[TV] Game of Thrones - Season 3 is here.

[gellar]

First and Third books were big highlights for me.  Second was pretty good.  Fourth and thus far through the Fifth (about 30%) I've been disappointed.

Still worth reading though, and this is coming from a guy who generally hates this genre.

[Scuzz]

Pick them up.  The first three are very enjoyable.  The next two, while not to the same exalted standard, are still pretty good.  

Even inf Martin fails to deliver them before he joins the Jordan club, there's no doubt that someone else will pick them up and soldier on.  

I heard he had laid out the outline for the remaining books to HBO,so they knew how it would end if he did indeed pass on

Is it worth picking up the books now?,or do you think i should wait until the last two are released?(which from the sound of things could be quite a few years away)

I wondered about that myself. I ended up buying the 4 book boxed set ($20) and figured I would go from there. Well, I am now waiting for book 5 to be released in paperback and am facing the realization that nobody knows when (or if) books 6-7 will ever come out.

Book 5 is out in Paperback,i saw it yesterday(unless for some reason you guys are behind the UK),it's in two parts-'Dreams and Dust' and 'After the feast'..or unless you are waiting for a complete paperback edition(if that is on the cards)

looking at the release dates for the books,i see there is usually a 5-6 year gap between books..of the last few anyway(Dance of Dragons was released last year)

The trade paperback of Dancing with Dragons won't be released here until August, according to my pre-order with Barnes and Noble. The regular paperback slightly before and the hardbound has been out for awhile. I am not sure what you have there.

[Scuzz]

First and Third books were big highlights for me.  Second was pretty good.  Fourth and thus far through the Fifth (about 30%) I've been disappointed.

Still worth reading though, and this is coming from a guy who generally hates this genre.

I was just thinking about the series myself the other day. I grew up reading fantasy stuff like the Hobbit, LOTR, the Shannara books. They are all a good guy wins in an evil basically sexless world. Lately I have started reading books like the First Law Series, the Black Company and now Songs of Fire and Ice, worlds where men are there own evil, where sex (at least in the first and last) is common place and often not a pretty thing, and where the good guys don't always finish first.

I suppose they should be considered the PG and R rated versions of the same genres.

[Isgrimnur]

looking at the release dates for the books,i see there is usually a 5-6 year gap between books..of the last few anyway(Dance of Dragons was released last year)

There was only four years between the release of books 1-3.  Martin wasn't supposed to have the issues that kept book 5 from coming out for almost 11 years.  So there's really no telling at this point.

[Harkonis]

Big books are apparently a no-no in the UK, so it was indeed split into two books 'Dreams and Dust' and 'After the feast' as MO mentioned.

[TiLT]

Pick them up.  The first three are very enjoyable.  The next two, while not to the same exalted standard, are still pretty good.  

Even inf Martin fails to deliver them before he joins the Jordan club, there's no doubt that someone else will pick them up and soldier on.  

I heard he had laid out the outline for the remaining books to HBO,so they knew how it would end if he did indeed pass on

From what I've seen in interviews, this isn't true. IIRC, he has revealed a few snippets of information about where the series will end up, such as the eventual fates of one or two characters, but he has not given anyone an outline of the remaining plot (except his wife, I suppose).

[metallicorphan]

The 3rd book was also split here for Paperback,books 1,2 and 4 are single paperbacks

Spoiler for Hiden:

I wasn't aware it was a UK thing


and yeah,Grim i don't know why i thought it was 5-6 years between every book,sorry 'bout that..and not sure where i read about the outlined plot thing either Tilt,Guess i am firing blanks on all cylinders today

[Isgrimnur]

No worries.

[Scraper]

The 3rd book was also split here for Paperback,books 1,2 and 4 are single paperbacks

Spoiler for Hiden:

I wasn't aware it was a UK thing


and yeah,Grim i don't know why i thought it was 5-6 years between every book,sorry 'bout that..and not sure where i read about the outlined plot thing either Tilt,Guess i am firing blanks on all cylinders today

Why the heck do they split it like that in the UK? Does the publisher assume people in the UK won't read an 800 page book or something?

[metallicorphan]

no idea,its the first i have heard of them doing something like this(but then again my hardback to paperback knowledge is pretty limited anyway)

When first seeing it,i thought it would of been the same for the hardbacks as well,only to see that isn't the case


Looking on Amazon.co.uk again,part one of Dance with Dragons is 704 pages while part 2 is while part 2 is 594 pages...now the biggest paperback i have i think is Stephen Kings IT which is 1120 pages,and that's quite a handful

I found this site from Oct 2010 that says its down to the printers HarperCollins
http://thewertzone.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/dance-with-dragons-to-be-split-in-uk.html

Apparently (not from official sources) the printers that HarperCollins utilise refuse to publish such a large book in one volume and contractual obligations prevent them from going to a different printer

it's not too bad anyway,because the shop near me are doing 2 for 1 anyway

[Isgrimnur]

They did it in the US with To Green Angel Tower.  Between the two, they were over 1900 pages in paperback from 1000 pages in hardcover.


It's not unheard of.  I imagine it has something to do with costs/size restrictions for the local publishing houses.

[Scuzz]

The 3rd book was also split here for Paperback,books 1,2 and 4 are single paperbacks

Spoiler for Hiden:

I wasn't aware it was a UK thing


and yeah,Grim i don't know why i thought it was 5-6 years between every book,sorry 'bout that..and not sure where i read about the outlined plot thing either Tilt,Guess i am firing blanks on all cylinders today

Why the heck do they split it like that in the UK? Does the publisher assume people in the UK won't read an 800 page book or something?

Wasn't there a Harry Potter book larger than that?

[CeeKay]

just a head ups :

the first season box set is being discontinued and re-released.  why?

because of whiny little bitches:

The most notorious severed head in Westeros got a face-lift.

In an effort to quell the controversy surrounding the use of a model of President George W. Bush's likeness used to portray a decapitation victim on a spike in an episode of "Game of Thrones," HBO rereleased the offending episode after digitally altered the macabre cameo.

The showrunnners, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, apologized profusely, claiming that there was no political message behind the use of the 43rd President's visage in such a gruesome manner.

HBO announced on June 15 that it was pulling the episode in question — last year's season finale — from its rotation, as well as iTunes and HBO GO and froze all shipments of DVD box sets, until the makeover could be made.

"We were deeply dismayed to see this and find it unacceptable, disrespectful and in very bad taste," the network said in a statement at the time. "We made this clear to the executive producers of the series, who apologized immediately for this careless mistake.

"We condemn it in the strongest possible terms."

it looks like Amazon still has the unaltered season available on blu ray and DVD for now.

[CeeKay]

OK, the special edition of season one is getting kinda ridiculous: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=17W4QMNwm-c

[leo8877]

Season 3 premiere: March 31, 2013

Also lots of casting news and pics in this link:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/57010

[CeeKay]

not sure if it was there when Leo linked to it but they updated that link with a video with the new cast members: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rpSDSgChsaI

[CeeKay]

new set photo leaked:



people think it's from Riverrun.

[hepcat]

Christ, they're using Bush's head again???

[metallicorphan]

Season 3 premiere: March 31, 2013

Also lots of casting news and pics in this link:

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/57010

Paul Kaye,not seen him since the days of Dennis Pennis


He used to 'Harass' celebrities


he would shove a mic into peoples faces and ask them awkward(or silly) questions
he asked Steve Martin why he was not funny anymore(this was the mid 90s)

and shoved a Magnum Ice cream into the face of Clint Eastwood and asked him if it was the most powerful ice cream in the world...Clint didn't have a clue what he was going on about,LOL

http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0135477/quotes

[CeeKay]

Christ, they're using Bush's head again???

I thought it looked more like Hillary Clinton:

[CeeKay]

Mance Rayder will be played by Caesar.

[corruptrelic]

[CeeKay]

first 'official' still:

[CeeKay]

[CeeKay]

slightly longer episodes this season:

With showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss tackling content from the first half (roughly) of author George R.R. Martin’s largest Song of Ice and Fire novel (the 973-page fan-favorite A Storm of Swords), the writer-producer duo are delivering slightly longer episodes to the network. There’s still 10, but you’ll get a little more each week than previous seasons.

“There’s almost another full episode’s worth of extra minutes spread across the season,” Weiss says. “One of the great liberties with HBO is we’re not forced to come in at a specific time. We can’t be under 50 minutes or over 60, but that gives us a lot of flexibility.”

[Doopri]

and in a shameless blatant and naked attempt at a cash in they are marketing game of thrones themed beers...

that im totally in on because ommegang makes some wonderful stuff.  im embarassed to admit it as usually i HATE this kind of ridiculous bs.  but kudos to the powers that be for sourcing this to a legit brewery thats going to turn out some excellent beers *fingers crossed*

how easy would it have been to go to inbev for "take the black" bud with food coloring?

[CeeKay]

how easy would it have been to go to inbev for "take the black" bud with food coloring?

 

[CeeKay]

new teaser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RN7e_Oo0Bis

[leo8877]

Some pics of season 3 characters

http://www.slashfilm.com/game-of-thrones-season-3-gallery-revisits-familiar-faces-and-highlights-new-characters/

[leo8877]

[pr0ner]

Season 3 trailer is UP!

[disarm]

Season 3 trailer is UP!

Awesome...lots of great stuff shows up in that trailer, but as someone who has read all the books and knows what is coming, one thing in particular caught my attention...

Spoiler for Hiden:

It can't be coincidence that they show a shot of Robb and Catelyn Stark when you hear the words "Death is coming for everyone and everything"...great tease for fans of the books 

[CeeKay]

3 weeks!   

[CeeKay]

what if Game of Thrones was a 90's high school comedy.

[Teggy]

I never got around to watching season 2 so I am watching a couple each day so I am ready for season 3. I have to say HBO has a way of making things even more sexually explicit than they seemed in the books, which was pretty explicit. I just finished up

Spoiler for Hiden:

Melissandre's birth scene. Then there was Joffrey's birthday present scene - was there a need to make him even more loathsome?

[CeeKay]

some of the novellas as a 'prequel project'?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T-1mfSTD4Q&feature=player_detailpage#t=74s

[TiLT]

This isn't a new rumor, but started appearing when George R.R. Martin signed a producer deal (I think that's what it was) with HBO recently. It would be very cool, of course. On the other hand, I don't think we're going to get Robert's Rebellion as a spinoff, because it sounds like they're actually going to use that in the main show.

[Turtle]

Going back to the Rebellion would be a great gap filler in case they catch up to the books before *ahem* Martin gets to writing them.

However, I suspect that since he's a producer, he can damn well finish the show as an end to the books.

[Teggy]

Finished up Season 2 this week. Kind of amazing how much stuff they changed, even down to killing off people who are still alive in the books. I hope Martin can keep track of the differences between tv show and book and not mix them up.

[CeeKay]

Rage of Thrones (NSFW)