Game of Thrones Season 8 (NO BOOKSPOILERS) thread

[idigTexas 2297]

Bunch of fucking Nobel Prize for Literature winners up in here.  Why aren't you all working for HBO,  coaching your favorite college teams to multiple national championships, or setting the hours of operation for HEB?

[idigTexas 2297]

20 minutes ago, taybo20 said:

That’s right. The Knights of the vale were not around.

They weren't?  Nice of them to leave their shields and armor behind.

 

[taybo20 2977]

10 minutes ago, idigTexas said:

They weren't?  Nice of them to leave their shields and armor behind.

 

Whoops I’m an idiot. I was confused.

[billfromlaketravis 11647]

31 minutes ago, Tom said:

Just watched for the second time and I can't believe how many people are defending the darkness of this episode.  I don't care if it's cheaper to film.  We were told the long wait and shortened season was going to lead to movie quality episodes.  If I paid $12 to sit in a theater and was only able to see half of what was happening I'd ask for a refund.  And give me a break on blaming it on the quality of TVs.  

Episode was great, at least the 30 minutes of it I was able to see.

 

If you have a 4K TV, change the settings to HDR mode and change lighting to normal/native. It helped immensely during my rewatch. 

[Mojo Hand 4580]

Looked fine on my TV

[Eskimohorn 5658]

Bunch of fucking Nobel Prize for Literature winners up in here.  Why aren't you all working for HBO,  coaching your favorite college teams to multiple national championships, or setting the hours of operation for HEB?

The Greg Davis defense. Can’t offer an opinion if you’re not a [insert profession here]. But sometimes you can fly a banner.

[Upgrayedd 5830]

9 hours ago, tbone_ said:

And why did they feel the need to create a magic psycho to try to kill humans for thousands of years again?

Mistakes were made

[Pig Bellmont 8777]

15 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Speaking of, as far as we know there’s still a lot of wildfire under the streets of kings landing right?  Minus what was used at black water bay and to blow up the sept?

Oh yes. Kings Landing is a fucking tinder box

[Gene Parmesan 4030]

Yeah I think the wildfire makes an appearance in later episodes.  I don't think they'd want to dip into that well multiple times this season.  The military tactics at play were clearly a joke, but it did provide for the awesome visual of the flaming swords riding off then being extinguished.  They said as much that the only hope was to lure the NK in a trap with Bran, so there was not much thought into actually winning the battle on the field outside of killing the NK.  The horde was essentially endless so coming up with better tactics to win on that front are pointless.  Yeah the could have not lost the entire Dothraki army in a matter of minutes but 95% of the army dying was always inevitable since the NK was never going to expose himself until the end.

Darkness was fine on my TV.  I have seen clips on my phone and it was pretty unwatchable unless you are in a pitch black room. 

[JimmyHoffa 1188]

1 hour ago, billfromlaketravis said:

If you have a 4K TV, change the settings to HDR mode and change lighting to normal/native. It helped immensely during my rewatch. 

 

This. I am not saying it wasn't dark but it wasn't pitch black like so many people seem to be saying it was. 

[Loco 3754]

13 minutes ago, JimmyHoffa said:

 

This. I am not saying it wasn't dark but it wasn't pitch black like so many people seem to be saying it was. 

or maybe you have the brightness turned up to ridiculous levels on your TV.  I had my set calibrated and the brightness was set to 66.  Pushing it up to 100 helped but made everything else look like shit.

Maybe it's your TV, maybe it's the room, maybe it's your settings, maybe it's you....  but the groundswell of bitching is indicative of the veracity of the complaint.   

[idigTexas 2297]

I think the point regarding the darkness is that viewers should not have to adjust television settings or watch in a dark room to enjoy the episode.  It's great that some of you didn't have any issues, but a large segment of the viewing population found it to be a problem. 

[MNLonghornFUKM 8921]

My blacks looked absolutely terrible. Something an OLED strives in. Ah well.

[seven 1368]

35 minutes ago, Gene Parmesan said:

Darkness was fine on my TV.  I have seen clips on my phone and it was pretty unwatchable unless you are in a pitch black room. 

Yeah, same. I've watched it live on hbo and again on hbogo and it was fine. The clips and screengrabs on my phone are horrible, I'd definitely be upset if it looked like that on TV. 

[Barry_McCokiner 160]

Much easier second time around for some reason.

[smuggs 9360]

13 minutes ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

My blacks looked absolutely terrible. Something an OLED strives in. Ah well.

I rewatched last night and switched my picture setting to dynamic mode. It was definitely better than the first time around but still sub par. Big time pixelation on the darkest scenes.

[Barry_McCokiner 160]

1 minute ago, smuggs said:

I rewatched last night and switched my picture setting to dynamic mode. It was definitely better than the first time around but still sub par. Big time pixelation on the darkest scenes.

Some of these poors don't have dynamic mode

[MAUFRAIS 6684]

The Dothraki Gallipoli.

[Pig Bellmont 8777]

Anyone else predict that that Cersei repeats the history of the mad king - telling her people to burn the city to the ground- only to have Euron kill her and then sit on the throne waiting for the outside forces to overwhelm the city, just like Jamie did?

[closetojumping 63710]

I can’t tell whether I am going to be entertained or utterly condescending after this next episode when reading this thread. Well, let’s face it, probably both. It seems a very large group of you not preparing yourselves for the reality that is there will be tens of thousands of survivors for the living, readying to head south. There will be dothraki, Unsullied, members from all kinds of houses, the dragons, Ghost, and probably even a slew of ironborn. The hysterics here about how unreal it all is will be something to behold. 

[smuggs 9360]

1 minute ago, closetojumping said:

There will be dothraki, Unsullied, members from all kinds of houses, the dragons, Ghost, and probably even a slew of ironborn. The hysterics here about how unreal it all is will be something to behold. 

Prepare for Derka's rant about the writer's utter disregard for realistic combat casualty care.

[52-80 19291]

3 hours ago, idigTexas said:

Bunch of fucking Nobel Prize for Literature winners up in here.  Why aren't you all working for HBO,  coaching your favorite college teams to multiple national championships, or setting the hours of operation for HEB?

its not like we didnt see the previous 7 seasons to judge the show against itself - that it can be and has been stronger

[52-80 19291]

3 hours ago, Tom said:

Just watched for the second time and I can't believe how many people are defending the darkness of this episode.  I don't care if it's cheaper to film.  We were told the long wait and shortened season was going to lead to movie quality episodes.  If I paid $12 to sit in a theater and was only able to see half of what was happening I'd ask for a refund.  And give me a break on blaming it on the quality of TVs.  

Episode was great, at least the 30 minutes of it I was able to see.

 

not sure how people watching from satellite or stream experienced it.  i dont get hbo here so i pirate the 1080p torrent - the largest one available at 4gbs.  and most compression engines cant handle blacks for shit, so most of the scenes had tons of banding, gray washout, purple noise, etc. 

 

when its a lit or daytime scene, it looks beautiful on my 2018 4k hdr tv

 

edit:  looks much cleaner on 4k hdr 450nit laptop screen.  still dark as all hell, but atleast without the artefacts.  maybe tv was decompressing it improperly

Edited May 1, 2019 by 52-80

[closetojumping 63710]

28 minutes ago, smuggs said:

Prepare for Derka's rant about the writer's utter disregard for realistic combat casualty care.

I fucking love derka, and this thread has only made that so much stronger. I’ve never understood the hate. I cannot wait to see what new disparaging points he’s going to make about the writing. 

[JimmyHoffa 1188]

1 hour ago, idigTexas said:

I think the point regarding the darkness is that viewers should not have to adjust television settings or watch in a dark room to enjoy the episode.  It's great that some of you didn't have any issues, but a large segment of the viewing population found it to be a problem. 

 

1 hour ago, Loco said:

or maybe you have the brightness turned up to ridiculous levels on your TV.  I had my set calibrated and the brightness was set to 66.  Pushing it up to 100 helped but made everything else look like shit.

Maybe it's your TV, maybe it's the room, maybe it's your settings, maybe it's you....  but the groundswell of bitching is indicative of the veracity of the complaint.   

 

 

‘Game of Thrones’ cinematographer says it was your fault 'The Long Night' was too dark

 

“A lot of the problem is that a lot of people don’t know how to tune their TVs properly,” he told Wired, in an interview alongside director Miguel Sapochnik.

“A lot of people also unfortunately watch it on small iPads, which in no way can do justice to a show like that anyway.

“Personally I don’t have to always see what’s going on because it’s more about the emotional impact. Game of Thrones is a cinematic show and therefore you have to watch it like you’re at a cinema: in a darkened room.

“If you watch a night scene in a brightly-lit room then that won’t help you see the image properly.”

 

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/game-thrones-cinematographer-says-fault-long-night-dark-083314436.html

[Knoxtnhorn 6184]

1 hour ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

My blacks looked absolutely terrible. Something an OLED strives in. Ah well.

/kind of racist gif

[Loco 3754]

17 minutes ago, JimmyHoffa said:

‘Game of Thrones’ cinematographer says it was your fault 'The Long Night' was too dark

 

“A lot of the problem is that a lot of people don’t know how to tune their TVs properly,” he told Wired, in an interview alongside director Miguel Sapochnik.

 

agree, but I'm NOT one of those people.    I think he is on the defensive, rightfully so.  Dude fucked up

[idigTexas 2297]

1 hour ago, 52-80 said:

its not like we didnt see the previous 7 seasons to judge the show against itself - that it can be and has been stronger

Based on some of the comments in this thread, I'm not convinced that the previous 7 seasons have been watched by everyone.  I'm not saying that there is no room for criticism, because there absolutely is.  As has been pointed out, the goal posts were moved when it was decided to significantly reduce the number of episodes.  The writers are also working with a general outline at this point instead of detailed source material.  Unfortunately, it shows.  I absolutely agree that the writing on other episodes has been stronger, but I question whether it is realistic to expect it to continue. 

Edited May 1, 2019 by idigTexas

[52-80 19291]

7 minutes ago, Loco said:

agree, but I'm NOT one of those people.    I think he is on the defensive, rightfully so.  Dude fucked up

there are 1 billion instances in motion picture history with scenes with supposed pitch blackness -- underwater, in basements, in outerspace, etc - but the the viewer can still see things because the cinematographer/videographer/director provides some subtle ambient light.  its not distracting and takes absolutely nothing away from the mood or depiction.  (i only pay conscious attention as a photo/video geek). 

 

i get this is the long night, battle for the dawn, etc etc.  its supposed to be chaotic and confusing and eerie.  but damn if all i keep thinking is "this shit is dark".  and as this is supposed to be entertainment, not a technically-accurate historical depiction, i think the production crew made the wrong call

[idigTexas 2297]

34 minutes ago, JimmyHoffa said:

‘Game of Thrones’ cinematographer says it was your fault 'The Long Night' was too dark

 

“A lot of the problem is that a lot of people don’t know how to tune their TVs properly,” he told Wired, in an interview alongside director Miguel Sapochnik.

“A lot of people also unfortunately watch it on small iPads, which in no way can do justice to a show like that anyway.

“Personally I don’t have to always see what’s going on because it’s more about the emotional impact. Game of Thrones is a cinematic show and therefore you have to watch it like you’re at a cinema: in a darkened room.

“If you watch a night scene in a brightly-lit room then that won’t help you see the image properly.”

 

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/game-thrones-cinematographer-says-fault-long-night-dark-083314436.html

While I'm generally a fan of the job he has done, the cinematographer can kindly eat a bag of dicks on this one.  No other episode has required high end devices with precisely calibrated settings in order to be able to follow the action.  It's not an insignificant percentage of viewership that is complaining.  I did watch the episode in the dark out of necessity, but if I want a full theater experience, I'll go to an actual theater or at least to a Surly one percenter's house.      

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3861]

11 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

there are 1 billion instances in motion picture history with scenes with supposed pitch blackness -- underwater, in basements, in outerspace, etc - but the the viewer can still see things because the cinematographer/videographer/director provides some subtle ambient light.  its not distracting and takes absolutely nothing away from the mood or depiction.  (i only pay conscious attention as a photo/video geek). 

 

i get this is the long night, battle for the dawn, etc etc.  its supposed to be chaotic and confusing and eerie.  but damn if all i keep thinking is "this shit is dark".  and as this is supposed to be entertainment, not a technically-accurate historical depiction, i think the production crew made the wrong call

Plus, it's not like they even had to look hard for an excuse for some ambient light.  There was fire all around the whole battle.

[VABuckeye 2472]

4 hours ago, Mojo Hand said:

Looked fine on my TV

Spectacular on mine.

[TexasMan 11286]

 

[VABuckeye 2472]

2 hours ago, smuggs said:

Big time pixelation on the darkest scenes.

That's a limitation of your TV.  Dynamic or "torch" mode is never the best setting to use.  It crushes the whites and makes blacks gray at best.  If you do a Google on your model and the proper settings you should be able to find something appropriate.  AVS Forums are also a great reference.

Edited May 1, 2019 by VABuckeye

[HouTex 1902]

The Dothraki Gallipoli.

My avatar objects to the comparison.

[ChickenSandwich 9862]

4 k HDR MODE USERS 

turn down your brightness (Black Level) 5-10%

defualt in that mode on the majority of sets is MAX brightness. 

[52-80 19291]

Onto some of the good points:

 

Audio score was superb.

Misdirection with Arya giving Sansa unrecognizable dagger.

[Eskimohorn 5658]

 
 
‘Game of Thrones’ cinematographer says it was your fault 'The Long Night' was too dark
 
“A lot of the problem is that a lot of people don’t know how to tune their TVs properly,” he told Wired, in an interview alongside director Miguel Sapochnik.
“A lot of people also unfortunately watch it on small iPads, which in no way can do justice to a show like that anyway.
“Personally I don’t have to always see what’s going on because it’s more about the emotional impact. Game of Thrones is a cinematic show and therefore you have to watch it like you’re at a cinema: in a darkened room.
“If you watch a night scene in a brightly-lit room then that won’t help you see the image properly.”
 
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/game-thrones-cinematographer-says-fault-long-night-dark-083314436.html

Dude needs a primer from Roger Deakins how to immerse the viewer in darkness while actually capturing images on-screen.

Perhaps I should have told my wife that she couldn’t use the kitchen light to eat dinner. “Honey, the GOT cinematographer wants me to watch this in the dark on the right settings. Can you please turn the lights off so I can immerse myself in the defense of Winterfell? Also, Can you google which settings my tv should be on? Mmmkay, thanks!”

[Gene Parmesan 4030]

I agree on tv settings, but in his defense, if you went to a movie theatre and they left the lights on, you'd be bitching.  Watching shit in the dark isn't exactly something you need to go to cinematography school to grasp.

Edited May 1, 2019 by Gene Parmesan

[NOMAAA 1696]

14 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

Onto some of the good points:

 

Audio score was superb.

Misdirection with Arya giving Sansa unrecognizable dagger.

dragonglass dagger would have gotten him too, right?

[Burt Macklin 19157]

Just now, NOMAAA said:

dragonglass dagger would have gotten him too, right?

I don’t think we’re supposed to know.

It’s not even clear if any Valyrian steel weapon would’ve killed him. There was that picture of the dagger in the book Sam was reading at the citadel in S6 or 7, so that dagger may have been uniquely special but im guessing we won’t get an explanation either way. 

[kingkoopa6 8484]

50 minutes ago, TexasMan said:

 

lmao.. yeah he aint hit shit since that first strike...

[seven 1368]

20 minutes ago, NOMAAA said:

dragonglass dagger would have gotten him too, right?

In the post episode feature one of the D's said "we knew he could only be killed by valyrian steel. He was created by dragonglass so of course he could only be killed by it's opposite", something like that. That's just writer canon, nothing on the screen really suggested that. 

[52-80 19291]

26 minutes ago, NOMAAA said:

dragonglass dagger would have gotten him too, right?

Sam killed one of his breed with dragonglass earlier on.  And confirmed it with the books and them scavenging/mining it. 

 

Of course NK himself could be unique in terms of resistance.  Arya had the double ended spear of dragonglass that she lost during the battle.  I interpreted the gesture and her giving away her backup weapon. 

[Burt Macklin 19157]

One other thing I thought of, they could explain away all the prophecy of the prince who as promised, etc. jsut by Sam or Bran learning that the dagger is made out of part of Lightbringer. That would be a quick, easy way to explain away the issue with how they just kind of ignored a lot of prophecy and history that's mentioned in the show, but again, I'd bet they just don't address it and move on.

[DDD Dad 14437]

1 hour ago, 52-80 said:

Onto some of the good points:

 

Audio score was superb.

Misdirection with Arya giving Sansa unrecognizable dagger.

I dunno it looked pretty obvious to me that she gave her a knife with a dragon glass blade.

[Goo Punch 4275]

4 hours ago, closetojumping said:

I can’t tell whether I am going to be entertained or utterly condescending after this next episode when reading this thread. Well, let’s face it, probably both. It seems a very large group of you not preparing yourselves for the reality that is there will be tens of thousands of survivors for the living, readying to head south. There will be dothraki, Unsullied, members from all kinds of houses, the dragons, Ghost, and probably even a slew of ironborn. The hysterics here about how unreal it all is will be something to behold. 

just because magic exists in this world doesn't mean we abandon any semblance of logic or reason when looking at the story. "dragons exist, therefore none of this story needs to add up or make sense." that's the stance you're taking? good luck with that.

I mean fuck it, why not have Ned Stark leading the charge on King's Landing next week? Or better yet how about Iron Man? Yeah yeah, we'll have Iron Man and Ned Stark riding into battle on Kit from Knightrider, only to find out that Cersei has changed her mind about ruling the 7 Kingdoms, opting instead to enter into a three way marriage with previously unseen characters Ron and Tammy Greyjoy (played by Nick Offerman and Megan Mullaly), after the three of them killed Euron and took his fleet back to Iron Islands for a marathon nine session. Because hey- dragons and magic exist, so anything goes, right?

[Barry_McCokiner 160]

3 minutes ago, Goo Punch said:

just because magic exists in this world doesn't mean we abandon any semblance of logic or reason when looking at the story. "dragons exist, therefore none of this story needs to add up or make sense." that's the stance you're taking? good luck with that.

I mean fuck it, why not have Ned Stark leading the charge on King's Landing next week? Or better yet how about Iron Man? Yeah yeah, we'll have Iron Man and Ned Stark riding into battle on Kit from Knightrider, only to find out that Cersei has changed her mind about ruling the 7 Kingdoms, opting instead to enter into a three way marriage with previously unseen characters Ron and Tammy Greyjoy (played by Nick Offerman and Megan Mullaly), after the three of them killed Euron and took his fleet back to Iron Islands for a marathon nine session. Because hey- dragons and magic exist, so anything goes, right?

A lady revived a dude that was dead for days.  If you're still watching after that, it's on you.  Quit worrying about whether Gendry should've been able to run 20 miles i n2 hours in arctic temperatures.  Enjoy the show.  Or don't.  If not, I'd change the channel, but that's me.

[Jerry Callo 8862]

4 minutes ago, Goo Punch said:

just because magic exists in this world doesn't mean we abandon any semblance of logic or reason when looking at the story. "dragons exist, therefore none of this story needs to add up or make sense." that's the stance you're taking? good luck with that.

I mean fuck it, why not have Ned Stark leading the charge on King's Landing next week? Or better yet how about Iron Man? Yeah yeah, we'll have Iron Man and Ned Stark riding into battle on Kit from Knightrider, only to find out that Cersei has changed her mind about ruling the 7 Kingdoms, opting instead to enter into a three way marriage with previously unseen characters Ron and Tammy Greyjoy (played by Nick Offerman and Megan Mullaly), after the three of them killed Euron and took his fleet back to Iron Islands for a marathon nine session. Because hey- dragons and magic exist, so anything goes, right?

Did you have release your numerical rating for S8:E3?

[VABuckeye 2472]

45 minutes ago, Goo Punch said:

just because magic exists in this world doesn't mean we abandon any semblance of logic or reason when looking at the story. "dragons exist, therefore none of this story needs to add up or make sense." that's the stance you're taking? good luck with that.

I mean fuck it, why not have Ned Stark leading the charge on King's Landing next week? Or better yet how about Iron Man? Yeah yeah, we'll have Iron Man and Ned Stark riding into battle on Kit from Knightrider, only to find out that Cersei has changed her mind about ruling the 7 Kingdoms, opting instead to enter into a three way marriage with previously unseen characters Ron and Tammy Greyjoy (played by Nick Offerman and Megan Mullaly), after the three of them killed Euron and took his fleet back to Iron Islands for a marathon nine session. Because hey- dragons and magic exist, so anything goes, right?

How about just watch the fucking show for what it is and enjoy it?

Or don't enjoy it and come here to bitch about it among people who just watched it and enjoyed it.