Game of Thrones begins....

[grumbler]

Pretty sure Martin has a say in the content and did not fully sign away total creative control to HBO.  I mean heck he writes an episode a season.

And I'm pretty sure that HBO has an arrangement with him whereby they can continue the story after they finish with what has appeared in the book.  And I am pretty sure that he has an agreement with HBO that they won't simply tell the same story he plans to tell in the books, thus undermining the sales of the books.  So, it is in everyone's interests for HBO to tell a story that diverges from his plans at some point.  They have already left out a lot, and will be leaving out a whole lot more as they move into the territory of the more poorly-written (and even-more-poorly-edited) later books.

Martin has gone on the record as having told HBO to wait after they reach the end of the current books, and just film the other stories he has written that are set in Westeros.  And HBO has gone on the record as saying, basically, "you are nuts; the actors are not getting any younger and we need to wrap this up while they are still credible as the characters they play."

[Josephus]

I find CC's been more agreeable lately. Maybe it's the B.C. weather, I dunno.

[crazy canuck]

I find CC's been more agreeable lately. Maybe it's the B.C. weather, I dunno.

I had a nice Port last night.  I shall revert to my disagreeable self shortly.

[grumbler]

I find CC's been more agreeable lately. Maybe it's the B.C. weather, I dunno.

I had a nice Port last night.  I shall revert to my disagreeable self shortly.

Did you have any port in a storm?

[jimmy olsen]

BarristerBoy alert!

http://io9.com/a-fantastically-detailed-geological-history-for-game-of-1561092800

[Valmy]

Some Geologist was really bored at work.

[Grinning_Colossus]

Westeros needs more glacial lakes.

[Viking]

Westeros needs more glacial lakes.

Well, if you Want Glacial Lakes, Iceland is the place to film them... good thing they like filming there.

[Josquius]

His map is wrong. Skaagos and Ibin IIRC (yes, I could just check wiki, but screw you) should be islands in the north sea.

Remember the show completely skipped Ned's flashbacks to the Tower of Joy, in fact almost EVERY SINGLE hint that R+L=J from the books has been erased in the show.

Yeah, if we ignore the books and take the TV show as a single entity...then you've Ned promising to tell Jon all about his past then the plotline is promptly dropped.

[jimmy olsen]

I'm pretty sure they're going to use Bran as a flashback machine when he gets to the Wierwood tree.

[Josquius]

I'm pretty sure they're going to use Bran as a flashback machine when he gets to the Wierwood tree.

Nice idea, here's to hoping. As I've said before it always annoyed me how many awesome flashback chances they passed up in the first series, one time in particular the camera zoomed in on Ned and you heard the sound of swords clashing but...no.

[The Larch]

IIRC at some point the showrunners said that they would not to use flashbacks in the show. They shot some for the first season but then decided against using them.

[jimmy olsen]

They got to do something with Bran. What else is there?

[Eddie Teach]

They got to do something with Bran.

No they don't.

[Rasputin]

Why did they have to gay up Oberyn?

I hadn't really formed a mental image of the Dornishmen from the books, but i certainly didn't see them as Sinbad the Sailor with a Spanish accent.

They needed a gay character to make the activists happy?

...

SPOILER ALERT

[spoiler]Boy I wonder what marty will say, when they kill off another gay character?[spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler]