General Chat

[Greebo]

Surely if anything has gone crazy it can all be laid at the door of George R R Martin himself since he has supposedly been hands on with converting his books for TV. (Unlike Castle, which ABC took out of Marlowe and Miller's hands for the final couple of years, much to the show's detriment)

[PinkVendeta]

Surely if anything has gone crazy it can all be laid at the door of George R R Martin himself since he has supposedly been hands on with converting his books for TV. (Unlike Castle, which ABC took out of Marlowe and Miller's hands for the final couple of years, much to the show's detriment)

Well c`mon now, You cannot solely blame the author, he has had a strong say in how his books were portrayed from season 1 till season 7, and even though seasons 1 to 7 were great, I read online there were many many things he wanted included but producers simply refused to budge and would not include them period.

With season 8, content from the books was all but used up, the producers should have offered him any amount of money to write fully for season 8 and its finale, but they didn't seem to be to bothered in reality of who was writing the remaining few episodes of season 8, and because of this the continuity of everyone's story lines and back stories have been royally screwed up.

We all know in most cases for TV Series & Movies, Hollywood never ever keeps to the books, but GoT because of RR Martins constant involvement stuck very closely to his books but even then many key aspects were left out for RR Martin to have many other things included to please the producers.

But season 8 is a total fuck up in reality, and as said, normal & hardcore GoT fans are livid at the amount of turn abouts in it since season 8 began and insiders have said, fans are both not going to like how it ends and most will in fact hate how it ends.

As said, watch the video below to hear well thought out thoughts from a smart girl making them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqUh8llAJ-Y

[Greebo]

Fine Hannah, I had just been led to believe that he was extremely hands on throughout GoT, but I guess the people footing the bill like to feed their egos thinking they're better than the creator and get to cock up the successful shows in their hands by taking charge when they should leave well alone. That's one reason Milmar went the independent route with Take Two after ABC cocked up Castle -- unfortunately ABC were the main channel to take up Take Two and decided to cancel at the end of Series 2, so unless someone like Netflix or Amazon decide to keep it alive, like Netflix did with Lucifer after Fox dropped it, there may not be enough distribution interest for it to continue.

I hate the American way of show sponsoring being via the whims of the channels -- far better for the productions to be independent and more readily available for international distribution

[PinkVendeta]

Fine Hannah, I had just been led to believe that he was extremely hands on throughout GoT, but I guess the people footing the bill like to feed their egos thinking they're better than the creator and get to cock up the successful shows in their hands by taking charge when they should leave well alone. That's one reason Milmar went the independent route with Take Two after ABC cocked up Castle -- unfortunately ABC were the main channel to take up Take Two and decided to cancel at the end of Series 2, so unless someone like Netflix or Amazon decide to keep it alive, like Netflix did with Lucifer after Fox dropped it, there may not be enough distribution interest for it to continue.

I hate the American way of show sponsoring being via the whims of the channels -- far better for the productions to be independent and more readily available for international distribution

I agree with You, when the bill payers begin to give their input directly great TV shows, an entire successful TV series can become tainted and doomed by the scripts and endless story upturns, and this is sadly what has happened now to GoT for the last season being a mess.

I loved Lucifer, could never understand why it was dropped, but I hated the endless sly political narrative that was included into the show by producers, and the world got sick of good shows being used to put out a bs political narrative endlessly, other shows dropped like SuperGirl were good shows used to enter again endless political narratives and the viewers of the world said, no, we will change channel if You keep this political narrative bs up and they did.

People want good non political narrative TV Series, and they have proved their POV by switching channels on even big shows like GoT, SuperGirl, The Flash, Lucifer and 100s of other shows also.

Leave the writing to the authors, stay close to the books, leave political narratives out of story lines, and do what You do best, which is pay the bills and reap the success, as people who view are sick and tired of producers assuming they know best beginning, middle, end.

[Greyelf]

With US based shows I can often tell which non-prime-time series will be dropped by how much I like them, generally the more I like it the more likely it won't get a 2nd session.

[Joe.Pizza]

With US based shows I can often tell which non-prime-time series will be dropped by how much I like them, generally the more I like it the more likely it won't get a 2nd session.

I can see the producers of a show begging you to not like their show.

Sounds like me when I tried investing in individual stocks when I was younger. They always went through shock for at least a quarter before they would rebound. I used to joke with the broker that it may be good time to short the stock.

[Joe.Pizza]

I just finished watching the first season of a great TV series called: The Umbrella Academy.

Looks interesting. Of course, having Ellen Page in the show doesn't hurt. I'll give it a shot.

I feel You wont be disappointed if You give season 1 a chance.

I watch the first four episodes. As I expected, if Hannah recommends a show or movie it's going to be dark and quirky. She didn't let me down.

I like it so far. I don't know if is me, but the show feels like a cross between the darkness of the X-Men and the entertaining quirkiness of the Kingsman. I'll probably finish the watching all ten episodes by this coming weekend.

Thanks for the recommendation.

JP

[Joe.Pizza]

There's differing opinions on how much authors have a say when their works are brought to life via TV or film. Some like George RR Martin had a lot of say in the production. Some like historical fiction writer Bernard Cornwell of the Sharpe series and Nicholas Sparks (chick novels) take a mostly hands off approach, because they know that translating from book to screen is not easy and not in their wheel house.

One Nicholas Spark movie, "A Walk to Remember", (a favorite of my daughter), the DVD had an alternate audio track where Spark and the screenplay writer had a very nice conversation about their thoughts and reasons on what they wrote in their perspective medium as the movie was playing. It was an eye opener.

Bernard Cornwell was asked once if he had any misgivings about Sean Bean's casting as the lead role of Richard Sharpe since Bean was somewhat different how Bernard described Sharpe in the book. His response was "No misgivings at all. It is a foolish author who complains about his or her books being translated onto television or film. I never expected the producers to slavishly copy the books, they couldn't, so I was quite ready for any changes they made (except to Sharpe's Gold, which left me gobsmacked), and I was utterly delighted that it was to be Sean Bean."

Further when asked about the book storylines being altered his response was very hands off: "I have no control, and didn't want it, because I know nothing about transforming novels into screenplays, and any objections I might make can only be an obstacle to the film-makers, and it is a very stupid author who puts obstacles in the way of people trying to make films of their work."

George RR Martin had a conversation with Bernard Cornwell about writing in their book writing genres Martin being fantasy, Cornwell historical fiction. Pretty neat stuff. Here's the link:
http://www.bernardcornwell.net/intervie ... -r-martin/

Anyway my point is authors' scope of influence can differ greatly. The reasons vary. Ultimately, it basically depends how much influence the producers are willing to grant and the author's willingness to work with them. If the author becomes a PIA, then his influence can be greatly diminished.

In the case of GOT, the show is so far beyond the written novel, I think Martin just gave them some basic thoughts and let them have at it. After all, if and when he turns out more volumes of "Song of Fire and Ice", he is not beholden to the screenplay and he could decide to go in a different direction.

JP

[Mimailia]

With US based shows I can often tell which non-prime-time series will be dropped by how much I like them, generally the more I like it the more likely it won't get a 2nd session.

So true!

M

[Joe.Pizza]

I just finished watching the first season of a great TV series called: The Umbrella Academy.

Looks interesting. Of course, having Ellen Page in the show doesn't hurt. I'll give it a shot.

I feel You wont be disappointed if You give season 1 a chance.

I watch the first four episodes. As I expected, if Hannah recommends a show or movie it's going to be dark and quirky. She didn't let me down.

I like it so far. I don't know if is me, but the show feels like a cross between the darkness of the X-Men and the entertaining quirkiness of the Kingsman. I'll probably finish the watching all ten episodes by this coming weekend.

Thanks for the recommendation.

JP

Well, my wife and I binge watched the last six episodes of the Umbrella Academy. Very entertaining and intriguing. There are a lot of holes in the scripts, but one only needs to not over-think the story and just enjoy the ride.

I like they toned down Klaus's character. Him being stoned all of the time was getting annoying. The kid who plays number five is terrific. He handled the scene with him and Hazel talking shop so well it sounded like two older men talking.

It should be interesting to see where they all wind up at the beginning of Season 2. One thing we do know: DON'T PISS VANYA OFF.

[Joe.Pizza]

Keeping on the Game of Thrones topic, any takers on who going to be on the Iron Throne at the end of Episode 6? I'm going with Jon Snow. Yeah, I know he won't betray Dany. I'm thinking he won't have to if Arya replaces Cersei or Mountain with Dany on her kill list.

If Jon is the king, any guesses who would be his queen? Wouldn't mind seeing one of the Sands sister from Dorne, but I don't think he would survive very long.

How about Yara Greyjoy? Jon likes tough women and maybe he can make a convincing case for her to be at least be bisexual.

Well, I got that so wrong.

The finale was disappointing. Other than how

Dany

got iced, there wasn't much else going for it. Here's hoping

Jon will have a great life and he defies Night Watch rules and has nice life with the Wildlings along with siring a few little ones.

*** I put some spoiler buttons in case anyone missed the finale ***

[Sarchx]

Jon with one of the sand sisters, would be a bit strange, since they're all dead ;-)

But yes, it was a bit dissapointing, a bit too political correct and far to sugarsweet an ending for my taste.

Sam suggesting democracy and things like that, was just ridiculos.

Anyway, overall a great series :-)

[Joe.Pizza]

Jon with one of the sand sisters, would be a bit strange, since they're all dead ;-)

But yes, it was a bit dissapointing, a bit too political correct and far to sugarsweet an ending for my taste.

Sam suggesting democracy and things like that, was just ridiculos.

Anyway, overall a great series :-)

Agreed it was a great series. It's just sad the last season seemed rushed. Yep, the last episode was PC. but for me was expected. It's the entertainment industry in the 21st century; PC is pretty much a requisite.

Oh shoot, I didn't realize the Sand Sisters got iced. It's probably due to all three weren't together when they died so I didn't realize they were a Sand Sister. I looked it up and sure enough the three died in Season 7, two by Lord Reaper and the other by Cersei. On the other hand, there were five other sisters (I believe were younger) we didn't get to know. So Jon could have still pick one of them up. Yeah, yeah, that's a good enough theory for me.

[Joe.Pizza]

Someone showed me this humorous retelling of Game of Thrones season 8 as a "pitch meeting".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhKOV3nImQ

[Greebo]

Someone showed me this humorous retelling of Game of Thrones season 8 as a "pitch meeting".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhKOV3nImQ

Thanks for that! What with viewing that and reading two and a half of the books, I now feel fully justified in leaving any further GoT viewing and/or reading to the masochists -- I'm out!