So can we take it that fantasy TV is no longer subculture, but a mainstream undertaking that, with Game of Thrones, has a rather high benchmark in production values already set? Apparently, we can. Both the boy who grew up on Arthur C Clarke and Terry Pratchett can find some fun in this series, as can the girl who grew up on stories of gallant knights and distressed damsels. Unlike Buffy or True Blood, Game of Thrones has a cross-sectional appeal than enthrals the geek and the jock respectively. The natural successor to the Lord of the Rings film trilogy and no less destined for Hall of Fame status, Game of Thrones actually enjoys a slight female majority in its viewership. Despite both dramas having historical appeal and a stellar cast, Rome lacked some of the immersive qualities of Martins story world and almost all of the convivial appeal. But the fantasy epic has exploded where the pseudo historical-drama only adequately performed. Before Game of Thrones, Rome was perhaps there most risky drama. For it is HBO more than anyone other production team who are at the forefront of this ambition. No story world, however ephemeral, seems unfilmable, regardless of the planet its on or the creatures that inhabit it. Imagine what a flop would have meant for the future of big-scale fantasy/sci-fi adaptations? Now, however, other ambitious fantasy titles are being lined up for screen adaptation.
Status game of thrones rpg series#
But imagine if Game of Thrones had been a flop? Its worth remembering that the series gathered momentum-the pilot had good but far from great ratings. This capacity to put a grand tapestry of a drama like Game of Thrones into such a tight schedule bodes well, very well indeed, for future ambitious fantasy works. An episode is actually shot over a period of only 2 weeks. At any given time, as many as five episodes are being shot concurrently. Simultaneous scripts (reportedly over ten at any one time) are shot whereby actors maximise their time at certain locations, while cinematographers and directors teams fly between the various locations keeping in constant reconnaissance with each other. The production schedule is a masterclass in efficiency. Interestingly, the Game of Thrones modus operandi is stunning, and helps explain how a series of such scope is being handled by the worlds greatest television producers. What about the cast size? What about the locations? What about the costume? What about that giant wall? Serious questions about the logistics of production which often leads, perhaps understandably, to producers leaning toward safer, more grounded projects. Imagine the questions searing through the minds of those would-be producers having just finished the reading of the fifth book. With a putative seven seasons being made, Game of Thrones may become a behemoth of television. Who would have thought that dragons and dwarfs and others could battle for our viewing rapture against the might of Tony Sopranos Mafioso world, Baltimores gritty projects or the crystal meph of Eisenberg-but battle it does.
And the staggering screen adaptation is of a different breed, it being adult fantasy and already working on the roadmap the books laid out. Although not quite as affecting or enthralling as these more human stories, Game of Thrones is perhaps the most entertaining of them all. Game of Thrones can join those other shows which pushed the envelope The Sopranos, The Wire, and Breaking Bad to name perhaps the big three. Suddenly, this was a cinematic world as wide-ranging and engrossing as the Westeros found in Martins books. And, I suppose, as the constant confrontation between my imagination and the screen version unfolded, I became hooked, like so many others, on the adaptation. And that is not Brienne of Tarth! Martin has Brienne of Tarth as a fat heifer with spots. Hang on I had the Hound looking much uglier than that guy. I never imagined the unsmiling Tywin like that. Sean Bean was old Ned Stark! Charles Dance was Tywin Lannister. I was on A Feast For Crows by the time the TV show came out. I liked but didnt love the books, and arduously made my way through the series in a relatively noncommittal way. I remember reading A Game of Thrones some five years ago now. But my own version of Westeros wasnt that far different to HBOs- and I think the sex scenes are even better in the TV series. So often the most exquisitely detailed adaptations fall short of readers expectations, particularly in the fantasy genre.
A Game of Thrones may have done the impossible improved upon an already excellent series of books. With the blockbuster that has been the HBO adaptation of George R.R Martins fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, suddenly the world of elves, magic and dragons are cool. So fantasy, after all, is not just for geeks.
0 kommentar(er)
