The Golden Compass/His Dark Materials (BBC One Series)

I read all three books a long while ago (back when I was in Junior High and High School) so I'm curious to see how these will go.

Read all the books,seen the movie,seen the stage play

It will be interesting to see how far the tv series goes,will it preserve the anti religious theme I wonder

Yeah as far as I remember the books that theme is pretty central so it will be difficult to work around it... which if I recall was one of the reason the movie was so different because one of the main actresses demanded it be dropped.

I don’t think it was an actress that demanded it be dropped, it was dropped due to a fear of it being banned across large parts of the US.

I read the books as a child, around the same time I read the Narnia books actually. The film disappointed me because it cut so much.

I remember watching the movie with my dad and having to explain to him why it was unlikely to get a sequel, so this is a pleasant surprise.

It looks like they're going for a slightly more grounded WW2-ish dieselpunk look this time instead of the Gaslight Fantasy style.

I think it was actually an executive, but yeah, the entire trilogy is basically Phillip Pullman screaming HEY EVERYBODY LOOK HOW ATHEIST I AM, BOY I SURE AM ATHEIST!

It's very Take That!-ish towards organized religion in general, authoritarianism (no pun intended) and especially certain Christian practices, but at the same time I found it oddly spiritual in a sense. The whole "Dust" concept almost gives it a pantheistic vibe imo.

x4

From what I remember, and forgive me since it's been a few years, it was at Nicole Kidman's request. Basically, they wanted to cast her because she was PICTURE PERFECT for Mrs Coulter, but at the cost of the book's themes. They chose the actress over the themes. I would imagine that the more... anxious feeling that was already present about the book's themes probably helped the conversation.

Though, I also don't know how much of that could potentially just be a random rumor that came to be regarded as truth over the years with little actual fact behind it. But that's what I remember reading about.

Yep that's what I recall, I just couldn't quite remember the name of the actress or her role for certain.

The first book is still fine, but the second and especially the third one really bludgeons you to death with it. BTW I read a fix-fic where the reason why someone in another world than their own dies in like a decade or so is not being ripped from their home world, but being ripped from their loved ones (to mend the painful parting at the end).

I watched the movie, was disappointed by the bad acting and writing at times, but felt there was much promise. That let me to read the books, something that definitely did not waste my time (the ending of 3 was a tad rushed and melodramatic, but far from wrong).

Looks like I am 3 days late here. Just saw this trailer. Outside having inferior Lord Asriel and discount Lee Scoresby, everything else is already better.

I am disappointed by the lack of enthusiasm.

I’m pretty sure the books were actually said to be “An Atheist alternative to Narnia” at one point, amusingly enough I read both sets of books as a child.

Or "Two can play that game, C.S. Lewis!" as I once heard someone put it.

I will have you know that Lin-Manuel Miranda is a goshdarn treasure.

Preach. Lee Scoresby was already one of the best things about the book so I'm pretty psyched LMM is going to play him. Despite not really liking the way the last book became Anvilicious, I'm excited for this.

I would not say anvilicious, more like "oh shit I need to wrap this up".

It is a tad heavy-handed about "religion is wrong and a lie and stupid" though, the same way Narnia is about the opposite.

Yeah. Like I said before it just seemed like the whole series was more concerned with advertising how atheist he was than telling a coherent story.

Growing up I loved Northern Lights. But I don't think the sequels ever had the same magic.

I remember being super excited about The Subtle Knife coming out but disappointed when I read it. Nine-year-old me was a bit miffed with the sudden change in protagonist. I don't think it was overly memorable either: the only thing I remember with clarity was the land with only children.

However, I must have still liked enough because I remember being given The Amber Spyglass. I remember disliking it for it's heavily religious overtones (just like I started to dislike the later Narnia books), to the point where I baulked at the ending. Though there was a couple of bits I liked. The ex-nun/scientist with the elephant-esque creatures with the wheel and I really liked the little spies with the dragonflies.

It is funny how the books are labeled as atheist, while they are as agnostic as you can get, while keeping the spiritual side (see: belief in the soul, rather a specific god).

Edited by KlarkKentThe3rd on Aug 2nd 2019 at 5:04:12 AM

If anything though they seem more antitheist, considering how they portray God and the idea of Heaven in general.

An almost exact quote: "We don't know if there was a true creator, but the God we're currently stuck with is an imposter." You can still believe in a God while living under the rule of a false one.

Series premiered last night. A couple of issues with pace I thought it was a decent opener. I'm clueless about the books so I'm going in relatively fresh.

I read all three books in high school.

Pullman just using it as a vehicle to promote his atheism (or at least his beefs with organized religion in general) doesn't show up much in the first book, but it gets really bad in the subsequent two.

Anyone know how much say (if any) the author has for this adaptation.

The thing that interests me the most about the series, and the only part I remember really liking from the movie, was the gaslamp/steampunk setting and the promise of a multiverse spanning adventure.

I’m not opposed to anti-religion themes per se (I like Final Fantasy X, as an example) but hearing how heavy handed it got in the books kinda kept me from wanting to dive into them. If it got toned down to like, reasonable levels or something, that’d be neat.

I’ll probably be watching this regardless, just wanna get my expectations in order.