His Dark Materials

[Totenkindly]

AKA The Golden Compass / Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass
His Dark Materials - Wikipedia
His Dark Materials (TV series) - Wikipedia

I remember really enjoying the second book the most.

They tried to make this into a film about 12-15 years ago with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig as the adult leads (now replaced by Ruth Wilson and James McAvoy) and Dafne Keen this time as Lyra, the girl lead. (She's best known as X-23 from "Logan".) One of the huge problems of the film (which couldn't compete well with other fantasy films at the time, or maybe the market had been mostly oversaturated by Jackson and similar) was that the anti-religious elements were watered down so much that those critical of religion hated the adaptation, while they weren't removed enough to please the pro-religious viewers. It also didn't do as well as expected critically (from a purely story POV).

This version of the story (which might also benefit from having the length of time allowed by a TV show, versus a 2-hour film) is seemingly more on track. I have read reviewers who said it is both fantasy-immersive while also dealing with the darker elements of the storyline, rather than dumbing things down or abandoning more complex themes in the books.

This releases on Nov 4 in the USA.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

How do the armored polar bears fit in?

There are two things I know about this series: it's the anti-Narnia, and there are armored polar bears.

 

[Abcdenfp]

AKA The Golden Compass / Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass
His Dark Materials - Wikipedia
His Dark Materials (TV series) - Wikipedia

I remember really enjoying the second book the most.

They tried to make this into a film about 12-15 years ago with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig as the adult leads (now replaced by Ruth Wilson and James McAvoy) and Dafne Keen this time as Lyra, the girl lead. (She's best known as X-23 from "Logan".) One of the huge problems of the film (which couldn't compete well with other fantasy films at the time, or maybe the market had been mostly oversaturated by Jackson and similar) was that the anti-religious elements were watered down so much that those critical of religion hated the adaptation, while they weren't removed enough to please the pro-religious viewers. It also didn't do as well as expected critically (from a purely story POV).

This version of the story (which might also benefit from having the length of time allowed by a TV show, versus a 2-hour film) is seemingly more on track. I have read reviewers who said it is both fantasy-immersive while also dealing with the darker elements of the storyline, rather than dumbing things down or abandoning more complex themes in the books.

This releases on Nov 4 in the USA.

His work is amazing. and its so interesting how although it is very anti religion (particularly organized religion) the representation of spirit and the mysticism of simply being comes through, gorgeous exploration into so many concepts through stories.

i look forward to the TV series.

the introduction of James MacVoy make it equally delicious

 

[Hellena Handbasket]

I did my happy dance when I heard this earlier.
There's so much to unpack here that I think the TV format will allow for that a movie format will not.
The film pissed me off in that, while I'm not anti religious (somewhat the opposite in fact), watering down the message stripped the story of what made it interesting. The magic and the mysticism and the philosophical existentialism.

 

[Totenkindly]

Same.

i should reread the series now that it's been some years. I remember being disappointed a bit with the last book, I felt like it took a little too easy pot shots at religion (I'm for skeptical challenge and don't really like zealotry on either side of the spectrum), but maybe I would have a different opinion at this point. I like having fantasy books from various perspectives.

Anyway, this is one of those efforts I really think benefits more from a TV treatment than reduction to a single cinematic film. Probably one of the things I've been most (albeit cautiously) excited about since mid-summer.

 

[Seymour]

Same.

i should reread the series now that it's been some years. I remember being disappointed a bit with the last book, I felt like it took a little too easy pot shots at religion (I'm for skeptical challenge and don't really like zealotry on either side of the spectrum), but maybe I would have a different opinion at this point. I like having fantasy books from various perspectives.

Anyway, this is one of those efforts I really think benefits more from a TV treatment than reduction to a single cinematic film. Probably one of the things I've been most (albeit cautiously) excited about since mid-summer.

I definitely agree with all that. While I'm solidly post-evangelical (for obvious reasons), I don't find anti-religious zealotry to be a helpful frame of reference. I really liked the first two books in the trilogy, but found the third book like being beaten about the face.

 

[Totenkindly]

Saw the opener. Daphne Keen and James McAvoy are pretty decent. Ruth Wilson only shows up in the latter part, so I'm still trying to get a grasp of her -- very different feel from the Nicole Kidman cast for the 2006 movie.

It's been so many years since I have read the book, so I'm trying to piece everything together again. I think one of the things I remember most about Lyra from the book is simply her strong-headedness and Keen has that down easily. (Will, who shows up later is more thoughtful and reserved, I think. Plus, Lyra's daemon Pan is more the "think it through" rationalist.)

I enjoyed it but am not resonating with it yet. It will take a little time to build some momentum.

For those without much acquaintance with the world, everyone has a daemon that has a fluid form when they are children but solidifies into something permanent and representative of the human and daemon's personality as they leave childhood. In our actual world -- the reader's world -- our "daemon" is internalized and kind of like our personality and soul merged together, the thing about Lyra's world is that the daemon is externalized so it's kind of part of the human and remains in fairly close proximity but also has some autonomy. It's an intriguing notion and plays into some of the plot devices later when questions are considered like "what happens if you disrupt the bond between human and daemon?"