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[BOOK SPOILERS] Watching the show if it overpasses the books [Part 2]


Stubby

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I hope the show takes a different direction now. They're obviously going to cut a lot out from the books next season so hopefully things will move a bit faster. If the show is going to catch up then I'd rather we're watching a different story unfold than that which happens in the books yet to come.


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I view the show and books as honest attempts at covering the same pseudo-historical events, written by different chroniclers. The major events will be the same, but many details will differ.. and minor events will be missing from one or the other completely.

That's a great analogy. It really is like two chroniclers covering the same event.

To be fair, that's already been realized with four characters to date: Mago (died in Season 1, still alive in the books), Pyp (died in 4x09, still alive in the books), Grenn (died in 4x09, still alive in the books), and Jojen (died in 4x10, still alive in the books). There could be more, but that quote could simply refer to deaths that have already taken place.

I think the bigger "spoiler" will be characters not even being cast who seem to be very important in the books. If Aegon, Arianne, Euron, or Victarion are cut, that will be extremely telling.

Don't forget Talisa/Jeyne and Irri ;)

I agree that the lack of casting certain characters might be spoilerish, although I guess some of them could be postponed (like they did with Ramsay and the Reeds). Also, so far they seemed to have limited casting calls and leaks to "minor characters". Maybe that's intentional? (As in: give the fans some goodies, but keep the truly spoilerish characters secret for now?)

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I view the show and books as honest attempts at covering the same pseudo-historical events, written by different chroniclers. The major events will be the same, but many details will differ.. and minor events will be missing from one or the other completely.

It really helps me enjoy both presentations, without a need to constantly reconcile them, and certainly no interest in avoiding one version just to 'preserve' my enjoyment of the other.

That's a great way to see things. Book purists should adopt this way of thinking. Then they can get immersed in the story instead of approaching every scene in the show with the thought, "let's see how the actors, producers, and writers do this time!"

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This is such a struggle. My fiance is exclusively a show fan, an I'm a theory-researching, dig through the books constantly, hardcore reader. The balance was basically that I didn't get to talk about spoilers, and watching the show together was our special thing. Jojen changed that balance. Now, if he goes on without me, we won't be able to talk about it at all, because neither of us will know what topics are safe. :(

I want the book version to be my first exposure to new events in the series, but I also want to keep the event of watching together, that we really bond over, in our lives. It's a huge bummer.

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This is such a struggle. My fiance is exclusively a show fan, an I'm a theory-researching, dig through the books constantly, hardcore reader. The balance was basically that I didn't get to talk about spoilers, and watching the show together was our special thing. Jojen changed that balance. Now, if he goes on without me, we won't be able to talk about it at all, because neither of us will know what topics are safe. :(

I want the book version to be my first exposure to new events in the series, but I also want to keep the event of watching together, that we really bond over, in our lives. It's a huge bummer.

For my husband and myself, our date night was basically making some snacks and watching GoT when it aired after the kids were in bed. For me, that was better than any book ^^ But I understand the dilemma. He and I are both book readers, but I didn't fall in love with the story until after the show started. But neither of us is conflicted over whether to watch the show...we will enjoy both mediums, but there's something to be said for being able to enjoy the show together, which is something we can't do with the books. Hope you guys can work out what to do :)

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I think the bigger "spoiler" will be characters not even being cast who seem to be very important in the books. If Aegon, Arianne, Euron, or Victarion are cut, that will be extremely telling.

I thought Ran made a plausible argument that Benioff and Weiss could hold off on casting someone like Aegon for the fifth season and still adapt his story in the following season if they later change their minds and decide to expand the series to eight seasons.

Having said that, if the above scenario plays out, their initial decision to not tell Aegon's story is still confirmation enough that he is not terribly important in the grand scheme of things.

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I thought Ran made a plausible argument that Benioff and Weiss could hold off on casting someone like Aegon for the fifth season and still adapt his story in the following season if they later change their minds and decide to expand the series to eight seasons.

The cheapest way to deal with Euron and Aegon would be the way they dealt with Berric / Tommen / Daario: First, cast a cheap unknown actor for a very brief and easy early scene and then cast a more proficient actor for the scenes when this character plays a bigger role...

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The cheapest way to deal with Euron and Aegon would be the way they dealt with Berric / Tommen / Daario: First, cast a cheap unknown actor for a very brief and easy early scene and then cast a more proficient actor for the scenes when this character plays a bigger role...

Beric/Tommen/Myrcella were all cases where characters made very minor appearances and then vanished for a while before assuming a larger role. If Euron was going to appear for a bit in season 5 and then become a bigger character in season 6, you wouldn't cast a cheap actor in season 5 and then replace him.

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The cheapest way to deal with Euron and Aegon would be the way they dealt with Berric / Tommen / Daario: First, cast a cheap unknown actor for a very brief and easy early scene and then cast a more proficient actor for the scenes when this character plays a bigger role...

His suggestion involved a more radical alteration than that, with Aegon not being cast at all in the fifth season and only joining the narrative the following season in the event Benioff and Weiss decided to expand the series to an eighth season. Obviously this would entail changing Aegon's story quite a bit, starting with the fact that Tyrion would never meet him on his way to Daenerys.

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well ive been saying it for idk how long now there is no "if" it passes the books thats a for sure thing.
and i will enjoy both that simple.
my wife dosent read the books but we enjoy the show together. aslo i dont spoil it for her but when she ask why this or that i can fill in some blanks and then it makes better sense to her and she is even more invested and understands certain things better.

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I have some hope that maybe, just maybe, GRRM can finish the books before the show catches up. I mean, we still have all of book 4 and 5 left, which could equate to as many as 3 seasons. It's pretty likely that the Winds of Winter will release in 2015, then season 5 will start in 2015, covering book 4, so if there's 2 more seasons covering up to book 5 after that, then a season or 2 covering book 6, maybe A Dream of Spring will make it out on time if GRRM puts the pedal to the metal and we're really lucky.



We do know that GRRM hasn't always taken 5 year gaps between books, so there's no reason to assume it will take him 5 years every time. The first 3 books came out quite consecutively, then he ended up scrapping his idea for the 4th book and starting over, which is what made things so messy for 4 and 5. With that out of the way, maybe the rest will come quicker.


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I have some hope that maybe, just maybe, GRRM can finish the books before the show catches up. I mean, we still have all of book 4 and 5 left, which could equate to as many as 3 seasons. It's pretty likely that the Winds of Winter will release in 2015, then season 5 will start in 2015, covering book 4, so if there's 2 more seasons covering up to book 5 after that, then a season or 2 covering book 6, maybe A Dream of Spring will make it out on time if GRRM puts the pedal to the metal and we're really lucky.

We do know that GRRM hasn't always taken 5 year gaps between books, so there's no reason to assume it will take him 5 years every time. The first 3 books came out quite consecutively, then he ended up scrapping his idea for the 4th book and starting over, which is what made things so messy for 4 and 5. With that out of the way, maybe the rest will come quicker.

Three seasons for AFFC/ADWD isn't going to happen. S5 will cover the majority of both books, with bits and pieces shifted into Season's 4 and 6. So all in all about 1 and 2/3rds of a season for both. That said, I do believe it is possible for Martin to catch up...sort of. I think he'll manage to get TWOW out in 2015, but after the show airs early that year. S5 is bound to have some TWOW spoilers seeing as even S4 has already seemingly taken a couple of cues from it (e.g Jojen's premature death), however most of the story will remain unspoiled. ADOS is more difficult, however if the show goes 8 seasons, and if TWOW is large enough that it warrants two seasons ala SOS, then it's possible for ADOS to come out in tandem with the final season of the show. It's going to be a close one, but it's possible. Worst case scenario ADOS comes out a year after the show's final season, which isn't so bad.

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I mean, we still have all of book 4 and 5 left, which could equate to as many as 3 seasons.

The show is lasting seven seasons, total, per the producers' plans. AFFC and ADWD will be essentially finished by this time next year.

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Actually, I look forward to the show surpassing the books. At first, I was enjoying the show and had no problem seeing the show and books as different mediums, etc. Lately, however, as the show departs more and more from the source material with, imo, illogical changes I'm having more trouble with it. So, when there is no longer any source material with which to compare the show it will work better for me.



Then I will simply enjoy the books as Martin writes them. The show "spoiling" some things won't bother me.


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The show is lasting seven seasons, total, per the producers' plans. AFFC and ADWD will be essentially finished by this time next year.

this

only id go as far to say that atleast some wow stuff will prob be in season 5 as well.

if not then there only allowing there selfs 1 season to cover all of each of the last books.

if theres an 8th season then thats diffrent but from the info so far thats not an option is it?

he ask with fingers crossed.

im pretty sure there set on 7s so i dont see how they can cover the whloe of wow in season6 and then all of ados in season7?

i think trying to do that could make it underwhelming?

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if theres an 8th season then thats diffrent but from the info so far thats not an option is it?

It's always an OPTION, but frankly a full 8th season is unlikely. Mainly because 7 seasons is the maximum contract length for the actors: to go to an 8th season "proper" (I'll explain that in a minute) would require renegotiating every contract on the show, likely with a LOT of very expensive raises. You could easily see the costs per episode double, which is a big chunk of money even for a hit show. Especially on HBO, where they don't get to hike ad rates like other networks do.

What I think is most likely is that they'll actually go for an "extended" 7th season, maybe 16 episodes split over two years, the way Mad Men is doing it. That would give them more time to finish the story, without either requiring renegotiations or taxing their ability to handle the actual production. (The latter being why they can only do 10 episodes a year instead of 13 or something.) This is, I'm guessing, why they renewed it for seasons 5 and 6 earlier this year: it gives them plenty of time to wait and see what they need to do with season 7.

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I hope the show takes a different direction now. They're obviously going to cut a lot out from the books next season so hopefully things will move a bit faster. If the show is going to catch up then I'd rather we're watching a different story unfold than that which happens in the books yet to come.

I'm with ya.

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