This morning, the New York Timespublished an interview with Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin, who had some interesting things to say about his beef with some elements of the TV version of his book series, A Song of Ice and Fire.
Among Martin’s issues with the show are:
- He would prefer the seasons last 13 episodes, not 10. “With 13 episodes, we could include smaller scenes that we had to cut, scenes that make the story deeper and richer,” he said. Perhaps he does not realize just how expensive this show is to make already?
- He laments the impact of some subtle tweaks made by the show’s writers. “Small changes can lead to big changes…the butterfly effects are accumulating.” To that we say: is it really important which minor character from Book 1 was implicated in a murder in Book 4? Does that actually matter? No chance.
- He’d like more input in the costumes. “No, no, let’s make the helmet more like this.” As above, it’s a freaking helmet. It’s a minor detail. Let it go, George.
- The article refers to this blog post, in which Martin skewers HBO’s version of the Iron Throne. He says that the HBO chair “is not the Iron Throne I see when I’m working on ‘The Winds Of Winter.’ It’s not the Iron Throne I want my readers to see.” It’s a chair. It’s big, it’s metal, kings sit in it, etc. We get it.
To be fair to Martin, he spends most of the Times article being exceedingly grateful to and appreciative of the TV show and its writers (led by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss). And really, if the biggest thing he’s worried about is the detail in the helmets, it must mean they’re doing a pretty amazing job turning his books into TV, right?
Really, we just wish Martin would spend less time giving interviews and more time working on the next book. If the show’s writers catch up and have to start just making stuff up, he is going to lose his mind.
[via New York Times]
