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The Old Man said:

Perhaps - but not having the particular financials, I can't comment on that specifically.

I was leaning more towards (and I am basing this solely on what I have seen so far of Thrones) the issues of adaptation and so far, I feel that the kiwis have made the stronger choices in terms of forced changes in the plot progression in order to expedite the story.

Episode 3 - while nicely executed - felt a far bit too forced in terms of progression and story exposition. Some of the invented pieces begged the question as to why they were inserted. Perhaps after all is said and done and all 10 hours have been revealed - these issues will make more sense.

I am hoping for the best however and can only critique what I have seen. But I love this material and I look forward to washing down some humble pie and crow with a nice ale

I think compared to Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings is easier material to adapt. Not taking anything away from the job done by Peter Jackson on Lord of the Rings, it was awesome and it certainly wasn't an easy task, but relatively, Game of Thrones has a much more complicated plot line with a lot more main characters introduced from the start, split up all over the world. Much of the story is told thru characters internal thoughts and memories, and every chapter is strictly from one character's perspective which is practically impossible to do on film. Fellowship of the Ring on the other hand has a much smaller primary cast introduced much slower, which sticks together for almost the entire first movie all working on the same objective from a 3rd person perspective with minimal internal monologue.

Game of Thrones has a ~50-60 million dollar budget for the whole 10 episode season compared to the $109,000,000 spent on the 3 hour Fellowship of the Ring. On a per hour budget that puts LotR at 36,333,333.33 per hour and GoT at 6,000,000, making LotR's budget per hour six times what Game of Thrones is spending.

That isn't to say everything has been perfect, or that there aren't things I would like to see done differently, but over all I have been very pleased with the effort given the restrictions in time and money they are working with. I'd rate the combined 3 episodes around 80-85 out of 100, with the potential for much higher as the character introductions and background expositions are almost wrapped up and the strictly story telling will start to become the focus.

Good 4th episode. Love the casting for Samwell, and all of the Wall story is going well. King's Landing and the Targaryen story is still suffering some from so much exposition dialogue, but I still enjoyed it over all. Only change I didn't like was having Littlefinger tell the Hound's story to Sansa instead of the Hound telling her himself. Did like that the wolves had more of a presence, though Ghost appearing out of no where and disappearing again isn't ideal. But he looked cool for the brieft time he was seen.

Looking forward to the conclusion of the tourney and some Bronn action next week!

Ghost is the biggest problem I have with the show right now. The people I know who haven't read the book were like WTF where did that dog come from. Jon more than the other kids needs to interact more with his direwolf.

Yeah apparently the dogs were rescue dogs, not actor dogs and training them was problematic. It sounds like they will probably go CGI wolves next season. It will be interesting to see how the CGI looks, especially with the dragons at the end of the season. I read some where that they have like 4 CGI people this season and they plan on around 24 next season.

I thought Sam was very well done. One of the few times when I actually like the movie more than my imagination

Good episode all together though. Can't wait for more!

Yeah I liked Sam too. The kid who plays him is quite good. He is also approximately the same level of fat as I imagined (as opposed to the way he is pictured on his card which is a little overboard, IMO.)

Although I don't recall him having a neck beard in the book.

blackbart said:

I think 6' 10" Kevin Nash fits the bill.

Action certainly ramped up this week. Would have preferred they kept Renly and Loras relationship more subtle, or at least delayed it til season 2 if they felt they needed to be blatant. Still it was probably my favorite episode overall with the Hound vs Mountain, Bronn action, bat crazy Lyssa, and a nice Varys/Littlefinger addition. The Jaime vs Ned change also worked for me.

Karazax said:

I totally agree on Loras and Renly - probably my #1 issue in the entire series to date. It was always up in the air in the books, sort of alluded to but never confirmed.

A lot more action though - and well done (the battle with the Wildlings was great as well). I also liked the Jaime vs. Ned vs. the nameless backstabbing guy who Jaime punched.

I had not problem with the Renly and Loras thing. We know its the truth as G.R.R. has come out and said they are gay so no point in beating around it in the tv show. Plus that scene I could actually see as having had happened. The whole Robert and Cersei one, not so much. Cersei is just all wrong so far.

I loved it when Sandor bowed and Gregor's sword flew over his head. The horse thing was a bit much and I had actually forgotten he did that.

Yeah I don't have a problem with them being gay, but it just seems like they could have delayed that reveal til maybe next season when they go to "pray" together. More so with character changes, I didn't like Renly being portrayed as squemish. He did have some combat and tourney experience. In fact we are first introduced to him in the books while he is wearing his armor and carrying his stag helm.

The Cersei changes are more dramatic, but I guess with no strict point of view some fleshing out had to be done. I suspect she will still have plenty of moments to make us hate her by the season's end. I think it works in the frame work of the TV show even if it isn't a change I would have made myself. I thought Addy did a great job as Robert this episode.

Karazax said:

How is Cersei "wrong" ? I really like Lina Heady´s Cersei in the show. She´s a real person here, not some stereotypical "stupid blonde b***h". You have problems with simply hating her as depicted ? Good. "There is no black and white, only shades of grey" is one of the underlying themes of Game of Thrones. Cersei had to suffer 17 years of marriage with Robert, who likes to drink, ***** and curse all the time, and called the name of another woman in his wedding night. And that was not her fault. Understandable that she´s bitter. Does this excuse all of her actions ? No. But does this explain them to a degree ? Do you better understand why she is what she is ? Yes.

Wow dial it down a bit buddy. I do not like her portrayal as they have done it so far. She's got no passion, no fire.

ktom said:

Was I the only one who just didn't realize this when they read the books?

Darksbane said:

ktom said:

I didn't realize it either, and want to go back to see what I missed now. Can someone point to specifics that address this in the books?

I'm sure we're not alone btw.

Madduxx said:

And I did not mean to be a schmuck with my earlier comment. It's just one of those things, kinda like "Bruce Wayne is Batman." Once you know what you're looking for, it's really hard to miss.

I am surprised people missed it. Seemed pretty obvious.

I'm currently very happy of how they have done the things and the alterations make sense for the whole TV-serie which needs to be different medium and somethings are clearly done to make the non-bookreaders understand better of whats going on. Like Littlefinger telling the Hounds story, it was perfect time to give more backstory for the viewers about the mountain that rides and we will most likely see a scene still where the Hound actually makes Sansa pity him instead of hating him.

I don't think that the Renly/Loras thing was out of place, probably very likely of what happened then after the hands tournament and it also gives Renly a better motivation to actually try to claim the iron throne.

The Ned and Jaime battle pretty obviously had to be done otherway just to make sure that no animals would be hurt in the filming process.

I do agree that Cercei lacks currently a little bit passion, but you can still see the hidden bitterness inside her well not just as fiery image that I got while reading the books.

I have to say that the more episodes I see the more happier I am as the character developement gets more room in the air time and I have managed to get couple of my "never heard anything about agot" friends to love the show and asking me for the books, so the serie is definitely doing something right

Ire said:

Agree with you there. My friend who plays the game with me has finally broken down and started to read the books since the series started.

Madduxx said:

~You guys just lost your Gaydar challenge by over 4 or more strength ;p

But seriously, if you re-read the books the subtle examples are very, very clear but GRRM is subtle and just never makes it obvious with a love scene.

LaughingTree said: