So I’m just finishing up reading the first book in the series and i want to watch the show. Are there spoilers for the second book in it? I’d rather read the books unspoiled, but i really wanna see how this translates to tv.
The final episode of the show incorporates maybe one chapter chapter from the beginning of book #2, but it’s nothing pivotal or spoilery.
I’m 5/6 thru book #3. Stop readining now. Oh, don’t get me wrong: They’re great. But stuff happens that you’re not gonna like. Stop the series and never look back.
AFAIK they show a scene with Catelyn in the last episode which is set in the last quarter of Clash of Kings. It is only a conversation with her and her “guest”, so nothing really spoilery.
After having read the Prologue of Clash of Swords, should I really stop due to your mention that we won’t like what will happen, Ferris?? Lol
Unfortunately I’m too far gone now. I thought about stopping about 10-15 chapters ago, but i muscled through. Now I’m invested and i can’t stop. Only have about 5-6 chapters left.
Should finish it while at work tonight. Unfortunately I forgot to load book 2 before leaving the house. Thank god for netflix on the phone and being so far behind on Modern Geek that i doubt I’ll ever catch up.
How’s the song go? “Don’t look now / Things just got worse.”
The series is on HBO on demand again (as of 12 November, at least). I hadn’t read the book when I first watched it. Now that I have, and I’m watching it again, I see, notice, and understand so much more in the episodes. It’s like they were in black and white before, and now they’re in 3-D hi-def. “Oh, that’s who that guy is!” “Hey, look, the camp is red!” “Boy, Joffrey is a little sh*t!”
OK, I’d noticed that last one before. But he’s even worse if you’ve read the books.
Vague spoiler:
[spoiler]By book three, they finally find something good to do with Joffrey.[/spoiler]
Is the whole series available? Comcast right? And does it list an expiration?
I was just saying on G+ Hangout last night that I wish I could have viewed it.
It’s HBO On Demand. Not sure if it varies from system to system. I don’t have Comcast.
Okay, so during my exhile this week I’ve discovered Game of Thrones thanks to HBO Go. I’m not a big fantasy guy, so at first I was skeptical, but now, one episode from the end (and gods was the second to last episode a shocker, although the ending seems inevitable now) I am hooked. I’m even reading the novel concurrently. Can’t wait to start next season!
Nice to see another GWCer like me finding this world over the TV series. I’m also reading the books and have finished the first two.
You as a composer, what is your take on Ramin Djawadi’s work for the score? Most themes I have immediately stuck in my head. And just wait until you’ve heard his emotional theme during a scene out in the woods during the finale episode.
I watched the finale last night. Which scene did you mean? Funny thing, I thought the finale was a little less satisfying, but, I appreciated the device of having the actual finale be the penultimate episode and have the season finale serve as an emotional stock taking (The Wire did this all the time too). I did, however, notice the score more in this episode because of that. I have to say, Djawadi does some really fine work. I’m struck, mostly, by the effectiveness of the main title theme. It’s so simple it should be insipid, but he orchestrates it so deftly and harmonizes it so expressively (freely switching from major to minor in a manner of a beat or two) that it ends up sweeping you into a perfect emotional encapsulation of the show. I also appreciate how unobtrusive it is within the drama. I always found that problematic in, say (to use another fantasy example), the Lord of the Rings films. Here the score doesn’t draw too much attention to itself but rather perfectly complements the drama on screen.
Cool, cool stuff. I can’t wait till April, so I’m making my way through the first novel now. Like the season, I find that once the Starks leave Winterfell the action picks up and the reading is easier. That said, I LOVE the device of having each chapter told from the point of view of a different character. What a fantastic way to tell a complex story!
I have the soundtrack album and listen all the time. I find it to be more of a score than a soundtrack, if that’s a worthwhile distinction. As Armano said, it serves the scenes first… it’s not a collection of big, majestic melodies. Though it’s certainly got a few.
The books, sir, oh, the books… Get ready for ride.
I loved the end of the last episode, Arya and the blacksmith (Gendry) falling in together, the Stark-Baratheon friendship continuing, even though they’re completely unaware of it. That scene’s actually from early in book 2.
For me, the last episode was about Danerys (I LOVED how, throughout the season, she and Khal Drogo went from terrifying to totally adorable and, sadly, to tragic), Robb Stark (how cool is that?) and the Night’s Watch men going out to get The Others and/or whatever’s out there “beyond the wall.”
I’m hoping to make my way through book 1 as quickly as possible so I can make it to the next step. I am going to miss Sean Bean come April, though (if it’s a Gandalf thing I’m out).
To me the last episode of season 1 felt like the first episode of season 2, which is sort of how it should be in a highly serialized show like this. Battlestar and Babylon 5 sort of did the same thing, where it leads in directly to the next season.
The scene I was talking about was when Cat went to Robb and they both grieved about Ned’s death. As you say, it is a delicate balance you have to find with the score. It should complement it, but not force the emotions of the viewers.
There is a difference between score and soundtrack? I didn’t know that or are soundtracks songs like Son of a Preacher Man in Pulp Fiction that weren’t created specifically for the movie/TV show?
Please enlighten me/us, Armando! 
Jason Mamoa was so furious when he found out that his character died as quickly without even showing his fight skills. The scene where he rips the tongue out from his fella was created for the TV series.
And I dunno if you meant it correctly, Jon Snow leaves the Wall with the Night’s watch. 
No idea. I don’t work in film. Alas.
Jason Mamoa was so furious when he found out that his character died as quickly without even showing his fight skills. The scene where he rips the tongue out from his fella was created for the TV series.
And I dunno if you meant it correctly, Jon Snow leaves the Wall with the Night’s watch.
I bet he was! But you know what, he showed a lot of chops just with his facial expressions (Momoa, that is). I didn’t know he had it in him.
And, yes, of course, I meant Jon Snow, not Robb Stark. D’oh!
I do (work in film)!
from wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_score
“A film score (also sometimes called background music or incidental music) is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film’s soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects.”
“Songs are usually not considered part of the film’s score,[2] although songs do also form part of the film’s soundtrack. Although some songs, especially in musicals, are based on thematic ideas from the score (or vice-versa), scores usually do not have lyrics, except for when sung by choirs or soloists as part of a cue. Similarly, pop songs which are “needle dropped” into a specific scene in film for added emphasis are not considered part of the score, although occasionally the score’s composer will write an original pop song based on his themes, such as James Horner’s “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic, written for Celine Dion.”
Does this help a bit? I think for the layman these terms often get mixed up anyway so it is not a biggie, unless you are in the audio postproduction business like me.
So, I finished READING “A Game of Thrones” this evening. I haven’t been this swept up in a book (let alone a book whose film adaptation I’d already seen–although both augment and complement each other rather well, in my view) in a long time.
I’m now diving right into A Clash of Kings. Hopefully it won’t ruin season 2 of Game of Thrones for me. 
I started the first book when I started watching the show, and finished it before the second episode, and I can tell you, I really didn’t feel spoiled. The books and show are both so wonderfully done that they seem to complement each other. Yeah, I knew what was coming, but I still felt the shock and horror. And I HATE spoilers.
Once you start, there’s no going back. And I’ll advise ya this: When you get close to the end of book 2, have book 3 close at hand.
Seriously, take a minute [hour], go back, and rewatch the first episode. See if it’s not a substantially different experience now that you know who’s who and what’s what.