valacirca Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 On a GoT thread on another forum, one of the regular posters has stated that he actually prefers the show over the books.Anyone here feel that way? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenophon Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Depends on your terms. I think the books are better than the show if you compare the two to each other, but I think the show is better compared to other TV shows than the books are compared to other books. That's obviously a somewhat unfair standard, but it is more or less how I think about how I'm going to spend my time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greywolf2375 Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 No, I still prefer the books because of the background, color and history we get - those details are what set the books apart for me.I prefer GoT to anything else on TV, it's the only show I actually set time aside each week to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jellydonut Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 No.. If the show had 20-25 episodes per season, perhaps. As it is now, they can't do everything the books do.At the same time, the show is a great complement to the books for me as I am not a very visual reader. I have a terribly hard time visualizing anything, I always get a kind of grey tunnel vision in my head. The show lets me put faces to the characters and imagine the places properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sheep Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 No, I don't even think that that's the best show on TV (maybe the best that's running right now, but then again, I don't follow a lot of current shows so I can't know that), but I'm glad to find a lot of people (non-readers) who do think so.Even visually (which is the show's main aspect, being on TV) the show is really far from my mental image, begin with how certain characters look, dress, and end with the design of sets and cities.This is a great show, with great scenes and actors, but most of the time it doesn't deliver the story/characters as strongly as the books did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfeyoung Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 It really seems strange to me, but some people can't imagine what they read. Others just want to be spoon fed every detail. Those people will always be inclined to enjoy a TV series/movie much more that a book.For me, books allow the reader to become more involved, or entrenched, into the story. Not that movies/TV can't, it's just that books is a better medium for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lasair Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 No.. If the show had 20-25 episodes per season, perhaps. As it is now, they can't do everything the books do.At the same time, the show is a great complement to the books for me as I am not a very visual reader. I have a terribly hard time visualizing anything, I always get a kind of grey tunnel vision in my head. The show lets me put faces to the characters and imagine the places properly.Me too! People always say 'oh, I pictured X with short hair' or 'I pictured Y location having these surroundings' and I'm not visual at all that way, so nothing in the TV show clashes with my notions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexius Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 In some ways. Many characters are more vivid and mature in the show, but it lacks in other aspects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reposado Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Definitely not, like the show, but it jumps from plot point to plot point too much. For example, making it seem like Arya went for a walk in the city as opposed to being out on the streets for a month. In Xenophon's terms, there are several shows that I think are significantly better, but no other book series that I like as much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dylan Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 No, I don't even think that that's the best show on TV (maybe the best that's running right now, but then again, I don't follow a lot of current shows so I can't know that), but I'm glad to find a lot of people (non-readers) who do think so.Even visually (which is the show's main aspect, being on TV) the show is really far from my mental image, begin with how certain characters look, dress, and end with the design of sets and cities.This is a great show, with great scenes and actors, but most of the time it doesn't deliver the story/characters as strongly as the books did.I agree except i do think it is the best show running now. Books are funny in that way, that everyone visualizes the people and cities differently so for me i get annoyed when the show gets a character or city very different from what i thought it looked like. Obviously from what i said before I'm being really picky and unrealistic, but still I get annoyed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seerow Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 This thread makes me happy I tend to have a very generalized visualization, so for the most part when I see things on screen I'm not terribly disappointed by "Oh no that looks nothing like I imagined!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bronn is God Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 I prefer the books, but I think the TV show is brilliant in its own right and it does stand as a separate entity to the books. I have nothing critical to say about the TV show, at least in comparison to the books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon snow targaryen Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Got thrones as a TV show is great but it stand no where near the books.If any one want to compare these two different form of entertainment then you only have to ask yourself that what will i chose if there is a Tv show as good as Got and a book as good as Agot with condition that you can chose only one of them.I think most of the reader's will chose book over show any time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyDogIsNamedDanerys Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 In many ways, yes I prefer the TV show. It's a freaking brilliant adaptation. It's the best adaptation since LotR which was nearly flawless. I think the book has a lot to offer, though, mostly because of the PoV structure. I love reading flawed narrators. In the TV show it's a lot more obvious (IMO) when a character is doing stupid stuff because you aren't inside their head, rooting for them. Still, I instantly preferred the TV versions of many characters to their book counterparts. Jon Snow is a big one. I couldn't stand to be in that bratty head of his, but looking on the outside, he's actually not so bad. A little spoiled, sure, but a good kid overall. :) Littlefinger also went wayyyy up in my estimation (I still think he's scum of the earth, but so much more interesting). I also really enjoyed all of the additional material that made its way into the TV series, but obviously I wouldn't care or take notice of these scenes if I hadn't read the books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christos Symeou Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 I generally prefer the books to the show - though there's a few changes that I think I appreciate more in the show... I prefer the TV version of Shae for example, and I think I may prefer the TV version of Cercei. In general though, the book is better than the show up to now.However, I am almost certain that if it ever goes that far along, I'll definitely prefer the TV show version of aFfC than the book. Just because of the limitation of the TV medium, they'll have to limit what they can show on TV and up the pace, which will mean a good opportunity to ignore a lot of the non-critical parts of the book (and yes, I do not like Feast, I can hardly even call it a 'good' book in general, and am shocked that its written by the same person that wrote the first 3 books). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Scabbard Of the Morning Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 To me this is like saying one prefers the videotape recording of a person to the real person.The show is great, but it pales in comparison to the books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenophon Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 In many ways, yes I prefer the TV show. It's a freaking brilliant adaptation. Yeah, it's funny that GRRM left TV to write stuff that could never be shown on screen, but his training as a TV-writer still shows through in how readily adaptable his work is to the screen. Multiple POVs and so many characters you need an appendix to keep track of them sounds at first like it would be a disaster on TV, but in fact it works wonderfully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Analu Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 In many ways, yes I prefer the TV show. It's a freaking brilliant adaptation. It's the best adaptation since LotR which was nearly flawless. I think the book has a lot to offer, though, mostly because of the PoV structure. I love reading flawed narrators. In the TV show it's a lot more obvious (IMO) when a character is doing stupid stuff because you aren't inside their head, rooting for them. Still, I instantly preferred the TV versions of many characters to their book counterparts. Jon Snow is a big one. I couldn't stand to be in that bratty head of his, but looking on the outside, he's actually not so bad. A little spoiled, sure, but a good kid overall. :) Littlefinger also went wayyyy up in my estimation (I still think he's scum of the earth, but so much more interesting). I also really enjoyed all of the additional material that made its way into the TV series, but obviously I wouldn't care or take notice of these scenes if I hadn't read the books.Pretty much agree with this. They really cast Joffrey well, too. Everytime I see him, I just want to smack him. I also prefer the show because my wife and sisters love the show, and I like watching it with them, seeing their reactions, and discussing it with them afterwards. They always used to tease me about reading fantasy books, but now who gets the last laugh? Hah!I actually haven't read the books in years. I probably went through a 3 year period, where I did like 3 rereads of all the books, and I'm all booked out. Bring on the show. I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aimlessgun Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 Parts of the show are better because of the amazing casting and the visualization, but as a whole the books are far far superior. I literally get tears of nostalgia reading certain scenes from the books, like the Tower of Joy. Show has only done that to me a couple times. This thread makes me happy I tend to have a very generalized visualization, so for the most part when I see things on screen I'm not terribly disappointed by "Oh no that looks nothing like I imagined!"I also think people have specific visualizations of some things but not others, because everyone has different life experiences. So something in the book might resonate very strongly, like "oh I have totally seen a place like that, or I totally know a guy like this character". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reiver Posted June 17, 2011 Share Posted June 17, 2011 There's been a few things i think the show has done better. Ned's execution for example. For the most part though the show is far inferior, part of that is through limitations of the format and us missing out on a lot of the fine details that are difficult to communicate and things like the direwolves and scope which i'm assuming proved too difficult or too expensive to include. A lot of the parts that are weaker than the book are not down to limitations but due to a different and generally dumber less subtle approach that the TV show has adopted. Both Vary's and Littlefinger's characters have been mangled from masters of manipulation into charicatures and Bond villains. There's also been several alterations to dialogue which make the world a less rich and fleshed out place or pointless cursing thrown in in such a way that it feels like a child trying to be grown up. I am looking forward to the blue-ray release as although i'm sure not to agree with all the reasons for changes i'm very interested in the thinking that has lead to them. It's very hard to judge the show objectively since i'm inevitably comparing it to the books but while i admit it's probably the best thing on TV it's not exactly got much competition and i wouldn't put it alongside TV greats like Deadwood, Rome or Generation kill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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