Principal Cast Sean Bean -- Eddard Stark Jason Momoa -- Khal Drogo Lena Headey -- Cersei Lannister Emilia Clarke -- Daenerys Targaryen Peter Dinklage -- Tyrion Lannister Mark Addy -- Robert Baratheon Nikolaj Coster-Waldau -- Jaime Lannister Kit Harington -- Jon Snow Sophie Turner -- Sansa Stark Michelle Fairley -- Catelyn Stark

Advertisement

One quick check on the World Wide Web will tell you one thing about George R.R. Martin's fan base, they are one serious bunch of malcontents, myself included. His A Song of Ice and Fire began way back in 1996 with the publication of A Game of Thrones and here we are 15 years later and still just over half of this series has been published. When you compound that with the fact that this series was shaping up to be one of the greatest fantasy series ever written, it's easy to see why his readers were upset. However, when the news broke several years ago about a possible HBO or Showtime series, his fan base around the globe still rejoiced and for good reason. We knew how good it is. Moreover, fantasy, unlike Sci-Fi, is sadly neglected on the big screen and television. Savvy fans of this genre know that there is a plethora of incredible untapped material out there just waiting to be realized behind a camera. Peter Jackson showed the world what a skilled filmmaker can do when he brought The Lord of the Rings trilogy to life on the big screen and now we get to see what HBO, the makers of the finest original programming on television, could do. With shows like The Wire, True Blood, Rome and The Sopranos under HBO's belt, it was easy to be excited when I sat down in front of the TV to watch the premiere of Game of Thrones and it did not disappoint. In fact, it was better than I could have hoped. It appears HBO is following the novels very closely and Martin's direct involvement in the production of the series probably has a lot to do with that fact and I started to forgive him with every passing minute of the show.

The opening sequence was as marvelously haunting as it was in the novel. A patrol from The Wall is out and discovers some bodies and viewers across the globe catch their first glimpse of the Others before the opening credits began. As the show continued, it was becoming more and more apparent that they were going to stick to the novel very closely and, at points, one can track the action on screen to specific points in the novel and even some of the dialogue is leeched right from the book, which all of Martin's readers will tell you is a good thing. It looks as if HBO isn't going to dumb it down for television which means we can expect all the twists and turns and all the joy and sorrow of the novels which bodes well for the future of this series. The action in episode one can be traced from the prologue to page 71 of the novel. The episode concludes with Bran being shoved out the window by Jaime Lannister to the words of "the things I do for love." So I started thinking ahead, at this pacing it'll be possible for HBO to do a book a season and at that rate Martin will have to finish the series with in the next few years! His fan base is well aware of all the postponements and false release dates we have seen and put up with over the years but one glimpse at his web site suggests that Martin may be getting more serious about finishing one of the Mona Lisa's of our genre and sooner than this once disgruntled fan ever thought possible. I wouldn't be surprised if Martin decides to complete the rest of this series very quickly to take advantage of what should be a huge new fan base. Winter is coming to HBO and it looks to be off to a fantastic start.

When asked to write a third-person tag line for his reviews, Dominic Cilli farmed the work out to an actual 3rd person, his friend Neal, who in turn turned it over to a second person who then asked his third cousin to help out and this person whom Dom doesn't even know then wrote in 8th person Omniscient mode "Dom's breadth of knowledge in literature runs the gamut and is certainly not bounded by the Sci-Fi/Fantasy genre. One thing I can say with certainty is that of all the people I don't know who've ever recommended books to read, Dom's recommendations are the best."