HBO's "Game of Thrones"

[Orangeslice13]

I'm just afraid they're going to tank the ending.

Like lost

 

[JCP201]

I would not be surprised for the “breaking of the wheel” to be an end to the Iron Throne all together and Westeros going back to seven separate kingdoms.

Would Dany go along with that? She's going to die, isn't she?

 

[TheDeeble]

Like lost

I was the biggest fan and the end was awful.

 

[JCHateSteve]

I'm of the mind Lena Headey played a pretty badass Sarah Connor and kept it true to the character created during T2.

Sarah Conner Chronicles was a good show that got canceled before it's time. I agree Headey did a great job. It's the only Terminator anything that was worth watching after T2. We won't even talk about Genysis.

 

[TheDeeble]

I would not be surprised for the “breaking of the wheel” to be an end to the Iron Throne all together and Westeros going back to seven separate kingdoms.

It would be an interesting end. Dany has said she wants to break the wheel and thinks her being ruler will do that. The wheel was created by Aegon Targaryan when he and his sisters came to Westeros with their dragons. She probably wouldn't be breaking the wheel. She just thinks she'd be a good/wise/caring ruler.............who's first impulse sometimes is to send in dragons and armies into cities and tear s*** up.

 

[bignewt]

I just hope them dragons had some dragon sex when the 3 were flyin around and got some eggs lying around or otherwise, no more dragons.

 

[VolNExile]

I just hope them dragons had some dragon sex when the 3 were flyin around and got some eggs lying around or otherwise, no more dragons.

Well, they’re all male, so that poses some challenges...

 

[Rishvol]

Well, they’re all male, so that poses some challenges...

Well maybe one of them identified as female. That's how it works right?

 

[RikidyBones]

Well maybe one of them identified as female. That's how it works right?

it is

 

[MoCo_Vol]

I for sure agree that the Frey ending was a bit much in show. In the books Lady Stoneheart has essentially taken up with Thoros and replaced Beric and is just hanging Frey she catches away from the Towers.

Slow, calculating, and with purpose. It's awesome actually.


Not sure how I feel about Arya the shapeshifter, I mean the show is geared around suspending reality...with dragons, undead, etc. but it is slightly frustrating and I'm a huge Arya fan.

 

[tvolsfan]

I for sure agree that the Frey ending was a bit much in show. In the books Lady Stoneheart has essentially taken up with Thoros and replaced Beric and is just hanging Frey she catches away from the Towers.

Slow, calculating, and with purpose. It's awesome actually.


Not sure how I feel about Arya the shapeshifter, I mean the show is geared around suspending reality...with dragons, undead, etc. but it is slightly frustrating and I'm a huge Arya fan.

I’m fine with her being able to change faces. It’s a bit much that she changes body and voice as well.

 

[drvenner]

It is woefully bad compared to the first 3-4 seasons, but I think it is still good TV. My main complaint is the pacing, everything feels so rushed. Things aren't happening organically. The writers are breaking the number one fiction rule: they are telling things instead of showing through actions, dialogue, etc. But not always, I mean the scene between Daenerys and Jon when he confessed the big secret was amazing. Clarke nailed all the emotions that would be running through Daenerys's mind with that revelation.
There have been other great scenes, but it still feels forced. That may be a product of a short season, I mean they had a ton of plot lines to wrap up before we get to the actual game of thrones.
Another issue I had is with the battle scene. It was epic, the soundtrack was AMAZING, the cinematography was great, and it was fun to watch. But I was a little aggravated with characters being put in deathly, insurmountable odds type situations, over, and over, and over, and over.
Part of it may be the "set the standard" thing. It happened with the Sopranos for a lot of people. The series was so amazing that the final episodes were judged more harshly because they were compared to the larger body of work, and of course they fell short, because those last episodes were being compared to arguably the greatest five seasons of TV before it.
Again, I will repeat this often in every post, Ramin is amazing.

I understand why this is the last season, but don't understand why they limited it to six episodes.

 

[drvenner]

it is

You would know.

 

[drvenner]

I for sure agree that the Frey ending was a bit much in show. In the books Lady Stoneheart has essentially taken up with Thoros and replaced Beric and is just hanging Frey she catches away from the Towers.

Slow, calculating, and with purpose. It's awesome actually.


Not sure how I feel about Arya the shapeshifter, I mean the show is geared around suspending reality...with dragons, undead, etc. but it is slightly frustrating and I'm a huge Arya fan.

Spoiler

She has Brienne back, correct? They were going to hang Pod, I think and she stepped in. I might be getting it confused. and Jaime was going to meet up with her around the Riverlands?

 

[chatsworth_vol]

I’m fine with her being able to change faces. It’s a bit much that she changes body and voice as well.

Well it's not like putting on a Halloween mask. According to the book it involves a lot of magic, so i`m ok with it. IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY melisandre addresses it in the book....

Spoiler

When she revealed to Jon Snow that she has Mance Raider disguised as lord of bones. She states his disguise is just a "glamor" made by the jewel he's wearing from her god. If he's not careful someone could see through it. She then commented something about not being "true magic " like the faceless men use.

 

[bignewt]

I understand why this is the last season, but don't understand why they limited it to six episodes.

HBO done run out of money I'd say, limited return on investment, even for a show this popular.

 

[BowlBrother85]

HBO done run out of money I'd say, limited return on investment, even for a show this popular.

HBO was just acquired by AT&T for $85.4 billion. I don't think money is a problem. The source material for the show has run dry.

 

[bigdaddy]

HBO was just acquired by AT&T for $85.4 billion. I don't think money is a problem. The source material for the show has run dry.

I think this is correct. While HBO has some good writers this season is by far the worst of all. Build the hype....the get out as quickly as possible

 

[TheDeeble]

It sounds more like it's a new ownership directive than HBO just not wanting to support the main show...

Is Winter Finally Coming? HBO Braces for Post-'Game of Thrones' Landscape

But quite a few staffers are feeling bittersweet as they glad-hand their way through the show's victory lap. Come mid-May the network's longtime cash cow, likely the most popular TV series in the world, airs its last original episode — setting the stage for heightened pressure to milk Thrones IP for new parent company AT&T, which acquired Time Warner assets for $85 billion. "Game of Thrones has become the cornerstone of HBO," says Craig Moffett, telecom analyst and founding partner at firm MoffettNathanson. "Losing it was always going to be painful — even more so now that they're losing a big chunk of their management ranks."

Moffett is speaking, of course, of the recent exit of longtime CEO Richard Plepler and several other top-ranking executives who jumped ship as TV's perennial beacon of prestige braces to be subsumed under the broader WarnerMedia umbrella to bolster its forthcoming streaming platform. With a viewership that now climbs past 30 million an episode in the U.S. alone, Throneswill be a vital selling point on that platform even in death — just as the vault of animated features and Star Wars library will be to a forthcoming competitor, Disney+.

Some sources question whether WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey's new regime will allow such patience and lavish expense this time around. Stankey has been clear since his arrival that the mandate at HBO is to produce more content to keep up with the crush at Netflix and Amazon. In the wake of Plepler's departure and the addition of former NBC chair Bob Greenblatt to the WarnerMedia ranks, Stankey spoke with THR about the shift in output that's already taken place in the past year with the release of at least one "meaningful and significant piece of content" every month. With output only set to climb further, the current industry expectation is that HBO's development timeline will likely tighten.

I get that GoT has to end sometime, but honestly this season does feel like they were told to get it over with as soon as possible. Spin-offs are ok, but not usually as successful as the show the drove their creation.

 

[chatsworth_vol]

I've read it was basically forced on them. The 2 main producers Dan & Dave and supposedly some key cast members want done with it. After 10 years they're bored and want on to the next big thing. The show basically had the choice of forcing a quick end, or trying to carry on another 2-3 years with all new leadership & casting issues. The same article said that traditionally very few shows have ever been able to make that type of transition and not go to hell.

 

[JCP201]

I've read it was basically forced on them. The 2 main producers Dan & Dave and supposedly some key cast members want done with it. After 10 years they're bored and want on to the next big thing. The show basically had the choice of forcing a quick end, or trying to carry on another 2-3 years with all new leadership & casting issues. The same article said that traditionally very few shows have ever been able to make that type of transition and not go to hell.

Most of those actors will never be in anything like this again. Maybe some of the others don't get it, but Kit does.. As for the main producers-- there are excellent producers who could take over. Two more seasons to tie things up would have been great.

 

[IPleadInsanity]

Most of those actors will never be in anything like this again. Maybe some of the others don't get it, but Kit does.. As for the main producers-- there are excellent producers who could take over. Two more seasons to tie things up would have been great.

I think the ending will leave a spinoff possibility, unless the producers are just dead stupid. To end a franchise like this cold turkey would be leaving a pile of cash on the table.

 

[chatsworth_vol]

No direct spinoff/ sequel yet, but there were 5 prequels presented. Of that 2 were turned down and are dead in the water, 3 are currently being developed and written, and 1 of those is starting shooting this summer. It's supposed to be around the time of the long night. Not sure about the other 2, but it's been said over and over that they won't do anything *directly * branching off of this series.

 

[jakez4ut]

i read an article a couple years ago about them shortening the series to 8 seasons...think it was set to go to 10 at one point.

cost of production was cited as a big reason why, and it just takes a long time to filim...lot's of location sets, and lot's of prep to get sets right etc....

anywho...they started to address some of those concerns a couple seasons back. you have the season where Ayra and the hound are on the road and it seems to take 3 months to get anywhere on horseback, well fast forward to this season and last, and you can get from dragon stone to KL in a single scene change now...lol.

so they took some of hte "filler" out to help..plus, after several years of character development, story telling etc....they didn't see the need to drag out the "travel" to and from location in the show. so now it seems like things are happening at warp speed compared to the first few seasons.

they also supposedly condensed last year and this year to cut out the last two seasons, again, at the time anyway, main issue was cost of production.....i wish i could find the article. things may have changed now with sale to ATT etc...and actors wanting to move on, but a lot of what we're seeing now was put in the works several years ago.

plus they had no clue 2-4 years ago if the books were going to get finished.....well, now we sort of know, so they're going out the way they're going out.....

other shows have gone thru similar fates, this isn't anything new....but it'd be hard to do this show, without the cinematic quality. it's basically a feature lengthy movie every week...especially the last two seasons.

 

[TheDeeble]

No direct spinoff/ sequel yet, but there were 5 prequels presented. Of that 2 were turned down and are dead in the water, 3 are currently being developed and written, and 1 of those is starting shooting this summer. It's supposed to be around the time of the long night. Not sure about the other 2, but it's been said over and over that they won't do anything *directly * branching off of this series.

I'd bet on a series about Aegon's conquest of Westeros. And the timeframe after. The source material is already written.