Disclaimer: There’s no video at the bottom of this post. But critics at press tour just watched a private screening of 15 minutes from HBO’s Game of Thrones and I can at least give you some impressions.
Overall, it was good news: Thrones feels very similar to the book. Boosted by temp music from Gladiator, Lord of the Rings and The Dark Knight, the series had a sprawling, expensive, epic quality, with most of the cast seeming more-or-less like George R.R. Martin’s characters. My confidence that this project can become a hit keeps growing — especially after the stellar performance of AMC’s The Walking Dead, which proved very male-skewing, genre concepts can deliver big breakout numbers on cable if they’re executed with enough passion and talent.
The rest of this post won’t make a huge amount of sense to non-Thrones readers, but here’s what the preview showed:
Picking up where previously released trailers left off, we saw a brief glimpse of The Wall (very cool, like a craggy vertical glacier), we saw Iron Throne (gray, lumpy and ugly) and an attacking direwolf (looking pretty much like a normal-sized wolf).
I know some fans were concerned about Mark Addy as King Robert Baratheon, but he seemed spot-on. We saw very little of Peter Dinklage as scene-stealing Tyrion Lannister, but what was there likewise conveyed confidence. I’m less sure about Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister, whether there’s enough weight there, but he did deliver the pilot-concluding “things I do for love” moment (yup, they showed it) in a terrific, throw-away fashion (pun, accidental). The writers have also (added, I think?) a scene with Lannister getting in Stark’s face very early on, setting up an antagonistic relationship from the start. Very little was shown of the Stark kids.
Much of the footage followed Daenerys and her sniveling brother Viserys and, perhaps because that thread is a simpler storyline, I found myself getting drawn into those scenes more than the rest of the drama. The writers have wisely taken steps to firmly tie that distant storyline together more tightly with the main drama at Kings Landing.
I was also initially concerned about the visual style of Thrones after the first couple teasers since all the footage looked gray and dreary. Turns out, that’s the color palette for certain scenes in Winterfell, but the rest of the action set in other parts of Westeros had more vibrant appearance.
That’s all for now. Come back to the Inside TV blog on Friday, HBO is presenting its Game of Thrones panel at press tour and we’ll have producers and the cast taking questions.
Terrific write-up! I do have to wonder at one bit, though, Jaime’s delivery of that line. Obviously, it worked in the scene, but I admit, a key point for a lot of fans is a little description in the novel regarding how Jaime says it (“with loathing”)
Is that still conveyed?
Cheers nice write up thansk for the quick comments.
I still don’t think I blasted mark addy that hard, I really like his work.
so jealous of you!!!!!
I’m so excited about this show, they are my favorite books and the show really seems to be adapting the books really well.
i HATE dany’s hair, though. also with tamzin merchant was still playing her, but, i quibble. CAN’T WAIT.
Thanks so much for the great write up! My excitement for this knows no bounds. Now I’m going to go wallow in my jealousy.
I’m a big fan of the Wheel of Time series and am looking for a new series. Part of me wants to read this series, but with the HBO adaption, part of me wants to have “fresh eyes” when I see it. Any recommendations? Should I read it or wait for the show?
read it… The books are always better. This coming from another fan of WOT.
Don’t read it. The guy clearly has no intention of finishing the series, so don’t get wrapped up in it – just enjoy the TV show and let it develop on its own (which it will have to do after they run out of book material).
I am torn beween the two opinions above. I would say read i because is a phenomenal series, but sks is right in that it will most likely never be finished. Martin has been promising the next book is almost here for 5 years now. Martin travels, writes football blogs, and hangs out on facebook, but cannot seem to finish a book he said was nearly done in 2005
So true, what’s going on there? That whole splitting the book in 2 was bs I guess.
At least he is still alive, unlike RJ, so there is hope.
Yeah, I’ve been waiting for Dance With Dragons to come out for years now. RJ may have died, but at least they are still finishing the series, completed by Brandon Sanderson. And the last two that he has done have been really good. They say that last WOT book is coming out next February .
Agree, GRRM must suffer from the biggest writer block around and I also think it is unlikely that he will finish the series. Dance was promised almost 11 years ago, on his blog he indicates that he is almost finsihed and then he has to rewrite everything again. Think he is playing with his fans and peddling statues and old calendars on his site.
read it. definitely. the biggest complaint i had with WOT was that it was pretty childish in that all of the main characters were seemingly invincible. this does not suffer from that. quite realistic in its depiction of medieval warfare, politics and socio-economic strife. the characters are very deep and the plot is excellent. i guess my point is that when i think of wheel of time i think ‘fantasy epic’..when i think of song of ice and fire the first thought is ‘historical fiction’.
You should buy and read it now. Almost every fantasy fan I know likes Song of Ice and Fire a great deal more than Wheel of Time… even if you only count them book for book up to five.
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(That would be the only fair comparison in my opinion; Jordan descends into embarrassingly senile depths of of braid-tugging, dress description, and subplot minutiae in six+. Martin is having some issues with writer’s block and narrative structure, but in no way do they compare. On a positive note, Brandon Sanderson is doing a pretty credible job of cauterizing the subplots and wrapping up Wheel of Time according to Jordan’s notes.)
Raymond Feist
SO freaking excited for this. Now if only George would get out the next book…
i am so excited about this! i have only read the first book, but plan on finishing the series, hopefully before i see the show. i think it looks very promising, hbo is known for a lot of well produced shows so i have hope that it will be awesome!
damn I can’t wait!!!!
I’m very curious to see how the Stark kids are portrayed. I’m halfway through with the first book and LOVING IT! And I’m a female… over 25…so take that, conventional wisdom.
Me too!
Me too, I have loved these books for years and lent them to lots of other people. Can’t wait for the series.
Yeah, sort of confused that the writer of this article places this series as “male-oriented,” when several of the main characters are very strong and independent women.
Pretty sure Hibbard was attempting to say The Walking Dead did pretty well with women despite the ostensibly male subject matter.
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Clearly he didn’t do a very good job of it if so 8)
yeah, that “male skewed” comment rubbed me the wrong way – not only I am female and I’ve been a fan of the books for years, but 90% of the other ASoIaF fans I know are female. What gives?
This sounds interesting! I haven’t read the book, and I’m always torn when a show/movie comes out based on a book. Should I read the book first or try out the movie/show with no expectations or knowledge of plot points?
Read it! I’m halfway through the second book, and started reading so I would be “caught up” before the series started on HBO but I haven’t been able to put the books down.
What, no Jason Momoa in the 15 minute preview??
I need Momoa news.
It sounds great! I considered reading the books but when I heard it was being made into a series, I decided not to read them. I usually enjoy book adaptations a lot better when I haven’t already read the books first.
There is some Momoa, interacting with Dany.
There’s even some spoken Dothraki, which will be really interesting to hear.
To any who have questions – read these books! I’ve been following the series for about 12 years now, and despite the crazy long waits between books, I’ve not been disappointed yet. They also hold up really well for re-reading since the stories are so complex. Enjoy