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I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 4:27 am
by TazManiac
It's about to wrap up it's final (8th) season, and after more than a year in hiatus at that.

On top of all the hype is the sobering realization that this 'wrap up all the loose ends' crowning achievement is being crammed into something like only half a dozen episodes.

From a payroll stand point, a story tellers' too, and of course the weary 'are we there yet' aspect of grinding out a Masterpiece, ye Gods- who wants to be responsible for that?

Still, it's just recently been the second episode of this most current cultural event and my continued sense of lingering remains with the Rule 34 aspects of Arya Stark,
quoting Kent Mansley of the 'Iron Giant';

"...‘and all that that implies’”

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Thu Apr 25, 2019 10:34 pm
by AnotherFairportfan
Fun part, of course, is that - assuming Railroad lives long enough - the books will almost certainly have a different wrapup to the story when he finishes the series than the teevee version.

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 6:23 am
by Catawampus
I read the first three or four books, but the story got so monotonous to me that I lost interest and haven't bothered to keep up with the newer releases. I did check out the first disc of the first season of the television series from the local library, but haven't watched anything beyond that because I figured it was basically the books.

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 12:01 pm
by Warrl
Catawampus wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2019 6:23 am I read the first three or four books, but the story got so monotonous to me that I lost interest
I finished book one and realized I was relieved to finally be done with it.

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Fri Apr 26, 2019 12:53 pm
by TazManiac
I never made it past half of Book One, but I'm by default more hard SciFi and less Swords and Sandals.

Still, it's (GoT) one of those things I can share at least a passing interest in with my niece, so that's nice too.
(She's all grow'd up now, but my Dad and her would watch 'Xenia, Warrior Princess' together, so this might have been inevitable...)

That said, I've enjoyed the progression of the young Arya from a precocious tomboy to a dangerous young woman, if not lady exactly, along the course of the series.

The young Arya hated the Lady Making classes her older sister took for granted and seemingly excelled in; But the youngest girl in the brood chafed at what we'd call gender-norms and her father was understanding in providing 'the proper nourishment' so to speak- Her fencing tutor, for example, was described to others as a Dancing Instructor.

Her step brother John even gave her (an either very short & thin sword or) a long-assed dagger of her very own; she promptly dubbed it 'Needle'.
(As in- a proper young Lady needs to know how to sew...)

Here a spoiler-full article from CNN about this most recent (S08e02) episode:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/24/opinions ... index.html

Girly-girls are cool, but I've always liked tomboys more.

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 12:22 am
by Bookworm
I liked Wild Cards, but I've never been tempted to pick up Game of Thrones.

For one thing, after the Wheel of Time series, I won't pick up a heavy extended series until it's done. 15 years and the author dying, with the last book finished off by someone else, is a bit of a turn off.

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 12:41 am
by AnotherFairportfan
Bookworm wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 12:22 am 15 years and the author dying, with the last book finished off by someone else, is a bit of a turn off.
Conan, anybody?

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 4:39 pm
by Bookworm
AnotherFairportfan wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 12:41 am
Bookworm wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 12:22 am 15 years and the author dying, with the last book finished off by someone else, is a bit of a turn off.
Conan, anybody?
Not quite the same. That's more simply taking a series character and writing more with the character. The Wizard of Oz series was that way, as were Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and in modern times you can look at The Executioner, The Destroyer, and a WHOLE lotta westerns.

(The Destroyer #152 is now out, and includes _aliens_! )

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 9:40 pm
by Just Old Al
Warrl wrote: Fri Apr 26, 2019 12:01 pm I finished book one and realized I was relieved to finally be done with it.
30 pages in it hit the recycle bin...blargh. Thankfully it was given to me and not something I wasted money on or I'd have been quite annoyed.

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Sat Apr 27, 2019 10:34 pm
by TazManiac
Bookworm wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 4:39 pm
AnotherFairportfan wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 12:41 am
Bookworm wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 12:22 am 15 years and the author dying, with the last book finished off by someone else, is a bit of a turn off.
Conan, anybody?
Not quite the same. That's more simply taking a series character and writing more with the character. The Wizard of Oz series was that way, as were Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and in modern times you can look at The Executioner, The Destroyer, and a WHOLE lotta westerns.

(The Destroyer #152 is now out, and includes _aliens_! )
Doc Savage and the 181 Super Sagas! (plus some more 'modern' additions...)

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2019 11:43 am
by AnotherFairportfan
TazManiac wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 10:34 pm
Bookworm wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 4:39 pm
AnotherFairportfan wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 12:41 am
Conan, anybody?
Not quite the same. That's more simply taking a series character and writing more with the character. The Wizard of Oz series was that way, as were Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and in modern times you can look at The Executioner, The Destroyer, and a WHOLE lotta westerns.

(The Destroyer #152 is now out, and includes _aliens_! )
Doc Savage and the 181 Super Sagas! (plus some more 'modern' additions...)
All but about fifteen of the Doc Savage "novels" were written by Lester Dent - and he even had time to write at least one Shadow "novel".

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2019 12:03 pm
by AnotherFairportfan
Bookworm wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 4:39 pm
AnotherFairportfan wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 12:41 am
Conan, anybody?
Not quite the same. That's more simply taking a series character and writing more with the character. The Wizard of Oz series was that way, as were Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and in modern times you can look at The Executioner, The Destroyer, and a WHOLE lotta westerns.

(The Destroyer #152 is now out, and includes _aliens_! )
At least some of the early Conan "posthumous collaborations" were either completions of unfinished stories or taken from the notes Howard left when he took the coward's way out.

Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys were produced by what amounted to a factory - the Stratemeyer Syndicate* - where Edward Stratemeyer {and later his daughters} would write a brief outline, and then one of several staff writers would crank out a draft, which would be quickly and superficially edited to add the specific "author's" rather heavy-handed stylistic quirks {Tom Swift never just "said" anything; he "adverbally said" something.**}.

Leslie Charteris, in his later years, did that with the Saint, too.

My favourite posthumous collaboration was the Craig Rice/Ed McBain mystery The April Robin Murders where McBain was hired to complete the book left unfinished at her death - she had written the first half of the book, but left no notes for later chapters - including any indication of the killer's identity. So McBain had to solve the mystery before he could write the rest of the book.

===================
* Rather like a comic publisher with writer, penciller, inker and colourer.

** Remember Tom Swifties?
"Well, yes, the wool is kind of scratchy," Tom said sheepishly.

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2019 12:49 pm
by AnotherFairportfan
Mentioning the Doc Savage stories reminds me - in one of the Batman "Adventures" comics {DC's code name for comics based on the animated series - though none of them, so far as i know, were adaptations of episodes*} Two-Face {apparently} plans a complicated robbery, which is actually a scheme to humiliate and take revenge on his abusive father - whose name is Lester.

=======================

* An apparent exception to this rule is Mad Love, Harley Quinn's origin story - but actually, the graphic novel was published first, warn Warner Bros wouldn't {at first} allow Dini and Timm to do it for the series, but later changed that. The animated version is not nearly as good as the graphic version.

{A somewhat less pricey Kindle/Comixology version is also available, as is, apparently, a later edition with more stuff included...}

I cannot recommend this story too highly.

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2019 9:30 pm
by Bookworm
E. E. "Doc" Smith's Subspace Safari was similar to that.

It was originally written as a single book, and offered up for publication. There was a bunch of back and forth, and he started rewriting it as _two_ books - Subspace Explorers, and Subspace Encounters.

He never finished them. Eventually, the paperwork ended up in the hands of a friend of his, and fellow author (Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, IIRC), who was trying to put them all back together as a memorium, basically.

However, the notes kept having statements like "See chapter # in single novel". After serious scrounging, the only copy of the single book version left was in the hands of the publisher/editor friend, and was subsequently turned over.

I've read all of E.E.'s works, and those two books fit perfectly into his style - and nothing like LAE's style (I have some of _his_ books as well)

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 8:30 am
by Atomic
Bookworm wrote: Sat Apr 27, 2019 4:39 pm ** Remember Tom Swifties?
"Well, yes, the wool is kind of scratchy," Tom said sheepishly.
My favorite:
"S-Stop!" he said haltingly.

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 12:57 pm
by jwhouk
"Again?" he said repeatedly.

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 3:53 pm
by TazManiac
So, back on GoT, as it's known, the last episode (Season 8, Episode THREE) was 80 mins in length.

I hear that of the 6 final episodes in this shortened season, four of them will be of an extended length.

Normally they'd be around 54 mins or something, not having commercial breaks like conventional shows do.

It's been a wild ride over near on ten years, I'll kind of be sorry to see it go.

edit- Here is a graph (from wikipedia) that shows the increase in viewership over the years...

Image

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 7:41 pm
by Atomic
Rumored secret spoiler GoT ending:
► Show Spoiler
The Show Spoiler thing wasn't working for me, so just in case, here it is again in for highlight reveal:

After an eight year Interpol coordinated investigation, the combined police forces of Ireland, Spain, Croatia, and Norway raid the various movie locations arresting hundreds of medieval cos-players and special effect artists for dozens of charges including murder, kidnapping, conspiracy, human trafficking, and cruelty to dragons (a protected species). An international warranted for George R. R. Martin has been issued as a person of interest in this globe-spanning abuse cartel.

(BTW - the Background color is #e1ebf2)

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 9:06 pm
by TazManiac
Heh heh heh...

btw: Referencing Arya Stark, who started out this 'epic' as a little kid, got tossed about by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, went on a Road Trip she was lucky to survive, & learned at the knee of the Faceless Men...

She's all grow'd up now, slinging agency around with her thin but pointy blade.

Here is a youtube link from 'the early days' when she was learning 'to dance' from a highly rated Fencing Instructor:




About Five Mins in, he makes a reference that's on point, and is called-back to in the current season...

Re: I've been enjoying Game of Thrones

Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 9:59 pm
by Catawampus
So now it's on to the spin-offs:

Game of Thrones Babies!
Game of Thrones, the Musical!
Game of Thrones in Space!
The Game of Thrones Cooking Challenge!