Okay, so I watched these weird commercials over the last couple weeks. The thing that most caught my attention was the smoky cloud dragon sweeping over a city and breathing fire.
But I was also caught up in the look and appearance of a man who turned out to be Captain Sam Vimes.
After I recognized the name on a TV guide feed I get every day, I knew who Sam Vimes was. My son Chandler was hooked on the Terry Pratchett books when he was growing up. I can't remember how many of them he read. A lot. And he would regale me with the things Carrot, the adopted dwarf, did. He thought they were hilarious.
I tried the first one and it didn't take. Several of my college students liked them as well, but the book just didn't work for me. Maybe I tried reading it at one of those stressed-out points in my life. Can't remember. When I get in that shape, I need comfort reading, not new-stuff reading.
So I told Chandler about the series and he got stoked!
I recorded tonight's episode and we waited till after his mom finished watching football. I watch football at times too, and I'm glad I didn't see the Chiefs lose today. The Superbowl is gonna be...interesting. And the two teams apparently aren't going to be known for a while. I thought the Steelers were a shoe-in. Now...
Anyway, Chandler and I watched the show a few minutes ago. I loved it, and he kind of hated it. It didn't grab him the way he wanted it to, and too many things were different for him. For me, I just dropped right into the world and had a great time.
Richard Dormer is new to me, I think. At least, I can't recall seeing him in anything, and a quick check of his background on Wikipedia revealed nothing to me that I would have seen him in. I checked out of GAME OF THRONES too early to see him arrive.
Chandler was dismayed and I was intrigued. We split the decision and he decided he would watch it if I did. I win. I have another show I can share with my kid.
I guess the bottom line is, if you've read the books, you might not enjoy the show. Neil Gaiman had this to say about it, "Yes. But the fan base are fans. And they like the source material because it’s the source material they like. So if you do something else, you risk alienating the fans on a monumental scale. It’s not Batman if he’s now a news reporter in a yellow trenchcoat with a pet bat.
— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) October 9, 2020
For myself, I'm happy to watch to see how this eight-episode series winds everything up. And I'm a little more inclined to give the books another go.
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