HBO's Game of Thrones. [No Book Spoilers]

[Smoothrich]

The reason that all ~save theon~ bit was terrible was because it was invented for the TV show, and these people are really fucking bad at original material.

No shit Tyron's confession was one of the best scenes this season, why? Because it's lifted entirely from the books, dialogue and all. Except a few lines from Shae were changed, for the worse, for no reason "He made me call him my giant of Lannister! *entire courtroom bursts out laughing, even Tywin breaks a smirk, leading to Tyrion's breakdown* if I recall. Changed it to "my lion of lannister" which lacks the oomph, scorn, irony and shame.

This should be by far the strongest season of the show but most/all of the invented scenes and filler plot are hackneyed and dull. GRRM's dialogue and characterizations are exceptionally clever, witty, snappy, and memorable, which makes sense as he is a talented writer with a long history of working in Hollywood on screenplays. The show is at its best when its working off the page, but pretty soon there will be no pages left to work from.

Next season is going to be hilarious/weird/shit/disappointing in some combination, I'm sure

[Banok]

Uh....... no. Deviating from the book does not automagically cause nonsensical BS...

It was just a bad scene. Find your excuses elsewhere.

What got me most in that scene is not that they were scared of the dogs, that's legit, the dogs could very well have been the thing that decided the battle for the other side, but... how does getting up the stairs help them against the dogs? Did they outrun the dogs? Or what? Suddenly the scene just cuts away.

I already pointed out a few plot holes in this thread, like caging wolf, feeding limited resources to wolf.

And I've skimmed asofai discussion enough to see just some of the many other plot holes more people have found who are smarter and more obsessed with the books than me. I'm not going to bother convincing you myself, sorry.

There have been alot of great scenes that aren't in the books, but all the plotline changes they have made have been riddled with holes and obsurdity. which is very contrasting to the high fidelity of events in the book.

[Xant]

I already pointed out a few plot holes in this thread, like caging wolf, feeding limited resources to wolf.

And I've skimmed asofai discussion enough to see just some of the many other plot holes more people have found who are smarter and more obsessed with the books than me. I'm not going to bother convincing you myself, sorry.

There have been alot of great scenes that aren't in the books, but all the plotline changes they have made have been riddled with holes and obsurdity. which is very contrasting to the high fidelity of events in the book.

You obviously didn't understand what I said. There being plotholes isn't a counter argument at all. I'm not arguing that they don't often fuck up.

[NejStark]

TL:DW catchup: http://imgur.com/a/H0wTs

[Franke]

Episode 7 preview

[Bittersteel]

Lets fucking see Stannis go to the wall already, Sigh.

[Miwiw]

It's also time for the Greyjoys... but I doubt they'll do anything this season...

[Teeth]

For those who haven't yet, probably many of you have and might have been mentioned before, check out Joe Abercrombie's The First Law trilogy and related stand-alone books if you liked ASOIAF. Not the same degree of insane world and lore building, but similarly intriguing and harsh. A big plus of these books over ASOIAF is that everyone is an asshole, instead of everyone slowly becoming boring good guys.

[Xant]

The First Law is OK, but it's more generic fantasy than ASOIAF. Very clichéd and predictable and it doesn't have the sort of clever dialogue ASOIAF does.

Vlad Taltos series, on the other hand, is great.

[Falka]

The First Law is OK, but it's more generic fantasy than ASOIAF. Very clichéd and predictable and it doesn't have the sort of clever dialogue ASOIAF does.

Vlad Taltos series, on the other hand, is great.

I prefer Abercrombie's style of writing, Martin's style becomes dull and "one-sided" very fast. According to me at least And "generic fantasy"? Maybe THe first law, though I'd say it's questionable too, but his other books; "The Heroes", "Best served cold" and "REd COuntry" have very little in common with typical fantasy.

Will have to check this Vlad Taltos.

[Xant]

I've only read the the first book of the First Law from Abercrombie, granted. No idea about his other books. Didn't really feel motivated to continue reading afterwards -- I'd give it a 7/10. A good time-killer and well written, but not really a page turner. One of those "will read after I've read all the good stuff" series.

[Banok]

only complaint about episode 7 is how they are butchering gregor "the mountain" clegane's character into a shirtless conan esque barbarian cliche.

oh and I guess I was a bit like "really? sansa is that good as snow sculptures, ok if you say so."

[Sir_Hans]

Yeah the actor changes are kind of lame but what can you do... I preferred both the previous actor of the mountain, and the previous actor of that guy who swore alliegance to the Danaerys
Overall I thought the episode was great.

When that guy said he would be Tyrions champion and fight for him, I came a little in my pants. It sounded like Tyrion did too. 
I hope he kills the mountain!

[Teeth]

Gotta say, the casting of Oberyn is really growing on me. Had more of a Prince of Persia in my mind, but this actor is working out quite nicely.

[Overdriven]

He's definitely my favorite new character for quite some time.