Fifteen Minute Preview of HBO's "A Game of Thrones"

I found this today online and figured I'd post it for my loyal readers.  It's the first fifteen minutes of the first episode of HBO's adaptation of A Game of Thrones (Song of Ice and Fire) that I first found on the E! web-site and later got the embed HTML off YouTube.  For the record, this doesn't belong to me--it belongs to HBO and/or George R.R. Martin.



Although I've read the second book, I haven't actually read the first.  I believe the first book starts out with Lord Eddard Stark executing the deserter from the Night's Watch.  The scene depicting why he deserts is entirely new, although from what I know about the greater world, the evil powers beyond the Wall are stirring.

The costuming looks great and the Wall looks awesome.  It also establishes character pretty early on--thus far, we've got Catelyn Stark's resentment of her husband's bastard son Jon Snow, Arya Stark's tomboy ways (showing up her brother in archery practice), Sansa Stark's girly-girl tendencies, and Eddard Stark's honor.  We haven't yet met Tyrion "The Imp" Lannister (a nobleman with dwarfism whose virtues include compassion for the hurting and broken and military strategy and whose weaknesses include booze and prostitutes), but I fully expect him to be an absolute hoot.

I actually considering getting HBO to watch this, although I figured $10 per month to watch a few shows (it'd be this show, True Blood, and Boardwalk Empire) wouldn't be a good bargain.  The endless movies to watch on HBO would also be a distraction from my personal writing projects.

So I'll wait for the DVD and likely buy it.  I believe the show's already been green-lighted for a second season.  Hopefully it'll do well and pave the way for more adult-oriented fantasy--the series has been described as "The Sopranos in Middle East" and accurately depicts how a medieval-style kingdom would actually work.

(Massacring rival lords' peasants as a legitimate warfare tactic, girls who in our world would be in middle school being married off to middle-aged men for political reasons, and other assorted nastiness.  Lest we forget, the pre-modern era sucked.)