Game Of Thrones – Season One – Has HBO Succeeded?

HBO has a new mantra; they are creating series that they would not have made ten years ago. Over the past decade (right around the debut of The Sopranos in 1999) HBO was king and other television programming could not hold a candle to what Home Box Office was offering. Things changed with the rise of AMC, FX and Showtime’s series have challenged HBO to pick up their game and evolve their strategy. HBO has done just that by taking an infinitely deep and characteristic fantasy novel (A Song of Ice and Fire) authored by one of the world’s most revered and beloved writers (George R.R Martin) and bringing it to the small screen with masterly technique. Game Of Thrones is the best series HBO has produced since the Sopranos over ten years ago and they have reclaimed their seat of power. Long live the King!

Game Of Thrones is a fantasy series unlike any other and being a huge fan of the novels I was overwhelmed with excitement when I first heard the adaptation was being made, The thought of my favorite text brought to life by Hollywood actors and HBO magic was inspiring. Another part of me was skeptical and deeply concerned that no TV series could possibly due justice to Martin’s words. I am thrilled. HBO has achieved all they set out to do in collaboration with Martin who refused to have his work misrepresented. Game Of Thrones takes the most complicated aspects of the novels (chiefly the fantasy elements) and represents them as well as my own imagination. My concern was that these parts might have been excluded or altered although they are essential to the story. HBO tackled them head on.

Game of Thrones is a world equal parts medieval literature and dark fantasy, it never fails to suspend your disbelief. The story will ensnare even people who dislike fantasy stories who may not relate to them because they feel they are foreign and far removed from themes rooted in reality. Every fantasy character and story twist has a mirror in the real world, which is what makes it so riveting. Every plot point, character and viscous sword battle is brought straight out of the book. The research and accuracy of detail is remarkable and brings the story fully to life. The novels have been written through the perspective of a handful of characters and feature story elements not “seen” by the reader. HBO has brought these plot points to life in original scenes that fit so extremely well into the story you would think they have been there all along.

Game of Thrones, the HBO series features the highest production values I have seen in television since I saw Mad Men for the first time; set design, costumes and environments are vastly more complicated and rich and exceed that show in every way. The writing in GOT is fantastic and much of it has been taken directly from the novels creating an adaptation as faithful as Sin City (the film and graphic novel are 1:1 exactly alike). The novel (Game of Thrones) is over 800 pages (paperback) and being able to bring that of depth of material into ten, fifty-minute episodes is an amazing feat. HBO absolutely nailed the pacing, it is so perfect that the entire season could be watched in a single sitting and it would not bore. The characters of embodied by Game of Thrones HBO series are what I love most about A Song Of Ice And Fire. They are brought to life by some amazing talent, new comers like Emilia Clarke are as fantastic as veteran actors like Sean Bean and Lena Headey who bring some of literature’s most complicated characters onto the small screen with great success.

Game Of Thrones is everything good drama and fantasy should be. It is has a wide audience appeal. Game of Thrones facebook, twitter and other followers attest to its great fan following. This TV series might even make a reader out of a few people. The show was picked up for a second season after only one episode, which is unprecedented for a series with a budget in the tens of millions. Game Of Thrones is the best new television series to have come out of 2011. Superlative in every way! Stay tuned in to myETVmedia for our full written review of the upcoming DVD and Blu Ray box set.