Game of Thrones Conquest & Rebellion: An Animated History of the Seven Kingdoms

This animated feature, which came bundled with Season Seven of 'Game of Thrones' serves to tell the viewer of how House Targaryen came to conquer then lose the Seven Kingdom of Westeros. Starting in ancient Valyria, the greatest city this world has known, they leave for Dragonstone with their dragons. A cataclysm destroys Valyria and later Aegon Targaryen eyes the continent to the west: Westeros. With his dragons he defeats the various local kings; some houses disappear while others ally with him and prosper. Ultimately though House Targaryen is doomed as its decedents, prone to madness, cause the 'Mad King' to be assassinated and the last of their line to flee to the continent of Essos.

This should be of interest to fans of 'Game of Thrones' as it tells us the history that led up to the Seven Kingdoms we've come to know in the series. It is described as animated but most of the story is illustrated by a series of still images with only limited animation. That wasn't a problem for me though is it still effectively illustrated what was happening. Obviously it can't go into a great deal of depth but it touches on many things mentioned but not really explained in the main series. The story is mostly narrated Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen but also features the voices of several major cast members as the story moves on to their houses. As the narration ends before the events of the main series there are no spoilers to speak of but I suspect it wouldn't be of much interest to anybody who isn't already invested in the series... if you have enjoyed the series so far I'd definitely say this is something to watch.

ANIMATION 4/10. Has Disney spoilt the standards of animation? This rendition seems more like Anime, more of a narrated comic book with a series of static frescoes. Blended, earth-colored, detail-poor imaging. At least, unlike Japanese anime, the faces were not of prepubescent children with impossibly un-Asian saucer-like eyes, spiky hair, and machine-gun sounding dialog.

VOICE NARRATIVE 9/10. Clear, neutral but modulated Brtish standard English. Just intonated enough to NOT be like a monotonous documentary, but a master narrator in front of a fireplace.

PLOT. I am too concerned with the excitement and complexity of adult life to invest grey cells into the intricately puzzling alien "societies" of fantasy franchises like "Lord of the Rings", "Harry Potter", "Mortal Kombat", and, now, "Game of Thrones". They all smack of primarily continued to be financially milked. Do we honestly need another James Bond, Resident Evil, XXX, Star Trek, Spiderman, Avengers...?

GENERAL EXHORTATION OF PRODUCERS Perhaps, with COVID influence, that studios will realize that one can produce more cheaply and quickly with digital technology and CGI than previously, that brainlessly repetitive "blockbusters" should be dropped in favor of many more "independent" productions; that other countries have mythologies to consider other than Norse, other fables than Medieval European.

Amazon's unlimited budget has spawned excellent locally-produced series from India, Germany, Russia, Spain, and probably other countries in the making.

Korean cinema contains many excellent drama, crime, action plots. Has anyone considered "Man from Nowhere" in Western incarnation? Have you seen the epic dramas coming out of Russia? The nuanced thrillers from tiny populated Norway?

Why don't Western writers develop fantasies from Indic, Native American, South Asian, Central Asian, African fables and myths - not necessarily verbatim, but taking inspiration from the moral lessons and societal comment.

Black Panther is simple a transposition of Western material societal norms in Africa - It ISN'T a validation of inherently African cultures.

This DVD came with my boxed set of season 7. It's short but fills in a lot of the events that are often referenced on Game of Thrones. It doesn't go too in depth, but given that there are planned prequel spin-offs, it's understandable that they don't want to tell the whole story. It explains the main points of the events that led up to the political situation of Game of Thrones (Robert's Rebellion for example). The animation is much more stylised than we might be used to, but for me, that is part of its charm. It is more like looking at a storybook than watching Disney style traditional animation.

I think any one who is interesting on Game of thrones should watch this short movie

More more more. Like an audiobook, but with visuals. I wish all my books had this. More please. We can't wait 4 years. Just audio and clever graphics please. So good.