# His Dark Materials, TV series



## Veho (Jul 19, 2019)

His Dark Materials novel series is getting a show on HBO. 
(Following HBOs naming conventions the show should have been called The Golden Compass but they probably don't want to remind people of the previous attempt at its adaptation which bombed despite so many things going for it.) 

Anyway. 

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Anyone here hype?


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## H1B1Esquire (Jul 19, 2019)

Oh, shit...Xavier...what ave you wrought?


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## FAST6191 (Jul 20, 2019)

Other than moving the books aside when sorting through boxes of the things, and watching about 5 minutes of the film one time before declaring it boring and never going to get better (more bad film than source) I know nothing of the franchise. That however looked intriguing, hopefully it did not spoil things for me.


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## Veho (Oct 4, 2019)

New trailer, now with daemons and other special effects: 

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Looking good so far.


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## FAST6191 (Dec 3, 2019)

Saw a bunch of episodes this evening. Never read the books, saw about 5 minutes of the film.

Not terribly convinced by the main actress and the central maguffin of the show is a deus ex machina device which does not help matters. Supporting cast is the usual 20 actors working in the UK. I would also wonder if they spunked all their money on CGI daemons (camera angles certainly being chosen reflecting that) as the sets themselves somewhat lack at times. Pacing was fine for me but if this is American funded as well then I can see it boring audiences there, though it is still somewhat rushed. Writing is not the best (maybe not pure exposition but a bit far from "show, don't tell" but does OK at setting up mysteries and getting things moving.

The setting itself is a fascinating one. Probably more so than the show itself/story told by it. In a good world it would be a story told to familiarise us with it but I doubt we are that lucky. Speaking of settings a) that picture above with the monkey on a weasel or whatever... in the setting it should be able to transform into whatever it likes but seems not to. Also people take very poor care of such things if hurting one hurts them.

That said I did watch a bunch of them so fairly compelling in spite of all that.


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## AmandaRose (Dec 3, 2019)

Watched a few episodes and have totally not been impressed at all. The acting is terrible and as fast said above they used all the budget on special effects instead of decent actors. Pretty much the usual half hearted attempt that you expect from the BBC.


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## FAST6191 (Dec 3, 2019)

AmandaRose said:


> Watched a few episodes and have totally not been impressed at all. The acting is terrible and as fast said above they used all the budget on special effects instead of decent actors. Pretty much the usual half hearted attempt that you expect from the BBC.


I thought the adult actors do pretty well, the weakest being either the head of the college but I don't know if that was more writing* as what little he was given did OK and I have seen more menacing/unhinged/manipulative performances than that woman that takes her in gave (indeed that fixer character she works with/for/is secretly managed by if we want one from the same show) but she manages reasonably well. The child ones were probably given a bit more than they can chew, which is a pity considering the show revolves around them.

*most such heads of institutes are not people I would take on lightly, and he seemed to be able to make the hard decisions when he had to (the first scene we properly see him in with the booze for instance) so can't really claim to be one of those bumbling academics unaware of the real world/stakes. On the matter of writing the lead girl seemingly becomes hyper competent in episode 4 despite no particular indicators of that prior or development to it.

8 episodes to the series, 3 more to go (22nd of December it ending). Will probably do the rest at some point but it will take something of a turnaround for me to want to watch series 2.


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## Costello (Dec 3, 2019)

I had high expectations for this show and, while I find it a thousand times better than the awful theatrical release, I'm still a bit underwhelmed.
I too regret the choice for Lyra's part, that girl is a good actress but she just doesn't fit the part somehow.
The cast is overall rather terrible. Even McAvoy - love that actor, very talented, but he isn't a great Lord Asriel.
Having recently read the books over again, I would say the show is pretty much as good as the books so far - in that the books weren't all that great to begin with (read them when I was a teen originally and loved them, but when I read them again as an adult I almost couldn't bear to finish them)


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## FAST6191 (Dec 27, 2019)

So finally got around to seeing the ending of the series. Don't necessarily regret watching the series but assuming there is a series 2 (a search says it is all done already and just waiting for the proper time to release)I will not be there, and have no desire to pick up the books either. Not sure I even care to read a synopsis. Any number of plot holes I was wondering at (if the demons can change form at will how does one trap it in something you could fit your arm through for one) and most of my previous issues not well resolved.


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## Costello (Dec 27, 2019)

FAST6191 said:


> So finally got around to seeing the ending of the series. Don't necessarily regret watching the series but assuming there is a series 2 (a search says it is all done already and just waiting for the proper time to release)I will not be there, and have no desire to pick up the books either. Not sure I even care to read a synopsis. Any number of plot holes I was wondering at (if the demons can change form at will how does one trap it in something you could fit your arm through for one) and most of my previous issues not well resolved.


All of this made me wonder if, just like for Star Wars, we expect shows and movies like these to be tailored for the adults we now are, rather than the children we used to be.

Loved Star Wars Original trilogy (I was a kid)
Loved Star Wars prequel trilogy (I was a kid)
Hated/did not enjoy nearly as much/disliked the new Star wars trilogy (I'm an adult now)

Loved the His Dark Materials books originally (I was a kid)
Hated the original Golden Compass movie (I was an adult)
Re-read the books as an adult: didn't like them
Watched the series as an adult: didn't really like it

The shows I like now are shows that don't insult my intelligence, shows such as Mindhunter, True Detective, The Witcher, etc. And I can't stand watching disney crap like The Mandalorian anymore.

Long story short: perhaps we are simply getting old?


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## FAST6191 (Dec 27, 2019)

That or learning to spot plot holes and watching all those videos/reading all those articles on how good writing/storytelling is done was a mistake. To say nothing of stuff like the expanse, game of thrones and whatever else ruining me.

As far as Star Wars I never had any great attachment to the first three films but I am about the same as I ever was.


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## Veho (Dec 27, 2019)

Saw the first episode only. It's really boring and oddly paced, while omitting some world and atmosphere building content from the book. I have no idea why they would do that but there you go. 
The actress playing Lyra is not doing a good job either. 
Not sure I want to keep watching. 
Also, I spent too much time thinking about daemons, and whether you could have an elephant or rhino daemon, and whether that would prevent you from flying in an airship, and whether a daemon could be humanoid, and what that would say about that person's state of mind. 

It's possible the books answer some of those questions but it's been a while since I read them so I forgot.


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## Hardline (Dec 30, 2019)

Veho said:


> Saw the first episode only. It's really boring and oddly paced, while omitting some world and atmosphere building content from the book. I have no idea why they would do that but there you go.
> The actress playing Lyra is not doing a good job either.
> Not sure I want to keep watching.
> Also, I spent too much time thinking about daemons, and whether you could have an elephant or rhino daemon, and whether that would prevent you from flying in an airship, and whether a daemon could be humanoid, and what that would say about that person's state of mind.
> ...



the series jumps from being good and bad .. i doesn't see it anymore..


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## FAST6191 (Nov 23, 2020)

So 3 episodes in to the second series and nobody here seems to be discussing it. Do I take it everybody that was previously ambivalent at best is not going to come back? Or is everybody going to knock it out over a weekend (7 episodes, would have been 8 but standalone one apparently cut because kung flu) after it has concluded. Apparently some work has been started on series 3 (which will cover the third book of the three) but nothing has officially been greenlit as of writing this (s2e1 viewers less than anything in series 1, and almost half the s1e1 premier barely squeaking over 5 million on the BBC side of things https://www.barb.co.uk/viewing-data/four-screen-dashboard/ and an absolute fraction of that is all HBO ever managed) . Can't find s2e2 viewers at this point).

Trailer


I have not bothered and only know because I saw a teaser when wandering past a TV the other day. If I do watch it then it will be to see the trainwreck. No real desire to see a conclusion or expansion of the story.


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## FAST6191 (Dec 3, 2020)

In the name of science/boredom I did actually watch two episodes from series 2.

Marginally more compelling than previously and there actually a tiny bit of action and some events going on (if I was being generous I would say the previous series was to establish things and now everything is falling into place, I am not inclined to be), however still iffy character writing at best, the lead actress' hyper competence seems to have been toned down a tiny bit (give or take that arm bar), still governed by a literal deus ex machina device. Similarly I don't know if there are deliberately doing a poor cliffhanger each episode but it is not a great look.

Basically I am still way more interested in the world than the story they are telling in it at this point, and doubt I will ever get anything exploring the former.


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