Octopus Overlords

Maybe they're plotting to bring Emila Clark back as "Grandmother of Dragons." Gray her up a bit and you'll have a family resemblance recognizable 300 years in the future.

Rumpy wrote: ↑Wed Oct 30, 2019 1:20 pm

LordMortis wrote: ↑Wed Oct 30, 2019 10:02 am From the moment Dany's brother was killed, I didn't find her to be all that heroic.

From what I recall, her brother conspired against her and put her in the situation she was in. So, she rebelled against the oppression.

He basically said " I don't care if you have to whore you out to a thousand horse lords to get me y crown, I will" Obviously not verbatim but pretty much the exchange. She was still pretty ok with it right up until he threatened to take the Dragon Eggs, then he got his golden crown with a nod from her.

I likely wasn't clear. After her brother was killed, she lost her victim role but it was replaced with that primarily of divine righteousness and entitlement. It's not a trait I root for and become attached to. Juxtapose her "growth" to the qarth merchant who would have let her die in the dessert. She had the makings for a good antagonist. A good villain. Even an empathetic villain. But she's post brother's death, she was never been on spectrum of "good guy" for my viewing.

She was driven by entitlement. Being opposed to slavery isn't enough for me to want a person to rule the world. She was a power mad (inbred mad, whatever) leader who was good at gaining followers and not necessarily running a kingdom.

LordMortis wrote: ↑Wed Oct 30, 2019 5:03 pm I likely wasn't clear. After her brother was killed, she lost her victim role but it was replaced with that primarily of divine righteousness and entitlement. It's not a trait I root for and become attached to. Juxtapose her "growth" to the qarth merchant who would have let her die in the dessert.

Not the worst way to go.

IndieWire

One spinoff that isn’t seeing the light of day is the the first one that HBO announced, the pilot for which was shot and then scrapped. According to former WarnerMedia entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt, that single episode cost the network over $30 million.

“They had spent over $30 million on a ‘Game of Thrones’ prequel pilot that was in production when I got there,” Greenblatt said in the new HBO book “Tinderbox” (via Insider). “And when I saw a cut of it in a few months after I arrived, I said to [HBO boss Casey Bloys], ‘This just doesn’t work and I don’t think it delivers on the promise of the original series.’ And he didn’t disagree, which actually was a relief.”
...
The axed “Game of Thrones” spinoff came from writer Jane Goldman (“Kingsman: The Secret Service,” “X-Men: First Class”) and director S.J. Clarkson. The cast included Oscar nominee Naomi Watts in a lead role. Specific plot details were never confirmed for the project, but HBO teased the spinoff chronicled “the world’s descent from the Golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour,” adding, “Only one thing is for sure: from the horrifying secrets of Westeros’ history to the true origin of the white walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend..it’s not the story we think we know.”

I'm not a big Naomi Watts fan, but that sucks for her.

Yeah, and the premise of that spin-off sounded the best to me.

I worry a bit that they're going to wind up in a trap like DIsney was with the Star Wars sequels - so scared to venture beyond what was a success in the past that they wind up doing mostly retreads of the original GoT show.

That's why I think a musical/comedy variety hour set in Westoros would be groundbreaking.

Valyriant?

"Tappin' with Tyrion" could be a tap dancing segment featuring everyone's favorite character.

"Stark Sing-Along" would be a karaoke segment.

"Bouncing with Bran" could feature humorous skits that all end with Bran falling out a window.

We could even work in a Love Boat style spin off featuring various Lannisters. JUST Lannisters, of course.

And of course the documentary: Ship Building in the Iron Islands.

hepcat wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 2:44 pm "Tappin' with Tyrion" could be a tap dancing segment featuring everyone's favorite character.

"Stark Sing-Along" would be a karaoke segment.

"Bouncing with Bran" could feature humorous skits that all end with Bran falling out a window.

We could even work in a Love Boat style spin off featuring various Lannisters. JUST Lannisters, of course.

Has HBO responded to your scripts yet?

Personally, I'd lean toward 'Arias with Arya.'

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 2:59 pm

hepcat wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 2:44 pm "Tappin' with Tyrion" could be a tap dancing segment featuring everyone's favorite character.

"Stark Sing-Along" would be a karaoke segment.

"Bouncing with Bran" could feature humorous skits that all end with Bran falling out a window.

We could even work in a Love Boat style spin off featuring various Lannisters. JUST Lannisters, of course.

Has HBO responded to your scripts yet?

No, but they constantly ignore my genius.

I'm just spitballing here but I don't think a single game of thrones spinoff series is going to make it past season 1. Season eights incongruous ending blew that for HBO cause they decided to phone it in.

GoT fans are not your (collective) bitch.

Between the lackluster final season, the terrible ending, and the books being perpetually on hold (with the last one being not that great anyways), I've pretty much lost all interest in GoT.

Doubt I'll bother to check out any of these new shows, even if they do get made.

I think people are forgetting just how huge GoT was back in the day...and by "back in the day" I mean "just a few years ago".

It was event television for much of its run. I suspect it will get enough of an audience to keep it airing for at least two seasons...but probably more.

They should make a Name of the Wind series and end that one for Rothfuss as well.

Well if we're all contrubuting our ideas for a GoT show. I got one for you. A mockumentry following Tyrion Lannister around Kings Landing (I barely managed to remember that) as he does the sort of things he does.

hepcat wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 4:19 pm I think people are forgetting just how huge GoT was back in the day...and by "back in the day" I mean "just a few years ago".

It was event television for much of its run. I suspect it will get enough of an audience to keep it airing for at least two seasons...but probably more.

I feel like a lot of people are letting their view of season 8 color everything else in Game of Thrones. Yeah, there were issues, but that doesn't change that season 1 - 5ish were arguably the best TV ever.

Also I think people are overstating how bad season 8 was. Individual episodes were still pretty good (the Battle of Winterfell was pretty awesome). I think the issue is that Benioff and Weiss can create individual episodes that are really good and well done, but they don't do well with writing long story arcs. Which is I think why the seasons when the arcs were being crafted more by GRRM were so much better.

Concur with all of that. I was pretty sour on S8, but GoT as a whole was/is still an incredible achievement.

After 7 and a half seasons of prolonged stories, it just felt like they wanted out and the last 2 or 3 episodes reflected that.

Also, this may start another long "you're wrong!" reply chain, but I still felt that Daenerys going suddenly nuts and roasting everyone's chestnuts in King's Landing felt unearned and forced.

hepcat wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 5:04 pm Also, this may start another long "you're wrong!" reply chain, but I still felt that Daenerys going suddenly nuts and roasting everyone's chestnuts in King's Landing felt unearned and forced.

I'll offer a compromise with 'poorly communicated.' The pieces were all there, but were so subtle and scattered that the audience had no clue what was going on. Watching it after knowing the ending makes a lot of it more obvious, but the first time? Very few people could have made the connection that A led to B led to C.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 4:59 pm I feel like a lot of people are letting their view of season 8 color everything else in Game of Thrones. Yeah, there were issues, but that doesn't change that season 1 - 5ish were arguably the best TV ever.

Unfortunately that doesn't change the fact that Season 8 left such a sour taste that it has pretty much killed my interest in the series as a whole.
It's the massive, hairy, oozing mole that lies smack in the middle of the otherwise attractive person's face. No matter how much I try, you just can't unsee it.

Funny thing is, I didn't really hate it that much when it aired. The more distance I've gotten from it, however, the more I dislike it and the more it colors my view of the series as a whole. I really wish it didn't, but...

EDIT: Or maybe I really did just dislike it all along. In reviewing this thread, I found a post from May 2019 regarding the 2nd to last episode.

skinypupy wrote:I'll still watch next week (I've got enough invested at this point to at least be interested in how it all ends), but honestly don't really care that much any more. Every character death simply feels like they're checking the box, and there's no real weight to any of them. At least I know that I don't need to bother with any of the spin-offs, if they're going to be the same quality as this season.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 4:59 pm
I feel like a lot of people are letting their view of season 8 color everything else in Game of Thrones. Yeah, there were issues, but that doesn't change that season 1 - 5ish were arguably the best TV ever.

I remember something similar happening here with the BSG reboot.

pr0ner wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 5:16 pm

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 4:59 pm
I feel like a lot of people are letting their view of season 8 color everything else in Game of Thrones. Yeah, there were issues, but that doesn't change that season 1 - 5ish were arguably the best TV ever.

I remember something similar happening here with the BSG reboot.

It isn't isolated to shows. There's this little thing called Mass Effect that gets the same treatment.

Blackhawk wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 5:17 pm

pr0ner wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 5:16 pm

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 4:59 pm
I feel like a lot of people are letting their view of season 8 color everything else in Game of Thrones. Yeah, there were issues, but that doesn't change that season 1 - 5ish were arguably the best TV ever.

I remember something similar happening here with the BSG reboot.

It isn't isolated to shows. There's this little thing called Mass Effect that gets the same treatment.

Good point.

Skinypupy wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 5:10 pm

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Dec 01, 2021 4:59 pm I feel like a lot of people are letting their view of season 8 color everything else in Game of Thrones. Yeah, there were issues, but that doesn't change that season 1 - 5ish were arguably the best TV ever.

Unfortunately that doesn't change the fact that Season 8 left such a sour taste that it has pretty much killed my interest in the series as a whole.
It's the massive, hairy, oozing mole that lies smack in the middle of the otherwise attractive person's face. No matter how much I try, you just can't unsee it.

Funny thing is, I didn't really hate it that much when it aired. The more distance I've gotten from it, however, the more I dislike it and the more it colors my view of the series as a whole. I really wish it didn't, but...

EDIT: Or maybe I really did just dislike it all along. In reviewing this thread, I found a post from May 2019 regarding the 2nd to last episode.

skinypupy wrote:I'll still watch next week (I've got enough invested at this point to at least be interested in how it all ends), but honestly don't really care that much any more. Every character death simply feels like they're checking the box, and there's no real weight to any of them. At least I know that I don't need to bother with any of the spin-offs, if they're going to be the same quality as this season.

Season 7.5? left me kind of meh and that meh meant I never GoT around to seeing season 8. I take it I need not ever be in a hurry to get HBO streaming to wrap it up, huh?

It's likely to be the only way you'll ever get an ending to the Game of Thrones story, and the episodes I feel are worth watching.

I have a little time while I work (from home), so I can have background shows on. I like to watch shows I've already seen so I don't have to focus on the shows, since I'm doing work. Last year I rewatched The Sopranos and it was honestly even better the second time.

I'm now rewatching Game of Thrones and seeing it in rapid succession made the transition from Martin's material to other writers' stuff very jarring. This thing went to crap in a hurry. I can see a lot of scenes where the writers thought the audience would stand up and cheer. Martin never gave us those kinds of moments. The world was full of dark times and there wasn't a whole lot of celebrating going on.

Theon - I realize they wanted to have a redemption story for him. He was never meant to be redeemed. He was going to have a really bad end and having him win back over his crew was total bullshit.

Benjen - I couldn't stomach him appearing out of nowhere twice to save the day.

Jorah - He is tasked to find a cure for the stoneman's disease and the cure is to just cut it off? Seriously?

Tyrion - Why is he Daenerys' hand? Every single piece of advice she gives him is either dismissed or proves to be bad advice.

Cersei - I liked her better when she was terrible as a ruler.

Catelyn - why was her story cut from the show? Is it because the writers had zero idea where that was going? This wasn't a big deal overall.

Bran - to be fair, I hated Bran in the books, so I don't hold him against the show too much.

The biggest insult to this show is that it became formulaic.

McNutt wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2023 10:50 am Tyrion - Why is he Daenerys' hand? Every single piece of advice she gives him is either dismissed or proves to be bad advice.

That was a positive development, in my book. He was set up to be the wise man who would have been such a good ruler if not for his physical appearance, but it turns out that it's not as easy as just being smart.

My take is that Benioff and Weiss were fantastic at writing and staging individual episodes, but terrible at writing good narrative arcs. Which worked great when they had GRRM writing the narrative arcs. But once they got beyond that...trouble. Like you see it right away as soon as the Dorne stuff begins...all just pretty thoroughly dumb.

But at the same time, even once you get beyond the GRRM stuff, there's still great individual episodes. Like the episode when they're all camped out at Winterfell waiting for the army of the dead is fantastic.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2023 3:13 pm My take is that Benioff and Weiss were fantastic at writing and staging individual episodes, but terrible at writing good narrative arcs. Which worked great when they had GRRM writing the narrative arcs. But once they got beyond that...trouble. Like you see it right away as soon as the Dorne stuff begins...all just pretty thoroughly dumb.

But at the same time, even once you get beyond the GRRM stuff, there's still great individual episodes. Like the episode when they're all camped out at Winterfell waiting for the army of the dead is fantastic.

It also helps to not overthink things when watching. But YMMV on that.

Also, I feel the incest level kind of dropped off after the first season. Many viewers came for the incest and were disappointed in this change.

They actually ramped that up a bit. Jaime and Cersai were openly sleeping together (she even got pregnant again) and Jon and Deanerys started screwing (I think that makes them aunt and nephew).

There were a few things that did decrease:
Number of prostitutes shown
Number of Lannisters
Number of Theon Greyjoy penises