HBO greenlights "Game of Thrones"

[Michael Knight]

The premium network has picked up the project for a first season debut next spring. Nine episodes plus the pilot have been ordered. Production will begin in Belfast this June.

http://www.thrfeed.com/2010/03/hbo-g...-thrones-.html

[naija]

I've given up on Martin ever finishing the damn series.

[Michael Knight]

I've given up on Martin ever finishing the damn series.

Hey now its only been 14 years since the 1st book came out and 5 since the last one.

[rage-a-holic]

We'll see. This has been in HBO hell for 2 years. They said Q3 of last year.

http://www.shaggybevo.com/forums/vie...t=game+thrones

[naija]

That was for the pilot. Apparently, somebody liked what they saw and ordered enough for a full first season (though 10 episodes seems on the small end).

[hayden_horn]

I've given up on Martin ever finishing the damn series.

he's obviously not focused on accomplishing that feat.

cersei and jaime look nothing like the lanisters described in the books.

[fawnknutsen]

I've given up on Martin ever finishing the damn series.

he's obviously not focused on accomplishing that feat.

cersei and jaime look nothing like the lanisters described in the books.

Otherwise, the casting looks pretty good. I would have thought Sean Bean would have made a better Robert Baratheon than Ned...but whatever. They had better not $#@! this up.

[longhorn5005]

Yea, I hate that he hasn't finished a dance with dragons yet. I think lena hadley and the guy playing jamie would look the part if they had the blonde hair etc. Martin will have his hand in this and it's HBO so I don't think it will suck.

[Traffic]

is this tremendously nerdy, or just really nerdy?

[hayden_horn]

i think martin has been working more on this than his next novel. i'm still pissed he split the $#@!er up into two different concurrent novels. he's gonna pull a jordan, but i don't think he's got the discipline to give an account to a deathbed scribe like sanderson.

i honestly don't think he knows where he is going with this series and that he bit off more than he could chew. i hope i'm wrong.

[naija]

Actually, he hasn't had as much input in the routine stuff regarding the television adaptation as you would think. He has been doing other things that don't involve working on the book, but it is stuff mostly to do with his other franchises and the irritating figurines and collectible items of ASOIAF. If you read his blog from time to time, you would see how bloated his writing has become. As of Feb 15th, he was at "1261 pages and counting."

[NorthLoop]

I've only read Game of Thrones and need to pick up Clash of Kings but I'm in the "they'd better not $#@! this up" camp. Just don't see how they can fit it all in there considering how many different characters show up in the book

[fawnknutsen]

i think martin has been working more on this than his next novel. i'm still pissed he split the $#@!er up into two different concurrent novels. he's gonna pull a jordan, but i don't think he's got the discipline to give an account to a deathbed scribe like sanderson.

i honestly don't think he knows where he is going with this series and that he bit off more than he could chew. i hope i'm wrong.

Yeah, he doesn't look like he takes awesome care of himself. I was hopeful at first, because he was keeping the first few books a lot tighter than Jordan did. Now he seems to be spinning out of control a bit. A Dance with Dragons, if he ever $#@!ing finishes, will be key. Either all that writing ties a few things up and gets us back on track or it introduces 50 new characters, 5 new countries, and a dozen extra plotlines. At which point, the HBO series my be the only hope for ever getting some closure.

[DigglerontheHoof]

I like HBO series and love the GOT series, I just don't see how they can incorporate all the different plot lines and dozens of characters w/out stripping most of the complication out. I'm looking forward to watching it but I'll hold off having any great expectations. IF they do it right it can be great, if they half-ass it like the last few episodes of Rome, then not so much.

Oh and I don't think the series will ever be completed...won't buy another edition (still haven't finished Crows) until they're all done.

[hayden_horn]

there's just no way to keep all those plotlines fresh in your mind when you have to wait the better part of a decade for the next novel. he really is like a storm that has spun out of control. he's got $#@! going in too many directions, and, like i said, it is apparent that he doesn't have any idea how to get a handle on it.

he's pulling a george lucas and focusing far more on his merchandising opportunities than his craft. i'm also in the camp of those that refuses to buy another copy of his book until he shows signs of finishing, and that doesn't seem to be any time soon.

[kevwun]

The last season of Rome wasn't half-assed. The producers had like 6 seasons planned out so when HBO told them it wasn't going to get renewed, they had to condense all those seasons in to 1 to end it how they wanted to.

[DigglerontheHoof]

I didn't say the last season was half-assed, I said the last few episodes...really the last two; I also understand that it was b/c the series was just too expensive to continue to produce. I loved the series Rome, it's one of my all time favorites.

[Jose Jones]

Putting aside the fact that an actuarial projection of the author's remaining lifespan is probably about half of John McCain's, does anyone really think there's an envisioned end to this undisciplined bloat that's been passed off as a story that won't be clipped, hurried, half-assed, and hugely unsatisfying? I mean given the increasingly tectonic pace of this beast, with its filler characters and Shamalamadingdongesque side tracks and deceptions, I can't even begin to project how many dozens of novels it would take for the morbidly obese LARPer to finally get arround to putting the opposing forces that will eventually be the climactic focus onto the same $#@!ing playing field. The northern cold $#@! vs. Daenerys, $#@!ing get to it already.

The Greyjoys? What kind of minor sideshow $#@! is this? We all know nothing is coming from this direction but another asskicking.

The Lannisters? The dwarf is the only one that's been interesting from day one. The rest are just retconned to seem troubled and deep. Oh, let the emo flow.

The various Lordly manuverings? Daenerys is going to burn all their $#@! or they're going to capitulate. It's meaningless crap.

Jon Stark? The only other semi-interesting character 4 novels in? Daenerys needs a man.

In fact, this is the story. Bank it, book it, whatever.

If the fatass with the hubris to insist on putting two R's between his first and last name would just copy this post, put a cover on it, sell it to me for $10 and call himself done with it, I'd be happy.

[The Dude]

i have no idea whats going on. but its HBO so im in.

[Jameslaw]

Who is this Jordan person you speak of?

[naija]

Putting aside the fact that an actuarial projection of the author's remaining lifespan is probably about half of John McCain's, does anyone really think there's an envisioned end to this undisciplined bloat that's been passed off as a story that won't be clipped, hurried, half-assed, and hugely unsatisfying? I mean given the increasingly tectonic pace of this beast, with its filler characters and Shamalamadingdongesque side tracks and deceptions, I can't even begin to project how many dozens of novels it would take for the morbidly obese LARPer to finally get arround to putting the opposing forces that will eventually be the climactic focus onto the same $#@!ing playing field. The northern cold $#@! vs. Daenerys, $#@!ing get to it already.

The Greyjoys? What kind of minor sideshow $#@! is this? We all know nothing is coming from this direction but another asskicking.

The Lannisters? The dwarf is the only one that's been interesting from day one. The rest are just retconned to seem troubled and deep. Oh, let the emo flow.

The various Lordly manuverings? Daenerys is going to burn all their $#@! or they're going to capitulate. It's meaningless crap.

Jon Stark? The only other semi-interesting character 4 novels in? Daenerys needs a man.

In fact, this is the story. Bank it, book it, whatever.

If the fatass with the hubris to insist on putting two R's between his first and last name would just copy this post, put a cover on it, sell it to me for $10 and call himself done with it, I'd be happy.

I admit. I laughed.

And yes, no way dude stays alive long enough to finish the series.

[rage-a-holic]

Who is this Jordan person you speak of?

Robert Jordan, author of the most bloated fantasy series evar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time

[hayden_horn]

Who is this Jordan person you speak of?

Robert Jordan, author of the most bloated fantasy series evar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time

though martin is trying his damndest to used as few books and as much time as possible to dethrone jordan.

/pulls on braids

[naija]

This is for you Hayden

On other fronts, I hit page 1311 yesterday. No, not done yet.

For some reason, got nothing written today.

[hayden_horn]

heh. i'm not even mad about it. the blog entry you referenced earlier is enough to tell me he is WAAAY off the rails.

The timeline of this monster is going to drive me mad. I know perfectly well that as soon as DANCE is published, some of you out there are going to attempt to correlate its chronology with that of A FEAST FOR CROWS, fit all the parts together to suggest an appropriate chapter order for a (hypothetical, and largely impossible) combined book, something like what the "Big Feast" might have been, before the split.

Well, good luck with that. I'm glad you're doing it, not me. With all these characters scattered over my entire world, some chapters that span hours and others many months, various journeys and voyages to account for, not to mention the demands of the dramatic chronology, an entirely different matter than the literal chronology... well, it may well make your head explode. It did mine. The DANCE timeline alone is a bitch and a half.

he doesn't even have a hold on his own goddamn timeline.

[hayden_horn]

by the way, that's 50 pages in two weeks. that's not too terrible of an output. had he been that focused over the past five years...he'd have written 6500 pages.

[Jameslaw]

Who is this Jordan person you speak of?

Robert Jordan, author of the most bloated fantasy series evar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time

How does it compare plot wise to Game of Thrones? Unlike the above poster, I enjoy the massive amounts of subplots.

[rage-a-holic]

Who is this Jordan person you speak of?

Robert Jordan, author of the most bloated fantasy series evar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time

How does it compare plot wise to Game of Thrones? Unlike the above poster, I enjoy the massive amounts of subplots.

You need a $#@!ing reference manual to keep all the $#@! straight. I'm 3 books behind and I'd probably have to start from the beginning to figure out WTF is going on. I started reading this series in 1990, finally gave up after 17 years.

[naija]

If you want an alternative to A Song of Ice and Fire, read Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn if you haven't already. It is better in some ways.

[KTTFB64]

Who is this Jordan person you speak of?

Robert Jordan, author of the most bloated fantasy series evar.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_of_Time

How does it compare plot wise to Game of Thrones? Unlike the above poster, I enjoy the massive amounts of subplots.

You need a $#@!ing reference manual to keep all the $#@! straight. I'm 3 books behind and I'd probably have to start from the beginning to figure out WTF is going on. I started reading this series in 1990, finally gave up after 17 years.

The difference with the Wheel of Time is that it will (presumably) be complete less than 2 years from now. Can Martin say that about a song of ice and fire? If Jordan were still alive it would be a different story, but I think Sanderson will keep to the schedule.

[DigglerontheHoof]

If you want an alternative to A Song of Ice and Fire, read Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn if you haven't already. It is better in some ways.

Is it complete?

[bularry]

If you want an alternative to A Song of Ice and Fire, read Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn if you haven't already. It is better in some ways.

Is it complete?

it is complete and it is very good.


just about every day I curse that fat $#@! G. R. R. Martin and his unwillingness to finish the damn story!!!

He's a great writer but man has he pissed me off. 5 years?? really??

[UTinBigD]

yeah, tore through the books without knowing it was incomplete. will need cliff notes to catch back up. luckily i think there are such things on the interwebz.

I was just glad that i started King's Dark Tower stuff after he was finished. That spanned 30 years or so right?

[Austinvines]

I can't see the series being anything like as good as the books but maybe they can keep the core of the castle intrigue and dump the lesser plot lines it may make it into a second season. I really enjoyed how Martin would kill anyone without any foreshadowing and tried to stay away from the easy good vs. evil duality most fantasy novels get stuck in. He is much more likely to die before he finishes and if he does, I think it could become like King's Dark Tower epic which really, really pissed me off.

I second the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn books. You should also check out Robin Hobb's prolific work that starts with The Farseer Trilogy which has two other trilogies after it. You can work through those while waiting for Martin to finish Dragons. While there is some continuity between the trilogies, each has a complete arc and are quite good. I just noticed she is working on her fourth set and pumped out a book a year during while working on each trilogy so the latest one should be finished shortly.

[Mack Tripper]

Great, more medieval crap.

[rage-a-holic]

yeah, tore through the books without knowing it was incomplete. will need cliff notes to catch back up. luckily i think there are such things on the interwebz.

I was just glad that i started King's Dark Tower stuff after he was finished. That spanned 30 years or so right?

22

[CleverNickname]

holy $#@! I'm $#@!ing excited.

[CleverNickname]

If you want an alternative to A Song of Ice and Fire, read Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn if you haven't already. It is better in some ways.

meh. Tad is pretty great for getting into fantasy, but its completely tolkein derivative type stuff. Boy turns out to have super powers and saves the world.

[hayden_horn]

If you want an alternative to A Song of Ice and Fire, read Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn if you haven't already. It is better in some ways.

meh. Tad is pretty great for getting into fantasy, but its completely tolkein derivative type stuff. Boy turns out to have super powers and saves the world.

what would you think about a series in which "boy turns out to have super powers and tries to destroy the world?"

[fawnknutsen]

If you want an alternative to A Song of Ice and Fire, read Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn if you haven't already. It is better in some ways.

meh. Tad is pretty great for getting into fantasy, but its completely tolkein derivative type stuff. Boy turns out to have super powers and saves the world.

Okay, probably going to get my ass handed to me here, but isn't pretty much all epic fantasy fairly Tolkien derivative? I'd say some authors do a better job being original than others, but they're all working from the same starting point.

[naija]

Not true.

[milk_monitor]

If you want an alternative to A Song of Ice and Fire, read Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn if you haven't already. It is better in some ways.

meh. Tad is pretty great for getting into fantasy, but its completely tolkein derivative type stuff. Boy turns out to have super powers and saves the world.

I don't even understand how that is Tolkien-derivative.

[fawnknutsen]

^ I don't think that part is particularly Tolkien-derivative. My only point - and I'm by no means an expert - is that "modern" fantasy, at least, tends to contain some pretty universal elements: multiple POVs, world/character/(sometimes)language creation, protagonists who have to face some great evil and don't initially feel up to the challenge but learn over the course of some kind of journey. Usually there's also some type of mentor/teacher/wizard-like character providing guidance. Some authors move way past Tolkien and do some really original stuff, but he's pretty much the godfather of the genre. IMHO.

[Storm the Field]

HBO has never led me astray. They could film a pilot called "Dog $#@! in the Microwave" and I would probably watch it.

[CleverNickname]

^ I don't think that part is particularly Tolkien-derivative. My only point - and I'm by no means an expert - is that "modern" fantasy, at least, tends to contain some pretty universal elements: multiple POVs, world/character/(sometimes)language creation, protagonists who have to face some great evil and don't initially feel up to the challenge but learn over the course of some kind of journey. Usually there's also some type of mentor/teacher/wizard-like character providing guidance. Some authors move way past Tolkien and do some really original stuff, but he's pretty much the godfather of the genre. IMHO.

^^^ said it way better than I did. Hell, I like Tad Williams. Its one of the top 10 fantasy series at this point. Its just pretty much every cliche in the genre. Its like the platonic ideal of the fantasy novel. The trope has evolved, however. Its now series like George RR Martins AGOT, Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing or Steve Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen that set the bar. As far as outright badassness, I'd reccomend Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind... its pretty much fantasy cliche (of the Harry Potter school for wizardry no less), its just $#@!ing good. But there you have the GRRM problem... an incomplete series.

And for the record Glenn Cook's The Black Company has virtually no Tolkein in it whatsoever.

[fawnknutsen]

You've read much more widely than me, so I'll take your word for it on Cook. :D

And may I just say that, as excited as I am about this on HBO, Jose Jones got it pretty much right. I guess SPOILERS if anyone who doesn't know what we're talking about cares...



...but I'd add that the excursion to Dorne is just absurd. I agree that Dany needs to stop wandering around, get home, warm up poor Jon Snow (even if she is his aunt), light up those icy $#@!s and hopefully Cersei and Cat as well. Those two are on my last nerve.

[Dr Fear]

Winter is Coming.

[rage-a-holic]

I saw some trees and some horses. Not very teaserific. That could have been the trailer for a Discovery Channel show about horses who like trees.

[Tasmaniac]

I started reading the series last month and I'm now finishing "A Storm of Swords". Really looking forward to this.

[SydneyCarton]

Wow. Homemade mashup trailers for fantasy books. That pretty much stretches even my range of dork to the limits.