BTW, a Dwarf playing one of the meatiest roles ever offered to a person with a disability...this is the most Automatic Emmy in history

One of the best animated gifs ever!

It's no vag punch...



...but it'll do.

I guess thats my issue. I cannot recall a single midget actor by name except perhaps Danny Devito.

Speaking of the Imp from the series, would he even survive in such a savage society? Seems his little sarcastic and cocky ways would get him a quick death.

The family he's part of gives him the right do to pretty much whatever he wants. He said as much; that if he were born to another family, he would have been left for dead at birth.

I get that. But it'd just take a single stroke of a sword.

He's a son of one of the most powerful families in the known world. He has people around him who's job is to die to protect him. He can say whatever he wants.

I haven't posted in these threads yet, but I have watched the first two episodes. I was not sucked in by the premier. I felt it was very cumbersome, wandered around without much direction, and had a lot of people to keep track of. I don't think the last point would be much of an issues, except too many of them look similar.

Now the second episode was a big improvement. Maybe because you have a better sense of who these people are, but you can see character motivation and development beginning. It might have served better to air these back-to-back, but I get that the ending of episode 2 wasn't shocking in the same way the end of episode 1 was.

I will watch a few more episodes to see if I want to finish the season. It is helpful that you know there is a season 2 to keep the story moving. A few things I would like to see addressed:

1) Sense of time. I know there have been some lines thrown in here and there, but it's very hard to tell how much time has passed between some of the scenes.

2) Pacing. The characters are getting better as they are given more to do, but there needs to be more action to pick up what is happening on screen. And Dothraki wedding ceremonies don't count.

Originally I thought I disliked the blonde brother the most, but his sister/the Queen right now is tied with the pointy eared brother for now. If I had to guess though he'll get his due once his sister wraps her new husband around her finger and has him offed or put aside as she tries to take back her father's throne instead of him. Meanwhile, the short blonde kid is a close third (is he the queens youngest brother, or her son?).

So far I Tyrion is in the lead for best character! Who would have though?!

Son. He is the crown prince.

That's Joffery, Queen Cersei's oldest son. She has two other children (they were all at the breakfast table together.)

Anyone who's read the books He's easily the best character.

The books have this same problem.

Just to be Capt. Obvious re: Peter Dinklage, this is a role that encapsulates so many facets that are peculiar to any person who has mental or physical differences from the majority. It simultaneously gives the character a certain amount of power & magnetism while also acknowledging certain limitations in ability and the prejudices from others who (literally, in this case) look down upon him.

I thought the scene in which Tyrion talks to Jon Snow & describes the similarities in their situations really summed this up. I could imagine that Dinklage may have felt that he was summing up his own life experiences...how to ignore the elephant in the room while dealing with it.

It's a great role, but so far has mainly managed to avoid cliches & the easy sympathy that a less subtle approach might have gone for. Easy to root for Tyrion, but giving him a (realistically) cynical outlook and somewhat flawed nature helps round out what could have been a stock character.

Re: Dinklage as an actor. His face & name have become as recognizable as his predecessors Billy Barty, Micheal Dunn, & Billy Curtis (all who made many tv and/or movie appearances & were very familiar to audiences). It probably goes without saying that his name would be the first to come up when casting the role both for his acting ability which is top-notch for actors of any height & for his previous exposure & critical accolades.

We've been fans of Martin since reading the 1st edition of Fevre Dream back in the early 80's (long before the vampire revival craze).

I've put off reading Game of Thrones & its predecessors, though. After reading some of the posts here & doing a little web research, I understand that it's part of the Song of Ice & Fire series (which still has three more installments to go with Pt. 5 slated for release this July).

Don't want to know anything about plot specifics, but does each book wrap up a storyline? I hate to get into Deadwood/Carnivale situations in which we enjoy what's there & have some sort of resolution but still feel that the story is incomplete. I understand that a second season for GoT has been greenlit, but how long will it take to cover the events in the first book? Not being impatient...just wondering if HBO's in it for the long haul & if there will ever be an ending to the saga. I like ongoing epics that expand storylines in successive books, but it is nice to have the main plot threads tied up before I die.

Also, if the series were to continue on to the sequels/future installments (since I don't know if each book has its own resolution), has anyone speculated about whether the main title would still be Game of Thrones or would future miniseries take on the actual book titles (A Feast of Crows, etc.)?

The last question is quite a bit premature, but I would like to know if there is a planned ending for GoT. Sean Bean did around 17 Sharpe's adaptations, but I don't know how long he can stick around for this epic (assuming that Ned survives the first book).

Man, they sure do LOVE them some "Doggy style" fuckin' in this realm.

As far as the books go, no, they are definitely not all self-contained. The two major plot lines/mysteries from book 1 aren't resolved until book 3. There's been some speculation that the HBO series will chronologically move up some of the plot lines so each season has some resolution.

The series name is going to remain Game of Thrones. GOT Season 1, GOT Season 2, etc.

The book series is projected to be 7 books, and HBO has expressed an interest in having 7 seasons if the ratings call for it. Martin has told the producers/writers how the story will end if he isn't able to finish the series by the time they're ready to shoot the final seasons.

Not really. Each book stops at a natural stopping point, but it's more like Lord of the Rings than True Blood.

I think the plan is one season per book. Which makes me wonder what will happen if the series continues to succeed. There's a chance, I suppose that by the time they get to Season 6 (no sooner than 2016 and maybe later if HBO puts more than 12 months between seasons), Martin will have written book six. I think it's next to impossible that he has written book 7 by the time they're ready to film it. So what then? Does Martin let them film the story the way his books will play it out, thereby spoiling his last book? Does the show go off in its own direction, straying from the plot of the books? It will definitely be an interesting situation.

I think the plan is to keep the title "Game of Thrones" for as many seasons as the show stays on the air.

There is a planned end, but we're still at least two unwritten books away from it.

So we can expect to see Emma Watson's robes magically disappear in Potter VII: Pt. 2?

The theme can be listened to here:

http://winter-is-coming.net/wp-conte...e-sequence.mp3

And a piano version here:

http://winter-is-coming.net/wp-conte...e-on-piano.mp3

Electric guitar version..which is pretty badass:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRccdUkovts

As for seasons..It is possible that each season won't be for one book. Martin, and this may just be wishful thinking, has mentioned hopes of book three being two seasons, and books for and five being three total.

One thing for sure, if they don't at least give some seasons more episodes the story will suffer quite a bit, because books two and three are longer than the first, so 10 episodes won't cut it.

Yeah, I don't think having 4-5 as separate seasons makes a lot of sense, though I don't think they'll be getting multiple seasons for each either.

Really? You really can't tell these stories in 10-13 hours? We're only 2 into season one and I feel like a shit-ton has happened. Roughly what percentage of book one are we at?

How much is the written word devoted to descriptions and exposition that can be told on screen indirectly?

Four and five are basically the same book with storylines separated into two books. They'll have to combine these stories for the show. And would be way too long for one season..like twice as long as book one.

I think the first episode was 80-90 pages. I think book two, for example is a few hundred longer than book one. They are barely able to cram book one into 10 hours. That's 80-100 pages per episode. To do the same for book two, being a few hundred longer, 13 episodes would probably work great. Book 3 is quite a bit longer though. And four and five you'd combine them into one story for the show(as originally intended to be one book as well) and at least do one season each, and hopefully 12-13 episodes apiece you'd hope.

So, if I'm to understand, book 4 and 5 were intended to be one book, but the first one came out 6 years before the as-of-yet-unreleased second half? You people are masochists!

Yep.

It was a couple things the way I remember it, one, it got to be way too long. So the book was cut in half. The book is written with each chapter titled after a character name, and the chapter being from the point of view of that character. Instead of cutting it in half in the middle, he actually pulled half the point of views/characters from one book and put them in the second. So for the show they'd have to be interwoven as initally intended. He also had what I think he called the 'knot', a problem he'd ran into in the story and that's why the release of the last two have taken so long..had to fix it..now that he has in theory at least the last two books shouldn't take as long to write. Let's hope.