TV Series Thread

[Hydra009]

I'm literally just discovering how many people believe Daenerys is a villain in Game of Thrones, and just how... passionate... they are about how evil she is.

The show version was a lot harsher towards Dany, and yeah, there's a reason they react that way.

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Their crime?  Dany thinks they might be behind the Sons of the Harpy killings.  Might be.

Before that, Dany met an envoy from Yunkai who offered her a crate of gold and jewels for her to buy a fleet of ships to leave their territory and go to Westeroes to reclaim her throne.  She declined the offer, kept the gold/jewels, and then threatened the envoy's life.  Suffice it to say that Dark Side points were gained that day.

I'm not sure if even Cersei would do what Dany has done, though Cersei seems to be growing more cartoonishly evil per episode, so I suppose anything's possible.

So yeah, a lot of show fans don't like Dany.  Go figure.

[GSOgymrat]

I read the first three books of the Game of Thrones series and gave up. I don't think I have ever given up on a series but after 3000 pages I still wasn't enjoying the story. Because so few of the characters are sympathetic and so many are killed off I stopped investing in their fates. I should have stopped after the first book but I succumb to the sunken cost fallacy. It didn't help that everyone I know insists this is on par with Lord of the Rings. My brother says the TV series is better than the books.

[Hydra009]

I read the first three books of the Game of Thrones series and gave up. I don't think I have ever given up on a series but after 3000 pages I still wasn't enjoying the story. Because so few of the characters are sympathetic and so many are killed off I stopped investing in their fates.

I don't blame you.  I wasn't a fan of how the later books kept getting more and more distant from the main characters in Westeroes.  It seemed to lose focus.

I don't hate the worldbuilding, but there's a time and a place for that.  When GRRM announced a book specifically geared towards worldbuilding/lore, I was glad.  Now that seems to be all he does.

Not even the Gods know how far that pushed back Winds of Winter. 

Of course, it's not my place to tell him what he does with his own franchise, but I can't help but point out the obvious - if this franchise hadn't have ballooned out of control, he would have likely wrapped up the main story now and GRRM could pursue any additions at his leisure without having to divide his time between different books.

My brother says the TV series is better than the books.

There's a certain appeal to the show.  It's much more easily digestible and it gives great visuals.

That said, the show skips over a ton of very interesting characters and their perspectives (Patchface, Victarion, Lady Stoneheart, Jon Connington, etc), there are major deviations from the book narrative that are rightly held in contempt (Dorne, Euron, Stannis, etc), and the latter seasons seem to suffer from poor writing - how much of that is the source material and how much of that is D&D remains to be seen.

Gods, I would have loved to hear the horn Dragonbinder in the show.  That was a magical moment in the books.

[Blackleaf]

I'm literally just discovering how many people believe Daenerys is a villain in Game of Thrones, and just how... passionate... they are about how evil she is.

I just... what? She is no saint, but she is practically Gandhi compared to any other ruler. And don't like her, fine, that's cool, but I mean... people are legit like... furious about it and will go off at you if you dare say she is anything other than the most horrible human to ever exist (lol).

I get being passionate about entertainment, but that is just taking it too far.

The show may be foreshadowing that her family curse may have been passed down to her. She's somewhat reasonable right now, but there are signs she may be turning into her father, the Mad King. If that's the case, John Snow might become conflicted about where his loyalties lie, especially if he learns he carries the same heritage as her and therefore has a claim to the throne. Hell, maybe Daenerys will learn about Snow's heritage first and try to kill him in a preemptive strike.

Also, there is one more thing to keep in mind about the series: The author. George R. R. Martin has said before that he doesn't believe the good and evil dichotomies of most stories are realistic, that most people lie somewhere in the middle. So don't be surprised if one of the characters who starts off a hero turns out to be the villain in the end, or vice versa.

[Hydra009]

Final Space 7/10

When I saw the teaser for it, I was pumped.  It looked like everything I wanted - a great mix of space action and comedy.

When I saw the first episode, I was very disappointed.  I swear to IPU, this series has amazing artists and animators who wake up every day and work magic.  It also has decent writing.  But whoever does the dialogue - both the writers and voice actors - play in a kiddie pool of their own turds.  I've never seen a bigger discrepancy of talent on a show in my entire life.

The lead makes Jar-Jar Binks look good.  Nothing he says or does is in any way funny.  I honestly hope he dies.

I couldn't watch any more.  Months later, I returned to this series and gave it another chance.  It's actually not bad.  Not amazing, but not bad.  If you can stomach the fecal stench of the first two episodes, I promise that it gets better.

*edit - I strongly recommend watching it muted with subtitles on.  Or I would if the non-dialogue sounds weren't good.  It's kind of a lose-lose situation.