Is Game of Thrones overrated? Is it better than 'Vikings'?

[Ratt Mhule]

I am binge watching it now started last Sunday and up to season 5. Watching one episode at a time can be boring but watching them all together I dont get that feeling of nothing happening. Remember this show is based off books and the author of the series does not want them deviating too much from the books so their hands are kind of tied with bringing storylines together quickly.

*UPCOMING SEASON 4 SPOILERS*

Other points: Tyrion is the best character on TV right now. Season 4 is up there as a top season for a tv show of all time. So many things happened in season 4: Joffreys death, Tyrions trial with his amazing monologue leading up to him declaring trial by combat, the Mountain vs the viper, wildlings attacking castle black, Tyrions escape and murder of Shae and Tywin, etc. Season 4 was packed with great storylines.

 

[JJ Husker]

Well, I watched the first couple episodes of Vikings last night. It's definitely a very good show and I'm now hooked. I still prefer GoT and don't find it to be at that level.....yet. Maybe that will change after I'm through a few seasons.

But damnit, now I have to put my Star Trek universe binge on hold in favor of Vikings.

 

[JJ Husker]

I don't get HBO

One of these shows is on HBO, the other I get with my cable package.

Which one do I like the most?

How to profit-

1- Add HBO to your cable package.

2- Ask for their 3 or 6 month free trial period (they'll do it)

3- Binge GoT

4- Drop HBO before you pay a dime for it.

 

[teachercd]

Where can I binge watch Vikings?

 

[JJ Husker]

Where can I binge watch Vikings?

It's on Amazon Prime.

 

[B.B. Hemingway]

Well, I watched the first couple episodes of Vikings last night. It's definitely a very good show and I'm now hooked. I still prefer GoT and don't find it to be at that level.....yet. Maybe that will change after I'm through a few seasons.

But damnit, now I have to put my Star Trek universe binge on hold in favor of Vikings.

 

[The Dude]

Well, I watched the first couple episodes of Vikings last night. It's definitely a very good show and I'm now hooked. I still prefer GoT and don't find it to be at that level.....yet. Maybe that will change after I'm through a few seasons.

But damnit, now I have to put my Star Trek universe binge on hold in favor of Vikings.

Season 1 of Vikings is mediocre compared to the rest.

I may have to retract my previous statement about Season 3. I've been watching the show again and there were things in season 2 that I thought were in season 3 for some reason. Such as blood eagle. Season 2 is probably my favorite.

 

[Enhance]

GoT is 'despair porn' which is why I've never particularly enjoyed watching the series - the notion that character story arcs are going to be tied directly to routinely torturous (sometimes literally) and brutally depressing events. The first three seasons (the only ones I watched) were full of rape, unimaginative sex scenes that served almost no purpose, savage deaths/murders and heartbreaking calamities.

Some people can watch that kind of material and mentally get past it in order to experience the really high highs the show has to offer, but you really have to slug through some terrible situations in order to get there. It was just too much for me. In some ways, it even became a predictable situation, expecting the worst for everyone involved.

I've had people tell me the show gets better in later seasons and the story lines improve, but due to unintentional spoilers, I know many of the things I have an uncomfortable time watching are still relevant to some degree. It's certainly not for everyone and I'm one of those people.

 

[Red Five]

I have never seen a GoT episode. But 2 of my friends (that don't know each other) who I trust when it comes to TV shows tried it and basically said "if it wasn't for the nekkid parts, no one would watch"

I don't think I will ever start on it, I have about 30 minutes of free time at night to sit down and watch TV, so my list gets pretty backlogged. I am still trying to finish the latest season of The Americans (awesome show) and have 4 episodes to go.

 

[Mierin]

They're full of crap

 

[zoogs]

I don't think nobody would watch. Which is why I think it's such a shame that on a pretty big level GoT is about packaging softcore. It doesn't have to be. Yet everyone from the producers to the creepy author have made it so. I also think Enhance nails it about "despair porn". I think these two aspects of it hold it back, although in some ways the nihilism is truly interesting and core to the story.

 

[JJ Husker]

I suppose the nekked parts and sex scenes are important to some people. I could do without them and my wife certainly could. She is always asking why they need the gratuitous sex scenes in all HBO series. I figure it's to give the lower functioning members of society something they can understand. But there is plenty else going on in the story that I don't feel it is a big part of it. I figure they're just throwing a bone (no pun intended) to the Beavis and Butthead crowd.

I guess everyone is different but I cannot understand how somebody could give GoT a legitimate shot and not like it. Yeah there is some gruesome stuff and yeah the good guys don't always come out on top and the bad guys seem to carry on with little consequence. But when they do get theirs, it sure is satisfying. Compared to the drivel that dominates TV these days, Game of Thrones is head and shoulders above 99% of anything else out there. I realize GoT is fantasy and not really set in any known historical timeline but it feels like about 1000 AD +/-. Life was tough then. People killed others for little to no reason, maybe they just wanted their loaf of bread. I don't understand the complaining about despair porn etc. There probably weren't a lot of happy feel good times in an era like that. It just seems rather realistic to me. Vikings seems much the same in that aspect.

 

[B.B. Hemingway]

I suppose the nekked parts and sex scenes are important to some people. I could do without them and my wife certainly could. She is always asking why they need the gratuitous sex scenes in all HBO series. I figure it's to give the lower functioning members of society something they can understand. But there is plenty else going on in the story that I don't feel it is a big part of it. I figure they're just throwing a bone (no pun intended) to the Beavis and Butthead crowd.

I guess everyone is different but I cannot understand how somebody could give GoT a legitimate shot and not like it. Yeah there is some gruesome stuff and yeah the good guys don't always come out on top and the bad guys seem to carry on with little consequence. But when they do get theirs, it sure is satisfying. Compared to the drivel that dominates TV these days, Game of Thrones is head and shoulders above 99% of anything else out there. I realize GoT is fantasy and not really set in any known historical timeline but it feels like about 1000 AD +/-. Life was tough then. People killed others for little to no reason, maybe they just wanted their loaf of bread. I don't understand the complaining about despair porn etc. There probably weren't a lot of happy feel good times in an era like that. It just seems rather realistic to me. Vikings seems much the same in that aspect.

A lot of the Game of Thrones characters are just kind of boring. Not all of them, but a lot. That is one area Vikings blows it away in my opinion. The characters in Vikings (especially Ragnar, and his sons) have some complex, and fascinating story lines. Aside from the little fella, I can't think of another GoT character story line that rivals. Vikings' top 5.

To each their own, though. Like I said before, GoT IS worth watching, I just don't get the hype.

 

[B.B. Hemingway]

Well, I watched the first couple episodes of Vikings last night. It's definitely a very good show and I'm now hooked. I still prefer GoT and don't find it to be at that level.....yet. Maybe that will change after I'm through a few seasons.

But damnit, now I have to put my Star Trek universe binge on hold in favor of Vikings.

Season 1 of Vikings is mediocre compared to the rest.

I may have to retract my previous statement about Season 3. I've been watching the show again and there were things in season 2 that I thought were in season 3 for some reason. Such as blood eagle. Season 2 is probably my favorite.

Yep, it get's better as it goes.

 

[Landlord]

GoT has scaled way way way back on the gratuitous sex selling, and the story is even positioning itself for a possible happy ending. The nihilism long-con.