Wait, what?
I’ve never watched the series on TV or read any of the books, though I do have the first four now. I couldn’t tell you anything about it. Except that George R. R. Martin is the author and that he kills off characters all the time. I think?
Again, I can’t even talk about the differences between the TV show and the books, but this still seems a bit odd to me. Adaptations are not always loyal to the original work, but how can a TV series finish when there’s still more the author wants to tell in the story?
I think Martin has been between books for awhile now, right? So perhaps at this point he just doesn’t care anymore. Or maybe the show has contractual obligations to finish up at a particular point in time. I don’t know. And maybe the fans of the show don’t care how or when the show ends as long as it does.
To me, a series based on books should try to be as loyal to the original as possible. Otherwise, it could have been adapted into a movie. What do you think about all this?
Johnny Reads 
That’s the one with Katniss, right?
Either way I haven’t read or watched either.
IMNSHO a television show or movie should remain loyal to the books that spawned them.
I will use Southern Vampire Mysteries and True Blood as my example since I am familiar with them
TB stayed true to what was written in the first season, after that it was all garbage as far as I’m concerned.
I can understand [bold]some[/bold] variation since there are some things which can’t be done in visual media that can in the written media but they went into far left field and never came even close to the original after that.
LikeLike
Oh dear God, no! Katniss is in The Hunger Games! You know, those movies that have made around $2 billion worldwide?
LikeLike
Obviously I don’t follow either, lol.
LikeLike
Oh geez.
LikeLike
Lol. Meh, I did watch the first Hunger Games movie but didn’t find it to my liking. I think I tried to watch Game Of Thrones but didn’t like it either.
LikeLike
I have friends that badger me to watch that show…hehe. On another note, I’ve nominated you for a Blogger Recognition Award. You can check out the details on my blog: http://wwcassjrblog.wordpress.com. 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re most welcome, Sir. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I haven’t read or seen it, I suppose it depends on how closely the series has stuck to the book so far.
Maybe the people making the series can’t afford to hang on until the other books have come out and have had to find their own ending.
LikeLike
I actually think the show is way different from the books. I think.
LikeLike
If that’s the case it doesn’t matter if they finish first or not, as long as they end it well.
LikeLike
As with any creative process, no one can resist the urge to ‘tweak’ an idea … even when adapting a book to another media.
LikeLike
Well when they started the series I don’t know if they anticipated its popularity or Martin’s painstakingly slow writing process.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Martin has a reputation for being a methodical writer. It’s why his books are so good. But it might have been smarter to wait until he had finished his series before turning it into a television show. I’m actually waiting for the show to finish up so I can binge watch it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
No one in TV waits for anything.
LikeLiked by 1 person
While I agree adaptations should try to be as loyal as possible, the TV ending might be the only ending fans will get given how long it takes for each book to come out.
I mean really, the first novel came out in 1996.
LikeLike
Are you suggesting that everyone become James Patterson? I don’t think that he should have to alter his writing process for the show. It’s not like it was some secret beforehand.
LikeLike
No. Just pointing out you kind of need an ending for these things. You can’t really leave your TV show ending in a cliffhanger because the books haven’t finished yet.
It’d be great if they could both finish at the same time, but the show can’t really stall or continue indefinitely to give the author enough time. Making a TV show is far from cheap and actors age.
LikeLike
Game of Thrones’ seasons are only ten episodes long, so there are still a lot of things they have to cut. Often I think that’s for the better, because introducing ten new characters every episode and then spending an entire season with all new characters instead of focusing on the regulars absolutely does not translate well to screen.
As far as concerns about the show being done before the book series, GRRM is very involved in the production of the TV show, so he’s guiding the writers to the ending that he wants. The books and the show will just take different routes to get there.
If nothing else, this is a very amusing social/artistic experiment to see what happens to an author when a visual medium eclipses his source material. I wonder what JKR would have done with Harry Potter if the movies came out faster than she could write books 6 and 7. Would it have been the same story, essentially, or would she have totally changed it in order to surprise people? At least in the case of GOT, the books and the show have drifted so far apart that the book will take a MUCH different route to the endgame, which will keep the book fans interested.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Interesting. I’m wondering if Martin told the producers ahead of time how the books will end? Maybe it was written into his contract since he’s a notorious slow writer? Even if he did, I still think a lot of people would buy the last book(s) just to see how faithful the final season was to the book. And he has a fairly loyal following.
LikeLike
Let me call my HBO contact.
LikeLike
That would be great. It would clear up this whole mess. 🙂
LikeLike
He said the series was always planned to end at a certain time. And if the books weren’t all written, then so be it.
LikeLike
Hmm… so the series will just pick a random ending at that point? Weird.
LikeLike
The show’s creators have the liberty to do shat they like. According to my source. He also said go Texans. I like this guy.
LikeLike
Haha!!! Laughing more at *shat* than anything else. A great typo.
LikeLike
Aw man. 😳
LikeLike
I loved it. It kind of fit the topic at hand.
LikeLike