davidh777

Just burned through the season in six days! Loved it but had some trouble telling apart some of the guys with dark hair. Going through the Westeros guide helped. I think it's a worthwhile purchase because of the bonus features and the fact that I plan to rewatch the episodes. Don't really get the budget complaints. Yes, they could have more sweeping establishing shots, but I don't recall ever thinking things looked cheap or not what they could have been.

The problem now is waiting for the next season. I don't have HBO but am almost tempted to buy digital episodes. I'll read the books for sure.

DJariya

Game of Thrones is not available ala carte via digital purchase the day after it airs.

I know I asked you this last year. Unless you really don't think it's worth the money, you should just suck it up and subscribe to watch for the 3+ months. Is it really going to kill you financially? What does your cable company charge for HBO per month...$15 at most? Who knows, you may actually find something else interesting to watch to supplement it.

davidh777

Ha ha, now that you mention it, I do remember having this conversation last year. When do the episodes appear? Is it a small delay or after the season is over? The stakes are higher for me now that I've seen the series, but more so than last year I'm in a situation where I have to evaluate all my expenditures. I agree that I should at least check the pricing, however (don't know if there's a minimum commitment either).

DJariya

They get released when the DVDs and BDs come out.

Skip eating fast food 3 times a month and there, you have the money to pay for 1 month of HBO.

dsa_shea

Not trying to be a smartass but is eating at home free?

Groucho

No, but eating at my mom's house sure is!

Artman

Not trying to be argumentative, but I just don't agree with the reasoning. The show was actually a little tamer than I expected, amd I don't think it was above an R in any way. Rome had more graphic content.

As far as the writing, some of it was so cringe inducing I was deciding whether it was supposed to be over the top in an intentional way...like I wasn't in on the joke or something. It was worth my $35 and I'm glad the fans really enjoyed it, I'm just saying I don't see the huge difference in quality compared to feature films.

Giles

that's what didn't impress me about the premier episode - some of the dialogue just had my eyes roll into the back of my head.

slop101

First of, the sex scenes alone are more than any R would allow, add in the violence, and it's a no-brainer. And why bring up Rome? Sure, it may have been more graphic, but that was also a TV show - I don't understand your logic in bringing it up. If you want to support your argument, you should bring up rated R movies that are more graphic, not other TV shows. You're pretty much proving my point here by doing that.

What big-budget tent-pole movies have better scripts? I'm not being facetious; I really want to know, because I would love to see them!

davidh777

If I eat three meals at Groucho's mom's house a month, I can get HBO!

Michael Corvin

$45 to watch it once or wait and own the BD for $45. Easy choice.

DJariya

That's not my point. Now that David has finished season 1 and has cable, he seems interested in watching season 2. Rather than waiting about 1 year until March 2013 and avoiding the GOT threads and spoilers, I say pay for HBO for the 2 1/2 to 3 months and watch it week to week. That is if it's not too much of financial burden and is really watching his money. Of course if he likes season 2, he can buy the BD next year. It's just a phone call or a mouse click away to check the pricing and if their is any deals. And who knows, with HBO Go and some of the other programs, he may like it enough to keep it? At least that's what happened for me.

musick

^
the only way I discovered GOT was because I had a 3 month free offer for HBO from Directv and GOT happened to air during that time period ..... would I have discovered regardless ... probably due to the praise but there also are plenty of series that are praised that I miss/avoid as well.

I have not had HBO since last years airing but I very likely will call my provider before or around April 1 and see what kind of offers they have for HBO at the time as I don't want to wait (and I will purchase the BD set when it comes out like I did season 1)

DaveNinja

could he just sign up for HBO during the last month of season 2 and then watch the first 8 or so season 2 episodes on HBOgo? that would only be 15 bucks for the season. Ive never used HBOgo, though, so i'm just assuming it would have all the prior episodes available

Michael Corvin

True. Of course, I'm still waiting to catch the final season of Entourage (since I just buy the sets). I don't have a problem waiting.

DJariya

If people want to wait a full year, then that's fine with me. Game of Thrones is a really popular show right now and next to The Walking Dead is one of the most talked about shows in TV Talk. So, I figured some people who aren't currently subscribers might want to join up now, especially after seeing Season 1 on BD and talk about it week to week. Obviously people who don't have cable or satellite will have no choice, but wait. However, considering how popular this show is and with the amount of material that gets on the Internet on Twitter, Facebook, EW.com, Deadline.com, and the threads, it's going to be really difficult to avoid plot spoilers for the next year if you can't watch it on HBO in 2 weeks.

Michael Corvin

I don't click on articles or threads for shows I intend to watch later. It's not that hard. The only hard part is people spoiling something in an unrelated thread. [cough] Walking Dead [/ cough]

slop101

Don't you people have friends/family who have HBO. Back when Sopranos was all the rage (way back in the early seasons), I didn't get HBO, but I had more than a few options as to who's house I could go over to if I wanted to see that week's episode. Heck, some people even threw out invitations for little watching parties. If it's just for one show, how hard is it to find a local friend who has HBO?

Artman

First off, I should state that I have little interest in discussing this much further. Glad you're a fan, I was just a bit underwhelmed is all I was saying. I'll probably watch it once more and trade in the blu-ray set. If I had 10+hrs to kill I'll probably go with LOTR, I personally find it a more fulfilling viewing experience in every way, but that's just me.

MartinBlank

Has anybody else experienced extremely long load/start times?

Discs 2 & 3 have been a pain.

sn9ke_eyes

This set is the slowest blu ray load of any watched on my panasonic.

Like the show, although if I hadn't read the book I think I would be very lost.

islandclaws

Not only are the load times slow, but what's up with listing everything on every disc? If Disc 3 only has episodes 4 & 5, then only show those in the menu. Same goes for bonus features.

onebyone

I was just coming here to ask if the load times are slow for everyone else or just me. It's incredibly slow. I at first thought it was broken or blank it took so long.

That said, the discs look great, just be prepared to wait and wait and wait to watch them.

musick

no load time issues (PS3)

Josh-da-man

Yeah, the menus are really annoying. I don't get why the menus aren't disc-specific and list episodes and special features that aren't on the disc.

I'm also disappointed in the special features. I've noticed that there's a lot of material recycled in the documentaries and anatomy of an episode. I know that there's a lot of stuff available that could have been included in the set that wasn't -- there were two different retailer-specific bonus discs available.