Just watched the 1st episode on iPlayer - thought it was fantastic.
A dearly departed friend eulogised about the books some years ago - I have the older movie ‘The Golden Compsss’ on HD-DVD (!) and to be honest loved it, but can perhaps understand why it didn’t tick the boxes at the cinema.
Slightly intrigued that this is a BBC/HBO production made in Wales.
Looks as though the Bad Wold company are involved:
I believe it was a startup from production staff involved in the Russell T Davies 2005 Dr Who reboot largely made in Wales. Just watched an episode from the 1st series of that on iPlayer and those stories were truly ahead of their time, even if I personally felt some were a bit too ‘modern’ or PC at the time - the Bad Wolf episode is quite chilling and incredible to believe the banal reality TV Shows have been going for so long!
I’ve not read the books yet but bought them for my daughter last year, suspect the Hollywood take on the story wasn’t a faithful adaptation - will be interesting to see if people feel this is a better adaptation.
I was the same with Lord Of The Rings - I lived, breathed and ate that book when I was a teenager: never got on with the films, haven’t managed to sit through even one.
I couldn’t get through Golden Compass either.
The books are so immersive, I found it difficult
to see the characters and events onscreen.
Think its just me!
I’m hoping that I’m better with the series
Do read HDM. It’s wonderful! Hope your daughter loves it.
We enjoyed it although it strikes me as quite hard to fully capture the strangeness of the parallel world in such a short time and although the production was excellent, I’m glad I read the books first, albeit that that was a long time ago. Anyway we will watch the next one. Not sure if it will fully draw us in.
Best
I have never read the book, but did watch The Golden Compass a little while ago, which I thought was rather full of lazy tropes. This first episode looks better.
Enjoyed the first and will watch the rest, at least being episodic it has more time to tell the complex story and develop characters better. This sort of story needs longform not film to do it justice. TV at the moment is where the real drama is, film is too much event driven, and cashing in on old franchises. I am sorry that I am part of that machine as it’s destroying the art of film story telling, but it pays the bills. At least we get to help create some great telly to.
My wife loves the books and, so far, the adaptation. I found it a bit clunky in places but it has a hard job explaining the world and also advancing a plot that is far from simple. Seemed a bit hasty and frenetic to me at times.
I hope it does not shy away from the bigger (and more controversial) themes that scuppered the plans for a movie trilogy with US studios.
The cast and production values will keep me interested for now, and that is an achievement since I watch TV very rarely!
Excuse me if this is another of those “fans only” threads, I haven’t read the books but I’m always up for new TV stuff and I sort-of knew about the story from seeing the occasional reviews/comments in the media and I was aware of how fantastic it’s supposed to be so I gave it a look.
I tried to like it, I really did. I stretched the attempt into 40 minutes (which is a lot for me if I’m not immediately engaged), but… no.
Disjointed drivel. Like a fantasy version of Enid Blyton but without any plot coherence.
It helps if you have read the first book because this establishes stuff it’s easy to miss in the TV version.
It’s a quick read. Although it’s quite long, it’s intended for children primarily so isn’t over-taxing. You just have to suspend belief. The writing is way ahead of Enid Blyton incidentally.
And as is often the case with good writers, the story works on different levels, so there is plenty for an adult to get stuck into too.
I’ve not read the books, but saw the Daniel Craig/Nicole Kidman movie and rather enjoyed it, but as there were no sequels I was left wanting more as the story was only beginning.
I watched on iPlayer with constant interruptions and intend to watch again to get a better feel for it, many things like this seem to have rather slow episodes to begin with to ‘set the scene’ and I’d not be suprised as suggested by those who’ve read the books that detail/nuances may be missing away from the printed page.
Must attempt the books one day, but I can rarely stay awake for a minute or two whenever I try to read these days!
First 2 books I couldn’t put down. The 3rd faded a bit, I thought. But watched a little of the first episode. Seemed pretty well done. I’ll watch it once it makes it to on-demand.
of the background.