Heather Havrilesky from NYT doesn't dislike it but has some interesting thoughts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/magazine/mag-17Riff-t.html
Sepinwall loved it, VanDerWerff really liked it, but they have the advantage of 6 episodes.
― Gukbe, Saturday, 16 April 2011 20:49 (twelve years ago) link
Oh, and should we throw down some ground rules if people are going to be discussing this week-by-week? i.e. if you've read the books don't discuss anything further than where we are, but discussion of any differences in the TV show and the books from what we've seen is fine.
― Gukbe, Saturday, 16 April 2011 20:51 (twelve years ago) link
obv i know but we don't want another Doctor Who thread on our hands.
and to breakdown VanDerWerff's thoughts from his podcasts:
He has larger issues with HBO moving away from episodic television, and those issues manifest themselves in GoT. He wasn't too enthused when he'd watch one episode, but when he'd watch two in a row he'd really be into it. Also aside from the nudity of one character, he finds a lot of it to be somewhat gratuitous.
Also, Myles McNutt has a series of posts in the lead-up:
A Televisual Love Letter
A Question of Taste
On Winter's Doorstep
― Gukbe, Saturday, 16 April 2011 21:02 (twelve years ago) link
and Zoller Seitz has weighed in on the reviews:
Slate, NYT to fantasy buffs: Grow Up
― Gukbe, Saturday, 16 April 2011 21:17 (twelve years ago) link
that seitz article is good
it's basically getting two kinds of reviews as far as i can tell - good ones, and fantasy-hating dismissive ones (i didn't think there'd be so many of these!)
Oh, and should we throw down some ground rules if people are going to be discussing this week-by-week? i.e. if you've read the books don't discuss anything further than where we are, but discussion of any differences in the TV show and the books from what we've seen is fine.― Gukbe, Saturday, April 16, 2011 4:51 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark
― Gukbe, Saturday, April 16, 2011 4:51 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark
this seems sufficient to me
― cum dude (Princess TamTam), Saturday, 16 April 2011 23:29 (twelve years ago) link
Sepinwall loved it, VanDerWerff really liked it, but they have the advantage of 6 episodes.― Gukbe, Saturday, April 16, 2011 4:49 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark
― Gukbe, Saturday, April 16, 2011 4:49 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark
i think almost every reviewer is working w/the first 6 eps btw
Fantasy-hating dismissive reviews make me want to take up my sword >:(jerks
― VegemiteGrrl, Sunday, 17 April 2011 00:03 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, Gukbe's ground rules sound good to me too.
― ENBB, Sunday, 17 April 2011 00:47 (twelve years ago) link
Alan Sepinwall gave it a great review: http://hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/review-hbos-game-of-thrones-an-epic-mature-well-crafted-fantasy-series
― Mordy, Sunday, 17 April 2011 01:08 (twelve years ago) link
JESUS, this is starting tonight! For some reason I thought it was next fall.
― brownie, Sunday, 17 April 2011 16:30 (twelve years ago) link
so excited!
― Mordy, Sunday, 17 April 2011 16:54 (twelve years ago) link
WOOHOOO
― the zing cheese incident (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 17 April 2011 20:31 (twelve years ago) link
HBO doesn't do itunes season passes do they? may have to break my moratorium on bittorrent to watch these without waiting months
― ciderpress, Sunday, 17 April 2011 20:47 (twelve years ago) link
yayayayayayaay
― VegemiteGrrl, Sunday, 17 April 2011 20:48 (twelve years ago) link
I got an invitation from someone who has HBO!!!!!! Pretty excited over here.
― Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel), Sunday, 17 April 2011 21:30 (twelve years ago) link
No HBO. Gonna try to stream or download it.
― ENBB, Sunday, 17 April 2011 21:31 (twelve years ago) link
lets do this
― VegemiteGrrl, Sunday, 17 April 2011 21:50 (twelve years ago) link
Started watching but the stream was shut down. So how was it?!
― ENBB, Monday, 18 April 2011 02:14 (twelve years ago) link
It was good. The story doesn't really start moving along until farther along in the story. This was more just of an introduction. What makes it so good is the characters and what happens to them.
― allmypulp, Monday, 18 April 2011 02:17 (twelve years ago) link
so that was the queen and her brother at the end there?
― Gukbe, Monday, 18 April 2011 02:24 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah. "the things I do for love"
― allmypulp, Monday, 18 April 2011 02:25 (twelve years ago) link
Production was second to none. Great look and sound to this. Having read the book I was also pleased with the storytelling. The one gripe I have is at the end of the episode, which diverges from the book as I remember it. But a minor point.
― calstars, Monday, 18 April 2011 02:25 (twelve years ago) link
The sets look great, as was the dialogue. And I had planned on expecting them to change some things in the story line. There is a lot to the story.
― allmypulp, Monday, 18 April 2011 02:31 (twelve years ago) link
The one gripe I have is at the end of the episode, which diverges from the book as I remember it. But a minor point.
― calstars, Sunday, April 17, 2011 10:25 PM (39 minutes ago) Bookmark
Yeah, that was the only change I didn't care for. Otherwise, pretty good.
― cum dude (Princess TamTam), Monday, 18 April 2011 03:05 (twelve years ago) link
AV Club review claims this is the weakest of the first six eps.
― Simon H. Shit (Simon H.), Monday, 18 April 2011 03:23 (twelve years ago) link
It's a lot of build up and character introduction, mostly. You get to start seeing the viciousness of some of the characters as it goes along.
― allmypulp, Monday, 18 April 2011 04:02 (twelve years ago) link
Sooooo sad I missed it this week, had prior engagement to see a good friend place music. But I do think I have a place to watch it squared away in the future (with Laurel!) so that is dope as hell.
― one dis leads to another (ian), Monday, 18 April 2011 04:06 (twelve years ago) link
Pretty good! The only thing for me was all the boobage...I mean, it fit with the story and all but it also felt like they were meeting some kind of HBO quota
Love Dinklage as Tyrion, and <3 Sean Bean as Ned Stark, casting is top notch. Danerys and Drago are so spot on it's kind of scary.
One other small thing is that I wished they'd shown Danerys riding the horse Drago gives her, how much she loves it the way they describe in the book... seemed like a missed opportunity to me?
― VegemiteGrrl, Monday, 18 April 2011 05:32 (twelve years ago) link
Sean Bean is great in the role. It's unfortunate that in this and lotr he plays such tragic characters.
― allmypulp, Monday, 18 April 2011 05:42 (twelve years ago) link
He's so good at it though....think that face was pretty much made for it.
It's funny though, every time I see him I sigh a little and say "Oh brave Boromir" lol
― VegemiteGrrl, Monday, 18 April 2011 05:46 (twelve years ago) link
It is a very solemn face. To a degree Boromir and Ed Stark are similar characters... both trying to save the kingdom.
― allmypulp, Monday, 18 April 2011 06:16 (twelve years ago) link
sigh swoon noble hero
― VegemiteGrrl, Monday, 18 April 2011 06:19 (twelve years ago) link
ok just caught up w/ this, really enjoyed it. it seems as if they're gonna write Theon out of the story completely, which makes sense since iirc he doesn't actually do much until the 3rd or 4th book and even then isn't a crucial character. everything else seemed like it was plotted straight from the book, i didn't catch whatever difference you folks were talking about at the end but i haven't read the books in 6 years so maybe my memory's off.
― ciderpress, Monday, 18 April 2011 06:19 (twelve years ago) link
bran overhears queen and bro talking about their conspiracy, so it's not just that he sees them doing the nasty that gets him pushed out the window, it was that he had knowledge of their plot also
― VegemiteGrrl, Monday, 18 April 2011 06:23 (twelve years ago) link
i doubt they're writing Theon out, he just doesn't have much to do in book 1 besides smirk a lot.
re: the ending of the episode, in the book when Bran stumbles onto jaime & cersei he listens in on them for a while and hears about a bunch of ~intrigues~ before watching them bone - i can understand why they cut it out, but i missed it all the same
― cum dude (Princess TamTam), Monday, 18 April 2011 06:24 (twelve years ago) link
xp
allmypulp's last two posts seem a little spoilery to me, maybe a mod should edit them? not to be all thread police-y but
― cum dude (Princess TamTam), Monday, 18 April 2011 06:26 (twelve years ago) link
I won't argue if they are. But you may want to edit some of the reviews that are listed, since they contain spoilers also.
― allmypulp, Monday, 18 April 2011 06:33 (twelve years ago) link
allmypulp: just understand that there's several people on here watching this who haven't read the books, and this series has a lot of huge out-of-nowhere plot twists so it's particularly prone to spoiler-ruination
― ciderpress, Monday, 18 April 2011 06:35 (twelve years ago) link
That's a good warning! xp
― cum dude (Princess TamTam), Monday, 18 April 2011 06:38 (twelve years ago) link
Okay, that's fair. Well I would've liked to more of Theon also. But it is just the first episode which I enjoyed, and am still anticipating the rest.
― allmypulp, Monday, 18 April 2011 06:41 (twelve years ago) link
yeah i don't remember theon doing anything interesting at least until book 2.
― difficult listening hour, Monday, 18 April 2011 06:43 (twelve years ago) link
(sadface.)
― difficult listening hour, Monday, 18 April 2011 06:44 (twelve years ago) link
Peter Dinklage is the best.
― reggaeton for the painfully alone (polyphonic), Monday, 18 April 2011 06:46 (twelve years ago) link
actually my mistake, it looks like Theon is cast, he just didn't get pointed out yet. wouldn't be surprised if they play down his story anyway though, at least for the first season
― ciderpress, Monday, 18 April 2011 07:15 (twelve years ago) link
Who is Theon I have read book 1 and don't even know who he is
― VegemiteGrrl, Monday, 18 April 2011 07:17 (twelve years ago) link
He's Ed Starks ward from an island that rebelled against the king, so he's held as hostage by the Ed Stark under the pretense of being a "ward".
― allmypulp, Monday, 18 April 2011 07:22 (twelve years ago) link
I really wasn't taken with the sex/nudity aspects of the pilot, but there's definitely some promise here. (I'm not familiar with the books at all.)
― Simon H. Shit (Simon H.), Monday, 18 April 2011 08:50 (twelve years ago) link
"it seems as if they're gonna write Theon out of the story completely" -- if they do this i will credit them with a certain amount of nous, i guess? there's like two or three things that you can see would be obvious candidates for streamlining the narrative, and that seems like one of them
likewise glad that it's less clear what bran sees -- that said, i kind of think that even knowing who pushes him out of the window is cack-handed plotting: i mean, it makes the whole arc of the book fairly transparent once you learn (isolated datum which will probably be somewhere in the first six episodes)
re: the slate review - http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2011/04/16/game_of_thrones_review_of_reviewers - someone on tumblr posted a screengrab of that where every single ad on slate was for this show. er
i kind of want to watch the first episode or so of this, i feel like the combination of it being about elves and shit + apparent shitheap of gratuitous nudity = it will be a hard sell for the other half, i think
also i only want to watch it so i can complain about it on the internet? so i shouldn't bother, probably
― thomp, Monday, 18 April 2011 09:37 (twelve years ago) link