Television

How are people liking His Dark Materials? And have you read the books?

They are literally my favorite non-Vonnegut literature so I came in excited and nervous.

To this point, I'm enjoying it and very happy with most all of the casting. Ruth Wilson is phenomenal and Keen is mostly excellent. Really digging the production design too. There are some substantial changes to plot pacing but it doesnt bug me because I understand they are different mediums.

My major qualm is that the world feels void of Deamons. Likely for cost related reasons. Can only imagine it's making the world building even more confusing to newbies... especially since they have yet to directly spell out what the fuck a deamon is.

My second qualm is that Pan (Lyra's deamon) serves as Lyra's train of thought in the book and Lyra is always the instigator in the books. But here, it feels like Pan is often the instigator of decision making and, more importantly, Pan isn't being utilized enough to explore Lyra's inner monologue (and thus character).

Anyways, super curious for people's thoughts. Especially those of whom who haven't read the books.
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
How are people liking His Dark Materials? And have you read the books?

They are literally my favorite non-Vonnegut literature so I came in excited and nervous.

To this point, I'm enjoying it and very happy with most all of the casting. Ruth Wilson is phenomenal and Keen is mostly excellent. Really digging the production design too. There are some substantial changes to plot pacing but it doesnt bug me because I understand they are different mediums.

My major qualm is that the world feels void of Deamons. Likely for cost related reasons. Can only imagine it's making the world building even more confusing to newbies... especially since they have yet to directly spell out what the fuck a deamon is.

My second qualm is that Pan (Lyra's deamon) serves as Lyra's train of thought in the book and Lyra is always the instigator in the books. But here, it feels like Pan is often the instigator of decision making and, more importantly, Pan isn't being utilized enough to explore Lyra's inner monologue (and thus character).

Anyways, super curious for people's thoughts. Especially those of whom who haven't read the books.
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I only read part of the Northern Lights when I was at school so I cant remember any of it. I watched the first episode the other day and enjoyed it. It seemed a bit slow but I will forgive that with it being the first episode and building the narrative. As a Brit, I liked the setting and the old abbey/school context.

The text at the beginning kind of highlights the deamon aspect, and the ceremony where the boy/man's daemon chose the final form of the hawk/eagle. Im assuming they are linked to their human somehow? So if one dies so does the other? Maybe that will become clear the more I watch.


Looking forward to the rest of them.
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
How are people liking His Dark Materials? And have you read the books?

They are literally my favorite non-Vonnegut literature so I came in excited and nervous.

To this point, I'm enjoying it and very happy with most all of the casting. Ruth Wilson is phenomenal and Keen is mostly excellent. Really digging the production design too. There are some substantial changes to plot pacing but it doesnt bug me because I understand they are different mediums.

My major qualm is that the world feels void of Deamons. Likely for cost related reasons. Can only imagine it's making the world building even more confusing to newbies... especially since they have yet to directly spell out what the fuck a deamon is.

My second qualm is that Pan (Lyra's deamon) serves as Lyra's train of thought in the book and Lyra is always the instigator in the books. But here, it feels like Pan is often the instigator of decision making and, more importantly, Pan isn't being utilized enough to explore Lyra's inner monologue (and thus character).

Anyways, super curious for people's thoughts. Especially those of whom who haven't read the books.
Click to expand...

I have nothing to add other than Ruth Wilson has been phenomenal in everything I have seen her in. She played my most favorite "villian" in Luther.
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
How are people liking His Dark Materials? And have you read the books?

They are literally my favorite non-Vonnegut literature so I came in excited and nervous.

To this point, I'm enjoying it and very happy with most all of the casting. Ruth Wilson is phenomenal and Keen is mostly excellent. Really digging the production design too. There are some substantial changes to plot pacing but it doesnt bug me because I understand they are different mediums.

My major qualm is that the world feels void of Deamons. Likely for cost related reasons. Can only imagine it's making the world building even more confusing to newbies... especially since they have yet to directly spell out what the fuck a deamon is.

My second qualm is that Pan (Lyra's deamon) serves as Lyra's train of thought in the book and Lyra is always the instigator in the books. But here, it feels like Pan is often the instigator of decision making and, more importantly, Pan isn't being utilized enough to explore Lyra's inner monologue (and thus character).

Anyways, super curious for people's thoughts. Especially those of whom who haven't read the books.
Click to expand...
I read the books over 10 years ago and distinctly remember the first half of book one taking a while to get into, but once it clicked they were a great read, a much more adult and darker Harry Potter imo... I really enjoyed the first two episodes and would suggest it will get better and better like the books ...

Now watchmen on the other hand ... good start but episodes 3 and 4 have plodded a bit.. needs a boost
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
My major qualm is that the world feels void of Deamons
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I haven't read the books since I was like 13 (I did read them before the film which I hated) but this really stuck out to me after all those years as something lacking in the series. I'm sure it's all down to CGI costs, much like the dire-wolves in GOT, but it does leave the world feeling a little less rich. Otherwise I like it so far, I think they nailed the intrigue of the book series and I expect the narrative to smooth out once the initial exposition is over.
 
Gavaxeman said:
I read the books over 10 years ago and distinctly remember the first half of book one taking a while to get into, but once it clicked they were a great read, a much more adult and darker Harry Potter imo... I really enjoyed the first two episodes and would suggest it will get better and better like the books ...

Now watchmen on the other hand ... good start but episodes 3 and 4 have plodded a bit.. needs a boost
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I actually think my other complaint would be that they were in too big of a rush to get away from the college and it feels like some character development was lost because of it. But again, I am mostly happy and just wish they had a slightly bigger budget. Because I think the lack of lengthy convos between Pan and Lyra is also probably an expense issue.
 
AFAIK His Dark Materials is a two season order. I’m wondering if the sense of speed people are feeling is because they plan to wrap the plot of the three books up in two seasons.
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
How are people liking His Dark Materials? And have you read the books?

They are literally my favorite non-Vonnegut literature so I came in excited and nervous.

To this point, I'm enjoying it and very happy with most all of the casting. Ruth Wilson is phenomenal and Keen is mostly excellent. Really digging the production design too. There are some substantial changes to plot pacing but it doesnt bug me because I understand they are different mediums.

My major qualm is that the world feels void of Deamons. Likely for cost related reasons. Can only imagine it's making the world building even more confusing to newbies... especially since they have yet to directly spell out what the fuck a deamon is.

My second qualm is that Pan (Lyra's deamon) serves as Lyra's train of thought in the book and Lyra is always the instigator in the books. But here, it feels like Pan is often the instigator of decision making and, more importantly, Pan isn't being utilized enough to explore Lyra's inner monologue (and thus character).

Anyways, super curious for people's thoughts. Especially those of whom who haven't read the books.
Click to expand...
I read the books a few years ago. I think this is a vast improvement over the movie since tv gives this story time to unfold. Thus far, it's been stellar. I think that most anything will have a pacing issue because there is a lot to explain but you don't want to run over or lose your audience. I am watching it with my husband who hasn't read the books. I explained to him a bit about daemons but he's still got a lot of questions, and I have been telling him that they will get to the big plot point, but I think he feels a bit lost.
Selaws said:
I only read part of the Northern Lights when I was at school so I cant remember any of it. I watched the first episode the other day and enjoyed it. It seemed a bit slow but I will forgive that with it being the first episode and building the narrative. As a Brit, I liked the setting and the old abbey/school context.

The text at the beginning kind of highlights the deamon aspect, and the ceremony where the boy/man's daemon chose the final form of the hawk/eagle. Im assuming they are linked to their human somehow? So if one dies so does the other? Maybe that will become clear the more I watch.


Looking forward to the rest of them.
Click to expand...
The daemon is the outer expression of the soul in this universe. We wear our souls on the inside, but in this world, your daemon is your soul. It can't go very far from you or you will experience physical pain and if it dies, so do you. Kids have daemons that change form because a kid is sort of like a blank canvas. They can be anything. It isn't until your daemon has "settled" that you become an adult--or start on that path, daemons settling is one of those rites of passage usually happening around puberty or right after.
 
nolalady said:
I really wish they would give each book a season.
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The plan actually is-

The Golden Compass: 1 season
The Subtle Knife: 1 season
The Amber Spyglass: 2 seasons

But clearly, the are already intertwining elements of the various books into the world building. I think the two season order was, as usual, just to make sure ratings are okay. Also, they began shooting season 2 immediately after season 1 because they didn't want the kids aging too much. On the one hand, I respect that decision. On the other, it means they will be unable to listen to what is and is not working before approaching the second book.
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
The plan actually is-

The Golden Compass: 1 season
The Subtle Knife: 1 season
The Amber Spyglass: 2 seasons

But clearly, the are already intertwining elements of the various books into the world building. I think the two season order was, as usual, just to make sure ratings are okay. Also, they began shooting season 2 immediately after season 1 because they didn't want the kids aging too much. On the one hand, I respect that decision. On the other, it means they will be unable to listen to what is and is not working before approaching the second book.
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Ah makes sense. I did some digging a few weeks ago and never found this breakdown.

I'm always conflicted on how much condensing these kinds of shows really need. On one hand even at a 2 season order of ~10 episodes they would get roughly twice as much screentime as a theatrical franchise, but with TV you get into a weird space of allowing some subplots, inventing some new ones, and canning some others. With this in mind I do think it's a bit strange the college only got one episode, but that could be due to filming permits or any number of logistic issues.

I just hope it's allowed to run throughout the books, apparently the ratings fell pretty hard for the BBC last episode, it would be a shame to have two incomplete adaptations of the same work!
 
zombie.modernist said:
Ah makes sense. I did some digging a few weeks ago and never found this breakdown.

I'm always conflicted on how much condensing these kinds of shows really need. On one hand even at a 2 season order of ~10 episodes they would get roughly twice as much screentime as a theatrical franchise, but with TV you get into a weird space of allowing some subplots, inventing some new ones, and canning some others. With this in mind I do think it's a bit strange the college only got one episode, but that could be due to filming permits or any number of logistic issues.

I just hope it's allowed to run throughout the books, apparently the ratings fell pretty hard for the BBC last episode, it would be a shame to have two incomplete adaptations of the same work!
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It feel, but from a record breaking 7 million + to like 5.6. And that was before streaming was incorporated. I'm not too worried (yet).
 
DownIsTheNewUp said:
It feel, but from a record breaking 7 million + to like 5.6. And that was before streaming was incorporated. I'm not too worried (yet).
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Yeah and live ratings are becoming massively irrelevant, just saw an article today about ABC ditching them as their prime metric to measure a show's performance. Plenty of people tune into shows like this and then peace when the realize it's a bit more high fantasy minded than they might have hoped. I'm always worried about such things, but HBO and BBC aren't exactly the biggest show cancellers out there and neither has to foot the whole bill here.
 
Watched the first ep of the Imagineering documentary series on Disney+. This is exactly the documentary I've been wanting to exist for years. Yeah, it's very biased. Not much in the way of criticism. But if you're at all interested in what went into Disneyland, and Disneyworld (which will probably be the main focus of the second episode), then check it out. I've been reading a book about the history of Disneyworld and have been loving it. I already know there's so much in it (primarily in the way of accidental deaths and injuries) that won't be covered on the show. But I still just really enjoy this series because I'm just someone that's interested in Disneyworld's whole thing.
 
Bennnnn said:
Watched the first ep of the Imagineering documentary series on Disney+. This is exactly the documentary I've been wanting to exist for years. Yeah, it's very biased. Not much in the way of criticism. But if you're at all interested in what went into Disneyland, and Disneyworld (which will probably be the main focus of the second episode), then check it out. I've been reading a book about the history of Disneyworld and have been loving it. I already know there's so much in it (primarily in the way of accidental deaths and injuries) that won't be covered on the show. But I still just really enjoy this series because I'm just someone that's interested in Disneyworld's whole thing.
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It's excellent. Lots of footage of early Disneyland that I'd never seen before. It's supposed to be 6 parts with the second one going up on Friday.
 
I watched the first episode of the Mandalorian and have a question about the ending. How do I use the spoiler tag? I have a search but couldn't work it out and dont want to drop a spoiler here.
 
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