Rumors swirl of advance screenings of Thrones

Maester Tcost,

One of the videos GRRM recently posted featured some background music that I didn’t immediately recognize, but it sounded a lot like Djawadi’s work. It could’ve just been filler music borrowed from another source, but it made me wonder if the scoring and production of the music isn’t much further along than people expect.

The comments on a TM Leafs Blog seems believable enough — and it rings true.

Whether or not the music for the series is finished and finalized, the suggestion that the first two episodes are otherwise done is not at all shocking. Indeed, given that we are two months from the air date, I’d be shocked if those episodes were NOT done by this point.

*sigh*

None of this says anything about GRRM’s failure to announce he has finished writing ADwD, the delay of which has me desperately upset now — and the further delays are now threatening to make me lose a bet, too.

The series is coming out and he is going to lose out on the synergy and free publicity in the local book review section when somebody else is paying for it? I never believed that GRRM could be as stupid as that; no way, no how.

And here we are, Feb 15, 2011 — and still no announcement.

I cannot for the life mf me understand how a guy who claims a one week hsopitalization dirsupted his “it’s done” announcement slated for early January — is now at February 15, 2011 and it’s STILL not done.

That math just doesn’t work. It comes down to the fact that if you don’t put GRRM’s feet to the fire with a deadline, he seems to have the propensity to dance on the edge of forever with the manuscript for there books.

If I was his publisher, I would be sending security ninjas just to break stuff in his house randomly to intimidate him a little. “Nice TV, Colonel. Shame if something were to… happen to it“.

Would it help? Nope. Probably not.

But would it hurt? Just exactly how could you tell? Man-o-man…

C’mon George. Enough already!

I’m actually going to be in Belfast on the 17th of April, does anyone know of any screening events or parties or anything related to the Thrones premiere?? I’m staying like half a mile from paint hall!!

IF this is true I would sell a kidney to be there at those screenings. Hey, I only REALLY need one. :D

The Rabbit,

Thinking about the hiring date, it’s very likely that Djawadi had been working on this for at least a little bit and that the announcement was only made when things with the previous composer came to a final and legally situated end. Nonetheless, the screening episodes might still have substitute music.

Winter Is Coming,

You guys are awesome, thanks for the response. Good point, I forget that HBO is still a US company and the other side of the pond has to wait for US content…oh well, that’s why they invented DVR!

Steel_Wind,

You’re assuming he’s done with the book, which I doubt. If he’s done with it, he’s holding off for very good reason at this point. It’s one thing to delay the announcement for a few days so that you can make it at a press conference. It’s another just to delay with no major venue for announcement in sight. George wants to tell everyone it’s done just as much as everyone wants to hear it’s done.

Whatever he may have said, I’m sure he’s still working on it. The thing is, the guy doesn’t live in a vacuum. He has his fingers and lots of pies, and I think it’s very possible that one week of illness could have entirely thrown off his schedule. I suspect he said that week aside thinking, “Okay, I don’t have any immediate deadlines, no traveling, etc. Just me and the book. I can push through and finish it this week.” The next thing he knows, he’s horribly sick, hospitalized, and in no shape to write. That week slips by. He gets better, but now he has a plane to catch, and then he gets home and he has an anthology to finish editing, or some other deadline. And after that another deadline. Like it or not, that week of potentially solid work is gone, and he’s back to stealing and writing time from other projects.

Best case scenario: he’s just finished it and he’s waiting for approval from his editor to make an announcement. More likely, he is still working on those last chapters. My best guess is that we’ll get an announcement soon: at very least before the show premieres, but George is going to finish when he finishes, and nothing at all is going to change that.

On GRRM and finishing the book – Maybe the week in the hospital has changed something. I know my codeine cough syrup I was chugging last week gave me WAEIRD dreams, and when I thought I might be dying from the flu, I was thinking all kinds of weird stuff. Like all the hours of my life I have WASTED dusting.. Maybe the illness, side effects from it, weird dreams, medicine reactions, or thoughts of death somehow have played into the plot, and he’s decided to change a few more things.. If that’s the case I hope we get some extra cool stuff..

the book signing seemed such a perfect time for the announcement of ADwD, it being a special occasion and all. I wonder if he would wait to announce it at a special time or will we just wake up one day, look at his site and see that he posted ” It’s done”. I wonder how he announced previous books, this being the first book I had to wait for

Guys,

rant_on

Come on. Quit the apologia. He has “his fingers and toes in too many pies?” There is only one pie for GRRM – and that’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Without the fame and popularity created by his work on those novels — he could barely pay the rent with the rest of his collective writing — let alone a mortgage and health insurance. He’s been living off of the fame generated by this series for well over a decade. Well – the bill owing to those patient fans for that fame is long overdue.

Worse, the news of the Twitter concerning/from GRRM of “It’s out in October” last week … only to learn that the subject of the Twitter was about another book entirely? A bait and switch? On his own fans??? That was disgraceful marketing and an abuse of his fans’ goodwill. You pull crap like that? You should expect to be called on it. It’s just wrong for fans’ expectations and goodwill to be abused in that manner. If that is not plain and obvious to you — then I fear your centre of moral judgment is AWOL.

Am I frustrated? Damn right. It’s ten and a half years since GRRM finished a manuscript with Jon, Dany and Tyrion in it. That is an unacceptably long time to leave fans hanging. It’s been 3 months with 3 and a half chapters left? Most of which were already written? Come on. Enough with the “you can’t rush art” apologia. The man’s sense of urgency is wholly misplaced. If he had to pay the rent with this money — the book would have been done long ago. This may be art, but it is commercial art.

Blah Blah Blah…

Has all of this been said before? Hell yes. There are entire WEBSITES devoted to these observations. Does it help get the book any faster? Evidently not. Does it hurt? The evidence is inconclusive.

Does it help ME to vent my frustrations and share them with other fans? Damned right it does. That’s why I do it.

And I also suspect that George reads this blog — and probably the comments — and at least he’ll have to just deliberately choose to skip on by these comments, too. Well then, he does.

No explanations. More or less complete silence punctuated by release of forthcoming anthologies we don’t really much care about — and vague references to Kong.

GAH!!!

Am I frustrated? Yes I am.

/rant

If they’re ready to show the first episodes off then I’d think they could air a meaty trailer or two as well :) Big Love’s final episode is in the end of March right? I hope we’ve seen a longer trailer before then.

Thing is, even if he DOES finish the book tomorrow, we’ll still have between 6 and 12 months to wait. A manuscript is not a book, and even if I’m ready to believe that GRRM’s publisher will put ADWD on a very fast track indeed, there are stages of publishing that you can’t complete without and actual, finished MS, like typesetting and proofreading. Proof in image : they have to go from this to this.

(btw, if you haven’t read the book I’m taking as an example here, do yourself a favour and check it out. It’s the first part of a trilogy, and the second part will be out March 1st).

So, even assuming the very best possible timeframe, the book won’t be out until August/September of this year. There’s no way George’s gonna be able to “cash in” on the series launch, until Season 2 is greenlit mid-may and starts screening in September.

Which, in turn, means that we should probably not get our hopes up. If the book was going to be launched at the same time as the series, we would know about it by know.

I still have hope for 2011, though.

pKp,

The 6 to 12 month wait issue is not true in this case.

All but five chapters have been submitted to the editor over the course of time and all the editing and proofing issues you refer to are mostly all done. This was confirmed by his publishers last fall.

The days of “typesetting” being a laborious task are ancient history. The book has been laid out, fonts selected and cover art prepared. Signatures auto format in less than a second. It is a matter of getting the rest of the manuscript, proofing a redlined version of same and getting it printed. The turnaround time is minimal for a book like this in terms of pre-press. The publisher, marketers and sellers are all highly motivated for NOW. The only bottleneck in all of this is 1)getting a finished manuscript and 2)getting it physically printed and shipped to stores.

There is absolutely no reason that the manuscript, if finished now, could not be ready for April/May. Usually, the delays in these matters arise from publishers not wishing to disturb their publication schedules and marketers preferring to wait for “the right time”.

None of those typical concerns apply in this case — other than “the right time” — which is when the marketing hoopla paid for by HBO is in full flight.

All of which means the time for releasing the book from a marketing perspective is late March through to June of 2011.

Tight? Hell yes. Still possible? Very.

Inkasrain,

Yeah, it is getting tougher and tougher to wait.

I used to call us: hungry wolves :)

The Rabbit,

Ha, that’s good too! All are more eloquent than my gut instinct, which is more along the lines of We wants it! We waaaants it! We wants it NOW, Preciousss!

New post on Not A Blog. Looks like he’s still working on it…

Raynette Schroeder,

can you post the text of it? I can’t access livejournal at work.. :/

Will this damned snow ever cease?
Might be, might be. Saw a sliver of sun last night.
(Oh, it’s a gorgeous sunny happy day in Santa Fe. Just not out on Skull Island).
Wrestling with a pair of krakens. One almost subdued, t’other still writhing and twisting and slapping me alongside the head with her tenatcles. After them, I’ve got a wolf to face.

Translation:

He has 3 chapters to round off: Asha and a male Greyjoy, and a Stark/Snow, and one of them is pretty much done.

Skull Island is the place where King Kong was found, btw.

Steel_Wind: /rant    

Ah, another douchebag with an entitlement complex. Was there any need to favor us all with your masturbatory rants? Don’t you get to say all this shite to yourself in your head?

Assuming you are capable of producing these thoughts in your own interior mental dialogue, then clearly there is an ulterior motive for airing the same whining we’ve all seen 70 times and can find at will in any comment thread dealing even tangentially with GRRM.

Steel_Wind,

I get the frustration. This book has been forever in coming. I want to read it as much as anyone.

But… At times like these I think it’s helpful to remember this useful mantra: “George RR Martin doesn’t owe his fans shite.” If he wakes up tomorrow and besides

Tbh, I’m well past the anger and apologist stages as concerns ADWD. I’m into weary despondency by now. The thing I keep going over is: what’s going to happen when GRRM finally makes the big announcement? I’ll get excited, I suppose. Probably jubilant. I’ll tell my friends and relatives, even those who don’t read fantasy. I’ll start checking the Not A Blog every day for news on the text and troll the internet for advance reviews. I’ll reread books 1-4 in preparation.

I’ll wait at midnight at my favorite bookstore, if possible. I’ll buy the book, smell its pages, and probably engage in a bit of covert hugging and possibly kowtowing in the safety of my car. Then I’ll crack it open and read it. It’ll take maybe a day, perhaps two if I happen to be busy.

And what then? Well, the whole process starts right over again. After all that build-up, I’ll know that the problem isn’t solved. It will very likely be another five years before book 6 arrives–or longer: I mean, doll it up the way you like, but GRRM had large chunks of ADWD written before AFFC was published. Enough of it that he told us it should be out next year. This time, he’ll be starting much fresher.

I suppose I can hope that without the Meereenese knot or the complexity of doing a section of the timeline he hadn’t planned, things will speed up. But I still have to face the likelihood that a large chunk of my life will go by before I get to the end of the series–if I ever do. Hell, in 10-12 years, I’ll be in a very different place. I’d like to say I’d still be as into the series, or that GRRM will still be in perfect health. But a lot can happen in a decade. I just don’t know.

So…sorrow.

Bard of Awen,

Shall I finish my thought before accidentally hitting the post button? I think I shall.

As I was saying… If he wakes up tomorrow and he decides not to write another page, that’s his prerogative. His obligations are to his publisher and his agent. No one else.

Obviously, he would still face consequences. Much of his readership would likely abandon him in such a scenario. That still doesn’t mean he owes us anything.
Unfortunately, emotional investment is not a contract between the writer and reader.

Addendum- if it takes another year of course I’ll still want to read it when it comes out, and of course it’s better to have something great than something rushed (the two are not always mutually exclusive- some people work better under time pressure, but I don’t think GRRM is one of them!).

I started reading these books since I was a teenager. Thirteen years later I’m 28. When I first picked up A Game of Thrones, I couldn’t have fathomed that the series wouldn’t be complete by now. So I totally understand where Steel_Wind is coming from. It’s been eleven years since we’ve had a Jon chapter. It’s almost six years since A Feast for Crows. Six years for one book that initially was only going to be the second half of AFFC. I understand that the scope of ADWD has changed over the years so it’s not really half a book anymore; but still, it’s a sore spot for a lot of fans.

Cardus:
Ah, another douchebag with an entitlement complex. Was there any need to favor us all with your masturbatory rants? Don’t you get to say all this shite to yourself in your head?Assuming you are capable of producing these thoughts in your own interior mental dialogue, then clearly there is an ulterior motive for airing the same whining we’ve all seen 70 times and can find at will in any comment thread dealing even tangentially with GRRM.    

What a clever, measured and carefully reasoned response you posted. In fact, you managed to ensure that every single sentence contained an insult, too — all of which were specifically directed at a person you have never met. Well done. You win the internet.

How about we not pollute the blog any further with unnecessary personal attacks, okay?

Steel_Wind,

I couldn’t agree more…

purplejilly: Maybe the illness, side effects from it, weird dreams, medicine reactions, or thoughts of death somehow have played into the plot, and he’s decided to change a few more things..If that’s the case I hope we get some extra cool stuff..    

I like your thinking, but can’t help fearing that this would mean the end of the Last of the Starks :-)

Poor George. It’s hard when everyone is sitting around turning into an angry mob, waiting to lob rotten turnips his way if he doesn’t hurry up!

As far as I can tell there was no advanced screening of “Game Of Thrones” anywhere in Toronto. As of yet there is no publicity campaing for the series in Canada at all. HBO Canada is still advertising “Boardwalk Empire” ‘s first season?!?!?!. I am sure that this will change soon, but as of now besides the few previews available on the HBO Canada site there is nothing about the new series. Also, there are no HBO Canada executives since in Canada HBO is just a subsidiary or TMN (The Movie Network) and Movie Central. In Canada subscription to HBO Canada directly is impossible. One must subscribe to TMN/Movie Central in order to have access to HBO’s shows. TMN is more like a combination of Showtime, HBO and Starz, as it carries all their shows plus premium movies… Due to the fact that American companies cannot operate directly in Canada (HBO included), a fact which is completely idiotic, there either has to be a Canadian version of the company (hence HBO Canada) or a subsidiary with direct content control by the government (read cable and telecomunications companies). In comparisson with the US, Europe etc., Canada is woefully behind in telecomunications, and prices are among, if not the, highest in the world. Hell we lag behind even developing countries. Bell Canada, Rogers, Telus, Videotron, these companies have a strangle hold on telecommunications in Canada. There are a few smaller players but they are not that important (Shaw, Cogeco, Trilium etc.). Recently Netflix Canada has started operating, but already Bell, Rogers and the rest are trying to raise internet tariffs in order to put them out of business, just like they did years ago when DirecTV try to operate within Canada. You see, in Canada these companies not only own the distribution networks, but also the content itself in the form of TV networks ownership, TV specialty channels, and they will be damned if they will allow Netflix to give Canadians the choice to watch all the movies and TV shows they want for only $7.99 per month. I pay almost 80 dollars per month (and mind you the US and Canadian dollar are on par, actually the Canadian dollar is slightly higher than the US right about now) for some 50 channels, more than half of which I barely watch (here one cannot subscribe on an individual channel basis as there are fixed packages.)

If I were to subscribe to TMN/HBO Canada here, and mind you not to the HD channels, but to the regular broadcast versions, I would probably pay double what I would pay in the US, with taxes, equipment rental, installation, hell even activation fees…It would cost me some 50 extra dollars per month, with TMN/HBO Canada, two cable boxes, taxes, activation fee, installation etc. just to watch a ten-episode season of “Game Of Thrones”. And here, there is a minimum subscription of between 6 months (if you are lucky) to 1 year in order to even get anykind of discounts (which don’t amount to anything anyways since they are nullified by hidden fees and taxes).

So this is the reality facing many Canadians, we are being squeezed and bullied by these damn companies, who kill-off any foreign competition (just read about the recent cell-phone companies who tried to set-up business in Canada and find out what is happening to them). We don’t have ANY choice here, our telecommunications infrastructure is a laughingstock…plain and simple the situation sucks ass, and there is not much we can do since the federal regulator here, the CRTC, is nothing but an enforcing arm and lobbying agency for the large companies like Rogers and Bell.

As it stands, I really have no idea if I will be able to even afford watching “Game Of Thrones”…sadly it looks like I will have to wait until the show comes out on DVD/Blue Ray…It is way too pricey, and when you have to decide between paying rent, eating, having money for public transit etc. and watching a TV show, no matter how badly one wants to, the necesities of life impose their presence quite cruelly. There is a big difference between needs and wants…

Steel_Wind: There is absolutely no reason that the manuscript, if finished now, could not be ready for April/May. Usually, the delays in these matters arise from publishers not wishing to disturb their publication schedules and marketers preferring to wait for “the right time”.

With all respect, one still has to get orders from bookstores and ship. Booksellers typically buy twice a year, from spring and fall “lists” still sent around in ink-and-paper catalogues. Yes, there can be a fast-track—such as a book on the Egyptian revolt, a death of a president, etc.—-but the jury is out on whether fast-tracking is always the best marketing strategy.

The book business still lives in the 1930s, when booksellers basically taking books on consignment, selling some and returning the rest for full credit was the only viable way for a publishing industry to survive. Online bookselling has revolutionized a lot, but many book buyers still want to pick up and inspect the book they buy, whether it is from DH’s Bookstore, Cosco, or Borders.
If the new book can’t get promoted, ordered and into stores during Season 1, it might behoove Bantam to wait for the fall holiday buying season. After all this time, no one who wants the book in April won’t buy it in October.

Winter Is Coming,

thanks WiC for the link, that was cool. Like seeing a part of history. It definitely would have given me more of an idea of what to expect, going in to AFfC. It’s funny how he talks about ADwD being half done. It seems his thinking originally was that if you didn’t like that your favorite characters weren’t in the book, then well the next book will come out soon anyway and everyone will be happy then. nobody knowing at the time that 6 years later they would still be waiting

Someone on westeros.org had the funniest avatar that said “Every time you ask when the next book will be done, GRRM kills a Stark!”

It is worth remembering that A STORM OF SWORDS was completed on 25 April 2000 and was in (UK) bookstores in the late week of July 2000. So it’s been done before. It was also done for the last seven WHEEL OF TIME books in a row, the new Patrick Rothfuss and others. 3 months is the minimum turn-around, but it’s certainly doable.

The question over whether it will be done for ADWD remains up in the air (AFFC’s turn-around was 5 months). On one hand, getting ADWD on the shelves ASAP is great from sales and PR. On the other, giving it longer means the publishers can do a massive marketing and publishing drive, print more copies, avoid selling out etc. So it could go either may. My guess is that we will see a 3-5 month turnaround in the UK and 4-8 in the USA. It certainly won’t be a year.

http://www.isadancewithdragonsoutyet.com/

DH87,

That should have been “Assuming manuscript delivery is in….”

The publisher has said that aDwD will be getting a 3 month turnaround.

Steel_Wind:
What a clever, measured and carefully reasoned response you posted. In fact, you managed to ensure that every single sentence contained an insult, too — all of which were specifically directed at a person you have never met. Well done. You win the internet.How about we not pollute the blog any further with unnecessary personal attacks, okay?    

An insult every sentence? Wow, sometimes I impress even myself. Sorry your fee-fee got hurt, but its a dangerous world out there, eh?

Your act has been seen before, and doesn’t obviate anything I said. What WAS your reason for blessing us with your entirely redundant, tired, and – might I note – widely off-topic rant?

It’s interesting to read these comments about Dance, because you’re like the little devil and angel sitting on my shoulder. Everyone seems to be on one side of the fence (GRRM apologists) or the other (those who wish to burn him at the stake), and both sides represent my mixed feelings.

Steel Wind, I think you are the voice of the pent up frustration that’s been building over the past month. Saying “Any day now, any day now…” for this long really grates at the nerves. And it just caps off a series of confounding delays for a book four years too late. I’m about to tear my hair out. I can only imagine how his publishers must feel.

As a Minnesota Viking fan, Martin is starting to remind me of Brett Favre. On the one hand, I love them both; I love their personality, I love reading/watching their respective work. On the flip side, I hate their disregard for deadlines and training camps. I don’t want to call them divas, because I don’t think it’s representative of who they are as people, but normal authors and athletes are not granted this kind of leeway, damnit!

On the other side (sticking just to GRRM now), Martin doesn’t owe us anything; he’s not our bitch, as the angel likes to say (yes, my mini angel swears). And I really don’t want the quality of his writing to suffer. I don’t want another Feast. I think all these years have been spent making sure Dance doesn’t disappoint. If Dance is the page turner the first three were, then it’ll all be worth it.

Ultimately, I know a missed deadline is a lot gentler kick in the balls than the swift, gruesome kick a mediocre book would deliver. These delays are a kick to the balls with the best intentions, but unfortunately that knowledge doesn’t stop me from walking funny.

Mark,

Well, Mark, it’s not us books lovers they need to attract, it’s those HBO viewers who have never read the books and may have no intention to ever reading them.

True Blood is such a hit for HBO because the series has plenty of viewers besides the Charlaine Harris Sookie fans.

To be a hit on HBO we need more viewers than just the loyal books fanbase.

I want the second and the third and the fourth book filmed and for that to happen the series needs to be popular with non book fans. And these non book fans need to be pulled in with advertising and trailers.

Ben: Ultimately, I know a missed deadline is a lot gentler kick in the balls than the swift, gruesome kick a mediocre book would deliver. These delays are a kick to the balls with the best intentions, but unfortunately that knowledge doesn’t stop me from walking funny.    

Unfortunately, fans have been delivered a lot of well-intentioned kicks over the past five years, and they get really annoying after a while. >.<

Ducky: Mark,
Well, Mark, it’s not us books lovers they need to attract, it’s those HBO viewers who have never read the books and may have no intention to ever reading them.True Blood is such a hit for HBO because the series has plenty of viewers besides the Charlaine Harris Sookie fans.To be a hit on HBO we need more viewers than just the loyal books fanbase.I want the second and the third and the fourth book filmed and for that to happen the series needs to be popular with non book fans. And these non book fans need to be pulled in with advertising and trailers.    

Totally agree, I love True Blood and haven’t read the books or intend to ( I have a couple friends that tried to read the first book and said it was horrible but that I could have their copies if I wanted, I declined )

If we want to have more than one or two seasons we need people to watch it who would never even pick up a fantasy book.

Mr. Wu,

That’s certainly the case but I’d rather listen to an overly optimistic person than a whining pessimist if I have to choose. And is calling people “brownnosers” a better way to spend your time due to some reason I’ve failed to notice?

Anyone know how many more episodes of Big Love are left? Expect we’ll get a new trailer or something with the finale if not sooner…

Part of our diabolical self-serving GoT publicity scheme was to have a friend chat up the show at the CBC. He’s been working on it for months, and has hopefully created some boardroom buzz that we are now seeing come to fruition.

Or he at least convinced the Thai soup guy to tune in.

Either way, thanks dude! You are a true Canadian Hero. ;)

I’m astonished no one has pointed out the sheer idiocy of the idea that either good art or good entertainment could ever be produced through intimidation. Not only the stupidity of the idea, but the moral derangement behind it ought to creep people out.

Steel_Wind,
STFU!
It probably didn’t, but it helped me

DH87

You are 100% correct in my opinion about the Sookie books. They are way better than the show in my opinion. However, once my husband found GoT and after instantly falling in love with them True Blood is no longer my most anticipated show of 2011. My biggest fear is the same thing, as far as smushing characters together and/or changing them completely like TB has, will happen to GoT. With that being said I think there is a good chance that won’t happen as well.

We are going back to ComicCon this year and I told him I don’t even really care about going to the TB panel. I am holding out hope for a GoT panel instead!

Crysania,

True Blood is great if :
1. You enjoy seeing a 42 year old leading man play a 30 year old.
2. You can overlook the fact that telepathic characters can “hear” some characters at some times and not others to suit the plot
3. You don’t mind that 3 of 12 episodes last year were written by a former script assistant and a script supervisor, a glorified administrator
4. The lead male character spontaneously developed abilities in season 3 that he patently lacked in season 1 and 2.
5. The books’ lead male character has been marginalized and Alan Ball’s alter ego has been elevated to sainthood, to stultifying effect
6. —Oh, why go on any more?

DH87,

hahahaha I totally agree…There is a small part of me that is still holding out hope for season 4 but I think it’s going to be another letdown for me. If only AB realized the plots/characters that make the books so great and stick to those while fleshing out secondary characters….*dreams*

Grinbomb,

I don’t know of any tv series adaptations of fantasy that could be called faithful.
True Blood, Legend of the Seeker, The Dresden Files, Vampire Diaries – all of them suck when the criteria is faithfulness to the material.

Whether they’re entertaining and valuable in their own right is a different thing. I liked the first season of True Blood a lot, the second upped the craziness but was still good for me, the 3rd? bleh. Legend of the Seeker was watchable but soooooo cheesy, and required drowning any knowledge of the books in alcohol. The Dresden Files was a crime against humanity. The Vampire Diaries I never read, but I’ve never seen plots come and go so fast in a TV series – so that’s impressive.

I’d like to think it’s not completely irrational to believe D&D can be faithful enough to The Books to make this series the redemption of fantasy as a genre for TV.

Crysania,

Why should he? He’s got the number one show on HBO. He has disappointed and strung along the author’s devoted fan base for three years, used HER fans to promote and fuel interest as they hoped against hope that he’d come to his senses. Even critical bashing after a strong first season hasn’t caused him to rethink piloting the Titanic right into the old figurative iceberg. Get ready for another fun-filled season of shark-jumping plot lines and character mash ups!

DH87:
Since we’re all in a grumpy mood, I’d hate to disappoint by letting a slam at Charlaine Harris go unchallenged. Her books were meant to be light mysteries, not contenders for the Nobel Prize for Literature. That said, her characters in the hands of Alan Ball have been Mr. Potato-Headed intoglommed up, fan-fictionalized versions of the originals, as have her plots. Characteristics of one character have been given to another, 10 novels compressed into four seasons (so far) in a right royal mess. But it gets ratings.    

I also read the True Blood books way before I knew there would be a show. I agree that their light mystery novels, and I thought they were very entertaining, I definitely wouldn’t say I was obsessed with them. But I really don’t care if the show changed allot from the books. I really like the show. I think I’m way more into the show than I ever was into the books. I think the show would not have worked at all if they would have stuck to the story of the books closely

Steve Hugh Westenra: There are some great, really fun episodes, and then…some not so great ones.  

I think you’ll find that Nancy Oliver wrote the strongest episodes, Ball and the girls right out of screenwriting school the worst. It doesn’t really matter. They are all executing AB’s vision, a vision that saw TB shut out of absolutely every writing and acting awards competition, from the Emmys to the Upper Schenectady Screenwriters Guild Awards.

Luke likely: ts going to be awesome. 

A comment of mine is awaiting moderation, so I’ll paraphrase.
If a trip to a “faeryland” that looks like an ad for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter and guy-wire combat between an elderly, mopey hero and a vampire queen are up your alley, you are going to be happy. Campy is fine, but the original material was based on a strong romance between two self-actualized characters. That ain’t gonna happen, not in Alan Ball’s meth-addict, brother-husband version of Bon Temps, Louisiana.

DH87,

I did worry about the faery thing, I thought it could be the one down fall of the show considering faeries are not that cool, but I really think they handled it well in the show. With Sookie thinking it was lame was a good way to be introduced to the story line, and to give the show credit I think the faery part of the show will be something different than what people might expect or from anything we’ve seen before

Luke likely: I think the faery part of the show will be something different than what people might expect or from anything we’ve seen before  

Well, Alan Ball is trading on the considerable respect he garnered for American Beauty and Six Feet Under, but that is fast dissipating. If anyone else was penning this dreck, everyone would be skewering it critically; because it’s Ball, everyone is tip-toeing around as though he is the Great Visionary of Television. Cut the nudity, cut the gore, and exclude the brilliant work of Alex Skarsgard and the show since Season 1 has been basically unwatchable. This is why HBO is having trouble flogging the show to basic cable. When you get rid of the shock elements, you’ve got a handsome, charasmatic guy (Skarsgard) on the screen for 7 of 52 minutes and a lot of unadulterated crap for the rest of the hour.

I do think if they planned on doing to GoT what they did to True Blood, as far as changing it, I would be pissed. So I can see why a very dedicated fan of the True Blood books would be bothered by it.

The Young Wolf,

This!

Frankly, my dear, I don t give a HODOR!
…about the DANCE-trolls.
…about the GRRM partisans.

DH87:
My friend, don’t be shy! Ball is indeed responsible for some of the worst written eps of every TB season. He’s turned the appealing, pluckyheroine of the books into an obscenity-spewing, “I hate you!” bleating victim of domestic violence and come up with a plethora of idiotic secondary plot lines that leave the viewer begging for the hour to be over.
I’ll give Ball one thing—–never in the history of premium cable has anyone made a six-episode all-nude orgy seem so utterly boring.    

I kinda agree with what you say about TB vs the books after reading all of them few months ago. They are very entertaining and fast and fun read and I’m curious where they will go now …
I wonder with what AB will fill the fourth season, since he eliminated one of the two major plots of the fourth book by killing off Calvin Norris, the translation of whom to the series is probably the worst character assassination I’ve ever seen.
In the 3 seasons that aired so far he pretty much destroyed every possible plotline from all the 10 books, so what we will see is nothing more than a fan-fiction. Will it be good or bad remains to be seen, but the series are so far removed from the books that the only thing left from them is the names of the characters.

And yet he refuses to introduce Bubba into the series, claiming that it’ll be cheesy or smth like that …

You know what? The fifth book will get here when it get’s here. That’s not a problem. What is a problem is what’s going to happen with the seventh book. I would bet money that he won’t be able to get it out in time for the producers to create a final season on it, unless the series takes a major hiatus. Don’t start with the “They already have outlines BS” because while they do, the writing will in no way be onpar with the books and the show will suffer for it. They’re doing the series too early and probably should have waited until book 6(Winds of Winter) was done. Hell I wouldn’t be surprised if Martin missed the deadline for WoW to get adapated, assuming the series lasts that long.

Caedes: One think I liked from this site is that I haven’t had to hear rants and whines about the books. I just HATED that everytime I approached some friend with “Do you know HBO is going to make GoT into a series?” the usual reply was “Who cares? He’s not going to finish the books!”. It is irksome, annoying and wholly nerve-clinching.
I want the books as badly as anyone.
I came here to know and talk about the HBO series. If I’d want ranting and trolling and taking sides and whatnot, there’s a dozen wesites around there.I know this is not my blog, and I don’t dare to tell WiC what to do with his toy, buy, IMHO, can we please get back on business?    

This had to be discussed at one point or another. It’s going to become a major problem either when the show becomes popular or a long time from now when the producers are starting to work on season 6, again assuming the show lasts that long. The books are a crucial aspect to the show and so the hiatus will impact the show one way or another, either with disgruntled fans or just production later on.

Here’s a thought; if there IS a hiatus they could fill it with Dunk and Egg, or even Robert’s war.

A note on international airings. Canal+ will be airing the show in May in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. They are aiming at early May, but that is not set on stone yet. Further on, Finnish YLE will show it in early 2012 on one of its free-to-air channels just like Swedish SVT will be doing in Sweden.

I haven’t seen this brought up here (but maybe it has). But I was skimming through the HBO channels last night and the Iron Throne teaser came on and it was slightly different than the one that was posted a month ago. The main differences I noticed was that 1) it was a bit shorter 2) it had new cuts of characters in the moody black and white flashes (I think Jon Snow was one of them) and 3) the main difference was that the Jaime dialogue at the end was replaced by (Luwin?) saying somthing totally different that I can’t remember. Has anyone else seen this?

Winter Is Coming,

Yeah rewatching it (the original) the Jon Snow shot was in there already. However there was a new black and white moody character shot. Also the characters were out of order in this new cut. I think Little finger is the first one shown with the dialogue voice over (not Cat). I wish I had seen it in my living room but I was watching it on our T.V. with no DVR. If I see it again I’ll be sure to record it.

Shinyteapot,

Alternately, the book coming out just after the first series ends could be a good “bridge” to keep fans of the series hooked until series 2 comes out. So there’s lots of ways they could work that angle. I wouldn’t worry too much about that – I think as soon as the book’s ready the publisher’s gonna want to start getting paid (aka release it) ASAP. :)

Someone posted about the different Throne teaser on IMDB a couple of weeks ago.

The new dialogue was

“When winter does come, Gods help us all if we’re not ready.”

Either Aemon of the Old Bear I would guess.

purplejilly: What do you think they’d do?

If D&D have sold the series film rights to HBO as Charlaine Harris sold the rights in perpetuity to her characters in the Sookie Stackhouse books, HBO will put Hodor in a tutu and have him scale the Wall while yodeling if it has to in order to complete the series without GRRM. The prospect of that should be enough of a goad to the creative juices.

Mormegil,

Yeah that sounds about right. I prefered it over the Jaime dialogue. Kind of a cool wrinkle in that spot that they’re running. We need some new stuff though :)

Grinbomb

Thanks for the support man…LOL. Speaking about that rumour regarding an advanced screening of “Game Of Thrones” in Toronto, just consider the source…a comment on a Toronto Maple Leafs fan site, LOL!!!! First I can’t believe there are any Toronto Maple Leaf’s fans left….a comment from a Toronto Maple Leaf’s fan has about as much credibility as Hosni Mubarak saying he will become a liberal…wait he already resigned…ok let’s try this…a comment from a Maple Leafs fan is about as credible as a fart in the wind! Actually the Maple Leafs are a blight on the City of Toronto, a bunch of millionaire players that suck-off taxpayers money and overcharge their fans for sub-par mediocre games…not to mention that they are now owned in part by Bell Canada, while the other teams fall under Rogers’s patronage…

In many ways the Toronto Maple Leafs are very much like GRRM , high on promise, low on delivery. The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t won a Stanley Cup in almost 60 years, and at the pace they are going it will probably become a full century until they do. In the same way, by the time GRRM finishes ASOIF, if I am lucky my great grand children will read the last book! I get the feeling that we have a better chance of sending a manned space mission to Mars before “A Dance With Dragons” will come out, let alone “A Song Of Ice And Fire”. By the time ASOIF is completed, humanity will have already moved beyond the Solar System, hell probably even the Milky Way! Earth will be populated only by GRRM fans, who stayed behind, waiting for him to complete the books! This means that George RR Martin is immortal, unfortunatelly I am not, so I can’t pull a “Highlander” and “want to live forever”… I am just kidding and trying to lighten the mood here…so don’t kill me just yet, I did not mean this as an insult!

As for Videotron, it is a cable/telecommunications company that operates largely in Quebec. Whatever Rogers, Telus and Bell does to us and to you, Videotron (and Quebecor Media) does to the Quebecois. Rest easier knowing that ALL of Canada, including us damned easterners and our Quebecois brethern are getting our balls squeezed by the same miserable companies as you guys!

The DarkStar,

Frustrated rants only breed negativity and by saying it’s OK to be frustrated about waiting you are, by extension of logic, saying that it’s OK to be frustrated about negative rants.

So a negative rant about waiting will generate another negative post about the rant, which will in turn further annoy the ranter and so on.

Tywin’s Bastard,

Your logic is oversimplified, and flawed. If all frustrations were equal, you would be correct, but they are not.
For example, if frustrations were bullets and they were headed towards your spouse, they would be bad, conversely if they were headed towards the person trying to kill your spouse they would be good.

To relate this to you involving WiC:
If I say “I’m frustrated that they used dogs to play direwolves, they look like dogs.”
And someone responds to me by saying “I disagree, dogs are the perfect choice because they couldn’t use wolves, and cgi would have been a more expensive option and would only look worse”
I would count that as a healthy give and take among people who disagree which promotes discussion and the exchange of ideas.
Now lets say the person instead responds with” You stupid idiot, you have no brains, dogs are the only way to go and if you think anything otherwise you are poop”

That didn’t add to any meaningful to the discussion, or exchange any ideas other than hate. A great example of this would be in the politics thread. A reader was frustrated not with anything to do with ASoIaF, but with a joke made by FaB. That is the frustration you are speaking of that breeds negativity. If it was bad to be frustrated about things involving GoT, posts would read like this:

“Yay her eyebrows are brown” and
“Brown is the new purple”

Now, to take what we have learned and apply It to our current situation:
Steel_Wind mitigated his frustrations by letting all who know it is a “/rant” so anyone who would have a problem with rants knows to just skip it right there. Also, in his post prior(lol) to the rant he gave some great points and opinions about why he was frustrated. A productive response that would not breed negativity would be “I’m not frustrated because I’m really looking forward to GoT the show so it takes my mind off of dance.” But instead he got:

Cardus: Ah, another douchebag with an entitlement complex. Was there any need to favor us all with your masturbatory rants? Don’t you get to say all this shite to yourself in your head?

Assuming you are capable of producing these thoughts in your own interior mental dialogue, then clearly there is an ulterior motive for airing the same whining we’ve all seen 70 times and can find at will in any comment thread dealing even tangentially with GRRM.

Cussing and name calling directed towards another poster.

/shakes head
No Tywins Bastard, not all frustrations are created equal.

premier Lastnight of eposodes 1 and 2 in londons soho.
i must say , it was brilliant, i will give more of a review later today or tomorrow.

Confirmation there was a screening last night from Twitter. Several actors (Jon Bradley West, Josef Altin, Luke McEwan) attended, general reception of the episodes very positive. Interesting to see if any more reaction crops up.

coltaine777,

Me too.

i hope the preview that was shown yestrday means we’re getting something this Sunday. Maybe a proper trailer since we’re passed the two months mark.

Hopefully we will have some more info from our mistery friend jon jones.

MirriMaz,

Ahhhhh. Thanks for the clarification! That makes sense now. ;p

I hope so too– it’s past time we had some real news.

Steve Hugh Westenra,

a special veiwing for cast and exes, in a private cinema in Soho London,

jon jones,

Yes, please!
How did you like the first two episodes?

Winter Is Coming,

hello whats ur email address again, sometimes i cant post everything on forums, i was right about the screens on friday, i got more info you regarding GoT, i will email it to you

Flouride,

its not in press yet, season 2 as got the GO AHEAD

jon jones,

Jon…come on …details please…have you already posted your review and I missed it ?…Whats your role ?…media or foreign exec who got to see it ?…

jon jones,

Thankyou Jon…I’m so jealous…kinda surprised the screening confirmation hasn’t been posted here by WIC..I have so many questions…but I get the impression you’re being purposely vague…I don’t want you to get yourself in trouble if that’s the reason…but a blow by blow description would be awesome…also very happy to hear about season 2 …though not surprised ;)

coltaine777,
you can ask me any questions you want,about eps 1&2 and i will answer them one by one

coltaine777,

well actullay they are all good, this show is deep down character driven but as i said before Cat and Ned will knock u dead, all i can say is brilliant,, the writing is brilliant, the sets at are brilliant the photography is out of this world, i think this could be big as lost and good as or even better then the wire

1) How is the prologue? Is it changed like in the leaked pilot script, with the Others surrounding all 3 rangers? Or more like in the book, with one of them going up a tree and being attacked by a wight?

2) How are any far off shots of places like Winterfell and King’s Landing? Convincing?

3) How is the acting of the 3 main child actors, Sansa Arya and Bran? As good as we’ve been led to believe?

4) What part of the story does episode 2 cover? Where does it begin and end in relation to the book?

5) Any new scenes in either episode that weren’t in the book?

And my most important question of all…

6) Do we get to see Emilia’s boobs?

<__> sorry

Nick,
emilia gets more out then her boobs,

Nick,

i can’t tell you some off the things u asked because some those will change by april and if did they will know where it is comming from. but will say, the acting of the kids, they lend themselves to the characters quite well because they have been directed well, they look good and comfortable and you get a sense of chracter building.
But over all i must say , the show is driven by ned and cat, trust me mate those guys rock, the first 2 episodes are brilliant, its a roll royce driven by ned and cat ( sean bean and michelle fairley

jon jones:
Nick,
i can’t tell you some off the things u askedbecause some those will change by april and if did they will know where it is comming from. but will say, the acting of the kids, they lend themselves to the characters quite well because they have been directed well, they look good and comfortable and you get a sense of chracter building. But over all i must say , the show is driven by ned and cat, trust me mate those guys rock, the first 2 episodes are brilliant, its a roll royce driven by ned and cat ( sean bean and michelle fairley

Somehow I get the feeling that this might be an organized leak by HBO…but that doesn’t bother me at all. Whatever info comes about is highly valued! And if I’m wrong, my sincere appologies, and thanks even more for sharing your inside information!

Jon jones, how did the special effects look? Were they finished yet?

jon jones,

Are you going to go into more detail in a separate post, giving your impressions on opening credits, music, things I do for love impact etc…?_