TV. As usual, I'm not watching it. However, I can't seem to spend a minute online without some sort of reference to it. What is it? Some kind of fantasy drama? Is it really as good or compulsive as the media suggests? Anybody watching it?

all you need to know is here..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Thrones

p.s. never watched it..

I suppose a response is better than no response, but really I was trying to get some conversation going this increasingly moribund forum. Most of the chatty people seem to have gone walkabout. I may soon have to join them.

Picture "Lord of the Rings" with sex! It's great .

I watched the first episode when it first came out and wasnt that interested. But I started watching it again last year, and saw the first 3 seasons in about 4 days. It's a great series. If you dont like violence, nudity or sex, it might not be for you.

I read the books (well, the first four, he hadn't written the fifth then, and is still going on the sixth) a few years ago. I've watched the first season and a half of the TV series, and am quite impressed with it.

Two themes stand out for me: first, the killing-off of central and popular characters, and second, the treatment of sex and sexuality. Both were deliberate attempts by Martin to give the narrative more immediacy and involve the reader (or viewer) more emotionally in the story. He's on record as being somewhat dismissive of, for example, Tolkien's approach to fantasy violence, where countless hundreds of orcs and nameless minor characters are slaughtered but all the main guys miraculously survive unscathed. He's also been pretty forthright about the "juvenile" treatment of sexuality - and women in general - in fantasy fiction. I think it's telling that several of the more interesting and ambiguous characters - Danaerys, Cersei, Arya - are female. Even Sansa, in her naivete, is a more intriguing and complex mess of conflicting sensibilities than the men in her circle (Ned, Robert, even the spiteful Joffrey, are all a bit thinly drawn in comparison).

I've read the first two books , watched the first three seasons.
Really enjoying it. mostly for the concise reasons Oakvillian has mentioned. It's been a while since I've seen a series with so much complexity to it.
Hoping this thread doesn't generate any spoilers though.
Desperate to see season 4 but won't be able to just yet

Fantastic programme! You have to put the effort in - A lot of characters and stories flying around but well worth the time. I thought it was all Dungeons and Dragons-ie before I first watched it, and that usually bores me titless.

Good show. Medieval meets Fantasy meets politics.

You never really know what is going to happen next. Some episodes slow but poignant and others incredibly fast moving.

Can be a little complicated in that the plot is not centered and you have to follow four or five stories that cross paths sooner or later.

I prefer Boardwalk Empire but my weekend relies on being at home on Sunday at 9 for the next GOT episode.

will try not to. Sometimes I forget what I've read vs what I've watched, but at home at least the OH and I have both read the books so not much on the TV is a complete surprise! The significant changes from page to screen are mostly to do with accepted societal norms: in the books, for example, Danaerys Targaryen is sold into marriage at age 13, which would be a bit of a no-no given that her introduction to the "bedroom arts" is a significant sub-plot in her relationship with her warlord husband...

Not for nothing that GoT is the most torrented show on earth. Just sayin'...

unfortunately my inability to see season 4 is nothing to do with accessibility. More a pact that was made.
If Ben happens across this thread , He'll explain I'm sure.

I think they have been hibernating due to the long, cold winter..

If you go walkabout I will find you and make you come back, lol.

+1

I'm enjoying it.