A Game of Thrones - first impressions
Mar. 24th, 2012 02:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wiseheartGerman TV showed the first 3 episodes yesterday - which is about as far into S1 as I've gotten in the book. Note that I found the book flatly written, in places boring and generally confusing, so you can imagine how low my expecations were towards the series. But it had Sean Bean, and I'd watch Sean Bean stand in an empty room, reading out loud the phone book, so...
First, sad impression: SB has not aged well. Part of that impression is most likely the godawful wig they have forced him to wear and that made his face look twice as broad as I remembered. But part of it was definitely done by Mother Nature. Well, we little people aren't the only ones getting older. At least he does it with dignity, without plastic surgery and all that ridiculous stuff even men in the entertainment industry are addicted to in these days. And he still acts most wonderfully.
I had never seen any of the other actors before, so I had no previous experience to compare with, but some of the casting choices were really strange. Firstly, there seems to be a tendency to cast bland-looking, bloodless, malnourished wallflowers for female roles in fantasy movies (Éowyn anyone?). Queen Cersei was the only exception. All others, starting with Lady Stark, through her daughters down to Danaerys, were like patients from a clinic for women with eating disorders. And I don't simply mean that they are thin: they are simply not healthy-looking.
Then there was this strange age discrepancy. I extra checked with the book, and Jon Snow is supposed to be 14. The actor who plays him, while pretty enough, definitely looks older. At least 4-6 years older. Sansa Stark doesn't look 11, either. Which is hard to understand, as they cast an ugly little shadow of Lucius Malfoy as the evil Prince Joffrey who's apparently the right age. So, if they could do it for one character, why couldn't they do it for the others?
This piece of fanart is what I imagina Jon Snow to look like. Found it on Google.
Aside from Seam Bean, the best-cast roles were the eunich and the dwarf. Especially the dwarf. As I said, I don't know the actor, but he was brilliant. Of course, it helps that he's got one of the very few characters with an actual personality, but still - great job!
Another thing that really bothered me was the gratutious nudity all along the first three episodes. I mean, we all know what in a brothel is going on, right? Do we really need to see women clad only in a tie around their waists hop around, bouncing their boobs, without any actual thing to do, just to make sure that every idiot has realized: naked women=brothel? Or during the Dothraki wedding, that female wrestler, having her boobs hang out of her shirt, down to the kneecaps? WTF? Just so that we can all see how barbaric the Dothraki are? Oh, please! And while I'm not principially against any eye candy, I could have lived without Khal Doro's nekkid backside in full view. No, really, I could.
Other than that, so far it's a pretty well-made series, close enough to the original. I'm looking forward to the rest of S1, which will come tonight and tomorrow, in two huge blocks of 4 and 3 more episodes, respectively. On the one hand, it's good to get to see the whole season in three sittings, at least I won't accidentally miss an episode. OTOH, it's a bit exhausting to watch it for 3 or 4 hours. But I'm recording it, so I can get back later and re-watch it in smaller doses.
Now if I could only get my hands on Camelot...
First, sad impression: SB has not aged well. Part of that impression is most likely the godawful wig they have forced him to wear and that made his face look twice as broad as I remembered. But part of it was definitely done by Mother Nature. Well, we little people aren't the only ones getting older. At least he does it with dignity, without plastic surgery and all that ridiculous stuff even men in the entertainment industry are addicted to in these days. And he still acts most wonderfully.
I had never seen any of the other actors before, so I had no previous experience to compare with, but some of the casting choices were really strange. Firstly, there seems to be a tendency to cast bland-looking, bloodless, malnourished wallflowers for female roles in fantasy movies (Éowyn anyone?). Queen Cersei was the only exception. All others, starting with Lady Stark, through her daughters down to Danaerys, were like patients from a clinic for women with eating disorders. And I don't simply mean that they are thin: they are simply not healthy-looking.
Then there was this strange age discrepancy. I extra checked with the book, and Jon Snow is supposed to be 14. The actor who plays him, while pretty enough, definitely looks older. At least 4-6 years older. Sansa Stark doesn't look 11, either. Which is hard to understand, as they cast an ugly little shadow of Lucius Malfoy as the evil Prince Joffrey who's apparently the right age. So, if they could do it for one character, why couldn't they do it for the others?
This piece of fanart is what I imagina Jon Snow to look like. Found it on Google.
Aside from Seam Bean, the best-cast roles were the eunich and the dwarf. Especially the dwarf. As I said, I don't know the actor, but he was brilliant. Of course, it helps that he's got one of the very few characters with an actual personality, but still - great job!
Another thing that really bothered me was the gratutious nudity all along the first three episodes. I mean, we all know what in a brothel is going on, right? Do we really need to see women clad only in a tie around their waists hop around, bouncing their boobs, without any actual thing to do, just to make sure that every idiot has realized: naked women=brothel? Or during the Dothraki wedding, that female wrestler, having her boobs hang out of her shirt, down to the kneecaps? WTF? Just so that we can all see how barbaric the Dothraki are? Oh, please! And while I'm not principially against any eye candy, I could have lived without Khal Doro's nekkid backside in full view. No, really, I could.
Other than that, so far it's a pretty well-made series, close enough to the original. I'm looking forward to the rest of S1, which will come tonight and tomorrow, in two huge blocks of 4 and 3 more episodes, respectively. On the one hand, it's good to get to see the whole season in three sittings, at least I won't accidentally miss an episode. OTOH, it's a bit exhausting to watch it for 3 or 4 hours. But I'm recording it, so I can get back later and re-watch it in smaller doses.
Now if I could only get my hands on Camelot...
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(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-24 06:47 pm (UTC)And I absolutely love Tyrion Lannister as a character.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-24 11:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-25 03:03 am (UTC)Awesome character.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-25 08:41 am (UTC)But you are right. The character is awesome. And he's not necessarily one of the good guys, so he may even survive.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-25 07:03 am (UTC)But I have to disagree with your verdict on the style: I think the books are quite well written, given that its fantasy and not Literature (though Martin has a tendency to repeat certain catchphrases too often). I've translated most of the series into Dutch, and unlike many other fantasy books in English these are a pleasure to translate, except when I hate a POV-character (*cough* Catelyn *cough*), which in itself says something about the way he manages to present the characters. In fact, the style is the only thing that does not deteriorate after Book 3.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-03-25 08:36 am (UTC)Literature and fantasy aren't mutually exclusive, as we can see on the example of Tolkien, Ursula K Le Guin or even Lloyd Alexander... and considering that Le Guin's worlds never fails to make me depressive and that Alexander actually wrote children's books, that's saying a lot. But they can captivate my imagination, they can make me care for the characters. I couldn't care less if one of the "Thrones" characters lives or dies or gets eaten for breakfast. The only exception is Eddard Stark, and even he mostly because of Sean Bean.
I wouldn't mind the characters being aged, if they had been consequent with it. But Sansa looking at least five years older than Joffrey is a bit... well, disgusting for me. In any case, I don't think I'll ever become a fan of eithe the books or the series, although I'm gonna keep the recorded episodes for Sean Bean's perfoprmance. Once they've killed his character off, I see no reason to follow the whole thing.