There’s no question that Game of Thrones has the best special effects on television, regularly turning out scenes that wouldn’t look out of place in a Hollywood blockbuster. Every year we’ve come to expect the best in this department, and every year Thrones‘ VFX wizards deliver, with a world packed with fire-breathing dragons, icy White Walkers and fantasy vistas conjured out of nothing. That’s why it’s so hard to choose the best of the best in the Watchers on the Wall Awards- but we don’t have to! That’s your job, readers- choose your five favorite VFX scenes from season 7, out of the preliminary suggestions from our readers!
The standard rules: Select up to FIVE nominees from each poll. You can choose fewer if you like, but you cannot choose more than 5 from each category. (Visit the initial WotW Awards post for a complete explanation of the rules and process.)
At the end of 72 hours (Tuesday 11/14/17 at 3PM Eastern Time), whichever five scenes in each category have the most votes will continue on to the finals. The results of the poll will be revealed when it’s time to choose the winners in a few weeks.
Thanks to Greatjon of Slumber for tallying up the initial nominee suggestions. Time to vote!
Hard to have many disputes in this category. “Everything is awesome!”
I think my absolute favourite was the entire Loot Train *cough* Field of Fire battle, beginning to end. Especially Bronn’s dash through the madness. So, so well done.
Everything is awesome, but my favorite is missing (maybe because it was too short, and not a “scene” in itself): Dany approaching the wagon train on Drogon’s back, skimming over the water. The movement and reflection are stunning.
S1
The Wall
S2
Wildfire explosion
S3
Daenerys’s dragon unleashes its fire on Astapor
S4
The giants and a mammoth attack the gate at the Wall
S5
With Jon at sea, the Night’s King raises the dead of Hardhome
S6
Horses crash into each other in the chaos of the Battle of Winterfell.
The Loot Train (will always be known as Field of fire 2.0 in my book) is one of the greatest displays of CGI in modern television so that’s my vote. I still get chills and revert back to a child as I watch that scene with widened eyes and finicky kneecaps.
Special shout out to the ending scene with the NK bursting through the wall.
Where’s the fucking bear? Actually, the bear was not my fave. Okay, but overly adored by D&D.
I went mostly with the dragon scenes, which were the most impressive to me. I hated the little dragon fire snippets because I felt that the lines of fire were far too straight to be natural, but I loved everything else dragon. And the Three-Eyed Braven scene was gorgeous.
Daenerys arrives with her dragons, Viserion is killed, and Jon & Co. take on army of wights – The Frozen Lake battle is the first time we’ve been able to see a true battle of ice and fire and got me very excited for what can be achieved in season eight. The death of Viserion was very powerful and emotional.
The Dothraki jump through the flames, as Drogon turns soldiers to ash and lays waste to the loot train attack – The Field of Fire sequence was stunning and a demonstration of what using dragons in battle can achieve. And yet the VFX were well-balanced with the human elements of the story. Fantastic.
Undead Viserion brings down the Wall, and the army of wights walks through – A powerful way to end an action-packed season seven and set up the final season. The Wall has been part of our scenery since the first scene of the first episode of the first season; to see it brought down, even in part, is something that has been building for years. This scene was just wow.
Jon pets a surprisingly happy and receptive Drogon – As soon as Jon announced his intention to go to Dragonstone, I found myself anticipating this moment as much as I did Jon meeting Dany herself. I find it an incredibly emotional scene to watch, and it feels so realistic every time I see it.
Bronn fires at Drogon, sending Dany and her dragon to the ground
– Foreshadowing for the death of Viserion as we see that the dragons are not as invulnerable as we thought. This was a hugely badass moment for Bronn, and was beautifully captured.
The loot train battle was the most beautifully shot sequence of the season. Particularly the soaring over the river.
The Dothraki jump through the flames, as Drogon turns soldiers to ash and lays waste to the loot train. (I watched a lot of great-looking, high-budget movies this summer. This scene blew them all out of the water. It’s the best action sequence I’ve seen in years.)
Daenerys arrives with her dragons, Viserion is killed, and Jon & co. take on army of wights
Undead Viserion brings down the Wall, and the army of wights walks through
Jon pets a surprisingly happy and receptive Drogon (The sheer level of detail in this scene was incredible. That eye … )
Daenerys arrives home at the impressive Dragonstone
Honorable Mentions:
-Bronn fires at Drogon, sending Dany and her dragon to the ground
-In Bran’s vision, a flock of warged ravens fly and spy on the Night King
-The wide view of King’s Landing showing the Red Keep and Euron’s fleet
But they’re all beautiful. The Game of Thrones VFX team is far and away the best in the business!
The demise of the Tarlys as a write-in?
This was easy for me today! Voted for the first five:
– Daeny arriving with her dragons to save the magnificent 7 and losing Viserion in the process
– The loot train
-The Night King and Viserion bringing down the wall
-The wight at the Dragon pit
-Jon pets Drogon
With the first two scenes it is the intricacies of all the “moving” parts in the scene -the coreography- was extraordinary and both were poignant grand moments in the season.
The Wall coming down was the “oh, shit moment”… I would pay to see the maester’s faces at the Citadel when/if the news arrives… Well, the wall the stood for so long is no more fellas!
The last two scenes what I loved was the interactions between the CGIs and the actors (Cersei’s jump when the wight goes straight to her) and both Jon’s and Drogon’s expressions in Dragonstone. Quite frankly Drogon looked like a real animal… that was amazing.
As honorable mentions:
-Euron’s entrance in battle was great
-Bran’s initial vision of the army of the dead marching towards the Wall… That slow reveal of the wights, the big animals and one… no two… no three giants!!!!!! Holy shit!
Wolfish,
That’s really part of those scenes nominated.
Ginevra,
No one nominated the fucking bear lol. *shrug*
Well this turned out to be a difficult category!
So much of GoT is VFX, that my favourite scenes either didn’t make the list or they’re swallowed up into an overall sequence that I wouldn’t vote for. So dead Viserion, being hoisted with those awful chains, got my vote simply because it was the only opportunity to vote for his blue eye opening. The rest of my votes went to the first four.
-The Dothraki jump through the flames, as Drogon turns soldiers to ash and lays waste to the loot train. (Arguably my personal favorite VFX sequence of the season. It’s between this and the fall of the Wall. It’ll be tough to choose between the two if they both make it through.)
-Undead Viserion brings down the Wall, and the army of wights walks through. (I’m loving Wight Viserion already.)
-Jon pets a surprisingly happy and receptive Drogon.
-Bronn fires at Drogon, sending Dany and her dragon to the ground. (This was just plain cool.)
-In Bran’s vision, a flock of warged ravens fly and spy on the Night King. (Personal bias here since I’m obsessed with corvids and Bran is one of my favorite characters.)
Honorable Mentions:
-A terrifying wight is unveiled in the Dragonpit
-Viserion is pulled from the lake, and brought back by the Night King
No bear wight? That’s a shame as it would have had my vote.
The Loot Train of Hell should win this.
Wolfish,
yes, you are right.The wings of the dragon just skipping the tree…awesome!
My votes were mostly all dragon related:
Dany arrives with dragons to rescue our intrepid seekers of wight;
Dany arrives with Drogon to decimate the Loot Train (my favorite, from when Bronn says “do you hear that?” to Drogon flying so gracefully over the Dothraki army, then the Dothraki standing atop their saddles.
Undead Viserion brings down the Wall;
But …
I had to vote for Euron’s sea battle entrance. That whole sequence was epic, from the horrified look on Yara’s face when she first sees the ships, to the look as though she was going to vomit with the realization that it was Euron, as that claw shaped gangway grasped their ship and Euron came barging down. That’s when I first believed that Euron had some competence, other than being a crazy man. He might be crazy, but he managed to find and overtake them easily enough. The Silence is magnificent, coming and going. The scene held you until even the very end, with hapless Theon paddling in the debris as he glances up at the bodies of a speared Obara and a hanging Nymeria.
The fifth vote was another non-dragon scene, the wide view of Dany’s army from atop the KL ramparts.
Sorry, I couldn’t vote for Dany arriving at Dragonstone, it was just a little too toned-down for me, almost emotionless. Watching them climb that insane amount of steps got to be almost funny.
Honorable mention: the raven-warging scene, and the scene of Jon and Drogon making friends.
Zombie Bear!
mau,
Still so surprised that the sept explosion didn’t get it for season 6, but if it had I’d probably be complaining that the horse scene didn’t get it either!
-Viserion takes down the wall
-Euron arrival on Yara’s ship
-The Dothraki jump through the flames, as Drogon turns soldiers to ash and lays waste to the loot train
-Jon pets a surprisingly happy and receptive Drogon.
-Bronn fires at Drogon, sending Dany and her dragon to the ground.
Thronetender,
So agree about Dany’s arrival. I was expecting an amazing moment, but what should have been emotional was just rather boring.
“That’s not a bear. That’s Toby.”
– R.M.
Jared,
“The Dothraki jump through the flames, as Drogon turns soldiers to ash and lays waste to the loot train. (I watched a lot of great-looking, high-budget movies this summer. This scene blew them all out of the water. It’s the best action sequence I’ve seen in years.)”
_______________
✔️
mau,
S1-S6…Thanks (again) for posting previous years’ winners in the various categories. I still believe Dany & 3 dragons streaming fire on Masters’ ship in the first segment of “Battle of the Bastards” is the best all-around visual effects scene out of all 67 episodes to date.
Yes!
And that reminds me of a little detail I really appreciated in the closing scene of last season’s finale: the dragon skimming its wingtips on the surface of the ocean. (Sea birds do that too, because…it’s fun.)
No problems here. The VFX was brilliant and as good as or better than in any block buster movie.
1. Daenerys arrives with her dragons, Viserion is killed, and Jon & co. take on army of wights
2. The Dothraki jump through the flames, as Drogon turns soldiers to ash and lays waste to the loot train.
3. Undead Viserion brings down the Wall, and the army of wights walks through
4. Drogon makes a splashy entrance at the Dragon Pit with Dany on his back
5. The army of the dead approaches the frozen lake after the Hound casts the first stone
Honorable mention – ALL the other scenes nominated for this round 😀
Undead Viserion wins this one for … AMAZING!!!
ash,
To be fair however, I wonder how I would have responded if I hadn’t been spoiled by the photos (and I spoiled myself, so no biggie. I think this would have been a time were not knowing would have been best. Ah well)
The Loot Train, hands down.
I voted for Daenerys saving the Magnificent 7 which has a lot of support, from what I see, but to me there was one problem with that scene: a dragon and a dragon queen come soaring in the skies and only Jon looks up – that was kind of weird, in my view.
* Daenerys arrives with her dragons, Viserion is killed, and Jon & co. take on army of wights
* The Dothraki jump through the flames, as Drogon turns soldiers to ash and lays waste to the loot train.
* Undead Viserion brings down the Wall, and the army of wights walks through
* Bronn fires at Drogon, sending Dany and her dragon to the ground
* Viserion is pulled from the lake, and brought back by the Night King
I was wondering what was missing. Thx for pointing it out. I would have voted for it.
Bronn’s masterful work with the Scorpion, Dragonstone and everything regarding Drogon was stunningly presented this season.
mau,
Hi Mau,
Where is your “past seasons winner” list for Best New Costume? I’ve enjoyed the reminders. Its nice to reflect on previous seasons.
BrainCandy,
It’s a new category.
Having said that, I really appreciate Mau posting the past winners in other categories!!!