US: Game of Thrones Season 3 (watch-a-long thread {no spoilers})

One · 31 Mar 2013 at 11:31

Hi there,

We have a pretty decent thread in this sub forum that discusses the build up to Season 3, however, it's filled with spoilers which is not ideal for those that have seen season 1 + 2 and want to discuss the show as it airs. This is that thread.

To keep it as un-spoilery as possible I'll only put in the simple trailer

In my opinion, all the trailers give away too much if you've not read the books, however the still of the youtube is just Dany, that's not a spoiler

So tonight is the night, they've moved the clocks forward an hour so it's an even bigger gap between the UK and America now but we have Monday off

I can't explain how excited I am for this, we have so many open-ends heading into this season, the most memorable of course is Sam beyond the wall staring into the face of a white walkers, we also have Jon in custody looking down upon the massive Wildling camp, further south we have Arya having escaped with Gendry out in the open on her journey to find family. Brienne has made the journey to trade Jaime with the lannisters in return for Catelyn Stark's daughters. Joffrey has just agreed to toss Sansa off to the side in favour of the Tyrell girl.

I'm sure there is more I've forgotten, but my word that's a lot of story lines to play out this season. It's gonna be epic!

Aedus · 31 Mar 2013 at 19:33

So excited. Really looking forward to this. Is it 10 episodes again?

Duff-Man · 1 Apr 2013 at 02:49

Yes, 10 episodes once again.

_Jimlad_ · 1 Apr 2013 at 08:37

watched in the bath tub, nothing major just bringing us all upto speed. looks good for the season though

George Hincapie · 1 Apr 2013 at 10:34

Just finished watching the first episode of the new Season. As usual, some irritating and unnecessary changes to the book, but on the whole a good start. I'm glad it's back, but it sucks having to wait a week for a new episode

CRUMPLYPORK · 1 Apr 2013 at 10:36

Is it on sky Atlantic tonight?

Morfik · 1 Apr 2013 at 11:00

No Strong Belwas?

Plot hasn't really diverged from the book that much it's just a few simplifications.

Earth[Tera].bin · 1 Apr 2013 at 11:05

Lot of scenes have been striped out, but that's to be expected I guess. Can't stop myself thinking 'hold on a minute, that's not what happened' though

momentimori · 1 Apr 2013 at 11:55

I wonder why they didn't reveal about the unsullieds' puppy part of their training. It's alright to talk about killing babies but not a pet?

One · 1 Apr 2013 at 11:58

The 56 minutes flew by for me, as others have said, the divergence from the books is still minimal. I'm really looking forward to how the rest of the season pans out.

One · 1 Apr 2013 at 12:00

momentimori said:
I wonder why they didn't reveal about the unsullieds' puppy part of their training. It's alright to talk about killing babies but not a pet?

I think it was hammer the point home about the slavery aspect. They pay the silver coin to the babies owner, rather than the mother.

momentimori · 1 Apr 2013 at 13:07

desires said:
I think it was hammer the point home about the slavery aspect. They pay the silver coin to the babies owner, rather than the mother.

And if they had also said about the unsullied being given a puppy as a pet on the day they are castrated and then being ordered to kill it a year later doesn't compound their reputation as completely obedient soldiers to the viewers?

George Hincapie · 1 Apr 2013 at 13:48

desires said:
The 56 minutes flew by for me, as others have said, the divergence from the books is still minimal. I'm really looking forward to how the rest of the season pans out.

Minimal? Is that a joke? They have changed and omitted loads from the book during the last 2 seasons. Don't try and pass it off as trivial because it isn't. I expect any adaptation to be faithful to the source and GoT falls short. Good TV? Sure. But that's all it is.

George Hincapie · 1 Apr 2013 at 13:50

Earth[Tera].bin;24040982 said:
Lot of scenes have been striped out, but that's to be expected I guess. Can't stop myself thinking 'hold on a minute, that's not what happened' though

I find myself thinking precisely that every episode.

Duff-Man · 1 Apr 2013 at 16:52

momentimori said:
I wonder why they didn't reveal about the unsullieds' puppy part of their training. It's alright to talk about killing babies but not a pet?

Screen time... That scene was already fairly lengthy. With the nipple slicing and the baby killing (probably more shocking for an audience), the point about the unsullied was made. The "puppy" detail, while it worked well in the books, would have been somewhat superfluous.

George Hincapie said:
I expect any adaptation to be faithful to the source and GoT falls short.

Be realistic... If we had a "faithful adaptation" then we would be looking at two for three seasons per book. By the time we finished the entire work, the Stark kids would be going grey and drawing a pension

Yes there are a lot of omissions and slight changes, but TV is a different medium to the books, and different things work well. Exposition is a far more pressing concern, as we cannot read the thoughts of a character - only see their expressions and hear their words. The overall story has remained fairly true to the books though - all *major* plot points have been covered, and the story is progressing along the framework set out by the books.

Duff-Man · 1 Apr 2013 at 16:58

Morfik said:
No Strong Belwas?

Now that would be a shame... There's still chance for him to appear though. Perhaps they didn't want to 'dilute' the presence of Barristan Selmy in that scene?

One · 1 Apr 2013 at 17:11

Duff-Man said:
Now that would be a shame... There's still chance for him to appear though. Perhaps they didn't want to 'dilute' the presence of Barristan Selmy in that scene?

Perhaps they'll use Ros

Pighardia · 1 Apr 2013 at 19:06

Just watched it. There was a little too much going on tbh. Not a great opening episode.

Shame that one of my favourite moments was butchered...but then, it would be very difficult to execute it on TV(can you guess?

)

Kutter · 1 Apr 2013 at 20:22

Giants!!

Duff-Man · 1 Apr 2013 at 20:44

Pighardia said:
Just watched it. There was a little too much going on tbh. Not a great opening episode.

Shame that one of my favourite moments was butchered...but then, it would be very difficult to execute it on TV(can you guess?)

Arstan Whitebeard = Barristan Selmy?

If so - impossible to pull off on TV without recasting the character, and a prime example of how novel and TV must ultimately differ.

On a related note, the thing that most disappointed me was the lack of any kind of battle from the Night's watch vs Wights conflict. It was such a huge climax to the last series and then... what? A few sword-clash sounds? A couple of cuts on the Lord Commander's face? Definitely something of an anti-climax. There were a dozen white walkers in with the Wights - how did the nights watch take them down (if you've read the books then you'll know what I'm getting at).