Difficult Decision for book readers...

Gry Wnd

Gry Wnd

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Hypothetically,

In light of the show runners saying they are pushing forward without the books if he doesn't finish in time....

If there is an 8th book or if it just takes GRRM 4-5 years, a season or two could be out for more then a year or years before we get the book(s).

Couple of interesting points:
1. TV views have an opportunity to spoil the story for book readers. So if you spoiled something for a Viewer, watch out, roles could be reversed. :)
2. With the show out for more then a year maybe even a couple years, do you really think you can avoid spoilers until the book(s) comes out? I don't.

So what do we do? Jump to TV or wait for books and avoid TV viewers (some that may be bitter because some jerk Spoiled the Red Wedding for them).


I 'm having issues doing a poll but my options would be:
A. (Where do whores go?) Glady Jump Ship because the show is awesome so no biggie.
B. (Do not Turn your Cloak) Are you kidding me?? No way! Books are better, they are always better this isn't an option - I'm waiting.
C. (Confess "crimes" and Take the Black) Don't want too but the show is good and I'd rather give up the greatness of the book to avoid hearing about a "red wedding" type of spoiler or perhaps finding out the whole damn ending...


I'm voting for C- We've all recorded a sporting event and someone just blurts out what happened assuming we know. Think about it, a year or two after the season, NO ONE is holding back spoilers....

What would you do?
 
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This is a tricky question. Having said that there's another option, which is that they might deliberately diverge the storylines. When the show first began, this very issue was raised and the producers said they intended to adhere to the books for the first four or five seasons, but if they caught up with the books they'd consider diverging the series away from the books. This would be inevitable anyway, unless they got Martin to write every episode. While they've said that he's told them the basic outline of the entire series, they won't know every detail of future events without the books.
 
Interesting, think of all the things they could flesh out, but they still have to keep it entertaining. I wonder how that would work...

They said it wouldn't be a prequal situation, however I think flashbacks would be awesome.

Tower of Joy flashback or episode

More of the rebellion, Dunk and Egg....

But there is only so much stalling they can do. GRRM take 4 plus years, period. Always. And what if he has to add a book?
 
Gry Wnd said:
I 'm having issues doing a poll but my options would be:
A. (Where do whores go?) Glady Jump Ship because the show is awesome so no biggie.
B. (Do not Turn your Cloak) Are you kidding me?? No way! Books are better, they are always better this isn't an option - I'm waiting.
C. (Confess "crimes" and Take the Black) Don't want too but the show is good and I'd rather give up the greatness of the book to avoid hearing about a "red wedding" type of spoiler or perhaps finding out the whole damn ending...
Click to expand...

I like your options, or specifically the names of your options.

We are putting the cart a long ways before the horse in this case. As wonderfully amazing as the show is, the continuation of the show for another 3+ years is far from a done deal. Has there ever been an HBO dramatic series that has run for six or more years?
 
Tywin said:
I like your options, or specifically the names of your options.

We are putting the cart a long ways before the horse in this case. As wonderfully amazing as the show is, the continuation of the show for another 3+ years is far from a done deal. Has there ever been an HBO dramatic series that has run for six or more years?
Click to expand...

The Sopranos lasted six seasons, and HBO is planning on six seasons for Neil Gaiman's "American Gods," but I haven't come across anything that was planned for/ran longer than six seasons. I have read (though I don't recall the source off the top of my head) that HBO would try to do a season for every book provided they didn't catch up too quickly. I'll hunt around for the source if I can.

As to the question posed, it's really tough. I don't know if I would B - Keep My Vows, or C - Take the Black.
 
After the DVD comes out I'll have to remember to come back here and watch the video of GRRM watching the video of people watching the episode after I've watched it.
 
I will go with option C. I hate being the last to know. In this case, knowing how it all turns out would be more important to me than waiting for the "full experience" that reading the books is. I really, really, REALLY hope he gets his act together and finishes the two books he has lined up before the show catches up though.
 
I would watch the show without thinking twice about it. i hate waiting, and I would be incapable of not seeking spoilers out at some point. I also think that it would be impossible to avoid spoilers once the show aired, so the chopice seems clear. Just for the sake of referwence, I completely cut myself off from the rest of the world until I finished aDWD. no TV, no internet, no conversations with friends who were readers. I have no plans to be a hermit for a year or more.
 
Yeah it's hard not to have it spoiled. I waited over a year before I read ADWD because it took them so long to release the smaller paperback here, and I wanted all my copies to be the same size. In that time I tried my best to avoid spoilers, but found out the ending scene, much to my annoyance.
 
Gumboot said:
Yeah it's hard not to have it spoiled. I waited over a year before I read ADWD because it took them so long to release the smaller paperback here, and I wanted all my copies to be the same size. In that time I tried my best to avoid spoilers, but found out the ending scene, much to my annoyance.
Click to expand...

No libraries in NZ?

I'd watch the show. I wouldn't have much choice - my wife is a watcher! And as most everyone has said, it'd be hard to avoid spoilers. The Red Wedding was everywhere online.

I'm also in the camp (and have been since the start, pretty much) that the series won't be able to keep from veering off in their own direction. I think any ending they come to would be loosely similar, but divergent enough to make reading the final book basically a new experience.
 
I can take or leave the show. I'm waiting for the books.
 
Gumboot said:
Yeah it's hard not to have it spoiled. I waited over a year before I read ADWD because it took them so long to release the smaller paperback here, and I wanted all my copies to be the same size. In that time I tried my best to avoid spoilers, but found out the ending scene, much to my annoyance.
Click to expand...

Haha, I know that feeling of wanting the books all in the same style and size. When the 6th Harry Potter book was out I bought it straight away and read it that same day (and night) using extreme care when turning the pages, then returned it to the shop the day after. I feel really cheap writing this now, hah! With TWOW I'll just get it hardback, I don't mind as much anymore.
 
The Imp said:
I would watch the show without thinking twice about it. i hate waiting, and I would be incapable of not seeking spoilers out at some point. I also think that it would be impossible to avoid spoilers once the show aired, so the chopice seems clear. Just for the sake of referwence, I completely cut myself off from the rest of the world until I finished aDWD. no TV, no internet, no conversations with friends who were readers. I have no plans to be a hermit for a year or more.
Click to expand...


I'll read and watch whatever I can get my hands on as soon as I can!
:)
 
Not quite sure how I would avoid the world but I would have to wait for the book!
 
The decision that, for me, is not a decision. Easy answer: wait for the books. I manage to avoid hearing about the show and only recently watched seasons 2 and 3 (still haven't seen the last two of s3...but I made sure to drink in the tv-viewer's tears). The most I get is friends asking me for spoiler, which I gleefully withhold. I imagine I might have to say "no GoT talk" a couple times, but that's about it.

That being said, I have faith that Martin will get, at the very least, the 6th book finished and printed before the show catches up. Considering season 4 is going to be the second half of Storm I think there's a good amount of time for GRRM. It also seems entirely plausible that Feast and Dance will be combined for the show and that they will go for a minimum of 3 seasons. Assuming TWoW is on the same level as ADWD and SoS in terms of length, it would likely get 2 seasons as well. So, GRRM has, potentially, 6 seasons worth of GoT before the last book has to be finished and 4 seasons to finish TWoW.
 
Lofwyr said:
The decision that, for me, is not a decision. Easy answer: wait for the books. I manage to avoid hearing about the show and only recently watched seasons 2 and 3 (still haven't seen the last two of s3...but I made sure to drink in the tv-viewer's tears). The most I get is friends asking me for spoiler, which I gleefully withhold. I imagine I might have to say "no GoT talk" a couple times, but that's about it.

That being said, I have faith that Martin will get, at the very least, the 6th book finished and printed before the show catches up. Considering season 4 is going to be the second half of Storm I think there's a good amount of time for GRRM. It also seems entirely plausible that Feast and Dance will be combined for the show and that they will go for a minimum of 3 seasons. Assuming TWoW is on the same level as ADWD and SoS in terms of length, it would likely get 2 seasons as well. So, GRRM has, potentially, 6 seasons worth of GoT before the last book has to be finished and 4 seasons to finish TWoW.
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I'd be amazed if they got 3 seasons out of FFC and ADWD. They will be filming both books as one entity since the geographical split would work even worse on a tv series than it did with the books, but there isn't enough incident in the two books to warrant 3 seasons. Tbh, two is a push, and most of the good stuff is latter half of DWD. Slthough the tv watchers are loving the show, there has been a LOT of murmurings along the lines of "is Danearys EVER going to get to Westeros??" They won't have the patience for two seasons of her not doing a great deal.

My prediction for the tv series is:

2014 - Storm of Swords season 2
2015 - FFFC/ADWD season 1
2016 - FFC/ADWD season 2
2017 - should be TWOW
2018 - ADOS

ADWD book came out 2011. If we be optimistic and say 5 years between that and TWOW then it's coming out 2016. That should JUST be enough time for them to base the scripts on GRRM's book ready for the season of TWOW, so we're ok up to then. However, that then only gives GRRM 2 years to get ADOS onto shelves, slightly less if the season comes out in the spring.

Clearly that's not going to happen. We need GRRM to release TWOW next year to have any hope of reading the conclusion before the series is out, that means 4 years between ADWD and TWOW and then another 4 years for ADOS, so even then it's going to be tight. Obviously this assumes no 8th book.

I think he could do it, but every month counts now and the impression I get is that he doesn't write faster under pressure. I've never boughgt into the idea that he "owes" us books at a certain speed, but I have to say I DO think he owes us readers the ending before the tv series. It was his decision to sign the rights to HBO, so he's put himself under this pressure. He's admitted he has trouble saying no but I hope he learns, if he could cut back on other work commitments I think he'd be fine. The first three came out much closer together.
 
You have to take into consideration that ADoS and TWoW are both supposed to be pretty huge books. I think that Martin is estimating each at around 1500 pages (not sure if that's manuscript pages or print pages), but I believe he has said in interviews that they will be the longest of the novels yet. Additionally, there should be significantly more action and less political maneuvering in the last two which would chew up screen time. Because of this it's likely that TWoW would take at least two seasons so that would put a little more play in your schedule, but I think your conclusion is correct that it's going to be tight no matter what.
 
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