Pat's Fantasy Hotlist: Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones

Just watched the tenth and final episode of HBO's Game of Thrones. And though I had my doubts before the first episode aired (you know what I think of most SFF movies and TV shows), this adaptation blew me away!

So yes, the book was better. What else is new??? Has there ever been a movie better than the novel?

Overall, this was a quality production through and through. The casting was excellent, the soundtrack awesome. Okay, some of the special effects may not have been Star Wars worthy. But the scripts were solid, the actors did a terrific job (give me a "hell yeah" for Littlefinger, Tyrion, Bronn, King Robert, Catelyn, and many more), and regardless of what little nitpicking there is, this TV series truly captured the essence of GRRM's ASOIAF.

I'm buying ther boxset the day it comes out.

Roll on spring 2012!!! =)

33 commentaires:

Todd said...: Agreed. The adaptation made for great television. Even though I saw it coming, the final scene was incredible!; 11:19 AM
Dave said...: Yeah I think pretty much all the actors were great, just still not sold on Ceresi. My one nitpick is I wish they had more extras for the armies, I really didn't get the sense that the Dothraki horde was huge and it felt like Robb had 500 men instead of 18 000; 11:25 AM
snowcrash said...: >> Has there ever been a movie better than the novel?

Angels & Demons? I'm sure it's not the only one....; 11:28 AM
Joseph L. Selby said...: Fellowship of the Ring as well as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire are both better than their respective books, in my opinion.; 11:41 AM
thoumyvision said...: "Has there ever been a movie better than the novel?"

Interview With a Vampire and The Princess Bride spring to mind.; 12:05 PM
Paul said...: The Godfather, Jaws, Goodfellas, The Shawshank Redemption.....; 1:37 PM
Shane said...: The Postman. Minus that lame ending scene with the statue.; 1:45 PM
Anonymous said...: Angels & Demons? Hell's teeth! That book must be awful. :S

I'd say the Shawshank Redemption was better than its source, although it was just a short story and not a novel.

Ramah.; 2:01 PM
Anonymous said...: LotR movies are better than the book.; 2:02 PM
Anonymous said...: Silence of the Lambs; 2:53 PM
Michael Natale said...: Who is Bronn Stone?

:p; 3:29 PM
Simeon said...: Also - Fight Club. Basically EVERY vampire romance ever - Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, True Blood and a bunch of others. Not that their respective movies/shows are art in its purest form, but they sure trump the books.

http://rolandscodex.blogspot.com/; 4:35 PM
Anonymous said...: Gotta say that the LoTR movies are better than the books. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks that.

To Kill a Mockingbird is so superior to the book its not even funny.

Jaws is not that great of a book. Very rambling.

I agree with every other movie mentioned here.; 6:32 PM
Russ said...: Elves at Helm's Deep
Dwarf Throwing
Warg Rodeo
Arwen- Warrior Princess
Dwarf Belching
Mumakel Tusk Surfing

Oh yes, the LOTR movies were SO much better than the books...; 6:38 PM
Anonymous said...: Overall not bad adaptation. Still a bit miffed about the relegated role of the direwolves and the failure to properly convey their size and scariness on screen.

As for movie adaptations better than the books, I'll go the Bourne trilogy off the top of my head.

Paran; 11:15 PM
valerie said...: link doesn't work, says it's private; 1:45 AM
Anonymous said...: Has there ever been ...?

Yes. Period.; 3:42 AM
Stefan said...: I think it's not fair to compare two different mediums of storytelling.

They both excel at different things.; 7:38 AM
Patrick said...: As far as SFF goes, in my own humble opinion, there has never been a movie or TV series that surpassed the novel...; 7:42 AM
Anonymous said...: 'The Green Mile', thats the only film which I felt was as good as the book - but it was a short story so easier to convert.... So was 'Shawshank Redemption' for that matter.

Ironically, both Steven King short stories - his book-film adaptions are usually shocking.; 8:26 AM
Sofie Bird said...: Link doesn't work for me, either. "This video is private". Is this more "no one outside US can see our movies, mwahahaha!" nonsense?; 9:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Only SFF? How about Blade Runner?; 12:01 PM
Anonymous said...: I love the screen adaptations of SFF movies referred to here.

However, there is no logical way to support that the books, in the cases of LOTR and Phillip K. Dick, are better than the movies.

The movies wouldn't exist without the books and there is just no way to contest that the books are far, far better than their movies.

Especially, Phillip K. Dick.
How dare you anyone suggest that the handful of short stories and books Hollywood has used to make movies are worse than the movie adaptations.

Shame on you.

Books beat movies. Period.

Then again the transfer works the same way. I mean, I read the book adapted from the Mummy Returns with Brendan Fraser lol. It could not compare to the movie.; 1:48 PM
Anonymous said...: Is there really anyone begging to see a faithful adaptation of LotR. I mean REALLY faithful. Like Tom Bombadil and random elven songs and endless travelling?? Yeah, that's what I thought.

The movies aren't perfect, I'll give you that, but at least you can't say they're boring. And that's what the LotR books are. Boring.; 3:00 PM
Anonymous said...: So many crappy suggestions... Jaws, Stephen King, Stephanie Meyer, Dan Brown, Peter Jackson... I'm out of here.; 3:26 PM
Anonymous said...: Elves at Helm's Deep
Dwarf Throwing
Warg Rodeo
Arwen- Warrior Princess
Dwarf Belching
Mumakel Tusk Surfing

Most of these were awesome additions. So yes, the movies were better than the books.

The only thing the books have that the movies don't is the Scouring of the Shire.; 6:28 PM
Anonymous said...: Fight Club. Fight Club is much better than the book. Even the author thinks so.; 6:29 PM
cousloc said...: There have been better adaptations, though failures are even more numerous. Still, GoT was better than I expected, especially the last episodes.

I'll give GoT 7.5/10. Perhaps the next season will be better, as it seems they've got their groove on. Hopefully they manage to get an A-lister to play Stannis or Mel (preferably Mark Strong and Eva Green). While the child/teen actors are surprisingly good, I fear they're not enough to carry the show. We need charismatic actors to play prominent adult roles now that Sean Bean and Mark Addy are no longer involved.; 3:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Oh here we go... someone's blinded by Mark Addy and Sean Bean and feels the show needs an A-lister to carry on. Really, Marky Addy is NOT an A-lister, and Sean Bean... well, he's alright. Not my favorite actor. In a few movies I enjoyed (LotR) and that's about it. Lena Headey has about the same caliber of filmography as Mark Addy. Just wanted to point that out.; 9:22 AM
machinery said...: why doesn't the vid start ?
it says "private movie" ???; 3:56 PM
Adam Whitehead said...: HBO removed the video a few days back for some reason, so the link no longer works.; 2:46 PM
Anonymous said...: LotR movies better than the books?

And what exactly are you doing reading this blog???

Lmao!; 9:15 AM
The Carl said...: Well, what should I watch now that this is over?; 10:11 PM