A Game of Thrones

Its been awhile since any of the Neek Squad posted on the site, we've all been having a number of personal issues and illness of late. I thought I'd try and get back on track with the recent announcement of the conversion of George Martin's bestselling A Game of Thrones epic into a TV series. This has always been among my favourite books thanks to Martin's vivid style of writing and his ruthless, twisted and unpredictable plot lines.
For those of you (and I'm guessing this would be most of you) who don't know A Game of Thrones is the first book in the Song of Ice & Fire series of seven (Five published so far). It's a medieval fantasy that follows three simultaneous stories: the west where a huge civil war for control of the Iron Throne threatens to erupt and consume the Seven Kingdoms , the frantic defence of the northern Wall (a immense mile high barrier of ice designed to keep the mysterious Others out) and the tale of the exiled princess of the western kingdoms and her voyage on the eastern continent to eventually reclaim what she feels is rightfully hers.

Martin's work has already been popular enough to have encourage two very excellent comic books based on it written by Martin himself. What's most promising about this TV conversion though is that HBO, the folks that brought us The Wire, Sopranos and the stunning Rome, are handling the project and have bought rights to the entire series of books. I'm guessing their willingness to buy the rights might be down to the success of Robin Hood because, correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think there has been any other serious popular fantasy series on TV. More humorous takes on the genre like Zena, Hercules and Kröd Mändoon have led the medieval/fantasy charge. That said, presumably with Book one forming the basis of the first season, this ambitious project will continue to divide each book into a series resulting in seven season epic but its all speculation at this stage with casting still going on.

I'm just glad that if anyone is going to do it, it's HBO. Not just because of the quality they will no doubt bring but they seem to have a partnership with the BBC especially on productions set in the UK (this will be shot in Northern Ireland) that likely means we will see Game of Thrones on our screens promptly after a US premiere.

*Picture "The Iron Throne" by Michael Komarck*