HIS DARK MATERIALS

just read the books this week

that guy really hates christianity huh

Once the kids started singing some weak-ass song we shut it off.

LOL when that bit happened I was immediately reminded of Byron and his hippy Telepath crew from Babylon 5.

so my son hates this adaptation because he finds the writing really terrible. I half agree; some of the dialogue is way overly expository and unrealistic. c'mon bbc. Other than that I'm enjoying it.

also this Coulter has finally won me over and made me stop wishing it was Nicole Kidman again. She was pretty scary and fierce in this last episode.

I'm simultaneously glad they're taking their time over telling the story and fed up with all the 'people in rooms' aspect of the exposition. Tonight was probably the best episode because something actually seemed to be happening. They've done a good job with Iorek.

fed up with all the 'people in rooms' aspect of the exposition.

Yep a lot of the non-Lyra stuff seems like filler. I'm starting to wish they'd done a 6 rather than 8 part adaptation and left those secenes out.

Peak levels of “where the fuck is that person’s daemon” in this episode

In their jacket pocket.

i get that they need to save money for armored bears, but when you have a scene about how only witches can separate from their daemons, maybe include the non-witches' daemons in the scene somewhere?

otherwise, this was probably the best episode yet, and the one where it felt like dafne keen really figured out what lyra is all about.

Still think she's a but too restrained and well spoken.

When are we going to find out how the bearded guy got the nickname Farter?

Good episode last night, maybe the one I've enjoyed most yet. or felt most emotionally affected by - found the scenes with ghost Billy really powerful. Plus Will Parry! Properly introduced, with dialogue and everything. But no knife yet.

i like ruth wilson as mrs coulter: she's very good at inhabiting the border between drop-dead charming kick-ass and bad damaged/insane (she is amazing at all this in luther when she first appears, even if they had no idea where to take her in later series, so the casting is almost lazy -- but it's fun also, so hurrah)

i agree that lyra really needed more dido twite (or little my) in her from the outset -- more chaotic glee -- but i like dafne keen's reading all the same: a key point of the character is that she's right at the borderland between child and adult, and she inhabits this very well.

the look of this show is tremendous: sets and costumes, lots of thought put in there -- but the real weakness (and i think it's also the reason lyra doesn't read very clearly very quickly) is that they don't put much work into the dynamics and feel social groups, once the costumes are sorted. the gyptains, the magisterium, the incision scientists, the witches, and so on: as groups they're all a bit flat. each group needs more of a charged stereotype to work with and against -- the way they talk, move, they way they fit together, their energy as an ensemble. the gyptians are probably the least interesting: i can understand why the direction's held back from stereotyping, it's not as if this been a help for travellers and roma socially lo these tens of centuries, but drama isn't improved by tiptoeing, and i don't believe there's no way out from under this conundrum

Ep 7 kind of bleh

Listening to the audiobook of La Belle Sauvage, and its really fucking well done.

I should check it out. I'm not a big audiobook fan, but they did an amazing job with the Dark Materials series. All the voice actors were perfect, and contrasted nicely with Pullman's mellow narration.

I liked episode 7. My mate was playing the crazy dude in the prison with Lyra. He done good. I think they've done a great job with the bears.

I'm not sure they've handled the mixing of worlds very well. Episode 7 and we're none the wiser as to how the worlds are aligned, which seems negligent.

Episode 8 smashed it. Really looking forward to s2 now.

will’s earth has been terribly pointlessly strung out. i thought it be dramatically acceptable but now i’m convinced they should have followed the books.

Yes, I agree. Or they at least should have waited until, say, the penultimate episode to introduce that storyline.

I don't know that there's a good solution to the Will problem, because wherever you put his storyline, it's always going to be terribly boring. I thought it was smart to get all the introductory stuff over early and have him and Lyra walking into the Cittagazze world at the same time, but I agree it got distracting to be constantly cutting back to Will's world where absolutely nothing of interest is happening.

Thought the real weak point of this series was Serafina Pekkala. Every scene she was in was astonishingly terrible. I started cringing in embarrassment every time she teleported in.

no i think they made the wrong decision. in the second book PP gets him to cittagazze v quickly. it takes ten episodes in the tv series.

Yeah but this way the next season doesn't have to start with this boring storyline about a kid who's not Lyra. And it probably lessens resentment toward Will if we know him from the beginning. Agree they spent too much time on it though.

Could easily be a single episode at the start of season 2. I'm kind of bummed they did it like this, his introduction in book 2 is one of my favorite parts of the series.

agreed on serafina btw. and also on mark’s point about communities. the gyptians are dull af.

Forgive the thread spam, but I wanted to note that this show's 2019 season is nominated in the 2019 ILX TV poll:

ILX's Best Television of 2019 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends January 31

If you like this show and you'd like to see it have a good showing in the poll (running in February) all you need to do is submit a ballot including it and your other favorites (4 minimum, 25 maximum, organized by your favorite to least favorite) to forksclovetofu at gmail by end of day today. It'll take five minutes; get to it!

I'm about four fifths of the way through La Belle Sauvage and it's FINALLY getting kind of interesting. What an annoyingly structured novel - this interminable, often dull build up, then after the big event eventually happens everything feels rushed and underwritten. Might be a Rowling-esque case of a writer getting too big for an editor to reign in.

I have heard that the second one is better.

The second one is a lot more adventuresome and less stately, if that’s your preference, but I enjoyed both. I sort of agree about the lack of editing, but they’re both a breeze to read, and better written (clearly) than Rowling, so I found their maximalism luxurious rather than tiring, even though Secret Commonwealth gets a little generic in places.

That said, I don’t think he’s written a better book in the series than the very first one, Northern Lights. But the last two were both (for me) more fun than Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass (which might be the worst book in the series imo)

And Secret Commonwealth’s buildup is even longer iirc!

but they’re both a breeze to read

See I found the first two thirds of Belle Sauvage a bit of a slog!

I agree Northern Lights remains his peak. So richly atmospheric, and just a great story.

In that case I’m definitely interested in hearing what you think of Secret Commonwealth! It does share (consciously, I think) the “on a journey” aspect of Northern Lights. There’s more old-fashioned suspense than the books inbetween.

(but you might find it a colossal bore, too)

I don’t think he’s written a better book in the series than the very first one, Northern Lights. But the last two were both (for me) more fun than Subtle Knife and Amber Spyglass (which might be the worst book in the series imo)

I agree with this. So far the new series hasn't reached the heights of The Golden Compass/Northern Lights for me, but I do find it much more consistent.

The plot structure of La Belle Sauvage made me wonder if maybe Pullman had been watching Night of the Hunter.

Oh yes, good shout!

I imagine I'll be reading the Secret Commonwealth eventually.

Secret Commonwealth is my favorite of *all* his books.

i'm liking the pre/se-quel trilogy a lot, especially how it's exploring lyra's world. he did such a great job building the world in northern lights, and while i'm glad pullman decided to set off into the multiverse, i'm glad that the new trilogy is taking the time to marinate in the society and the mystery of the world.

really loved the *spoiler* papal assassination scene *spoiler* in the secret commonwealth, the way it wove in the sly, character-based humor to undercut the horrific action.

I don’t remember much about it, to be honest - there’s a surgery sequence that’s pretty existing and twisty iirc

One not-very-serious flaw - there’s a lot of stuff about how unusual it is for daemons and humans to split - then it seems like everyone’s doing it

that feels less like an inconsistency in the storytelling than the scales dropping from lyra's eyes–another "taboo" that her authoritarian theocratic society wants to pretend doesn't exist.

A taboo and a minority group - the kind that's treated as invisible but becomes a lot more visible if you happen to be part of it.

right, and that's a metaphor that pullman makes clear when lyra meets the refugee girl who lost her daemon.

Ah that makes sense

I just finished season 1 of the HBO adaptation. The first bunch of episodes were a bit dispiriting, with so many corny moments. I understand wanting to show various side plots instead of focusing in Lyra, but I would've preferred sticking with the book's structure. Lin-Manual Miranda was a particularly bad call. I was also not excited about starting the Will plot in S1, but it ended up making sense overall. The show was really redeemed in the last few episodes, which went much darker, and the finale ended on a pleasingly ambiguous note.

im cautiously optimistic for season 2, despite a trailer that seemed to be deliberately obfuscatory

love ruth wilson so much

(s2e1 dropped)

She does sadistic almost *too* well.

finally got round to s2e2

Not feeling this season yet. Both kids’ acting was pretty poor throughout.