Game of Thrones TV Series Set To Spoil Books

The showrunners for Game of Thrones made an announcement this weekend, and readers of the books are outraged. 

Fans of author George R.R. Martin’s series “A Song of Ice and Fire” are some of the most dedicated fans to any current literature, and an announcement from Game of Thrones show runners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff this weekend confirmed that the show will catch up to the books in season 5, pass the books in seasons 6 and 7, and spoil the ending in season 7. George R.R. Martin has been working on “A Song of Ice And Fire” since 1991, with the first book in the series being published in 1996. To date, the first 5 books in the series have been released, and the sixth book is soon to come. Fans of the books hoped that Martin would be able to release the sixth book before the television series caught up and began spoiling elements of the plot, but that is looking less and less likely as Martin’s writing continues to move at a glacial pace. Season 5 of Game of Thrones begins to air on HBO starting on April 12, and will cover the ending of books 4 and 5. Unless Martin can seriously expedite the rest of the sixth book, the show will begin its sixth season next year and begin spoiling the plot.

There has already been some deviation between the books and the television series. There have been characters added and removed, deaths changed, and plot elements added and skipped. This deviation from the book series is likely to increase drastically in season 6, as Martin has shared with the show’s creators relatively few details about what is to come. In a quote from showrunner David Benioff this weekend, fans now know that “[the television series will] meet up at pretty much the same place where George is going; there might be a few deviations along the route, but [the show is] heading towards the same destination”. Even if Martin does manage to finish the sixth book in the series before the sixth season of the show airs, there really is no hope left for the ending of the story. Martin is taking, on average, about 4 years per book, and the makers of the show are not going to wait that long to produce their final season. Therefore the show and books will have (basically) the same ending, but the show will spoil it for the dedicated readers of the books.

Why I'm incredibly Excited about J.K. Rowling's New Film

I have absolutely no shame in admitting how much I love Harry Potter. It will always be an enormously important and influential part of my childhood, and I still rewatch the movies and reread the books to this day. So you can probably imagine my excitement this morning, when (while waiting to inevitably get denied for tickets to see Dave Franco and Christopher Mintz-Plasse) I discovered that J.K. Rowling would be penning a script for a brand new movie set in the Wizarding World that I know and love.

Based on Rowling's short guide (which in itself was a required textbook for students in the Harry Potter universe), "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" will be set about 80 years prior to the events of the Potter series. The film will supposedly follow the adventures of the book's fictitious author Newt Scamander, and many people have been hypothesizing as to whether or not the movie will have cameo appearances by other iconic characters from the series, such as Albus Dumbledore. 

However, the prospect of returning to the world of Harry Potter doesn't excite me nearly as much as the fact that the woman who created the world will be taking us back into it.  Much how the newly announced Breaking Bad spinoff "Better Call Saul" would not be as exciting if Vince Gilligan wasn't attached to produce it, a new movie based on the books by J.K. Rowling would not be nearly as newsworthy if it wasn't written by....J.K. Rowling. There is nobody else that I would trust with the responsibility of bringing fans a satisfying and welcoming return to the Wizarding World. It's nice to see original creators (like Rowling or Gilligan) sticking to their roots and pleasing the fans that they've come to gain over the years. 

Which brings me to one final point: in a world where Hollywood is looking to adapt any kind of book, toy, or board game into the next huge blockbuster, it's interesting to see a mega company such as Warner Brothers take a (presumably unfinished) script from someone who has previously only written novels and turn it into a film. For the previous Harry Potter movies, the scriptwriters already had a plethora of material to adapt into a film, but now, with no source material and an obvious desire to keep the series going, Warner Brothers went straight to the source. To be blunt; I like this, and I hope it happens more in the future. Instead of making crappy summer blockbusters, give authors (people who know how to really tell stories) a chance to pen their own films. Take, for instance, the current Game of Thrones situation. With only two books left until the TV show catches up with the books, why not let author George R.R. Martin write the sixth season of the show? It would be interesting, and I think it is potentially something that we'll be seeing more and more of.

Either way, the ten year old in me was giddy with excitement when he heard that there was more to come from the Harry Potter universe, and the 19 year old pretty much felt the same way. Too bad we'll have to wait until 2015 (at the very earliest) to find out what comes next. 

You Win Or You Die

Lately I've been getting into the smash HBO series Game of Thrones.  This epic saga based on the novels of George R. R. Martin, is an fantasy series on HBO created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss to become a massive success and fan favorite.  Season 3 is in the midst right now and it's been an epic battle and quest for power and knowledge every episode.  I'm really enjoying this series, even though it's a little different than my usual programs.

Right now, Game of Thrones is in it's 3rd season (it was picked up for it's 3rd season just 9 days after premiering it's 2nd season) and is an adaptation of the 3rd book in the series.  The cast and characters are all incredibly dangerous and fascinating which makes the show so intriguing.  I can honestly say (with out reading the books of course) that at this point in the show ANYONE could die.  This is highly unlikely for a TV show to kill off it's main characters but the show has done it before and would not be a surprise.  The premise of the show obviously revolves around a fictional fantasy world where kings and queens ruled the land, so naturally the goal of the majority of characters is to become the king.  And I can say it's a very safe bet that any one of the characters has a rightful power for the throne.

Some of the favorites on the show include Peter Dinklage as Tyrion the women-crazed son and imp of a very wealthy family who strives for the kingdom; Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryan the bad-ass blonde dragon trainer; and Kit Harrington as Jon Snow the young and hunky bastard-son who's gone on to fight in a brotherhood army.  (Emilia Clarke is my favorite - I actually met her when she was starring on Broadway!)

The show brings on a huge cast of characters yet does a wonderful job of including them and weaving in story lines. (Unlike Glee with all of their characters).  I will continue to watch this show for as long as it will go on for a while.  There are 5 books currently but 2 more in the works and they might split the books up into multiple seasons as they did for seasons 3 and 4 (both about the 3rd book).

Could HBO be onto something, but turning hit books into TV shows rather than movies? (True Blood is another example.)  Maybe Harry Potter should have been an HBO series?  But then again it probably wouldn't have had enough sex or nudity for HBO to pick it up in the first place!

A Game of Thrones and The Hobbit

I recently just finished The Hobbit and started A Storm of Swords, the third book in A Song of Ice and Fire.  The Hobbit also recently had its worldwide premiere in New Zealand and is due out nationwide on December 14th and the third season of A Game of Thrones is set to air starting 3/31/13.  I like many other people are thrilled about both.

The trailer looks fantastic and I really like the songs the dwarves sing.   It gives me goosebumps.  Game of Thrones hasn't released a full trailer for the season yet, but they did release a teaser.

Since the Hobbit is now three movies I am very interested in how they are going to do it since it is not a very long book.  I have heard that they are going to follow Gandalf on some of his adventures and I would assume some time will be spent connecting it to Lord of the Rings.   The two things I am really excited to see are Gollum and the final battle.  In the book the Final battle consists of many different species and I can't wait to see how Peter Jackson brings the battle together.

When I started reading A Song of Ice and Fire last summer everyone told me that the third book or Storm of Swords was the best one in the series.  Now that I am finally there I am especially excited that I will finish reading it so close to the start of the third season.  As the war between the Stark's, Lannister's and Stannis start to heat up and Daenery's gets more powerful and Jon Snow learns more about the wildings I think this will be the perfect book and season.

Game of Thrones

This series is one of the best book to live medium translations I've ever seen, especially in the fantasy world. As a massive book reader, you would be hard pressed to find me a fantasy book series turned movie adaptation I haven't seen. As far as movies go, it's one of the few areas I'm well versed in, and if the discussion turns to books I'm more than happy to talk to you for hours on end about one book or another.

Apposed to a lot of popular belief, I generally reccommend watching a movie before reading the book that preceeded it. I've realized over the years, that if I do that, I can enjoy the movie a lot more, and still get everything out of the book. When done in the reverse, I usually come out of the theater much more upset than pleased. Example: Eragon. I'm not even going to go into details about how much of a train wreck this movie was as compared to the book it was based off of, other than to ask you to look at the movie poster. You see how above the title it says, "The First Chapter of the Inheritance Trilogy?" Note how a second chapter was never made. However, while this movie did poorly in the United States box office where the books were popular and well circulated, internationally, it did extremely well where the book wasn't read as much. People could enjoy the movie because they weren't completely focused on how it deviated from the series. And then if they wanted to afterward, they could go ahead and read the books.

After reading so many books and then watching their movie counterparts, I was tired of the disappointment. When a new one came on the scene, I would sigh, role my eyes, and then go try to find another fantasy book no one had ever heard of and was safe from Hollywood's grasp. When everyone started raving about Game of Thrones I was hesitant to joing the bandwagon. First off, the books alone are monstrous, which wouldn't usually deter me, except for the 5+ year waits between books when Martin finally decides to release the next part. I'm not good at waiting. The three years in between Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix nearly killed my adolscent self. Beyond that, it was yet another adaptation that I was going to walk out of disappointed, right?


Wrong. This summer by boss at Barnes and Noble finally convinced me that I really needed to read the books and watch the series. I decided to read the first book, watch the first season, read the second book, watch the second season, etc... I'd take my time with them, knowing full well that if I reached the end of the series, I would most likely go crazy with anticipation. And then I read the first book in four days, the first season following soon after.

By making each book into its own ten-part television series, the character, plot, and setting development that occurs in the book isn't lost in translation. Every character is given the screen time required to fully appreciate their character. The little sub-plots that all intertwine to create the bigger picture aren't forgotten to time constraints. The complex setting and world Martin created is fully explored. Even the opening theme to every episode serves as a tool to help the viewer imagine the vast landscape the story takes place over, showing the map given to readers in the book.

Beyond that, the production quality is stunning. Every scene is perfectly lit and orchestrated, not a detail is forgotten. The CGI direwolves are some of the most realistic creatures I've ever seen in any movie, television, show, etc... The acting is stunning, especially when you look at the performances of the youngest cast members. Maisie Williams, the girl who portrays Arya Stark in the television show, is extremely talented for the little experience she's had, and I can't wait to see what other roles she takes on as she gets older.

I'm reading the second book now, taking much more time with it than the first one. I'm excited to watch the second season as soon as I'm done and can only hope it will be as good as the first.