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I'm a huge fan of the Game of Thrones series, as well as the books that correspond with the show to the degree of using the books as a bible to the show's content. Needless to say when I noticed the first season on dvd I had to purchase it, it was not a want..but a requirement. The show comes in a 5 disc set, each disc has 2 40+minute episodes on the dvd and the 5th disc has bonus features. There's the emblem of each house represented thus far in the series on each disc. The discs themselves are very attractive as well as the start menu of each episode. There is a gripe with the casing of the show, however. While the Dvds are in a foldout case the printing of the characters on each side of the case is rather grainy. While I understand this is stylized I personally find it unattractive and the sleeve the actual case is in is also thin and cheap in quality, but for such a low price this is a great collection of the first season.Read full review
It's the exceptional writing that's important. The author makes use of multiple plot lines once used by Dickens and Thackeray in their novels. Characters make their entrances and exits. No one character really dominates the story. A sense of irony runs through the story which you may miss at first. It also is not endless. The written version, A Song of Fire and Ice, and the audio-visual version, Game of Thrones, are the same story, but tell the same story in different ways. Game of Thrones is told at a faster pace and changes from plot line to plot line. It's an epic that covers a series of events in a civil war. With the Lord of the Rings cinema left several gaping holes in the plot but it faced a time problem and was obliged to edit. There was too much story and too little time. Martin has avoided this problem by his arrangement with HBO. Ten hours each season is devoted to the story of a world that's collapsing around its characters. Now Martin's story is longer than Tolkien's LOTR but Tolkien restricted himself to the role of his hobbits in a much bigger story. HBO tells the bigger story. In one way both stories also concern power. What happens to the world around us without the proper management of it. Unless it's well managed and shared there will always be a struggle for it, leading to chaos or suppression. Inevitably somebody must realize that there must be a better way or history will repeat itself. With so many characters nobody is really required to make an outstanding performance for the success of the show. How many times does a film's success depend upon an outstanding performance by an actor or actress? Without Cate Blanchet nobody would have noticed Blue Jasmine or Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke? Game of Thrones doesn't demand great acting. It provides an extensive amount of good acting for a good story which is well produced and directed. The big mistake of too many networks with shows is their excessive dependence on serials and the attractiveness of the characters to the audience. The idea of ending a successful show must strike the commercial networks as crazy but all good shows should go out with a bang not a whimper.Read full review
Heard about this HBO series through some friends, they knew I would like this genre, and similar to Lord of the Rings, except not as much fantasy, and more history. Well, I watched one episode, then another. The main characters are SOLID and excellent actors. I had to buy the DVD series, since I did not have HBO, and could not keep bugging my friends to watch their TV much more. This series has many intriguing characters, I think it has 15 primary characters, interwoven motives for seeking power, fame, and fortune to ascend to the throne. Characters one can not assume, they are what they seem, their lives and ambitions change thru the series. Alliances form, integrity is challenged, evil threatens. This is a dark, in your face, bruttaly honest portrayal of life during this period. Lust, sex, incest, rape, brutality, murder, violence.....were prevalent in those times. Hollywood up to now, tended to suppress this, and window dress movies of this period to nothing more than action movies, with violence, maybe a few love stories, and great video landscapes with some computer generated imagery....which BTW, is the genre we enjoy, no kidding each other. Just Game of Thrones takes it beyond the cimenamatography, and famous actors.....goes into the family struture, marriages, families, and normal challenges they face, and then beyond, how the throne impacts their daily decisions, overriding family trust, friendships, to the primary alliances formed, and dedication necessary to protect the throne. Siblings are raised, marriages are formed, families are merged....all for the power of the throne....lives either embrace this need willingly or begrudgingly, or they reject it partially or completely.....and not always do characters STAY with their initial perception or vision of what they want to do...they tend to morph or adapt to situations, based on brutal deaths of friends and family, betrayals, resentment, anger, jealousy....and often the YOUNGER characters start to mature. Their lives adapt to their surroundings....bastards and dwarves in time, develop galvanized personnas....strength is gained through survival, and insight gained by trauma, both psychologically, and physically over time. There are many plots, and characters developing.....it is not easy to always comprehend the subtle actions, tasks, and situations that mean nothing at first, but become the foundations later for their beliefs, and form who they are and how they change in time. The DVD series allows you to go back and re-watch these episodes to reidentify these subtleties, that may have been overlooked and missed if just watching the single HBO episode. Bonus disk gives insight to each of the characters, I think this is a vital asset to understanding the series better, and probably necessary to watch BEFORE watching the series, and maybe AGAIN about 4 episodes in, to strengthen your understanding of motives, relationships, families and just name recognition of the characters. Acting is top notch. That alone, makes this a must see DVD set.Read full review
Dark and serious...almost seems historical in its realism. Definitely worth watching more than once. Multiple plots are easy to follow but very complex and deep. This is a very engaging series that delivers one surprise after another. Some of the nudity is not necessary and adds nothing to the plot, but this is a fantasy story, so...whatever works! Make sure you look through the extras for full details on the 4 primary groups of the realm (Wolf, Lion, Stag, and Dragon) before you watch the episodes, because everything will make better sense. Look for the dwarf brother of the Lion queen and the Wolf half brother Jon Snow from Winterfell to give great performances. Was not expecting super actor Sean Bean ... well, you should watch this--ADULTS ONLY! It it is a great delivery from a fascinating series of novels! Well done, David Benoit and HBO!Read full review
I had seen bits and pieces of this series on HBO and liked what I saw. I purchased it on e-bay and from the time I found it in my mail box, to the time I went to bed that night I had already watched all of disc one and part of disc two (and gotten my girlfriend hooked in the process). Now I can hardly wait for us to find time to watch more. As for the series itself: First, this is an HBO series and does contain some nudity and simulated sex and thus, IS NOT FOR CHILDREN!!! It also contains scenes with violence and blood. This is a fantasy world that is most defenately medevil. It has a similar look to the Hobbit movies only much grittier. It also lacks their fantasy aspect though it does have a supernatural element. The main story line revolves around a king, his wife and family, his advisors and the relms that are under his controle as well as his enemies that seek to change all that. There is much division between and within the ruling families. Each of the relms has it's own feel, chalenges and history. Following who belongs to which family and other relationships are made much easier by the map of the relms and the family trees included with this box set. Honor, dis-honor, love, hate, trust and betrail, political intreague and all under a cloud of uncertanty. It's well acted (some better than others) and written (for a TV show) and the characters... did I mention the charactors? The Queen's brother "The Imp" is worth watching the show for all by himself. In case you hadn't guessed by now, I highly recomend this series. Season two is either on now or comming very soon. I think to fully understand the relationships and underlieing sub-plots, you need to see this (season one) first. I think that you could probably understand season two just fine without seeing season one first, it just wouldn't be as rich or enjoyable. I hope you enjoy it as much as I am.Read full review
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