You didn’t like the Dune movie? I thought it did a really good job of bringing to life material that was hard to bring to the screen. Well, except for the inexplicable ending (it started raining? What?).
Latest trailer
Looking excellent, very excited for this
HBO is on fire
Guardian liked it. Looking forward to watching the first episode.
First episode was solid. Ruth Wilson is not at all how I imagined Mrs. Coulter, but she’s good. And Lyra is appropriately grounded.
This is the one with the talking bear, right?
That’s Naria, duh.
(yes)
I read this as talking beer. It had me interested for a moment.
I thought that was a lion?
Huh they went parallel earlier than expected
Really liking this so far. I have pretty much no knowledge of the source material, other than the knowledge that it exists. Some of the world-building remains pretty opaque still, and the plans/motivations of the main male villain is a mystery. I guess the book is better (when isn’t it?) but as it own thing, at least, this is really good. Dafne Keen is delightful as Lyra, and Ruth Wilson and Bakare have been awesome through and through.
I’m only a couple of episodes or so in and I like it, but yeah the books are better (note: it’s been several years since I read the series). I think it’s because this feels more or less like a straight copy and paste adaptation attempt; if I were doing it I’d play around more and try to do things you couldn’t do as well in books. Still, it’s pretty good so far. I think Coulter is my favorite character at this point, great casting choice there.
I kind of disagree. Mrs. Coulter is supposed to be utterly charming, and there’s never a moment where Ruth Wilson doesn’t seem malevolent. Dafne Keen’s Lyra is good, but her accent isn’t as low-brow as Lyra’s is in the book and she’s not as wild and unruly and contrary as the book’s Lyra. The book’s Lyra’s most notable skill is lying copiously and well, and she only does it in the one scene in the show when Mrs. Coulter admonishes her for it. Father McPhail is supposed to be big, bluff, and Scottish, and he’s none of those in the show. (The actor is actually Dafne Keen’s real-life father.) I think Sir Charles is perfection though, and I like Ma Costa, John Faa and Farder Coram.
I think the adaption is decent. They’ve introduced Sir Charles and his ability to cross worlds early on, to give more context to that. The novels always were problematic. I don’t think that Pullman ended up writing the story he started with The Golden Compass, and the transition from that book to the rest of the series was jarring, so the show has attempted to smooth that a bit by retconning some stuff back in. I kind of wish the show had made some effort to make Asriel and Coulter more balanced characters: to showcase Asriel’s villainy more obviously and provide some motivation for Coulter’s actions, but maybe it will. I like the show so far, and it is absolutely gorgeous, but I do wonder how well it would play to someone unfamiliar with the source material.
I’m completely unfamiliar with the source materials; I think it plays well enough (also - please don’t spoil wiith stuff from the books that has not yet been in the show).
That being said, I’m an avid reader of speculative fiction, so there’s no reason why this shouldn’t be right up my alley - intriguing ideas and world-building and an engaging cast; what’s not to like?
Does it have cross-over appeal to non-SF folks the way that GoT did? Probably not.
Without wanting to spoil anything, there’s not going to be any twincest unless this series deviates significantly from the source material.
It feels very much like a BBC show through and through, and not an HBO show. The only difference is there’s obviously more money than your normal BBC show, probably thanks to HBO. HBO and BBC have teamed up before and recently on projects, such as Gentleman Jack. As the demand from HBO’s bosses comes to expand their lineup, probably see more shows like this, which are essentially imports.
If anything, it feels almost too faithful an adaptation. Dafne Keen isn’t quite working for me, and that’s a problem since she’s the center of the show.
I did love the books, though. I won’t spoil it, but it goes places you don’t expect, while at the same time blending in all sorts of interesting ideas and inspirations.
Although I have no idea what they do with Book 3, because that seems unfilmable, and not from a “crazy epic events” way, but more in a “this is really philosophical and deals with ideas” way.
man, lin-manuel miranda is so horribly miscast as scoresby in his dark materials. sam elliott was so much better in golden compass. lmm’s voice is so squeaky.
I haven’t seen the latest episode, but it’s hard to argue here. Sam Elliot basically is Lee Scoresby. Miranda is also too young for the part. Scoresby is old, and it’s important to the plot that he is.
That was weird to see the same actor in His Dark Materials and War of the Worlds on the same night.
I find it weird that Salladhor Sahn, sex pirate, and the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch are hanging out on a canal boat.