Saturday, September 6, 2008
HBO True Blood
The HBO series True Blood premieres tomorrow (7 September) at 9:00 p.m. It’s based on the superb Southern Vampire Mysteries series of books written by Charline Harris.
True Blood takes place in the deep south two years after vampires came out of the coffin (so to speak) and announce to the world that they actually exist. A Japanese pharmaceutical company invented synthetic blood and produced it under the brand label True Blood. Fake blood meant that vampires would not need to feed off humans anymore.
I like the books. A lot. When I first heard that HBO was producing a series based on the books, I had my doubts that they could pull off the series to be as good as the books. Charline Harris is a gifted writer that has crafted an entire world comprised of interesting and unique characters. I was able to watch a screener copy of the first episode (don’t ask) and I was pleasantly surprised.
It didn’t suck and it followed the story in the first book (Dead Until Dark) very closely.
My only complaint is that the premiere episode did not include my favorite character in the books, Eric Northman. He’s a very old vampire who used to be a Viking. He doesn’t make his appearance in the book until later in the story, so it’s understandable that he wasn’t in the first episode. I did some investigating online and I discovered that the part of Eric is played by Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgard. While reading the books, I always imagined him as Triple H, the wrestler.
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Did you imagine Eric as Triple H because of his ‘roided physique and large French-Canadian nose, or because he refused to put over the younger vampires until after he had secured his own position in the vampire company by marrying the daughter of the owner?
Just curious.
@Steve: You know, sometimes when I’m reading fiction, an actor or actress will just pop into my head when I’m first exposed to a character. When it came to Eric, HHH just jumped in my head.
He is the sheriff of Area 5.
True Blood resembles Heroes at first glance (just rented the first episode from Blockbuster), though it still feels mostly original… for some reason this show makes me want to eat Cajun food and drink cheap beer