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Game of Thrones: the last series [SPOILERS]

Started by sheridan, 15 April, 2019, 11:09:22 AM

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Keef Monkey

Quote from: radiator on 01 May, 2019, 10:41:21 PM
I stream from HBO NOW via an Apple TV, and I also really struggled with compression artifacts (and I agree that when people complain about clarity with this episode, it's probably due to compression rather than cinematography or lighting).

Streaming becoming the norm is partly why I don't care about upgrading my TV to 4K for the foreseeable future - as far as I'm concerned the tech just isn't there yet to match even Blu Ray level fidelity, let alone improve on it.

Yeah, the 4K content that Netflix and Amazon stream certainly looks better than regular HD, but it's definitely not competing with a Blu-ray.

Saying that, as far as the compression problems I will say I don't get any of that with Netflix, even when streaming stuff with all the 4K/HDR/Atmos bells and whistles. I've never seen any of the colour banding and artifacts that I get badly on NowTV and (much less severely) on Amazon Prime. If whatever magic Netflix are weaving could spread to the other services then things might get a lot better!

With most shows it doesn't bother me too much, but it was knowing how fantastic and cinematic that GoT episode would look in all its glory that made it sting.

IndigoPrime

Netflix has progressive compression. It also offers multiple levels when you subscribe. NOW TV's only option is shite – doubly so on Apple TV, which is also lumbered with a pre-tvOS app that I have it on good authority is never going to be updated.

JOE SOAP

#122
Considering there had been fewer complaints with seeing things at night in previous episodes in the show's dark ligthing scheme, the decision to emulate the naturalness of the Barry Lyndon aesthetic and mimic the effect of shooting only with available light in a pitch black battle full of smoke and snow means it was going to be hard to see even without the degradation of streaming compression. Going underlit was a design choice. They didn't want us to see everything.

"The showrunners decided that this had to be a dark episode," says Wagner. "We'd seen so many battle scenes over the years – to make it truly impactful and to care for the characters, you have to find a unique way of portraying the story."

Wagner says that the majority of the darkness in the episode is thanks to the night-time shoot, with the rest of the atmosphere produced on-set through lighting choices. "Another look would have been wrong," he says. "Everything we wanted people to see is there."


https://www.wired.co.uk/article/game-of-thrones-too-dark-to-see

4k HDR would improve it.

Steve Green

As someone posted on twitter

[spoiler]When the wight was brought to Kings Landing, Maester Qyburn looked like he'd been given the cheat codes - bearing in mind that he's already bought the Mountain back to life, it could be that we've not seen the last of wights[/spoiler]

IndigoPrime

Quote from: JOE SOAP on 02 May, 2019, 01:50:34 PMGoing underlit was a design choice. They didn't want us to see everything.
Chaos seemed to be the main direction – not knowing who was dead or alive, how badly someone was injured, and whether whoever had gone down under a swarm of snow zombies would get up again. Compare to The Walking Dead's cinematic and death-porn takes on character deaths by zombies.

sheridan

Quote from: Steve Green on 02 May, 2019, 01:53:28 PM
As someone posted on twitter




I'm hoping for something along those lines too - [spoiler]the original Night King was the result of the Children of the Forest's defence getting out of hand, so hopefully Qyburn's meddling will also escalate further than expected.  Otherwise we won't get the existential threat we've had since the first scene all those years ago[/spoiler].

Steve Green

Also again someone mentioning on twitter

[spoiler]Gods in GoT and the Lord of Light, and the drowned god being fairly useless.

With the imminent sea battle, I'm wondering if we might get a Kraken showing up - they're mentioned in the books apparently, and we've had dragons... I can't recall if they've been mentioned in the show, bar appearing on sails[/spoiler]

Funt Solo

I like the idea that Qyburn might have more nefarious schemes up his twisted sleeves.

At the moment, the most obviously stupid thing for the dragon-riders to do would be to use their dragons anywhere near Cersei and Qyburn: they should have learned from their narrow escape during the battle of the Goldroad (and from losing a dragon to a spikey thing already) that ballistae are a problem.

Without the dragons it's going to be difficult for the remnants of the north to go up against the Sex Pirate and the Golden Company.
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

radiator

Tbh the dispatching of the Walkers in the latest episode very much feels like an attempt by the writers to get away from the overtly supernatural elements of the story in favour of the political intrigue and human conflict that the audience generally tends to prefer. There's no way that they're introducing anything like [spoiler]Krakens[/spoiler] at this late stage, and while I wouldn't rule it out 100%, to airdrop another undead army into the narrative after they only just defeated one would feel repetitive and redundant so I really don't think that's going to happen.


Someone posted this on Twitter the other day, and it perfectly sums up my issue with the direction of the show:

QuoteA Song of Ice & Fire: the game of thrones is just a distraction from the real problem: the long night.

Game of Thrones: The Long Night is just a distraction from the real problem: the game of thrones.

FWIW, I very strongly suspect that the show is going to end with some version of [spoiler]the iron throne being melted down with dragon fire - in a symbolic rejection of absolute monarchy rule (and all the horror it has wrought) and a neat inversion on how it was originally forged by Aegon the Conqueror[/spoiler].... But simply by framing the final conflict as one between Dany and Cersei to me they've still fundamentally changed the nature and meaning of the ending in a way that I'm really not a fan of.

broodblik

Quote from: radiator on 02 May, 2019, 07:15:37 PM
Tbh the dispatching of the Walkers in the latest episode very much feels like an attempt by the writers to get away from the overtly supernatural elements of the story in favour of the political intrigue and human conflict that the audience generally tends to prefer. There's no way that they're introducing anything like [spoiler]Krakens[/spoiler] at this late stage, and while I wouldn't rule it out 100%, to airdrop another undead army into the narrative after they only just defeated one would feel repetitive and redundant so I really don't think that's going to happen.


I do not feel that is the case. Winterfell is before Kings Landing thus would be the first target of The Night King. His main target was Bran and so he went for the kill. No this is were I liked what they did, everyone was expecting an epic one-on-one mortal kombat street fighter brawls between Jon and the Night. They went for something more surprising and satisfactory a one-shot kill. Everything now points to a more conventional fight to the end.
When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car.

Old age is the Lord's way of telling us to step aside for something new. Death's in case we didn't take the hint.

Eamonn Clarke

Who's still on the field for team Dani?

No Dothraki
About a dozen Unsullied
Most of her A team
Two injured dragons
Jara Greyjoy and a handful of ships.
The fierce little girl with the scared face.
And that's about it.

Still at least Sansa's meetings about grain reserves and the soup kitchens will get a bit easier.
"They're dead, they're all dead. OK? Can I go now?"

JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: Eamonn Clarke on 02 May, 2019, 08:40:17 PM.
The fierce little girl with the scared face.


Can't place her I'm afraid. Unless you mean the magnificent Lady Mormont, in which case I have some bad news...
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Eamonn Clarke

Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 02 May, 2019, 09:14:42 PM
Quote from: Eamonn Clarke on 02 May, 2019, 08:40:17 PM.
The fierce little girl with the scared face.


Can't place her I'm afraid. Unless you mean the magnificent Lady Mormont, in which case I have some bad news...

The scarred northerner from the soup line in episode 2.  The one who reminded Davos and Gilly of Shireen. She defended the crypts and I think she was holding Varys' hand at the end.

The wonderful Bear cub of house Mormont did indeed go out in a blaze of glory, which might be a convenience for the writers as she was the leading spokesperson for the King in the North, and not a great fan of the Dragon Queen.

JayzusB.Christ

"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

Definitely Not Mister Pops

After digesting the implications of the last episode for a while I think it's fine. Not Brilliant, but fine. I wanted there to more to the story of The Other's but there isn't and that's fine. I had all kinds of theories about the Night King's motivations, but if it's just genocide, that's fine. He was a non character really, that's fine. Just a metaphor for an seemingly unstoppable force of nature. Fine. Not actually actively evil, just as uncaring as the wind and rain and snow. That's pretty good to be fair.

I really wanted there to be more to it. Some kind of ancient pact between the Children of the Forest and the First Men. There wasn't. The whole thing was an elaborate fake out. A subversion. I don't have a hard time thinking this might have been Martin's plan all along. He's on record in several interviews, stating that The Ultimate Battle Between Good And Evil doesn't really interest him. There's a quote I can't be bothered to look up where refers to Aragorn ruling wisely for 100 (300? been a while since I read it) years after Sauron was defeated. Martin asks how did he rule wisely? What happened to all orcs? The biggest themes of the books are the nuances power and leadership, not epic battles between good and evil.

The Night King went down like a punk. So did Ned and Robb and countless others. This is not a story of good versus evil.

I think that's right, it was too dark to tell.
You may quote me on that.