Westeros Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Having had the opportunity (courtesy of HBO) to see the first four episodes of this coming season (premiering April 1st in the US and Latin America, April 2nd in the UK and—I believe—a deal of Eastern Europe), Linda and I share some very general thoughts on what to expect from those episodes, and what the dangers might be for the rest of the season. All in all, the first four episodes play pretty well, but for our part the first two episodes start on the back foot somewhat—they’re not as strong as we might have liked, and we try and give some sense of why. As always, we’re die-hard fans of the novels and everything, inevitably, is touched by that perspective… but sometimes, reasonable and even necessary decisions for the sake of adaptation don’t necessarily lead to the very best storytelling. It’s a difficult beast, adapting a mammoth series such as A Song of Ice and Fire, and it can’t fire on all cylinder all the time. But most of the time? It gets there, for the most part, and there are some sections of the story which should please even the most hardcore purists. Other areas… perhaps not so much, especially as sometimes the changes seem gratuitous, change for the sake of change.To read our thoughts in full, go here! Visit the Site! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vikingkingq Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Sounds good. A couple questions:1. How did the new locations look in the credits?2. Regarding the Littlefinger/Cersei scene, maybe they wanted to foreshadow his eventual turn without waiting until they get back to the Vale, what...a season or two later?3. I know what you thought about Cressen, but did those scenes at least do right by Stannis and Davos? After all, Cressen is something of a redshirt character, and I think it would be a bit hard to give him the same kind of interiority we get in the novels, but Stannis and Davos are crucial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PatrickStormborn Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 The Littlefinger/Cersei scene is actually something that has been worrying me, because it seems so out of character for him. But I think it was done to make it quite clear to the audience that Littlefinger and Cersei are not on the same side, even though they worked together to bring Ned Stark down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skeksi Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Thanks for all the info!I'm largely looking forward to the show starting, especially past the first episode (which in most shows tends to be something of an introduction, I've noticed), but I'm a little worried about this Littlefinger/ Cersei scene that you've described... I heard another description elsewhere, and it just doesn't seem to mesh with Littlefinger's character from the books or the first series- where, whilst people know he is ambitious, and whilst he's a little snarky, people tend to trust him because he acts as though he's on their side. Having him be so very clumsy in front of someone like Cersei seems very out of character for him, I can't help but think there must be other ways to demonstrate that LF and Cersei aren't on the same side... I don't know, I'll wait till I see the whole series, it's possible that this is a scene that gets some payoff later, and it's not so much that it bothers me that it departs from the book- but if it's just a scene to demonstrate the nature of power at the expense of a character whose manipulative and generally sneaky nature has been well established in both books and TV show, then... lame. Very lame.That said, that's the only thing that jumped out at me from the overview that really looks like it's going to bother me... I still look forward to seeing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teemo Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Great, they made my favorite character look like an idiot and do something that he'd never do. Awesome! :bang: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Umberto Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 I don't remember this scene from the books, can anyone remind me of it?Or would this scene be something new they came up with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teemo Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Totally new and stupid, apparently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkash Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 I'm not surprised at all by your remarks, and somehow, I understand the writers.I wish HBO gave them 12 episodes, but I guess they had to speed up a lot this season to keep a concret and logical story, and mostly entertaining one, but yeah, quite sad about some things you said were to happen.I, still, cant wait for the finale of episode 4. I never really achieve in picturing the shadow in my head, hope they found a good way not to make it cheesy and ridiculous.And yes, really curious about the playings of Theon and Arya! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Umberto Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 We'll just have to wait and see.But you need to remember, adapting something like Ice and Fire is impossibly hard to do. They have reasons for everything they do, and I'm almost sure it's always justified. David and Dan are literally the best people for the job, and I have complete faith in them.Sure you might have a problem or two about what they decide, but looking at the season as a whole, no one can adapt this thing like they can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arkash Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 For those of you who missed them, I post here the last two 6 minutes long videos of the promotion: A video about the new places of season 2. And the new faces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padraig Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Oh well...even LF can make mistakes. :)I'll be curious to see if the scene links to anything that follows though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Buck Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 Can't say I'm surpised about the first episodes being a little light. There's just a shitload of different characters, and you have to remember that most people watching this haven't read the books, so it has to be accessible. But I'm liking the sound of the expanded scope and all. I have a feeling that the breadth of show's just going to get bigger and bigger every season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebly Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 I only really just noticed that the watch don't take their horses North in the show. I guess it would have just been a filming nightmare, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Posted March 26, 2012 Share Posted March 26, 2012 You can't bring horses to Iceland since the horses there have been isolated for centuries and there's concerns about disease. So, once they went there they only had Icelandic horses available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boojam Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 I'm not surprised at all by your remarks, and somehow, I understand the writers.I wish HBO gave them 12 episodes, but I guess they had to speed up a lot this season to keep a concret and logical story, and mostly entertaining one, but yeah, quite sad about some things you said were to happen.Yeah 12 episodes springs to my mind too. HBO has not done anything on this scale since ROME , maybe there is a little gun shyness.Don't know what their attitude towards a 12 episode season is.Wonder what Benioff and Weiss's views are for doing 12 episodes? Never heard them talk about it , it would be more effort , but if the show becomes a really big hit HBO may give the resources and sure Benioff and Weiss could scare up some more help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Francis Buck Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 For those of you who missed them, I post here the last two 6 minutes long videos of the promotion: A video about the new places of season 2. And the new faces.Damn, the Fist of the First Men looks crazy as hell. Much lager and more desolate than I pictured (and I actually like it more that way). I can't imagine how epic the battle with the Others is going to look there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaitscralt Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 Withholding judgment on LF scene until I see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Dermett Corbray Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 How many minutes until we see Ros naked?But no seriously, interesting post, look forward to drawing my own conclusions on these "gratuitous changes". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bastard of Bolton Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 What did Littlefinger do that was so bad and how is it that we know it isn't somehow manipulating Cersei? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrum Aeternum Posted March 27, 2012 Share Posted March 27, 2012 For those of you who missed them, I post here the last two 6 minutes long videos of the promotion: A video about the new places of season 2. And the new faces."Epic" is an overused term.That being said - Patrick Malahide's take on Balon Greyjoy = utterly Epic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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