HBO's Game of Thrones [SPOILER-FREE!]

[rogatny]

My wife says she thought the last few Harry Potter books, which were written after the first few Harry Potter movies came out, were worse because they were obviously written with Hollywood in mind. Do you think the HBO series might change Martin’s approach to writing?

No. Martin is a former TV script writer. I think a TV series was always in the back of his mind as he was writing, and thus there'd be no real reason to change.

[rogatny]

My wife says she thought the last few Harry Potter books, which were written after the first few Harry Potter movies came out, were worse because they were obviously written with Hollywood in mind. Do you think the HBO series might change Martin’s approach to writing?

One can only hope.

Your favorite author sucks.

[JasonZavoda]

My wife says she thought the last few Harry Potter books, which were written after the first few Harry Potter movies came out, were worse because they were obviously written with Hollywood in mind. Do you think the HBO series might change Martin’s approach to writing?

One can only hope.

Your favorite author sucks.

If that is Martin then you are entirely correct.

[Matthew]

The Tolkien "hate" generally comes from two directions:

The fantasy conoseur: Tolkien is -BY FAR- the biggest name in fantasy literature despite not being the first, the best, or the most prolific. I compare him to Elvis and the initial wave of rock n' roll in the '50s. The rock conoseur will tell you that Gene Vincent and Johnny Burnette and Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Fats Domino and Little Richard and Bo Diddley, etc., etc., etc. all deserve your attention as much or more than Elvis does. He doesn't hate Elvis. He just gets tired of Elvis.

The fantasy conoseur is the same way. He doesn't hate Tolkien. He just wishes that Fritz Leiber sold as many books as Tolkien and can't figure out why Zelazny isn't a household name like Tolkien is. And he is utterly, utterly appalled by the glut of Tolkien pastiches that made up a huge chunk of what passed for fantasy literature from the mid-'70s to the end of the Century. Fantasy should include anything and everything that you can possibly imagine and somehow it came to include just Tolkien. That's not Tolkien's fault, but it's hard not to become annoyed with him for it.

The leftist literary critic: The modern left just can't stand Tolkien. I'm not going to go into why on these boards in order to avoid breaking the no politics rule. However, be absolutely sure of it: Politics plays a big role in why certain literary figures dump on Tolkien whenever they get a chance.

That sounds about right, but I think there is also a lot of cross-pollination between those groups.

[thedungeondelver]

I'm kinda ticked at HBO. I'd read somewhere that they canceled Rome, because it was too expensive.

Yeah, it's a good thing they got away from those period dramas.

Yes, Rome was awesome.

[TRP]

I'm kinda ticked at HBO. I'd read somewhere that they canceled Rome, because it was too expensive.

Yeah, it's a good thing they got away from those period dramas.

Yes, Rome was awesome.

Maybe the best scene, ever, of that show occurred in one of the last couple of episodes. It was how Titus Pullo dealt with Gaia.

[JasonZavoda]

I'm kinda ticked at HBO. I'd read somewhere that they canceled Rome, because it was too expensive.

Yeah, it's a good thing they got away from those period dramas.

Yes, Rome was awesome.

Maybe the best scene, ever, of that show occurred in one of the last couple of episodes. It was how Titus Pullo dealt with Gaia.

The entire first season of Rome was absolutely amazing. The second season was such a rushed let down that I usually just stop after watching season one. It isn't that season two is unwatchable, it is just that after season one my expectations are really put into high gear that season two is unsatisfying for me.

[Falconer]

Too many great moments in Rome to name one favorite, but if pressed mine would have to be when the two PCs are in the arena towards the end of Season 1.

Season 2 is *almost* not worth rewatching compared with the awesomeness of Season 1.

[JasonZavoda]

Too many great moments in Rome to name one favorite, but if pressed mine would have to be when the two PCs are in the arena towards the end of Season 1.

Season 2 is *almost* not worth rewatching compared with the awesomeness of Season 1.

As is obvious from the end of season 1 Rome season 2 is far more grim. The story-writing gods not only remove their protection from our two heroes they pretty much curse them. The payment due for their fairly charmed life in season one is collected in spades in season 2. But it is not just that. Since a good deal of the strong main characters are inevitably dead after season 1 I felt that the writers were just not able to make up for it in the 2nd season.

What a wonderful bit of threadjack this is.

[Philotomy Jurament]

Maybe the best scene, ever, of that show occurred in one of the last couple of episodes. It was how Titus Pullo dealt with Gaia.

One could argue that—regardless of what Pullo thought—that scene was really about how Gaia dealt with Titus Pullo.

[TRP]

Too many great moments in Rome to name one favorite, but if pressed mine would have to be when the two PCs are in the arena towards the end of Season 1.

Season 2 is *almost* not worth rewatching compared with the awesomeness of Season 1.

As is obvious from the end of season 1 Rome season 2 is far more grim. The story-writing gods not only remove their protection from our two heroes they pretty much curse them. The payment due for their fairly charmed life in season one is collected in spades in season 2. But it is not just that. Since a good deal of the strong main characters are inevitably dead after season 1 I felt that the writers were just not able to make up for it in the 2nd season.

The gods treated Fafrhd and Mouser much the same way.

What a wonderful bit of threadjack this is.

Well, Thrones is on break, and at least we're still discussing HBO epic series.

[TRP]

Maybe the best scene, ever, of that show occurred in one of the last couple of episodes. It was how Titus Pullo dealt with Gaia.

One could argue that—regardless of what Pullo thought—that scene was really about how Gaia dealt with Titus Pullo.

I dunno about that: SPOILER --> she's the one that wound up as a fountain decoration.

[Philotomy Jurament]

I'd say she was pretty firmly in control, all the way through. Even what you're referring to only happened because she gave him info he wouldn't have otherwise had; in a way, she allowed it happen. And she only let him know when it didn't really matter, anyway.

[rogatny]

About time to get this thread revved back up. I'm off to the cable company later today to get re-subscribed to HBO.

[T. Foster]

April 1st!

On the one hand I'm giddy with anticipation over this. But on the other it's going to kind of suck having to wait a week between each episode (and then having to wait another year for the events from A Storm of Swords - possibly 2 years if they end up dividing that book across 2 seasons, or even longer if HBO starts spacing out seasons with more than a year between them like they did with later seasons of The Sopranos and The Wire ).