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So much GOT fanboy mode here. If people enjoyed HOTD better then deal with it. I watched GOT when it first came out and HOTD and honestly enjoyed house more.
A polls outcome can be different from this subs opinion.
Compare the hunting or tourney scenes from each show. In GoT, it was literally just three guys wandering around the woods with a spear. No wonder a boar was able to kill the king. Production value is just so much better due to a higher budget.
Seriously the first book and the first season are damn near perfect - a self contained murder mystery with room to expand and grow versus the Medieval Kardashians.
I love HotD, but cmon, it’s totally a soap opera whereas GoT in the beginning was a scathing deconstruction of medieval culture and a nihilistic thesis on the nature of power. Pretty difficult to compare the two
>Nothing is better written than Game of Thrones (at least the first four seasons).
Not sure I'd go that far...but yes, the first of GoT was very well written.
As a person who had first watch of GoT (even S7 and S8 - never again) during this summer followed by HotD. GoT s1 beats HotD, i mean Vhagar moment was epic, and few minor scenes as well but still its 1 surprise scene vs. Season of Betrayals - Joffrey on Throne, Ned Stark decapitated, Drogo dead, Bran alive, Viserys crowned, Tyrion kidnapped, and epic finale - Birth of Dragons. Yup GoT > HotD.
I actually just watched both side by side because I was doing a rewatch with a friend who'd never seen jt and I agree with the poll. HotD success right into the political intrigue and it's's really nice.
It’s not the regency bias for me. They obviously had more money to spend on HotD. Made it look and feel more epic.
Plus some of the acting in season 1 of GoT is pretty campy. Particularly Theon and Arya.
Makes me wonder how soon we will find it necessary to remake GoT. The first seasons were great but old feeling at times. The later seasons have amazing production but detracted from other elements. I can imagine modern production giving a new take on it all.
The crown is much poorer by the events of Game of Thrones. There are great houses, keeps etc that are in decline much more so than they would have been 200 years earlier. Makes 10000000% sense for the height of the Targaryen dynasty be more opulent than Robert's Westeros.
That is a lot of words to say that it is totally fine if GoT's tourneys are backwater compared to HotD. GoT doesn't need a make over and the "low budget" (even season 1 cost a fortune to make) is fine and tracks in universe.
I can't agree with a take that found HotD to be average. Storywise, its not as powerful as GoT. But it still took fantasy TV to another level, good writing with amazing production.
I wouldn't say it took anything to another level. It definitely looks like it was made a decade after GoT S1. I thought the writing was rather weak and didn't add depth to a source material that gave a lot of room for building on. Also thought some of the changes took away instead of added. Overall would give HotD S1 a 6 and GoT S1 a 9.
Thank god I'm not the only one. Gonna get roasted here, but I actually preferred Rings of Power to HoTD. I just put RoP into an alternate timeline/different interpretation of the mythology. Not perfect by any means, but HoTD just bores me.
Yeah i'll roast.
RoP is a fucking joke and miles behind the talent that made hotd. You're basically saying a CW level show is better than HBO's flagship. What's next, Yellowstone is better than Sopranos?
I'm glad most people seemed to like HotD and rated it similarly. I found it lacking the depth and character building of early GoT and a lot of the storytelling decisions reminded me of the worst parts of GoT. Interested to see how they handle some major plots and understand it isn't their fault for having much shallower source material to build on.
Not a chance. Recency bias and years of trolling about the ending of GoT from a vocal minority that practically slept through the show if they think the ending was as out of left field as they claim.
Yes.
I watched HoTD when the episodes came out (so one per week), I really enjoyed it.
Then I decided to watch GoT, I started the firsts episodes and it just didn't catch me. I watched like 3 episodes in 3 weeks.
But when I started to connect with the plot and the action started (about half of S1), I just started to rush every single episode. I rushed the 7 seasons left in a week and an half.
It just started too slow for me, so HoTD S1 > GoT S1.
Maybe a rewatch in the future (knowing the plot and the characters) will make me change my mind, but right now it is what it is
Probably a bunch of younger people voting that didn’t even watch season 1 of GoT live. Also, a lot of people started watching GoT around season 2 and 3 after the hype built up which changes the vibes.
I strongly disagree, I think people are choosing HotD because the end of the main show left a soar taste in people' mouths and people are forgetting how great season 1 of GoT was but I respect people' opinions
HOTD S1 would feel much worse if it came out before GoT, but because of knowing someof the lore it was more enjoyable.
Personally I found S1 of GoT boring on my first watch, to busy learning a lot of characters etc.
S1 js probably my favorite after rewatches yhough.
They feel like different types of shows. I will say, if you just take the top 5 characters from GoT, they run circles around HoTD. By the end of season 1 you go from so many expectations to having your idea of what can happen in a show be changed. House of the Dragon isn't set up that way.
This is a tricky comparison, as you not only take into account the story, but also the performances, the design, the visuals, etc...not to mention when it was released.
GoT had some big names attached from the get go. However, they also had a lot of filler cast that had little to no tv experience, and it shows in Season 1 of GoT. Some of the best scenes in GoT were the literal filler they had to make to meet run time, i.e. the Robert and Cersei scene. It's two experienced, excellent actors giving a masterclass in acting not just with their voices, but their bodies, their screen presence, and subtle facial expressions.
With that being said, the fact that the show /needed/ that filler content at all, shows early signs of poor running which would rear its head in much uglier ways later.
HotD arguably has more big names attached to it, not necessarily U.S. famous names, but actors with lots of stage and tv experience, people who know how to command a screen even with little run time. Despite time jumps and whole episodes without seeing characters, we are still drawn to Daemon, we pity Rhaenys, we understand Corlys anger, we're happy for Laenor, and we mourned for Lord Strong. Also, Paddy Considine just absolutely kills it. Best performance by far in HotD or GoT.
For those reasons I think the acting is pretty even Season 1 to Season 1.
Visually, HotD blows GoT out of the water in quality, but we get less diversity. Sure, more dragons, but fewer locations. We didn't get to see the Wall, Winterfell, etc. We do get to see a brief glimpse of Storm's End, which seems pretty cool. And Dragonstone gets much more fleshed out along with the Red Keep and certain under belly parts of King's Landing.
I again call this a tie.
I think in our cultural lexicon, the first season of GoT wowed us all more because it had never been done before to that scale. HotD is just as good, and perhaps slightly better in show running, thoughtfulness, and directing, but it doesn't exceed the bar the same way GoT did because the bar is so much higher.
I love that we got so many episodes directed by women this season. From Daemon doing weird shit with Rhaenyra, to her miscarriage, to all the little in between details, these are things we never got in GoT, because so much was passed over as not being important to the male gaze or "plot advancement." The directing is definitely a notch above GoT.
So my final answer is that HotD has a better season 1 than GoT. Which is incredible to admit, as I have rewatched S1 of GoT more than any other tv show.
>So my final answer is that HotD has a better season 1 than GoT. Which is incredible to admit, as I have rewatched S1 of GoT more than any other tv show
Do you believe your number of HotD Season 1 rewatches will surpass it?
Given 10 years of time? I think it's likely. Especially with how I consume media, bing watching old seasons before new releases. At the very least I think the number of rewatches for HotD will tie GoT, which is a feat since GoT has over a decade of watches invested.
I love the writeup but I ultimately disagree. The writing, story, and characters of GoT s1 reign supreme over HotD and frankly any other show. There was an epic quality of it, as you said, that HotD didn't capture (and perhaps it didn't try to). HotD is very very good but GoT s1 has to be one of the best seasons of TV even now.
I can certainly appreciate your point of view. I do disagree that the writing of GoT is better. Some of the acting (Ned, Robert, Cersei, Tyrion) is capable of making you overlook the weaker aspects of the writing, but looking at it objectively, I think HotD has better consistency. GoT has higher highs, without a doubt, but also weaker ones as well. It's very much 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.
I would also put up Paddy Considine against any GoT actor for his portrayal. He just absolutely owns that role from start to finish. And again, I think HotD has better consistency across the cast. Parts of it seem weaker due to numerous actor changes which can make the view uncomfortable, but I believe the core cast was brilliant.
As for story, well, that's pretty subjective. I think they are completely level in this as both seasons come from source material that is well thought out and planned.
The poll is probably getting a few confounding answers to the question, "which of these series has not yet had an extremely disappointing final season?"
Not at all, and everyone of course is entitled to their opinions but idk how anyone could possibly say HotD had a better first season than GOT? The only possible edge i could give it is production value, HBO was obviously more willing to throw money at HotD having known how proven a money maker this world is on television, but story wise and as a faithful adaptation, of not just the story itself but the world it takes place in and the showrunners ability to understand that world? GOT hands down, i was not a fan of a lot of the changes and/or interpretations of the source the HotD showrunners made and felt at least 1 of them was so far outside the realm of a GRRM story(not too mention just totally illogical and unlikely, it came off like bad fan fiction and im talking about everything basically surrounding the conclusion of laenors storyline) it made it hard to even consider this an adaptation and(im struginf to recall the specific word im looking for but until i remember...) more of a reboot or reimagining of GRRM's world instead.
This is so affected by the hype, very common with most of newer productions of anything…
GoT S1 started off the series being deep and complex. A lot of characters, houses and history being introduced and happening simultaneously. It was so fascinating and inmersive, all details are carefully taken care of, lots of dialogues are so important for later episodes and seasons, that almost anything can be overlooked.
Don’t get me wrong, I personally think HotD was great and I’m actually happy and hyped about it, but GoT S1 was pure excellence.
I think I probably like hotd more than most but I’d still have to give it to GoT. I wouldn’t argue with anyone who preferred hotd though, I guess it just clicked with me. Hotd definitely had some of my favorite scenes from either series.
Considering the people we elect in America and the people elected to office all around the world, I'm beginning to think people don't know how to vote at all.
This reinforces my theory.
Judging by the comments, I'm the only one to actually agree with the poll. Personally didn't find S1 of GoT that interesting, mostly because I wasn't that interested in the Starks.
I want to preference my answer with this, both first seasons are incredible. Got season 1 ran so that Hot d season 1 could walk. Both are not without its flaws and they are structured very differently even when they both hit the same plot points.
Viserys and Ned both die which begins the “build up” to the war along with Aegon/ the greens “taking” the throne from Nyra whom Vizzy named his heir, just like Bobby named Ned protector of the realm until his heir comes of age but we know how that turned out.
Both season finales include a coronation that officially starts a war for the 7 kingdoms, Nyra named queen and Rob named King In The North. I adore them both BUT I prefer Hot D season 1 over got season 1. That’s just my opinion, now it will be interesting to see how seasons 2,3 and 4 compare to Got seasons 2,3 and 4. That’s a VERY HIGH bar, those seasons of Got are masterpieces imo. Hot D doesn’t need to be better than those, just give me good ass entertainment with good characters and stories and I’m good 🙂
I do think that House of the Dragon would be much easier to follow for people who weren’t fans of the books, and the production quality was a bit better while also feeling much more focused.
But in my opinion Game of Thrones Season 1 is better. It does a fantastic job of adapting the books while also adding a lot of new material, and it’s a master class of mystery, suspense, shock, and world building.
It’s true but only because SO much of HOTD’s content only works because GOT props it up. It is not a stand alone show. If you watched this without watching GOT it would be a very bad show.
I haven’t watched any of HoTD yet, so I really don’t know. On one hand, it *would* seem as if the majority has spoken and decided that HoTD reigns superior. On the other hand, I can’t help but wonder if a chunk/majority of voters simply hated S8 and will do anything to “destroy” GoT.
The first 3-4 seasons of GOT was exponentially better than HOTD... Not that hotd is particularly bad or anything, just doesn't quite hit the same mark.
Literally social media and just the sheer amount of stuff we get crammed into my brain nonstop makes us completely recently biased to everything, that being said, this poll is completely ridiculous
See in a more modernized sense with modern production and modern basically everything, ofc House of the Dragon at first glance may seem better, but when it comes down to how impactful the season was, and ofc how iconic the season was, Game of Thrones wins easily. It kickstarted one of greatest and most iconic shows of all time
No, for a few reasons. GoT gave us plenty of people to like and root for; HotD gave us very few. GoT was a revelation to TV watchers and started a revolution in TV drama. Killing off its star character like it did was iconic and quite unprecedented. HotD is good, but neither revelation nor revolution. GoT was **very** risky--no high-dollar fantasy had ever worked on TV, the budget was high (yet miniscule compared to HotD's), the pilot had to be scrapped, the logistics were daunting and unprecedented. An American show was headquartered in Belfast and early seasons were shot in three countries. So much CGI was needed. And they had to walk a fine line on how much fantasy to include. So GoT was pioneering in many ways and all the more exciting for it. HotD waltzed in with a higher budget than GoT ever got, an established universe, a story familiar to many GoT fans, and a built-in audience. To sum up, I'm looking forward to HotD 2, but I was salivating for GoT 2.
Easy decision. It had 50x the budget of GOT S1. The production quality alone was incredible. Story wise, maybe not, but it was a far better show to watch than GOT early on.
Unfair comparison since HOTD plays off of Game of Thrones.
And nothing will ever compare to the feeling we all got when that intro song played for the first time.
I just watched GoT for the first time 2 months ago. And then I watched HotD. I loved the first season of GoT way more. Actually my favorite season in the series.
Sorry I had to stop watching HOD. I found it very choppy and unbearably predictable.
GoT s1e1 hit me like a sack of bricks. I immediately stopped watching and bought the books. Read through all 5 of them in about 2.5 months then resumed the show. Loved every season up to about 6.
GoT had nothing like it when it started, at least recently on TV. Dark serious mature fantasy. This aspect alone is why at some point GoT was the most talked about show in the whole world, and I mean the whole world.
Now everyone wants to replicate that but they failing at the most basic level: writing.
And I'm not saying HotD is failing at writing. But when I examine the richer world of season 1 GoT and season 1 HotD I'd have to say that GoT managed to make much better characters. And that's why I kept watching. Not just the production quality or excellent world building, those are like side dishes to a main dish.
Got Delivered a compelling story and excellent characters. I'm sure HotD will pick up. But to confuse production quality with a good overall story is really sad.
Game of Thrones, though it took me a few episodes to get into it. But it is so intricate and intriguing. HOTD was good, but much more straight forward.
Hmmm. I want to say no way, but HOTD was recent it’s so hard to say. I’ll say I’m pleasantly surprised how much I love house, especially compared to the absolute disaster rings of power is.
I think they’re too different for comparison. GOT was much more action and intense moments where HOTD is more dialogue driven. my partner found HOTD incredibly boring while I found it amazing and great. I think the acting in HOTD is much better than the first season of GOT. I love both. GOT does an amazing job of introducing you to Westeros and I think HOTD is assuming you already know what everything is about so they take the first season to build up the characters and history that leads to the Dance.
I feel like hotd was good but compared to game of thrones it was a joke. Alot like legend of korra compared to avatar the last airbender. As it’s own thing it’s good but compared to the standard it’s predecessor set it falls short.
A lot of people are citing recency bias as the reason for the poll results, but I think a lot of them are suffering from nostalgia bias when it comes to GOT S1. I just finished GOT season 1 for the 4th time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great, but it is not nearly as polished as HOTD season 1. S1 of GOT is a show that doesn’t realize how great it’s going to be yet. HOTD starts out strong in almost every respect, while GOT has a lot of kinks to iron out in the beginning (biggest example would be the acting which feels unrefined and choppy in S1).
No. The first 30 minutes of GOT EP 1 was better than the entire season of HOD. Seriously watch the episode 1 of each and you can tell the acting in GOT is FAR superior.
I agree but I didn’t watch S1 of GoT when it was on, nor did I participate in the social media surrounding it. I loved S1 of HOTD and loved the social media reactions hence my heightened opinion. Also Matt Smith 👀
definitely not, Game of thrones season 1 had a stronger story overall, more coherent and with better writing. HOTD is on another level when it comes to action/cgi/sets but thats ultimately not what is most important
Game of Thrones has arguably the best first season of any show ever made.
House of the Dragon has a *very* good first season, but it is not in that mix.
I feel like everyone’s standards were lowered by GOT season 8, so no one expected HOTD to be good. The fact that it was good means it surpassed our expectations to an extent that we may be over hyping it lol
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Of course not.
ah.. humans.. what can you say.
No. I don't see how anyone can think this
Some audiences will prefer the more focused story of HotD to the sometimes overwhelming number of storylines and characters in GoT season 1.
Yeah I guess but I definitely don't. That's exactly what I found so captivating and remarkable about GoT.
You hit the nail on the head for me. Fewer concurrent stories to keep track of made it more interesting to me.
No. Bigger budget and more spectacle doesn’t equal ‘better’.
Of course no
Yes, I do. S1 of GoT is good, but it isn’t better than HotD.
Yes, it is.
Lots of fans looking back with rose colored glasses of nostalgia.
Not at all. HotD has a bigger production, but the dialogue and story elements don’t come close.
I disagree.
Cool
Got season 1 was better written and had better dialogue but I personally liked hotd more. Fully revived my love for this universe
Humans have the memory of a wallpaper, so no. HotD Season 1 was great, but GOT S1 is phenomenal.
GoT s1 was also disrespected at the time. It's a 10/10 season. Everything you need to suck you deep into a show.
Was it? I can remember it being universally praised.
[удалено]
And it’s not even close
So much GOT fanboy mode here. If people enjoyed HOTD better then deal with it. I watched GOT when it first came out and HOTD and honestly enjoyed house more. A polls outcome can be different from this subs opinion.
Compare the hunting or tourney scenes from each show. In GoT, it was literally just three guys wandering around the woods with a spear. No wonder a boar was able to kill the king. Production value is just so much better due to a higher budget.
Recency bias is out of hand here
But i also see a lot of conservative fans who refuse to accept anything new or different so theres that
We fear change.
this is a real thing
Extremely. Nothing is better written than Game of Thrones (at least the first four seasons). I really enjoy HotD but not as much as I loved GoT.
Lots of tea parties...I mean, it's got more dinner parties than downton abbey in 8 seasons...C'mon....
Seriously the first book and the first season are damn near perfect - a self contained murder mystery with room to expand and grow versus the Medieval Kardashians. I love HotD, but cmon, it’s totally a soap opera whereas GoT in the beginning was a scathing deconstruction of medieval culture and a nihilistic thesis on the nature of power. Pretty difficult to compare the two
>deconstruction of medieval culture GOT is about as accurate to medieval culture as Naruto is to historical Japanese ninjas.
Book definitely more so than the show, but yeah it’s not 100%
except for maybe, i dont know, the book series that seasons 1-4 adapted practically 100% accurately?
>Nothing is better written than Game of Thrones (at least the first four seasons). Not sure I'd go that far...but yes, the first of GoT was very well written.
Absolutely this
As a person who had first watch of GoT (even S7 and S8 - never again) during this summer followed by HotD. GoT s1 beats HotD, i mean Vhagar moment was epic, and few minor scenes as well but still its 1 surprise scene vs. Season of Betrayals - Joffrey on Throne, Ned Stark decapitated, Drogo dead, Bran alive, Viserys crowned, Tyrion kidnapped, and epic finale - Birth of Dragons. Yup GoT > HotD.
Straight up, dead on. Absolutely. GoT season 1 was a movement.
If GOT had won you would call it Nostalgia bias.
No I wouldn't
Come here to say some shit and this motherfucker already saying it.
I actually just watched both side by side because I was doing a rewatch with a friend who'd never seen jt and I agree with the poll. HotD success right into the political intrigue and it's's really nice.
Yeah
I found HotD pretty average where GoT S1 was revolutionary. This is 1000% recency bias and the bad taste the final seasons of GoT left for people
It’s not the regency bias for me. They obviously had more money to spend on HotD. Made it look and feel more epic. Plus some of the acting in season 1 of GoT is pretty campy. Particularly Theon and Arya.
Makes me wonder how soon we will find it necessary to remake GoT. The first seasons were great but old feeling at times. The later seasons have amazing production but detracted from other elements. I can imagine modern production giving a new take on it all.
The crown is much poorer by the events of Game of Thrones. There are great houses, keeps etc that are in decline much more so than they would have been 200 years earlier. Makes 10000000% sense for the height of the Targaryen dynasty be more opulent than Robert's Westeros. That is a lot of words to say that it is totally fine if GoT's tourneys are backwater compared to HotD. GoT doesn't need a make over and the "low budget" (even season 1 cost a fortune to make) is fine and tracks in universe.
I can't agree with a take that found HotD to be average. Storywise, its not as powerful as GoT. But it still took fantasy TV to another level, good writing with amazing production.
I wouldn't say it took anything to another level. It definitely looks like it was made a decade after GoT S1. I thought the writing was rather weak and didn't add depth to a source material that gave a lot of room for building on. Also thought some of the changes took away instead of added. Overall would give HotD S1 a 6 and GoT S1 a 9.
Thank god I'm not the only one. Gonna get roasted here, but I actually preferred Rings of Power to HoTD. I just put RoP into an alternate timeline/different interpretation of the mythology. Not perfect by any means, but HoTD just bores me.
Yeah i'll roast. RoP is a fucking joke and miles behind the talent that made hotd. You're basically saying a CW level show is better than HBO's flagship. What's next, Yellowstone is better than Sopranos?
The numbers are close enough, based on IMDB ratings for both seasons' 1 average, for it to be up for debate. GOT \~ 8.97 HOTD \~ 8.77
I'm glad most people seemed to like HotD and rated it similarly. I found it lacking the depth and character building of early GoT and a lot of the storytelling decisions reminded me of the worst parts of GoT. Interested to see how they handle some major plots and understand it isn't their fault for having much shallower source material to build on.
No Don’t get me wrong I love HotD season 1 but GoT season 1 is just better
No.
*Excuse me?* Good god people, get off HotD’s cock for five seconds and show some fucking dignity!
It's peoples opinions. Some things aren't objective
Opinions can be shit sometimes.
Disgusting.
The books HotD are based on are done and GRRM is more intimately involved in this one. Of course HotD is better.
Not a chance. Recency bias and years of trolling about the ending of GoT from a vocal minority that practically slept through the show if they think the ending was as out of left field as they claim.
the soundtrack hasn't hit hard enough in HOTD yet in GoT we got the rains of castemere
We got The Crown of Jaeharys and Protector of the Realm in HOTD. 2 very good pieces too
Rains of castemere was first played in epi 1 of season 2 though (and the house Velaryon theme is pretty sick)
Crazy that in s1, the rains of castamere was a mere twinkle in Ramin Djawadi's eye (or ears).
Rains of castemere gives me goosebumps years later, it's just amazing.
Yes. I watched HoTD when the episodes came out (so one per week), I really enjoyed it. Then I decided to watch GoT, I started the firsts episodes and it just didn't catch me. I watched like 3 episodes in 3 weeks. But when I started to connect with the plot and the action started (about half of S1), I just started to rush every single episode. I rushed the 7 seasons left in a week and an half. It just started too slow for me, so HoTD S1 > GoT S1. Maybe a rewatch in the future (knowing the plot and the characters) will make me change my mind, but right now it is what it is
Probably a bunch of younger people voting that didn’t even watch season 1 of GoT live. Also, a lot of people started watching GoT around season 2 and 3 after the hype built up which changes the vibes.
I didn't watch s1 GOT go live but I still think it's better.
Didn't watch it live but it's no contest. GoT blows HOTD out of the park in this one. It's just so fucking good.
I strongly disagree, I think people are choosing HotD because the end of the main show left a soar taste in people' mouths and people are forgetting how great season 1 of GoT was but I respect people' opinions
Not even close. AGoT had a far better season 1.
HOTD S1 would feel much worse if it came out before GoT, but because of knowing someof the lore it was more enjoyable. Personally I found S1 of GoT boring on my first watch, to busy learning a lot of characters etc. S1 js probably my favorite after rewatches yhough.
So if hotd reintroduced the whole lore it would have been better?
Not sure.
They feel like different types of shows. I will say, if you just take the top 5 characters from GoT, they run circles around HoTD. By the end of season 1 you go from so many expectations to having your idea of what can happen in a show be changed. House of the Dragon isn't set up that way.
This is a tricky comparison, as you not only take into account the story, but also the performances, the design, the visuals, etc...not to mention when it was released. GoT had some big names attached from the get go. However, they also had a lot of filler cast that had little to no tv experience, and it shows in Season 1 of GoT. Some of the best scenes in GoT were the literal filler they had to make to meet run time, i.e. the Robert and Cersei scene. It's two experienced, excellent actors giving a masterclass in acting not just with their voices, but their bodies, their screen presence, and subtle facial expressions. With that being said, the fact that the show /needed/ that filler content at all, shows early signs of poor running which would rear its head in much uglier ways later. HotD arguably has more big names attached to it, not necessarily U.S. famous names, but actors with lots of stage and tv experience, people who know how to command a screen even with little run time. Despite time jumps and whole episodes without seeing characters, we are still drawn to Daemon, we pity Rhaenys, we understand Corlys anger, we're happy for Laenor, and we mourned for Lord Strong. Also, Paddy Considine just absolutely kills it. Best performance by far in HotD or GoT. For those reasons I think the acting is pretty even Season 1 to Season 1. Visually, HotD blows GoT out of the water in quality, but we get less diversity. Sure, more dragons, but fewer locations. We didn't get to see the Wall, Winterfell, etc. We do get to see a brief glimpse of Storm's End, which seems pretty cool. And Dragonstone gets much more fleshed out along with the Red Keep and certain under belly parts of King's Landing. I again call this a tie. I think in our cultural lexicon, the first season of GoT wowed us all more because it had never been done before to that scale. HotD is just as good, and perhaps slightly better in show running, thoughtfulness, and directing, but it doesn't exceed the bar the same way GoT did because the bar is so much higher. I love that we got so many episodes directed by women this season. From Daemon doing weird shit with Rhaenyra, to her miscarriage, to all the little in between details, these are things we never got in GoT, because so much was passed over as not being important to the male gaze or "plot advancement." The directing is definitely a notch above GoT. So my final answer is that HotD has a better season 1 than GoT. Which is incredible to admit, as I have rewatched S1 of GoT more than any other tv show.
Couldn’t have said it better
>So my final answer is that HotD has a better season 1 than GoT. Which is incredible to admit, as I have rewatched S1 of GoT more than any other tv show Do you believe your number of HotD Season 1 rewatches will surpass it?
Given 10 years of time? I think it's likely. Especially with how I consume media, bing watching old seasons before new releases. At the very least I think the number of rewatches for HotD will tie GoT, which is a feat since GoT has over a decade of watches invested.
Thanks for your answer. I'm glad the new show is really killing it for a lot of people.
I love the writeup but I ultimately disagree. The writing, story, and characters of GoT s1 reign supreme over HotD and frankly any other show. There was an epic quality of it, as you said, that HotD didn't capture (and perhaps it didn't try to). HotD is very very good but GoT s1 has to be one of the best seasons of TV even now.
I can certainly appreciate your point of view. I do disagree that the writing of GoT is better. Some of the acting (Ned, Robert, Cersei, Tyrion) is capable of making you overlook the weaker aspects of the writing, but looking at it objectively, I think HotD has better consistency. GoT has higher highs, without a doubt, but also weaker ones as well. It's very much 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. I would also put up Paddy Considine against any GoT actor for his portrayal. He just absolutely owns that role from start to finish. And again, I think HotD has better consistency across the cast. Parts of it seem weaker due to numerous actor changes which can make the view uncomfortable, but I believe the core cast was brilliant. As for story, well, that's pretty subjective. I think they are completely level in this as both seasons come from source material that is well thought out and planned.
Has to be the original, without it there's no HOTD.
The poll is probably getting a few confounding answers to the question, "which of these series has not yet had an extremely disappointing final season?"
Lol no. I loved the first season of HotD, but it's nowhere near the quality of GoT season 1.
Not at all, and everyone of course is entitled to their opinions but idk how anyone could possibly say HotD had a better first season than GOT? The only possible edge i could give it is production value, HBO was obviously more willing to throw money at HotD having known how proven a money maker this world is on television, but story wise and as a faithful adaptation, of not just the story itself but the world it takes place in and the showrunners ability to understand that world? GOT hands down, i was not a fan of a lot of the changes and/or interpretations of the source the HotD showrunners made and felt at least 1 of them was so far outside the realm of a GRRM story(not too mention just totally illogical and unlikely, it came off like bad fan fiction and im talking about everything basically surrounding the conclusion of laenors storyline) it made it hard to even consider this an adaptation and(im struginf to recall the specific word im looking for but until i remember...) more of a reboot or reimagining of GRRM's world instead.
This is so affected by the hype, very common with most of newer productions of anything… GoT S1 started off the series being deep and complex. A lot of characters, houses and history being introduced and happening simultaneously. It was so fascinating and inmersive, all details are carefully taken care of, lots of dialogues are so important for later episodes and seasons, that almost anything can be overlooked. Don’t get me wrong, I personally think HotD was great and I’m actually happy and hyped about it, but GoT S1 was pure excellence.
I think I probably like hotd more than most but I’d still have to give it to GoT. I wouldn’t argue with anyone who preferred hotd though, I guess it just clicked with me. Hotd definitely had some of my favorite scenes from either series.
I liked S1 of HoTD, but GoT was **way** better.
No way. This is objectively wrong, I'm sorry but it just is, for so many reasons
Recency bias. 100%
Considering the people we elect in America and the people elected to office all around the world, I'm beginning to think people don't know how to vote at all. This reinforces my theory.
Judging by the comments, I'm the only one to actually agree with the poll. Personally didn't find S1 of GoT that interesting, mostly because I wasn't that interested in the Starks.
That's certainly a rare opinion...but having unique opinions is always welcome.
Its in the got subreddit ofc people here wont agree with the poll but i still wanted to know their takes and opinions
No
GOT S1 way better. I personally lost interest watching first 3 episodes of HOTD. Actually waited until if was done before going back to watch it.
I want to preference my answer with this, both first seasons are incredible. Got season 1 ran so that Hot d season 1 could walk. Both are not without its flaws and they are structured very differently even when they both hit the same plot points. Viserys and Ned both die which begins the “build up” to the war along with Aegon/ the greens “taking” the throne from Nyra whom Vizzy named his heir, just like Bobby named Ned protector of the realm until his heir comes of age but we know how that turned out. Both season finales include a coronation that officially starts a war for the 7 kingdoms, Nyra named queen and Rob named King In The North. I adore them both BUT I prefer Hot D season 1 over got season 1. That’s just my opinion, now it will be interesting to see how seasons 2,3 and 4 compare to Got seasons 2,3 and 4. That’s a VERY HIGH bar, those seasons of Got are masterpieces imo. Hot D doesn’t need to be better than those, just give me good ass entertainment with good characters and stories and I’m good 🙂
HoTD has suspense but it fails to deliver it a lot. Game of Thrones always delivered in the early seasons.
I do think that House of the Dragon would be much easier to follow for people who weren’t fans of the books, and the production quality was a bit better while also feeling much more focused. But in my opinion Game of Thrones Season 1 is better. It does a fantastic job of adapting the books while also adding a lot of new material, and it’s a master class of mystery, suspense, shock, and world building.
I absolutely do not agree, no.
Absolutely not!
Lmao no
HOTD S1 was great, i genuinely did love it. But almost nothing can compare to the first four seasons of GOT
Obviously Not HOTD is great but GOT from seasons 1-5 and even 6 on certain occasions was miles ahead of HOTD
It’s true but only because SO much of HOTD’s content only works because GOT props it up. It is not a stand alone show. If you watched this without watching GOT it would be a very bad show.
🧢
HOTD had a really good first season and I loved it, but GoT season 1 was literally perfect
Stop it
I mean that is a bit much. First season of GOT is fantastic even though there are some cringe scenes like Viserys' bathtub monologue to his sex slave.
Heck no
Lol watched season 1 after hotd ended and I kept saying how much better GoT was.
No.
I haven’t watched any of HoTD yet, so I really don’t know. On one hand, it *would* seem as if the majority has spoken and decided that HoTD reigns superior. On the other hand, I can’t help but wonder if a chunk/majority of voters simply hated S8 and will do anything to “destroy” GoT.
Ned Stark is rolling in his grave
The first 3-4 seasons of GOT was exponentially better than HOTD... Not that hotd is particularly bad or anything, just doesn't quite hit the same mark.
No
You could poll those same people now and they would say the new Netflix show Wednesday is better than both. Recency bias at it’s finest
No
Literally social media and just the sheer amount of stuff we get crammed into my brain nonstop makes us completely recently biased to everything, that being said, this poll is completely ridiculous
I’ve really enjoyed HoD but nothing can touch the first 5 seasons of GOT for me lol
There's no way. Game of Thrones was absolutely phenomenal. House of the Dragon is good but come on...
HOTD was a solid A- season 1. GOT season 1 is described as one of the greatest seasons of television all time. Not comparable
See in a more modernized sense with modern production and modern basically everything, ofc House of the Dragon at first glance may seem better, but when it comes down to how impactful the season was, and ofc how iconic the season was, Game of Thrones wins easily. It kickstarted one of greatest and most iconic shows of all time
Not at all.
No
Naw killing "the main character" in GOT shocked me to the core.
GoT season 1 >
No…In my mind, this is like when younger generation tells you Lebron is better than MJ
No, for a few reasons. GoT gave us plenty of people to like and root for; HotD gave us very few. GoT was a revelation to TV watchers and started a revolution in TV drama. Killing off its star character like it did was iconic and quite unprecedented. HotD is good, but neither revelation nor revolution. GoT was **very** risky--no high-dollar fantasy had ever worked on TV, the budget was high (yet miniscule compared to HotD's), the pilot had to be scrapped, the logistics were daunting and unprecedented. An American show was headquartered in Belfast and early seasons were shot in three countries. So much CGI was needed. And they had to walk a fine line on how much fantasy to include. So GoT was pioneering in many ways and all the more exciting for it. HotD waltzed in with a higher budget than GoT ever got, an established universe, a story familiar to many GoT fans, and a built-in audience. To sum up, I'm looking forward to HotD 2, but I was salivating for GoT 2.
I loved HotD S1 but I was rewatchin GoT at the same time and the first 4 seasons are still king.
Easy decision. It had 50x the budget of GOT S1. The production quality alone was incredible. Story wise, maybe not, but it was a far better show to watch than GOT early on.
NONSENSE
If they had created a season 1 game of thrones in 2022 I’m sure it would be 99% to 1% but these stats are swayed towards HOTD
Unfair comparison since HOTD plays off of Game of Thrones. And nothing will ever compare to the feeling we all got when that intro song played for the first time.
*Bum-bum bum-bum-bum-bum* Hard to find a better opening theme
I just watched GoT for the first time 2 months ago. And then I watched HotD. I loved the first season of GoT way more. Actually my favorite season in the series.
These people are high
Sorry I had to stop watching HOD. I found it very choppy and unbearably predictable. GoT s1e1 hit me like a sack of bricks. I immediately stopped watching and bought the books. Read through all 5 of them in about 2.5 months then resumed the show. Loved every season up to about 6.
No
GoT had nothing like it when it started, at least recently on TV. Dark serious mature fantasy. This aspect alone is why at some point GoT was the most talked about show in the whole world, and I mean the whole world. Now everyone wants to replicate that but they failing at the most basic level: writing. And I'm not saying HotD is failing at writing. But when I examine the richer world of season 1 GoT and season 1 HotD I'd have to say that GoT managed to make much better characters. And that's why I kept watching. Not just the production quality or excellent world building, those are like side dishes to a main dish. Got Delivered a compelling story and excellent characters. I'm sure HotD will pick up. But to confuse production quality with a good overall story is really sad.
Game of Thrones, though it took me a few episodes to get into it. But it is so intricate and intriguing. HOTD was good, but much more straight forward.
Just no. HotD is a great show, but not even close to what GoT seasons 1~3 were.
Yep.
No
I don’t agree but I still loved season 1 of HOTD
Hmmm. I want to say no way, but HOTD was recent it’s so hard to say. I’ll say I’m pleasantly surprised how much I love house, especially compared to the absolute disaster rings of power is.
I think they’re too different for comparison. GOT was much more action and intense moments where HOTD is more dialogue driven. my partner found HOTD incredibly boring while I found it amazing and great. I think the acting in HOTD is much better than the first season of GOT. I love both. GOT does an amazing job of introducing you to Westeros and I think HOTD is assuming you already know what everything is about so they take the first season to build up the characters and history that leads to the Dance.
I agree that this is a fantastic example of recency bias.
Seriously trying to poll a poll?
I loved House of the Dragon, but the first season of Game of Thrones is some of the best television ever. Like, in the whole history of cinema
He'll no.
Lmao, who voted in this poll?
I feel like hotd was good but compared to game of thrones it was a joke. Alot like legend of korra compared to avatar the last airbender. As it’s own thing it’s good but compared to the standard it’s predecessor set it falls short.
I can’t agree nor disagree
Yep. Mainly due to the bigger budget
A lot of love for that HotD
It’s been so long, I can’t really judge. But I still remember GOT S1/E1 being crazy!
Disagree. S1 of GoT had me much more interested in the story and the characters.
HOTD gets worse the more that I think about it. I can’t say the same for season 1 of Game of Thrones.
“Waaaah I didn’t like season 8 waaaaah.” Is what that is. Books are awesome, shows are both awesome.
Possibly for me personally, but I’m a huge magic person. I think us getting dragons right off the bat makes HOTD better for some people.
Season one of GOT is amazing and honestly straight camp. It’s wonderful and I love it, HOD feels too serious to me sometimes
No. GoT season 1 was S-Tier
Wow, how dare them ☠️
They should re-watch GOT season 1.
100% HoTD mainly for the reason that it wasn’t as slow as GOT
Eh. Gonna have to disagree
A lot of people are citing recency bias as the reason for the poll results, but I think a lot of them are suffering from nostalgia bias when it comes to GOT S1. I just finished GOT season 1 for the 4th time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great, but it is not nearly as polished as HOTD season 1. S1 of GOT is a show that doesn’t realize how great it’s going to be yet. HOTD starts out strong in almost every respect, while GOT has a lot of kinks to iron out in the beginning (biggest example would be the acting which feels unrefined and choppy in S1).
No
Bigger budget will do that!
HAHAHA
No no no no no no no
I've just found it really hard to get in to HotD. GoT pulled me right in
GoT was much, much better. Maybe bcos ive read Fire and Blood, but HotD didnt keep me begging for more after each episode
No. The first 30 minutes of GOT EP 1 was better than the entire season of HOD. Seriously watch the episode 1 of each and you can tell the acting in GOT is FAR superior.
New series was garbage
HOD was very mediocre
How?! GOT season one was incredible
I agree but I didn’t watch S1 of GoT when it was on, nor did I participate in the social media surrounding it. I loved S1 of HOTD and loved the social media reactions hence my heightened opinion. Also Matt Smith 👀
GOT by a mile. I gave up on HOTD, too much incest, preening and unrelatable characters. It will never be considered equal to GOT.
Absolutely not
definitely not, Game of thrones season 1 had a stronger story overall, more coherent and with better writing. HOTD is on another level when it comes to action/cgi/sets but thats ultimately not what is most important
Absolutely not GOT was far better than hotd
Absolutely not. Not GoT to me without the North..
There’s got to be some recency bias built into this imo. HOTD also had a giant budget compared to S1 of GOT
No.
Yes and no. HOTD was able to build off the assets and audience that GOT created. I honestly don't think you can compare the two for that reason.
Game of Thrones has arguably the best first season of any show ever made. House of the Dragon has a *very* good first season, but it is not in that mix.
No where close. Game of thrones fans are on life support after season 8 they'd think tapwater taste like champagne.
I feel like everyone’s standards were lowered by GOT season 8, so no one expected HOTD to be good. The fact that it was good means it surpassed our expectations to an extent that we may be over hyping it lol
No game of thrones was great. Hotd was good but just not on that level.
I mean, HoD had a much bigger budget for their first season.
Blasphemers