Knights & Knaves Alehouse

Falconer wrote:The current season of GoT is a soap opera. Too many things are getting costlessly put back together again that in previous seasons had so painstakingly broken apart.

Had that exact reaction after watching last-night's episode. Dany's storyline in particular. I was thinking to myself, "She already did this. What exactly was the point of the last four seasons, if this is how it's going to go?"

In other news - watching The Night Manager. Excellent spy thriller mini series.

I'm having trouble getting into Fear the Walking Dead. They're not doing enough to make it different from the original series, but with less interesting characters.

Agreed on all counts: the fanfic writers on GoT seem insistent on resting everything to the status quo at the end of A Storm of Swords, as well as eliminating as many side-characters as possible. For the first couple episodes it was kind of refreshing compared to GRRM's two thousand pages and 20 years of delayed gratification, but as the agenda becomes clearer it's getting less interesting quickly.

Also, The Night Manager is very good, and Fear the Walking Dead was boring enough that we gave up on it a few weeks ago.

Finally got current on GoT last night. Is any of the material on the current season of Game of Thrones based off of unpublished material by the author? And is he a consultant on the current season?

- Wheggi

Wheggi wrote:Finally got current on GoT last night. Is any of the material on the current season of Game of Thrones based off of unpublished material by the author? And is he a consultant on the current season?

- Wheggi

He supposedly had a meeting with the show-runners a year or so back in which he told them how things were ultimately supposed to work out, but beyond that (and, of course, continuing to cash big checks) AFAIK he has zero involvement in the writing of the current season and, if anything, his still-in-progress next book seems to be deliberately distancing itself from thew world of the show (every few months he posts a new "preview" chapter on his website which are invariably about characters that either don't exist or are being handled completely differently in the show).

Space: 1999

I've been on a jungle/safari/Africa kick lately:
Safari, with Victor Mature, a mediocre Africa-based pic. Janet Leigh was quite the doll BitD!
Just finished the series of Tarzan flicks with Johnny Weissmuller. The first two were probably the best.
Soon I'll rewatch Trader Horn for the 2nd time. I've been toying with getting the very popular book that was the inspiration for the movie, but copies are scarce. (FWICT, it looks like the two most popular works in the 1920s were Beau Geste and Trader Horn, based on the number of printings each went through. I guess the fascination for the Dark Continent was at an all-time high.)
Can anyone recommend others in that vein?

I think this season does seem to pushing a story along more than previous seasons. But, as someone who hasn't read the GoT books, I like it and find this season refreshing. I am happy the cast herd is being culled, and that there's at least an indication that this story goes somewhere. And, I find this season much less of a soap opera than all the previous. Soap operas go nowhere with lots of hand-wringing.

If George had gotten off his ample bum and actually done ..you know .. some writing, then the TV writers wouldn't have to be doing what they're now doing.

Went to see Captain America: Civil War, yesterday. I thought it was damn good, and it made me like the Captain America character more. Also thought the movie's Peter Parker was well cast, and was glad to see Ant Man in there.

My 13-year old daughter is in complete LURVE with Peter Parker.

rogatny wrote:My 13-year old daughter is in complete LURVE with Peter Parker.

Huh, my teenage daughters didn't seem interested in him at all. Much more giddyness over Steve Rogers and Tony Stark.

Philotomy Jurament wrote:

rogatny wrote:My 13-year old daughter is in complete LURVE with Peter Parker.

Huh, my teenage daughters didn't seem interested in him at all. Much more giddyness over Steve Rodgers and Tony Stark.

"I got beat up by this guy named Steve. He's from Brooklyn. Man, his friend was HUGE!"

bobjester wrote:"I got beat up by this guy named Steve. He's from Brooklyn. Man, his friend was HUGE!"

Just a straight up awesome line in a throwaway tag at the end of the movie. It gives a pretty good indication of the quality of the whole thing.

The scene with Falcon and Winter Soldier stuffed into the vintage VW Bug was pretty awesome, too. Past and present sidekicks not even trying to hide their jealousy of one another, but then backing up their main man.

Watching the second to last episode of the BBC's Wallander series by Henry Mankell on PBS:
http://www.pbs.org/video/2365749474/

I am enjoying Game of Thrones for what it is, and I rather suspect it might end up truer to Martin's original vision than the books eventually will be. Yes, it is all coming rather in a rush now, but it is television.

rogatny wrote:

bobjester wrote:"I got beat up by this guy named Steve. He's from Brooklyn. Man, his friend was HUGE!"

Just a straight up awesome line in a throwaway tag at the end of the movie. It gives a pretty good indication of the quality of the whole thing.

The scene with Falcon and Winter Soldier stuffed into the vintage VW Bug was pretty awesome, too. Past and present sidekicks not even trying to hide their jealousy of one another, but then backing up their main man.

Yeah, the Bug scene was good. I'd forgotten that one.

I've recently dived back into the Marvel Comics worlds after 30+ years out, and there's a lot of history to catch up on, some good, some bad. Not to mention the combined chagrin and joy at finally seeing these characters in good movies, wherever this series is taking us, its at least different enough to tell a slightly different story, and I'm alright with that.

I mean, "canon" in the MCU is not like "canon" in Middle Earth, or Song of Ice and Fire! WHEN a character dies is not as important as when will that character come back to life in this series.