One of my favourite threads in 1E was TV Show Discussion which ran for 52 pages. I never once contributed to it but following it felt like 21st century social eavesdropping on the conversations of forum regulars and anyone who had an opinion or wanted to add speculation fuel to a raging fire.
I would like to re-start it here (because nobody visits the 1E forum) and I hope both veterans and newcomers will come out of the woodwork and recreate the ambience of its predecessor. Like listening to the props and slops at the end of The White Book, fast becoming my fave segment as a joyous celebration of geekdom.
As a starter for 10, here is a long list of rumours and confirmations from a respected UK press site of unfortunate political leanings.
On the same site, here is an article detailing two mathematicians' neural network calculations of the rank of major characters in the books which I found fascinating - but then I'm a sad mathmo geek beyond redemption.
Now I'm hopeless at small talk. At dinner parties, I would pipe up something like "I read in The Economist that larger families and lower IQ children are correlated - do you think the human race is doomed by the greater procreation of low IQ genes?" without first researching how many children the attendants have - and then be mystified by the embarrassed silence afterwards (and yes, the pause was most definitely pregnant). So blessed with natural social awkwardness and an utter lack of social graces, I was hoping that those hobby stalwarts who are more happy to wildly speculate will post on this thread and enliven the forum.
So over to you. Please. I'd like to read all my show gossip in one place like I used to! Ideally from usernames with personalities that I'm virtually familiar with. I miss that TV Show Discussion thread...
(Yeah, I should be focusing on writing my next post in a more weighty thread I started but I'm in a "fluffy" mood right now.)
So gossip away. Please.
Register now to gain access to all of our features. Once registered and logged in, you will be able to create topics, post replies to existing threads, give reputation to your fellow members, get your own private messenger, post status updates, manage your profile and so much more. If you already have an account, login here - otherwise create an account for free today!

TV Show Discussion
#1
Posted 11 April 2016 - 12:21 PM

#2
Posted 11 April 2016 - 04:25 PM

I hope Snow gets revived by Melisandre and kicks some traitorous ass.
- agktmte likes this
#3
Posted 11 April 2016 - 04:47 PM

I think we all do. The "blood in the snow" tweet seems to hint at Mel's blood magic and the R+L=J solution as he needs to be royal blood.
SPOILERS potentially is a necessary warning on this thread...
But the really interesting thing is how they are going to manage all the detective work that the fans have now done to the story. Even Tywin's "you are no son of mine" to Tyrion as dying words. It's all a bit too telegraphed who the 3 dragon riders will be, who will fulfill Cersei's prophecied death etc.
I think they will have to deviate hugely from the GRMM story arc that they are privvy to because they need to surprise and prove all these theories wrong.
I also feel that HBO's weekly model may be eclipsed by Netflix's binge-watch model where you can get totally immersed in a storyline without having theories from fans and experts pre-empt big reveals. Though of course weekly is more social for a discussion thread.
If Iain McShane is Septon Ribald (?) who resurrects The Hound, I quite like that priests of 3 religions are able to do this (with Aeron, Mel/Thoros) with Bran as an adept of The Old Gods. It appeals to the D&D clerical spell list stickler in me...
My only other hope is they don't miscast as badly as The Sand Snakes (the entire Dorne script was awful too). Whilst the Ellaria and Snakes farewell to Myrcella was sufficiently vindictive and done well just as the father-daughter topic was broached, the rest of the Dorne scenes made me cringe.
#4
Posted 11 April 2016 - 05:54 PM

So I had a long discussion about this on the ride home from the Michigan regional on Saturday and here's the theories we came up with:
**Spoiler tag for those who may request such things**
- sparrowhawk likes this
#5
Posted 11 April 2016 - 07:24 PM

Oh my. I thought I had some fanciful theories but some of those are just beyond... Of course, in 3 months time, you can remind us of your theories and feel smug about all the far-out theories you got right.
I agree that a few of them are likely (Dany, Greyjoy and Jon) but the rest are too fanciful. Next thing you will be telling us Daario is actually Benjen!
I wonder if the show hires people to spread the crackpot theories to obfuscate what is an elegant but far too telegraphed story arc? Do you work for HBO, Vorrt?
Here's what I see evolving in this season - please do not read and then complain to me for spoiling the show if I'm right!
EDIT: I do agree that many of these developments will be manipulated by either Littlefinger or Varys who are the secret protagonists of the major story arc which is like Babylon 5 about Law (Varys) vs Chaos (Littlefinger) with all the others as their pawns.
- Danthulhu likes this
#7
Posted 12 April 2016 - 02:16 PM

One thing I'm looking for ward to this season is getting some new Dothraki dialogue. We haven't had any new Dothraki words since season 2 but now that Dany is back in with new Khalasar I expect there to be lots of new dialogue to dissect.
For those of you who don't know, I'm one of the people behind the site wiki.dothraki.org where we have gathered all the info about Dothraki and Valyrian that can be found.
- KruppSteel and eldub like this
#8
Posted 12 April 2016 - 04:43 PM

I think we all do. The "blood in the snow" tweet seems to hint at Mel's blood magic and the R+L=J solution as he needs to be royal blood.
SPOILERS potentially is a necessary warning on this thread...
But the really interesting thing is how they are going to manage all the detective work that the fans have now done to the story. Even Tywin's "you are no son of mine" to Tyrion as dying words. It's all a bit too telegraphed who the 3 dragon riders will be, who will fulfill Cersei's prophecied death etc.
I think they will have to deviate hugely from the GRMM story arc that they are privvy to because they need to surprise and prove all these theories wrong.
I also feel that HBO's weekly model may be eclipsed by Netflix's binge-watch model where you can get totally immersed in a storyline without having theories from fans and experts pre-empt big reveals. Though of course weekly is more social for a discussion thread.
If Iain McShane is Septon Ribald (?) who resurrects The Hound, I quite like that priests of 3 religions are able to do this (with Aeron, Mel/Thoros) with Bran as an adept of The Old Gods. It appeals to the D&D clerical spell list stickler in me...
My only other hope is they don't miscast as badly as The Sand Snakes (the entire Dorne script was awful too). Whilst the Ellaria and Snakes farewell to Myrcella was sufficiently vindictive and done well just as the father-daughter topic was broached, the rest of the Dorne scenes made me cringe.
I think it would be a huge mistake to change the ending or resolution of the story simply because a small division of the fan base researched and found all the clues you (of course in reference to GRRM) have intentionally laid throughout the book series and hence the television series.
That is the easiest way to take a very interesting and compelling story and convert it into a boring pile of nonsense thrown together at the last second just to surprise the audience ( just like how, I imagine, the Dorne storyline was thrown together quickly as the deadline was coming up).
The fans guessing something correctly is not only good for the writer, but it also makes the fans more invested in the story. If the fans found all the evidence, researched all the prophecies etc and came to the correct conclusion rewarding them with a gold star (by remaining with your original ending that they guessed) will not only make them feel smart for cracking the code, but it will also validate all the work they put into finding the answer.
Spoilers incoming:
And one more thing to keep in mind: for every mega fan that tracks every single word and picture about the books/show/theories, there are probably 10 to 20 fans who just watch the show and enjoy it. So while the risk that a small portion of the fan base already figured out your conclusion is there, the vast majority of the fan base is likely completely unaware of all the theories floating around, and are thereby unaffected by the theories being right. So for those fans, you would only be writing a weaker ending just to prove wrong a fraction of the fan base that wants to be right in the first place.
- cml likes this
#9
Posted 12 April 2016 - 05:10 PM

Jon Snow is resurrected in secret and passes himself off as his own twin brother, Ron Snow.
- drakk and hagarrr like this
#10
Posted 12 April 2016 - 05:56 PM

The Others win in the end. Westeros is overrun and a zombie apocalypse begins. GRRM writes a new saga in a medieval Walking Dead style.
- KruppSteel likes this
#11
Posted 12 April 2016 - 06:13 PM

- KruppSteel likes this
#12
Posted 12 April 2016 - 06:21 PM

I am just glad they're bringing the Greyjoy storyline back into the fold. Even with an eyepatchless Euron and no Victarion. From what I understand, rumors suggest that Yara makes her way to Volantis...so I wonder if she is somehow going to take the place of Victarion's mission in ADWD.
#13
Posted 12 April 2016 - 07:10 PM

- Mach and eldub like this
#14
Posted 14 April 2016 - 08:14 AM

#15
Posted 14 April 2016 - 03:37 PM

I hope Jon Snow is dead for good. I really hate Kit Harington.
Why is your profile pic practically Kit Harrington?
- GrahamM, mplain and urlacma like this
#16
Posted 14 April 2016 - 03:41 PM

#17
Posted 14 April 2016 - 09:07 PM

On the same site, here is an article detailing two mathematicians' neural network calculations of the rank of major characters in the books which I found fascinating - but then I'm a sad mathmo geek beyond redemption.
The article: "It probably isnt who you think it is"
Me: Reads the article. Finds out its exactly who I think it is.
The biggest surprise for me was actually that Cersei wasnt as major of a character as I expected.
#18
Posted 14 April 2016 - 11:45 PM

I hope Jon Snow is dead for good. I really hate Kit Harington.
Wait till you see Silent Hill 2...
"Hate" is such a modest word.
#19
Posted 15 April 2016 - 07:02 AM

Wait till you see Silent Hill 2...
"Hate" is such a modest word.
I saw that.... there's also Sean Bean...
#20
Posted 15 April 2016 - 08:36 AM

The article: "It probably isnt who you think it is"
Me: Reads the article. Finds out its exactly who I think it is.
The biggest surprise for me was actually that Cersei wasnt as major of a character as I expected.
+1
I'm thinking who the hell is more important than Tyrion - turns out no-one is.
What did surprise me was that his wife was No 3 and not No. 2