What happens when Game of Thrones catches the books?

Lengthy quote from io9.

Co-showrunner David Benioff discusses in general terms how he and partner D.B. Weiss will approach the fourth book, A Feast of Crows, which features a largely new cast of characters and is generally considered the weakest entry:

"I don't think we want to answer specifically what we're keeping and dropping, but we do take your point. The series has already reached a point where there are so many characters, particularly in season three we're introducing so many new ones, we run the risk of bursting at the seams as we try to cram every single subplot and all the various characters and it becomes impossible on a budgetary level and it becomes impossible on an episode-basis to jump around every few minutes to 30 different characters and locations. We don't want to do that, and recognize that as a real risk and we will take steps not to fall into that trap."

And author George R.R. Martin says he's still optimistic the TV series won't reach the end of the story before he does:

"I think the odds against that happening are very long. I still have a lead of several gigantic books. If they include everything in the books, I don't think they're going to catch up with me. If they do, we'll have some interesting discussions."

Now, look, first of all, Feast is by no means the weakest entry. I'm puzzled as to why people think Brienne wandering around in the middle of nowhere is worse than Tyrion wandering around in the middle of nowhere, or why finding out that Cersei has the political acumen of Ned Stark is worse than finding out Daenerys has the political acumen of Ned Stark. (Or why Arianne Martell is a weaker supporting character than her brother Quentyn. And so on.)

But that nitpick aside, I think George is a tad optimistic.

Rant of the day: Episode Rankings

Buzzfeed has done a list ranking the Game of Thrones episodes from best to worst. Go check it out. I don't specifically disagree with any one thing, but...

This is like if I went through and ranked my favorite chapters of the books. ("Oh, man, Dance with Dragons chapter 59 got me excited about the plot for the first time in 500 pages!")

It's because you're telling one massive story. You can go through and rank Star Trek episodes, even the later Deep Space 9 ones. You can even do it to Bablyon 5 and Battlestar Galactica because each episode does tend to have one or two focuses while still advancing the overall story. But with Game of Thrones, you're always advancing everyone's story in five-minute chunks every episode. With one exception. But there's never a Jon-specific episode or a Daenerys-specific episode.

So to me, picking and choosing your favorite Game of Thrones episode is like saying "I liked how everyone's plot was handled in this specific week more than any other week" rather than "that episode had good story, solid character development, emotional impact, etc." Which is not to say that Thrones doesn't have those things, but I just can't judge an episode based on how it tells five minutes' worth of ten different story.

"Mhysa" follow-up

In which I promise to have complaints other than "where in the seven hells was Stoneheart?"

So. Episode 9 is the whammy and then Episode 10 is the denouement/Dany does something awesome episode. We know how this works.

Who fought who?

click to expand

The age of the Doctor(s)

No this is not a "he was 953 in Remembrance but magically jumped back to 906 in Voyage of the Damned" sort of post. I'm actually just trying to make a point.

William Hartnell: Born in 1908, played the 1st Doctor in 1963, age 55.
Patrick Troughton: Born in 1920, played the 2nd Doctor in 1966, age 46.
Jon Pertwee: Born in 1919, played the 3rd Doctor in 1970, age 50.
Tom Baker: Born in 1934, played the 4th Doctor in 1974, age 40.
Peter Davison: Born in 1951, played the 5th Doctor in 1981, age 29.
Colin Baker: Born in 1943, played the 6th Doctor in 1984, age 41.
Sylvester McCoy: Born in 1943, played the 7th Doctor in 1987, age 43.
{hiatus}
Paul McGann: Born in 1959, played the 8th Doctor in 1996, age 36.
{hiatus}
Christopher Eccleston: Born in 1964, played the 9th Doctor in 2005, age 41.
David Tennant: Born in 1971, played the 10th Doctor in 2005, age 34.
Matt Smith: Born in 1982, played the 11th Doctor in 2010, age 27.

After the jump, I take the data and play with it.

AGOT Sansa I, Eddard III: The Boy Who Cried Direwolf

Chapters 15 and 16: Ye Olde Direwolfe Incidente

That other big thing this week

Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who. And no, the next Doctor will not be a woman.

Now some fans are leaping to blame Patrick Troughton's ghost for this (cuz Troughton told Davison told Tennant told Smith to only do three years - nevermind the fact that Davison regrets not sticking around for a fourth year), and others are clogging Reddit with discussions about the possibility of a female doctor, even though that's not likely to happen any time soon.

Well, bye, Matt. I have a bit of difficulty differentiating your take on the Doctor from a) your predecessor's, and b) your boss's, so I think I'll just let history judge you. The fact that I haven't seen an episode of the show since you cheated death by hiding inside a robot replica of yourself while kissing your future would-be murderer in a universe that has since ceased to exist timey-wimey ball notwithstanting, you were, and I quote directly from my brain, "pretty good."

I love that, in the article quoted above, Rusty tries to suddenly be a moral guardian. The guy who put same-sex couples in Doctor Who thinks transsexuals cross the line. Apparently. (Sidebar: I'm also amused by Game of Thrones constantly equating homosexual and incestuous relationships.)

I'm disturbed that people want Billie Piper to be the next Doctor. ATTENTION YOUNG PEOPLE: Way back in the 1980s, the BBC did in fact cast someone as the Doctor who had already been on the show. His name was Colin Baker, and his tenure was a clusterfrak. Now, it wasn't his fault - Eric Saward wanted to write about bounty hunters and space marines, and George Lucas Jon Nathan-Turner wanted to sell toys rather than focus on telling a good story. But it is not a good omen. And besides, I don't want the next Doctor to say "fink" instead of "think."

But there's a second reason why I don't want Billie Piper to play the Doctor. And it has nothing to do with her gender.

Red Wedding follow-up

From a reader's perspective, things I liked, things I didn't like, and things I'm "meh" on.

Sploilers.

"The Rains of Castamere" immediate reaction

Spoilaaaaaaaahs

It's a nice day for a...

...White Wedding

Doctor Smith's tenure is up

Matt Smith is leaving Doctor Who at Christmas. Opinionated fanboy that I am, I'm weighing in on that.