The Long Hiatus

We haven't posted anything for many months. This is something I regret most terribly. In terms of blogging time, this wait between posts has been the equivalent of the wait between new ASOIAF books. That's a shit-long of a wait. How can I get down on GRRM for his sluggish novel writing skilz when I'm no better at blogging. My only excuses are Real Life stuff and my other writing duties (I now write for a really-real film website and that takes up a lot of my time). At least I don't go to conventions every other month and not bring my laptop along.

Anyhoo...

I'm back now, baby! And there has been A LOT going on in the ASOIAF/Game of Thrones TV show world. New cast members being cast! Teaser trailers that tease! Reshooting of pilot reshoots!

It's really starting to happen. Sometime in 2011 we will be seeing GoT as a TV show on HBO with famous actors and high production values and hopefully quality scripts and it's kinda hard to believe.

When I was a kid the only fantasy stuff on TV came in the form of cartoons like PIRATES OF DARK WATERS or the amazing "Storyteller" sections of THE JIM HENSON HOUR, but there was very little (i.e.: practically nothing) in the way of high fantasy content on television in the late 80s and early 90s. Movies were slightly better (WILLOW of course was on endless VCR loop during my childhood), but fantasy in film and television didn't really get the high quality treatment that it receives nowadays.

We can thank Peter Jackson, J.K. Rowling, and Warner Brothers for bringing some cache to the fantasy genre in cinema and now, amazingly, to TV. Yes, I firmly believe if it hadn't been for the success of the LORD OF THE RINGS movies and the HARRY POTTER movies, we wouldn't be seeing a GAME OF THRONES TV show on HBO next spring. So, God bless you, Severus Snape! Long live New Dumbledore! All praise Ian McKellan and WETA Workshop! By the way, how mind-blowing is the new DEATHLY HALLOWS trailer?!



EPIC.

So... What are my thoughts on the GoT teaser and all the actors who are being cast (LITTLEFINGER!)? Am I thumbs up?

I am thumbs up. I guess.

It's hard to really judge a bunch of actors I've never seen before and know nothing about. They look right for their parts, I guess... I'm pretty hopeful all the new actors will be fine since I have no reason to think otherwise and I'm an optimistic person like that. But in reality, none of us fans really know anything.

I suppose my larger point is that it's way too early to really have any sort of serious, substantive judgment on any of this, whether it's actors or pictures from the sets or location scouting news or what have you.

The teaser was exciting, but it didn't really show us much. And there won't be a trailer at the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con, so we won't be getting any new footage from the show any time soon. Heck, they are reshooting the pilot thanks to the recasting of Dany (which I am very YAY! about), Catelyn, and probably HBO's desire to give the pilot higher production values now that they have officially signed on to the show.

All we have right now are our hopes. We can hope it all turns out and that the show will be good. But even with a great cast and the HBO brand backing things up, it's hard to predict if something will turn out as quality. I'm cautiously optimistic at this point.

Why am I being so "cautiously" about it? Well, I know the HBO name denotes high quality television in the minds of many critics and fans, but I'm not 100% sold on it. I don't just fawn all over anything HBO puts out. I'm not born anew in the genius of HBO, even though it seems like everyone else on the planet is. What do I have against HBO, you may ask? Two words: TRUE. BLOOD.

That's an HBO show and I know it has tons of fans and gets critical acclaim and lots of press, but I think it's kind of a shite show. A really shite show, in fact. Horrible Southern accents, a terrible female lead character (die already, Sookie Stackhouse), a terrible male lead character (cut your hair already, Bill), and it's just generally a traishy show. It's guilty pleasure television and I don't want GoT to turn into guilty pleasure television.

Now, GoT the book has lots of sex and violence in it. This we know. And I'd expect the HBO show to want to "up" the sex and violence a little bit. This I'm cool with. But I don't want the show to become trashy or cheap. GRRM's books have gotten a little trashy and cheap lately (hello gratuitous and nipple-tweakingly explicit sex scenes in AFFC!), but the first three books -- while explicit -- never struck me as being gratuitous. Well, maybe all the dwarf sex with Tyrion was a little gratuitous...

Anyway. I'm a bit worried that HBO -- spurred by the success of TRUE BLOOD -- will try to turn GoT into the same cheesy, exploitative trash. I hope I'm wrong about this and hopefully HBO will want to retain the epic, serious tone of the books. But I have to be honest -- I've got some worries. Not serious worries, but they are there in the back of my mind. So, I'm cautiously optimistic.

Okay. Really now? Who am I kidding. This:



GAAAH!!!1 BRAIN SPLODES23!@!@!
REFDSFKJDFSW!SDEFSDFWERSDSKEJFLJR2IRJESAE@EFFJLSKJF~!#@#!@!@!#!!FLKSJDE!!!1

Ahem.

I watched it twenty times in normal speed and five times in ultra-slow-motion mode, analyzing every frame and image. So yeah, I am STOKED about the GAME OF THRONES TV show. My little TRUE BLOOD worries are nothing compared to the squee levels I reach when watching that teaser. Heh.

In other news, I've written some ASOIAF fanfic that I hope to post here shortly (I do not care about GRRM's anti-fanfic stance; if he would write his books a little faster, then maybe I'd care).

Also, since I don't really feel like starting another blog, I'm going to use this blog to write about other fantasy/sci-fi stuff that I'm interested in. For instance: DOCTOR WHO. Also: HARRY POTTER. Also: VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER. So, it's back to posting on the blog, peoples. I hope you're excited.

The long hiatus is over. FINISH THE BOOK, LEA has returned.