Bit of a slow one, but some sneaky dealings coming to the surface...
10 years later, the years don't seem to have been kind to rhaenyra targaryen! The older Alicent looks a better match, I could believe that's the same actress.
Still, it's yet to get into a stride - bit of an amble at the moment with the odd interesting side quest. Hmmmm.
Still to watch this weeks, not really got the bug for this series, as stated earlier, there's just no characters you root for, Game of Thrones made you root for both good and bad characters, they fleshed out the characters, this series has a lot of two dimensional characters, and in the main, mostly unlikeable.
My wife said that last night, apart from struggling to keep track of who's who (really not helped by the decade jump and change in actors) all the characters seem to whiny and spineless. At least we had flawed characters you could like in GoT. They all seem to be back stabbing entitled small minded idiots, maybe a reflection of our times.
Why change some actors but keep others the same? Christen Cole looked the same and Jase, but rahenyra completely different. Seemed a bit half-arsed.
Usual problem for me though, I watch it during the day and it's all so bloody dark I can barely see what's going on, even curtains closed. We can pretend about dragons, about people completely changing appearance etc, can't we also pretend they had bloody light bulbs!? 🤣
Why change some actors but keep others the same?
Dr Who hasn't aged a day.
Not enough tits
Not enough dragons
Nowhere near enough people getting their skulls stoved in with axes
They’ve systematically stripped out all the bits that made Tits’n’Dragons good and now it’s just a lot of people in fancy dress sat around mumbling to each other in dark castles
Frankly, it’s shite!
Not impressed by teenagers pleasuring themselves out of windows?
Watching it in tandem with a GoT rewatch, it's an interesting drama, but it can't compete, and they shouldn't have tried by giving it the same theme music.
Watched the latest episode last night, I'm out
Boring, too mumbly, can't keep track of characters (nothing to do with changing actors, just too many with not enough going on for them that they just lack interest) not enough violence or Matt Smith quite frankly.
As it's been said, you can't drag some of a corpse of possibly the most promising character the week after introducing him as the biggest threat to everybody without him uttering a word and having the big fight off screen and expect people to keep watching. I'm all for slow storytelling but this is just dire
Got so bad that the wife mixed up Paddy Considine with Paddy McGuiness and I instantly thought that would be an improvement
Dr Who hasn’t aged a day.
Well he does have a time machine.
An' another thing.....
the tech they have seems to be better in this timeline than it was in GoT, despite it being 200 years earlier. It's like an iPhone 15 turning up in Peaky Blinders.
I'm pretty unimpressed so far. The time jumps are annoying me. I don't like Matt Smith as an actor anyway, but he's really doing my head in in this.
Paddy Considine is wasted in this
Rhys Ifans was turning into an interesting character and he's giving the boot and not seen again so far.
There's no looming threat in the background. The thing GoT did well was introduce us to the white walkers first thing and then have them as this undercurrent that grew and grew so you always knew that despite the machinations and politics going on between the different factions, the big bad was there to be dealt with eventually.
GoT lost its way when they stopped telling a macro story through the eyes of a few individuals. HotD doesn't have any of that to start with
yeah, it's got a completely different tone to it. That said, pretty much any other show is not going to compare favourably to (early) GoT!Watching it in tandem with a GoT rewatch, it’s an interesting drama, but it can’t compete, and they shouldn’t have tried by giving it the same theme music.
google a tutorial for tweaking the settings on whatever specific telly you've got. Made a massive difference with mine!Usual problem for me though, I watch it during the day and it’s all so bloody dark I can barely see what’s going on, even curtains closed.
Rhys Ifans was turning into an interesting character and he’s giving the boot and not seen again so far.
Presumably what happened to the current Hand of the King paves the way for his return.
Got so bad that the wife mixed up Paddy Considine with Paddy McGuines
That might make me restart watching to be fair: "one of these girls has got a secret..."
Slow going isn't it? Each week I go into Sky and think "must only be at episode 3 because nothing has happened yet" only to find out I'm on ep6.
Going to persevere with it in the hope there's a catalyst moment where everything goes ape shit and it becomes interesting but at the minute I can't see a single thing that'd keep me hooked in the same way proper GoT did...
Seems I'm on my own but I'm really enjoying it!
I don’t like Matt Smith as an actor anyway, but he’s really doing my head in in this
He's the best thing in it! At least when he appears on screen, you can be sure something will happen. I don't rate Paddy Considine much; in this, all he does is look like someone trying to act a bad part. Perhaps that's not his fault though. But so far, it's only Dr Who holding it all together.
As it’s been said, you can’t drag some of a corpse of possibly the most promising character the week after introducing him as the biggest threat to everybody without him uttering a word and having the big fight off screen and expect people to keep watching. I’m all for slow storytelling but this is just dire
Precisely. I was wondering if they'd perhaps deleted the scenes, concerned about too much violence. But it's tits n violence that are what the whole GoT thing is all about. If you're going to portray a fictional land and time as being filled with depravity and gore, then ****ing show it!
Frankly, it’s shite!
Sums it up perfectly.
Seems I’m on my own but I’m really enjoying it!
Oh no; we're all enjoying it. Gives us all something else to moan about. Because the reality of life is too depressing to contemplate... 😪
Update on previous Summary So Far:
Rhys Ifans is in hiding.
The time jumps is a bit of a pain - young Rhaenyra was turning into an interesting character and then she's grown up. No mention of what went on with Ser Criston, or what deal he did with Alicent.
Guessing Otto will make a return as Hand - unless Larys Strong somehow gets that position (seeing as he's offed his own Dad & Brother....).
I like it
I'm hoping it settles and slows down a bit now and fleshes out the main characters more. Not sure how many seasons they've planned but I expect the writers/producers needed to get to the main plot (civil war) fairly quickly so they skimmed through the scene-setting part (hence time jumps and lack of character detail) but it does compare poorly with GoT's first season at the moment - there's still time left to salvage it though...
Trouble is, I don't care who wins the civil war, which is a sign that the scene-setting/fleshing out so far hasn't really done its job, whereas at this point in GoT you were fully invested in all the characters and their dynamics.
Yeah, there's not a single likeable character in there. They're all pretty unpleasant or just dull, all of them. I wouldn't feel a jot of regret if a rogue dragon flame-grilled them all at the start of the next episode. Stark (ha!) difference with GoT where you could root for multiple characters and enjoy the villainousness of the obvious villains.
I keep hoping it's going to improve, but it actually seems to be getting worse. I keep waiting for something momentous to happen.
First half of this one was a bit tedious, partly because of the colour grading to make it look like it was night*.
Got better as it went on, feels like this is what the last 6.5 episodes should have been
*Lots of young actors in it so they would have had to shoot in the daytime
Lots of young actors in it so they would have had to shoot in the daytime
I wondered why that was.
Decent episode, nice twist at the end which should hopefully pan out into consequences.
Yeah best episode so far, seems to be finally coming together! I think Paddy Considine is doing a great job as the King trying but totally failing to hold it all together, I [i]really[/i] want him to die though so it all kicks off 😀 Still aren’t any likeable characters, not sure it really matters though - I don’t care who wins, I just want to be entertained 😀
It's a bit 'meh' compared to the rings of power...
But that said I love Sci-fi and fantasy stuff and it's reasonably good so far.
There's precious little else worthy of watching anyway, in these genre's.
It’s a bit ‘meh’ compared to the rings of power…
I'd switch that around myself, I'm finding ROP pretty slow and tedious and it's not helped any by someone likening Elrond to Mr Bean - now I can't get that out of my head!
Good episode of HOTD this week, it's warming up for some proper scheming and depravity with gloves off all round.
Improved. Dragon. Knife fight. 5/10.
I really don't get why there's so much criticism of Got and LOTR.. Good fantasy romps as far as I'm concerned. I'm enjoying both.
Well I spent about the first 10 minutes trying to remember who had died. Oh, Dr Who's wife. Yes, of course. That unforgettable character, erm... Whatshername. Zzzzzzzzz.
Oh, BTW... Spoilers ahead. Obvs!
Ooh, a bit of light incest. No tits. Boooo!
I thought the kid running along the beach was going to catch them 2 going at it, harking back to Bran in GoT. But no, he'd just been watching "How to train your dragon" on repeat.
Will he ride the dragon, won't he... Of course he will. Can't have such a vital character killed off with a accidental dragon burp, or even just char grilled and eaten whole, can we?
Best bit was the kid who brought a rock to a knife fight.
And now, here's the entire plot of what would be 3 GoT episodes with lots of sneaky dealings and back stabbing and cunning stunts to kill off a "main" character. Nope, we'll have all that, AND a wedding between uncle and niece crammed into 5 minutes please.
Oh, wait, the body that fell into the fire and was so completely unrecognisable must be that bloke who was gay because the body had his boots on. Oh, wait, it wasn't him!?! What an unexpected surprise!!
Yeah, it's rapidly going down in my ratings, I mean I was playing on my phone almost the entire episode and didn't really miss much or struggle to understand what was going on.
Oh and how in the hell is Rhaenyra not bleeding to death with that wound, it was a sodding 6 inch long deep cut along her arm!? I thought that was an actual surprise moment and they killed her off, until she's getting it stitched up with the biggest needle in the entire world in the next scene and she's barely lost a few drops of blood!
Christ, it’s dull!
Last nights, literally as you couldn’t actually see anything
They seem to have taken GOT and removed all the things that made it great (tits, dragons, massive battles, proper baddies and most of all… humour). They’ve sucked all the joy out of it. I think it’s because everyone seems to be taking it (and themselves) all so bloody seriously
It’s not Shakespeare, GOT was great because it was panto ( it’s behiiiiiiind yoooouuuu!!! Booooooooo!)
It’s just a lot of people, most of whom I can’t even be bothered remembering, they’re so instantly forgettable, stood around in dark castles, mumbling to each other
Dull. Dull. Dull.
Don’t think I can be arsed with any more of it
Double post
It's suffering from trying to cover too much ground for sure, there's so many characters and the time jumps mean it's confusing and you never really care about a character. Apparently there's another couple of time jumps to come (with 3 episodes left in the season).
I'm not really sure how they could have done it differently (as HotD needs to have a lot of characters in and you do need a fair bit of background to explain why an extended family ends up warring) but if s2 isn't slower paced with better character development etc. then maybe basing the story on Fire & Blood wasn't such a great idea after all
Cirtainly seems to have lost the appeal of the first GoT but..... When you watch that first series (which suckered us all in) and compare it to the last, the prequel is comparable.
My biggest issue istm there are no nice characters - everyone is evil, or miserable or has an agenda - the original GoT started with the Starks who you wanted to do well. Couldn't give a damn about any of the characters in this.
When you watch that first series (which suckered us all in) and compare it to the last, the prequel is comparable.
Comparable to which, the first or the last?
It's certainly not comparable to the first, which was a riot of plotlines, action and intrigue from pretty much the outset.
My biggest issue istm there are no nice characters
Surely the appeal of GOT isnt the nice people but the utter bastards (literally and metaphorically) in it? They’re like pantomime villains.
Everyone in this is just… meh.
There’s absolutely nobody i could give a flying **** about
was it just me who thought the Starks were almost as bad as all the rest then?! They were just as dependent on "the wheel" as all the other houses. Ned was weak and slavishly followed a bad king out of a misplaced sense of duty - which also made him cut an innocent lad's head off in the first episode! The children were all selfish & entitled which led to the eldest getting himself & his mum killed! Not great 😬 Only Jon was what you'd call a "goodie" though it did make his character a bit boring after they'd transitioned him into the whiter-than-white golden boy. Note that he binned of his family at the end as he'd had enough of all the bullshit 😂the original GoT started with the Starks who you wanted to do well
...the lack of characters is the issue. Dr Who's doing his best but early GoT had charming Jaimie Lanister, uncharming the Hound and his big bro who didn't say a right lot. Wicked Ceresi, whatever the guy's name was who lopped off the todger of Lilly Allen's little brother? He was really bad. Etc etc. Okay there were a few blank-faced non-actors (sansa sloane sorry, stark) but it did tonk along.
Here we have a young lad TWOCing a dragon (good) but really do we need 5 mins of footage with swelling music to follow?
And whilst having your most boring characters rowing off in a boat was a handy vehicle in later GoT, the fact that the guy from Famalam (wasted btw) has now shaved his head is the episode's final and very telegraphed reveal? Really.
Still. Remains elf free so I'll probably watch the next.
Dr Who’s doing his best
He’s now starting to rival James Nesbitt in the ‘arched eyebrows per episode’ stakes and that can never be a good thing
there's no standouts yet, it's true. Slightly warming to the Dr now (although still think he's not really the right actor for the part) because he really just does not give any ****s. 😃 Also I think Alicent's transition from mousy to vengeful pyscho was done well! (The new actress is a lot better). Both the 2 Targ lads had a good scene this week, the older one has taken to hitting the ale pretty hard and the younger, meek one has found his inner nutter (i.e. proper Targaryen) streak and I think both will become interesting characters!the lack of characters is the issue
Flipping heck! I keep reading here hoping it improves but seems I was right to sack it off after half an episode.
Here we have a young lad TWOCing a dragon (good) but really do we need 5 mins of footage with swelling music to follow?
Especially as I can’t be the only one thinking that now the little shit had hotwired a fire breather he would then go on the rampage, extracting vengeance and turning his enemies into charred, smoking lumps
But no…
Straight back to people stood around in dark rooms, mumbling to each other
Those saying that it’s getting going now…
We’re 7 episodes into 10 and absolutely nothing has happened apart from an inexplicable switching of half the cast and Paddy Considine has swapped his wig
maybe basing the story on Fire & Blood wasn’t such a great idea after all
Some things work in a book.
Some things work in telly.
Venn diagram of the above would put this thing in the unenviable position of being a book-only jobbie.
It's watchable, expensive, but ultimately seems rather forgettable.
I really want to like HotD but it is so tedious. Lots and lots of nothing happening (see this episode's balcony scene) and then key plot points crammed in to a few minutes.
As binners says, they've removed everything that made GoT great and replaced it with, well, nothing.
Some things work in a book.
Some things work in telly.
Venn diagram of the above would put this thing in the unenviable position of being a book-only jobbie.
Didn't GRR Martin say that he deliberately wrote the 'A Song of Fire and Ice' books (GoT main texts) to be so complex as to be unfilmable? Perhaps having failed here, he is trying a different tack of making 'Fire and blood' so thin and dry so that no-one would try?
