1: Intro to House of the Dragon

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, I'm Kristen and I'm Reema. And this is Dragon Cast, a podcast dedicated to the House of the Dragon. We are excited to announce that we, along with some special guests, that will be hosting in-depth podcast about HBO's new show House of the Dragon.

[00:00:43] And it has been a real long time since we've done this. It's been about, what, three years since Game of Thrones ended? I think so. I think it's been three. Yeah. So, it's been three years since we've done a Game of Thrones podcast.

[00:01:05] It's been about six months since I've done any podcast. So, this is fun. I'm excited that you're back. I'm excited that you wanted to do this. And I can't think of anyone else that would be perfect to cover this show. I'm super excited.

[00:01:29] I'm excited to be podcasting with you again. This is super fun. I know. It's been so long. I think it's been since we covered Game of Thrones. Yeah, I fell off the planet for a really long time. So, I'm now rejoining the planet a little bit.

[00:01:51] But it's been a fun little road here for the past couple of years. But I'm really glad to be back. I'm so glad that you guys reached out and approached me about this.

[00:02:02] And I feel really good in my soul about how all of this has turned out and how it's all going. And I just, now I love podcasting with you. And I am going to stay cautiously optimistic about the show. Same.

[00:02:19] The draw to podcast with you was really the draw. Oh man. Thank you. That's really, that's so nice of you to say. I feel dumb introducing myself because I feel like I haven't went anywhere. I have been podcasting this entire time.

[00:02:38] But for anyone who's new to at least our podcast-sticker world, my name is Reema as I mentioned. I do host a podcast on Strange Indeed where we cover a lot of different shows. Usually kind of dark and twisty but Stranger Things is our flagship show that we cover.

[00:02:57] So, show is very similar to that. When there was some discussion, once this show was announced, some conversations started happening. Like, well number one, obviously we want to cover it, right? To who and your name is what came up. So thrilled that you said yes.

[00:03:21] And I thought, wow, I'm excited at the thought of getting to podcast with you again.

[00:03:28] As I mentioned, I think we're going to have a great, you know, we're going to have some special guests too along the way that are really going to add to the show, their knowledge, their fandom of the Game of Thrones universe. And I'm excited. I'm excited. Yeah.

[00:03:49] So Archmister Renny will be back. Lucy said that she would like to come on. Wendy said that she would like to come on. We're going to try and get a few boys in there too, but I think that, you know, a house about a podcast about this.

[00:04:06] We're going to be equal, right? Targaryen women is pretty okay. Am I missing somebody? I feel like I was missing somebody. Oh, well, you know what? You'll see as they come up. Those are the couple of the ones. Yeah. We're going to save some surprises, right? Yeah.

[00:04:24] I hope so. Yeah. Yeah. So for those of you who are maybe not so knowledgeable on what this House of the Dragon is going to be about, House of the Dragon is going to be based on George R.R. Martin's book called Fire and Blood.

[00:04:44] Fire and Blood is not only a prequel to the Game of Thrones song of Ice and Fire universe. It's a history book and it's a history lesson on the Targaryen family, which is far and away the most interesting and fascinating family or house in the entire world here.

[00:05:06] You know, they only marry each other. They have dragons. They are crazy or they're great or they're insane. They'll burn down King's Landing. You know, you never know what you're going to get with a Targaryen. You never know.

[00:05:21] So there is a book and if you want to read that book, I did speak with Archmacer Renny about which chapters to start on. You would want to start on Chapter 15 because that seems to be where they're going to pick up the story.

[00:05:39] So it's going to basically be, it's set some 200 years before the story that we know in from Game of Thrones. The series tells the story of a brutal civil war fought between rival factions of the Targaryen dynasty back when it was at the height of its power.

[00:05:57] It's based on the book Fire and Blood and George R.R. Martin has called it kind of a fake history book.

[00:06:04] So it's not a novel, which I think is going to be great because we're not going to get real nitpicky with who said what and when they said it. What characters story did what?

[00:06:16] You know, we have a rough outline of really a story map and it's going to be up to the showrunners of which one of them is Miguel Sipocnik, which he did the standout episodes of Game of Thrones, including Battle of the Bastards.

[00:06:32] So I really think that, you know, with him on board and him kind of heading up a lot of this, we're in for a treat. We're in for some really spectacular things.

[00:06:42] And as long as Benny Offenweiss stay far away from this, I'm going to hold out hope that it's going to be a good positive experience. How's that? Yes. All of that, yes.

[00:07:01] Well, now obviously I haven't seen anything, but I've heard of first reactions because I think that they had a special screening of just the first episode. And it got some really positive feedback, I believe. So I am, I'm like you, I'm hopefully, you know, optimistic here.

[00:07:24] You know, I'm trying to keep myself in check a little bit, but I, but dragons, it's so hard. There's dragons. I know I'm going to be that person.

[00:07:35] I'm going to be look, I'm just going to apologize ahead of time to all of our listeners who decide to listen to us when the show comes out next week. I'm going to be completely insufferable. So just I'm putting it out there right now.

[00:07:49] That's just where where I'm going to go. I love the Targaryen history. I'm obsessed with, you know, learning about it. I don't know everything, but I'm learning and growing in that knowledge. And I love, absolutely love love dragons. So oh yeah, just put that out there.

[00:08:07] But I think, yep, I know. There were some very hard moments that we went through OK with Game of Thrones. I feel like we experienced trauma together. You know, I mean, trauma. There's a lot of trauma associated with Game of Thrones. You know, I'm still working through it.

[00:08:23] Still working through it. But I'm like you if you're not familiar with Fire and Blood, everyone, you know, this this like Kristen said, it's not a novel. So there isn't a lot of diet. There's no dialogue back and forth.

[00:08:37] And the this book that is in quotes written, this Fire and Blood book was written by Arch Maester Gildane, and he wasn't even around during this time. He, you know, so he wasn't even there. He has taken all of these historical accounts that have been passed on.

[00:08:56] And so this is an unreliable narrator that we have here. So I think this does give some opportunity to kind of fill in, you know, those gaps and what what was said. We know George R. R. Martin is close to this.

[00:09:14] And so I think that he's helping provide and helping to kind of fill some of that in. So it's going to be very interesting compared to what what we had with Game of Thrones, where, you know, there's actual, you know, insight, there's dialogue from those books.

[00:09:29] So I think it's going to be fun. Yeah. And having that having that Arch Maester was it Arch Maester? Yeah. Arch Maester who who is putting different primary sources together and trying to and it's basically he's trying to be the historian of this time.

[00:09:49] And, and, you know, as even historians today who, you know, Lucy, who is another podcaster on on a podcast, you know, she she does this, you know, all the time, I think she is, you know, primarily a historian

[00:10:05] and you have to take, you know, primary sources and try and make sense of what's been given to you. And, you know, unfortunately, as we know, historically, primary sources, whether it's fictional or nonfiction is usually put together by men.

[00:10:22] So it's interesting to see what how they're going to put it all together. And that's just I mean, I'm not saying that as a feminist. I'm saying that as just that's true. Right? Yep. Yeah. So, you know, when you put it together, it's of course, there's

[00:10:36] going to be misogyny and of course, there's going to be kind of a patriarchal feel to a show that is mostly dictated and recorded by men. And I read an article recently that said that they are going to be playing a lot with misogyny and patriarchy.

[00:10:53] And, you know, and my favorite part is that they think that this is all new after it's like they never watched Game of Thrones for, you know, eight seasons of misogyny and patriarchy and rape.

[00:11:06] And, you know, so I mean, thanks for the update, guys, but you wrote a film article, but it does it does, you know, kind of lend to the conversation of I wonder how they're going to approach that subject with the source material

[00:11:22] that there is. So that'll be really exciting to find out. I'm really excited to explore all of that. And especially in this universe. So dragons, I can't wait. Dragons, dragons and purple eyes and blonde people. And we're going to get some diversity through that Targaryen bloodstream,

[00:11:45] which I'm really excited to see how that plays out. You know, when if you've seen the cast pictures, you know that it's not going to be just all Amelia Clark looking Targaryens. We're going to have a lot of different diverse elements.

[00:12:00] So I'm really, really excited to see how that looks and how that plays out and kind of explanations. And so we'll see. Yeah, I'm super excited by everything that I've seen. I haven't held back.

[00:12:15] I will typically try to not look at trailers or anything, but I've watched it all. I can't help it on repeat because again, dragons. So I just, I can't help it. I will try to talk even like dragons, dragons, dragons.

[00:12:37] Well, I mean, it is called this the time period is called the dance of the dragon. So, hey, you know, finally, they're finally. Yeah, so more than three. There's going to be more than three.

[00:12:51] Could be good, could be bad, probably a little bit of both if we know anything about our Westeros universe, but I'm excited to revisit this world. I'm excited that you have come come back, Kristen, to cover this.

[00:13:03] And I'm excited to join in this because I if I don't have like a way to talk about this and kind of get it all out, I will probably explode. So dragon therapy. We're going to renew the podcast to dragon therapy. We should have thought of that first.

[00:13:27] I don't know why we didn't, you know? Yeah. Um, so we wanted to do kind of a poll, right? Yes. About the format of the podcast. Rima and I were talking before we started recording and we were trying to decide what we wanted the format to be.

[00:13:45] So we are going to have the source material with us and we're going to read it. Rima is already reading it. I've skimmed through some and I plan to get serious in due time here. And then we have Renny who has already read it, probably more than once.

[00:14:03] So that goes to how do you want to hear us discuss the source material and the and the show? Would you like us to just do the show and then have maybe a book talk, a short segment about book talk and how it compares?

[00:14:21] Do you want it to be the show and the book kind of intermingled throughout the whole podcast or there was a third one? What was our third one? What was our third one? Was it just show? Only just show only.

[00:14:37] We're going to put up a poll on Facebook on a podcast, a page. And hopefully if you're listening to this, we would really like it if you could go over there and give your vote so that we can give you exactly what you want.

[00:14:52] We don't want to dictate how it's going to go. If the majority would like to hear it a different way. We're totally open to all suggestions. This is a new show. It's a new podcast. It's a new everything.

[00:15:06] So, you know, maybe you just want to hear us talk about dragons for, you know, an hour a week. We can do that. We can set it up. I could do that. We're going to talk about the show too. A little bit. Yeah, mostly dragons.

[00:15:20] I'm kidding. Mostly dragons. If you vote for dragons, that's what we're going to do. I will stop now with the with the dragons. I'm going to make myself crazy.

[00:15:29] So, I mean, other than that, do we have anything else that we want to cover in this cute little episode? I don't think so. It's our little mini intro episode. We really hope everyone joins us the show. It premieres on August 21st. We are almost there.

[00:15:49] We're going back to Sundays on HBO. Super exciting. So it feels comfortable. It does. It does. It feels cozy. Comfortable. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It feels like I want to get all my boots and get under a blanket and have a glass of wine.

[00:16:07] I don't even drink wine anymore, but I'm going to have to have red wine while I drink this. I think at least a smidge. Yeah, just a small pour is appropriate, I think with the show. Yeah, so we really hope that you guys join us.

[00:16:23] There will be some contact information to come. You can definitely, as Kristen mentioned, we're going to put up the poll on the podcast of Facebook page. Keep looking out for more contact information as we get it.

[00:16:35] So if you want to send us an email for feedback, because we definitely want to hear from you guys, right? It's not just about this one poll. We definitely take after the other podcast of shows. We want that feedback.

[00:16:48] So we'll be providing where and how you can contact us as far as emails and send us a voice message, things like that. So be looking for that. We're still kind of fleshing some of this out. Yeah, so I'm going to give a reason for that.

[00:17:05] My family and I, we just sold all of our possessions or put it in storage and we're on the road. I'm actually recording this from a camper in Kentucky. So and next time we record this, I will not be in Kentucky. I will be somewhere else.

[00:17:24] So a lot of this is, you know, Rima and I have tried to get this together a couple of times and, you know, weather has stopped us. Wi-Fi has stopped us, but we're coming into a stretch of time that is really kind of nice and lucky.

[00:17:40] We're about to be in a series of places that are going to have everything that we need to record or everything that I need to record. And, you know, my kids and my husband are out. I think they're go-karting right now. I don't know.

[00:17:54] And, you know, they've given me the whole place and I turned off my air conditioner because it's really loud in here. But so just if you hear my cats, if you hear, you know, anything in the background ever, I'm just going to apologize in advance.

[00:18:09] Just know that I am in my camper. Who knows where in America? Somewhere in the USA. Who knows? It'll be like where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? It's going to be where in the world is Kristen this week. Where is the Halberg family?

[00:18:30] So I just wanted to make sure everybody kind of knew that in advance. And we're going to work around that and make sure that we figure it out. So we really hope that we get everyone to join us. We're super excited to cover the show.

[00:18:45] We're really excited to hear what you guys think about the show when it starts. So, you know, we just appreciate if you join us. So yeah.

[00:18:56] And if you're nervous about the show like us too, if you're if you're like really on the fence about watching it, maybe us too. I was on the fence about watching this for sure.

[00:19:06] And now that I get to podcast on this and I get to see Rima once a week and, you know, like all that stuff. Now I'm even more excited. So, you know, give us your opinions of what like I'll get an email address.

[00:19:21] One of us will get an email address going or we'll get a couple of posts going and we'll read out your face, your feedback. But also like if you have like like reservations about the show, I want to hear it because I know that you're not alone.

[00:19:36] I mean, if you go to the free folks subreddit on Reddit, there's a lot of people that have the same opinions. So, you know, I'm going to hold out hope that HBO knows what they're doing. I hope I don't know. You know what? I don't know.

[00:19:53] I don't know. We'll just, you know, we'll watch it and we'll see and we'll hold our thoughts until then because yes, we just we don't know until it starts. Right. Mm hmm. Yep. Yep. We're all on our own journey. We are indeed.

[00:20:10] So, you know, on that note, yep. Okay, we have no sign off either. We don't have a sign off, but like I said, really hope that you guys join us. But until then, I'm Reema. I'm Kristen. Bye. We'll see you later.