Game of Thrones Review

It's taken us a long time to watch the first series of Game of Thrones all the way through. When it first aired on Sky back in 2011 I started off using it as background noise when I was doing stuff at home. Gradually I got drawn into it though and found I was paying more and more attention to it.

Unfortunately I never got to watch the last episode because that coincided with us moving house and we weren't able to get it recorded for us. By about halfway through the series Mr Click was well and truly into it too so there was no doubt we'd get it when it came out.

Of course we had other things to watch, so there wasn't a huge hurry to get it. When the special edition blu-ray set came out we preordered it, but didn't get round to watching it until this month.

The boxset we have comes in a nice hinged box with the banners of four houses on the outside; Targaryens, Starks, Lannisters, and Baratheons. It also has a dragon egg in it as well. I was expecting it to be a little lightweight thing, but it's quite heavy. We've not got it on display, but I like taking it out and looking at it, it's like a little mini real dragon egg. I'm resisting the urge to toss it in a fire to see if it hatches.

Since starting to watch the series before I feel like I'm at an advantage; I was able to recognise who was who from the start. Now they're Ned, Robert and the Greatjohn, not Boromir, the donkey kid from Flint Street Nativity and Mike from Casualty. If it's your first time viewing, however, there is a handy pull out in the box which has a map on one side and the family trees on the other.

I've not had a chance to watch more than a handful of special features from the first disc. The ones I did watch are some beautifully animated stories about the histories of Westeros, narrated by the characters. It's a nice touch for those who've read the books and might be aware of, or need reminding about, the extra material that didn't fit into the series. I don't think you need to see these features to enjoy the series, but it adds something to it and you appreciate just how much depth there is to this world.

The series itself comprises of ten episodes, each roughly an hour long. We tried to watch one a night but then as we neared the end we splurged and watched four in one day. They follow the storylines told in the first book in George R.R. Martin's series, also titled A Game of Thrones.

Each episode feels like a little mini movie in terms of the way it's shot and the sheet number of cast members. It's so easy to just get totally absorbed. I found it a lot easier to follow this time around, mainly because I was paying attention from the word go. It's also very close to the book, which the exception of some little changed to things like the ages of the Stark children; I can understand why they needed to do that.

The series is pretty brutal. There's lots of violence, blood and gore. There's also a whole lot of sex and nudity. It doesn't bother me as I'm watching it with Mr Click but if we'd had young kids around it certainly wouldn't have been part of our tea time viewing!

I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who is into fantasy stories. It's got a good strong cast of characters who you'll find yourself loving (and in some cases hating, then feeling guilty about it when you find out what happens to them). Like the books, it's got loads of tangled plot strands, so it's easy to get completely wrapped up in the world.

Plus it has some of the coolest opening credits ever! I especially like the fact that there is a little banner beside each name which shows you which House they belong to. You can't help but love something with that much attention to detail!

The third series is currently airing over here. The second series came out on DVD and blu ray several months ago. We're holding out buying that until we get towards the end of ER (which is the next series we're planning on watching, just as soon as my birthday comes around so I can officially take ownership of the boxset). Our Game of Thrones set did come with a preview disk which has the first episode of series two on it; you can't begin to imagine the self restraint it's taking not to just go right ahead and watch that, but if I do, I'll want to watch that series right away too! I'm being strong and at least I've got the books to keep me going.