Sunday, June 19, 2011

Get GOT

I'm not much on fantasy literature, especially set in the Middle Ages (as it so often is).  So I didn't bother to watch the HBO adaptation of Game Of Thrones.  Then the regular TV season ended and I figured I'd check it out.  I'm caught up and so far, not bad.  Certainly better than expected.

It took a while to get into it, since it must have at least 30 regular or recurring characters, and takes place at numerous locations throughout the Realm. (The title sequence takes you across the map.) Though it's a fictitious land, it's mostly familiar tropes we've seen in medieval depictions of Olde England with a bit of Vikings thrown in, not to mention some zombies in the North and, across the sea in the East, a Middle-Eastern inflected culture (with a soupcon of Klingon).  There seem to be some magical aspects, and while that's not unusual in sword and sorcery stories, I think Game Of Thrones would be better without them.

I won't go into the particulars, except to say it's about different Houses fighting for the Iron Throne, with various degrees of daring, strategy and honor involved.  I believe the ratings are good, and I'm sure it helps that there are large dollops of violence and nudity.

I've heard the producers are following the George R. R. Martin novel very closely. There's obviously far too much going on for the whole story to be tied up in a bow in tonight's finale, so does that mean they'll do every novel in the series?  I guess that's the idea.  I haven't read the books, or played the games, but does HBO plan to have an end to this epic, or will it go on as long as people watch?  I'd certainly prefer the former.

4 Comments:

Blogger QueensGuy said...

I have very much enjoyed the HBO series. I liked but didn't love the books when I read them (could it really have been 15 years ago?). I remembered occasional, vague plot details and one of the most interesting aspects of the tv series has been when an occasional familiar detail unlocks an entire plotline in my memory. It's a fun sensation. Oh, and the Khaleesi is smoking hot, so it's got that going for it.

5:43 AM, June 19, 2011  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

He had to create ravens for almost instantaneous passing of information. Without that, Martin couldn't have told his story because we can't imagine a world without telephones.

1:48 PM, June 19, 2011  
Anonymous Denver Guy said...

I read the first book, and was not a fan. And I am a fantasy/scifi reader. But I'm told Martin's style is that way, people either really like it or hate it. I don't anticipate watching the series any time soon.

I am finally working my way through Deadwood and Rome. Both are pretty good, but I for the first time got a joke from the TV show "Scrubs" - someone mentions Deadwood and JD says "did you know cowboys cursed?"

From the series, it appears that cowboys rarely didn't curse - and apparently they used all the curses we know and love today. It's actually quite a distraction. I may wait some time before I try to watch the Sopranos.

12:37 PM, June 20, 2011  
Blogger QueensGuy said...

Best part of the cursing on Deadwood (when originally aired) was staying tuned for Big Love. You went from every other word from Wu and Swearingen being "cocksucker" to Bill and his wives saying "jeepers." Made the Mormons seem far more foreign than the cowboys, to my ear.

4:06 PM, June 20, 2011  

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