A
Anew Leaf
Guest
I don't even own a TV to pay for a subscription to. -_-
*invites Patches to come over each Sunday to watch glorious TV with her*
I don't even own a TV to pay for a subscription to. -_-
you people know you can just google "watch [insert episode/show/movie] online for free" to pretty much get a stream of anything you want to watch? not to mention there's plenty of websites dedicated to indexing stream servers by shows/episodes etc, even emailing you when the episodes you like get released online... just google "watch tv online for free" or anything of the sort...
...buy the seasonal DVDs after each season.I don't think anyone here is having difficulty pirating the episodes. It's simply that given the choice, many of us would opt to pay for it if HBO would but give us the option.
That is what I just said....buy the seasonal DVDs after each season.
I downloaded all of Season 1 and then bought it on DVD when it came out to support it. Ill do the same with Season 2. When HBO learns to embrace the power of internet consumers, I'll gladly give them my money.
That is what I just said.
But that doesn't nothing to help me follow the season on a current/weekly basis.
You don't seem to be following the conversation. I don't have any issue finding the show if I want it, I'm just venting about the fact that some media companies fail to embrace the internet as a source of income. There are a large base of consumers who /would/ like to give them our money in exchange for watching Game of Thrones as it airs, but they've made it completely impossible for us to do so without resorting to piracy. I do not like pirating. I do not want to pirate it. I want to pay them. And I think there are a lot of other people who would do the same. They just haven't provided the option.
It's shitty business sense.
for the most part i agree, and worst for non americans - global distribution rights, the dreaded "you can't see this from your country" sign for the companies that do release their stuff online, so even then you end up pirating (or using proxies).
Why is this out?? O_O
I don't know why. I think they do it as pre-tests for special subscribers, and someone ripped it off the site. I downloaded it.
But this only means I have longer to wait for the next episode.
So I take it that season 2's diverging from the book more than season 1 did? Season 1 was really rather close to the book -- at least as close as reasonable for the format. But I think that's easier with a first book in the series, especially with something like this, where it's one continuous story, and the little deviations almost must start to snowball eventually.
I just watched it. I'm holding off on commentary until Sunday because I think it's probably rude to get all spoiler-happy with an episode that isn't out yet... But I will say that I think I'm doomed to be one of those book snobs who spends the entirety of the season annoyed by their deviations from the novel.
I find that not all changes are equal. I don't mind changes that don't really affect the overall heart of the story even if it introduces minor plot holes, such as Shae living in Tyrion's room vs the elaborate hideaway or the location where Dany sent out her 3 riders.
I generally find extra scenes that could have happened but the book couldn't provide, such as Ned spotting Arya on the Sept of Baylor, Varys and Littlefinger's banter, or the montage with killing Robert's bastards, to be interesting.
I can accept changes they were forced to make because of it the requirements/limitations of a TV show, such as Ghost barking, character name changes, or Tyrion getting knocked out in the battle last season. (They were originally going to have Tyrion riding behind Gregor Clegane, and show the Mountain chopping people down left and right, but they ran out of time with the horses.)
I'm undecided when it comes to tertiary changes that run parallel to Martin's story, such as everything with Roz.
However, the changes that really bother me are the ones where they betray the characters, which in turn cuts into the strength of the story. Littlefinger would not taunt Cersei like that (although I like your theory about the theme of power), and the last scene of episode twelve really annoyed me.
On the plus side, the show creators got a 15% budget increase this season, and most of that was so they could shoot the battle at the end of the season. Rumor has it that season one had a $60 million budget, so we are talking maybe 5 - 9 million dollars dedicated to doing the final battle of the season. Plus, they got the guy who directed The Descent to direct the episode, and George Martin wrote it. I'm excited.
It's also worth noting that the ratings are way up this season. If it keeps going up (True Blood, HBO's highest rated show, had a very, very similar growth between season one and two) then I think we'll see even bigger budgets and higher episode orders next year. HBO's gonna be very nice to a show that's a proper hit.
They're also talking about splitting some of the other books into 2 seasons, which I think will allow them to adhere to the books more closely. It's probably just an excuse to be able to draw it out into more than 5-6 seasons. Since True Blood is already on it's 5th season, and this is doing better... It will get milked for all it's worth.
I think I minded the Shae in Tyrion's room a little more than you, considering how big a deal it is that he keeps her absolutely secret from Tywin, but it's nothing unforgivable. As to Roz, I can forgive it because her role was basically to be a sounding board to characters we'd otherwise see zero behind the scenes stuff with in season one (basically, she listens to Theon, she listens to Littlefinger, she listens to Pycelle, and we get to know those characters. She's just a character other characters can say things to that it would be problematic to say to anyone else, as well as develop exposition (Littlefinger and Catelyn or Theon's stewardship with Eddard) that'd sound clunky otherwise. The Littlefinger monologue, in particular, was pretty awesome).
As to the battle... yeah, pretty excited.
It's also worth noting that the ratings are way up this season. If it keeps going up (True Blood, HBO's highest rated show, had a very, very similar growth between season one and two) then I think we'll see even bigger budgets and higher episode orders next year. HBO's gonna be very nice to a show that's a proper hit.
They're also talking about splitting some of the other books into 2 seasons, which I think will allow them to adhere to the books more closely. It's probably just an excuse to be able to draw it out into more than 5-6 seasons. Since True Blood is already on it's 5th season, and this is doing better... It will get milked for all it's worth.