I finally watched all of Game of Thrones, the George RR Martin fantasy series from HBO (which got an Emmy nomination for Best Drama yesterday). The series followed the book extremely closely so not much of the plot came as a surprise but I still enjoyed it quite a lot. The interiors for Thrones were filmed at studios in Belfast's docklands and the exteriors were shot in Northern Ireland (a second unit shot in Malta). In the first episode a major scene (the execution of the deserter from the Wall) occurs in a place where I used to go camping when I was kid. That was strange: George RR Martin's exotic world of Westeros is in fact just outside of Larne on the A2. Probably no weirder than the residents of Vancouver discovering that the planet Caprica from Battlestar Galactica was in fact the University of British Columbia. ...
In the book I disliked the entire Lannister clan (they were the villains after all) but on HBO they were much more fun and entertaining than Sean Bean and his worthy clan of the north. The star of the Lannisters of course was Peter Dinklage who has just been nominated for an Emmy as best supporting actor in a drama. I've loved Peter Dinklage since I saw him in the wonderful indie comedy, The Station Agent. He also had a memorable turn on 30 Rock back when that show used to be funny. His accent on Game of Thrones is a bit dodgy but his natural charisma, comic timing and intelligence carries him through and if there's any justice, he and Ed O'Neill will win Emmys this year.
12 comments:
(Spoiler)
I totally concur with your entire post, except that I never read the books. Absolutely enjoyed the series. Because I had not read the story, the death of sean bean came as quite a shock. Love love love the dragon lady...and she's gorgeous, too. Looking forward to next season.
Have not found Deviant in any of my libraries yet.
Trudy
In the books the dragon lady is a little bit younger and she comes round to the horse lord a little quicker than in the series.
Deviant wont be out until September. I think the only thing thats gone out so far are galleys.
I don't know if I'll ever get to the books or the HBO series, but I will chime in in fandom for Peter Dinklage. I should watch The Station Agent again.
George R. R. Martin's books are selling like hotcakes here, thanks to the HBO series and the just this week publication of long awaited book number five, A Dance With Dragons.
Seana
When I watched The Station Agent it made me a bit depressed. "Now why can't all movies be this good," I remember thinking.
I didn't say as I posted that I kind of look back on that period of indie film making nostalgically now, even though it actually wasn't all that long ago. It may just be a time when I made more time to go to movies. I'm not sure.
Seana
George Martin is a really nice guy and deserves the success.
I know you're not supposed to be able to judge a person by his picture, but he looks it. In fact, he could walk in to the store out of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and fit right in.
Martin may be a nice guy, but I'm a little tired of his reviewers take shots at other fantasy authors, Jack Vance, Tolkien, etc. Martin's strength is in his plotting, not his prose style.
Matt
Agreed. Dont read Martin if you're looking for elegant turns of phrase, wit or brevity. But he is good on character development and his women are as interesting as his men - often a flaw with fantasy.
Adrian, if you're in your public library sometime, check out an author named Mitchell Smith. He wrote a terrific sci-fi trilogy starting with a book called Snowfall. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Matt
I'll check it out man.
Peter Dinklage, as Tyrion, is the STAR of the series. Bless him. It is so nice to hear an American with an inpeccable English accent playing an intelligent but supposedly nasty member of the Lanister clan, who infact isn't nasty. You dear old Yankee cousins of ours always tend to make the bad guys talk Engish English and give our home grown British actors the "bady parts"
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