Game of Thrones must be one of the biggest things in TV in the last twenty years. There have been plenty of fantasy shows before, but this spanned multiple locations across Europe to give different climates. It had battles on a massive scale, and dragons.
In the UK it was broadcast on Sky, which I do not subscribe to. It finished in 2019, but it has taken me until now to catch up. My daughter was into the books and bought season 1 from a charity shop. I watched that and later picked up season 2. The later ones can be harder to find second hand, so I went for the big set of 1 to 7 when it came up on the Oxfam online shop. Season 8 came from my friend @todayslight who has a huge DVD collection.
I wonder how many people have not yet seen it? In any case I will not give away too much of the plot so that they can still enjoy it. The story concerns various families competing for the Iron Throne of Westeros. As in the history of Europe there can be different claims based on hereditary links and that tends to lead to war.
There is another force involved in the frozen north that is protected against by a massive wall of ice. The legendary White Walkers have the power to bring the dead to life to fight for them.
It is all very much about destiny with certain key people obviously likely to be in it to the end. That said, you cannot rely on anyone surviving. The body count is high and not just among the masses. Each season has at least one spectacular battle or other massacre and the fake blood flows freely. It is known for the graphic violence and also for the nudity. The latter is more prominent than in a lot of shows, but if you watch for that then you may actually be disappointed as there is not that much really. It is definitely an adult show though.
As it was filmed over eight years you really see how the younger cast grow up in a similar way to the Harry Potter movies, but this is about darker magic. There are moments of humour, but the violence and despair can be relentless.
A lot of prominent actors take part and also some musicians such as Wilko Johnson of Doctor Feelgood and Ed Shearon who actually sings. He is not that great in this to be honest.
George R.R. Martin wrote the books it is based on, but could not deliver the later volumes in time for the show schedule Apparently they did base the last couple of seasons on some of his writings and had his blessing, but the show-runners came up with some plots. I was warned that these were not so good, but I did not think they were that bad and I was not put out by the ending.
The DVDs have a nice selection of special features about the production. I like to see how shows are made. The production was based in Belfast with some location in Northern Ireland. A fair bit was
done in Croatia with Dubrovnik acting as the capital Kings Landing. Some was also filmed in Split and Hivefest last year was partly in the cellars of the Roman palace that they used.
They also have a tiny museum with some props and costumes from the show. I could not avoid some spoilers for the show, but one of the descriptions I saw there dropped a big one on me. I can live with that.
I think the show is well worth a watch if you like something epic and can handle the gore. I may well read the books some time, but I have a lot of others to get through. There is also the prequel series House of the Dragon. I have not seen that for sale as of yet, but I will look out for it.
Winter is coming (well not really as it is spring here).
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It's one of my favorite shows, though like many people I was disappointed with how they ended it. I feel like if they had taken their time (even George R.R. Martin said he was imagining like, 12 seasons I think?) and handed off the reigns to producers who still wanted to do the project (supposedly Dave & Dan wanted to hurry up and finish so they could do other projects; instead they flubbed the landing and their future projects got canceled), it could have been much better, but oh, well. 95% of the show was great. ;)
I watch a lot of historical-based shows (The Tudors, The Borgias, that kinda thing) and any time someone tells me that they couldn't watch GoT because of the violence, I'm like ...oh ...don't watch the historical shows, then. xD They can be worse, especially since you know it's based on truth (though George also was inspired for a lot of GoT by historical events!). Once you see Henry VIII sentence someone to die by being boiled alive in oil, you're kinda like ...yeah a little violence doesn't shake me in a show. 😅
!BEER
Endings can be hard and there will be all sorts of constraints on a production like that as so much money is involved. Adapting books is always a compromise. It has to appeal to people beyond the dedicated readers.
You can look at Shakespeare for stories of war and ambition. Those were grim times that make today look civilised, but we still have some similar conflicts driven by people who want power.
Yeah, but they ran out of books to adapt for GoT; the last two books still aren't out. Apparently George is having difficulty finishing it, too.
The story goes that he told them the major plot points, like who ends up on the iron throne, but they made up all the filler on how it gets there.
Directors can't resist messing with stories anyway as they need to tell them in different ways. Peter Jackson did it with the Tolkien movies too.
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Really well-made show. I'd watch it again some time. The House of the Dragon is a must watch. I'm into Dune right now, going down that rabbit hole.
I've still not seen part 2 of Dune. I saw there's a prequel series to that out too. I can't keep up.
I've some catching up to do one day. I'm often late to the party - I don't think I've watched a single episode. I've heard lots of good things about it though.
There's plenty of shows I haven't seen. We have a couple of streaming services that give us some of them. The charity shops are another option and I do have a look.
I thought it was a great show and whilst the last season let it down slightly I still enjoyed it. Apart from that one episode set in the dark. It missed George's writing at the end up for sure but it was still good
There was so much going on with multiple plots in each episode, so you had to focus on it. I thought there was a good balance of action and talky bits. You could empathise with characters like Jamie and Tyrion who had their issues.
I like that last photo !LOL
We were fortunate to watch the Game of Thrones series when we still had a TV, and almost 5 years ago now that we sold our TV. No more TV, and no streaming.
!BEER
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You would think at least one of them would have seen it.
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I do enjoy watching good shows, so it would be hard to give up the TV. I don't watch as much as some people though as I will be doing other things like making music. What do you do for entertainment?
We did miss it at the start, but now we have grown out of it. My entertainment is found in our nature outings.
!BEER
tried watching it a few times, gave up on it. Idk if I'm becoming the old man I disliked as a kid. HA!
I realize I'm "wrong" here, since the show has so many fans. It just never sucked me in.
We each have our tastes. There's plenty of shows I never get into. I'm quite particular about comedy especially.
Hahaha, I guess finishing Game of Thrones is like a rite of passage. At the end of that show, I could barely trust people lol. Also, just when I started liking a character, boom... gone. The last seasons were let’s say different, but overall, very awesome series.
I'll take a break before house of the dragon
They were ruthless with killing off characters, but then it was a hostile environment. I may try something lighter next.
yes me too man, it's not easy to stomach two different types of the same series, definitely something lighter would do lol. Fake of thrones, epic movie character killers
One of the best tv-series that I've seen. But the books, that I haven't read them are much more interesting with further adventures and particularities that don't appear in the "screen" version... So many memories! Some day I'll revisit it!
I may watch it again some time as I've forgotten details of the early posts.
That's not a good throne to be on, from what I remember by watching GoT. 😄
Yes, those who sat there tended to end up dead. I survived so far. That was in the gift shop opposite the museum.
You are right, I wash all the season and started the new series on the prequel too.
It is a fantastic show. I will rewash it in its entirety before the end of the year. Thank you for sharing your impression after watching this exceptional show.
I finished GOT almost three years ago and believe me whenever Winter is coming in our country it reminds me about this season 😂.....
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STOPI've been meaning to watch Game of Thrones for so long, unfortunately I'm not that disciplined when it comes to watching series... 😅 Thanks for sharing your impressions, it was really interesting to read!
I hope you can see it some time. I took a while to get through it all as I didn't watch it every day.
I haven't watched the series, though I started but didn't complete it.
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It's a nice movie series I must say . I'm also just catching up on an old movie series , Lost ! Enjoying it so far !!