GAME OF THRONES
(HBO, Sundays, 8pm CST)
Over the years, many books have been made into movies. Most pale in comparison because the movie
versions lack the details that provide most of the meat in the literary
form. The film maker is forces to pick
choose what details and even whole scenes are important enough for their
picture. Often, these inevitable cuts
end up watering down the book as a whole.
Figure in the often inexplicable changes the film maker decides to go
with for whatever purpose, and the movie is sometimes barely recognizable in
comparison.
There are film makers who work very hard to remain as true
to the books as possible. The biggest
hurdle to this is that it is very difficult to trim an 800-page book into two
or three hours. Typically, one page of a
screenplay roughly equals one minute of film.
The math is simple; there is too much content that has to be
eliminated. That is why the movie is
seldom better the book.
What would be the result if a film maker had ten hours to
work with? This is an intriguing
question and one that HBO and creators David Benioff and D. B. Weiss had an
answer for. The result is brilliant. Benioff and Weiss took a best selling fantasy
classic and made it into an HBO series.
The book A Game of
Thrones is actually the first book in an expected 7-volume fantasy series
called A Song of Fire and Ice by
George R. R. Martin, but the creators wisely ditched the unwieldy series name
and went with the more popular designation, Game
of Thrones. Benioff and Weiss
decided to make that first book into 10 season one episodes. Armed with the luxury of time, they produced
a visually stunning, brilliantly filmed, superbly acted, true-to- the-book
masterpiece.
The HBO series took its time telling this rich story of
political intrigue, friendships, betrayals, villains, heroes, sex, and violence
in stunning detail. The television
version follows the book faithfully, with only a few scenes invented. Most of these are not so much invented as
maybe extended or expanded. Most are to
highlight a fact merely hinted at in the book.
As with most popular science fiction or fantasy books, this series has
its far share of “fanboys” who jump all over any details changed from the
books. I imagine that even the most rabid fanboys have
to be thrilled with this series.
The first season was incredible and I have watched it a
couple of times already. I have been
impatiently anticipating the second season, based on the second book Clash of Kings, which picks up right
where the first book and season leave off.
The second book is longer and even more textured, layered, and detailed
than the first, with more battles and more intrigue than the first book. The scope is wider and more intense as
well. The creators have their work cut
out for them to use their editing power as precisely as a surgeon wielding a
scalpel. At this point, I have complete
trust they will get it right as they show as much love and dedication to the
books as Peter Jackson did with The Lord
of the Rings.
Game of Thrones is
filled with knights and kings, battles and wars, sibling rivalry, lies and
truths, life and death, and dragons.
These are all key ingredients to the classic fantasy genre and this is
one of the best written series of all time.
George R.R. Martin is a brilliant author whose imagination is without
limits. His eye for detail is precise
and there are never dull or slow parts of his books. The one annoying flaw Martin has is that he
is an unforgivably slow writer. It took
him 11 years to write the 3rd and 4th books, and they
take place simultaneously and cover a myriad of characters and places. While I sincerely hope HBO is able to
continue this undoubtedly expensive project through to the end, I harbor major
doubts that Martin can keep up. I am
hoping that the production of the show will quicken his writing.
If you get HBO, the series is must viewing. If you don’t, at some point, buy the DVD
set. It is worth the money. It has everything anyone could want in
entertainment – action, drama, horror, comedy, sex, blood – on top of perfect
acting, writing, and production. As can
be expected of an HBO series, it is not for children and would carry an R
rating in the theater. As a fan of the
books, I couldn’t be happier with the results of the program. Season two started just this last week and I
am eager for the next episode. You can
catch up On Demand. This is must watch
TV if ever there was such a thing.
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