(spoilers) Skeletons without blue eyes?

[Steelborn]

It was the idea of Alex Graves, who called D&D and asked them if it was okay for him to do this scene instead of the usual wight scene.

It's a shame, considering Alex Graves is an excellent director (episode 2 of season 4!) but really has a lack of respect for the source material. Not everything is D&D's fault, guys.

Is he coming back for season 5? God, I hope not.

[The Reckoner]

No one's going to laugh if you all would be perfectly honest as to why the subject of this thread bothered you.

Spooky skeletons are too frightening, even for a show like GoT

[JonBranRickon]

Maybe the worst sequence of events I've seen on the show the skeletons and the 3EC having both eyes. I thought I was transported back to the tale of the crypt. Pretty pitiful - there needs to be a quality control person on the set.

[Roose on the Loose]

The Bran skeletons (and possibly the fireballs) are the only bad elements I have noticed in this otherwise excellent show.

How did the skeletons screech when they didn't have lungs? Only thing I can think of is someone wanted to do a CG homage to Jason and the Argonauts - but it just didn't fit with the rest of the show's tone.

Of course it's an homage to Ray Harryhausen and Jason and the Argonauts. That movie changed special effects forever.

If you want to split hairs, I don't think skeletons can be reanimated. Not in the books anyway. IIRC on the great ranging there are some bodies that can't be burned but they're okay because they get eaten by shadowcats.

At one time realistic CGI was much harder with hair or clothes. But these skeletons have rags.

[ummester]

The CG was fine, I thought, Roose on the Loose - there was nothing wrong with the scene itself is an action fantasy set piece, I just found the tone jarring and very different from that set by the rest of the show.

[Narvi]

I try to keep my book thinking out my show thinking. I enjoy them both. Those speedy skeletons were fun to watch but it felt so far removed from the book that it still hurts my head.

[Beric175]

It was fun and bonkers and I loved it.

[messem]

I thought it was idiotic and unrealistic (in the context of the show) and I hated it. Also hated that the 3EC looked like a plain old guy.

[FreeParking]

Because the shadow baby is realistic (in the context of the show). I love these arbitrary lines you guys sometimes draw.

[sj4iy]

The easiest explaination: the eyes rotted away. Like most of their flesh.

This. Skeletons don't have eyes.

Because the shadow baby is realistic (in the context of the show). I love these arbitrary lines you guys sometimes draw.

And this. I don't get why it's okay to suspend disbelief for some completely unexplainable things but not for others.

[messem]

And this. I don't get why it's okay to suspend disbelief for some completely unexplainable things but not for others.

It's fantasy, I do not expect too much sense. Discarnate entities I do accept. Bodies without muscles, bowstring and larynge moving and screaming I can't. It's too old school. I thought we've overcome this.

[sj4iy]

It's fantasy, I do not expect too much sense. Discarnate entities I do accept. Bodies without muscles, bowstring and larynge moving and screaming I can't. It's too old school. I thought we've overcome this.

Dead bodies of ANY SORT moving around of their own accord makes no sense. How do the muscles move in a dead body? What level of decomposition is acceptable for a dead body to still move? How does a shadow form enough 'substance' to stab a person in the heart? How does someone not immune to fire walk into a pyre and not burn?

The answer to all of that is 'magic'. So I see no reason to act like a dead body needs muscles to move when there's no discernible reason it is moving in the first place.

[igrewupinKL]

Defend the skeletons all you want. I could care less about a homage to jason and the argonauts. This is game of thrones and wights do not decompose once turned. ice preserves. If you want to defend the show, FINE but don't act like this made sense for the series as we know it so far.

[sj4iy]

Defend the skeletons all you want. I could care less about a homage to jason and the argonauts. This is game of thrones and wights do not decompose once turned. ice preserves. If you want to defend the show, FINE but don't act like this made sense for the series as we know it so far.

"Dead things in the water"- Cotter Pyke's letter to LC Snow.

Does "water" preserve? Of course not. Yet there seems to be no problem with "dead things" in the sea.

Dead is dead. We heard what Samwell tells Jon about the others, and he says absolutely nothing about the level of decomposition which keeps the Others' magic from working on the dead. Until I see something outlining that with certainty, I absolutely will not act as if the show crossed some arbitrary line where these dead people can move around but not THOSE dead people.

[igrewupinKL]

"Dead things in the water"- Cotter Pyke's letter to LC Snow.

Does "water" preserve? Of course not. Yet there seems to be no problem with "dead things" in the sea.

Dead is dead. We heard what Samwell tells Jon about the others, and he says absolutely nothing about the level of decomposition which keeps the Others' magic from working on the dead. Until I see something outlining that with certainty, I absolutely will not act as if the show crossed some arbitrary line where these dead people can move around but not THOSE dead people.

I don't think you got my point. Ice preserves refers to the magic

*food seems to last longer at the wall in storage. CotF are magical beings, said to have been behind the magic of the wall

*the bodies ghost finds, Sam points out they are not decomposing, they don't smell like usual bodies would. Guess what? they became wights

*Maester Aemon quickly deteriorated after he left the wall. He himself said he lived as long as he did because he was at the wall

*Coldhands is some weird wight hybrid. CotF say he is very old. He hasn't 'decomposed' to a skeleton has he?

Wights travelling through water has nothing to do with the magic that preserves them after they are dead. The level of decomposition of a wight depends on how long they are dead before the WW uses them as their puppet. (so to speak) So yeh you could argue the WW used this magic on a bunch of skeletons, but no, they wouldn't because they have no tissue. no brain and no eyes. Eyes are the key to wights, they turn blue when they are being controlled. But yeh this is fantasy. The CGI looked tacky as hell to me and i thought it didn't suit the series at all. With the money they spent on that CGI they could've just hired actors lol

[messem]

Dead bodies of ANY SORT moving around of their own accord makes no sense. How do the muscles move in a dead body? What level of decomposition is acceptable for a dead body to still move? How does a shadow form enough 'substance' to stab a person in the heart? How does someone not immune to fire walk into a pyre and not burn?

I am very well aware that it is not logical but personal preference. Like vampires who can fly. If they transform to a bat, that's fine by me. A human body which can fly on its own, that's ridiculous (except Superman but he has not a human body). Since it is magic one cannot argue with logic, so it comes down with personal preference.

[Beric175]

well we know that here are lots of bones in Bloodraven's cave so he could have sent the undead warriors to greet Bran & Co in order to get rid of Jojen, which is more or less what happens in the book where Jojen is most likely made into a paste that Bran eats without being told that he's eating Jojen. at the very least we don't now frsure if the wights are enemies or friends of Bloodraven. I think the fact that they were skelettons and the fact that there are all kinds of bones in Bloodraven's cave gives us an indication maybe as to what their purpose was.

[The Dragon has three heads]

This scene and the 3EC is still my most hated bar the Sansa margey porridge one.

I'm watching right now.

It's a mess. The editing before Jojens death is actually fucked.

And the three eyed 'raven' makes me feel ripped off.

I now recall why I dislike this episode so much.

Carry on

[ummester]

Because the shadow baby is realistic (in the context of the show). I love these arbitrary lines you guys sometimes draw.

The difference between the shadow baby and the speedy skeletons vs predator wood nymph, for me, was one of tone.

Tone is very important, if GRRM breaks his own tone it will ruin the books. Once set, keeping with tone allows us to continue to suspend our disbelief for a fantastic story.

There is blood magic resulting in dragons, a shadow baby and white walkers leading around blue eyed zombies in the show (many of which are also in the books) yet they all have a consistent, earthy and slightly horrific tone. They all feel like they belong, similar to the fantasy elements in a Robert E Howard tale.

The speedy zombies are not in line with that earthy and slightly horrific tone - they are more in line with action adventure fantasy. They lack a sense of dread and were not foreshadowed in any way.

The dude in the tree (Bloodraven) was fine. The wood nymph (Leaf) was fine (so long as she didn't throw fireballs) as they suit the established tone.

[ummester]

With the money they spent on that CGI they could've just hired actors lol

Or given us more mammoths.

Or a wrighted bear with it's arm burnt off - how cool would that bear have looked on screen?

Both of these things would have been in line with the tone set by the books and show before those god awful skeletons.

Can you tell how much I hate them? They almost ruined the show for me - now I just try and pretend they aren't there, that it is all in Jojen's head as he is getting turned into a paste, or something :)

BTW - I agree with the idea that, in both the books and show, wrights have to have eyes and cold preserved meat.

Did anyone else notice the stupid speedy skeletons screech? FFS - wrights don't screech and bones without lungs could not possibly screech, where the hell is the air coming from?