[BOOK SPOILERS]Articles in SFX Magazine & SciFiNow

[Marcelo Rebelo Firqoralas]

....so he takes a unique and complex character and turns them into noble fantasy badass no.324534 ?

I think it's hilarious that people have decided that Bean's version of Ned is a badass after seeing about ten seconds of total photage.

[aimlessgun]

But that's not all! There's also a smaller article in the book section speculating on how Thrones will affect the book sales, drawing on data showing the massive boost in sales that the book of Boardwalk Empire and the complete graphic novel collection of The Walking Dead received after their TV series debuted. Their conclusion is that the books should do very well indeed, helped by the Voyager TV tie-in edition due for launch on 31 March (ten days later than previously announced; either they got it wrong or Voyager has changed the date).

Nice. Anything that gets people buying books is great. And since ASoIaF is so good and so accessible I'd hope people who weren't into fantasy previously might get hooked :)

[Werthead]

No new info at all in the latest SFX (the next issue comes out a week before GoT airs, so hopefully something in that), but an interesting reference in the big three-page article on Camelot:

Camelot's nemesis might not even be Arthur's vengeful half-sister, or even James Purefoy as the villainous warlord King Lot, but sheer bad timing. Having been pulled earlier into Starz's schedule, Tintagel's finest find themselves eye-balling the Sean Bean-starring Game of Thrones from across the pages of the TV guide. "It's just happened that way," Chibnall sighs. "I'm sure every article will compare the two. It's great that there are two shows of this ilk coming out but I think they're going to be very different. You can never think about that when you're making a show because you just want to make it on your own terms. Our aim was to be a character-driven drama about emotions, about politics with a small 'p' and family and rivalries and I hope that we make a good show. Once you put a show out you can't control what happens."

I'm guessing he's never read the SoIaF books because those highlighted areas are where Thrones should excel as well.

[Areo]

I saw the first episode of Camelot and I am not too impressed overall. Of course, it can be a slow starter with potential to become better, but here are my thoughts on this episode:

- The cast is somewhat strange. Arthur looks like a spoiled brat, although this might turn out well as there is room for improvement; we can litterally see him grow. Somehow I doubt he'll live up to my expectations though. Merlin is by far the wierdest choice. It is bold portraying him like that, but I'm having a hard time accepting him.

- The look is great, the scenery, the CGI of the ruined Camelot - there were impressive stuff but you can't build a show around that alone.

- The plot, although altered every time this story is told (as in Merlin), is just a repetition to a large extent. There were many scenes, conversations in this episode that were done time and time again, and there was nothing here that grabbed my attention. Half of what was said was a cliche.

- The focus here so far was not magic but politics which makes it different from Merlin, the Legend of the Seeker and so on. In this repsect it is more comparable with GoT. But whatever they do they can't top the plot Martin layed out, not in a million years.

I am almost certain that GoT will wipe the floor with Camelot. Not that I won't give it a chance, I'm just not looking forward to it with anticipation.

[Bronn Stone]

I'm guessing he's never read the SoIaF books because those highlighted areas are where Thrones should excel as well.

From what I saw of the preview episode, not only has he not read ASOIAF, but he's never read a good book in his life. Or watched a good film.

[Werthead]

Chris Chibnall, the head writer on Camelot, wrote a lot of Torchwood back when it was unwatchably awful. His record is not great, it has to be said, though he does have a couple of decent Life on Mars eps under his belt.

Next SciFiNow apparently has a lot of GoT coverage (possibly the cover as well). Out next week, I believe. SFX has a feature next month, but apparently it's lower in profile.

I really cannot fathom SFX's desultory coverage of the series so far, compared to the amount of coverage they gave shows like The Walking Dead before they aired.

[Werthead]

Major 8-page article in SciFiNow #52.

Game of Thrones is possibly our most anticipated TV drama since SciFiNow first went into print.*

*Only in 2007, so maybe not as awesome as that sounds ;)

Martin:

"I think good versus evil is a great theme, and a great theme for epic fantasy, but I think the battle between good versus evil is waged within the human heart."

Dinklage on the sword-training that everyone else had to do:

"My character doesn't have that option, so he uses his intelligence to save himself. It's great because I don't need to be good at it because my character's not, so when everyone else talks about the sword-training, I was having my cup of coffee."

Dinklage on the online fanbase:

"I'm sure the readers of the books will definitly watch the show. We have a built-in following already and we haven't done anything yet. But they are a good group of fans. I've met a few of them so far, and have gone online - curiosity has got the better of me - so I typed in 'Game of Thrones' and googled it and boy oh boy, I quickly had to turn my computer off. But they are sweet and they are very happy with me, so I am happy with them."

Benioff on faithfulness to source material:

"We wanted to stay faithful to it. Not because we had to, because we are allowed to do what we want, but because we love the story and we really want to remain faithful."

Benioff and Weiss on the book-per-season structure:

Benioff: "So far, it is roughly mapping out to one book per season. But if we are lucky enough to keep going and the show is a success, by the time we get to the fourth season , they might start to march together a little bit because books four and five happen continuously, but it will be roughly that. So if the series does end up as George expects it to be - seven books - then ideally it would be seven seasons."

Weiss: "Unless, of course, George's books keep getting longer and longer, as they tend to do."

[Padraig]

Very interesting. I like Dinklage a lot in interviews. Very thoughtful or very witty (the latter in this case). And always interesting to hear D&D on the possible overall structure. aSoS is the biggest challenge now almost (if they get that far).

[Halfhand]

Dinklage on the online fanbase:

Maybe I'm being narcissistic, but I can't help but think he is referring to me and FaB (About Yea High) here. We spoke with him briefly at the TCAs and introduced ourselves as the guys from Winter-Is-Coming.net. He's a really cool and laid-back guy.

I'm sure he's met other fans of the books and it might be that this interview was conducted before the TCAs, but I'm just going to pretended that he's talking about me. ;)

[Werthead]

Finally, SFX has a big article on the series. In this case, 'big' being 4 pages consisting of a single interview with GRRM that contains virtually no new info of any kind whatsoever. And they lose at least 2 of the pages in the article due to a massive version of the Jon/Robb/Bran archery photo and a redundant sidebar on other fantasy TV shows that have been made over the years.

Hmm.

[Werthead]

SciFiNow unexpectedly has another big article in the magazine for the 3rd month running. It's based around two interviews, one with Nicolaj Coster-Waldau and the other with Jason Momoa, and is quite well-done. The article is also informed by the fact the writers have now seen the first two episodes and seem to be very positive and excited about it.

Interestingly, the article kicks off by contrasting how GoT and the LotR movies open: the movies with a long, involved prologue sequence and GoT with its cold open (pun intended) at the Wall. Jason Momoa goes on to discuss how his character initially comes across negatively due to his treatment of Dany, but she then earns his respect and he in turn softens and the relationship equalises out. NCW notes something similar about how people will hate Jaime at first (because of the end of Episode 1) but will see other sides of him later. Intriguingly, he suggests that Jaime will rationalise the act more for the fear of the life of his sister and her children a little bit more than in the book and that Jaime will be a little bit more sympathetic (at least as sympathetic as a would-be child-murderer can get ;) ).

Both Momoa and NCW have read the books (or at least the first one) by this point and really enjoyed them. The interview ends with a nice quote from Momoa:

"The dragons are sleeping now, but don't worry, they'll be along."

And a great quote from NCW, this time in TV & Satellite Week:

"Jaime's not all bad, but a friend of mine watched the scene where I have sex with my sister and then try to kill a child who was spying on us and said, 'Urgh! What are you doing?'"