Archive for the ‘TV’ Category

The Dad-Focused Breakdown of the May 2022 House of the Dragon Trailer

Posted: May 5, 2022 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
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Wow, the titles are getting long on these posts.

HBO once again released a trailer for their upcoming House of the Dragon show, a series that takes place roughly 150-170 years before the time period of Game of Thrones. (I’m giving myself a fudge on the dates because there are two different time periods that will be shown. AT LEAST two different time periods. Since we have two different actors playing younger and older versions of two of the characters.) I covered the previous trailer and the series of cast photos that was released a few months ago here on the blog, specifically designed for my dad.

My dad has read the main series books – A Song of Ice and Fire, but has not read the Targaryen history volume Fire and Blood (part 1 – there is no part 2 yet) that House of the Dragon is drawing on. So I’ve been wanting to provide him with some casual context. Mostly non-spoilery, I just want him to be familiar with the cast of characters, and some background info that will probably be appropriately communicated via the show, but one never knows about these things. Anyway, this is for you, Dad, but if anyone else is reading this, hey there.

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The Dad-Focused Discussion of House of the Dragon Cast Photos

Posted: April 2, 2022 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
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Woohoo! HBO saw fit to announce the date of House of the Dragon‘s first episode (it’ll be August 21st, 2022.) Right now is the time where Game of Thrones seasons would typically air (right around the end of March, beginning of April) so getting more Westeros content at this time, even if it was just photos, was still welcome.

Back when the first (and at the moment, only) trailer came out for House of the Dragon, I wrote up an explainer breakdown for my dad, who has read the main series books but is not too familiar with the setting of the Targaryen Civil War. I wrote it up to be more or less spoiler-free, but to give some context for him. (I’m very pleased that my dad watches the shows and has read the main books, it makes for fun conversation.)

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The Dad-Focused Breakdown of the House of the Dragon Teaser Trailer

Posted: October 10, 2021 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
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HBO has released a teaser trailer for their upcoming fantasy show House of the Dragon, taking place in the same universe as their hit show Game of Thrones. It’s the first of several potential prequel series in the world of Westeros. Nearly everyone and their relations have already scrambled to put out trailer breakdowns via YouTube videos or podcasts or whatever. That’s cool. But I wanted to do one, specifically for my dad.

Sometime after Game of Thrones first aired, I got my dad a copy of the first book – A Game of Thrones – as a Father’s Day gift. My dad likes to read, and we’ve had good experiences talking about books we’ve read in common. (I got my dad to read science fiction books when I was a teen – he probably wanted to figure out some way to have a conversation with me – and that has carried on through my adult life.)

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Community and the Faith of the Seven

Posted: May 20, 2020 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
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The 2020 quarantine time has encouraged a lot of TV binge-watching, with people either catching up on shows they’ve never seen or getting a chance to re-watch some old beloved shows. My wife started listening to Joel McHale and Ken Jeong’s podcast The Darkest Timeline, which is a blend of medical info, observations on the dystopia we’re currently in, and nostalgia for the television series Community. My wife and I started re-watching Community, and to our delight, the cast reunited recently for a table read of one of the season 5 episodes.

One of the hallmarks of Community was its meta-referentiality. Although not necessarily a rule, episodes would often be constructed on pop cultural properties: nods to The Right Stuff, Star Wars, Spaghetti Westerns, Mafia movies, zombie outbreaks, all can be found in exemplary episodes of Community. The show was excellent at adapting pop culture for engaging storylines about seven study group misfits at Greendale community college.

Coincidentally, one year ago Game of Thrones had its finale. The bulk of my blogging career hobby has been writing about Game of Thrones (or the source material, A Song of Ice and Fire) and when I get a reason to write about Game of Thrones, I do. Even if the reason is extremely thin. Bear with me. Also, spoilers for Community will be in this post. If you haven’t seen the show, reconsider reading further. I must emphasize that you would be much better served to stop reading this and watch Community. All of Community. Even Season 4.

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The Stark Political Situation in Westeros

Posted: January 12, 2020 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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Game of Thrones is over, but that shouldn’t stop us from talking about the show or the logical consequences of what might happen going forward in this fictional universe. Particularly in regards to politics, because the political situation in Westeros was a topic that we could all (mostly) discuss with our family at Thanksgiving, without fear of being written out of the will or something.

Arya: Cowards! Challenge your Republican relatives to Trial by Combat!

The final storyline in the show, after Season 8 dealt with the White Walkers (Arya took care of business by stabbing the icy Night King), dealt with the treacherous Lannisters (Daenerys Targaryen brought the Red Keep down on Cersei and Jaime Lannister), dealt with a Daenerys who was tired-of-not-being-taken-seriously (Jon Snow took her seriously and pulled an Arya on her), was the show dealing with the question of who would be on the Iron Throne at the end.

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Tired: King Stannis. Wired: King Bran

Posted: January 9, 2020 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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While Game of Thrones was on the air, I was fortunate enough to write about the show over on the excellent show-centric website Watchers on the Wall. But, even though the show has concluded, there are still books due to be published. Over on the WotW site, I have a new feature that largely involves book speculation. Sort of.

In the post, I speculate that Bran Stark’s book storyline might act as a reference to the failed ambitions of his grace, King Stannis Baratheon.

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In Defense of the Witcher

Posted: January 1, 2020 by patricksponaugle in Opinion, TV
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This post will be about the Netflix show The Witcher. Full disclosure, I’ve only seen four episodes, and I will totally be dropping spoilers about what I’ve seen roughly halfway through this post. I will give a warning when things are going to get revealing.

I’m calling this post In Defense of the Witcher, but there’s very little that needs defending in my opinion. It’s a good show; but your mileage may vary. And early on in its release, the show might have needed some defending.

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Daenerys Targaryen: For the Throne

Posted: May 17, 2019 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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Game of Thrones does not always give you what you want. Anyone who has seen the latest and penultimate episode “The Bells” knows what I’m talking about.

The wonderful people over on the Watchers on the Wall fansite have kindly given me the opportunity to discuss the decisions and actions of one of the main characters, Daenerys Targaryen. And what exactly she might have wanted as part of the Stark/Targaryen coalition fight against the Lannister faction holding King’s Landing, the capital of the Seven Kingdoms.

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Judging Jaime

Posted: May 9, 2019 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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Tonight is the penultimate Game of Thrones episode, of the season and of the series. Right down to the wire, the good folks at Watchers on the Wall graciously allowed me to publish a feature article about last week’s episode, talking about one of the more controversial characters. The Kingslayer.

Ser Jaime, like John Shaft I can dig it) is a complicated man.

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In the Endgame (of Thrones) Now

Posted: May 4, 2019 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
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Without giving too much away on this page, the recent episode of Game of Thrones took an unexpected turn in the battle between the living and the dead. For those who haven’t seen the episode, stay away from this page. For those who have seen the episode, the fine folks at Watchers on the Wall graciously published a feature article of mine, discussing the fallout of the battle and the stakes for the upcoming final three episodes.

Big things are going to happen in these last episodes.

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