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His Dark Materials

905 replies

AllGoodDogs · 19/07/2019 22:50

New BBC adaptation, looks so good, can't wait Grin trailer here -

m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10162256439035553&id=683285552&sfnsn=mo

OP posts:
nibdedibble · 27/11/2019 10:14

It's interesting, isn't it, how many of us have seen characterisation in the book daemons which just isn't there in the tv adaptation.

It's absolutely the best thing about the books, totally integral, and PP wrote them so deftly and made them rich characters, or at least part of the humans as rich characters. I'm even more impressed by that after seeing how impossible it seems to be to translate this element to tv.

thecatsthecats · 27/11/2019 11:37

Yes, the human-daemon relationship becomes absolutely inviolate to the reader.

La Belle Sauvage and The Secret Commonwealth only expand on that, and it's just amazing how wrong some of the events of those books are to me, because of what they reveal about daemons.

I don't have a daemon that I can see. These rules don't exist in our world. But when I read about them being broken, it feels wrong. That's why it was so important to get it right on screen!

CountFosco · 27/11/2019 12:51

Is Lyra’s Oxford truly worth reading?

It's just a short story set a couple of years after TAS so it's not a big time investment if you don't like it. I enjoyed it as a visit back to the world of HDM when we didn't know there was definitely going to be more books.

Bellasblankexpression · 28/11/2019 09:49

I just can’t get on with this. It’s okay, but I’m not hooked and I find some of the acting really bad?!
It seems to be one extreme to the other, either really good acting or really bland and flat and not believable.
I’ll stick with it because I enjoy the story but I am a little disappointed.

nibdedibble · 28/11/2019 14:28

thecatsthecats It almost feels like the writers of the adaptation skim-read the novels. Or have no souls!

I'm sure it isn't the case, but oh the trade-offs between story and character (daemon included) are hard to watch in places.

Stupiddriver1 · 01/12/2019 20:13

Lyra is too whiny. I never pictured her as a whiny kid.

UrsulaPandress · 01/12/2019 20:27

Where’s the snow?

EmmaGrundyForPM · 01/12/2019 20:29

where did they film this weeks episode? it's stunning

UrsulaPandress · 01/12/2019 20:41

Nooooo.

LittleAndOften · 01/12/2019 21:06

I found that really upsetting. I've got 4 Yr old and a 3 week old and I was in bits. However my experience was coloured by the fact I've read the book so I know the context of Billy. DH didn't get it because he doesn't know about the severance. I haven't given it away, Ill wait and see how he reacts next week.

Namechange3007 · 01/12/2019 21:14

I found it really upsetting and I've never read the books.

CalmConfident · 01/12/2019 21:20

It was less upsetting than the book...they missed out the poor little lad hanging into a bit of old fish pretending it was Ratta

BarbaraStrozzi · 01/12/2019 21:24

Billy's death- sob.

But yes, the smoked fish was poignant.

Still love Lord Boreal - I've always had a weakness for a dapper bad guy.

ChevalierTialys · 01/12/2019 21:26

Will Smile bless him, warmed to him instantly.

CalmConfident · 01/12/2019 21:27

I liked Will and his mum. Any thoughts on serafina and corum?

EoinMcLovesCakeJumper · 01/12/2019 21:27

It wasn't as horrific as it could have been just because of the lack of daemons there has generally been. If I hadn't been familiar with the story, I might have wondered how Lyra realised so quickly that Billy didn't have a daemon. I am trying not to think too much about the timing, but it seemed that Bolvangar was quite close to where Billy was found, do perhaps it works.

I liked it overall though. I like Lee more than I did in the books, and although I was unsure about the interweaving of the Will and Lyra timelines, I think it works now. Doesn't Will look a bit old though? His voice has clearly broken already.

LittleAndOften · 01/12/2019 21:30

Yes I thought Will looked too old, but I liked the casting and the dynamic between him and his mother. It worked fine in parallel with lyras story too.

Bimbleberries · 01/12/2019 21:40

So the people that attacked the camp and kidnapped Lyra - they don't know who she is, so they weren't trying to capture her specifically? They were just generally on the lookout for children to take?

I know that one of the daemons (a squirrel?) disappeared in that ambush when its person died, but i couldn't tell who it was - I found the darkness made it hard to tell in some of the scenes who was who (or maybe it's the lighting in my room), and the voices were a bit muffled tonight too, a bit like the first episode.

EoinMcLovesCakeJumper · 01/12/2019 21:45

They're just opportunist Samoyed hunters who are out to capture any child they can get a bounty for. They didn't know they'd got Lyra in particular.

ChevalierTialys · 01/12/2019 21:53

I liked Serafina. She's not how I pictured the specific character but she has the right look for the witches-clans in my mind.

Poor Billy 😥 god, it's hard not to project. If that were my little lad...

Fizzypoo · 01/12/2019 21:58

I was really emotional at the serefina and corum scene. Billy made me properly cry.

I can't remember what happens to the alethiometre now lyras clothes have been taken.

WhiskersPete · 01/12/2019 22:02

I agree. The way Billy was clutching the dead fish in the book really made that part memorably upsetting. They should have kept that.

Cakeweek · 01/12/2019 22:15

I cried. Proper snotty tears. I adore the novels and loved the adaptation at the National on 2003(?)

Lyra is awesome but Lin has my heart, I always loved Lee and Hester and they're perfect.

Question though - who did Will's mum see in the car that terrified her. It wasn't Boreal or his techy guy I thought and it's a while since I reread the Subtle Knife and couldn't remember.

Def not enough daemons though. And if you've not read the novels (DH) then the fundamental connection just isn't clear enough. He thought they were a pet and I had to explain it as part of your soul made real . I explained it terribly, but I blame the sleep deprivation. But if you don't get that crucial relationship then Billy Costa is sad but not Utterly-rip-your-heart-out-not-Ratter sobbing. As well as sleep deprived, I may be a little hormonal.

snowballer · 01/12/2019 22:28

I agree. The way Billy was clutching the dead fish in the book really made that part memorably upsetting. They should have kept that.

Totally, but it wasn't Billy in the book!

AnotherEmma · 01/12/2019 22:38

Agree with Calm and Whiskers. But also, snow's point that it wasn't Billy in the book. IIRC it was a stranger and it was even more heartbreaking that he died without his daemon among strangers. Lyra helping him was a stronger act of bravery and compassion because she didn't know him at all.

Also, in the book didn't she meet some villagers before she actually found him? Pretty sure their reactions contributed to the horror and tragedy of it.

It was actually pretty lame tbh. In the book the boy was desperately asking for Ratter wasn't he? Whereas Billy didn't speak at all in this.

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