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His Dark Materials

P

peterm

pfm Member
My wife asked me to record this for her and I see it's top of "what to watch" in the paper's tv review.

I saw (can't say I watched) a few seconds of it and it seems to me I have the book on which this is based. It's called "Barry Trotter & the Shameless Parody". It was a companion book to "Bored of the Rings" a story featuring a character called "Dildo Boggins" as I recall.

Am I just an old cynic or should I watch the programme before it gets deleted?
 
I really enjoyed the first episode. I've read the books and this adaptation seems pretty faithful so far. It's certainly the best thing the BBC has put on in the run up to Christmas for a good while.

The new trilogy is also excellent so far, particularly what I've read of the second book. As said above, the stories and universe Pullman has created is a lot more sophisticated, deeper and darker than the Harry Potter universe.
 
As I only know the story vaguely, I enjoyed the first episode. Plenty of 'borrowing'* from other authors but its a damn good story.

* Daemons are a little like Allan Dean Fosters Furcots
 
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I thought it was great. Very good Imagine programme about Philip Pullman afterwards on BBC4 too.
 
Many thanks for your views on this.

I obviously need to watch it!

Having just watched the tail end of BBC 4's "Imagine" programme by Alan Yentob interviewing Philip Pullman I realise this author is not to be treated as trivially as those of the books (Bored of the rings and Barry Trotter) that I (part) read about 20years ago on holiday on the Costa del Sol.
It's a well known fact that when you go on holiday your critical faculties take a holiday as well after all!

Having never previously taken an interest in this genre I am completely ignorant of its more highly regarded proponents and their place in the hierarchy, and chronology, of their craft, time to have a rethink perhaps!
 
I just watched this out of curiosity. It's for kids, isn't it? None of the enthusiastic reviews mentioned this, which is strange.
 
MikeMA said:
I just watched this out of curiosity. It's for kids, isn't it? None of the enthusiastic reviews mentioned this, which is strange.
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It has kids in it...I wouldn't agree it's for kids.
Just watched it....apart from some STFU moments re the emoting soundtrack, I thought it was an excellent realisation of the books. Waaaay better than that bloody awful film.
Did you find it hard to follow, as a newcomer? Lot of characters introduced quite quickly, and the story is complicated.
 
ff1d1l said:
It has kids in it...I wouldn't agree it's for kids.
Just watched it....apart from some STFU moments re the emoting soundtrack, I thought it was an excellent realisation of the books. Waaaay better than that bloody awful film.
Did you find it hard to follow, as a newcomer? Lot of characters introduced quite quickly, and the story is complicated.
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Yes, hard to follow and overcomplicated. My attention soon began to wander. A big switch off for me I'm afraid.
 
I echo the approving sentiments above. The His Dark Materials trilogy is superbly written and observed, and this looks like being an adaptation which might do them justice. As is said above, the books are about kids, and to that extent written for kids, but the excellence of the writing and the storytelling means that they are just as much for adults. And 8pm is not a scheduling time for a kids' programme.

On that point, given that HDM is often compared to Paradise Lost, and is broadly accepted as anti-religion in outlook (and disparaged by the CoE and Catholic church), do we think the BBC is trolling by scheduling if on Sundays?
 
I watched it late last night after reading the comments here. Rather enjoyed it and certainly beautifully done with stunning production values. I’ll watch the rest.

PS I’d never heard of the books, so point of reference (I don’t really read fiction, or haven’t for decades anyway).
 
I'm a big fan of the books which are expansive and epic and subtle, things which are hard to capture on film. The feature film (The Golden Compass) which came out about 10 years ago tried to cover one book of the trilogy in a 2 hr movie and failed miserably. Thank goodness they gave up and didn't try and do the other two books.

My understanding is that this new series will use the eight 1 hr episodes to cover the first book which is a more reasonable pacing. The first episode had the hard job of setting the scene and introducing the main players and did so reasonably effectively.

This will be a slow burner and not the wham-bam Marvel movie style which is prevalent in cinemas today. The cast looks strong and the cgi pretty good for the daemons so fingers crossed for the rest of the series.

Having said that, I'll eat my hat if it is a patch on the books !
 
My wife liked the books, so I gave them a try, many years ago. However, as a reader of science fiction and fantasy* since childhood, I found it so derivative and messy that I gave up on it. So I haven't watched the TV adaptation.
*"Classic" fantasy that is, such as William Morris, Lord Dunsany, William Hope Hodgson, etc, more than the more obvious styles.
 
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