I had not meant to generalize my thoughts about it to put it to the top of the all time list of course, but I would love a debate here. Maybe it helps me understand why I like it so much.
GoT to me is a show that has a unique atmosphere which is more effective than its other good sides to me. You know I'm really into S&S stuff, we've talked about it before if you recall. I like Conan, Kull, Silmarillion, Skyrim, Gothic (PC game) types of medieval stuff. You see, there is this fairy tale feeling when you read or watch a Tolkien tale. And I'm perfectly fine with it. It has its own value. GoT has more of a realistic type of atmosphere and mood compared to the other medieval stories, at least in my humble comparison of past which I assure you is nothing like a know-it-all fan of fantasy, really limited knowledge, yet I think efficient enough to recognize a good work when I see one. Game of Thrones has amazing musical background, storyline, acting, character tree and development that makes you put it in a different position from other medieval productions. The 1st season really got me in it. Ned Stark was the perfect model of the Northern Barbaric Noble King. I just cannot even imagine a better piece of acting for that role. I always pick or develop those kinds of characters in RPGs. It kinda is my obsession. And the show gives you this feeling that there is supernatural existence, but it is so long forgotten and about to come, that the entire political frame of the show's world has got separated from it. The show also does not set a readied Good vs Bad conceptual dualism to the viewer, and detail the characters depths to you and leave it to you to pick a side or just stay neutral to all, be an observer. It has the best dwarf character I've ever seen on any of the fantasy stories. Amazing actor, great voice, best fit for the job. There is a serious emphasis towards showing nudity and sex but I'm OK with it, although I do believe some might find it unnecessary. And the seasons are really short for that kind of a LOADED world full of stories. And there is an unnecessary gap between the two consecutive seasons that most probably affect many fans' attraction towards the show in a negative way. The contrast of the scenary is crazily dragging me into the atmosphere. That oldened, dusty, shadowy atmosphere is too accurate in order to make you feel like you're there, living the moment.
They killed my most favorite characters Ned and the Attila Han. But I'm still frantic about the show. Can't get enough of it.
The down parts I would say are the too cheesy character show-off of Daenerys Targaryen, her dragons -which should be a lot more effective and shown more than screaming and flopping wings. And the White Walkers look kinda dumb. They should look terrorizing, like a frozen version of a Diablo level when you face the Diablo himself. I think the producers have already started to eat from the stash instead of pushing the show forward and forward since the 2nd, but as I said, I love it generally.
Good thoughts here. I particularly agree that GoT has a good mix of realism with high fantasy elements. Fantasy is often too "magicky." Martin found a nice balance -- especially in the early going -- of using magic/fantastical creatures very sparingly, to the effect that when these things did show up, they had way more effect than a show/book where characters are just slinging fireballs around at each other all the time. It helps with the suspension of disbelief.
But as much as I like the show, there are things that bother me about it, and also some missing intangibles that I'm not going to be able to adequately describe. Part of that is that I read the books long before the show came out. I suspect I would enjoy the show a lot more if I didn't know basically what was going to happen in every episode before it even airs. As a result, I'm particularly sensitive to places where the show deviates from the books, and I tend to either strongly like or dislike these deviations. For instance, I was
extremely disappointed that the Hound's speech to Sansa was cut and given to Littlefinger (this was actually the scene that Rory McCann auditioned on; see below video). On the other hand, I loved the scene between Robert and Cersei toward the end of episode 5 of season 1, I love the scene with Littlefinger and the whores in episode 7 of season 1, and I love all the scenes between Arya and Tywin in season 2.
In any case, a major problem I have with the show --
the major problem, perhaps -- lies in the editing, i.e. how they piece together the story of all these disparate character groups. Martin was famously a screenwriter, and famously wrote these books in order to break free of the restrictions of television. Only now, lo and behold, it is a TV series. It's not so much that the showrunners are doing a bad job, but that the story is so wide-ranging that it was handicapped from the beginning on TV. If anything, that's an endorsement for what a good job they've done adapting it. But I frequently find -- particularly in the early and late episodes of a season -- that there is just too much intercutting between character groups. The showrunners feel we need to "catch up" or "check in" with everyone with some regularity, whereas in the books you'll typically spend a longer amount of time with one character before moving on to the next group.
I'm also slightly more critical of the acting than some others. Most surprising from your point of view may be that I don't think Dinklage particularly deserved his Emmy; he's fine (good rather than great), but it's such a good role that it would have been hard to screw up, and I can imagine it being played better (my image of him from the books may be biasing me too heavily here, but Dinklage has a fairly stiff style of delivery that rubs me the wrong way a bit). Meanwhile, Kit Harington as Jon Snow and Emilia Clarke as Daenerys are average at best, which is disappointing given what central characters they are. Some of the other actors are truly marvelous; to me the standout of the entire show is Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister. He absolutely embodies that role and pretty much steals every scene he's in. Also, much as many people dislike her character, I think it's hard to deny that Michelle Fairley played Catelyn Stark about as well as could be done -- you need not like the character to admire the acting. I could mention others, of course.
DJ says he could name 20-50 better shows. The lower number, maybe, although I wouldn't go quite that far. But just off the top of my head, I'd take these shows over
GoT:
Breaking Bad,
Six Feet Under,
Deadwood,
The West Wing,
Rome,
Battlestar Galactica,
Walking Dead. Going into "lighter" shows, I'd find it easier to live without
GoT than
Stark Trek: TNG,
Star Trek: DS9, and
Scrubs. And if we then include animated TV series, throw in
Texhnolyze,
Mushi-Shi,
Paranoia Agent,
Ghost in the Shell,
Kino's Journey, and some others I mentioned in the "perfect movie" thread. I'd say GoT is in my top 20, maybe it might even squeeze into my top 10 for live-action. But for me it just isn't even really in the running for best ever, my prime criticism being that the story is simply too huge in scope for its own good as a TV show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIWX2fPx-5k
