7. The Battle Of Castle Black
The Watchers on the Wall | Season 4 | Episode 9 Game of Thrones is responsible for expanding the scale on which television can now operate. With an increased budget comes greater spectacle, and there are a number of scenes which could be chosen to represent this. Usually the penultimate episode of each series is the one when the viewer expects an epic battle scene that could rival cinema for grandeur and scale. Blackwater might have been chosen, but overall the visual effects just weren't quite up to scratch. The Battle of Blackwater, however, was really brought to life in a way that could not have happened on another TV show. It is revolutionary because it was the first time television truly challenged the ambitious set-pieces of cinema. Four seasons had built to this moment, as Mance Rayder and his Wildlings finally descend on Castle Black. Jon and his crew are perilously short of men and resources but fight on manfully, defending the wall until Stannis rides in to save the day. The scene is also notable for its effective use of CGI, with giants and mammoths laying siege to the castle to the castle, and for once, on television, not looking out of place. At one point the camera pans 360 degrees across the entire battle, with 100s of perfectly choreographed extras mingling with the main characters to create an awesome on-screen spectacle. It's rare see a scene of this scale and ambition outside of a handful of cinema releases each year, so hopefully we'll begin to see more of this stuff on TV from now on.