far the best change the show made from the books so far IMO that I was reminded of a couple sundays ago was putting Arya and Tywin together in Harrenhal. Their scenes together were fantastic and still some of the best of the series to date. "Anyone can be killed."

[smeags]

59hrs 55mins till i get my geek on.