Wedge Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 As a long time fan of the books, I honestly think the series is done as well as I could realistically hope that TV could do it. The casting is fantastic on all fronts. The production values are extremely high for TV. and The Hound's armor looks awesome... for some reason he is one of my favorite characters in the whole series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrome Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 As a long time fan of the books, I honestly think the series is done as well as I could realistically hope that TV could do it. See to me there were some minor things that got changed for seemingly no reason other than to cut costs. FREX 3 things that stuck out to me during Jon Snow's arc. (I'll preference all these by saying its been a long time since I read the books, so my memory could be bad on these.) 1) Jon went to the commander and begged for Samwell to get assigned to work in the rookery. They were going to kick Sam out otherwise, weren't they? Wasn't this what made the commander decide that Jon should become his steward and protege? 2) They brought back 2 bodies from beyond the wall, but only one of them turned into a zombie? Huh? I mean any smart person is thinking "what about the other one?" Even my wife, who was buried in her laptop/Facebook while the show was going on asked that. In the book they brought back 3 bodies and they all turned, killing 6 men before Jon and Ghost killed them. It helped show exactly how good of a fighter he is. 3) When the commander rewarded him with the sword, it didn't have the wolf's head on the pommel. Jon's friends added it as a show of friendship. Its just the little things like that, that I think would have gone a lot farther in building those characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kang Posted July 12, 2011 Author Share Posted July 12, 2011 You came pretty close with most of those! 1) They weren't going to kick Sam out; it's just that he was going to remain in training under Ser Alliser Thorne, which he may well not have survived without Jon and the rest there to watch over him a. But you're correct about how he asked Maester Aemon to intervene and convince Momront to advance Sam into the Stewards' order as Aemon's assistant in the book but not the TV show. 2) In the book there were still just 2 bodies recovered. and Jon only fought the first one in Mormont's quarters - other Brothers of the Watch took on the other one. In the series he threw a lantern at the one he fought and the burns on his hands were largely skimmed over (but still there), whereas in the book he threw the lantern at a fallen curtain, which lit up and he burned himself quite badly throwing that. The 2nd wight was killed "off screen" in the book too, but again you're right - what happened with the other wight got a description (albeit a brief one) in the book, but was almost entirely glossed over in the TV show. 3) 'Fraid not; the carved white wolf's head was already on the sword when Mormont presented Jon with it. It was carved by someone in the Watch while Jon recovered to some extent from his burns, and all of Jon's friends knew about it before he did, but the sword definitely had a whole new handle by the time Jon received it in the book too (the wood and leather of the Mormonts' ancestral sword's grip did not survive the fire in Mormont's tower) Still, for someone who read it ages ago, you do seem to have done pretty well at picking up on a few of the little differences. IMO most of this is small stuff; I'm not bothered by these sorts of changes. The only thing that bugged me even a little was how Sandor's back-story was told to Sansa by Littlefinger rather than the Hound himself. Pretty sure that one boiled down to time available and nothing else - they only showed 2 jousting matches for the entitre Tourney of the Hand, so it's pretty clear they felt they had to rush through that part even without an extra Sansa and Sandor scene to worry about. I get it, though that was a little disappointing. But getting an 800-page novel into 10 hours of TV has got to be a challenge! Book 2 is even longer, and I understand they have just 10 hours to tell the story once again, so look for even more skipped scenes in the second season. I find if you try to think of the show as a totally separate entity from the books, it's easier to ignore the stuff they changed. But my real reason for posting is this: Book 5 is on bookstore shelves today! Yes, it's true; after 6 long years, A Dance With Dragons is finally available! I got my copy on my kindle this morning, but I will be buying the paperback edition when it eventually comes out too (should make checking the maps while reading a little easier at any rate!). I can't wait to read it, but I sort of have to - I foolishly began a big re-read of books 1-4 in anticipation of book 5, but things came up and I'm still only maybe 1/3 of the way through book 2. So now I have to wait until I have completed this 5th re-read before I can start book 5. D'oh! This is probably going to be even harder than the original 6-year wait, since I already have my e-copy and the only thing keeping me from starting book 5 before I'm truly ready is my own willpower... Oh, also: Gwendoline Christie has been officially cast as Brienne of Tarth for season 2. She's tall enough, I'll ghive her that. I am told she can act, which is also good. I'm a little worried she's too pretty and maybe not muscular enough, but GRRM says she looked the part in her audition, so I am willing to give Hollywood and HBO the benefit of the doubt here. Rumour has it that Mathos Seaworth and Margaery Tyrell have also been cast, but I can't say for sure how official that may be. If I can find the time, I'll try and continue posting casting updates for season 2 as I did for season 1, but I don't know if I have the time or energy to maintain a master season 2 cast list through repeated edits like I did for season 1 (that post eventually refused to let me edit it anymore at some point anyhow); it will probably just be a little at a time anyhow. Anyhow, hope everyone enjoys Dance while we all eagerly await season 2... Later, Kang Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwyksilver Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 I can't read Dance until I go back and re-read the first four. I haven't touched the series since Feat for Crows. It was a wonderfully pleasant surprise coming home from work and finding it on the kitchen table. My wife was shocked that I had read any of the books in the series, since the series is unfinished until I told her this series is the reason I now do this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72moonglum Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 I'm trying to plow through book three right now, after which I'll go through the fourth one and then finally the fifth book that I bought the day before yesterday but don't dare open it or I won't close it again.... I actually meant to have these all finished before the 12th, but there's just not enough time in the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.