HBO adaptation of Game of Thrones - will this be just for nerds? (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

If Samwell hasn't died by now he probably isn't going to but come the fuck on.

i dont really care for action really and that action wasnt too good imo, it was pretty stilted and like too linear, the show and shows in general have a hard time being cinematic when they need to, maybe not a big enough budget

the giant is lifting the door... he is still lifting the door

looking forward to whatever madness they have ready for the finale tho

yeah this was not exactly Kurosawa, I got a little bored but the wall scythe thing was lol and oh surprise surprise Ygritte's dead

rip ygritte u never shldve fd w that feeb jon sno

Gonna miss Rose Leslie

From a fight choreo POV, I actually dug the Jon vs. the (heh heh) Head Thenn fight -- did not get a sense of HUEG that dude was till then -- way more than Mtn Vs. Viper. I dunno if the Mtn's sword was too heavy for the Halfthor or if he was too uncoordinated to swing it convincingly, but it was a very bumbling fight. Big Thenn Whoever though was swinging that axe like a born MF, it was a lot more dynamic and convincing, plus it had the benefit of not having a disgusting climax.

yeah, Yuri Kolokolnikov is gargantuan.

yeah agree the mountain didn't seem as menacing as Head Thenn. tho I supposed part of the point was for Oberyn to own him a bit before it got to his head.

the mountain wasnt actually that cool hes just a piece of shit bully

Hah. GOT is the only tv show where someone gets a hammer through the skull and it's not a disgusting climax at all.

Did anyone else yell out HAMMERTIME, BITCH

Wall scythe was the best bit too

The whole thing could have been easily confused for a Metalocalypse episode

yeah there was something v videogamey about it that made me care less

scythe is a major reason. I think it would have been cooler looking if that scythe was all rusted out for being in that wall all this time (presumably unused).

I had fun with the episode. Nothing particularly bothered me about it honestly.

climbing up the wall seems like a bad plan, especially at the exact point where all the crows are, especially after declaring ur gonna do it by lighting a big fire

also not coordinating w the giants attempting to open the gate

not so sure abt this mance guys leadership ability

how cool a name is mance rayder though

when they voted for king beyond the wall I'm sure it sealed his victory.

yeah thats prob why hes in charge

no wonder u wildlings cant even build a house

They even have a Maester Morbius complaining bitterly about his policies.

The wall scythe was really cool.
My biggest complaint is there wasn't nearly enough dog-killing-humans action. A further quibble is that they seemed weirdly slow to set the giants and mammoths on fire.

Happy to see more of Gilly (two seasons ago when I was less a fan of the show, I was considering only watching to see more Hannah Murray, I love her). Hope Sam gets lucky with her.

Does that leader of the night's watch guy remind any of you of Father Jack from Father Ted?

Also, why didn't Jon take his wolf with him to see Mance?

Does that leader of the night's watch guy remind any of you of Father Jack from Father Ted?

ahahaha yes

feck off, elephant!

I think jon left the wolf in charge

The mammoth was pretty fucking cool.

i think the giants were CGI

The actor is real, just doubled in size

he was too strong for cgi imo u cant get cgi that strong i mean thats 4 inches of cold rolled steel forget about it

if they had a bigger budget they could have shown the mammoth smashing through the wildling lines

did the attacks in the book come at night or is that mostly a way to save cgi moneys?

I was wondering about what was cgi because everything looked much better than their usual cgi creations. Pretty sure the giants were guys in big suits.

A lot of good info about how things were shot here

http://www.vulture.com/2014/06/neil-marshall-game-of-thrones-director-wall-battle.html

couldn't stop laughing at the little nod the kid gave Jon Snow after he iced Ygritte

perfectly timed here imo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4oQzTGTc_g

YES

did the attacks in the book come at night or is that mostly a way to save cgi moneys?

iirc everything equiv to the books from last episode took place at night, yes. martin's probably at his worst when writing battles/action (a lot of this kinda stuff in the books is just downright confusing to read, for me at least) so i probably tuned out a fair bit of it.

blackwater bay stuff took place during the day though and they shifted that to night in the show explicitly to save cash.

climbing up the wall seems like a bad plan, especially at the exact point where all the crows are, especially after declaring ur gonna do it by lighting a big fire

― lag∞n, Monday, June 9, 2014 5:09 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

also not coordinating w the giants attempting to open the gate

― lag∞n, Monday, June 9, 2014 5:10 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

not so sure abt this mance guys leadership ability

― lag∞n, Monday, June 9, 2014 5:11 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah I was thinking this too. Wouldn't a whole army helping open that gate have sped things up? And yeah going up the wall, which probably would take hours, is kind of pointless when the dudes at the top could just shove your forehead and send you all the way to the bottom. Or say you actually DID hoist yourself up over the edge... you're gonna fight people now?

Apparently in the books the raid via the south was a separate battle with the intention that they'd just open the gate for the wildling army from the inside. TV adaptation has them climbing a gigantic wall in the one place they're defending it.

May be too big.

http://37.media.tumblr.com/4a1b19a87353344d8c2ed940a2762ebb/tumblr_n6vveaVZrP1sys9eso7_1280.jpg

Open in new tab to see full size.

First episode of this season I've enjoyed. Too often it seems like a series of vaguely connected scenes with no forward trajectory. Odd, then, that it took a big dumb battle scene for me to actually feel like I'm invested in any of it.

Yeah I was thinking this too. Wouldn't a whole army helping open that gate have sped things up? And yeah going up the wall, which probably would take hours, is kind of pointless when the dudes at the top could just shove your forehead and send you all the way to the bottom. Or say you actually DID hoist yourself up over the edge... you're gonna fight people now?

from a tactical perspective, forcing the watch to spread their forces (defending against the climbers plus those assaulting the gates etc.) makes sense. plus as they said in the show this was a test of the castle's defenses so the wall assault could have fit with that idea.

realistically it was just a vehicle for that anchor thing to smash up the ice

Totally fun episode. But still seems like 100,000 wildings with mammoths and giants and cannibal freaks should have been able to at least off Sam Tarly and the elevator operator kid.

i kept thinking about how fucked they'd be at the top if only someone thought to disable the elevator

ya - taking the steps would be annoying for sure.