Winter Is Coming (and it's gonna be BADASS)
(Note: this post is spoiler-free, for both books and show. Please don't post any spoilers in comments, thanks!)
As you may have heard, there is a new fantasy series on HBO called Game of Thrones. It's based on a series of books by George R. R. Martin called A Song of Ice and Fire (A Game of Thrones is the first book in the series).
Both the book series and the TV series are AMAZEBALLS. Like, THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH CAPITAL LETTERS TO CONVEY MY SQUEE. NOR ENOUGH EXCLAMATION MARKS. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!ONE-MILLION-ONE-HUNDRED-ELEVEN-THOUSAND-ONE-HUNDRED-AND-ELEVEN!!!!!!!
I have wanted to make this post since the pilot of GoT premiered, but I kept putting it off because I was afraid of not being eloquent enough, or something. How can I tell people "You should be watching this show! Or reading the books! Preferably both!" and follow that up with flailing my arms about and speaking gibberish and making high-pitched noises? And then I realized, fuck, I am never eloquent, and anyway I WANT to publicly flail my arms about and make high-pitched noises over this fandom. So! People! Friends of mine! You should be watching this show! Or reading the books! Preferably both!
*flails wildly*
ASOIAF is set in an alternate world that is more-or-less equivalent to our medieval times (think Camelot), and it's very light on typical fantasy elements such as magic - which is not to say it doesn't have any magical stuff, but it's not really in the foreground - and very heavy on political intrigue. That's not normally the kind of thing that would interest me, but Martin's plots are so clever and the characters so well-drawn that I find myself captivated by it. The books focus mainly on the land of Westeros, which is seven kingdoms ruled by a common king, and the plot revolves around various families vying for control of the throne, and what happens to them. Plus there are creepy zombie things. Plus there used to be dragons. Plus there are ADORABLE DIREWOLF PUPPIES. Also, if you love ensembles and compelling, three-dimensional characters, this is totally the series for you! Each chapter in the books is told from a different person's point of view, which is an awesome way to get to know everyone and to have the reader be aware of things that the current chapter's character doesn't necessarily know.
The TV show is actually following the book series very well, which makes me happy. Each season (10 episodes) of the show will cover the events of one book; the 7th episode of Season 1 is airing tomorrow night. You'd think the show wouldn't be all that exciting for me, since I've read the books and I know exactly what's going to happen, but that's not the case at all. It's incredibly thrilling to see these characters you've known and loved for forever (I think I originally read the series about 5 years ago?) come to life on the screen. There are some small changes in the translation from book to screen, of course; for example, the direwolves play a much larger role in the books. I assume this is because of the difficulty in working with live animals on the set. The best moments, though, are the scenes that were written just for the TV series and aren't taken from the books. In each episode there are at least 2 or 3 of these, as a result of the TV writers saying "hey, we don't have a chapter from the King's POV here, but what would he and his wife be talking about right now?". And then we get something lovely and amazing. It's like EXTRA CANON. \o/
If you asked me to describe this fandom in three words, I would say: SHIT GETS REAL. It's not a smooth predictable ride, by any stretch of the imagination. You think you know what's to come? You haven't even begun. You think Joss Whedon ripped your heart out and stomped on it? You haven't met George R. R. Martin yet. This story will take you to places you never expected, will brutally kill characters you loved with all your heart, will make you love characters you thought you'd always hate, and will constantly surprise you. And of course, that's part of the fun.
If you do plan on watching the show and/or reading the books, or if you're in the middle of one of those right now, for the love of the old gods do NOT go poking around on the internet, as that's the surest way to get spoiled! And you definitely want to stay unspoiled for this ride. A good site that I've found is Tower of the Hand, which lets you set your scope (the last book you read / the last episode you watched) and will adjust content accordingly so that you don't see anything spoilery.
At some point I will do a picspam, to show you how very very pretty the show is; I suspect that's the best way to make people watch it. Until then, here, have some more flailing! *flaily flail*
BOOOOOOOOOKS. SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. FANDOM OF MY HEART. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
The last time I got crazy-obsessive over a fandom - as in, watched every episode countless times and pimped it like mad to everyone I knew and couldn't sleep at night because I was thinking about it so much - was back in '05 when I discovered due South. A lot of shows/movies/what-have-you have piqued my interest since then, and I've enjoyed them all, but nothing ever quite reached in and thoroughly captured my heart and my brain to the extent where my love for the source was actively interfering with the rest of my life.
It feels good to have that again. :D
Also posted to Dreamwidth (
comments). Comment wherever you like.
As you may have heard, there is a new fantasy series on HBO called Game of Thrones. It's based on a series of books by George R. R. Martin called A Song of Ice and Fire (A Game of Thrones is the first book in the series).
Both the book series and the TV series are AMAZEBALLS. Like, THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH CAPITAL LETTERS TO CONVEY MY SQUEE. NOR ENOUGH EXCLAMATION MARKS. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11!!!!!ONE-MILLION-ONE-HUNDRED-ELEVEN-THOUSAND-ONE-HUNDRED-AND-ELEVEN!!!!!!!
I have wanted to make this post since the pilot of GoT premiered, but I kept putting it off because I was afraid of not being eloquent enough, or something. How can I tell people "You should be watching this show! Or reading the books! Preferably both!" and follow that up with flailing my arms about and speaking gibberish and making high-pitched noises? And then I realized, fuck, I am never eloquent, and anyway I WANT to publicly flail my arms about and make high-pitched noises over this fandom. So! People! Friends of mine! You should be watching this show! Or reading the books! Preferably both!
*flails wildly*
ASOIAF is set in an alternate world that is more-or-less equivalent to our medieval times (think Camelot), and it's very light on typical fantasy elements such as magic - which is not to say it doesn't have any magical stuff, but it's not really in the foreground - and very heavy on political intrigue. That's not normally the kind of thing that would interest me, but Martin's plots are so clever and the characters so well-drawn that I find myself captivated by it. The books focus mainly on the land of Westeros, which is seven kingdoms ruled by a common king, and the plot revolves around various families vying for control of the throne, and what happens to them. Plus there are creepy zombie things. Plus there used to be dragons. Plus there are ADORABLE DIREWOLF PUPPIES. Also, if you love ensembles and compelling, three-dimensional characters, this is totally the series for you! Each chapter in the books is told from a different person's point of view, which is an awesome way to get to know everyone and to have the reader be aware of things that the current chapter's character doesn't necessarily know.
The TV show is actually following the book series very well, which makes me happy. Each season (10 episodes) of the show will cover the events of one book; the 7th episode of Season 1 is airing tomorrow night. You'd think the show wouldn't be all that exciting for me, since I've read the books and I know exactly what's going to happen, but that's not the case at all. It's incredibly thrilling to see these characters you've known and loved for forever (I think I originally read the series about 5 years ago?) come to life on the screen. There are some small changes in the translation from book to screen, of course; for example, the direwolves play a much larger role in the books. I assume this is because of the difficulty in working with live animals on the set. The best moments, though, are the scenes that were written just for the TV series and aren't taken from the books. In each episode there are at least 2 or 3 of these, as a result of the TV writers saying "hey, we don't have a chapter from the King's POV here, but what would he and his wife be talking about right now?". And then we get something lovely and amazing. It's like EXTRA CANON. \o/
If you asked me to describe this fandom in three words, I would say: SHIT GETS REAL. It's not a smooth predictable ride, by any stretch of the imagination. You think you know what's to come? You haven't even begun. You think Joss Whedon ripped your heart out and stomped on it? You haven't met George R. R. Martin yet. This story will take you to places you never expected, will brutally kill characters you loved with all your heart, will make you love characters you thought you'd always hate, and will constantly surprise you. And of course, that's part of the fun.
If you do plan on watching the show and/or reading the books, or if you're in the middle of one of those right now, for the love of the old gods do NOT go poking around on the internet, as that's the surest way to get spoiled! And you definitely want to stay unspoiled for this ride. A good site that I've found is Tower of the Hand, which lets you set your scope (the last book you read / the last episode you watched) and will adjust content accordingly so that you don't see anything spoilery.
At some point I will do a picspam, to show you how very very pretty the show is; I suspect that's the best way to make people watch it. Until then, here, have some more flailing! *flaily flail*
BOOOOOOOOOKS. SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. FANDOM OF MY HEART. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
The last time I got crazy-obsessive over a fandom - as in, watched every episode countless times and pimped it like mad to everyone I knew and couldn't sleep at night because I was thinking about it so much - was back in '05 when I discovered due South. A lot of shows/movies/what-have-you have piqued my interest since then, and I've enjoyed them all, but nothing ever quite reached in and thoroughly captured my heart and my brain to the extent where my love for the source was actively interfering with the rest of my life.
It feels good to have that again. :D
Also posted to Dreamwidth (
comments). Comment wherever you like.