My post was completely tongue in cheek due to the underwhelming size of the huskies portraying the direwolves. They CGI'd that giant mother in the first episode, leaving the actual dogs somewhat disappointing.
I wish I had watched this from the beginning. I'm sure HBO will have one of their marathons. Is it on Demand or Go?
Cool, I'll have to make room to watch it. I'm basing it solely on the response I have seen from the board and from the reviews I have heard about the show itself. I have no knowledge of the series or its subject matter but for some reason I want to watch this. I am guessing it fits the fantasy genre, no?
Watching on GO is cool because they have the enhanced version where you can pause and watch the author and film makers/writers comment on what's going on.
Yes. I started watching at the beginning of the season, have not read the books, but look forward to it each week.
An actor was listed as being Karstark in the credits for the last episode. He was one of the lords who spoke during the King in the North scene, but was never named on screen and of course they haven't mentioned his sons dieing (though they did say Jaime killed 10 men, but finding out later that 2 of them were Karstark's sons when he hasn't even been identified to the audience would be awkward to me.) season 2 possible changes from the 2nd book, don't read if you haven't read the books. Spoiler The writers have said they will be adding some stuff from book 3 for Jaime, as they can't easily have the actor on payroll all year and not do anything but sit in the dungeon for a whole season. They could have Karstark's sons die in Jaime's failed escape attempt that is just described 2nd hand in the books, and they may move his release up from book 3 to book 2. Possibly ending the season with his encounter with Vargo Hoat and the Bloody Mummers?
The moustache on the actress playing Daenerys has bugged me throughout this series. They need to do something about this next season. Wax that upper lip like never before.
I'm going to answer the questions above based on the fact that the season is over. In addition, I allude to the second season but only as the first seems be be segueing into it. Spoiler Tyrion is the King's Hand moving into book two John riding out with the rangers happens in book two; they moved the "riding out" part into the first season probably to setup that cliffhanger. Rob is "King in the North" moving into book two The book ended almost EXACTLY as portrayed in the final shot in the last episode. It was almost perfect. As a matter of fact, the last words in the book are "...and for the first time in hundreds of years, the night came alive with the music of dragons.". Of course it was morning but whatever! The wall, I guess, would be considered part of the northern kingdom in that the Starks have always felt an obligation to ensure the wall is manned and are probably one of the few houses that take it and the men who man it seriously. It matters because Winterfell is the closest house to the wall so if it is breached they are on the front lines! Joffrey killing Tyrian? Hmmm we shall see....no one is safe! The commander of the Night's Watch had his son before he took his vows. I believe Jorah (the son) is quite a bit older than Danerys or Jon This was mentioned in the last episode so it's not really a spoiler. Both Stannis (dead King Robert's older brother) and Renly (dead King Roberts younger brother) are raising armies and lay claim to the throne based on the idea/fact that Joffrey is not Robert's true heir. Of the two, Stannis has the rightful claim and Ned, essentially, died over that fact. Renly just thinks he would be a better king than Stannis. Renly feels that Stannis is a great warrior but, like Robert, great warriors don't necessarily make good kings. Obviously the Lannisters want to keep Joffrey on the throne as that helps grow their power. I'm not sure (and I don't remember) if at this point Tywin and Tyrion know the truth about Joffrey. Pretty sure Tywin doesn't but Tyrion might know or at least suspect.
The Wall and the Nights Watch is not part of the North as far as being under the Starks domain and command. Their territory was granted by one of the ancient kings ages ago and they are pledged not to take part in any wars on any side. It is one of the reason's Maester Aemon is allowed to live as a Targaryen up there, and why Ned was going to be sent there because men forsake their houses and titles and lands and old life when they say their vows. They defend the whole realm, even though they border the Starks territory. But the Starks could never command them to help them fight. Not even the king can command them to fight for him in anything other than defending the Wall. They are completely independent. Book 3 spoiler Spoiler This is discussed in detail when Stannis tries to take the Nights Watch land and command them. Of course all they have had to defend against for thousands of years is wildlings, who generally are not that well organized, fighting among themselves as much as they raid south of the wall. During the last time when white walkers threatened the realms, thousands of years ago, serving the Nights Watch was an honor filled with noble volunteers who went willingly, but as the ages passed with no reappearance, the white walkers have slipped into being considered just legend, myths or if they were ever real, gone now. Now if the southern kingdoms send anyone at all, it is mostly their criminals and homeless/orphans. Jon grew up hearing the stories of the old days of heroes on the Wall, and didn't find the reality being what he pictured.
ratings high for season finale. 3 millions viewers. The link compares the numbers of GoT versus Boardwalk Empire. http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/06/21/ned-who-game-of-thrones-soars-to-ratings-highs-in-season-finale/96133/
HBO has to be happy with that. Plus, consider that the DVD's might lure in new viewers like it did with True Blood.
It is not gonna be enough to just beat other HBO shows to stay on the air. The production cost is so much higher than True Blood of Boardwalk Emprie (True Blood is 3 -4 million an episode and GoT is 6 million).
Not big on know how as to how ratings are determined on a cable channel like HBO but do those numbers factor in On Demand and HBOGo first viewings as well? One would think that with the lack of advertising and the need to cater to certain demos en mass right off the bat to satisfy said advertisers the structure for renewal would be different...right? Wouldn't you be looking for total cumulative viewings for each episode that includes first viewings of On Demand and HBOGo as well as repeat viewings that they provide instead of just the first viewings when the episode premiers on Tv alone?
No, here is a better explanation of those type of numbers: http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/06/21/game-of-thrones-finale-ratings/ I honestly have no idea what type of numbers HBO looks for.
Thanks for that link. Over the last year and a half I have been visiting Tvbythenumbers as well and have sorta gotten a grasp as to how the networks operate when it comes to the renewal process but as of yet I not delved into how channels such as HBO and Showtime achieve that process. All that I really now is that they sometimes have a penchant for extremely early renewals like we just saw again with GOT early renewal. Again thanks for that link.
I'm a little surprised at the way they changed up the last scene, if only because it seems like CGI looks better in darker settings, so having the dragons hatch at night might have been a little easier on their CGI crew...but they looked awesome during the morning time anyway so I suppose it wasn't a bad choice. Spoiler Kind of disappointed that they cut out the scene when she presents the weapons to her new leaders. I loved the way in they sneered at her in the books and then did a total 180 after the dragon hatching. Kind of missed that in the show, but it was still powerful. Also kind of surprised that they left out the explanation of how not only did Daenerys lose her son, but she is also barren now, which kind of forced her plan of hatching the dragons since she would never give birth to a true heir. At first I was bothered by the scene with Maester Pycelle and the reveal that is far more capable and lithe than he ever lets one since it wasn't in the book...but after I thought about it I liked the choice and it adds another dimension to his character. Anyone else find it appropriate that they ended the show with a scene showing t***?
