Spoilers
Don’t Listen to These Podcasts
Till You’ve Seen the Shows
I tried to find a photo of someone sleeping on HBO’s wildly popular series Game of Thrones, but wasn’t successful. The closest I could find was a photo of a character dead, and even when it was the murdered Jon Snow, his eyes were open.
That seems appropriate if you’re a fan like I am, lying awake counting down the days between seasons. That stretch can be unbearably long — longer than summer or winter in the series itself — and it’s going to be longer this year since season 7 will air later in 2017 than it has in previous years: the show-runners wanted to film the series in winter, now that Winter Is Here, but what grief for fans, eh?
Fortunately, Drew Ackerman, aka Scooter, aka @DearestScooter on the Twitter, has just the thing for all us deprived GoT fans. In an off-shoot to his wildly popular SleepWithMePodcast, which is designed to “bore you to slumber” — if you can stop laughing — with its “ingeniously” imaginative stories and meandering introductions, Drew has given us Game of Drones. And these podcasts are wonderful, I gotta tellya, even if they are designed to put you to sleep. You’re gonna love them. I’ve listed each Game of Drones extended episode below, preceded by my brief overview of the GoT season, in case you forgot what happened, and I apologize in advance for not being nearly as ingeniously funny as Dearest Scooter.
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Season One
Based on the fantasy novel A Game of Thrones, Book 1 of the best-selling series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, season 1 of HBO’s Game of Thrones is set in the fictional land of Westeros, composed mainly of The 7 Kingdoms, where royal claimants and usurpers fight for the right to sit on the Iron Throne. Season One concentrates on three major families: the Lannisters, the Starks, and the Targaryens. Their stories become interwoven with their claims to the throne, and their loyalty to their ruler.
Game of Drones, Season 1
10 hours
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Season Two
Based roughly on A Clash of Kings, Book 2 in George R. R. Martin’s best-selling series of novels A Song of Ice and Fire, HBO’s critically acclaimed and award-winning Game of Thrones continues its exploration of power, politics, family obligations, love, and betrayal, in the second season. As the battle for the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms of the civilized world erupts once more, everyone now knows that “Winter is coming. The surviving members of the three major families — Lannister, Stark, and Targaryen — continue the quest for survival and power, this time amidst rebellions, uprisings, and war. They are joined and betrayed by members of various other Houses.
Game of Drones, Season 2
10+ hours
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Season Three
Based in part on the first half of A Storm of Swords, Book 3 of George R. R. Martin’s best-selling fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, the third season of HBO’s Game of Thrones, created and written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the stories of the inhabitants of Westeros and the Lands beyond continue. Love, power, and betrayal are its major themes as the War of the Five Kings intensifies. The third season of Game of Thrones gets viewers more intimately involved with the peripheral characters, bringing them to the forefront. Though there are multiple, ultimately converging storylines, the excellent writing and powerful acting keep the viewers engaged without confusing them. Even the scene transitions flawlessly guide viewers from one character — or group of characters — to another, and back again. The acting is riveting, with some previously minor characters taking center stage, and some previously “evil” characters gaining the sympathy of the audience.
Game of Drones, Season 3
11+ hours
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Season Four
Season 4 of HBO’s award-winning series Game of Thrones is based principally on the second half of A Storm of Swords, Book 3 in George R. R. Martin’s acclaimed fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire. Season 4 also includes material from Book 4, A Feast for Crows, and Book 5, A Dance with Dragons. In Season 4, the writers of Game of Thrones continues to explore its themes of love, betrayal, and power, on the familial and national level. The storyline is expanded to explore themes of loyalty, hubris, spirituality, religious beliefs, religious intolerance, as well as the morality of violence. The principal families — Lannister, Stark, Targaryen, and Tyrell — remain, and their stories are deftly interwoven with those of new characters.
Game of Drones, Season 4
10 hours
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Season Five
Season 5 of HBO’s Game of Thrones, is adapted primarily Books 4 and 5 in George R. R. Martin’s best-selling fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire. Along with Books 4 and 5 — A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons — the writers returned to Book 3, A Storm of Swords, for additional content. They also had access to material from Martin’s as-yet unpublished Book 6, The Winds of Winter. Season 5 of the dramatic adaptation won a record number of Emmy Awards for a series in a single year: 12 awards out of 24 nominations, including Outstanding Drama Series. Created and (mostly) written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the show’s writing, acting, and design are all brilliant, and Game of Thrones deserves every award it’s won.
Game of Thrones Season 5 unites many of the storylines that have been converging during the previous 4 seasons. The major families who started the drama — the Lannisters, the Starks, and the Targaryens — are joined with the Tyrells, the Martells, and the Boltons. The only remaining Baratheon, Stannis, is still waging war against the King of the Seven Kingdoms. Season 5 also takes one of Season 4’s major themes — religious intolerance — and puts it in the forefront of the drama. Although family loyalty still determines most of the characters’ actions, the quest for power is intimately intertwined with any family obligations.
Game of Drones, Season 5
12+ hours
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Season Six
Season 6 of HBO’s Game of Thrones is based on the as yet uncompleted Book 6 in Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, The Winds of Winter, and includes a “significant amount of material” from the Books 4 and 5 — A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons. The author provided a detailed outline to show creators Benioff and Weiss. The sixth season proved to have more weaknesses than the previous ones, and it may have been due to the fact that the show-runners were working from an outline, no matter how detailed, rather than culling the story from completed books. Still, this season had some of the most powerful moments of the entire series, some of which Martin will be hard-pressed to reproduce on the printed page.
The battle for the Iron Throne gets vicious as the major families — the Lannisters, the Starks, and the Targaryens — are joined by other families — the Tyrells, the Martells, and the Boltons — the latter of whom either want to rule the Seven Kingdoms themselves or who want revenge for wrongs inflicted by the three primary families.
Game of Drones, Season 6
11+ hours
(no extensive recap of the entire season yet
individual episodes listed below)
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s6 e1
Red Woman and Mood Rings: #382
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s6 e2
Home: #385
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s6 e3
Oathbreaker: #388
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s6 e4
Book of the Stranger: #391
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s6 e5
The Door: #394
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s6 e6
Blood of My Blood: #397
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s6 e7
The Broken Man: #400
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s6 e8
No One: #403
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s6 e9
Battle of the Bastards: #406
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s6 e10
Winds of Winter: #409
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brief s6 recap
In Case You Were Worried About Tommen: #410
1+ hour
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Want more Game of Thrones, even when you’re sleeping?
You might as well subscribe, my Lovelies, because Game of Drones is droning across the “deep, dark night” especially for you.
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all photos courtesy of HBO Game of Thrones.
Games of Drones images from SleepWithMePodcast
