[NO SPOILERS] Praise and Plaudits

[Ran]

A place to share your praise for those things you love and enjoy about the show. It's so easy to focus on the negative, so this is a place to focus on the positive. Please, no disagreements or arguments here -- everyone's allowed to like different aspects of the show.

Although this is a generally no-spoiler topic, feel free to use spoiler code to note TV or book related spoilers that inform your praise:

[spoiler]Text[/spoiler]

[Abaddon]

Like some others, I really like the new Stark scene to introduce the characters. It's the kind of thing that is simply not required in a book, but a very important mechanism in a TV show or movie to quickly introduce what is going to be a possibly bewildering number of new characters all at once. It's incredibly economical (very important when you have so much ground to cover in just one hour) but at the same time very deft in choosing actions and (a few) words to boil down paragraphs of descriptions down into just a few moments. None of this works without great script writing, great direction, and great acting, and they pull it off smashingly. That really gives me hope that the quality of the writing, dialogue, and acting moving forward is going to be top notch, and I believe audiences will respond to that.

[Asha—Not Yara!]

I don't really have any major complaints. The look of Winterfell or the Others may not have been my preference, but fortunately I'm not one who usually frets too much about those things. I think the actors they chose were great, and I'm so excited to see more. The 15 minutes really flew by so fast.

What did I love most? The scene at Winterfell with all the Starks. I had to watch it twice to catch all the nuances (particularly Catelyn's glare to Jon). I'm one of the people who really likes Fairley and think she looks wonderful in the role. I'm looking forward to seeing much more of her later.

Is it April 17 yet?

[ZombieWife]

11 more days.

Winter may be coming on HBO, but spring is here where I live. An odd juxtaposition. :)

Anyway, I liked the music, especially the piece when they had that first shot of Winterfell.

[Andhaira]

I particularly liked the Stark bonding scene we saw. I also really liked the greatsword Ice. Very well made. :)

[Tywin's bastard]

I particularly liked the Stark bonding scene we saw. I also really liked the greatsword Ice. Very well made. :)

Yes, it looks like Ice was made with the old technique of creating steel blades, where you take rods of iron and steel and twine them (to get the right mix as pure iron is too soft and pure steel too brittle) before hammering them into a blade. The twined metals leave their mark and if you put acid on the blade you will see patterns come out across the blade, which actually gives us something that at least resembles how Valyrian steel is described. If I'm correct in my guess than that's an incredibly nice touch.

I could also add that I love the the music that accompanies the first sight of Winterfell. That very short piece made me very hopeful for the overall quality of the score.

[Areo]

I know I've only seen 15 minutes, but it is visually stunning. I thought, wow, LotR on TV! The child actors are simply amazing so far (the preview plus everything else that has been shown). For now these are the only things that I can say for sure, but I'm convinced that after the 17th I'll have a lot more to add to this topic.

[Ran]

Tywin's bastard,

Yes, you're correct. Ice, the assassin's blade, and at least one other weapon are made using pattern-welding.

Things to praise, there's so many obvious things, so I'll note an unobvious one -- the language of the series. Dothraki was created, and

a "mini-language" to get the sound of the Others was also created. Yes, that cracking ice sound -- right out of the books -- is speech!

[Tywin's bastard]

Cool, thanks for the confirmation.

The spoiler is also really impressive when it comes to attention to detail.

[Green Apple Fossoway]

Tywin's bastard,

Yes, you're correct. Ice, the assassin's blade, and at least one other weapon are made using pattern-welding.

Although historically that is not how damascene steel was made even though it ended up looking much the same.

Very quick edit: Damascene, or Damascus steel is what George loosely based Valyrian steel on.

[Ran]

For a layman, the terms Damascus and pattern-welding are used so very similarly in general texts (and even in scholarly tomes up until recently) that I would not take it as gospel that George specifically meant the historical Damascus steel-making process when he said that the "closest" analog is Damascus.

[Green Apple Fossoway]

For a layman, the terms Damascus and pattern-welding are used so very similarly in general texts (and even in scholarly tomes up until recently) that I would not take it as gospel that George specifically meant the historical Damascus steel-making process when he said that the "closest" analog is Damascus.

Yeah, but it'd be way cooler if he did. Duh.

[Emo Jon Snow]

I have nothing but praise for what I just saw. I've honestly been very turned off by the forum from the few nitpickers here, some of the complaints have been pathetic.

From the first 15 minutes, I have seen what looks to be a great television show that's I'm going to enjoy watching.

The Wall setting was perfect, it looked and felt ominous.

I liked that the tension was set early on with Jon Snow and Catelyn, and Arya was just adorable in her brief scene.

[Commodore]

I have nothing but praise for what I just saw. I've honestly been very turned off by the forum from the few nitpickers here, some of the complaints have been pathetic.

You can love it and still have (minor) laments. That was the basic thrust of Ran's review.

[lynxx]

I feel very involved in this series thanks to all the interaction that the production crew and publicity staff has given to the fans both on Westeros and on HBO sites. Each small morsel of information or new production still is the next best thing to personally being on set.

I couldn't be more enthusiastic if I got a paycheck from HBO.

Thanks to everyone who is doing such a good job on "my" show.

[Iskaral Pust]

I'd really much prefer to emphasize the positives. It's easy to nit-pick, but over-all it is very good.

Great performances by Ned, Robert and Viserys so far. I especially think Ned is portrayed better in the show than in the book, where he often seemed too old-womanish.

Tyrion's character was a little more glib than I would like in his first scene, but he improved in the scene with Jon outside the feast and then really hit stride in ep2. Arya was also very good in ep2.

Cersei and Catelyn both had kinder/gentler portrayals in Bran's sick-room (ep2) that makes me curious about what nuances the show will try to add. But Cersei was then very true to form in the scene at the inn on the kingsroad, so they won't completely rehabilitate a central antagonist.

The condensing of the story has been handled nicely so far to keep the pace and momentum. The medium demands so much be cut, but they've handled it well. The Dany/Dothraki story has been heavily curtailed, which I am fine with.

The Wall looks great, as did King's Landing and the CGI montage for opening credits. It bodes well.

[neutronicus]

In rough order:

Harry Lloyd

Michelle Fairley

Sean Bean

Maisie Williams

Peter Dinklage

Mark Addy

Not to take away from the performances of the rest of the cast, which are solid, but these 6 are blowing my socks off.

[Valkyrja]

I know this is an older thread, but I just wanted to add that I have nothing but praise (so far) for Iain Glenn's portrayal of Jorah Mormont. He looks NOTHING like I pictured Jorah, but I am loving all of his scenes. His interaction Viserys prior to the latter's 'crowning' was excellent, and I find myself looking forward to the Dothraki scenes in part because of him. :)

[NW Deserter]

There are a few character portrayals that I have absolutely no complains about that I think are worth mentioning:

Harry Lloyd as Viserys

Michelle Fairley as Catelyn

Maise Williams as Arya

NCW as Jaime

Conleth Hill as Varys

Dinklage as Tyrion

Sean Bean as Ned

Super Hot Chick as Doreah

Fat Sweaty Guy as Samwell

Old Dignified Guy as Barristan

As you can see, I don't know the names of all the actors, but this group has stood out to me as especially memorable.

Oh! The post above me reminded me - Iain Glenn as Jorah belongs there as well. Perfect casting.

[Analu]

I've loved every episode of this season.

I love that my wife, sisters and their husbands all love the show and want to read the books now. I love that I'm the resident GoT expert in the family, and that's actually a cool thing to be!

I'm kinda amused/exasperated at all the negative nancies among the readers, and so don't really read the show threads anymore.