Game of Thrones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on HBO

[Caliburn24]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

I liked the first episode. But pacing issues are going to become perhaps the most negative issue for the show to overcome. Especially later on when various characters split up going their own ways and we get six or seven character vignettes per episode with no connecting tissue. This is not Harry Potter or The Lord of Rings, where our heroes(and villains) are going to be tied together in some school or on some quest. Daenarys being off in her own little world is the first example of this.

But I am looking forward to seeing how the writers combat this problem.

And as a fan of books, it is both entertaining and frustrating to see the groundwork being laid for stuff that will not be paid off for years if they hold to the chronology of the books(and HBO gives them enough seasons).

Oh, and I was underwhelmed by the soundtrack as well, it was fine for what it was, but I would have loved to see what someone like Bear McCreary would have done with individual character themes and the like, instead of the sort of sonic wallpaper the show has currently.

All the proper check boxes were hit in terms of characters though.

Like Tyrion, Arya, Bran, Jon, Ned, Jorah.

Neutral on Catelyn, Daenarys,

Dislike Cersai, Jaime, Robb, SANSA(and that hate will grow!).

 

[Skywalker]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Well, Sansa's a pretty easy character to hate in the first book, anyway.

 

[Capt. Vulcan]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Fairly good so far. Probably my two biggest complaints so far are with the music (frankly kind of "meh", even the main theme) and the pacing. Really sort of felt like they rushed through things just so they could end on the "The things I do for love" cliffhanger. I hope they take a step back and slow things down a little after this.

Pretty much how I felt although I didn't like it as much. The music was just cheesy like some episode of the Dark Side that happens to take place in a medieval setting and served as a distraction more than anything.

I understand the issues with pacing because it's an adaptation, but they could have had smoother transitions or some kind of indication of what was happening when the scene changed. Even having read the book, it was kind of disconcerting to be left wondering where and when the scene was for the first few seconds or so because there was no indication before the jump.

The main problem I had though, is that the show seems to take great care to focus on certain details in the book while ignoring others. It almost feels like some Stephen King adaptations where it seems that some aspects are focused on because the writer liked those details rather than the fact that it served the show and format. The wedding was probably the biggest example of this. They seem more keen on recreating specific interesting scenes from the book rather than adapting the story to the tv format, which is leading to the disjointed feel of the whole thing.

The show isn't very subtle is it? I mean, did we really need like half a minute of extremely loud cock sucking sounds? Also just look at the terrible background action during the wedding scene, it reminded me of something from Episode I.

Some of the actors were great, but others were terrible. Was it me or did Jamie Lannister's accent just disappear at random points? I think there were some other random accent issues as well. For kids, most of them seemed ok.

I dunno, I know it's usually a mistake to read the books first... but I went in to this expecting there to be issues and still came away disappointed. There's still maybe a great show buried in there, but I'm pretty skeptical at this point.

 

[Mach5]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

AintItCool are lining this up as the next The Sopranos

Harry Knowles had multiple orgasms during Attack of the Clones, so forgive me for not thinking much of AiCN and their reviews.

In my very personal opinion, HBO's "God tier" is Rome and The Wire. The Sopranos, Six feet under and Oz are also very good, but after seeing the first episode of Game of Thrones just an hour ago, I think there's potential for some serious awesomeness. However, those "God tier" two are way beyond GoT's reach, I believe.

 

[marillion]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Well, I will admit it only slightly held my interest, but I will blame that on being completely knackered from work yesterday... I love Sean Bean in this role.. My (10 year old) son walked through the room while it was on and thought I was watching Fellowship of the Ring. .. I had to quickly shoo him away before the next gratuitous boob shot..

I reserve judgement until I can watch this on a full set of brain cells..

 

[Tulin]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

LOVED it.

Might have had something to do with my partner sitting next to me tellling me background of each character as they appeared and how they related to each other. That helped a LOT!

Like the bit with the chick stepping into the scolding bath - the fact she could do THAT was because of having certain blood.

He was a bit upset that more wasn't made of the stag killing the dire wolf too and what that represents but he admitted only so much can be done in a tv show.

As for me, I thought the White Walkers or whatever they were at the beginning were friggin AWESOME. Scared the SHIT out of me!!!

 

[Electric Coleslaw]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

I haven't read the books but I enjoyed this immensely. Especially after watching the cheaply made snoozefest that is Camelot on Starz. What a difference!

I did feel a bit lost with the who's, what's and where's but I should have read the books. I'm sure that later episodes will fill in the blanks.

 

[crookeddy]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

This is one of the most boring pilots I have seen in years. If this was on network TV all the reviews would be negative and it would be canceled after 3 episodes.

Camelot sucks, but at least I can watch it without feeling extremely drowsy. Very, very disappointed.

 

[Bishop76]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Why do people keep calling this episode a pilot? It's the first episode - it's not like HBO is going to cancel the other 9 if this fails. As for slow... I guess I didn't see that. It's character, setting, and plot establishment and development. It's pretty standard for most HBO shows to be heavy on those things before getting to the meat of the story. Hell, that's standard for most good storytelling period. It's act 1 of the 3 act structure.

 

[Mach5]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Bishop is right, this most certainly isn't a pilot, but extra 30 minutes or so wouldn't have hurt. It definitely felt too short to me.

 

[coolghoul]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

It's on HBO which I don't have - does Netflix pick this up and show it like it did with Spartacus? Also does it also contain nekkidness?

 

[Takeru]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

My (10 year old) son walked through the room while it was on and thought I was watching Fellowship of the Ring. .. I had to quickly shoo him away before the next gratuitous boob shot...

Why? They're just boobs, I'd be more worried about a child watching heads getting hacked off.

It was a great first episode, waiting a week for the next one is going to kill me. I really hope there's another season. The one thing I didn't was that the adults were so old, aren't Ned, Catelyn, Robert, Cersei, Jaime etc. only 30 in the books?

 

[Bishop76]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

It's on HBO which I don't have - does Netflix pick this up and show it like it did with Spartacus? Also does it also contain nekkidness?

Quite a bit of nekkidness, quite a bit of gore and violence.

 

[od0_ital]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Why do people keep calling this episode a pilot?

'cause traditionally that's what ya call the first episode of a series. That, or, ya know, series premiere.

 

[Hyperspace05]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

It's on HBO which I don't have - does Netflix pick this up and show it like it did with Spartacus? Also does it also contain nekkidness?

Netflix will carry the DVD's/Blurays when they are released - probably near X-mas. As far as instant streaming, no that will take a couple of years. But they will be available through various on-demand services (like iTunes) when the discs are released.

As for nudity/sex. Yes, the show has a fair amount, and it is pretty faithful to the book in that regard.

 

[Scout101]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Good so far, pretty faithful translation to this point. Agree that it felt a little short/rushed, and could have benefitted from the first episode going another 20 min or so. Might have been a bit more boring/confusing without having read the books and knowing who was who, what was going on, etc.

 

[Electric Coleslaw]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Confusing? Yes. Boring? Definitely not.

 

[Bishop76]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Bishop is right, this most certainly isn't a pilot, but extra 30 minutes or so wouldn't have hurt. It definitely felt too short to me.

I think even an extra 15 would have helped a lot with a few of the scenes that felt a bit rushed. Danaerys' wedding in particular felt really short, unnecessarily fast, and a bit too unnaturally expositiony.

 

[Shurik]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

The one thing I didn't was that the adults were so old, aren't Ned, Catelyn, Robert, Cersei, Jaime etc. only 30 in the books?

Most of the characters were aged up in the series. This was done mainly because of the children characters - even if it's HBO, you can't have 13-year old Dany go through whatever she goes through as the books progress, so she's 17 in the series.

 

[O'Dib]

Re: Game of Thones: 1x01 - "Winter is Coming" - Premieres April 17 on

Ok, some thoughts. Having not read the books, I didn't feel lost as to what was going on. It didn't feel rushed to me, considering I don't know all the plot points that were skipped or skimmed over. I even though it was a bit slow at times, but unlike (most likely) Camelot, I'll come back to this. So possibly, it's a good balance between appeasing the fans and not boring those unfamiliar with the books. How much of the first book, percentage-wise, did this cover?

Another thing, the whole history/geography of this world is a pretty straight-up rehash of Britain's, isn't it? Aside from the fact that Westeros is a "continent", not an island. I mean, there's a Hadrian's wall of sorts, separating the civilized to the south from the "Wildling" Scotsmen to the north. There was an Angle (Andal) invasion some time in the past. And the Albino king in exile is representative of the Normans.