Vikings

[New_Earth_Mud]

Season 3 starts tonight.  Anyone watch it?

[Jpan85]

I do really enjoy it

[Mr Dee]

[The Unknown Poster]

I had started to record it and never got around to actually watching it.  It looks well produced.  Im not sure it would keep my interest but I base that on nothing.  Im through all six seasons of SOA and am awaiting the release of season 7 next week and then am looking for a new series.  I considered Breaking Bad but I dont know...just doesnt seem all that great.  Good thing House of Cards debuts shortly.  Maybe Ill give Vikings a try.

[New_Earth_Mud]

I had started to record it and never got around to actually watching it.  It looks well produced.  Im not sure it would keep my interest but I base that on nothing.  Im through all six seasons of SOA and am awaiting the release of season 7 next week and then am looking for a new series.  I considered Breaking Bad but I dont know...just doesnt seem all that great.  Good thing House of Cards debuts shortly.  Maybe Ill give Vikings a try.

 

You should its really good and has a good story.

 

A good buddy of mine is from Scandinavia and was telling me that his dad n grandfather use to tell him and his brothers stories about Vikings and thats a bit what this show is based on. Old Viking legions and stories. Its pretty cool because they even use real names.

 

He was blown away when he would watch some episodes and say... hey my dad use to tell me this story. Of course its not word for word but i found that to be pretty cool. 

[SPuDS]

Love this show.. Excellent mix of myth and history.. Well scripted, great acting.. Next to Gotham it's my favourite show..

[johnzo]

The most recent episode was outstanding and had the best moment in the series.

[17to85]

I have wanted to watch the show because it seems to be up my alley... is there somewhere that streams the past episodes online so I can give it a shot when I get some time?

[Logan007]

Is it like Game of Thrones?  Because, as odd as it sounds, I don't like that show.  And I love fantasy stuff.

 

Can someone give me a run down of this show?

[basslicker]

Is it like Game of Thrones? Because, as odd as it sounds, I don't like that show. And I love fantasy stuff.

Can someone give me a run down of this show?

That's not odd. thrones is terrible.

I'm also a fantasy guy.

[The Unknown Poster]

I hate fantasy (Lord of the Rings is so boring and silly) but I very much like GoT.

[Logan007]

I hate fantasy (Lord of the Rings is so boring and silly) but I very much like GoT.

GASP!!!!  How DARE you.

 

Good day to you sir....I SAID GOOD DAY!!

 

[The Unknown Poster]

Maybe I just dont get it because I never read the books.  But I was bored all throughout the original Lord of the Rings trilogy.  I actually dozed off in every single one of them, especially the middle one where I was bored to tears to watch trees lumber along for like two hours.  I've had people tell me I'd like it if I read the book.  Well the point of a film is not to be a companion piece to a book.

 

And then The Hobbit was pretty boring too.  Visually gorgeous though.  And I find those films silly.  You really get the sense that Tolkien was just making up nonsense as he went along to entertain his kids. 

 

On the flip side, Game of Thrones has a consistent narrative and the world seems far more fleshed out.  There are times they spend time on a plot point that just when I am about to be bored, they make me really really interested.  There is a lot of world building in GoT and patience in unfolding the stories.  I do have trouble keeping everyone straight with the "middle earth" type names but its not difficult to fall right back into the show every season.  GoT entertains me and makes me care about the characters and world in a way Lord of the Rings doesnt.

 

And yes, a lot of that is due to the masterful performance of Peter Dinklage who is the heart and soul of the series.

[Rich]

I'm not at all a LOTR fan boy but enjoyed the movies. When comparing the story and action to GoT, you have to remember the time difference and when LOTR was written. It pretty much defined and spawned the fantasy genre.

I tried reading LOTR books and couldn't get through them.

[Logan007]

I never read the books either but loved the movies.  Elijah Wood is a little annoying as Frodo, but I think Frodo is supposed to be whiny like that.  I didn't like the Hobbit as much, although I still enjoyed it, but I really enjoyed Martin Freeman's portrayal of Bilbo.

[WBBFanWest]

I'll cut to the chase and tell you how the Viking series ends.  They all end up in Minnesota and Gimli.

[Logan007]

I'll cut to the chase and tell you how the Viking series ends.  They all end up in Minnesota and Gimli.

LOL

[17to85]

Maybe I just dont get it because I never read the books.  But I was bored all throughout the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. 

The books are even more boring. I've tried to read the books twice and never been able to slog through them all, the movies on the other hand I really like because they pick up the pace and cut a lot of the useless fat. 

 

As for GoT, the first season was fantastic, after that they got too full of themselves and started ignoring the source material. If you haven't already, do youself a favour and read the books, far far superior to the show, except that fat old George RR Martin is a slacker and won't finish the god damned series already. I read A Game of Thrones when I was 13 for gods sake! That was damned near 20 years ago. 

[bigg jay]

Maybe I just dont get it because I never read the books.  But I was bored all throughout the original Lord of the Rings trilogy.  I actually dozed off in every single one of them, especially the middle one where I was bored to tears to watch trees lumber along for like two hours.  I've had people tell me I'd like it if I read the book.  Well the point of a film is not to be a companion piece to a book.

 

And then The Hobbit was pretty boring too.  Visually gorgeous though.  And I find those films silly.  You really get the sense that Tolkien was just making up nonsense as he went along to entertain his kids. 

 

On the flip side, Game of Thrones has a consistent narrative and the world seems far more fleshed out.  There are times they spend time on a plot point that just when I am about to be bored, they make me really really interested.  There is a lot of world building in GoT and patience in unfolding the stories.  I do have trouble keeping everyone straight with the "middle earth" type names but its not difficult to fall right back into the show every season.  GoT entertains me and makes me care about the characters and world in a way Lord of the Rings doesnt.

 

And yes, a lot of that is due to the masterful performance of Peter Dinklage who is the heart and soul of the series.

 

The Hobbit actually was written as a children's story so you're getting the intended purpose.  LOTR was intended as a sequel but spawned into something much bigger (not unlike GOT which was originally a trilogy & now has a 7 book on the way with at least 1 more planned).  I would argue that LOTR isn't fleshed out as well though.  Character-wise, absolutely it's not as deep as GOT, but the world & languages that Tolkien created are incredible.  As Rich pointed out, Tolkien wrote his stuff about 80 years ago when that genre didn't exist. He had a lot of his writing interrupted by WWII so I'm not suprised people don't find it as consistent as GOT.

 

One major difference for me between the two is that Martin bases a lot of his material on directly on historical events (ex: The Red Wedding is based on The Black Dinner in Scottish history) where Tolkien created more from his mind.

 

I love both series but I weigh them differently because of those factors.  They are both in the fantasy genre, but it's like apples & oranges to me.

 

PS - it's not just Dinklage's acting (which is incredible), the Tyrion character is so well written, it's was a favorite character of most people long before the TV show ever aired an episode.

 

[bigg jay]

 

Maybe I just dont get it because I never read the books.  But I was bored all throughout the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. 

The books are even more boring. I've tried to read the books twice and never been able to slog through them all, the movies on the other hand I really like because they pick up the pace and cut a lot of the useless fat. 

 

As for GoT, the first season was fantastic, after that they got too full of themselves and started ignoring the source material. If you haven't already, do youself a favour and read the books, far far superior to the show, except that fat old George RR Martin is a slacker and won't finish the god damned series already. I read A Game of Thrones when I was 13 for gods sake! That was damned near 20 years ago. 

 

 

I got through the Hobbit & LOTR but if you thought those were hard to get through, try the Silmarilion!  I gave up on that one after multiple attempts!

 

LOL you're going to hate the next few seasons of the show then.  Since Martin takes so long, they've said starting this season, the books & show will really start to split off from each other.  The next book is pretty well done though.  I'm hearing maybe mid-October for it's release but who knows with that guy!

[17to85]

 

LOL you're going to hate the next few seasons of the show then.  Since Martin takes so long, they've said starting this season, the books & show will really start to split off from each other.  The next book is pretty well done though.  I'm hearing maybe mid-October for it's release but who knows with that guy!

 

Oh yeah I really hated season 2 just because of all the useless changes they made, season 3 I liked because they took it back closer to the books even if it made no sense given some of the changes they had made previously, but season 4 showed me that without the books to lean on they have no idea. To be expected from the guys who brought us Troy I guess. They are not terribly gifted, just lucky they had such  a rich story and characters to play with. 

 

I'll support it just because I think there needs to be more well done fantasy on TV and in movies, but I'm going to gripe a lot about how they've botched so many characters. Completely whitewashing Tyrion, botched both Robb and Stannis horrendously, I'm sure there's a lot more I could but I'm going to get angry thinking about it. 

[iso_55]

I had started to record it and never got around to actually watching it.  It looks well produced.  Im not sure it would keep my interest but I base that on nothing.  Im through all six seasons of SOA and am awaiting the release of season 7 next week and then am looking for a new series.  I considered Breaking Bad but I dont know...just doesnt seem all that great.  Good thing House of Cards debuts shortly.  Maybe Ill give Vikings a try.

If you started watching BB from the very beginning, every episode you'd feel different. 

[SPuDS]

Is it like Game of Thrones? Because, as odd as it sounds, I don't like that show. And I love fantasy stuff.

Can someone give me a run down of this show?

Sure. Nobody else felt up to the task so here goes. We are into season 3 now but Coles notes on the show are as follows.. Ragnar lothbrok was a warrior/farmer who was content raiding and pillaging and raising his family until a vision and a trip to the "seer" show him his earl is a shady snake out for his own gain. Ragnar, full of vigor from his information from the visions and fortune teller demands to lead the next raider parties against conventional wisdom to uncharted territory.. Convinces the earlearl to let him go (earl assumes he will die) and go he does. Ragnar comes back wealthy beyond anyones dreams AND found new land (England) full of cast farming areas and small, weak enemies..

Ragnar powerbase grows and the earl is scared as he is losing his grasp on the village.. Attempts to crush Ragnar fail and "seer" tells the earl he is essentially screwed.. Early ends up dying in battle against ragnar.. The king of whatever land they are in is angry this uppity warrior killed his appointed earl but cannot act without a revolt on his hands so attempts to undermine Ragnar from within his camp. Fails miserably AND king is betrayed by his "rogue" guys at the village and gets blood eagle'd at end of season 3.. Ragnar is now king and has signed an accord with king of England to stop raiding his lands and killing his soldiers in exchange for land titles and being an alley...

It's very true to form in regards to Viking culture and how they praised gods and conducted business.. Lots of great characters and actors..

I don't like thrones and I freaking love this show but I am also enthralled by nordic culture..

/end novel

[bigg jay]

 

I had started to record it and never got around to actually watching it.  It looks well produced.  Im not sure it would keep my interest but I base that on nothing.  Im through all six seasons of SOA and am awaiting the release of season 7 next week and then am looking for a new series.  I considered Breaking Bad but I dont know...just doesnt seem all that great.  Good thing House of Cards debuts shortly.  Maybe Ill give Vikings a try.

If you started watching BB from the very beginning, every episode you'd feel different. 

 

 

Agreed.  I wasn't overly impressed with Breaking Bad right off the bat, but I had heard so many people raving about it that I stuck it out & was very happy I did.

[johnzo]

Can someone give me a run down of this show?

It's inspired by an actual icelandic saga. It's utterly gorgeous (even if they do lean on the blue filter a little bit) and plotwise it is much simpler than Game of Thrones. The whole show revolves around a Viking jarl named Ragnar Lothbrok, a guy with a vision for his people and in each season different people come at him.