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[swan_tower]

A Review of the Game of Thrones TV Series Premiere, As Written by Someone Not Starting from a Position of A Priori Contempt For the Fantasy Genre

(LJ won't let me have a post title that long.)

I thought it was pretty good. The three of us watching who had read the books thought it was a faithful and effective adaptation of the source material; the fourth member of the audience, who had not read the books, said it succeeded at getting her interested, which is what you want from a premiere. Lots of good casting choices, and because it's a series, it can take the time it needs to build up the characters and the world by methods more gradual than Ye Olde Info-Dumpe.

It being HBO, of course, they were not shy about showing you the nekkid, and things that were faintly disturbing on the page become moreso when you actually see them happening. (In particular, it's hard to miss how problematic the Dothraki are.) But I didn't feel they were gratuitously amping the R-rated stuff up just for the sake of spectacle, which is my usual HBO complaint.

I definitely want to see more. Though we'll probably go the route of recording several eps and then watching them in one go, rather than doling it out an hour each week.



And that, New York Times, is how you do it. You get a reviewer who actually likes the genre to give you an opinion. Not somebody who is convinced of the worthlessness of fantasy before they ever sit down to watch the show. Please remedy this error in the future.

Comments

[rhinemouse.livejournal.com]

Personally, I thought the Dothraki were screamingly problematic in the book (along with everyone else). But then, I am one of the readers that wilted away from all of the violence in Book One and could read no further.

[silme.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your review. It starts tonight on Sky One in Britain. They've been advertising like mad for it -- so much advertising that it made me wonder about the show's quality. :)

It's actually on against another American import on E4, Glee. But E4 has a plus one channel, so I can watch Glee an hour later. (Yes, I admit to liking Glee. :)

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

We don't have HBO so won't be watching it this go round regardless. Dunno about later. Martin's a very good writer. I'm not sure I want to watch the 3 volumes I did read on screen, and not least because I found the Dothraki quite problematic from the get go and I find my tolerance for that kind of thing has vanished, and it wasn't that expansive to begin with.

But thanks for the useful review!

[yuuo.livejournal.com]

I heard the NYT got a fantasy-hating reviewer in there on that, and was curious what was said, exactly. I'm also now intrigued by this series. I can never get the tv away from my mother, who does nothing but sleep in front of it (god forbid you change the channel though), so I doubt I will get to see it.

[mariness.livejournal.com]

The two people watching with me, who have not read the books (and at least one of them won't; as it turns out when he said he'd seen fantasy movies he meant he'd seen one of the Harry Potter movies, and that's about the extent of his fantasy interest) were hooked by the first and last scenes and moderately puzzled by the middle (but we had sound issues) but said they'll be watching again next week, which I think is a good sign for the show.

[lowellboyslash.livejournal.com]

Amen, brother! I cannot believe that NYT reviewer. I think the last "fantasy" movie she'd seen was Braveheart. WHICH ISN'T A FANTASY MOVIE,* NEW YORK TIMES, I CANNOT YELL THAT LOUD ENOUGH.

I wonder how much of the book they're going to get through this season. They're moving fast!


*Gross historical inaccuracies aside... but then, what's a Mel Gibson movie without gross historical inaccuracies? They don't call The Patriot a fantasy movie, do they?

[alchymyst.livejournal.com]

I thought it was pretty good too. I actually started rereading the books last week for the series and for the next installment in July. The series is indeed quite faithful to what's on the page. I think they are doing a good job at explaining who's who and what's going on via some extra dialogue, because it could get pretty confusing.

[sarcastibich.livejournal.com]

I thought they underplayed Khal Drogo's tenderness with Danaerys during their sex-scene, but was unsurprised that they removed Viserys titty-twisting and physical abuse of her. Even HBO has their limits it seems(thankfully twincest isn't one!)

I agree: casting is spot on so far. No major complaints, and I love the last scene of the premiere, very visceral.

[(Anonymous)]

I thought it was pretty good, and fairly accurate from what I remember, though it's been several years since I last read the books. I do have to say, though, the main things that popped out, as it were, were "BOOBIES!" and "DOGGIE STYLE!" As wonderful as a shirtless Jason Momoa is, we sure as hell better gets some goddamn man-ass (though sadly, that's all we'll get, because god forbid we see a penis in America) somewhere along the way!

You know, I don't remember the Dothraki being so... problematic in the book. Maybe I just wasn't paying attention.

[saladinahmed.livejournal.com]

As an epic fantasy fanatic who has a very low tolerance for 'savage hordes,' etc., I found the Dothraki over-the-top in the books, sure.

But they were 1,000 times worse in the show. Umm, why are there 'ZOMG naked-boobied Black women!' in what's essentially a hard-R-rated cartoon *Mongol* analogue!? For me it was less that it became more problematic when depicted visually, and more that the cheesy costume design, dancing, casting, etc., made the caricature 1,000 times more preposterous.

Also, Dany was totally stripped of even the problematic nascent agency she has in the wedding/consumation scenes in the books. This fact exacerbated both the episode's T&A problems and the racist Drogo problem.

Sorry, but the book is more nuanced than 'Quivering white girl raped by savage.'

All that said, DINKLAGE! And Arya! And direwolf puppies! And...yeah, I had a blast and will def be watching each week.

[marumae.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed it for the most part, I thought the costumes were wonderful and the casting was all right. Though I did get tired of Dany's slow motion walking, and wide eyed deer in headlights look, combined with the opening of "Our Lady of Wailing Woe" soundtrack music. I know she's supposed to be delicate and innocent and ethereal, but she really wasn't one of my favorite characters. I'm still interested in whats' going on beyond the wall and part of me wishes Martin would spin off with that.