These CGI editors at HBO really need to step up their game. Diligent House of the Dragon fans have spotted a GOT Season 8 ‘Starbucks Cup’ moment of incompetence in the latest episode of the show.
“What? HBO had another ‘Starbucks Cup’ moment! How? And what was it?” you are rightfully asking as of this moment. And I’m wondering the same thing. For a show that gets an episodic budget of nearly $20 million per episode (yeah, quite a hefty sum), you’d think the visual effects, set design, and CGI departments would be able to iron out any “out of place” detail in post-production.
Or at least catch any errors before mass screenings of said episodes release.
But I guess that’s too much to ask for HBO as diligent viewers noticed a huge error with King Viserys’ appearance. Namely, the appearance of his right hand.
As many should remember, back in Episode 1, King Viserys cut his hand on the Iron Throne when admonishing and then banishing his brother, Prince Daemon, after the prince was caught celebrating the death of the king’s son, Prince Baelon. As the years went by (in the show’s universe), Viserys’ wound festered and became infected, which caused the maesters to have to cut off the ring and pinkie finger on his right hand.
Episode 3 was the first episode where the operation was noticeable as the bandage that originally was wrapped around his finger was replaced by that dreadful scar from where his fingers once were.
Now, HBO couldn’t actually cut off Paddy Considine’s fingers (I know, how upsetting) to accommodate this change in Viserys’ appearance, but they could digitally remove the fingers through CGI. Thus, Considine was given a bright green, CGI-friendly glove to wear on his right hand, which the CGI editors would then use to recreate Considine’s real hand in the editing room.
Once that was done, they would “cut off” his last two fingers and fill the void with a mangy, gnarly looking scar from where his two fingers used to be.
So, what’s the issue? The CGI editors forgot to recreate Viserys two end fingers, thus leaving the green glove still visible when the show came out last Sunday. Thankfully, HBO has already fixed this issue with the episodes release on HBO MAX as, now when King Viserys hands a guard a parchment, his fingers are noticeably missing.
That still doesn’t excuse the severe mistake that HBO made by allowing such an oversight to go unnoticed.
Normally, I would have brushed this off as a non-issue, but with the disaster that Season 8 of GOT was, HBO isn’t getting any favors from me when it comes to set/CGI oversights. HBO simply doesn’t deserve any when it comes to this franchise.
Do better, HBO, your reputation is on the line here.
Images Source: Featured Image: (HBO) (House of the Dragon: Episode 3-The Second of His Name)
