His Dark Materials

Hi Winky,

I agree. I think Pullman painted himself into a corner with Angels and ascribed VERY human motivations to Metatron in order to deliver his denouement. Although I fully agree that this is juvenile literature, in the best sense, I do feel that he delivered a ripping yarn with some strong philosophical threads; this will not appeal to many people.

M

I thought the books were great, and if I hadn’t read them, I might have shared your opinion of the first TV episode. It certainly didn’t draw me into the plot like the book did, perhaps unsurprisingly, but I might give it a second chance and watch the second episode before writing it off.

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Was intrigued enough by episode 1 to watch the 2nd but tonight just frustrated the hell out of me. I’ll probably keep watching but more out of a dogged determination to see it through than anything.

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2nd episode was quite slow and rather dark, don’t think it’ll work for the average viewer.

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I didn’t watch the first one last week, but on my sons’ suggestion my wife and I watched on BBC iPlayer. Knowing nothing about what it was (and not having read this thread), I started off thinking it was all very familiar, and witching 10 minutes or so remembered and recognised asGolden Compass. Googling clarified that indeed it was - but that GC was just a third of it.

Enjoyable enough to let it run straight on into the second episode, and I’m sure we’ll continue with it, though it doesn’t have me wishing it wasn’t a new series so I can plough on and watch the rest without having to wait.

Picking up the Enid Blyton comments above, yes, it struck me rather as reminiscent of a darker version of her children’s adventures, but I don’t find that negative.

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I believe the first series of the present TV adaptation is also of just the first book (Northern Lights) but apparently the second series has already been commissioned and that will be of the second book, which implies a series three of the final book later.

Best

David

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I like it, as do my wife and both kids, so it perhaps has the something for everyone about it (mine is Ruth Wilson…) and it’s way better than the hour of unbelievable hokum that follows it on a Sunday night (World on Fire)!

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Watched episode 2. There is an awful lot of ACTING going on. Nobody talks; they deliver speech. The girl is good though.

Will hang on for now

I thoroughly enjoyed Episode 2, lots of tension; different strokes …

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Agree Lyra is excellent.

About time there was some acting on television (insert imoji of choice …).

One more episode - if no improvement delete from record list! Problem for me is that the interpretation of the 3 main characters (Lyra, Mrs Coulter and Asriel) falls well short of the Golden Compass film. I find them all pretty two dimensional. Shame, I had high hopes. I’ve just finished the second book of the new Dust trilogy, Secret Commonwealth. A good read, if not a classic.

We continue to enjoy the series. It’s a good opportunity to reread the books and understand the way they have chosen to dramatise it. Much more interesting getting the best of both worlds!

Phil

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Hi Filipe,

They have certainly played with the structure, ignoring the Lyra centric viewpoint of the first book, but I think this probably works better in telling the story; as well as introducing other changes that haven’t detracted from my enjoyment.

LOVE the soundtrack.

M

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I finished reading all three books on Monday. Very enjoyable apart from not liking the world of the dead. Not sure how the tv dramatisation will handle some of the quite scary stuff.

Sunday added to the mixing up of books with Will being introduced. I guess the sequences happened in that time order.

Very much enjoying the tv still and probably more so because of reading the books.

Phil

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The last episode broadcast last night and I really was hooked by it. I especially loved the spectacle of the armoured bears riding out with Lyra to deliver her to her mission. And my stomach churned as she slipped on the ice bridge. I can’t wait for the next season!
Best

David

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Overall I have found this a bit disappointing and disjointed. I’ve not read the books so not sure if they are the same. It feels that it’s been cut too heavily in places, drawn out in others maybe down to budget or they struggled to make it work. Last night’s ep especially it was building to an epic battle yet showed little and it was over so quickly. Also I’m not attached enough to any character they all felt very distant and unlikeable in some way. Not sure if I will watch the next series or not, will have to seriously up its game to get my attention.

Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed this series, as did my wife which surprised me, fantasy is not her cup of tea usually.

I thought they intelligently bought in plots and themes from The Subtle Knife that will make the series work more seemlessly.

I’m avoiding reading posts currently as for whatever reason we stopped watching a few episodes in and need to do some ‘catchup’.

It gets a lot better,

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Thanks for the reminder - we probably need to catch up while we can on iPlayer - where does the time go as you get older?