UNUSED AUDIO COMMENTARY FOR GAME OF THRONES PILOT, “WINTER IS COMING”, RECORDED FALL 2011 BY REBECCA WATSON AND AMANDA MARCOTTE, HBO SPECIAL EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURING 26 SECONDS OF ADDITIONAL FOOTAGE.
PART I
(Editor’s note: This special audio commentary track has never before been released publicly. With Game of Thrones set to return later this week for a fourth season, we thought it would be a real treat for Rebecca’s fans to read a transcript of the commentary she recorded with well-known feminist Amanda Marcotte. Enjoy!)
Amanda Marcotte: This first episode begins with a cold open, right to the action. We see three rough-looking men leading horses through a dark tunnel, emerging in a clearing on the edge of what looks like a forest. It’s winter, obviously. The snows are half a foot deep. And although the program gives us no introduction to these characters, we’ll later learn that they’re members of a quasi-military order.
Rebecca Watson: The Night’s Watch.
AM: Exactly.
RW: An inherently sexist organisation. The Night’s Watch only allows men into its ranks. The majority of them are rapists hauled in from all four corners of Westeros. Not coincidentally, they’re all white. Already we can see what sort of people we’re dealing with here.
AM: They’re armed. Dirty, too. Squalid little men just out for a stroll beyond the Wall, looking to catch wildling women unawares for surprise rape.
RW: That’s a good point. From the bits and pieces of dialog here, it’s clear these men are operating under the pretense of “scouting” the wildlings, but really they’re out to rape. Now one of them comes upon a deserted wildling camp. Ugh, this is horrible. Blood and entrails everywhere. Severed heads, dismembered limbs.
AM: It’s obvious some sort of animal got to them.
RW: A dog probably. Or a Siberian tiger.
A Night’s Watch ranger hallucinates a ghastly scene of slaughter.
AM: And now the ranger is back with his mates, gesticulating wildly and yelling about so-called White Walkers.
RW: The White Walkers of Westeros are akin to the chupacabra of south America, are they not? They exist in stories meant to frighten children. They’re no more real than the Loch Ness monster or Bigfoot. Thankfully, the leader of this ranging group turns out to be a solid skeptic.
AM: He demands evidence of these so-called White Walkers, but there is none.
RW: Indeed. Not a spot of blood. You’d think there would be carnage, but it’s obvious the man was inventing the grisly scene in his head. You have to look at this logically: Not even the White Walkers of legend can slaughter an entire village and spirit away the evidence in a few minutes’ time. It takes time to execute people. When the Catholic Church executed Galileo, it took 20 minutes just to light the pyre.
AM: That’s right. And now these Night’s Watch rapists get their comeuppance in the form of wildling children avenging the rape of their mothers. Seems gratuitously violent, though.
RW: And it’s not entirely clear where these children came from. It feels like a non-sequitur.
AM: Now the opening credits roll, and we’ve arrived at what looks like some sort of domestic scene at Winterfell, the ancestral home of the noble Stark family.
RW: We see the girls of the Stark household forced to knit, while the boys are outside, enjoying the sunshine and practicing archery. Now we see young Brandon Stark holding a bow aloft. Behind him, older brothers Jon and Robb whisper in his ear: “Go on, father’s watching.” Indeed, up above on the balcony, Lord Eddard Stark looks on approvingly as his son is indoctrinated into the cycle of war.
AM: This is, literally, a patriarchy.
RW: That’s right. Poor Bran is learning the first of many hard lessons about manhood in Westeros. This is a land where, if you want to impress your father, violence is the only route.
AM: An arrow is loosed, finding its target. Bullseye!
RW: Oh, I love this scene!
AM: For a few seconds, we’re led to believe Bran hit his mark, but as the camera pans out, we see it was actually the handiwork of Arya, the youngest of the Stark girls. She curtsies, smiling, while still holding her bow. This is a girl who clearly will not confirm to gender norms.
A girl who refuses to conform to gender norms.
RW: Now we learn that one of the three men from that ill-fated Nights Watch expedition has indeed survived, but he’s left his post. That’s a capital crime in Westeros. The boys are brought along to watch Lord Stark behead the deserter.
AM: I’m torn here. On the one hand, this man is a rapist. On the other, he’s been conscripted into a solitary life on the wall by his betters, people who clearly enjoy a position of privilege in Westeros. Oh! Now we see the dire wolves!
RW: One for each Stark child.
AM: Adorable! But no dire wolf pup for Theon, and none for the servants. Clearly, dire wolves are for the privileged.
RW: Technically it’s summer, but the Starks here are bundled up against the cold because Winterfell is so far north. Have you ever wondered why seasons in Westeros last so long?
AM: I have, but I don’t have the scientific expertise you do. Why don’t you take us through it?
RW: Sure. Well, as you know, Earth’s seasons are the direct result of the planet’s elliptical orbit around the sun. Summer happens when the Earth reaches aphelion, its closest point in orbit. The extra heat from being so close to the sun is what gives us those gorgeous 85-degree days in July. Winter, of course, is the opposite — during winter, the Earth is at its greatest distance from the sun in the ellipse.
AM: Interesting. So if Westerosi seasons can last a decade or longer, the planet must occupy a much larger orbit around its star than our Earth, yeah?
RW: Correct. Some people have posited that we’re dealing with a binary star system here, but that would mean the planet in the Game of Thrones universe would have to follow a figure-eight orbit. Binary star systems are also famously inhospitable to life, to the point where astronomers no longer waste their time with those systems in the search for potential life-supporting planets. Ah, but this isn’t an astronomy lesson, and here comes the king!
AM: Finally, the royal train arrives in Winterfell. The King, his retainers, the Hound, and the famously blond Lannisters!
King Robert, head of the Westerosi patriarchy.
RW: Cersei looks fantastic for a woman who’s been riding for a month. Joffrey looks regal, doesn’t he?
AM: Indeed. Much more so than his lecherous father, who is so overstuffed he can’t even dismount from his horse without assistance from his servants. Oh, sorry! I forgot for a second that you and Mark Addy…
RW: It’s okay. No, really. Mark is a great guy, but we’ve gone our separate ways. Anyway, Mark…er, Robert…asks Lord Stark to take him to “the crypts,” an underground, sort of foreboding place where the Stark clan buries its dead.
AM: Like any man who’s had a sex object taken away from him, King Robert is mournful for Leanna Stark, Lord Stark’s late sister. We’re told a man named Rhaegar Targaryan killed poor Leanna, and now we’re beginning to see how dangerous life can be for a Westerosi woman caught between the affections of two men.
RW: We’re not told whether Leanna had a choice in all this.
AM: Of course not. Lord Stark tells the King, “All the Targaryens are dead, Your Grace.” But now we see that’s not true.
RW: Finally! A scene that doesn’t look as if it was shot in dreary Ireland. I fucking hate Ireland.
AM: We learn there are actually two Targaryen alive — Danaerys and her older brother, Viserys. And Viserys has hatched a plan to marry his young sister off to some tribal chieftan in exchange for an army.
PLEASE CHECK BACK WITH REBECCA WATSON FAN CLUB FOR PART II OF THIS VERY SPECIAL TRANSCRIPT LATER THIS WEEK!
REBECCA WATSON FAN CLUB
UNRELEASED COMMENTARY ON GAME OF THRONES BY REBECCA WATSON AND AMANDA MARCOTTE
UNUSED AUDIO COMMENTARY FOR GAME OF THRONES PILOT, “WINTER IS COMING”, RECORDED FALL 2011 BY REBECCA WATSON AND AMANDA MARCOTTE, HBO SPECIAL EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURING 26 SECONDS OF ADDITIONAL FOOTAGE.
PART I
(Editor’s note: This special audio commentary track has never before been released publicly. With Game of Thrones set to return later this week for a fourth season, we thought it would be a real treat for Rebecca’s fans to read a transcript of the commentary she recorded with well-known feminist Amanda Marcotte. Enjoy!)
Amanda Marcotte: This first episode begins with a cold open, right to the action. We see three rough-looking men leading horses through a dark tunnel, emerging in a clearing on the edge of what looks like a forest. It’s winter, obviously. The snows are half a foot deep. And although the program gives us no introduction to these characters, we’ll later learn that they’re members of a quasi-military order.
Rebecca Watson: The Night’s Watch.
AM: Exactly.
RW: An inherently sexist organisation. The Night’s Watch only allows men into its ranks. The majority of them are rapists hauled in from all four corners of Westeros. Not coincidentally, they’re all white. Already we can see what sort of people we’re dealing with here.
AM: They’re armed. Dirty, too. Squalid little men just out for a stroll beyond the Wall, looking to catch wildling women unawares for surprise rape.
RW: That’s a good point. From the bits and pieces of dialog here, it’s clear these men are operating under the pretense of “scouting” the wildlings, but really they’re out to rape. Now one of them comes upon a deserted wildling camp. Ugh, this is horrible. Blood and entrails everywhere. Severed heads, dismembered limbs.
AM: It’s obvious some sort of animal got to them.
RW: A dog probably. Or a Siberian tiger.
A Night’s Watch ranger hallucinates a ghastly scene of slaughter.
AM: And now the ranger is back with his mates, gesticulating wildly and yelling about so-called White Walkers.
RW: The White Walkers of Westeros are akin to the chupacabra of south America, are they not? They exist in stories meant to frighten children. They’re no more real than the Loch Ness monster or Bigfoot. Thankfully, the leader of this ranging group turns out to be a solid skeptic.
AM: He demands evidence of these so-called White Walkers, but there is none.
RW: Indeed. Not a spot of blood. You’d think there would be carnage, but it’s obvious the man was inventing the grisly scene in his head. You have to look at this logically: Not even the White Walkers of legend can slaughter an entire village and spirit away the evidence in a few minutes’ time. It takes time to execute people. When the Catholic Church executed Galileo, it took 20 minutes just to light the pyre.
AM: That’s right. And now these Night’s Watch rapists get their comeuppance in the form of wildling children avenging the rape of their mothers. Seems gratuitously violent, though.
RW: And it’s not entirely clear where these children came from. It feels like a non-sequitur.
AM: Now the opening credits roll, and we’ve arrived at what looks like some sort of domestic scene at Winterfell, the ancestral home of the noble Stark family.
RW: We see the girls of the Stark household forced to knit, while the boys are outside, enjoying the sunshine and practicing archery. Now we see young Brandon Stark holding a bow aloft. Behind him, older brothers Jon and Robb whisper in his ear: “Go on, father’s watching.” Indeed, up above on the balcony, Lord Eddard Stark looks on approvingly as his son is indoctrinated into the cycle of war.
AM: This is, literally, a patriarchy.
RW: That’s right. Poor Bran is learning the first of many hard lessons about manhood in Westeros. This is a land where, if you want to impress your father, violence is the only route.
AM: An arrow is loosed, finding its target. Bullseye!
RW: Oh, I love this scene!
AM: For a few seconds, we’re led to believe Bran hit his mark, but as the camera pans out, we see it was actually the handiwork of Arya, the youngest of the Stark girls. She curtsies, smiling, while still holding her bow. This is a girl who clearly will not confirm to gender norms.
A girl who refuses to conform to gender norms.
RW: Now we learn that one of the three men from that ill-fated Nights Watch expedition has indeed survived, but he’s left his post. That’s a capital crime in Westeros. The boys are brought along to watch Lord Stark behead the deserter.
AM: I’m torn here. On the one hand, this man is a rapist. On the other, he’s been conscripted into a solitary life on the wall by his betters, people who clearly enjoy a position of privilege in Westeros. Oh! Now we see the dire wolves!
RW: One for each Stark child.
AM: Adorable! But no dire wolf pup for Theon, and none for the servants. Clearly, dire wolves are for the privileged.
RW: Technically it’s summer, but the Starks here are bundled up against the cold because Winterfell is so far north. Have you ever wondered why seasons in Westeros last so long?
AM: I have, but I don’t have the scientific expertise you do. Why don’t you take us through it?
RW: Sure. Well, as you know, Earth’s seasons are the direct result of the planet’s elliptical orbit around the sun. Summer happens when the Earth reaches aphelion, its closest point in orbit. The extra heat from being so close to the sun is what gives us those gorgeous 85-degree days in July. Winter, of course, is the opposite — during winter, the Earth is at its greatest distance from the sun in the ellipse.
AM: Interesting. So if Westerosi seasons can last a decade or longer, the planet must occupy a much larger orbit around its star than our Earth, yeah?
RW: Correct. Some people have posited that we’re dealing with a binary star system here, but that would mean the planet in the Game of Thrones universe would have to follow a figure-eight orbit. Binary star systems are also famously inhospitable to life, to the point where astronomers no longer waste their time with those systems in the search for potential life-supporting planets. Ah, but this isn’t an astronomy lesson, and here comes the king!
AM: Finally, the royal train arrives in Winterfell. The King, his retainers, the Hound, and the famously blond Lannisters!
King Robert, head of the Westerosi patriarchy.
RW: Cersei looks fantastic for a woman who’s been riding for a month. Joffrey looks regal, doesn’t he?
AM: Indeed. Much more so than his lecherous father, who is so overstuffed he can’t even dismount from his horse without assistance from his servants. Oh, sorry! I forgot for a second that you and Mark Addy…
RW: It’s okay. No, really. Mark is a great guy, but we’ve gone our separate ways. Anyway, Mark…er, Robert…asks Lord Stark to take him to “the crypts,” an underground, sort of foreboding place where the Stark clan buries its dead.
AM: Like any man who’s had a sex object taken away from him, King Robert is mournful for Leanna Stark, Lord Stark’s late sister. We’re told a man named Rhaegar Targaryan killed poor Leanna, and now we’re beginning to see how dangerous life can be for a Westerosi woman caught between the affections of two men.
RW: We’re not told whether Leanna had a choice in all this.
AM: Of course not. Lord Stark tells the King, “All the Targaryens are dead, Your Grace.” But now we see that’s not true.
RW: Finally! A scene that doesn’t look as if it was shot in dreary Ireland. I fucking hate Ireland.
AM: We learn there are actually two Targaryen alive — Danaerys and her older brother, Viserys. And Viserys has hatched a plan to marry his young sister off to some tribal chieftan in exchange for an army.
PLEASE CHECK BACK WITH REBECCA WATSON FAN CLUB FOR PART II OF THIS VERY SPECIAL TRANSCRIPT LATER THIS WEEK!