Game of Thrones [SPOILERS POSSIBLE]

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Looks like the final season won't be airing until sometime in 2019 now based on many different reports

[Hal-9000]

I read that too. Shows like Breaking Bad and GoT have helped make shortened seasons the norm at 10 episodes. Then they delay and cut final seasons in half, and/or change the air times to different months, if not seasons. I miss the old days before the 2007-2008 writer's strike where television shows put out an average of 22 episodes per season.

Heard the same thing about Westworld, next season maybe not until 2019.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I also prefer the longer seasons (22 to 24 episodes) but I can live with the series that have shorter seasons (10 to 12 episodes) if they keep them on a regular schedule. The problem with the short season shows is, if there's only 12 episodes (12 weeks of shows) then you already have to wait 40 weeks for them to come back. At least with the Big 4 networks that have shows that run 20 or more episodes per season, when you ad in the off time for the holidays where they don't show anything new and whatnot, they can drag the length of a season into 7 or 8 months, so you (A) get more episodes per season to begin with and (B) you aren't waiting 40+ freaking weeks for the show to come back for the next season.

[Hal-9000]

Same here. I like the 10 episode seasons if they keep the air time consistent.

An example is Mr Robot. It aired in the summer for it's first season and it was an under the radar hit. Season two aired around the same time the following summer and it became big.

Little unusual to see a summer show do huge business before the regular fall season (although the old seasonal landscape schedule is changing every year).

This year season three is supposed to air in October? Sometimes these longer breaks force you to rewatch entire seasons, which I guess is what the producers want.

They know they have a good product, so there's no fear of viewership dropping off.

[Hal-9000]

I blame this bitch for everything that's wrong with TV today!

[Teh One Who Knocks]

[Hal-9000]

Okay, maybe not all TV but she/he is responsible for this

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Was it just me or was it a little bit of a let down (I dunno if that's the right phrasing for it) when, with all the talk of how the wall has held up for centuries, it's got magical properties, blah, blah, blah....and the dragon zombie took it down in just a couple of minutes?

[Hal-9000]

I've always admired shows that have a defined end point. It gives the showrunners and producers a goal to work towards. It also eliminates things like what happened to the show Deadwood.

but...

I may not be the best person to talk about logistics or plot progressions for Game of Thrones The show has been criticized heavily for dragging out character arcs and physical movements. Then, we get an end point and to me anyways, the episodes start feeling like three movies jammed into an hour because of 'all of the activity.'

One of the common slams against season seven was similar to this - Jon left Dragonstone and reached the Wall overnight...How??? Well he didn't really, because they never mentioned any passage of time. He may have taken a month to get back there, yet he arrives in the very next scene. One thing GoT has always done is be cagey and vague about the passage of time. There are markers in the books like - Last year when Jaime passed by this inn, he still had his hand. Or somewhat helpful comments in the show like - I left Winterfell six years ago.

All that to say that I think when a series has a defined end point, they need to stick the landing or risk being remembered as the awesome show with the horrible last season that ruined everything. So for Game of Thrones I envision the writers having certain elements that must occur. The Wall must come down, Dany must ride the dragons, Jon Snow must be revealed as a Targaryen.

I see it as a huge balancing act now. Martin has said he's not associated as heavily with the scripts (believe it or not..), they've eclipsed the source material and the resolution or final outcome of the series rests solely with D&D (the head writers), who have adapted the series from the books since the beginning. That's a huge responsibility to land this juggernaut of a series the 'right way' and I'm not sure I believe that Martin is distanced from the show. After all, he's been talking about his legendary sixth book for years now, so what happens if every event he writes about in the upcoming book differs completely from the events of the final two seasons?


To answer your question I believe that the Wall was coming down no matter what, having the Night King transform and then ride a dragon is nightmare fuel (a good thing), and I can't help but think that George RR Martin is lurking in the wings for every event we will see until the end of the series. I noticed that only a portion of the Wall came down and that may figure heavily into the epilogue or post-show story telling where the Wall is rebuilt.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I've been bitching about the rushed feeling all season, so I agree with you there I guess what I don't understand is, if they have the end point in sight and they are going to wrap up the series, then why handcuff themselves by scaling back the length of the seasons? Just wrap it up with two regualr length seasons, that way you won't have all this rushed feeling and ruffling the fans feathers (every re-cap site I read, that is the single biggest complaint now is how people teleport from place to place compared with previous seasons ) Do the show justice, let them have two FULL seasons to wrap it up, not two shortened seasons.

[Hal-9000]

I'm okay with all of the teleporting except the one recent scene where they send Gendry, then a raven, then Dany comes back with the dragons to save the Magnificent Seven. Do you know that some guy actually tried to figure out distance ran by Gendry, how fast a raven could travel X-amount of miles and then estimated how fast a dragon could fly based on size?

I don't see other instances as teleporting, because they simply show the first scene at this location, then the next at that location. It doesn't imply the trip took an hour, it implies there were no other episodes or seasons in between the two transitional points. They will throw in the odd time reference if you can catch them.

I post with a guy who covers the show for the Hollywood Reporter. Also a guy who has a degree in film and television. They will occasionally give behind the scenes info and some of it answers your questions about season length. Briefly, it all comes down to advertising contracts, star contracts and money.

The THR guy interviewed the director for the episode where Gendry ran, raven was sent and Dany somehow appeared half a day later. Director admits they intentionally darkened the scene at the lake and didn't mention days passing, because they absolutely wanted the audience not to know how long that progression took

The amount of episode content is so jarring now because it took over three seasons for Gendry to appear again, six seasons for Dany to cross the Narrow Sea, and 24 seasons for the Night King to find a compass that has an S marker on it

I just about peed my pants seeing that war summit scene because it contained almost every GoT star. It's almost too much for this show because it was paced so differently (and well) for the previous six seasons.

[Hal-9000]

You mentioned fan fiction, let's explore some since it appears we're going to have some time...

Cersie is pregnant and I believe Dany will be pregnant soon. What are the odds on both children surviving and both Moms?

Cersie had her fortune read when she was a girl by Maggy the Frog. Almost every event predicted has come true with the exception of one. Will it happen in season eight?

This recent season has been criticized for fan servicing and being too kind to the characters. Will the final season resemble season four of BSG in terms of darkness and cast deaths?

Some fans had the show divided in two distinct parts; one where Cersie's army fights Dany's people and the other section featuring humans battling the Night King's army. Now it appears those two events are happening simultaneously without a clear resolution happening first. Do you think Cersie will actually wait it out in King's Landing with her armies to see who is victorious in the north?

Will Jaime meet Bran again and if so, what does that conversation look like?


We need to make a character death pool Who dies in the final six episodes?

[deebakes]

everyone

[deebakes]

serious question:

was the zombie dragon breathing blue fire or ice? my lab has been debating it all week

[DemonGeminiX]

It was a blue fire. Hot enough to vaporize the wall into a gas and not leave any rivers of melted ice and snow behind. I think if he was breathing ice, the wall destruction would be that much more messy.