Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

*SPOILERS* This is the first time I have ever encountered an entertainment product--movie, book, game or TV series--that I felt the need to warn other users away from via an online review. But Season 1 of Game of Thrones deserves such a review. Fans of the book need to know that while about 75% of the series thus far is a faithful adaptation of the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire, the other 25% not only dishonors the source material but dishonors everything from artistic license to common decency. Let me start by saying that I am no prude. I have read A Game of Thrones, highly descriptive sex scenes and all. I have watched HBO shows before and know their modus operandi involves nudity and graphic sexuality. I thought I knew what I was getting into when I bought this box set. I was wrong. Where the sexuality is Martin's book is sensual, well-written, and important to the narrative, HBO's is just...badly-done porn. Not content with the sex Martin had already written, HBO decided to add in a slew of poorly-done and completely unnecessary scenes that detract from the show's artistic value and distract from the actual story. Apparently HBO thought that in order to sell a series based on a wildly popular book, they would have to add a teenage boy shaving a man's chest and giving him oral sex, two women being ordered into humiliating faux-sex by an angry, repressed pervert (who is neither in the book), and plenty of other random bits and body parts. And for no particular reason, we get a random scene in which Littlefinger and Varys run down all the sexual deviancies of various lords--none of which are anywhere to be found in the book. Mercifully we are spared from actually seeing Lord Martell's supposed fondness for young boys or an unnamed lord's necrophilia . . . but I wouldn't rule it out in later seasons. And to make matters worse, I was just as surprised at the sensual scenes HBO left out of the series inexplicably. Instead of the vital, tender, emotional scene between Lord and Lady Stark near the book's beginning, we get two fully-clothed people telling jokes to each other. Dany and Drogo's encounter beneath the stars is nowhere to be scene; we get more romanticism between Dany and her (female) slave than Dany and her husband. With all the time they spend adding pointless sex to the show, it's simply stupid that HBO left out the tasteful sex scenes that actually matter to the plot and the characters. In short, HBO cut the majority of the sensuality and genuine character development in Martin's book and focused on stuffing as many sexual acts as they could into the script. The result is that instead of deepening our connections to the characters as human beings, we end up asking more often than not what the HECK is wrong with them. Another warning I have to give out is the special effects. Namely, there aren't any to speak of, awfully surprising for a fantasy series. The direwolves are just normal dogs. The dragons are unimpressive. Bran's dream sequences are . . . actually there's just one they keep using over and over again, and it's nowhere near as well-thought out as Martin's. And if you were looking forward to seeing what HBO would do with the terrifying Others or Muzzi Maz Dur's magic, prepare to settle for some extras in white facepaint and a tent you don't even see inside. My best guess is that special effects men demand more money for their work than actors do for nude scenes. Now to be fair, let me emphasize some of the real strengths of the series. First of all, the casting is inspired for the most part and positively immaculate in others. Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) is an absolute revelation in possibly the most difficult role in the series. He will be racking up awards the rest of his career. Many of the minor characters are just as letter-perfect: David "Filch" Bradley (Lord Walder Frey) and Miltos Yerolemou (Syrio Forel) were among my personal favorites. And the child actors do a fantastic job with Martin's well-written characters. And as with most HBO shows, the scenery and costuming is fantastic and really sucks you into the world of Westeros. But for all the good work they did, HBO's insistence on marketing to the "curious 13-year-old boy" demographic comes within a hair's breadth of ruining the show altogether. I was fortunate to get the box set for very little cash thanks to gift certificates I had saved up. I would advise all true fans of the book to wait until it goes significantly on sale before giving HBO your money, to make up for all the scenes you'll be skipping.