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Cleganebowl was awesome. That Sandor, who was burned as a child and has hated fire ever since, threw himself and his zombie big brother into a sea of flames because that was the only way to stop him is the very example of overcoming your fears and sacrifice for the greater good.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
I don't have major gripes for Cleganebowl... decent fight and satisfying conclusion... except it might have been completely unnecessary for the Hound to die. All he had to do was let them slink off to the crypts to get buried alive.
then we could have seen him and Arya ride off on a white horse to start their private detective agency.
Personally I can see a Game of Thrones movie series following the end of x06, depending on how they wrap things up.
I think the problem with the pacing this season stems from a process along the lines of
Producers: "TV is cooler than movies now and this is the highest quality show ever so we can drag it out for ten or twelve seasons. The actors will never want to leave"
Actors: "This is the biggest show ever. We all want to do other stuff to capitalise on the fame its given us, so if you want us to sign new 7 year contracts its gonna cost you a fortune. Because there are loads of us. Also we still prefer movies because its way more money for way less work"
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
actually, the show runners wanted to wrap up so they could do star wars, is what I heard. Unlike some shows with 20 eps, I think GOT still leaves them time for movies and other side projects to keep them busy.
there are prequels in the planning stages. Not sure how much I'd watch since we know how it ends... but <shrug>
Yes, that detective agency needs a talking dog. I'm picturing midieval Veronica Mars, so a dog could be handy. Like Backup but more helpful.
I think they had contracts with the main actors for seven seasons - although it may have been eight - and they couldn't really extend that much further without blowing up the budget. They decided to spend the time of each season on longer episodes instead of more of them, on big battle scenes instead of backroom politicking.
What is missing from the show is that we don't see Dany and Jon interacting and eventually falling in love, and we don't see Dany going slowly insane. Both of those things happened so rapidly.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
Pour one out for our lost homies. By which, I mean plotlines.
Drink:
When a remaining north character appears: Brienne, sansa, tormund, Bran, sam.
If ghost appears.
When Tyrion is stupider than he should be.
When Jon communicates merely with eye expressions.
When Dany justifies her behavior.
When Dany demands loyalty without explaining her behavior.
When Davos gives his "I'm getting too old for this shit" speech.
If any previously thought dead character reappears.
Finish drink:
If Brienne and Tormond are together.
If Jamie and Cersei survived.
When someone is killed for betraying Dany. (RIP SANSA AND TYRION)
When someone is killed for torching Kings landing. (RIP DANY)
When Dany/Jon is killed.
When HotPie is crowned king. (SECRET TARGAREON ALSO!)
When Arya marries Gendry.
When Brienne becomes head of house Lannister.
Daario shows up with the remaining army.
Dany and Daario reunite.
Drink Continuously:
When a dragon is burning something.
For duration of any battle.
For duration of any love scene.
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Last edited by andi*pandi; May 15, 2019 at 02:16 PM.
)
As mentioned, it was Weiss and Benioff who called game on the show length—HBO was fine to extend for longer and spend more money.
Leaving aside some similar issues with S7, this one obviously should have been two: one season for the Night King, where Dany’s character turn would start to be better developed, and a final season for Cersei and the Mad Queen.
Basically, what this all emphasizes is that as much as GRRM has been pooped on for seeming a bit bumbling and frozen with fear over the past decade plus—his vision and writing was ultimately what made the show great. Once they passed him by, the TV writers were unable to tie together the plot threads—almost every decision was either bungled outright, wildly uneven or completely unsatisfactory.
Here’s to Sunday night....
Mankind's only chance is to harness the power of stupid.
I think they had contracts with the main actors for seven seasons - although it may have been eight - and they couldn't really extend that much further without blowing up the budget. They decided to spend the time of each season on longer episodes instead of more of them, on big battle scenes instead of backroom politicking.
I think 7 years is an industry standard. As much as HBO might have been happy to drag it out, creative types don't like to spend too long on one project as a rule. Every now and then you'll see an actor on a soap for a decade or even two but its never been common either to happen or to aspire to.
As for the budget not being a big deal, I've heard that there were scene and episodes that were worked to allow for a CGI budget that had run out, no idea if that's true or not. The cast really would be an issue though. While GoT has replaced one or two actors in smaller roles before, there are quite a few I think you'd have to consider irreplaceable this late in the game. Dany, the four remaining Starks, Hound, Mountain, Cersei & Jamie, Tyrion and Varys, Missandei, Grey Worm, Brienne and Tormund. Gendry, Theon. I'm sure I'm forgetting several. Looking at shows like Friends and Big Bang Theory, those actors were arguable even more difficult to replace, but they ended up on over a $1m each per 20 minute episode and most didn't have movie careers unlike Emilia, Sophie, Maisie, Kit, Lena and Peter. Nicolai will likely do well now too and he won't be the only one. The 7 principles on TBBT are racking up $100m a season between them the last few years. GoT is $60m or so a season all in and has massive costume, extras, logistics, CGI and multiple units in different countries, none of which TBBT has.
The budget is an issue. Plus if they got 90% of the cast signed on for longer term, the last couple of hold outs could really rinse them.
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
Having had a few days to think on it, I have come to the conclusion that Episode 4 is the one that failed. That episode was supposed to give us the lead-up to Daenerys' heel turn, to provide some reasoning, and it failed to do that. That is why the reception of Episode 5 was so mixed, people didn't get that that was going to happen. They should have ended Ep 4 with her kicking a dog or something while in the full madwoman makeup (what they showed at the beginning of Ep 5).
Ep 5 was also the episode of all the "smart people" being wrong. Varys was smartest and figured out where it was going, but failed to poison Daenerys (You all got that that was what he was doing, right? Because so much of the commentariat seems to have missed that). Tyrion really bet the world on that the bells would stop Dany, but he must have suspected that this could happen - he wasn't shocked. Sansa, who at least people on the show have described as smart, is pretty much the one who caused this by leaking Jon's parentage.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
heh. As it turns out, not as much death as I thought would happen.
Not sure how anyone knew what Jon did, as the evidence flew away... or why no one presented him as a secret targaryan. If we had more episodes, I would fully expect a) Drogon brought Dany to a secret magic place for rebirth, or b) drogon heads to the wall and he and Jon have adventures.
I actually considered this solution to the lack of a king (electing one for life). It mirrors the Night Watch and the real life Holy Roman Empire.
How the F is it only Six Kingdoms if the Iron Islands are in on it? Also, why is Dorne in if the North isn’t, they’re even more independent-minded. But that’s nitpicking, it was a fitting ending.
Note that the only person in the entire story that got a romantic happy ending was Samwell Tarly.
Yes, I think Jon became a wildling. I suppose he can find himself a new Ygritte up there.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
I don't know about that. Unless as I read somewhere, they decided to do Reform Maesters where Maesters can now marry and have kids. Otherwise, Gilly and Sam and kid to be are plunked at the Tarly estate somewhere.
Sam made his own choice, though. If he wanted to go back to the Tarly estate and make a whole brood of kids, nobody would have stopped him. For whatever reason, he decided to do this instead.
The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
Sam made his own choice, though. If he wanted to go back to the Tarly estate and make a whole brood of kids, nobody would have stopped him. For whatever reason, he decided to do this instead.
Wasn't Gilly pregnant or did I imagine that?
I have plenty of more important things to do, if only I could bring myself to do them....
The consensus is more... it's not what it could have been. People felt like they showrunners fastforwarded and lots of the nuance, character development, and such of the early seasons was lost.
Location: Iowa, how long can this be? Does it really ruin the left column spacing?
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May 21, 2019, 02:56 PM
Originally Posted by subego
I guess I’m hearing “letdown” more than “blowed”.
What you describe sounds a little like the last season of Angel.
Seasons 1-6 were all ten episodes.
Most seasons had like 8 episodes of buildup and politiking and drama and one or two good action sequences.
Season 7 was 7 episodes. Season 8 was 6 episodes. Season 8 basically had a battle per episode. If you like dragons blowing shit up, it was great. If you want the nuances of all of the events and decisions that led to those dragons blowing shit up you're probably disappointed.
The consensus is more... it's not what it could have been. People felt like they showrunners fastforwarded and lots of the nuance, character development, and such of the early seasons was lost.
Agreed. I understand how it ended and why. But it wouldn't have felt so "abrupt" if there had been 10 episodes. That being said I found Bran becoming king to be quite unrealistic. GOT has always been a show about power. Who has it and the lengths they will go to in order to keep it. Who wants it and the lengths they will go to in order to obtain it. So how does it realistically end with Bran as the King of the Seven Six Kingdoms when he has no army? With the North going independent what was to stop the Iron Islands or Dorne (two other independent minded provinces) or any of the others from doing the same? Cersei's army was obliterated by Drogon and the remnants executed by the Unsullied. Sansa is taking the Northern army back to Winterfell. The Unsullied and the Dothraki were leaving Westeros and going home. So if any of the Seven Kingdoms told Bran to kick rocks what was he going to do about it? Bring them to heel with his oh so intimidating absent gaze?
IMO it would have made more sense for either ...
A) The centralized authority to dissolve since King's Landing and the Iron Throne had been completely destroyed. And then there would be seven nine independent kingdoms. [I never did understand why they called it seven kingdoms when there are nine.]
B) Sansa would become Queen of the Seven Kingdoms because she controlled the most powerful army in Westeros ... since The Unsullied and the Dothraki were leaving as they had no ties to Westeros once Daenerys was out of the picture.
Most seasons had like 8 episodes of buildup and politiking and drama and one or two good action sequences.
Season 7 was 7 episodes. Season 8 was 6 episodes. Season 8 basically had a battle per episode. If you like dragons blowing shit up, it was great. If you want the nuances of all of the events and decisions that led to those dragons blowing shit up you're probably disappointed.
Interesting.
Since I’ve never watched it, I’m trying to piece together a picture from all the chatter.
this one is good and not spoilery:
Edward Portell @EdtheHammer
Put Tolkien, V. C. Andrews, George Romero, and the history of the British royal family into a blender and you get #GOT
Also, read the books. GRRM meanders at times, but it's his world, man.
Incredible character development set against the background of an impending doom characterized by the notion of winter descending for eons on people who live in a fantasy world of kings & queens but struggle with relatable struggles for power and shit I’m out of time so dragons.