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by fabio 03/24/2012, 6:21pm PDT |
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Taking everyone's word for it that the books are full of intriguing backstabbing deal making epic dynasty forging, I'm going to assume that the story covered in season 1 is only a fraction of a single book. As if an executive flipped through a synopsis and decided to set the season 1 finale at "Sean Bean dies", sending the writers scrambling to include every redundant scene in order to pad out an entire season. Events stretched over 10 episode could have been covered in 3 or 4, tops. Imagine if a Dune mini-series spent 10 episodes leading up to Leto's death, and with less than half of the events. An entire episode would be devoted to the water merchant's slutty daughter.
Can we agree the bar for sci-fi/fantasy politicking was set by Dune? I'd like to take a snapshot of one chapter to compare how this should be approached.
Dune
Setting: A representative from the Emperor attends the Baron's nephew's gladiatorial games.
Under the surface: The representative is actually there to discuss the Baron's handling of Arakis, a planet the Emperor seceded to a rival he feared knowing that he would be forced to accept it and thus lured into a trap. Through many subtle threats, the Emperor tells the Baron he needs to get his shit under control and no one can find out the Emperor's troops were involved lest all the houses unite against him. The Baron has plans of his own to consolidate his position and set up his nephew in line for the imperial throne.
Meanwhile, the Baron's nephew has ambitions to replace his uncle sooner than expected, and comes up with a PR plan to boost his image by showboating in the arena.
Meanwhile, Leto's captured adviser accepts a position as the Baron's servant in order to set in motion a long term plan for revenge. He plants the PR plan into the nephew's head, then sets up a win-win situation where a former servant of Leto is put in the position of having a shot at killing the nephew, either that or distrust is sewed between him and the Baron.
MEANWHILE, the Bene Gesserit order the representative's wife to bear the nephew's love child in an attempt to salvage their work.
All of this takes place in less than 30 pages.
Game of Thrones
Setting: The entire first season
Under the surface: The queen and her incestuous brother murdered the king's adviser because he was reading an old genealogy book. After 8 episodes, Sean Bean discovers the book's secret: that 3 generation's of the king's male ancestors all had black hair. Somehow this is instant irrefutable proof that the queen's son is from her brother and not the king, not to mention that a secret book was needed to unearth this and not, say, the king's living memory of his father and grandfather's hair color. Sean Bean gives the queen one day to clear out. In that day, the king is mortally wounded in a freak hunting accident and wills Sean Bean to run the kingdom until his son is old enough to rule. Nobles warn Sean Bean that the queen will try something and that he should arrest her now. He refuses. A noble with dubious loyalty tells him he can get the city guard on his side to confront the queen tomorrow.
The next day, the queen declares her son king. Sean Bean says nuh uh, he had to wait a couple years here's the will. The queen tears up the will and says too bad. Sean Bean reveals his non-proof that the prince is the queen's incestuous love child and not the king's rightful son. Nobody cares. The noble and city guard tell Sean Bean that they sided with the queen instead, sorry. So the guy who couldn't really be trusted couldn't really be trusted, a far cry from Dune's Yueh.
So that, the entire political plot from an entire 10 hour season, can be summed up as searching for non-proof of incest that nobody cares about so the main character can die over upholding a technicality that nobody cares about after being unsurprisingly and anticlimactically betrayed by a man who openly told him not to trust him, none of which would have come to anything if the king hadn't happened to be gored by a wild boar that day.
MEANWHILE some chick drank a lot of horse blood and now fire can't hurt her. |
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Game of Thrones (Nothing Happens: The Series) by fabio 06/19/2011, 3:36pm PDT 
Nothing happens! In Game of Thrones! HAHAHAHAHhahahahaHAHAHAHAHahahhahahahahahah NT by Entropy Stew 06/20/2011, 10:00am PDT
about as much as the content of your post by fabio 06/20/2011, 12:04pm PDT
It's amazing the world of script reading wasn't transformed by your amazing insi NT by and then a star wars analogy. 06/21/2011, 7:54pm PDT
Stew is an idiot. The script is plodding because the books are plodding by WITTGENSTEIN 07/19/2011, 8:06pm PDT
posts tell us things about posters: the post NT by up with pod people 07/20/2011, 3:44pm PDT
One month later: fans still powerless to rebuke anything by fabio 07/20/2011, 8:28pm PDT
you know nothing, fabio snow. NT by up with pod people 07/20/2011, 9:00pm PDT
Podpeople you ignorant slut NT by Fabio Akroyd 07/21/2011, 8:13am PDT
Re: One month later: fans still powerless to rebuke anything by col.schickn 07/21/2011, 8:30am PDT
Episode 4 and Sean Bean still has his head. by fabio 07/21/2011, 2:36pm PDT
Wrong. Keep trying, Fabio. One day you'll hate something for the right reasons. NT by Horrible Gelatinous Blob 07/21/2011, 3:36pm PDT
ICJ, just delete this thread full of fucking spoilers NT by ES 07/21/2011, 3:40pm PDT
Guess what? HE NEVER KILLS ANYONE ELSE WORTH SHIT. NT by WITTGENSTEIN 07/21/2011, 4:03pm PDT
Re: Guess what? HE NEVER KILLS ANYONE ELSE WORTH SHIT. by col.schickn 07/21/2011, 8:33pm PDT
Maimed, killed, or worse NT by Entropy Stew 07/22/2011, 9:57am PDT
You're both stupid faggots. BODYCOUNT CHECK OF POV CHARACTERS FOLLOWS by WITTGENSTEIN 07/22/2011, 3:36pm PDT
Re: You're both stupid faggots. BODYCOUNT CHECK OF POV CHARACTERS FOLLOWS by motherfuckerfoodeater 07/23/2011, 5:06am PDT
Holy shit, now I've heard everything. by WITTGENSTEIN 07/23/2011, 6:04am PDT
HRRRRRRRRRNGGGG MFFE IS IRRATIONAL UNNNNNNNNNNGH NT by Wittgenstein 07/23/2011, 7:40am PDT
MFFE thinks 30 pages of a midget fucking and spooning is quality literature NT by WITTGENSTEIN 07/23/2011, 7:47am PDT
Re: You're both stupid faggots. BODYCOUNT CHECK OF POV CHARACTERS FOLLOWS by Ice Cream Jonsey 07/23/2011, 9:56am PDT
wnted to bump this after season three by col.schickn 06/13/2013, 9:24pm PDT
So has the POV character death count changed? NT by skip 06/14/2013, 4:45pm PDT
no NT by fabio 06/14/2013, 6:11pm PDT
Re: So has the POV character death count changed? by col.schickn 06/14/2013, 9:15pm PDT
Did you forget where you were posting? Everyone shits on everything here. NT by A Message from Caltrops Cares 06/15/2013, 8:45am PDT
Wittgenstein didn't change the argument by skip 06/16/2013, 12:01am PDT
Robb Stark was really a missed opportunity by WITTGENSTEIN 06/16/2013, 8:07am PDT
Well, I guess one more can be added now. Maybe. by skip 06/15/2015, 1:25pm PDT
Guess Robb Stark wasn't the only missed opportunity by skip 05/02/2016, 12:49pm PDT
Finally slogged through season 1 by fabio 03/24/2012, 6:21pm PDT
I couldn't make it through the first book. by Fullofkittens 03/24/2012, 7:22pm PDT
It makes sense that everyone here defending it is a Mass Effect fan NT by Favorite Movie: The Crow 03/25/2012, 10:42am PDT
You sympathize tons with the guy who gets offed to prove he's old and irrelevant NT by Gutsby 03/25/2012, 3:21pm PDT
What do you want, FABIO? Fucking DNA evidence? 3 blond kids: STATISTICALLY UNLIK NT by Entropy Stew 03/26/2012, 12:24am PDT
Also, the king has tons of illegitimate children with black hair. Everyone in NT by this book is dumb or colorblind. 06/13/2013, 7:19pm PDT
Re-reading Dune again by fabio 04/06/2012, 12:26pm PDT
Re: Re-reading Dune again by Souffle of Pain 06/13/2013, 9:54pm PDT
FUCKING NT by BRO FIST 06/14/2013, 12:22pm PDT
What are some other books of the genre you would say have better dialog? NT by fabio 06/14/2013, 6:10pm PDT
Re: What are some other books of the genre you would say have better dialog? by Souffle of Pain 06/14/2013, 7:50pm PDT
Alright by fabio 06/15/2013, 8:55am PDT
Okay, the whole series should have ended at the Red Wedding by fabio 06/16/2013, 9:23am PDT
My friend prefers Tigana to GRRM's stuff and they're both political fantasies. NT by skip 06/14/2013, 8:00pm PDT
Oh yes, what a horrible scene by Entropy Stew 06/14/2013, 8:34am PDT
Gotta go with Fahbs on this one. by Mischief Maker 06/14/2013, 9:33am PDT
Informed attributes? Really? NT by Entropy Stew 06/14/2013, 10:30am PDT
Re: Informed attributes? Really? by Mischief Maker 06/14/2013, 11:03am PDT
You've finally watched the show? by fabio 06/14/2013, 6:00pm PDT
There are 27 instance of "I", "you", "we", etc in the clip I posted by Entropy Stew 06/16/2013, 5:13am PDT
Game of Thrones: full of inartfully veiled threats (S3 spoilers) by Entropy Stew 06/16/2013, 5:24am PDT
Game of FML NT by Tyrion 06/16/2013, 8:25am PDT
It reminds me of David Mamet, without profanity NT by WITTGENSTEIN 06/16/2013, 8:31am PDT
Re: Re-reading Dune again by Matthew Holland 06/14/2013, 9:20am PDT
nah by fabio 06/14/2013, 6:08pm PDT
I just remembered: by Fullofkittens 06/14/2013, 8:37pm PDT
Re: nah by motherfuckerfoodeater 06/14/2013, 11:18pm PDT
SUCH AS? by Mischief Maker 06/15/2013, 10:55am PDT
Why do you keep fucking posting so many then? NT by The question on all our minds 06/15/2013, 9:28pm PDT
It is not a matter of opinion that Proust is a better writer than GRRM NT by Mister Helper 06/16/2013, 5:03am PDT
Megan Amram on Game of Thrones by Fullofkittens 06/13/2013, 7:58pm PDT
SNL by fabio 06/14/2013, 3:14am PDT
I like this show by Roop 06/15/2013, 9:42pm PDT
Community, Homeland, new Arrested Development, Archer by fabio 06/16/2013, 12:12am PDT
I never would have guessed that Fabio liked Community. by Horrible Gelatinous Blob 06/16/2013, 3:56pm PDT
Only on season 1 NT by fabio 06/19/2013, 1:13pm PDT
It sucks! by Gutsby 06/19/2013, 4:27pm PDT
Community is a nerd show now? by fabio 06/19/2013, 5:29pm PDT
The Problem With The Big Bang Theory by Fullofkittens 06/19/2013, 6:30pm PDT
That article was SJW bullshit :( by fabio 06/29/2013, 12:44am PDT
Season 4 felt like it was generated by E.L. Koba's twitter markov chain NT by Entropy Stew 06/19/2013, 2:35pm PDT
AH! You like Sassy! I hate Sassy :( by Roop 06/18/2013, 8:25pm PDT
So you've never found any show to be funny? by fabio 06/19/2013, 1:17pm PDT
Only four? by Jerry Whorebach 06/27/2013, 1:35pm PDT
This show kind of followed the same quality arc True Blood did by fabio 06/16/2015, 12:54am PDT
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