[Book/TV Spoilers] GOT Overall Review

[Kaitscralt]

Things I liked: Everything

Things I disliked: NMH (Needs More Hound)

[pleonasm]

The Good

I think the casting was pretty exceptional. There is a performance or two that is a little suspect, but for the most part, they all delivered and in some cases (Bean, Dinklage, Gleeson), exceeded the material (the tv scripts).

I also think they should get some credit for sticking so faithfully to the source material. I give that praise with a caveat, but it would have been easy for them to convince HBO to let Ned live or change some plot point because it would be more pleasing to the audience.

The Bad

The pacing/editing has been dreadful at times. Some scenes stretch on too long or are poorly placed within the episode. Some of the choices in the finale seem haphazard and almost if the showrunners don't quite understand how to best deliver the material. I am still stunned that the Pycelle/Ros scene is the last third of the finale while the King of the North is the opening 15 minutes. That's an inane choice. Almost inexcusable.

The Ugly

Exposition. Whether its the sexposition scenes (anything with Roz) or just one character delivering a monologue (the King's speech about war to Selmy and Jamie, Vary's description of his youth, etc...), it almost always feel stilted and unnatural. Writing good exposition dialouge is challenging for even the best writers, but the showrunners never seemed to find their footing with this. I'd argue they should have veered more away from the book and inserted scenes where the information could be delivered more naturally. TV is a visual medium, it offers an entire different set of tools to deliver information and in a lot cases, the writers went with the least creative and least interesting. I realize 'budgets' are an issue, but they can also be creative too.

[Lugez]

The good:

1. Scenery and the environment. The view of the castles were well done. I could also easily tell whether any particular scene took place. Each place had its own unique feel such as the Wall, King's Landing, Vaes Dothrak, etc. They did an EXCELLENT job in this department. They truly brought Martin's world to life.

2. Casting was spot on, as were the performances. With a couple small quibbles which I'll mention later.

3. Very faithful to the books. Nothing more needs to be said here.

4. I appreciated some of the new scenes. In the books, I always felt restricted because we only saw things from one character's eyes. The show didn't have this limitation, and they used this to their advantage and were very successful with it, imo. The new scenes felt like "deleted scene" from the books, and it was refreshing to see my favorite characters from an outsider perspective for once.

The bad:

1. Exposition and pacing, more specifically during episodes 1-4. The sexposition was over-the-top too, and some scenes went on for way too long. There were random info dumps in odd places...And some scenes just felt like a mess to me. They got better with this during the last half of the season, so I hope this momentum continues into season 2.

2. I hate complaining about something that couldn't be fixed even if they wanted to...But we needed wolves. They were missed dearly.

3. I was very dissapointed with them showing nothing of the battles. This was their chance to show more action, and they didn't do it. There was so much potential here. I wasn't expecting a LOTR kind of battle, but I think showing Jaime take out multiple guards and Robb closing in on him would have been sufficient.

Minor complaints:

I didn't find Lena Headey's portrayal of Cersei very impressive. It could just be me, but I just wasn't feeling it from her like I was from pretty much the rest of the cast.

I'm also undecided about my opinion in Aidan's Littlefinger. His character was unremarkable, but I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing. I always pictured Littlefinger as someone who never looks like a threat and just stays in the background. So I'm wondering if Aidan did his portrayal with that in mind, or if his performance was just weak...Do I make sense here?

[Lion of Venice]

Like:

-The cast was excellent, even the actors that I don't like a lot are doing a very good job and some of them (Harry Lloyd!) managed to make their characters even more interesting then in the books.

-Faithful to the books, this is a big plus. Yes they changed some things but all the important stuff is there (or I guess will be added when it becomes really relevant to the show).

-I love the costumes, the set and everything that was real in the show...

Dislike:

-...on the other hand I disliked the CG for some of the location, like Winterfell, the Barrier or Eyrie, they didn't look real and broke my suspension of disbelief.

-Sexposition, exposition... Too much shoved in the face of the audience, it often felt awkward.

-Some scenes looked cheap, like the hunting trip of King Robert, that was a walk in the woods, not the hunting trip of a king! This goes hand in hand with the "no battles" problem. I hope the second season will have a bigger budget.

-Some minor changes from the books that didn't turn out very well.

Overall:

I'd give the series an 8 out of 10, I enjoyed very much but it's still not perfect, I have a lot of expectation for the next season!

[PestilencE]

Well, the dust has pretty much settled now, and everyone has had the time to do a rewatch (or two, or more), and evaluate their overall impressions of the season, and to make an objective assessment of said season. At least I did, so here are my thoughts.

First of all, I'd like to make somewhat of a criticism of the aSoIaF fanbase. I've been closely following the westeros.org boards and the winter-is-coming.net blogposts after each episode, and after the season's end also. To me it seemed that people were not being critical enough.

Now, don't jump at me. I think that HBO managed to create an amazing TV show. The very fact that my favorite ever book series got translated to the TV screen is a pure mental orgasm for me, and I could barely wait for Mondays to get my required dose of GoT goodness.

However, as great as GoT is, it's not perfect. I don't really expect it to be perfect, but I expect it to be better. And we all know that it CAN be made better, as soon as people stop admiring Tyrion's slapping of Joffrey and start pointing out the show's flaws. We are the authority on the books, after all. Whose opinion should count more than ours when it comes to improving the TV show based on those books? So start criticising, and do it harshly!

Well, that was a negative start. The rest of my thoughts, both praiseful and critical, will be in the form of random scribbles:

Cinematography

Right now, the cinematography is merely adequate. Whoever's in charge should try to make what we see on screen play out more interestingly, more lively.

There were several scenes that were quite botched. Off the top of my head, two of these were Arya's first murder, and the repelling of the wight. The former was especially bad, due to the fact that the whole damned episode was named after it.

The revealing of the dragons was a bit of a letdown too.

Casting

I think the casting team did an amazing job picking the actors. Simply amazing. I have no complaints, except maybe for David Bradley, who just doesn't look old and weak enough to be Lord Frey! But that's really not a major thing, as he can certainly act the old one.

Acting

Like I said, I believe the actors were chosen very well, but I still think there are some problems with how a few of them portray their character. This may be either an issue of the writing team giving them bad characterisations, or just not a very good read of the character by the actors. Most notably:

- Book Cersei can be cold and bitchy, and she can be hot and seductive. I don't think Lena Headey is showing us much of the latter. I loved her initially, but at one point it became like watching Steven Seagal's daughter. I'd put the blame more on Lena Headey for this one.

- Aidan Gillen is struggling to hide his Irish accent, and it very sensibly limits his expressivity. He delivers Littlefinger's lines and actions in a very dry and monotonous manner. Where's the wicked maniacality of the book's Littlefinger?

- Shae. "Let's start with your last night in this world." *puke* Seriously, writing team? I actually like the actress, and think the changes to the character may end up being fun. But please give her better lines!

Everything is too sunny

There is an annoying lack of variety in the meteorological setting.

Every fan of the book can agree that Robert's death in the TV show lacked the needed gravity. And everyone who can make a proper analysis can see that it was because it happened during the day, and under jolly sunlight. What the hell? It was supposed to be dark – with all its oppresiveness and uncertainty – and troubled Barristan fetching for Ned. NOT stupid lighthearted and foolish flailing Renly.

One of the most important scenes from the book, and they botch it like that! :(

Another one is when Ned confronts Cersei about the truth. And there we have it again – fucking sunlight, smack-dab in the middle of the Red Keep. It was supposed to be mystical and secluded, for heavens' sake!

And Lena, please don't be Steven Seagal's daughter again... Don't show your teeth and crease your forehead so much. :(

Waiting for dawn to show the dragons was extremely anti-climactic. Everything was set up so nicely already! Why did you have to wait for the sun?!

Or Ned and Jaime fighting... Total lack of suspense there. No rain, no night, no thrill.

Locations

I loved the rawness of Winterfell, the honorable elevatedness of the Eyrie, the depressing starkness of the Twins, and the spacious exoticness of the Eastern continent.

But palms in Kind's Landing?! Come on, now! We get it that it is supposed to be a contrast with the North, but KL is not like that! This is a serious mischaracterisation of the palce. It should have been a decaying shithole, not a seaside resort, ffs...

yeah, yeah, we got like two shots of the supposed "misery" of the place: One was when Arya was outside the walls, and the other was just outside the window of Petyr's brothel. Not enough.

Clothes, sets

Nothing much to say here. Amazing work. Just make the sets bigger.

Where did all the millions go?!

A Song of Ice and Fire deals mainly with power struggles, and that was translated very well on screen. However, we can't forget that there's also the epic scale, and a certain primal ENORMITY, that the books possess, but the show doesn't.

The shooting took place in Malta, Northern Ireland, and Morrocco. You can hardly get any cheaper than that. And yet, somehow the budget was not enough to have a five-minute battle?

Listen up, bosses: If you can't support the spoiled extras, then next time, you'll go to somewhere where you can sweatshop the fuck out of the local population, you hear? Come to Bulgaria! Hell, I'll work for free, and gladly take an arrow in the ass, as long as it can contribute to the grandeur. (It should. It's me, after all...)

Then we can have battles, CGI and non-claustrophobic sets.

We want our epicness, damn it!

Sex, nudity, etc.

I was ok with all the so-called "sexpositions" that many people seemed to be at odds with. The only exception was probably the one with Ros and Maester Pycelle, because of how absurdly it stood in the episode's context. (I'll talk more about that later)

I especially loved the one with Littlefinger: "I'm going to fuck them." Brilliant!

The one with Loras and Renly – I was OK with the sex itself, but not very OK with how the respective characters were portrayed. Come on, now, Renly wasn't such a wimp in the books!

I didn't like the Tyrion + Shae sex scene. Cheesy dialogue, and a way overstayed welcome.

I was disappointed with the lack of a brutal rape when Dany was saving Mirri Maz Duur. Why?! :(

Hodor's dick was just stupid.

Lack of important lines

"Please, milady, don't kill him here!"

"Don't kill him anywhere!"

Episode 4 ended well. However, would it have hurt to have a simple two-minute scene in the beginning of Episode 5, where we can get this oh-so-awesome exchange? Add an assertion by Catelyn that they're taking him to Winterfell, and Tyrion saying that his father would give good coin to whoever bears him the news of the "incident", and you have a great episode-opener, or at least much better than Ned + Barristan @ KL.

"The gods fashioned us for love, it's our great glory and our great tragedy."

I'm pissed because everything in that scene played pretty perfectly, and then they decided to just NOT have that line. Why?!?!? Couldn't spare the five seconds? This is one of the most important lines in the series, ffs...

Small things, some would say, but it's exactly those details that make aSoIaF what it is. The show should make a point of not missing them.

Some comparisons to the books

I'm not one to whine about every minor difference from the book. On the contrary, I greeted most of the new additions and changes. Anything I disliked, I've mentioned already, and it isn't really that much.

The additional characterisation that the show gave us for some of the characters was done really well. Most of those scenes and exchanges that the book didn't have, or which we didn't see, such as Robert exchanging war stories with his guardsmen, or Cersei schooling Joffrey, were executed excellently.

One thing I thought worked even better in the show, than it did in the books was the Dothraki. The Dothraki were awesome. Partly due to Emilia Clarke's stunning performance (see below), partly due to Harry Lloyd's, partly due to the fact that Jason Momoa made Drogo a fucking wild animal compared to the books, partly due to a ton of other equally important things, the across-the-narrow-sea storyline really managed to work even better than it did in the books. (which is not to say that it sucked in the books)

Conclusion

So where do we go from here?

The first season of Game of Thrones was a stunning success in my eyes, and a very promising start to the TV series. If Season 2 gets a bigger budget, I hope that we can get some true epicness.

The first season proved that Game of Thrones is one of the best, if not THE BEST TV series of all time. Season 2 will be the season that decides whether the show will satisfy itself with that title, or whether it will make the leap, and step up to be a worthy adaptation of the books. That's right, I am not convinced that GoT is a worthy adaptation of aSoIaF just yet.

I can't avoid the obvious question of what will happen if the show gets ahead of Martin's output rate. And, frankly, I'm disappointed that so many are avoiding it.

Well, to me it seems that the evasion of this question is a tacit understanding that the show was initially planned to not have more than 2-3 seasons. I'm not OK with that, because, in the end, nothing meaningful will have come out of the whole effort, except for the fact that us book fans got a massive jerk-off of the soul, seeing our favorite book being made into a tv show. That would be pretty self-indulgent.

Well, that's about it. I think I've made some fair points that are worth paying attention to. Comment and discuss. Or try to disagree – I'll have fun proving my point. :)

Bests

Just for fun.

Best episode

Episode 3, “Lord Snow” was the best. It's hard to explain why, really, but it just worked wonderfully from start to finish, and I adored everything in it.

Episode 8, “The Pointy End” follows closely behind, as does Episode 6, “A Golden Crown”.

Worst episode:

I can't say that there was any episode that was bad, but I definitely enjoyed episodes 9 and 10 much less than I did any other.

For 9, the lack of battles and wasting of time in Tyrion's tent is what I disliked.

And for 10, the writing team didn't have a very good endgame, so to speak, and the falling action wasn't done very well.

It was very apparent that they were struggling to fill the last two episodes with content, and there was a lot of excess and scenes of unneeded length, and even events from future books being crammed in. Catelyn's confrontation with Jaime is something that absolutely should have stayed within the boundaries of the second season, as it is an immensely charged event, and did not deserve a half-assed treatment like the one we saw in ep 10.

Yeah.

Best scene

That's a tough call, but I'll go with the throne room scene from the end of episode 8. Masterful work, and a true epitome of the art of film. I don't know if Martin's writing of the episode extended to the screenplay as well, but if it did, then the man has earned my respect not only as a book writer, but also as a writer for the screen.

There are many other candidates: Tyrion in his father's tent, Robert sharing war stories with Jaime and Barristan, Viserys's crowning. Tons.

Best actor/actress

Like I said before, the casting choices were superb. EVERYONE was great. It wasn't very easy to pick the best, but here goes:

For the more prominent characters, Emilia Clarke outdid everyone. She's only 23 or so, but her role was the most demanding, and she fulfilled it exceptionally well. Like I said before, the Dothraki storyline for me was much more interesting in the show than it was in the book, and I think that a lot of this is owed to Emilia's outstanding performance. I can't wait to see her in season 2, where Dany will become a real commander.

Honorable mentions:

Peter Dinklage and Maisie Williams go without mention. We all love them.

Mark Addy ruled.

Viserys was relegated to a more comic-relief type of role, which I'm not sure I approve of completely, but Harry Lloyd was excellent.

Kit Harrington started unsure, because the writers didn't give Jon Snow enough testosterone, but eventually he proved he was up to the task.

Jack Gleeson crushed faces.

Alfie Allen (can't wait to see him in s2)

For the not-so-major characters, Joseph Mawle (Benjen Stark) takes the cake. The way his performance represented the melancholy of the Starks was superb.

Honorable mentions:

Julian Glover (Grand Maester Pycelle)

Jerome Flynn

Ian McElhinney (Ser Barristan)

Elyes Gabel (Rhakaro. I swear, when he spoke Dothraki, he spoke it as if it was his mother's tongue)

Kate Dickie (Amazing. She and her son made a grand duo)

Mark Lewis Jones (Shagga)

Mia Soteriu (Mirri Maz Duur)

Owen Teale (Ser Alliser Thorne)

Best line

“You wouldn't know him.”

That's all, folks.

[PestilencE]

...maybe I should have been more concise :x

[j52y]

"I can't avoid the obvious question of what will happen if the show gets ahead of Martin's output rate. And, frankly, I'm disappointed that so many are avoiding it.

Well, to me it seems that the evasion of this question is a tacit understanding that the show was initially planned to not have more than 2-3 seasons. I'm not OK with that, because, in the end, nothing meaningful will have come out of the whole effort, except for the fact that us book fans got a massive jerk-off of the soul, seeing our favorite book being made into a tv show. That would be pretty self-indulgent."

The thing is, it'll be four years until the show catches up to the series. We've been wondering what'll happen if that happens, but we don't have an answer. Hopefully it won't take Martin another five years to release The Winds of Winter.

A Game of Thrones was published in 1996.

A Clash of Kings was published in 1998.

A Storm of Swords was published in 2000.

So, if he can write like he did with the earlier books, it shouldn't be a problem. And part of what took so long with A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons was that he was restructuring his story, so as long as he doesn't do that, I think we'll be ok!

[Abaddon]

[snip]

Waiting for dawn to show the dragons was extremely anti-climactic. Everything was set up so nicely already! Why did you have to wait for the sun?!

[snip]

Jason Momoa revealed in an interview somewhat recently that they weren't able to shoot that scene at night because of high winds during the night they were supposed to be doing the scene. I'd imagine there were all kinds of practical limitations like this that we never heard of at all.

[Doomprophet]

flashbacks requested

Rheagar's death at the trident desperately needs to be seen and not heard.

The whole story starts from the point that robert became king after he led a rebelion against the targs. That prologue would have gone a long way toward explaining why two little kids across the sea are important.

[Arrogant Bastard]

Good write up. I agree on the "everything is too sunny part"; I'll add that the scene where Jorah fights Qotho and then carries Dany into the tent with Mirri Maz Duur should have taken place at night. I aslo thought the stableboy stabbing by Arya wasn't handled that well, but I don't think it's a scene that would ever really work well on television. Usually the children fighting and/or killing scenes don't come across that well; I also thought the fight between Arya and Joffrey in episode 2 just felt flat, but I don't think it could have been done any better.

Episode 4 ended well. However, would it have hurt to have a simple two-minute scene in the beginning of Episode 5, where we can get this oh-so-awesome exchange? Add an assertion by Catelyn that they're taking him to Winterfell, and Tyrion saying that his father would give good coin to whoever bears him the news of the "incident", and you have a great episode-opener, or at least much better than Ned + Barristan @ KL.

I don't think this would have worked well as the episode opener. In the book this doesn't happen in the present; Tyrion remembers it while being taken to the Eyrie. I think for episode five they needed to open with time having passed, otherwise the spreading of news of this incident would probably seem to have happened too quickly. Actually, with the exception of episode 10, none of the episodes begin immediately where the previous episode left off. And they had to begin episode 10 with Arya being taken by Yoren and having her hair cut, as episode nine had to end with Ned's decapitation and not the immediate aftermath.

There was a definite lack of scale, though it didn't bother me too much. The one place that I noticed it immediately was Ned's execution. That was a well done scene, but I couldn't help but feel the crowd was way too small, the statue was too small; it just didn't feel as epic.

Best episode

Episode 3, “Lord Snow” was the best. It's hard to explain why, really, but it just worked wonderfully from start to finish, and I adored everything in it.

Interesting. I thought episode 3 was probably the worst episode of the season; a lot of the scenes felt rushed--LF and Catelyn, Jon Snow with Tyrion [replacing Donal Noye]--and there seemed to be too many transitions from the Wall to KL to Across the Narrow Sea, it felt disorienting. My favorite was probably episode seven, although I wish they had cut that LF Ros scene in half and left out the part where he goes into his backstory; seems weird that he would tell the whores all that and it spelled out his motivations too much. Otherwise, episode 7 I felt had some really great scenes that felt lifted straight from the book: Dany and the wineseller, Drogo's epic speech, and the confrontation with Joffrey in the throne room is probably my favorite scene of the series.

I also thought it was a great season overall. I wish the show would have more than ten episodes though; I think with 12 it would feel better paced and allow for the scenes to feel less rushed. While most of the scenes were fine, I did notice some of my favorite lines were missing from ones that were condensed, such as Tywin telling Tyrion "Let us be thankful he [Joffrey] has not yet married a whore".

[PestilencE]

flashbacks requested

Indeed. Flashbacks are crucial.

Interesting. I thought episode 3 was probably the worst episode of the season; a lot of the scenes felt rushed--LF and Catelyn, Jon Snow with Tyrion [replacing Donal Noye]--and there seemed to be too many transitions from the Wall to KL to Across the Narrow Sea, it felt disorienting.

I was quite appalled when, upon visiting http://towerofthehand.com/, I found that the users had rated ep 3 the lowest of all. I think that a lot of people are rating the episodes in terms of how saturated they are with major events. Episode 3 lacked a brutal finish, like ep1 had Bran's fall, or ep2 had the killing of Lady, so a lot of people must have felt that ep3 wasn't as good. That's quite a superficial view on the episodes, if you ask me. We know the story already, so an episode's worth should be measured not by what happens within it, but by how good the translation of the book and its execution is.

For me, ep3 excelled in that regard. I must disagree with your criticism. Yes, the transitions may have been frequent, but the scenes got a sufficient screentime and carried the appropriate weight. Think about it, there were so many "patient scenes" here, that definitely took their time:

-Jaime vs Ned

-Cersei + Joffrey

-Arya + Ned

-Bran + Nan

-Cat in the brothel

-Tyrion + Jon @ the armory

-Jaime + Cersei

-Ned + Cat saying goodbyes

-The sharing of war stories

-Jon and Benjen atop the Wall

-Benjen + Tyrion + Yoren (what an awesome, awesome scene!)

-Jorah + Rakharo

-Jon + Tyrion atop the Wall

-and of course, Arya + Syrio (masterpiece)

The only thing that felt rushed to me was LF leading Ned to the brothel.

Noye's omission is negligible.

[Hyper]

...maybe I should have been more concise :x

Ya think???? :rolleyes:

And what a frankly idiotic way to start your post... "a criticism of the aSoIaF fanbase" and that "people were not being critical enough" What? Are you accusing people of not posting their true opinions? And if not, that they somehow should NOT post their own opinions? (since your want them to be more critical)

People post their own opinions. There has been plenty of severe criticism - especially on these forums. Disappointed in the reactions, that they were not more like yours? Then what were you waiting for? Post yours!

I don't have any problem with you or your criticism. Many I agree with. But you certainly need to get off that high horse. Your entire first paragraph is just enough to make me want to ignore the rest.

[A'shaman]

I have little nitpicks, all of which you mentioned (always sunny, omission of great lines for no apparent reason, LF and Cersei's characterisation, sometimes the cinematography) but the main problems were me were lack of battles and no flashbacks.

When I first heard ASOIAF was becoming a TV show, my first thought was how awesome it would be to get to see Robert smashing Rhaegar at the Trident, the Tower of Joy, etc etc. I love flashbacks and I think they often work better on screen than in text.

Yet, there were none. Not one. A huge disappointment. Show, don't tell We never saw Jaime being a great fighter, we just have to believe it because people say so. For all the talk of Aerys' madness, we certainly never saw it. The book didn't have many huge flashbacks like the Tower of Joy, but I would have thought television would have had a better time off portraying them. I was really disappointing.

Also, the lack of battles, particulary Whispering Wood. I was grudgingly fine with the Green Fork being omitted, but no WW? Wtf? It would have needed no more than say, ten men on screen, been at night, we wouldn't have had to see much. Just hear Jaime screaming trying to get to Robb, and cutting down a few men. I don't see how it could have been any harder than the hill tribes fight scene, or Jaime VS Ned really. Show don't tell!

That being said, overall I was floored with the quality of the series, particulary the casting. It's a bloody fantastic show and a great adaption. With time, I hope it becomes even better. If we actually see flashbacks next season, I'll explode with joy, but somehow I doubt it will happen :( However, from some of Beinoff and Weiss' comments and things like the fact they are searching for sailors as extras, I have high hopes that we will see a pretty good Battle of the Blackwater on TV. I think the problem with a lot of battles in season one is that they weren't prioritised (apparently they had a pretty good plan for battle of the Green Fork, where it would follow Tyrion's eye level or somethign and you would hear Gregor bellowing, but schuelding conflicts made it amount to nothing). For a series largely about war, I'd expect a few more battles :P heh

[LordTherion]

I think that David Bradley is absolutely awesome as Walder Frey. Maybe not as old and bald - but yet visually stunning. And he played his role VERY well. BUT: he is already an old man and hey, the series hopefully will last as long as the book series goes on - that makes what, maybe 8 years or so to go? Bradly won't get any younger... well, you got my point. There are so many great but old actors - Peter Vaughan (Aemon) or Julian Glover (Pycelle) - we can only hope that they live to see the end of the series as we can see them play their roles to the end. It's just so great a pity, that the actress of Old Nan has passed away..

[merveilleux]

How can you possibly blame Lena Headey for not being seductive when the script and wardrobe leave no room for seduction? When they cut out all traces of sexuality and innuendo? Do you expect her to show some leg in the middle of a scene and hope the director doesn't WTF at her for it? Do you want her to bat her eyelashes at Ned in defiance of them cutting out her proposition? Please, I welcome your suggestions as to how Lena can subversively undermine the desexualization of her character.

Come on. It's not like they've given her sexy material and she's fucking it up because she's horribly awkward and bland. If you want some recommendations of movies where she bleeds sex, give me a ring. Because she can – if, you know, the writers want her to. (Not that they seem interested in making any noble woman in Westeros remotely sexual, but I digress.)

[LordTherion]

I think that David Bradley is absolutely awesome as Walder Frey. Maybe not as old and bald - but yet visually stunning. And he played his role VERY well. BUT: he is already an old man and hey, the series hopefully will last as long as the book series goes on - that makes what, maybe 8 years or so to go? Bradly won't get any younger... well, you got my point. There are so many great but old actors - Peter Vaughan (Aemon) or Julian Glover (Pycelle) - we can only hope that they live to see the end of the series as we can see them play their roles to the end. It's just so great a pity, that the actress of Old Nan has passed away..

[mr. peasant]

Everything is too sunny

There is an annoying lack of variety in the meteorological setting.

Every fan of the book can agree that Robert's death in the TV show lacked the needed gravity. And everyone who can make a proper analysis can see that it was because it happened during the day, and under jolly sunlight. What the hell? It was supposed to be dark – with all its oppresiveness and uncertainty – and troubled Barristan fetching for Ned. NOT stupid lighthearted and foolish flailing Renly.

One of the most important scenes from the book, and they botch it like that! :(

Another one is when Ned confronts Cersei about the truth. And there we have it again – fucking sunlight, smack-dab in the middle of the Red Keep. It was supposed to be mystical and secluded, for heavens' sake!

And Lena, please don't be Steven Seagal's daughter again... Don't show your teeth and crease your forehead so much. :(

Waiting for dawn to show the dragons was extremely anti-climactic. Everything was set up so nicely already! Why did you have to wait for the sun?!

Or Ned and Jaime fighting... Total lack of suspense there. No rain, no night, no thrill.

Something to consider... the filming location. Unless I'm mistaken, King's Landing would have been shot in Malta. And since filming takes place during the summer months, that usually means clear, cloudless skies and warm days in exterior shots. Also, shooting dawn and dusk shots is difficult logistically due to the small time windows as the sun's movement would be most noticeable at those periods. Even after an hour, the lighting would be completely different.

As for why King's Landing has palms and why it looks as it is, it was a deliberate choice by the show. In the commentaries, it was specified that they wanted to give the place a more 'Persian' feel since they have access to trade, rather than a 'decaying shithole', as you put it.

Where did all the millions go?!

A Song of Ice and Fire deals mainly with power struggles, and that was translated very well on screen. However, we can't forget that there's also the epic scale, and a certain primal ENORMITY, that the books possess, but the show doesn't.

The shooting took place in Malta, Northern Ireland, and Morrocco. You can hardly get any cheaper than that. And yet, somehow the budget was not enough to have a five-minute battle?

Listen up, bosses: If you can't support the spoiled extras, then next time, you'll go to somewhere where you can sweatshop the fuck out of the local population, you hear? Come to Bulgaria! Hell, I'll work for free, and gladly take an arrow in the ass, as long as it can contribute to the grandeur. (It should. It's me, after all...)

While I'm not sure about Malta (though they do use the Euro), I'm fairly certain Northern Ireland is not in any way 'cheap' to film, what with it being the U.K. and all. As for filming in places like Bulgaria, bear in mind that the bulk of the principle cast are British. It might not have been economically viable to fly them all to film on location. And that's before taking into consideration issues such as technical expertise (or whether specially-skilled crew members need to be brought in) and filming locations.

Also, another drain on the budget are the costumes and props. Remember, for every weapon, there are 3 to 4 copies each (steel for close-ups, aluminium for general use, rubber and carbon for safety during action scenes). Meaning, having 30 swords would require about 90 to 120 props. Likewise, with armour, there are two sets (one for the actor, one for the stunt person). And this is all before taking into consideration the need for spares/backups.

Given how detailed these items were, I get the impression that the showrunners made a point to go with high quality than getting things made on the cheap. Hopefully, this means that there will be less need to replace damaged props in the future and the savings made here can be passed onto other areas (getting more extras for large-scale scenes/battles, etc).

I can't avoid the obvious question of what will happen if the show gets ahead of Martin's output rate. And, frankly, I'm disappointed that so many are avoiding it.

Well, to me it seems that the evasion of this question is a tacit understanding that the show was initially planned to not have more than 2-3 seasons. I'm not OK with that, because, in the end, nothing meaningful will have come out of the whole effort, except for the fact that us book fans got a massive jerk-off of the soul, seeing our favorite book being made into a tv show. That would be pretty self-indulgent.

I agree - people are definitely avoiding this topic; both, the people running the show AND the the fans of the show and books. In my opinion, there are two obvious solutions - either somehow pry the secrets out of GRRM or to make their own stuff up. The latter will almost certainly upset book fans while the former might be impossible (since GRRM himself might not have all the details worked out).

[samiam3]

I think that whenever the show deviates from the book - especially in the first few episodes the results are worse.

I agree with original poster that the book's depiction of Arya's first kill and the wight is way worse than in the book. Ironic that GRRM wrote the script for that episode.

My 2 pet peeves:

1. The "Direwolves" look ridiculous. I was attacked by a German Shepard as a kid but even I am not scared of these dogs. They have to make them bigger even if it means bad CGI. I also don't think the Robb/Greywind dynamic is coming across at all. At the end of the Red Wedding scene the powerful image of Frankendog won't make any sense to anyone who hasn't read the book unless the dogs become a bigger part of show.

2. Peter Dinklage's attempt at a british accent. Nobody else could possibly play Tyrion as well but his accent is dreadful. He also isn't bringing across the "evil little monster that terrifies Cersai" side of Tyrion. However, his protrayal is so sympathetic that you actually love Tyrion on TV show as opposed to the book where you enjoy him but don't necessarily like him all the time. That has brought an interesting twist to the show but I wonder how convincing the big scene with Tywin and Shae will be.

[PestilencE]

While I'm not sure about Malta (though they do use the Euro), I'm fairly certain Northern Ireland is not in any way 'cheap' to film, what with it being the U.K. and all. As for filming in places like Bulgaria, bear in mind that the bulk of the principle cast are British. It might not have been economically viable to fly them all to film on location. And that's before taking into consideration issues such as technical expertise (or whether specially-skilled crew members need to be brought in) and filming locations.

Friend, I was a bit jokeful with all that talk about "wasted millions" and "spoiled extras". And I was especially not serious with my suggestion that they come to Bulgaria. :)

The budget was limited, and I believe that the producers tried their best to make as good a use of it as possible.

But still, battles and grandeur is something that absolutely needs to be in the TV Show, if it hopes to be a worthy adaptation of the books.

[Calibandar]

Well, I guess here is as good as any place to post my impressions of the series. I've not commented on the series yet because I have only seen the 10 episodes in the last two weeks.

Overall: Very good, simply exceedingly pleased with the series, both as an adaptation and as a gtreat HBO series on it's own. As close to The Wire as anything they've done these last few years, and for my taste, a good bit better a series than Rome ( which wasn't half bad, but had nothing like the characterization that Thrones has, nor plotting this eventful).

The thing that stood out to me the most, aside from how faithful the adaptation is, is the casting. Everyone seems to agree on that, by and large, so let me just list those characters that I really enjoyed:

Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo. He portrayed him like a wild beast of him and breathef life into a character I found a bit hard to get on with in the book. Very well done, very vidid, immense performance. Now looking forward to seeing Momoa in Conan.

Emilia Clarke as Dany- Very positively surprised by her. Very attractive, very commanding, full of heart in the face of many adversities. One of the clear standouts of the first season.

Dinklage as Tyrion. Does a good job doesn't he. Sure, he's not quite Tyrion as in the books, who is more scarred, and more witty. But still, close enough.

Bean as Ned. Speaks for itself. Everyone's first choice for Ned, though I think the actor playing Benjen could have done it as well.

Bran Stark- He just properly reminded me of Book Bran.

Joffrey- As Wert said, every bit as murderable as his book counterpart. Despicable.

Jaime Lannister- This along with Momoa as Drogo is a piece of casting that really took me by surprise. Coster Waldau does extremely well and to me captures the elements of Jaime's character, and has tremendous charisma as well.

Mark Addy: He may lack Robert's required height, but you don't notice it. He made a great Robert, had a very characterful face.

Varys- Superb, just... superb.

Littlefinger- Not quite as impressive as Varys, but still one of the best performances in the series, and close enough to the book Petyr for my taste. Well cast, and then well acted as well.

Lord Commander Mormont- thought the burly old man from Braveheart was a great choice in every way for the old Commander.

Jorah Mormont- Made a much stronger impression on me in the tv series than in the book, and I put that down largely to an actor with great presence. Also, candidate for most masculine voice in the show.

Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister- Every bit the Tyrant, or Tywin.

Benjen Stark- Enigmatic, dutiful, looked great.

It strikes me that one of the reasons this series is so good is because it balances the cast of youngsters with some very strong, older actors, who really carry the show in their own right, those actors I named above. They ground the show with their charisma and make a Fantasy seem more real.

Castings I have mixed feelings about:

Catelyn Stark- It seems to me she is described as prettier in the book, moreso than this plain looking actress. Otherwise well played though.

Barristan- The actor does well, I just imagined him a bit differently.

Bronn- Again, I thought that the actor on his own did a solid job, but I thought Bronn was more burly, bigger.

Jon- Simply does not match my image of Jon, but the actor does a good job.

Robb- Exact same as with Jon.

Castings I plain disliked ( very few of these, but still):

Cersei- my feelings here are the same as Pestilence posted in his original post. Headey gets the bitchiness and the viciousness of book Cersei across quite well, but book Cersei was also seductive, exuberant. That is totally missing with Headey, and a disappointment. She is only one aspect of the character, and about as seductive as the Septa.

Renly- The actor chosen simply looks nothing like Book Renly. He is small and slight, whereas Renly is descrived as a Young Robert, who we know was 6'6 as a young warrior. Poor casting.