(no subject)

[bedlamsbard]

Oh, gods, what is today, television nirvana or something? On the reality side was the Chopped All-Stars finale, which was exhilarating by being a pretty emotional finale, and then tonight was also the series premiere of The Borgias and the fifteen minute preview of Game of Thrones. I'm sort of in fan heaven over here.

(Okay, I'll admit I saw neither The Borgias nor the Game of Thrones preview on the actual television, but the point still stands!)

The thing I'm really interested in with Game of Thrones, and to a lesser extent with The Borgias, is the changes that the PTB made with translating those stories to the screen. I'll do a write-up on The Borgias tomorrow, when I finished rewatching 1x01; that's a case of translating (pretty complex and scandalous!) history to the screen, which requires a completely different set of reorganizing skills than translating a book series to the screen. (Can I mention how glad I am that both of those are going to the small screen and not the big screen? I definitely prefer TV series to movies, especially for this kind of story; I find movies far too limiting because most of the time you just can't get the kind of emotional depth in two hours that you can over twelve. My absolute favorite movie/miniseries/TV spectacle of all time is actually a miniseries, not a movie -- I have movies I love, but it's definitely a different kind of structure than the story I prefer to see both in my reading and my viewing. It's also a book adaptation, but I've never got 'round to reading the actual book, and at some point I should probably mention what it is, shouldn't I? Lonesome Dove. Love. Such a defining part of my childhood. It's available on Netflix Instant View, for those that haven't seen it!)

Where was I? Oh, yeah, narrative choices. Really interesting to see. Er, I think I kind of derailed myself there by going on and on about how great series are compared to movies, so I'll just stop now.

(As a sidenote, I'm realizing more and more how much my own writing -- Dust especially -- is really structured like a TV series, especially the beginnings and ends of scenes, and the choice of how I order them. I'm not sure it quite translates to text the way it would visually, but that's how I think about it. What gives the greatest pop.)

Comments

[autumnia]

I'm looking forward to checking out Game of Thrones, even though I know nothing of the books. From what I can see, it reminds me a little of Lord of the Rings (besides the fact that Boromir Sean Bean is in it).

I tried watching The Borgias but gave up after the first ten minutes. It wasn't grabbing my attention like The Tudors did, but perhaps reading your review of it later may persuade me to take a second look at it. :-)

Have you also checked out Camelot? I'd love to hear your opinion of it. So much more darker than BBC's Merlin but I don't think it's a bad series so far. (And seriously, I saw the overgrown ruins of Camelot and thought "hey! it's Cair Paravel in Prince Caspian!")

[bedlamsbard]

Plotwise, it's nothing like LotR at all, aside from being epic fantasy. It's more -- hmm, I guess thematically I'd say it's more like Rome? If you're familiar with that.

I will admit that the Borgias hits nearly all of my narrative kinks, but the Tudors both frustrated me and bored me, so I think there's a chance we may look for different things in our TV. :)

I gotta be honest, everything I've seen and heard about Camelot so far makes me want to run screaming in the other direction. Not even James Purefoy can make me watch that show, even if I wasn't already tired of Arthuriana. (I haven't been watching Merlin in the past two years, either.)

...and now I feel like a killjoy.

[autumnia]

Yes, you're right that Thrones is nothing really like LoTR. I think it's just the whole epic fantasy-ness of it, as you said. It's all about the details in the production!

Part of the problem I think is that I don't know anything of the history of the Borgias, while I do know stuff about the Tudors. Also, I think the religious aspect of the Borgias turned me off a bit. Even the lead actors weren't exciting me enough to watch (and I'm usually a sucker for period series set in the Middle Ages or the Renaissance). Hmm.

I thought Camelot was good, but not great. Prince/King Arthur... I just want to beat him upside the head at times. (The NY Times' review headline seems rather appropriate in describing the show: "Like, O.K., to Pull the Sword From the Stone, Young Arthur Needs a Life Coach".) I think I'm more interested in watching for the scenery if nothing else.

(And you're not a killjoy at all! I find your comments fascinating because you ARE seeing these from a different [more historical] perspective.)

[bedlamsbard]

Aw, that's too bad. If it's any help, I am generally very aggressively turned off by religion, especially Christianity, but The Borgias isn't very religious at all, aside from, you know, Alexander VI being pope. It's more politics and back-stabbing and family relations, although; the religion itself doesn't play much of a part except in that it's a vehicle. If that makes sense.

I read a really egregious review of Camelot that has pretty much cemented my already pretty firm idea to never ever see it. *hands*