MovieChat Forums > Game of Thrones (2011) Discussion > You all realize...

You all realize...

posted 5 years ago by AmeriGirl26 (12380)
11 replies | jump to latest

...that there's gonna be a lot of fallout because of the way this show ended. There are a lot of longtime fans that are either gonna drop this show like a bad habit, or just watch again until the series got stupid, and remain loyal. Either that, or a lot of GOT fan memorabilia's gonna end up in garbage dumps. Either way, I've never heard of a series ending that could have had such a negative effect on the fanbase.

There were actually a number of people who hit their "I can't stand it anymore" threshold much earlier in the series, like with the "Red Wedding," or the end of Season 5/6, when the show's producers and writers ran out of book material. Perhaps the people who quit early were better off not seeing what the show's writers did to the series afterwards. No doubt, D&D and George R.R. Martin are getting a lot of fan hate mail now.

[–] not_a_virus.exe (1267) 5 years ago

Of all the people, I envy the ones who didnt bother watching it at all. They're the real winners here.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Just a casual viewer rather than a hardcore fan. But this season felt more like a c grade fantasy film rather than the higher quality of the earlier seasons.

I tend to dump a lot of shows as the quality declines but yeah there would been hardcore fans swearing off the series. It would also diminish the sales of Bluray box set etc as many people might not want to watch the series again or may want to stop short.

[–] AmeriGirl26 (12380) 5 years ago

It's interesting, but I first watched Season 1 before ever reading the books, and frankly, the show didn't really feel like fantasy to me until the dragons showed up. It was just way too subtle and as an uninitiated viewer, I did not pick up on any of the "magic" of Westeros at all. It kinda looked like a messed-up historical show, actually.

It wasn't until I actually read the first few books, that I started seeing what they were talking about, where all the "fantasy" aspects were. Like, I had no idea Ned Stark was sitting in a holy place called a "Godswood," with a Heart Tree at the center. Or I didn't know seasons lasted for years on end, or that there were mammoths and krakken in that world.

I wasn't really sure there even WAS any magic in that world until the books clarified it more. In fact, the fantasy aspects of Martin's world are more subtle and less obvious than in some stories. Much of it is just human beings struggling in a very dark world, stabbing each other in the back to survive. It's not until Dany's dragons are born that we start seeing the real magic, and even then, use of it is still heavily limited.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I guess there is different perceptions as well as an overlap of what fantasy and medieval is.

To me it always had a fantasy feel to it even before dragons turned up.

Although obviously influenced by the medieval period in our world.

What's interesting is how many sources it draws influence from. At times it looks like Mad Max at other times you see Star Wars etc ect

[–] winslow (1318) 5 years ago

If they quit after the red wedding, this probably wasn't the show for them anyway.

[–] Mcboogerballs (118) 5 years ago

I think this is all just early hysteria for now that usually happens with underwhelming final seasons. It happened with LOST as well, but once the dust settled the hardcore fans are still loyal to that show and call it one of the best fantasy dramas ever.

Wait for a week or so, it will all be over and people would have moved on to be disappointed by the next big thing. I thought the last season was atrocious as well, but I was kind of mentally prepared for it when they announced that it was only going to be 6 episodes in the final season. There was no way they would have been able to wrap up all the loose ends for a show like GOT which has spread out so massively with its story lines, in just just 6 episodes.

Anyways, it will be all blow over in a few weeks. And I dont think there will be any major problems with the sales of memorabilia or boxsets.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

To make a comparison to a very different show it reminded me of the last season of How I Met Your Mother where they wasted so many eps on crap and then rushed it at the end.

I feel the same with this. They could have still done a tighter season but make the stories more true to the concept of the show. And kept the stories relevant rather than rushing especially with the final Ep.

[–] WhereIsRent (1017) 5 years ago

The thing is with Lost is at least had the characters still, even if the mythology of the show didn't entirely satisfy in the end. It provided character payoffs and had emotional character deaths in the final season.

Game Of Thrones deviated from all of the character development they'd been building and didn't answer any of the lingering questions. It had a rushed pacing and felt massively anticlimactic. It makes Lost's final season look masterful by comparison and I'd say this fell more in line with Dexter's final season in terms of writing it was that bad. You can tell the writers for Dexter's final season didn't care and just wanted to be done with it and I think the same could be said for Benioff and Weiss with GoT. Such a shame.

[–] Alerra (244) 5 years ago

There was always going to be fallout, because with a cultural phenomenon this big, there will always be people who will be disappointed in the ending. There were probably people, way back in the '80's annoyed with how Star Wars ended, and there were people fifteen years ago who didn't like the way Harry Potter ended. That's the way the cookie crumbles.

What I think a lot of people are grumbling about the most is not how the show ENDED, per se, but how it go there. Point A is fine. Point B is fine. But the line in between goes wonky in parts. Part of the reason why I think the final two books have not been written yet is because I don't think George himself has quite figured out how to get from where he is to where he wants to be in the end.

I don't want to be a gatekeeper in regards to who is a true fan and who is not, but when I hear people saying, "Scene X does it for me. I'm not watching this anymore," then I think they're missing the point. This story, whether the books or the show, has caused viewers to think and feel. Martin and D&D made us CARE about the story and the characters. When something good happens to one of them, we're happy with them. When something horrible happens to one of them, we grieve with them. When Arya was attacked in Braavos, we were scared for her. When Viserion was taken down by the Night King, we grieved with Dany. When Shireen was sacrificed, we raged at Stannis. WE CARED. And in that respect, Martin (and D&D) have done their job well.

[–] winslow (1318) 5 years ago

They know their audience better than people would like to admit. If you watch people reacting to the episodes, there are scenes that get mixed reactions because they are intentionally divisive, but most scenes, people react the same ways. Season 8 had a lot of, "I don't know how I feel about this" moments, which I thought was interesting. It was like sensory overload. Really some of these episodes needed to be watched one act at a time, with breaks in between to absorb it.

Most of all, people are just upset that the show ended.

[–] LordBAElish (2015) 5 years ago

The first six seasons had varying degrees of greatness, but I liked them all. I guess not by coincidence all those seasons had 10 episodes. 7 dipped a bit in quality, but I still liked it. 8 is really the only season I've disliked. Hate is a strong word