Amph Game of Thrones - HBO

Here's some interesting news today.

 

Fantastic!

 

Well, I've never heard of Game of Thrones and I'm not the biggest fantasy buff in the world, but HBO could make the phone book into an watchable series - so I'm in.

I also like the part about HBO increasing the number of series on its sked. More original HBO programming can only be a good thing.

 

Awesome news. Game of Thrones is the beginning to THE great fantasy epic of the 21st century.

 

Interesting choice. Not sure how well it will adapt to television format, and how much would have to be left out, but I'll certainly be keeping an eye on this to see how it turns out.

 

It really all depends on how many episodes per season they're willing to let them have if it's green-lit. What's the usual HBO season length?

 

Looks to be about 12-13 episodes, standard. Might be able to fit it all in, but it'd have to be fairly quick-paced. They could switch up the order slightly, avoid the jumping back and forth between chapters from the books to make the story more coherent.

 

It'll fit. There are lots of scenes that are long but introspective. We don't need the camera to linger on Ned as he sits and waits, or on Jon as he thinks or whatever.

 

Yes, it will fit beautifully into 12-13 1-hour episodes. The entire extended LOTR trilogy is about 11 hours, and those films cover most of the 1000-page novel's contents. GoT is about 800 pages and has more room to breathe. This is the way fantasy epics should be done!

 

Since the name of the show seems to be "Game of Thrones" will they mainly focus on the first book in the first season and if the series get renewed for a second season they will focus on book two "A Clash of Kings"? 1 book, 1 season?

HBO feels like a good home for this production.

 

Yes, the idea is to devote an entire 12-episode season to one book. Game of Thrones first season, Clash of Kings second season, etc. From what I've read I understand GRRM will be penning at least one key episode per season.

As to the name of the show in ads and program guides, I imagine that with the second season they'll start referring to it as "A Song of Ice and Fire". This happened with the publication of the books as well; the "Song" monniker did not appear till the second book came out, so as not to confuse the public.

 

So changing the show's name after a season is a way not to confuse people?

 

Who else thinks ending a first episode with Bran's accident would be perfect?

 

*is very happy*

 

I do. It's the sort of event that would get people talking and coming back for more.

 

I bet The Red Wedding will look great on film!!!!!

 

It's a lot of material to cover - but bring on the men with swords!!!

 

That's a lot of material to cover in the first episode, to lead up that event: The lost Night's Watchmen beyond the Wall, the execution of the "deserter", the finding of the dire wolf pups, the arrival of King Robert to Winterfell, the establishing of just about every major character in the book. Not that I don't think it can be done in an hour, but it will require some judicious editing of the material -- hopefully not to the detriment of the drama or the characters.

 

Best bet would be to start off with a 2-hour first episode.

 

Pfft. Forget HBO. Let's make a sweded Game of Thrones.

 

If they can't afford more "Rome" how can they afford this?

 

What I heard was they canceled Rome specifically to free the budget for this.

 

Damn! Finish "Rome" first!

 

Time to address the giant elephant. Considering how long Martin has gone between novels wouldn't the show eventually catch up to Martin in a few years unless he speeds up his output?

 

That is a possibility, though if they've only just greenlit the series I wouldn't expect anything on our screen until at least 2010, which would give GRRM some time to at least get the next book out and hopefully cracking on the following one.