Hugin
3621
Yes. She was also playing a specific role that had to have an American accent, which is fine by me.
or that the “Awake” guy sounds right? To me they both sound completely authentic. Also the (I think, Irish) guy who played the Polish-American cop on The Chicago Code
Don’t watch those shows, no opinion.
and the guy who played McNulty on The Wire <–these last two, I could have sworn they were American, not to mention Idris Elba as Stringer Bell.
Elba slipped rarely and mildly, but he did slip. Dominic West slipped regularly and fairly badly. To the point where they did a joke about him going undercover and doing a terrible British accent at one point in the series.
I was wondering if someone’d bring up Dominic West. To me that was a case like Coster-Waldau where you could hear something was a bit odd, but it wasn’t really obtrusive.
I like all the weird accents on the show. They all fit for me, baring in mind that this is Westeros, not England. Tyrion is meant to be a somewhat disfigured dwarf, his accent being a sort of ‘disfigured’ version of an upper class English accent feels right to me. Jamie’s accent comes off as super-smarmy, which is perfect for him.
These accents might bother me more if I was English, but then I’m pretty familiar with English accents from other TV shows.
Edit: I also recall a line from season 5 of The Wire where McNulty is impersonating a ‘suspect’, and Lester compliments him on his Bawlmer accent.
And tonight is what I wanted to really say about the touching Dany/Rokharo scene from last week. They did it not because there’s something brewing between them, but because they were going to axe Rokharo. Yes, he doesn’t die in the books, but the actor got a plumb role in World War Z, so he was exiting anyway. And the rumble is that they’ll trade Rokharo’s death for Doreah’s, which means that the luscious Roxanne McKee is sticking around longer.
Arya and Gendry have an awesome dynamic. Really feels like they’re inherited the bond that Ned and Robert had in their youth. And Jaqen Haqar!!!
I looooooooooved the moment when Gilly told Sam he was very brave. The camera fixes on Sam’s face, and it’s all, “She said I was brave! I’m sooooooo in looooooove.” And I know I posted the photo last week, but still, Holy Shit, Ghost. And the series spells out what the books only hint at, Craster’s giving his son’s to the Others.
Theon and the Iron Islands. His dad is just creepy awesome. Pike is creepy awesome. Theon unknowingly groping his sister was hilarious. Ah, identity crisis, ahoy!!!
What happened to Asha? Wasn’t expecting a Leelee Sobieski type…maybe more Keira Knightly. Could’ve sworn Theon called her some other name?
Again with the T&A…
Liked Arya’s and the northern bits. Pyke looked awesome…but no damphair :(
And the series spells out what the books only hint at, Craster’s giving his son’s to the Others.
Really? I seem to remember it being pretty explicit in the books.
Kadayi
3627
True enough, however personal taste is not the issue.
Well if you said you’d never buy it, then why exactly did you? Did you end up playing it? If you did do you think it wasn’t worth the $5 or do you think perhaps it was worth more?
Personal taste is not the issue. I’m not a RTS fan, so no matter the production values I’m just not that interested in buying them. However my lack of interest in the genre doesn’t make those titles any less valuable to those who are, or make the production costs associated with their production any less real.
Oil is a commodity, where as games are a creative endeavour. The model is completely different, as are the financial returns. No ones going bankrupt in the Oil industry because the infrastructure costs of processing and delivery are a pittance Vs the overall profitability of the enterprise. The same level or scope of profitability can’t really be levelled at the AAA games industry. Unless you’re vested in the upper management with the big studios (a Gabe Newell, Cliffy B, etc, etc) you’re more likely to become a overnight millionaire these days as an indie designer like Notch or Jonathan blow truth be told.
You can only sell a multi-million dollar product at $5 a pop if there’s a probable audience big enough to make it profitable. Within the games market there’s a finite audience for titles like Mass Effect or Modern Warfare etc.
When you get down to the math, the income has to exceed the outlay. If it doesn’t then you’ve got to reduce the outlay. If people aren’t going to buy your product at $60 but instead wait until it’s $30, then cut to the chase and make a $30 game with the budget of a $30 game.
Pyke looked awesome even in the opening credits.
Only thing that bothered me about the appearance of the Others in this episode was the click-click sound. It was too reminiscent of Predator.
Kadayi
3630
I kind of hope they retcon the 3 stooges they briefly show at the end of the first series, for the people they’ve chosen for the roles going forwards. It’s a small thing, but it would be less incongruous.
Theon and the Iron Islands. His dad is just creepy awesome. Pike is creepy awesome. Theon unknowingly groping his sister was hilarious. Ah, identity crisis, ahoy!!!
I must admit I’m surprised they kept that in. I get that Theon’s been away from the islands for some time, but you’d of thought he’d recognise his own sister grown up. It never really sat that well in the book in terms of believability.
They altered the characters name to Yara because Asha sounded too much like Arya and they didn’t want the audience to get confused when the characters were referred to when off screen. A necessary concession.
That’s a bizarre decision. To me, Arya and Yara sound a lot closer than Asha and Arya. The first two are anagrams of one another, ffs.
The bigger issue was with Asha/Osha, especially since they will occupy the same location (even briefly) later on.
I am loving just about every scene, but I miss when they leave out characters. Must be tough balancing act for them to not lose people with the story having so many angles at this point.
I get that Asha had to have her name changed . . .
But did Crastor discover Jon Snow in the books? And I certainly didn’t recall that a baby boy was given to the Others when the Night’s Watch was at Crastor’s Keep on their way into the north.
It’s implied that Crastor does something nefarious with his male offspring to keep his hold safe from the Others but it’s never outright written about.
Season 3 is officially ordered. No back-to-back Season 3/4 filming, it appears. That would have pretty much wreaked havoc with all sorts of schedules.
D&D are pretty adamant about staying at 10 episodes per season, especially with filming in three countries. I can’t think of too many shows in the history of TV that did that.
Isn’t 10 episodes the HBO standard these days? I believe Treme also has 10 episode seasons.
Boardwalk Empire and True Blood go 12. Ideally, four 12-episode/season shows gives HBO 48 weeks of programming. And since they usually don’t air new stuff in December, it all works out.
GOT is a lot more complicated to make, though, and that’s saying something, cause Boardwalk Empire is pretty damn big, too.
Interesting, I watched the featurette on Renly and I guess they go fairly deep into the Renly-Loras-Margaery triangle a bit, and apparently Littlefinger visits the camp during this period as well… perhaps sowing the seeds for the alliance of House Tyrell to come later on (or at least, initiate relations).
— Alan
This seemed to be a “buildup” episode for the most part. I enjoyed the scenes with Arya and Gendry – the latter always came off as a bit of a dunce in the books to me; I like the show’s version a bit better.
Pyke seemed as bleak and dreary as described in the books. They did Theon’s confrontation with his father pretty well. The whole Asha… er, “Yara”… thing was predictably cringe-inducing. My Wife - who has not read the books - called the whole “sister playing a joke” thing as soon as she showed up at the docks.
I do like how they are making Stannis into a more central character here than he was in the books (where he is seen infrequently in Davos chapters), and the greater visibility we get into the Red Preistess thing is welcome. And it doesn’t hurt that the actress playing Melisandre is smoking hot. I don’t miss Stannis’ daughter or wife too much (except that I wanted to see what “greyscale” looked like), but I was disappointed not to see Patchface.
