His Dark Materials Season 3 starts sunday 18 December 2022 7pm BBC1

[IwantToRetire]

I'm starting this thread as I dont think anyone else has for this third series.

Mainly because I got really confused watching earlier episodes and am hoping others will take part and patiently explain things.

Not sure if will be on iPlayer after 1st episode or whether we will all have to watch at tv pace.

Is anyone watching who hasn't read the books? I really don't think I'd be able to make sense of it all if I hadn't read them first.

I thought this. But I think if you have read the books then you always think that maybe? I always thought there were huge parts of the Harry Potter movies that made absolutely no sense if you hadn’t read the books but I know loads of people who’ve only seen the films and they seem to find it fine! Maybe if you hadn’t read the books your mind would just fill the blanks in?

We are three in and will be watching a further two this evening.

Ruth Wilson is fan-bloody-tastic. I'm also pleased we are seeing a lot more of Asriel this series. There's great tension between him and Coulter, in fact, I find their relationship a lot more interesting than the one between Will and Lyra.

I'm a huge fan of Milton's Paradise Lost and love how rich the whole thing is in allusion. I've just watched the episode in which the subtle knife is recrafted, and noticed how similar it is to the reforging of Aragorn's sword Andúril in LOTR. It's also interesting that in the film adaptation (not in the books) this happens directly before Aragorn journeys to the domain of the dead.

As a writer, I love the way Pullman pulls together particle physics (not that I could hope to understand it in anything other than laypersons' terms) and philosophies of religion. As an epic it's pretty inventive and brilliant, as is his stance against the authoritarian nature of so much monotheistic religion.

So far I think this series does it long-overdue justice.

@MarieIVanArkleStinks just tuned in to watch episode 2 and remembered my question on this thread. Thank you for the answer!

I caved and watched the entire series. I'm not ashamed to say I cried like a baby at the last few episodes. It's rare I say this, but the adaptation was so well done, and the entire team were fantastic.

Also now at the end. I blubbed too.

It was the 'every atom of me with every atom of you' line that broke me in the end

f**k that near broke my poor heart again.

I don't want to post any spoilers! All I will therefore say is that the development of the Asriel/Coulter connection was different from in the book. There are some interesting interviews online with Ruth Wilson about how both actors approached that character arc (the arc mostly being hers, he doesn't change all that much).

Their later scenes had me almost hiding behind a cushion. They both did fantastic work.

I cried. Quite a lot.

Have now managed to watch episodes 2 & 3 back to back and have to admit I am lost most of the time. It maybe because I haven't read the books, or I am just a bit slow.

Does anyone know if there is some sort of graphic or chart that illustrates the worlds and the different groupings.

Or preferably an adaptation where at each point a character entres a little bubble appears with a quick synopsis.

But amd loving most of settings, costumes and so on.

Unfortunately I find Ruth Wilson very one dimesional, and reluctantly think James McAvoy is better than I remember.

And certainly think the two young actors are more than holding their own.

PS I am serious about a graphic or a prompt sheet or something!

have to admit I am lost most of the time. It maybe because I haven't read the books

I wondered how people would follow the plot if they hadn't read the books, there's a lot going on and it must be pretty confusing trying to keep up. I feel like I enjoyed the series more because I already had a history with the characters and the world. Unfortunately I can't help with a prompt sheet, so I'm going to be that annoying poster who really recommends reading the books. 😅

Arrhghhh we watched most of the last series today on IPlayer. We haven’t read the books and very nearly gave up because it was so confusing.
Slight spoiler alert: it got very ‘dark’ at one point in one of the worlds and a bit scary until one of the scary monstery things was asked what he was called and my Dd thought he said Malcolm (I had to rewind and he actually said ‘no name’). So that broke the tension as we were laughing so hard. From now on anything scary will be a Malcolm.

We haven't read the books and yes, we were confused. We were also extremely annoyed at the ending for obvious reasons. On the plus side it was wonderful in many ways, not least the acting. I've always liked Ruth Wilson, but she was amazing in this.

My main disappointment was when they open the 'coffin'. That is the moment from the books that stayed with me always, but they rushed past it with no explanation.
Otherwise I thought it was superb - but it's a long time since I read it.

The box with ‘God’ inside?

Didn’t they rush past it in the book, too? Wasn’t that the point - the real power already resides elsewhere so it was an entirely insignificant event?

But I think about it often also!

I think that's the point. It's a little like the 'Sibyl' myth - The Authority people are so afraid of merely ages and festers away as she festers her youth away in the jar - until there's nothing left of him but the dust he came from. But yes, you needed to be paying attention in the adaptation: blink and you could easily miss it.

Meantime, others have taken over where he (The Authority) left off. It's the idea of him people find so intimidating - that and the lie he perpetuated that he was the creator of all - there doesn't need to be a physical manifestation of that idea (a bit like O'Brien of the inner party and the elusive Big Brother).

If you see these as subtle analogies from Paradise Lost - the epic on which this trilogy was based - the similarities are clear. 'God' is a bit of an insipid, nondescript character in the Milton, whereas by far the most interesting, formidable character of the whole poem is Satan.

The major antagonist and Satan-like figure in these books is definitely Asriel.

@IwantToRetire - there's a good Fandom site here with quite a bit of background info. It has a detailed breakdown of all the different characters and their traits: hisdarkmaterials.fandom.com/wiki/His_Dark_Materials

From now on anything scary will be a Malcolm.

There's a Malcolm in 'The Book of Dust!' He's not scary, though 😀

NB. I so wish I had the scientific capacity to understand this stuff. Even in laypersons' terms, the purpose, even the nature of dark matter or the manner of the studies surrounding it is something way beyond me.

The first moments of the opening credits look like a representation of the big bang.

www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/9-12/features/what-is-dark-matter.html

I wish I'd had the brains to study a science!

😂 The other bit that made us rewind and laugh is that we think it was Terry from the Detectorists, sitting up in the control tower, barking down orders in the ‘zombie warehouse’ sequence.
Can any confirm this?! I would like to think that’s a job well suited to Terry.

We’re currently watching S3 E1 and rapidly losing interest. I’m the only one who’s read any of the books - I read the first one but it left me cold, although I subsequently read Book of Dust Vol.1 and loved that.

Finding this impossible to follow, which is really disappointing after the second series was so well explained.

Watched the first three of the new series having watched previously and have now given up. Whilst it is quite luxurious and visually impressive I can’t find it in me to care about any of the characters and so can’t be bothered to invest another 4 hours to see how it ends.

We very nearly lost the will but it got better towards the end. The acting of Ruth Wilson was the only thing keeping us going for a bit.

Oh man, I loved it all, absolutely loved it. I cried so hard at the end and I knew the ending from the books and the National Theatre.

I think it was a superb masterful piece of TV, well done BBC ✨

I've just finished a marathon from season one and loved it. Brilliantly adapted.

I long since learned that adaptions will have shortcuts and embellish other sections compared to books and I think it would have been tough to do it any better. It is complex. DH only read the first book about 18y ago and he managed to follow most of it.

The bomb was handled a bit differently and I wondered how that would join up with the way the Gallivspians were done differently, but it worked out to the same outcome.

I got through a lot of tissues!