A Game Of Thrones: So it begins...

Well now, it seems we have a four day weekend. This is good, more time off to do important things such as plan fights for my players, listen to podcasts and sit in the sun. Bugger your caravan holidays and your theme parks, you waste your money all you want!

But anyway, on to the actual topic for this post. A Game Of Thrones, book one of my favourite book series and my favourite book in the series, has just been turned into a TV show by HBO and is showing (in the UK anyway) on Sky Atlantic. As this is the weekend for 'very important things', I have just spent the morning watching the first episode and drinking coffee (gave it up for Lent. Dayum fool thing to do...) and let me give this understated and truly objective review: I love it!

Let us never be apart again!

This is by far the most faithful and well acted adaptation of a book I have seen since Lord of the Rings. This probably shouldn't come as such a shock, considering the author George R.R Martin was consulted when making it, but the author for Legend of the Seeker was consulted when making that show and according to one fan, it rewrites much of the series. So thank the Gods (all Seven on them) that this time, the producers listened.

The story is near identical to the book. It begins with the prologue of the Nightswatch outriders being ambushed beyond the wall, by vicious blue eyed phantoms and the walking dead, setting up a bad guy we don't get to see again for a very long time, then moves further south to the city of Winterfell to focus on the Stark family, occasionally jumping across the sea to Pentos and poor Daenerys' wedding. Some of the scenes have changed, such as how we're introduced to Tyrion or Cersei and Jaime but I think that's actually an improvement. You have to make some changes for TV, because you have to Show, Don't Tell.

The first episode ends on a cliffhanger and fans can probably guess which one. Hint: "The things I do for love". But this gives me hope, for the series and for Television in general. Lets keep up this effort and see this series get really good. I will say one more thing on this though. What truly surprised me is that almost none of the actors are big names that I recognise, with the exception of Sean Bean as Eddard Stark or Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, and yet despite this, the acting is very good indeed. All of the characters are well represented and their personalities show up nicely without being so obvious as to feel like a punch in the face. From the first episode, these are the stand out characters for me so far:
Joffery - Ah Joffery, what a git. It can't be denied that this is one of the nastiest characters in the series, though not the most dangerous. But he doesn't play much of a part in the first episode, he doesn't have any dialogue or even get introduced by name, and yet his blonde hair and expression all show us exactly who he is. Very well done.
King Robert - A jolly fat man with a beard that suits him and a crown that doesn't. The character of a man who wants to spend his days satisfying his lust for life and feels the responsibility of his office is something to avoid really shows through, but he's still so likeable.
Viserys - A pity Viserys and Joffery never meet, as they are clearly cut from the same cloth. A vicious and spiteful little man, but subtle in how he (and the actor) shows it. Good to see the actor giving it his all, since he won't have to do that for too long. Gah, a spoiler!
Sansa - Oh dear. Sansa Stark is almost a definition of the TVTrope Break the Cutie. For the first three quarters of this book, she's so happy and content and then her world gets shattered, like a pane of glass being hit by a freight train. Because of her naive idealistic view of an obviously uncaring world, people often hate this character from the book and they're probably going to hate her from the show, for all the right reasons. Don't worry, she gets better.

Glare...

Khal Drogo - How much dialogue did this guy get? Six sentences? Six words? I can't remember, and it's not important. Right now, this guy is supposed to be mysterious and imposing, an impenetrable character to Daenerys and to us. Good job sir... wait a sec, that's Ronon from Stargate Atlantis. Nice to know he's gone up in the world then.

So that's the characters who stand out so far, the ones where every part of them is truly in tune with their book counterparts. That's not to say that rest of the actors do a bad job, far from it! However, I have two criticisms there. First, something should've been done to make Jon stand out from Robb and Theon. You have three dark haired boys in their late teens in medieval dress here, can you tell them apart? I'm having trouble. Luckily, it won't matter much as soon the trio will be split up permanently. Second, the scene with the direwolf cubs and the children adopting them felt a bit rushed. One second, Eddard is saying kill them. A line of dialogue later and he's saying they need to take care of them, and that's about it. That could've done with a little more weight to it, particularly because they're bloody important. But that's only a minor complaint, overall I'm very happy. Lets see this continue.