Game of Thrones Season Six! April 24th 2016!!!

I agree.

 

The latest info on this is that they are considering doing two more seasons but they will only add up to 13 episodes.

 

I thought the same about last season as well.

This first episode really felt more like a re-cap than anything else. Kind of just getting us all back in place to see where the stories go next. We'll see how it goes.

 

I heard that the last seasons would be HALF-seasons...
5 Episodes a year!

 

This show is expensive for HBO to make.

I could see 5-6 episodes a year and hopefully a final movie to end it.

 

sure it's expensive however they make a killing on it......spend millions, get tens of millions in return, I would do that 24/7-365 days a year for as long as possible

 

Yeah, but with pirating, it's not as lucrative as it could be. Also the integrity of the series is comprised if a show overstays its welcome. It should end sooner than later (especially since the source material is completely used up at this point). Running off an "outline" will only get you so far.

 

I'd wager Martin has more involvement in the series at the moment than just submitting an outline and heading off to a convention. He is probably quite actively involved in the plotting etc. It's his reputation and legacy.

 

If we're going off last season, then no. He removed himself from process because he was "writing". I would imagine that's the case this season, too.

 

HBO is pushing for more. The producers are pushing for less. It's a very weird situation!

 

Chubby Khaleesi, still a Khaleesi... Those Dothraki guys will put her on a diet anyway it seems

 

They need to take their time and create a well done stopping point.
If all the different story threads from the book have been put to use in the series so far, then there does seem to be a vacuum to fill when it comes to closure.
The thing that first struck me about this story (I've only seen the show) is that it obviously takes place a long time ago, somewhere between Pangea and now, probably 50 to 150 million years ago-ish.
Or is it even set on Earth at all, or was that ever established? Not that it's necessary to know really.
When I was a kid and used to read a lot of fantasy/sword and sorcery type stuff, there was Edgar Rice Burroughs of course and some other books like Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser by Fritz Leiber.
Robert E. Howard really was tops for me back then and his Hyborian age where all of the Conan stories take place is what GOT reminded me of -I've always imagined that GOT is a bit of an older world than the one Conan was set in, but only by a couple of hundred years. Howard described the Hyborian Age as taking place sometime after the sinking of Atlantis and before the beginning of recorded Ancient History, other characters that he placed in similar territory time wise were Kull and Bran Mak Morn.

There are a lot of similarities, but GOT has a width and breadth to it's world that is fairly superior within the genre, and it comes to us at such a lucky time given today's visual capabilities.
I think Martin is a master at this point in that he has culled from some already great fantasy literature, he knows what he wants to draw from and why and puts it all into a massive cauldron.

There are so many possibilities story wise in this world and time that Martin has created, that it is hard to choose where to go next, the future could be very interesting for later generations from the characters we know.
Prequel stories could be equally as fascinating. The way my mind works though makes me want to see how this world changes in 50 to 200 years.
I mean come on, the ice zombies could change the future tremendously here...
The way I see it there is great opportunity here to tickle the imagination as to how magic and such may have existed and then died out, they could easily take this show to a logical pause/stop point as far as at least not having too many large cliffhangers dangling. Then take a break for a year or two and cook up a whole new story line and characters that exist in this world 50 years later, this time it could be more of the loner wandering from the north ala Conan, than the whole soap opera family tribe vibe. This wanderer could become a mercenary then encounter embers of what was the old GOT gang in meetings with people and clans in conflict, etc.
This production could be somewhat leaner in scope and maybe cost a lot less yet have a similar draw.

This new world of visual story telling entertainment has gotten a lot smarter (The Leftovers, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, The Knick, etc., etc.) and GOT is no exception, I can only hope that they at least take this world and it's stories to some satisfying conclusions before it's all over.

 

Well, the parallels according to Martin are the War of the Roses period, with events and personages mixed up and parceled out in weird ways, and supernatural elements thrown in. So I personally see it not as a "time before history" but as an alternate medieval history. Even the supernatural elements fit in with that as far as then contemporary thought and imagination. I see it more as an alternate word of historical (medieval) time than a Hyborian age (I'm also a big Howard fan from my teens and young adulthood period) or some "time before our time."

 

Pirating is a function of availability. HBO prefers to sign lucrative, exclusive deals with regional distributors upfront, often extinguishing other sources of availability within that region (like iTunes). That's the legacy business model which is a prime driver for pirating across the world. If they were more Netflix-like (though Netflix isn't totally there yet) and made the show available to everyone in all regions at the same time (be it streaming or digital downloads), the piracy numbers would plummet overnight.

Very true. I'm kind of getting a whiff of that already.

 

Well, a stopping point would have to include (1) driving back and defeating the White Walkers, and (B) resolving the quest for the Iron Throne. Or even killing both those birds with one stone.

 

No, it is not set on Earth.

 

Seriously?

 

Yeah, seriously. Why does that surprise you? It's a fantasy world.

 

Earth doesn't have decades-long seasons. Or dragons.

 

It only seems like it. 33 degreees and snow in Colorado today.

 

don't you have a misogynist forum you can share this on instead of here?

 

Huh? Bad day or just a PC cop?

 

The decade long season thing could be ancient weather patterns the way I perceived it, The ice age happened a long time ago, etc. It kind of makes sense to have a story like this based somewhere else entirely, though it adds a certain mystique if it is seen as a lost time that existed, then vanished here on Earth.

 

Er, nope. Magic isn't real, nor are zombies, or giants or fire breathing dragons!

 

WhaaaaAAAAAAT????