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Game of Thrones getting a big head?


Kingsleigher

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I've been a reader of the books for the past 10 years, and I really enjoy the show!



I think most book purists seem to forget that this is in fact an adaption, and that the books are hardly script material. There is just too much that can't be put across on screen such as histories and lore and internal monologues.


It's just too much.


GoT has both a budget and a very tight time frame in which to shoot what is essentially a 10 hour movie every year, so yes, some things will be left out and other things changed in order to produce a quality show within those boundaries.



I would love it if they could spell out the novels word for word on the screen, however this is reality and that just doesn't happen.



Instead we should just accept what George himself has said, that the show is an alternate universe with the same characters acting out various situations in a slightly different way.


I don't know about you but I'm just happy to be spending time in Westeros again! :laugh:

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Agreed. I definitely don't read as much as I used to. Work, family, other things like spending too much time on the computer, etc. If it weren't for GOT Season 1 I probably wouldn't have picked up any of the books at all. It was a major time investment to do so. Now I'm hooked and looking forward equally to TWOW and Season 5. Without the HBO version I wouldn't have done any of this at all.


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Agreed. I definitely don't read as much as I used to. Work, family, other things like spending too much time on the computer, etc. If it weren't for GOT Season 1 I probably wouldn't have picked up any of the books at all. It was a major time investment to do so. Now I'm hooked and looking forward equally to TWOW and Season 5. Without the HBO version I wouldn't have done any of this at all.

Same. I barely read at all these days. I used to inhale books "back in the day". Ironically it was studying history in college that killed off some of my love for reading (slogging through books to find what I needed turned reading into a chore more than anything). And I only started reading the books because I loved the S1 so much and wanted to spend more time with the characters. I even put off finishing ADWD for months because I didn't want my time in Westeros to be over.

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I've been a reader of the books for the past 10 years, and I really enjoy the show!

I think most book purists seem to forget that this is in fact an adaption, and that the books are hardly script material.

Yet some of the best scenes in the TV series were lifted directly out of the books.

Just sayin'

It's a very complicated universe, and we do need to cut them some slack. I'm not expecting it to be a page-to-page adaptation that includes every character written. But they make stupid decisions regarding plot choices and flow of the story that a book reader can pick up because we know the original version of events made more sense in the story or worked better.

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Yet some of the best scenes in the TV series were lifted directly out of the books.

Just sayin'

It's a very complicated universe, and we do need to cut them some slack. I'm not expecting it to be a page-to-page adaptation that includes every character written. But they make stupid decisions regarding plot choices and flow of the story that a book reader can pick up because we know the original version of events made more sense in the story or worked better.

There are plenty of great scenes not in the books. Arya and Tywin, Cersei and Tyrion, Varys and Tyrion for example. The show has done a much better job of pairing relevant characters together in interesting ways. The books would have been helped by that instead of Martin inventing new characters every few pages. I completely agree that the books don't lend themselves to screenplays, but the writers have done a great job of converting them. In the hands of lesser writers, it would have very easily become a confused, jumbled mess of epic proportions or so simplified that the story became unrecognizable. The show's not perfect by any means, but I think it's a great adaptation.

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I am so glad we finally have a thread to point out the flaws of the show. I don't know how I survived without it.

Agreed. It's so rare to find a thread complaining about the show around here.

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There are plenty of great scenes not in the books. Arya and Tywin, Cersei and Tyrion, Varys and Tyrion for example. The show has done a much better job of pairing relevant characters together in interesting ways. The books would have been helped by that instead of Martin inventing new characters every few pages. I completely agree that the books don't lend themselves to screenplays, but the writers have done a great job of converting them. In the hands of lesser writers, it would have very easily become a confused, jumbled mess of epic proportions or so simplified that the story became unrecognizable. The show's not perfect by any means, but I think it's a great adaptation.

Season 4 changed my mind about it being a great adaptation. There were some absolutely horrible scenes and a lot of wasting time.

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Season 4 changed my mind about it being a great adaptation. There were some absolutely horrible scenes and a lot of wasting time.

The only 'horrible' scene that comes to mind is the Dreadfort attack. The rest ranged from okay to awesome...pretty much like the books, which range from bad to okay to awesome, as well.

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Meh they have been fucking storylines up since the 2nd season.

But, despite the mess, it was understandable: budget, ASOIAF being hard to adapt, not having the final outcome. All of that, I could simply say "well, they're doing the best they can!".

But "Only Cat" had no sense. It's a, let's call it that, "iconic" phrase of an "iconic" moment and they simply change the words because F U? Is in that moment I realised they would carry away because they could.

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They've changed lines of dialogue since season 1, mostly to make them simpler to understand for the "casual viewer". This goes from small things like saying actor instead of mummer to larger ones like saying "the Lannister sends their regards" instead of "Jaime Lannister". Someone reading the book can stop reading and look up the word mummer or pause and figure out what it means given the context it's used in but when watching it live on TV you can't do that. Worse still, if you're watching with someone they might turn and ask you "what's a mummer?" and in doing so talk over a more important piece of dialogue that they'll also expect you to explain to them. In the same without Jaime's inner monologue to confirm that he had no hand (hehe, you get it?) in the RW, they changed the line so that the "casual viewer" wouldn't think that he'd somehow planned it with Roose offscreen. Changing "only Cat" to "your sister" is pretty much the same. Of course unlike the "Jaime Lannister" to "the Lannisters" switch, it doesn't change the meaning of the line quite as much. Of course they could have had LF and Lysa refer to Catelyn as Cat a bunch in that scene and prior ones to remind the more forgetful viewers that that was her nickname, but the change of line WAS NOT meant as a "fuck you" to the fanbase.



Though like David Simon the Wire's showrunner they COULD operate with the principle of "fuck the casual viewer" (I think he said that in an interview), they haven't and have ended up with a more widely watched show. I doubt that some of GoT's simplifications of the source material are actually the reason for its success but still as Tyrion said to Cersei in ep. 306, "the impulse I understand."


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Agreed. It's so rare to find a thread complaining about the show around here.

Well, thank god you're here then. You've only mentioned how much you love the show about a THOUSAND times. And that's not an exaggeration. We get it. You can rest now. Take the load off and relax.

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Well, thank god you're here then. You've only mentioned how much you love the show about a THOUSAND times. And that's not an exaggeration. We get it. You can rest now. Take the load off and relax.

You're missing the point. There are at least 10 threads complaining about the show for every ONE thread that doesn't. The show isn't the horrible dungeons and dragons abomination that some people make it out to be. God forbid people say they LIKE the show around here.

But no, I think I'll continue saying how much I enjoy the show as long as other people around here continue to complain about how much they dislike it. Seems about fair to me.

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Suit yourself. Seems like slamming your head into a wall to me. Since you know, you're opinion is soley your own and you have already stated it ad infinitum. Some day you might wish you spent your youth pursuing others hobbies. Ones that didn't necessitate endless repetition directed towards the plural masses that disagree (and will continue to do so regardless of how many times you repeat the same sentences) with you. Especially since you confuse opinion with fact.

Last bit of advice... Don't take it so personally. HBO is still making an ass fuck of cash regardless what a few people "around here" think.

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Suit yourself. Seems like slamming your head into a wall to me. Since you know, you're opinion is soley your own and you have already stated it ad infinitum.

...you mean I'm somehow different from the other posters here in that regard?

Some day you might wish you spent your youth pursuing others hobbies. Ones that didn't necessitate endless repetition directed towards the plural masses that disagree (and will continue to do so regardless of how many times you repeat the same sentences) with you. Especially since you confuse opinion with fact.

Last bit of advice... Don't take it so personally. HBO is still making an ass fuck of cash regardless what a few people "around here" think.

Oh, that's hilarious. Somehow I'm the only one wasting my time posting to this board simply because my opinion differs from yours.

I have my opinion and I'll continue to state it as I see fit, just like every other person on this board does. Nor do I have to justify how I spend my time to you. I'm not a 'youth', nor am I stupid enough to confuse opinion with fact, so feel free to keep your 'advice' because I'm not in need of it, thanks.

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The only 'horrible' scene that comes to mind is the Dreadfort attack. The rest ranged from okay to awesome...pretty much like the books, which range from bad to okay to awesome, as well.

This is an example of confusing opinion with fact. Someone said they thought season 4 had many horrible scenes and you, the self appointed defender of HBO's GoT, respond that there was only one. Like i said, we get it. You love the show. Good for you. You are ONE person. Let the others talk for themselves.

Unfortunately you have chosen to get defensive over my previous post, which i suppose is the expected response when dealing with a person who is clearly obsessed with something. However, yes, you are wasting your time. It's not because you disagree with me, however. You are the only person I've seen on here that has posted what equates to the same three sentences eighteen hundred times. It's boring, and it comes off as being borderline pathological.

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This is an example of confusing opinion with fact. Someone said they thought season 4 had many horrible scenes and you, the self appointed defender of HBO's GoT, respond that there was only one. Like i said, we get it. You love the show. Good for you. You are ONE person. Let the others talk for themselves.

Unfortunately you have chosen to get defensive over my previous post, which i suppose is the expected response when dealing with a person who is clearly obsessed with something. However, yes, you are wasting your time. It's not because you disagree with me, however. You are the only person I've seen on here that has posted what equates to the same three sentences eighteen hundred times. It's boring, and borderline pathological.

So, if I say that, in my opinion, Game of Thrones is the greatest tv series on the planet and that Breaking Bad and True Detective can suck it, no one could respond because I'm only expressing my opinion?

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So, if I say that, in my opinion, Game of Thrones is the greatest tv series on the planet and that Breaking Bad and True Detective can suck it, no one could respond because I'm only expressing my opinion?

How many times are you making this statement? One time or one thousand times?

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