The ＂right tour＂ derivative drama exploded？ The first episode is ＂big or small＂ …
[Text/Observer Network Wang Mochu]
August 21st may be an exciting day for the fans of Game of Thrones. More than three years after the end of the drama, "House Of The Dragon", as a derivative drama of "Right Tour", finally went online on the HBO Max platform, and "continued a meal" for the fans.
Correspondingly, the enthusiastic feedback from the drama powder also gave the drama a bright viewing result. The next day, HBO announced that the first episode of "Dragon Family" had set a new record for the premiere viewing of its original series: the number of viewers that night was as high as 9.986 million.
Screen of Dragon Family
The production cost of the play is also staggering, with the cost of the complete works reaching $200 million, or 1.37 billion yuan. However, judging from the word-of-mouth evaluation, the bloody and violent delivery pictures in the first episode caused a lot of controversy. In the play, the princess gave birth during childbirth and the king chose to "keep her baby", so that the princess died of a rude caesarean section when she was awake, afraid and unable to be the master.
Despite the grand special effects and eye-catching scenes, whether Dragon Family can get rid of the "rotten tail" shadow of "right tour" is still a sword of Damocles hanging over the head of the play.
"ferocious" delivery picture
The Dragon Family is adapted from the novel Blood and Fire by American writer george martin. The story is set 200 years before Game of Thrones and focuses on the rise and fall of the Targaryen family. Ten episodes are planned.
In the first episode just launched, the "cruel" dystocia scene attracted the attention of many foreign media and audiences. The Hollywood Reporter directly described it with the word "frightening" in its title, and wrote at the beginning of the article, "That childbirth scene is the scariest that human beings can do".
In the play, Emma Arryn is preparing to give birth to a son, which will provide her husband King Viserys Targaryen with a much-needed heir to the throne. But the delivery was not smooth, and the king had to choose between "keeping the big one or keeping the small one".
The king finally decided to "keep small". In the film, Wang Hao experienced a rough caesarean section and died of excessive bleeding after being completely awake, scared, unaware and unable to make decisions. Ironically, the child did not survive in the end. In presentation, this bloody production scene and a fierce contest are staggered in the play.
This scene paves the way for the core conflict of the play on the issue of king’s succession. At the end of the first episode, King Viserys chose his daughter Renilla as his heir, instead of his changeable brother Damon.
Regarding the choice of letting cruel childbirth and competition scenes evolve alternately, co-director Sabochnik explained during the interview, "We think this is an interesting way to explore the fact that for medieval women, childbirth is a battlefield, and you can’t ignore the violence that men of that era committed against women. It should not be diluted or beautified. "
In an email to The Times, Sabochnik wrote that the theme of the delivery was "torture" and the director group deliberately made the scene "unsightly" when shooting.
In terms of details, the university student who accompanied the delivery in the play said, "Father can choose". "This sentence means that Emma can’t decide her fate. Although she is lying there, the king and the bachelor never want to ask her advice," Sabochnik explained.
In a round-table interview with "Insider", Sabochnik said that he had played this childbirth scene to "as many women as possible" and asked the other party if this scene would be too "violent". The feedback he got was the same, "No. If you want to make comments, you need more. "
Sabochnik said that he realized that it was "really important" to show Emma’s lack of choice, and said that "we should not avoid what happened, because it put forward a point that seemed to really touch women. She had no choice but to be murdered by her husband. This is a good illustration of the state of the world we live in. "
This scene in the drama takes place in the fictional world, but back to the real world, under the background that the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the constitutional protection of women’s right to abortion in June this year, this plot seems to have a particularly profound modern significance.
Fox News in the United States pointed out that this scene may resonate particularly in the lives of modern Americans. After overturning the constitutional ruling that guarantees the right to abortion, the United States is giving priority to the life of the unborn baby, not the life of the mother.
This picture really caused many viewers to think about the protection of abortion rights. Someone wrote on Twitter, "If you have seen" Dragon Family ",you are frightened by the forced caesarean section in it, and you are in favor of strict abortion restrictions, then you are the worst hypocrite."
Gorgeous but boring?
After the first episode was broadcast, the ratings received enthusiastic response. Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of HBO, announced on Monday that on the Sunday night when the first episode of Dragon Family was launched, a total of 9.986 million people watched the drama through cable TV and HBO Max streaming media, setting a new record for the viewing data of original HBO dramas.
This premiere data also created the largest single-night audience for HBO since the finale of "Right Tour" in May 2019. 19.3 million people watched the finale night of "Power Tour", and the highest single-night statistics after that were contributed by the ending of the second season of Elysium, reaching 6.6 million cross-platform audiences.
This kind of market reaction may make the dramatist breathe a sigh of relief. After all, Dragon Family continues the gorgeous special effects style of Game of Thrones, and these productions cost real money.
In order to put the fighting scenes of nearly 20 dragons on the screen, the production cost of the whole season is as high as 200 million US dollars, making "Dragon Family" one of the most expensive TV programs recently. On average, the cost of an episode reached an astonishing $20 million. What is this concept? The single episode cost of "Quanyou" in the first quarter was $6 million, and the single episode cost in the eighth quarter was only $15 million.
Comparison of the production costs of "Dragon Family" and "Game of Thrones", from Twitter
Then, can the derivative drama "Dragon Family" arouse the enthusiasm of the fans of "Quanyou", attract new audiences, restore the reputation of "Quanyou" after being approved for the last two seasons, and let those who hate the ending of "Quanyou" put down their hanging hearts and lay a good foundation for themselves in the process? Various media have shown different views.
Some media strongly praised it, such as the Guardian, which praised the first episode of Dragon Family as spectacular, attractive and creepy, and as a sensational success as the heyday of Game of Thrones.
The Times praised it directly with the title of "rich pictures, exquisite acting and sharp plays". Media Ars Technic also issued a document affirming that the first performance of "Dragon Family" is expected to win back the heart of "Quanyou" drama powder.
Title of The Times Film Review
Ars Technic report screenshot
Besides praise, there are also many critical voices.
The film reviews published in Atlantic Monthly pointed out sharply that the hottest new dramas of HBO are all about incest.
In the right tour, the audience can also put aside the incest tradition of the Targaryen dynasty, but the Dragon Family is different. This derivative drama closely connects itself with the Targaryen family. Film critic Gilbert wrote, "This element involves the role development and narrative potential." "The most noteworthy thing about the TV series based on incestuous royal lineage is the flat relationship it establishes between the characters."
The film review published in Pianfeng Magazine bluntly commented that the play was boring, saying that "a lot of screen time was wasted on more gorgeous, superficial and meaningless events, such as the conflict at the large-scale tournament held by Viserys to celebrate the birth of the male heir". Commentator Riccio wrote sarcastically, "No brains choose spectacular scenes, so that you may think that the adapted book is simply called Blood instead of Fire and Blood".
Other controversies also revolve around casting.
In the play, the role of collis Valerian is set to be of ancient ancestry, with purple eyes and blond hair, while the actor … cast a black actor, and many viewers protested that it was "not consistent with the original".
"Varelia people are very strict about blood purity, especially those nobles. If we follow the legend, they will rarely have children with people other than nobles, let alone let one of them (children of impure blood) become the leader. "
The starring "Yan value problem" is also part of the audience’s hot discussion. Many viewers suggested that the cast could not support the setting of "the silver-haired dragon famous for its beauty" in the original work.
Matt smith, as Prince Damon Targaryen
Paddy Considine, as King of Viserys Targaryen.
Olivia cooke, as Allison Hightower (left); Rhys ifans, as Otto Hajto (right)
However, the ratings of major websites are not bad.
After the first episode of "Dragon Family" went online, as of press time, the rotten tomato website gave 83% freshness, while the Metacritic film review website scored 68 points and Douban scored 8.7 points.
The discussion heat of the premiere series is also reflected on social media. HBO said in a press release that on the day of its premiere, the entries of the play stayed on Twitter’s popularity list for 14 hours and won the first place on Google’s trend list.
Some people said that they "have booked the viewing time every Sunday night for the follow-up update of Dragon Family".
Some people seem to be "painful and happy" and say that "I am ready to get hurt again for Dragon Family after’ Quan You’ broke my heart for three years".
Some viewers who watched the first episode spoke highly of the Dragon Family.
I was heartbroken by Quan You 8. After watching the first episode of Dragon Family, I want to say: OK, HBO, you have successfully attracted my attention.
Domestic fans have received a lot of praise, and 52.4% of the people who scored Douban scored five stars. There are many words of praise in the comments, such as "shocking picture", "perfection" and "high production level", but some people have suggested that "no one remembers the characters after watching the first episode".
Generally speaking, the achievement of Dragon Family is excellent, but since the drama has only aired the first episode, the current rating result can only be regarded as "a good start".
After all, the picture is "eye-catching" again, and it also needs a solid script. With the "right tour" of "opening high and walking low" as a lesson, it will take time to prove whether the follow-up series of "Dragon Family" can catch the "high-profile" of the first episode and the concerns of the fans.
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