Spoilers His Dark Materials TV series

I love that. Now that I think about it more, I don't think there really was anything more anti-religious than what we've gotten in shows like Supernatural or Dominion, and there hasn't been much controversy over those.

 

I think that's generally because it's not about the subject matter, but how much attention certain people can get for themselves by pretending to be outraged or offended at certain subject matters.
Apparently these people don't think television can do that for them.

 

I read the first book and was quite disappointed in it. It just didn't work for me. I haven't seen the film, though I remember thinking that the casting was pretty good (in my head, I pictured Liam Neeson in the role which Daniel Craig ultimately played onscreen).

I'll probably give this a go, as my oldest daughter will hopefully be old enough to enjoy it by the time it's aired. Given how good the BBC version of Jonathan Strange...(a book I did love) was, I do think that this could be done quite well.

 

As this is my favourite Young Adult series since Susan Coopers "The Dark is Rising" series, coupled with how beautiful the last big fantasy BBC adaptation was ("Jonathan Stange and Mr Norrell"), I am quietly excited about this. The BBC has shown that it can produce consistent high-end production values over an 7-episode period and, with sound budgeting, I don't see why they couldn't pull off "Northern Lights" too. It's more down to whether they can capture the tone and spirit of Pullman's book.

I can see this being aimed at the Dr Who crowd, and given how complicated, and at times dark they have allowed the BBC to let that show grow into, the darker, more mature themes of the later novels should be no issue too.

Most important other factor - casting the right Lyra. So hit and miss are young actors that they can make (Haley Joel Osment) or break (Jake Lloyd) a production.


Hugo - speaks of destiny, knowing it is unfixed

 

I didn't find any of the versions I've experienced were any better than the book. Although they were shorter.

I didn't like Jonathan Strange either...

 

^I think you may have misread or misconstrued my post. I did love the book of Jonathan Strange. I thought the TV version was very good too. Preferred the book though.

 

Any child can play her now, including anybody of color.

 

When I saw Tomorrowland earlier this year, I thought how the actress who played "Athena" would make an awesome Lyra (especially the version of her in the 2nd and 3rd books) and how much of a missed opportunity it was that nobody was making The Subtle Knife right now.

I would love to see a person of color play the part too, but I think that whoever they cast should be as good as Cassidy was in Tomorrowland - because she played a believable child who had the "soul", if you will, of someone older - and she did it believably.

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3ZsUyYJbtU[/yt]

 

The whole thematic point of Lyra's world is that it's more backwards than ours, so it wouldn't make any sense for the elite of her England to be as diverse as ours. Ergo, it would actively weaken the story to have Asriel or Coulter (and thus Lyra) be other than white. Asking for a Will Parry of color is all fine and dandy, but asking for a Lyra of color is fatuous.

Though Richards gave an amazing performance, and I'd love to see her cameo in this (I too thought of recasting her as another significant role, but that could easily be overly distracting), I myself am hoping for a bit of a rougher-looking face, one more like the illustration I first came to know Lyra (from the first US hardcover):

​

 

Having Will Parry be non-white would make a lot of sense, because he's American or 1/2 American if I remember. from the modern day, so I would *love* to see a non-white Will Parry. I don't mean token casting, but there would be no reason to to limit the casting to just white kids - Will could be Asian, part Asian, part or all black - anything.

 

Not from what I recall, nor from this HDM wiki.

Pullman obviously wasn't thinking that way when he wrote the scenes of Lyra and Will pretending to be siblings, though I agree that would be a fairly trivial thing to sidestep in an adaptation. So I don't agree it would make "a lot of sense", but it wouldn't be silly or detrimental to the adaptation, either, in the way racebending Lyra would absolutely be.

 

No, I got that you liked it. I didn't, which probably means it's more the genre I don't get on with than the actual works. I'd consider Strange and Compass to occupy a similar space in the fantasy spectrum.

 

^ Oh, OK, I took your 'either' to mean that you were saying that neither of us liked JS&MN; you presumably meant you didn't like it or TGC.

 

Correct !

My fault, imprecise use of language...

 

^No harm, no foul!

 

A thought occurs: Since BBC is producing the miniseries, will they keep the British title The Northern Lights or go with The Golden Compass for the sake of their American audience?

 

^ The movie was released in all Anglophone markets as The Golden Compass, so I'd say most Britons are aware of the alternate title. That said, if they're hoping to adapt all three books, the series may be called His Dark Materials. I know that doesn't exactly answer the question, but...

 

My guess is it will be called whatever's most familiar in each respective market.

 

We finally have our first teaser trailer:



Curiously, the mini-series appears to be billed as His Dark Materials and not The Golden Compass or Northern Lights, which seems to indicate BBC's confidence that they'll produce the entire trilogy.

 

Looks pretty good, anyone read the last book The book of Dust? I really liked the trilogy when I read it a few years back