Winter is Coming (Song of Ice and Fire TV)

[Akirai Annuvil]

For game of thrones I did find one part lacking: character development. Most characters don't grow or change at all, which is just a little sad. The only characters who've seen growth are Daenerys and Sansa. I guess you could say Ned Stark has seen some development as well, in his abandonment of honor.

Not that it matters much, as the plot's progress is exceptional, especially considering the fantasy standard of no more than one important event per book.

[David Holtzman]

For game of thrones I did find one part lacking: character development. Most characters don't grow or change at all, which is just a little sad. The only characters who've seen growth are Daenerys and Sansa. I guess you could say Ned Stark has seen some development as well, in his abandonment of honor.

I think the fact that it was only 10 episodes really stifled meaningful character experiences. If they'd done it as 12 or even 15 we'd have had much more time to showcase the various personas. As it stands, I think they did a fair job portraying who the characters are in the time they gave them.

[Leonora Windleaf]

For game of thrones I did find one part lacking: character development. Most characters don't grow or change at all, which is just a little sad. The only characters who've seen growth are Daenerys and Sansa. I guess you could say Ned Stark has seen some development as well, in his abandonment of honor.

Not that it matters much, as the plot's progress is exceptional, especially considering the fantasy standard of no more than one important event per book.

Spoiler

I also thought Catelyn Stark and Robb Stark have grown quite a bit, not to mention Arya. Catelyn showed that her emotions can get the better of her, while both Robb and Arya have matured. Granted, you don't see much of Robb in the beginning, but he did take his responsibility as lord of Winterfell quite fast.

[Skyy High]

For game of thrones I did find one part lacking: character development. Most characters don't grow or change at all, which is just a little sad. The only characters who've seen growth are Daenerys and Sansa. I guess you could say Ned Stark has seen some development as well, in his abandonment of honor.

Not that it matters much, as the plot's progress is exceptional, especially considering the fantasy standard of no more than one important event per book.

Are we just talking about the series here? Even in the books, the first book was really about setting the stage for all the bad s*** to go down. Even still, I think we get an appreciable amount of character development, particularly if we broaden our definition of development to include not just characters changing, but also the audience's perception of them changing:

Spoiler

Geoffrey starts the series as a spoiled royal brat, and ends it as a complete monster.
We get a lot of backstory on Cersei and Robert's relationship that explains a lot of their terrible behaviors.
Tyrion clearly starts down his long and sad character arc, standing up for and even defending himself physically. It's a shame they cut him out of the battle with the northmen, in the book he defeats a knight and takes another captive.
Jon Snow has changed a ton. Compare his attitude towards the Night's Watch before reaching Castle Black to after meeting his future Brothers to after having his talk with Tyrion to after having his talk with Sam.

[Drec Sutal]

Most characters don't grow or change at all, which is just a little sad. The only characters who've seen growth are Daenerys and Sansa. I guess you could say Ned Stark has seen some development as well, in his abandonment of honor.

Spoiler

Also Robb Stark becoming a leader and Jon Stark deciding to stay on the wall... there's only so much you can fit into 10 one-hour episodes.

[Akirai Annuvil]

Series only, haven't read the books matter of time.

Spoiler

I also thought Catelyn Stark and Robb Stark have grown quite a bit, not to mention Arya. Catelyn showed that her emotions can get the better of her, while both Robb and Arya have matured. Granted, you don't see much of Robb in the beginning, but he did take his responsibility as lord of Winterfell quite fast.

On Cately, Rob and Arya:

Spoiler

Catelyn showed her emotions getting the better off her in the second episode when she couldn't leave Bran's bedside for a month. Actually, didn't she get all, "refuse the King, cause I love you" against Ned in the first epi? She was established to be a caring mother and wife and not just a frigid lady. That was not developed over the course of the series.
Likewise, I'm not seeing the development with Rob and Arya: we were introduced to Arya being a tomboy; it ends with her being forced to go transgender without fully comprehending why. Rob didn't get any real screen time until he became the leader. I can't remember scenes of him being a follower.

Spoiler

Geoffrey starts the series as a spoiled royal brat, and ends it as a complete monster.
We get a lot of backstory on Cersei and Robert's relationship that explains a lot of their terrible behaviors.
Tyrion clearly starts down his long and sad character arc, standing up for and even defending himself physically. It's a shame they cut him out of the battle with the northmen, in the book he defeats a knight and takes another captive.
Jon Snow has changed a ton. Compare his attitude towards the Night's Watch before reaching Castle Black to after meeting his future Brothers to after having his talk with Tyrion to after having his talk with Sam.

On Geoffrey, Cersei, Robert, Tyrion and Snow:

Spoiler

Geoffrey was a monster to begin with; admittedly, at the very beginning he is more reliant on his mother than at the end (when he defies her), but he was a monster either way.
Backstory isn't development. It's explanation, not change. Their characters remained the same (to both their downfalls). It's good that it was there as it deepened the character and made them more empathetic but it didn't develop them.
Tyrion, uh, I kinda agree. Personally I feel that his defiance of the Queen and *****slapping Geoffrey showed he had a powerful personality, while his lustfulness was in full display from the very first episode onward. I don't feel that's changed too much. Again, more backstory, no development. However, I guess you could have missed the strength of his character and have had that pointed out throughout the series. It's kinda obscured in the first couple of episodes.
Snow did see some development. Disillusion, mostly. But in the end, he didn't really change. He chose to stay with the Night's Watch for the same reason he joined them in the first place: that doubt entered him was development, but ultimately it didn't lead to a permanent change of character, so tbh I don't consider it noteworthy.

[Gorani]

one part lacking: character development.

I don't see anything wrong if a character doesn't completely change (like you seem to define "development" here").
It is how the character moves within its (plot) boundaries and I think the writers and actors did a good job in GoT.

Unlike many others (not here, but on other sites talking about GoT), I have no problem with the age of the actors: e.g if you don't know Daenerys' age in the book (13, when the story starts), the series "older" version isn't breaking the plot (& probably the only way for the producers to get away with all the sex & nudity)

PS: It looks like Natalie Dormer will join the cast in Season 2.

[bellissima]

This past weekend our TV service had a free HBO promotion, including the "on demand" service. We marathonned this series on Sunday.

I have to say I read the first book of the series years ago and didn't read any further because I so thoroughly disliked all of the characters. I found it hard to get invested enough in any of them to care much about the rest of the series. However, I enjoyed watching the show enough that I might actually reconsider and go read the rest.

[bellissima]

This past weekend our TV service had a free HBO promotion, including the "on demand" service. We marathonned this series on Sunday.

I have to say I read the first book of the series years ago and didn't read any further because I so thoroughly disliked all of the characters. I found it hard to get invested enough in any of them to care much about the rest of the series. However, I enjoyed watching the show enough that I might actually reconsider and go read the rest.

[Buddah]

It was a free HBO weekend that allowed me to watch the 1st episode. Two days later, I was shelling out cash to Dish Network to keep watching.