The Small Council: What’s your pick for Best Special Effect in Season 4?

In this week’s Small Council, we discuss our picks for Best Special Effect in Season 4!

Cameron White: I’ve had people tell me that the scene where Dany chains up her dragons is one that made them tear up, and it’s rare for special effects to be able to accomplish such a feat. Once again, Emilia Clarke does so much with so little, using her eyes as the windows to Dany’s soul as she wraps the chains around the creatures that have become as much a part of her identity as her actions in Essos. And the dragons are exquisite, excitedly fighting for scraps in their Meereenese dungeon, then confused and upset, wondering why their mother is suddenly locking them away. It’s disturbing to hear their tiny roars and cries–they almost sound human. It’s that little detail, the almost-humanness, the heartwrenching pain of the dragons, that makes all the work really worth it. To be able to impart an emotional connection to fictional creatures, to things that don’t really exist, is a gift reserved only for a select few in the film and television industry. Thrones has one of the best FX teams in the biz, and this scene is a pretty clear example of why that is the case.

Rebecca Pahle: There is no reason “The Children’s” skeleton fight should have worked. This is for a couple of reasons. One: Game of Thrones just doesn’t seem like it’d be a show with a skeleton fight, and I don’t mean that just because the fight wasn’t in the books. You might disagree with me on that front, and that’s fine, but if you’d have asked me at the beginning of the season whether Bran, Hodor, and the Reeds might fight gosh-darned warrior skeletons, Jason and the Argonauts-style…

…I’d have asked if we’d been watching the same show. (Side note: round of applause for Ray Harryhausen, everyone.)

Two: Previous to this season–and even during this season–most of GoT‘s special effects showpieces have been short, sweet, and relatively uncomplicated, with not a heck of a lot of interaction between the SFX and non-SFX elements. Look, a dragon perched on Dany’s shoulder! Look, a huge, green explosion at the Battle of Blackwater! Look… more dragons, but this time they’re swooping! Nobody had to have a swordfight with Drogon, s’what I’m saying. There’s a reason the skeleton fight was the most expensive in the show’s history.

This sequence could have been cheesy as hell, but it wasn’t. It worked on both a technical and a storytelling level, and I was riveted all the way through. That’s why it gets my vote: It’s well done and it gave me something I wasn’t expecting, both in terms of “Hey, this wasn’t in the books!” and “Holy God, it’s a little kid launching a fireball at a skeleton, yes.”

Andrea Towers: As one of the newest settings in Game of Thrones, Meereen had a lot to live up to–it’s the site of some of Dany’s most memorable dramatic moments, and it’s also where a large part of Dany’s storyline since in A Storm of Swords and A Dance with Dragons. Emilia Clarke is riveting as the New And Improved Dany, the one who is learning to challenge authority and rule harshly, but good acting can only go so far. Without the grandeur of The Great Pyramid that Martin brings to life in the books, without believing we are in one of the largest Slaver Cities, our investment is for nothing. There’s something to be said about human, once-timid Dany sitting in the apex of The Great Pyramid, dwarfed by its size yet still looking powerful, that pushes the scene to the next level. (And you don’t even think about the fact that it’s not real.)

Ani Bundel: Up until now, readers have had an advantage. When the TV show reaches a certain point, we smugly pull out our Reading Rainbow memes, and explain that we have always been spoiled in what is coming next. Last season, for the first time, the tables were fully turned, and HBO was given the chance to spoil the book readers in what Yi Li has christened “The White Walker Baby Situation.”

For us to see the what HBO Go initially listed as the Night’s King is a huge step forward in the story. It had to be impressive. It had to be memorable. It had to up the stakes. It was the first step out into uncharted territory, a shot across the bow that the Books Will Be Passed. Consider these stakes raised. Those eyes turning blue in the snow, and the baby no longer feeling the cold was a terrifying moment. I can’t wait for our lead White Walker to return to Snowhenge, and find out what happens next.

Rowan Kaiser: As I’ve said before, I was a little skeptical about “The Watchers On The Wall” and its attempt to turn the battle at The Wall into the turning point of the season—there just wasn’t enough investment in the North that it seemed like a good idea. I’ve written about how the emotional crux of the episode held it together as a story, but that wasn’t the point that made it successfully seem like event television.

That moment occurred as the battle was starting to be joined, and the characters were moving into place. The Night’s Watch seemed to have the upper hand, thanks to their obvious elevation advantage allowing them to drop arrows and traps on the Wildlings with no resistance. Well. No resistance until one of the giants hops off their mammoth, pulls out a bow, and fires at The Wall. The first is dangerous, smashing through one of the wooden towers. The second is awesome in every sense of the term, smashing through the tower, taking a Watchman in the chest, flinging him off the battlements, and having him land, ridiculously, on a spike in the middle of the fight on the other side of The Wall. The giant’s prostethics and design are just great, and the way the arrows and their effects create such an immediate, destructive “Holy shit!” level of engagement that the battle seems like much, much more than a single TV episode.

Haven’t voted yet? Take the poll now!

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• Published on 11/18/2014 at 8:18 PM CDT
• Last updated on 11/18/2014 at 8:18 PM CDT