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HBO’s new fantasy series goes after huge audience of George R.R. Martin

BY JOE TYRRELL

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

REVIEW

Uneasy rests the arse that sits on the throne of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.

That's literally true: the royal seat in HBO's new fantasy series "Game of Thrones" is fashioned from spiky iron.

But the discomforts are psychological as well, as rival families plot for power in the TV adaptation of the first book of Bayonne-born George R.R. Martin's gigantic ongoing saga, "A Song of Ice and Fire."

Even in an imaginary world, New Jersey is not far away. Although based in Sante Fe, Martin grew up in Bayonne and regularly tells interviewers that working class setting and background spurred him to write.

Meanwhile, the series' breakout performance could be Morristown native Peter Dinklage, playing one of the most fully realized characters.

Set in a Medieval place where magic seems to have died out but legends persist, the four books published so far in Martin's epic have topped seven million in sales, and spawned an Internet universe of fansites. That's a huge potential audience for HBO to pursue as it attempts to reclaim its own crown.

A fantasy tale might turn off some viewers, but the series premiered well on April 17. Those who tuned in saw a very credible cast — especially Dinklage, Sean Bean and young English actress Emilia Clarke — capitalize on the strengths of Martin's writing.

While his lands are imaginary, they seem as muddy, smelly, bloody, benighted and beknigthed as actual Middle Ages Europe. Yes, there are castles and princesses, songs and jousts. There is also murder and rape, ignorance and cruelty, often perpetuated by those fine nobles.

"Knights are for killing," a henchman explains to a romantic girl in one of the novels.

That's a more adult attitude than popular culture normally permits. Compensating for the brutal plots, Martin gives his characters far more depth and nuance than usually seen in fantasy, historical romance or even movies in general.

Westeros is a world where bad people can be brave, smart and incredibly lucky, while even the good ones may pass their time drinking and screwing — this is HBO, after all — or be the most stupefying dolts. As brought to the screen by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, it makes for good television.

The cast is largely British-Irish, a point noted in profiles like this in the London Evening Standard: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23937373-game-of-thrones-is-good-news-for-brit-stars.do

For those unfamiliar with the books, there are some crucial differences between Martin's world and our own historical one. Westeros is a long, skinny continent, set like Britain off the shores of a broader one, with another "unexplored" one to the south.

Stringy Westeros begins as a land of permanent cold in the far north. Its wild inhabitants are sealed off from the settled kingdoms by a mammoth wall —¬ brilliantly realized on screen — made primarily of ice and standing 700 feet high.

But Westeros extends far south to more Mediterranean climes. "Game of Thrones" was shot primarily in Northern Ireland and Malta, with architecture, costumes and even languages created to emphasize the climate and cultural differences.

On this planet, though, seasons can last for years, and as the story opens, a long summer is ending.

The wall is guarded by a "brotherhood," once heroes, but now largely the sort of men who would volunteer to spend their lives doing guard duty in the cold — those with no other choices. And now, something is stirring beyond the barrier.

The land just south of the wall belongs to Eddard Stark (Bean), the upright, honorable lord of House Stark, whose motto is "Winter is Coming." About 20 years before the start of "Game of Thrones," Stark and his allies rebelled against the old dynasty and installed their friend Robert Baratheon on the Iron Throne.