Another OT: Right around the corner!

[purplefaithful]

https://twitter.com/HouseofDragon/status...wcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.esquire.com%2Fentertainment%2Ftv%2Fa36342276%2Fhouse-of-the-dragon-hbo-game-of-thrones-prequel%2F

[Guest]

Adapted from Martin's Targaryen history book Fire & Blood, House of the Dragon is set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones. The show will focus on an infamous event in Westeros history known as the Dance of the Dragons. This is a civil war that took place between siblings Aegon II and Rhaenyra over the throne after the death of their father Viserys I. The war pit all of Westeros against itself, with other houses such as the Starks and Lannisters joining either side. Many of House Targaryen's powerful dragons perished—and soon afterward would go extinct until Daenerys Targaryen would hatch three eggs hundreds of years later. We glimpse bits and pieces from the action in House of the Dragon's first teaser, with some classic, GOT-style sword-fighting, jousting, dramatically running down long hallways. Plus, we glimpse Matt Smith's prince having some thoughts on the shoreline.
How Will House of the Dragon Be Different From Game of Thrones?Glad you asked. Even though House of the Dragon is a prequel with a different agenda, the creative team still wants it to feel of the Game of Thrones world. As Sapochnik told The Hollywood Reporter, "I think we were very respectful of what the original show is. It wasn't broken so we're not trying to reinvent the wheel. House of the Dragon has its own tone that will evolve and emerge over the course of the show. But first, it's very important to pay respects and homage to the original series, which was pretty groundbreaking. We're standing on the shoulders of that show and we're only here because of that show."
Despite wanting to honor their roots, the House of the Dragon team isn't looking to make a carbon copy of Game of Thrones. That's good news for fans, who can expect something both similar and surprising. "That said, we can't say, 'Well, when we did Thrones, we did it this way…,'" Sapochnik continued. "If you start every sentence with that, you've lost. This is something else, and should be something else. It's a different crew, different people, different tone. Hopefully it will be seen as something else. But it will have to earn that — it won't happen overnight. Hopefully fans will enjoy it for the thing that it is. We'll be lucky if we ever come close to what the original show was, so we're just putting our heads down and getting on with it and hoping what we come up with is worthy of having a Game of Thrones title."

Smith echoed Sapochnik's comments, describing the challenge of approaching existing storytelling from a new angle as "throwing some paint at the wall and see what sticks." He went on to highlight how chasing the high of Game of Thrones is a futile endeavor, saying, "We're trying to make a show that's entertaining on lots of different levels and has a similar scope and ambition to the previous show, in many respects. But obviously, you're never going to be able to re-create the success of Game of Thrones, because that was a very particular point in time. It was its own unique entity."
https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv...s-prequel/

[Guest]

If you're into GoT, that esquire link is a good read...

Glad to see they are approaching this from a deep and complex character, drama and storytelling perspective that transcends just dragons.

Martin seems genuinely excited about it, so thats enough for me for now. 

[Guest]

Definitely looking forward to it.

On another note, I got my girlfriend to watch GoT a couple years back and she fell in love with it. She loved it so much she started buying figurines and statues of characters from the show, some well over $1k. We have nowhere to even place these in the house. So yeah, I go this to look forward to now with the new show coming out.

[Guest]

Episode 1 tonight

"House of the Dragon" is a prequel series that focuses on the Targaryen dynasty; they of myth, madness, incest and purple shampoo. In the original "Game of Thrones" show and in the "Song of Ice And Fire" book series, the powerful House Targaryen has all but died off thanks to regicide and what seems to be a familial lack of impulse control from generations of inbreeding. Daenerys Targaryen is one of the few that remain in GoT-times, and even she gets prematurely sent off to the Shadow Lands by her nephew-lover, Jon Snow. (The Targaryen family tree is very narrow, yet complicated. The Targaryen Family Shillelagh, if you will.)

Anyway, HoD takes place 200 years before the events of "Game of Thrones," when the Targaryens are in full power and about to enter a very nasty, fiery war of succession known as the "Dance of Dragons." 

Keep in mind that, during the peak of their power, the Targaryens were a dragon-riding terror, hence their house motto: "Fire and Blood." Their scaled steeds brought the family from their original home of Valyria and helped them conquer all of Westeros. In the original GoT series, all of those dragons have been dead for a while. In HoD, they are (presumably) alive and well. 

[Guest]

I bet Wilbur is fired up…!  :p